Passed the assessment

After a whirlwind of frantic activity,

Lin Yu leaned back against the pillows at the head of the bed, pondering some profound, almost metaphysical questions.

For example: What was the meaning of life? Did the universe truly have an edge? Would he really be reborn into this world again twelve trillion years from now?

Beside Lin Yu, Tang Manman’s thoughts were much simpler...

No.

Her mind was completely blank.

She lay limply beside Lin Yu, burying her still-flushed cheek against his well-defined lower abdomen. Her delicate shoulders rose and fell with each deep breath.

Lin Yu had proven his innocence through sheer physical effort.

At the same time, though, he had lost a few things.

His internet parents, for instance, along with certain organs belonging to his cyber-son...

“You’re coming home with me tomorrow.”

After an unknown amount of time, Tang Manman finally caught her breath. Tightening the pale lotus-root-like arms wrapped around Lin Yu’s waist, she spoke in a soft, muffled voice.

“Going to your place?”

Lin Yu’s hand, resting on Tang Manman’s shoulder, instinctively tightened. He suddenly felt like some broke, bleached-blond young man taking his heavily pregnant, sweet-natured girlfriend home to meet her parents.

“Mm-hm.”

“You don’t have anywhere to go for New Year’s anyway.”

“I’ve already talked to Mom.”

“Come spend New Year’s at my house.”

“Uh...”

“Is that really okay?”

Lin Yu awkwardly scratched his cheek and asked quietly, “There’s not much room to sleep at your place. Is it really appropriate for me, a grown man, to squeeze in there?”

Tang Manman’s family didn’t have beds—only a heated brick platform.

Three women could squeeze together well enough.

But adding a grown man like him, even if everyone had their own quilt, still felt somewhat improper.

“We won’t be sleeping at that house,” Tang Manman explained softly.

“Mom’s business has been doing well these past six months.”

“She rented a storefront and bought a three-bedroom apartment on an installment plan.”

“We’ll stay in the apartment.”

“You can help us move tomorrow.”

“Once we’re done moving, you can just move in and spend New Year’s with us.”

“Oh, I see.”

Lin Yu nodded. That did sound workable. But a moment later, he spotted a problem.

“A three-bedroom apartment for four people? How are we going to sleep?”

“Qinqin and I will probably share a room.”

Tang Manman spoke softly as she lifted her face and stared at Lin Yu. A faint blush still lingered on her flushed cheeks, and her expression was unusually serious.

“Behave yourself while you’re staying at my house.”

“Mom still doesn’t know that you and I are living together.”

“She thinks we’re only dating.”

“The wholesome, perfectly innocent kind.”

“Huh?”

Lin Yu tilted his head in surprise. Tightening his hand on Tang Manman’s shoulder, he sighed, “Your mom’s pretty innocent.”

Tang Manman didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that. Her mother was already a mother herself—how could he describe her as “innocent”?

She unhappily gave Lin Yu’s thigh a light punch, making it clear that he was not allowed to tease her mother.

“So what are we supposed to do?” Lin Yu ignored her tiny protest and began planning ahead. “Get a hotel?”

“Mm...”

Tang Manman let out a long, soft hum. Clearly, she hadn’t figured that out either.

“A hotel could work...”

As she spoke, Tang Manman seemed to realize what he was getting at. She raised her hand and thumped his leg again, puffing out her cheeks.

“It’s only for a little over a month.”

“Can’t you control yourself?”

“A month?” Lin Yu frowned, looking troubled.

“That sounds like a pretty difficult mission.”

“But it’s not impossible.”

“If I really can’t hold out, I can just take care of things a few times myself.”

???

Tang Manman lifted her face and stared at Lin Yu, three question marks practically appearing above her head.

“Oh, I meant playing more League of Legends.”

“Something to distract myself.”

Lin Yu smiled and patted Tang Manman’s shoulder, assuring her that he had no intention of taking up his old hobby again.

Tang Manman gave a delicate little snort.

Then she lay back down on Lin Yu’s lower abdomen, closed her eyes, and continued to savor the lingering warmth left behind by their intimacy...

...

Since Tang’s mother ran a barbecue restaurant, the family had a great deal of inventory, and the house was filled with all kinds of miscellaneous items.

Stacks of packing boxes neatly tied together with rope, empty beer bottles piled into beer crates to be sold for recycling, and all sorts of random odds and ends—some barely worth anything and others that could practically be called garbage—had accumulated into a small mountain.

Fortunately, Tang’s mother wasn’t the type to hoard things.

She found someone who collected recyclable junk and sold off most of what they didn’t need for a small sum, taking only the more useful items to the new home.

Lin Yu didn’t do much heavy lifting during the move.

Tang’s mother had specifically hired professional movers to handle the large pieces of furniture. Lin Yu only needed to lend a hand now and then whenever extra manpower was required.

He had a wonderfully easy time slacking off.

Of course, there was someone enjoying herself even more.

Holding a cup of fresh orange juice, Tang Qinqin acted like an evil manager, bossing everyone beneath her around.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have many people under her command.

She certainly didn’t dare order her mother around, and she couldn’t bear to order her sister around either. Tang Qinqin had been closest to her sister since childhood!

The two movers were fair game, but out of politeness—and following the basic principle that outsiders shouldn’t interfere in a professional’s work—Tang Qinqin didn’t feel comfortable directing the two uncles.

That left only one person under her command!

“Lin Yu!”

“Go collect the stools in the living room and stack them together.”

“And the little stools in the courtyard.”

“Put everything together and load it onto the truck!”

“Lin Yu!”

“Gather all the bowls and put them in the dish cabinet. Be careful—don’t break any!”

“Oh.”

“Oh, right!”

“And the medicine box in the inner room. Take that to the truck too!”

Lin Yu gritted his teeth. After being ordered around until he was nearly dizzy, he glared angrily at Tang Qinqin.

But for the sake of winning his future mother-in-law’s approval, Lin Yu could only temporarily transform himself from this girl’s brother-in-law into her grandson and begin angrily sorting through the miscellaneous items.

Fortunately, Tang’s mother soon finished negotiating a price with the man collecting the junk outside.

She made her way through the narrow corridor, barely wide enough for two people to pass, and immediately stopped Tang Qinqin’s abuse of borrowed authority when she saw how Lin Yu was being ordered around.

She made Qinqin help carry some of the lighter items as well.

The grand moving operation finally came to an end after six hours.

The new residential complex had an elevator, which made carrying everything much easier.

After such prolonged physical labor, of course, came a lavish celebratory meal!

The group found an affordable hotpot restaurant with good value for money and happily stuffed themselves.

Time passed along with the billowing steam. As the meal drew to a close, Lin Yu quietly settled the bill.

When he returned to the table, he looked at the three members of the mother-daughter family seated together, their features bearing varying degrees of resemblance.

He wore a polite, perfectly proper smile.

“Auntie, since we’ve finished everything here...”

“I’ll head back to the hotel first, okay?”