Who is it Can't you let people sleep late at night (Long Liyin)

The taxi emerged from the curtain of rain and descended into the underground parking garage.

The thunderstorm outside was terrifyingly loud.

But the guy sitting in the backseat didn't seem to notice a thing.

He was sleeping like a log...

...

No, scratch that.

He didn't exactly seem to be sleeping peacefully either.

Through the rearview mirror, the driver spotted the man's furrowed brow, even in the depths of sleep.

That's fine.

It made the driver feel even less guilty about waking him up.

The car came to a stop, and the driver turned his head to call out:

"Boss, we're here."

"Time to get off."

Lin Yu leaned his head against the seat, unresponsive.

"Boss!"

"Wake up!"

"We're here!"

The driver raised his voice, shouting at Lin Yu persistently.

"Hmm?"

This time, Lin Yu stirred.

He half-opened his eyes, letting out a confused grunt, suspended in that hazy state between asleep and awake.

"We're here, boss," the driver repeated, a hint of helplessness in his tone.

"Oh."

Hearing the driver's words, Lin Yu let out a breath, thinking something major had happened. But his just-awakening thoughts immediately sank back down into drowsiness.

He reached for the door handle, pulled it open, and instinctively tried to head home.

Half of his body was already out of the car when the driver’s somewhat strange voice rang out behind him.

"Hey."

"Boss, you haven't paid yet."

Only then did Lin Yu's sluggish brain remember the fare.

Too lazy to fiddle with his phone for payment, he fumbled around on himself and pulled out a stack of bills.

With a light flick of his thumb, the thin wad of cash fanned open.

Seeing that there was only one red note in the bunch, the drunken Lin Yu decided not to bother counting. He simply placed all the money on the backseat and got up to leave.

"Hey!"

"Boss!"

"Your change!"

The taxi driver’s raised voice echoed behind him.

Lin Yu was too exhausted to even speak. He raised a hand and waved it dismissively, signaling that no change was needed.

"Thanks, boss."

Behind him, the sound of the taxi's engine starting up.

Lin Yu pried open his heavy, sticky eyelids and roughly surveyed his surroundings. In an instant, he knew exactly which way to go.

After all, he had been here far too many times.

Even with his eyes closed, muscle memory alone was enough to guide him home.

Turning around, Lin Yu walked unsteadily to the elevator.

The elevator in this complex required either a keycard or a fingerprint scan.

Lin Yu didn't have his keycard.

But his fingerprint was enough.

Because he had been an owner in this complex for years.

He verified his fingerprint with practiced ease, stepped into the elevator, and skillfully pressed the floor button.

The elevator ascended slowly, but Lin Yu could barely stand.

He leaned lightly against the elevator wall, his eyes closed, almost nodding off.

Truth be told, Lin Yu felt pretty awful.

His alcohol tolerance was nothing more than average.

He had drunk far too much today.

The excessive alcohol made his head dizzy and bloated, with a dull, throbbing pain.

And inside his body,

that familiar surge of heat swept over him again.

This time, fueled by the alcohol, the heat was even more unbearable.

Not that Lin Yu had been living a monk's life for quite a while now.

Though he had four girlfriends, which meant he should never have had to endure the same frustration as a single man,

unfortunately, all four of them had special circumstances.

So Lin Yu had no choice but to endure.

But thankfully, these physical pains and desires were buried beneath a massive wave of exhaustion.

All Lin Yu wanted now was a good night's sleep.

Those desires and pains were hidden under the mountain of fatigue,

like landmines buried in the dirt—

as long as no one stepped on them, nothing would happen...

...

"Ding."

The elevator reached the floor, and the silver doors slid apart slowly.

In the hallway,

the warm yellow lights shone brightly and softly.

The light spilled across the clean corridor, its gentle glow instinctively making one feel at ease.

Lin Yu leaned against the elevator wall, and after the doors had been open for a while, he slowly opened his eyes and realized he had arrived.

Lifting his heavy feet, he stepped out of the elevator,

and trudged toward the familiar door.

Just as Lin Yu grabbed the door handle and was about to press his thumb to the fingerprint scanner,

a violent flash of white light tore through the pitch-black darkness outside the window directly opposite the elevator.

Gazing blankly at the window, which was quickly swallowed by darkness again, Lin Yu was stunned for a moment before pulling his attention away.

Just a lightning bolt.

Nothing to make a fuss about.

His thumb pressed against the LCD screen. The fingerprint was verified, and Lin Yu stepped into the pitch-dark apartment.

He closed the door behind him without thinking.

The last sliver of light from the hallway disappeared as well.

Lin Yu didn't turn on the lights.

First, because he knew this little home too well—

so well that he was confident he could walk straight into the bedroom without a single misstep.

Second, Lin Yu truly couldn't muster the energy to move a muscle.

All he wanted was to get to his bedroom and collapse onto that soft, familiar bed.

Just sleep.

Already feeling like he could doze off standing up, Lin Yu hurried toward the bedroom.

In a matter of seconds,

he was at the bedroom door from the front door.

The bedroom door in front of him was ajar.

It was pitch-black inside.

Nothing unusual.

Just as usual.

Just as Lin Yu was about to step inside and—out of habit—pull the bedroom door shut behind him,

a loud bang suddenly exploded from behind.

"Thump!"

???

Lin Yu stopped in his tracks.

What was that sound?

His foggy consciousness jolted awake a bit from the noise.

Was it thunder?

This question surfaced in Lin Yu’s mushy, sleep-addled brain.

Before he could decide, another loud bang rang out.

"Thump!"

Not thunder.

Lin Yu furrowed his brow.

He had heard thunder before.

This sound wasn't as deep and drawn-out as thunder.

It sounded more like...

...

Someone knocking on the door?

No!

More like pounding on the door!

Once this realization hit Lin Yu, the noise outside grew frantic, beating like a drum, irritating and loud.

"Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump!"

Lin Yu's brow twisted into a deep scowl, and his anger began to flare.

Who the hell was this, at this hour?

Didn't they let people sleep?

The pounding at the door kept going, relentless, with no awareness that it was disturbing the peace.

It felt like it wouldn't stop until it got the person it wanted to see.

Lin Yu was genuinely furious now.

Damn it!

Banging on the door like this in the middle of the night!

Couldn't they let people get some rest?

Fueled by alcohol, Lin Yu turned around and decided that whoever was on the other side of that door, when he opened it, he would give them a piece of his mind.

Fuming, he stomped back to the entrance, slapped the light switch on in the hallway, and yanked the door open.

Upon seeing the person outside the door, Lin Yu's clenched fist instantly lost its strength, and he stood there dumbfounded.

The person outside looked utterly disheveled.

As if just pulled out of water.

Every inch of his clothes and every strand of his hair were drenched.

The overly long hair clung to his forehead, nearly covering his eyes.

He was also somewhat dirty, as if he had taken a hard fall on the rain-soaked ground.

But despite all this, Lin Yu recognized him at a glance.

Because Lin Yu had been searching for him for far too long.

The person outside grabbed the doorframe with one hand, and beneath the strands of hair plastered into wet strands, his ink-black eyes fixed on Lin Yu. Panting heavily, he said:

“You’re drunk.”

Hearing his words, Lin Yu frowned so hard it could kill a fly.

Lin Yu wanted to ask this guy if he had a screw loose.

Didn’t he know he was drunk himself?

He knew he was drunk, which was exactly why he came home and planned to sleep!

What was this guy doing here at this hour?

Why wasn’t he asleep at his own place, only to rush over and tell him he was drunk?

Unbelievable. This guy was so...

...

Lin Yu’s inner rant came to an abrupt halt.

Sensing a sound from elsewhere in the room, he instinctively turned his head.

There, at the entrance of the bedroom he was about to walk into to sleep, stood a woman who bore an eight-out-of-ten resemblance to Tang Manman.

She was rubbing her eyes, wearing a soft, thin robe.

Underneath, her figure was full and alluring.