Please help

Lin Yu’s suggestion that he return to the hotel at this point certainly wasn’t because he’d eaten too much sesame sauce and gone into a carb coma, forgetting what Tang Manman had said in bed the night before.

The key was that one had to show a little restraint in situations like this!

Otherwise, if he finished the hot pot and then happily followed the three of them home, it would feel as though he were imposing on them and taking a lower place.

That would be terribly uncomfortable.

If only Tang’s mother would take the initiative to ask him to stay.

Then things would look much better.

He would go from being a lodger to being a guest. Aside from the basic courtesy of it all, he would feel much more at ease staying there!

Tang’s mother had raised two children and made her way in society all these years.

She understood these social niceties perfectly well and immediately urged Lin Yu to stay.

The idea of having Lin Yu come home with them had originally been something she and her two daughters had discussed together.

Although Tang’s mother did feel that letting Lin Yu move in was somewhat inappropriate—after all, he and Manman were only boyfriend and girlfriend, and the household consisted entirely of women—letting him stay did seem to cross a certain line.

But Tang Manman’s attitude had been firm, as though she had already decided he was the man she would spend her life with. Besides, Lin Yu truly had nowhere else to go.

When she thought about how he had accompanied Manman back all by himself, she couldn’t help feeling that it would be rather pitiful to make him spend the New Year alone in a hotel.

So Tang’s mother agreed to let Lin Yu stay at their home.

After receiving her invitation, Lin Yu immediately gave an embarrassed smile. His mouth said, “That wouldn’t be appropriate, would it?” but his backside was remarkably honest—it sat right back down on the stool.

Anyone could see that he had never genuinely intended to leave!

And so Lin Yu settled into Tang Manman’s home.

It was a three-bedroom apartment measuring a full 140 square meters, and Lin Yu was given a south-facing room.

The little nest was quite spacious.

Apart from the bed, wardrobe, and cabinets, there was still plenty of room for a computer desk. In the future, he could buy a computer and enjoy himself to his heart’s content in here!

But that was a matter for another day.

At that moment, Lin Yu lay on the soft bed and looked around the somewhat lifeless room, his heart filled with complicated emotions.

Ever since he had inexplicably arrived in this world, Lin Yu had spent most of his time alone.

But there was no denying that living by himself had its perks.

Freedom!

He could do whatever he wanted.

Still, after being free for long enough, loneliness would inevitably come knocking, its sickle in hand.

Later, after getting together with Tang Manman, the gentle way she kept him in line dispelled much of the loneliness in his heart. But a small part of it stubbornly remained.

It had taken up residence in some corner of his heart.

No matter how close Lin Yu became with Tang Manman or how much fun he had with his friends, that loneliness remained stubbornly curled up there. He could have tried prying it loose with a screwdriver, and it still would not have budged.

Whenever certain special days came around—such as the full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival or the Lantern Festival—that patch of loneliness would transform like a werewolf absorbing the essence of the full moon. It would expand wildly inside him, wreaking havoc and leaving Lin Yu sighing in solitude.

Yet after entering this room, which had not accumulated much of a lived-in atmosphere, Lin Yu could feel that the loneliness in his heart seemed to have begun loosening.

It was like a hard, dry seed placed in water. It remained hard, but it was being quietly nourished...

...

Before going to bed that night, Lin Yu deliberately set an alarm. He planned to get up early the next morning, help with the housework, and make a good impression.

But the more excited a person was to fall asleep, the more likely they were to end up wide awake.

After tossing and turning in bed and rolling over twice, it was suddenly eleven o’clock at night.

With the next day fast approaching and not the slightest hint of drowsiness, Lin Yu had no idea what else to do.

He decided to bring out his secret weapon: the airplane method of falling asleep!

That’s right.

Counting airplanes to fall asleep, which worked on the same principle as counting sheep!

But after thinking about it, Lin Yu realized something was wrong.

Damn! His girlfriend was right in the room next door. Why on earth would he need the airplane method?!

With that thought, Lin Yu picked up his phone and sent Tang Manman a message.

It was rare for Tang Manman to still be awake at this hour. She replied with a question mark.

It was her way of asking whether he was out of his mind, bothering her in the middle of the night.

Stop making trouble!

Go to sleep already!

......

In the bathroom, two figures—one tall and one short—stood together.

Tang Manman lifted her tear-bright eyes and glared at Lin Yu with a mixture of embarrassment and resentment, as if asking him, Are you ever going to stop?

Lin Yu answered with a helpless look, silently conveying: I really can’t help it!

With no other choice, Tang Manman could only continue helping him...

.....

Before midnight,

Lin Yu returned to his bedroom.

Feeling refreshed, he lay down on the bed, both body and mind completely relaxed.

Just as Lin Yu closed his eyes and prepared to fall asleep amid that blissful, weightless calm,

a soft click suddenly came from the bedroom door in the darkness.

Lin Yu opened his eyes and looked over. In the thick, ink-black darkness, he could vaguely make out the door being pushed open.

A moment later, the door closed, followed by a series of faint footsteps slowly drawing nearer.

“Manman?”

Hearing the footsteps approach, Lin Yu cautiously called out.

The shadowy figure did not answer. Lin Yu immediately frowned. Thinking that someone might have entered the wrong room, he raised his voice and asked,

“Who are you?”

“You didn’t come into the wrong room, did you?!”

“Shut up!”

The shadow finally spoke—and the voice was unmistakably Tang Manman’s.

For some reason, however, her usually soft voice was filled with irritation this time.

The reason Tang Manman was irritated was entirely Lin Yu’s fault.

She had already been so sleepy that she’d closed her eyes and prepared to go to sleep.

But that shameless Lin Yu had insisted over the phone that he couldn’t sleep and needed her help.

Tang Manman had no choice but to...

After helping him, Lin Yu had comfortably patted himself off and returned to his bedroom.

Poor Tang Manman, however, had rinsed her mouth and gone back to her own room only to toss and turn, unable to fall asleep.

In the end, Tang Manman, fuming with anger, decided to fight fire with fire.

She declared that she needed help too!

So she had crept over in the darkness, preparing to launch a nighttime raid...

...

“Hey.”

“Your little sister is sleeping in the room next door.”

“Why don’t we go to a hotel instead?”

Lin Yu pulled the covers over himself and spoke in a lowered voice.

He still wanted to play the role of a well-behaved guest during his first few days there. If anyone heard even a hint of what was going on, his reputation would be ruined!

“Qinqin sleeps like she’s dead. There’s no need to worry about her.”

Tang Manman spoke with some urgency.

“What about your mother?”

Lin Yu brought up the other person in the household.

“Mom is busy at the barbecue restaurant.”

“She usually won’t come back this early.”

Tang Manman sounded completely certain.

Tang’s mother’s barbecue restaurant really was doing very well. Otherwise, she could never have earned enough in just one year to pay the down payment on an apartment as well as purchase a storefront.

Although most of the customers who frequented the barbecue restaurant were a rough-looking bunch,

they always showed Tang’s mother an unusual amount of respect...