Xiaohongshu Veteran of Ten Years, Reporting for Duty

Lin Yu held Tang Manman in his arms.

The realization left him utterly awestruck.

It felt as though someone had poured a packet of popping candy into his heart.

Sweet—and smug.

After their brief nap,

seeing that it was about time,

Lin Yu woke Tang Manman.

It was time to set off.

They could grab something to eat downstairs, then head to the airport to pick up Tang Qinqin. The timing was just right!

They found a restaurant downstairs at random.

They ordered three hot dishes with local flair.

Lin Yu and Tang Manman took a table by the window.

Tang Manman sat across from Lin Yu.

She looked as though she still hadn’t slept enough.

Her arms loosely hugged the white shoulder bag in her lap.

Her eyes were barely open with fatigue.

Her gaze was unfocused, blank, and adorably dazed.

Like a poor student who had stayed up until one in the morning, only to be dragged out of bed at five to go to school.

She was awake.

But not completely awake!

Looking at Tang Manman in her sleep-deprived state, Lin Yu was a little curious about why she was still so sleepy.

After all, when they had finished messing around last night, it had still been early.

There had been another five or six hours before dawn—more than enough time for her to get a proper night’s sleep.

And that morning, she had even gone back to sleep afterward.

For another two-plus hours.

So why was she still this tired?

Could it be that her true form was a little piggy who could never get enough sleep?

Or, after he had fallen asleep last night, had she secretly gone off and done something else?

Not paying much attention to that fleeting little question in the back of his mind, Lin Yu looked at Tang Manman, all dazed beneath the weight of sleepiness, and put on an injured tone.

“Tang Manman.”

“I don’t think you love me.”

From the very first sentence, Lin Yu was already putting on the act of a drama queen ready to wreak havoc.

Tang Manman was no longer sleepy when she heard that. She opened her drowsy peach-blossom eyes wide and looked at Lin Yu in confusion.

Her expression was one of complete shock, as if to ask: Whatever do you mean by that?

Lin Yu spread his hands and sighed.

“Last night.”

“I was so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open.”

“But you didn’t care about me at all.”

“You insisted on making me get up.”

“You wouldn’t let me sleep.”

“This morning, when I saw you sleeping…”

“I was going to get revenge too.”

“But you looked so peaceful sleeping there…”

“I couldn’t bear to disturb you.”

“So tell me.”

“Do you not love me?”

“At the very least…”

“Compared with me, you don’t love me enough.”

When Lin Yu started acting up, he was operating at the level of a ten-year Little Red Book veteran.

The two situations were obviously not remotely equivalent.

One had been their first time together, full of significance and ceremony—the most important night of their relationship.

The other had merely been an entirely ordinary morning.

They weren’t even things that could be compared!

Yet Lin Yu had cleverly used the simple matter of “sleeping” to drag two things of vastly unequal importance onto the same level.

Tang Manman’s little head still wasn’t entirely awake, and she was completely muddled.

Her already wide eyes grew even wider, as though he had touched upon some unknown field of knowledge.

She felt that something about this was off.

But she couldn’t figure out what, exactly, was off.

And the more she thought about it,

the more Tang Manman felt that Lin Yu actually made sense!

“No.”

“I-I love you.”

“I do love you.”

Tang Manman looked a little flustered. Leaning forward across the table, she shyly and sweetly voiced her feelings in a low voice, even though the restaurant had few customers.

Lin Yu rested an elbow on the clean tabletop, propped his face partly in one hand, and pressed down the corner of his lips.

Doing his best not to laugh.

No wonder she was a natural-born bullying magnet.

He had to admit—

it really was satisfying to tease her like this!

Having gotten his way, Lin Yu proceeded to push his luck.

Maintaining his pose, he acted as though he had truly been wounded by her supposed lack of love. Ignoring Tang Manman’s apology, he half-covered his face and fully covered his mouth as he turned to look out the window.

His eyes were sorrowful, while his lips fought back a smile.

Tang Manman saw that Lin Yu seemed genuinely upset, and she panicked.

But she had no idea how to comfort him.

Just as Tang Manman was at a loss over what to do, a rich fragrance drifted over.

A restaurant server hurried over and placed a dish of braised prawns on their table.

Tang Manman looked at the plump, reddish prawns, each one slit along its back.

Her eyes immediately lit up as though she had found a priceless treasure.

At once, she eagerly got up and moved to sit beside Lin Yu.

Without even putting on the disposable gloves, she began peeling prawns for him.

“Here.”

“Ahh~”

Tang Manman picked up a peeled prawn and thoughtfully held it to Lin Yu’s lips.

Lin Yu did not stand on ceremony. He turned and swallowed it in one bite.

But after eating her prawn, Lin Yu showed no appreciation at all.

The moment the prawn entered his mouth, he turned his head back toward the window, gazing outside with melancholy.

Really, he was just afraid he would burst out laughing.

Tang Manman lowered her head to work, as diligent as a little bee. Again and again, she cracked open the shells and fed the warm prawn meat into Lin Yu’s mouth, one bite at a time.

After feeding him six or seven prawn morsels in a row,

Tang Manman saw how happily he was eating, and finally felt a little more confident. Half-rising from her seat, she leaned close to his ear and spoke softly.

“Really.”

“I like you the most!”

Feeling her warm, damp breath brush against his ear, Lin Yu instinctively shrank his neck.

Then, realizing what Tang Manman had said, he raised an eyebrow, amused and charmed all at once.

He could not help turning to look at her.

“Really?”

Tang Manman blushed and nodded earnestly, as though it were truer than pearls.

“I don’t believe you.”

Lin Yu still hadn’t had enough fun.

So he continued playing up his act.

“It’s true!”

“It really, really is!”

Tang Manman urgently tried to make her position clear.

If her hands had not been covered in oil, she would have loved nothing more than to cling to Lin Yu while saying it!

“Fine, fine.”

“I’ll watch how you behave.”

Lin Yu waved a hand, as though graciously granting Tang Manman an opportunity to prove herself.

Even though Lin Yu was putting on airs and ordering her around like she was his underling, Tang Manman did not feel the slightest bit wronged.

Instead, her eyes sparkled as she nodded. It was as if she had been pumped full of energy, and even the speed at which she peeled prawns for Lin Yu increased.

She looked utterly adorable, as though she were saying: Husband, I’ll definitely behave myself and do my best...

There they were, Lin Yu eating prawns while Tang Manman peeled them, working together with perfect enjoyment.

But the other diners who noticed them were not nearly as happy.

Especially the young men who were still single.

Watching a girl who seemed like a moon in the heavens, so gentle and lovely, happily and devotedly feed a yellow-haired guy—

they were so furious they nearly ground their teeth to dust!