Undercurrent.

Makka Pakka Akka Wakka Mikka Makka moo~

Makka Pakka Appa Yakka Ikka Akka oo!

Eee...

A song that was equal parts innocent and idiotic echoed through the quiet living room.

Xia Muzhu frowned subconsciously, casting her gaze toward the phone ringing incessantly on the coffee table.

Her immediate reaction was to reach out and turn it off, not wanting it to disturb Lin Yu's sleep.

Even though if Lin Yu slept too much now, he would definitely be tossing and turning and keeping her up at night.

But Xia Muzhu didn't mind!

Her eyes swept across the phone screen.

Upon seeing the caller ID, Xia Muzhu's hand, which she hadn't yet fully raised, froze in mid-air.

It was her calling?

After a brief moment of hesitation, Xia Muzhu withdrew the hand that was about to silence the phone and instead gently nudged Lin Yu's shoulder.

Mmm?

Lin Yu, having just woken up, was clearly still in a daze, letting out a muffled sound from his nose.

You have a call.

Xia Muzhu reminded him softly.

Lin Yu finally realized what was going on.

He looked toward the source of the ringtone, found the phone, picked it up, and answered the call.

Hello...

What?

Okay, okay, okay.

Don't panic yet.

I'll be right back!

Lin Yu's sleepiness quickly vanished during the brief exchange, and his entire body tensed up.

He quickly sat up from Xia Muzhu's lap.

While comforting the person on the other end of the line, he hurriedly threw on his clothes, slipped into his shoes, and strode straight out the door.

Sister Zhuzi, I'm leaving first.

With a loud thud.

The door was shut tightly.

Lin Yu's hasty farewell before his departure vanished along with the loud slam of the door.

It made the spacious living room seem especially silent.

Xia Muzhu stared blankly at the closed door for several seconds before softly speaking, making up for the goodbye she hadn't had time to say.

Goodbye.

Be careful on the road...

In the dim, yellow glow of the evening sun, Xia Muzhu withdrew her gaze.

On the television in front of her, the popular variety show had finished broadcasting and entered the standby screen.

Xia Muzhu sat opposite the pitch-black TV.

She lowered her eyelids and cast her gaze downward.

Like another machine that had entered standby mode.

Her long eyelashes drooped halfway, hiding her deep blue eyes and making it impossible to read the emotions within them.

In truth, regarding Lin Yu's departure.

She was not surprised.

This was not the first time.

Every time that person called, he, who had finally managed to come back for once, would leave in a frantic hurry.

She had expected it...

Although...

Although Xia Muzhu knew it was wrong.

She still couldn't help but wonder.

Wonder what would have happened if she hadn't woken Lin Yu up just now, but instead turned off the phone.

Would he...

Would he still be resting his head on her lap right now, sleeping peacefully like a well-behaved little baby?

Xia Muzhu didn't know.

But she really didn't like it.

She didn't like this empty living room.

She didn't like this lonely silence...

...

What Xia Muzhu, whose state of mind was invisibly changing bit by bit, didn't know was that in City N, nearly a thousand kilometers away.

The infant whose condition had suddenly deteriorated drastically, sending a group of top doctors into a panic, had abruptly stabilized the very moment she woke Lin Yu up.

The expensive medications that had yielded little result on her just a moment ago suddenly produced the textbook-perfect effects at this exact moment.

Rapidly stabilizing her condition.

The Grim Reaper generously put away its sharp scythe.

It stood quietly at the head of the infant's bed.

Waiting for the next opportunity.

An opportunity to push all the blame onto a suitable person's head...

...

By the time Lin Yu returned to City N.

Little Darling's condition had long since stabilized, and there were no more problems.

But while Little Darling was safe.

Su Yuyao had been frightened out of her wits. When Lin Yu returned, she was still guarding Little Darling's side, huge teardrops falling endlessly one after another.

Upon seeing Lin Yu.

She was like a startled little swallow, flying straight into his embrace.

Lin Yu had no other choice but to hold her, constantly comforting her.

Su Yuyao was quite easy to coax most of the time.

The only exception was when it involved Little Darling.

From his return in the evening.

It wasn't until past ten o'clock at night that Su Yuyao finally fell asleep.

After coaxing Su Yuyao to sleep, Lin Yu felt like he was about to burn out into holy relics.

The things that Su Yuyao worried about.

Every single one of them, Lin Yu was worried about as well.

But while Su Yuyao could pour her grievances out to Lin Yu.

Lin Yu, now stuffed full of Su Yuyao's negative emotions, didn't quite know what to do.

Lying in bed.

Lin Yu tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Lin Yu knew that he also needed a way to vent, otherwise, if this continued long-term, he definitely wouldn't be able to handle it either.

After thinking about it.

Lin Yu quickly eliminated the option of playing video games, which he usually used to relax.

He was already holding in a breath of frustration; it would be fine if he won the game, but if he lost, wouldn't he be infuriated to death by others?

Thinking about it again, Lin Yu decided to switch to a venting method more suitable for adults.

Getting out of bed with slow movements, Lin Yu put on his coat and left the bedroom.

Before leaving, Lin Yu took out his phone, not forgetting to send a message to the nanny that Su Yuyao relied on the most at home.

Long Aotian: If Xiaoyu wakes up and looks for me, just tell her I went out for a few drinks.

Long Aotian: Call me if anything happens.

After receiving a reply from the nanny, Lin Yu left the villa.

Wandering aimlessly on the road for a while, Lin Yu soon encountered an empty taxi.

After flagging it down, Lin Yu got into the back seat of the taxi.

Handsome, where to?

Faced with the taxi driver's question, Lin Yu was momentarily at a loss.

Lin Yu didn't really like drinking.

He also didn't want to go to those noisy bars.

He didn't even know what kind of alcohol he wanted to drink.

Lin Yu realized that he seemed to just want to come out to get some fresh air and relieve some stress.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu simply tossed the problem to the taxi driver and said:

I want to go to a tavern.

The quiet kind.

Money is no object.

It's best if they have a wide variety of drinks.

Sir, do you have any recommended places?

If you had to say who knew a city the best, it would definitely be the local taxi drivers.

As long as they weren't taking kickbacks for bringing in customers, the places recommended by taxi drivers were generally quite reliable.