The elderly woman chatted with Ye Mengfu and Lin Yu for a long time.
Although Lin Yu did most of the talking throughout, Ye Mengfu only occasionally chimed in with a word or two.
When elderly villagers encounter familiar faces returning home, especially the children of old acquaintances, they tend to be exceptionally warm and welcoming.
After repeatedly declining the old woman's invitations, the two finally bid her farewell.
Only after she left did Ye Mengfu lead Lin Yu to the "backstreet."
The area they had been wandering around earlier belonged to the village's main street.
The place where little Fufu (Ye Mengfu) had lived as a child was located near the peach orchard at the back of the village—the backstreet.
As she described it, Lin Yu’s mind conjured up an image of an old house overgrown with weeds.
After so many years of neglect, the grass might have grown as tall as a person.
However.
When the two arrived in front of a slightly rusted red gate, Ye Mengfu came to a stop and pulled a set of keys from her backpack.
"This… this is it. My home."
Lin Yu looked around in mild surprise.
Overgrown with weeds? Where?
There wasn’t a single weed in sight!
Even the lock was new, and the surroundings were neat and tidy, as if someone visited frequently.
Would Fufu’s parents suddenly appear once the door was unlocked?
After turning the key, Ye Mengfu stepped aside and gestured for Lin Yu to enter first.
Stepping into the small courtyard, Lin Yu felt as if he had stumbled into a "hidden paradise."
The pathway inside was paved with stone bricks.
The courtyard’s soil was neatly divided into sections, each growing cucumbers, peppers, gourd vines, and… luffa? Bitter melon?
Since they weren’t fully grown yet, even Lin Yu, a village boy, couldn’t identify some of them.
So this wasn’t an abandoned old house after all!
The orderly arrangement of vegetables, cultivated for leisure, clearly showed that someone tended to them regularly.
"Fufu, did your parents plant all these?"
"Such a lively touch! They’re so well cared for."
Lin Yu couldn’t help but marvel.
Then.
Ye Mengfu latched the gate behind them, clasped her hands behind her back, and said:
"It’s my mom… just her."
Lin Yu froze.
Fufu’s mom—alone.
Emphasizing "just her" didn’t bode well.
If Fufu didn’t want to explain further, Lin Yu naturally wouldn’t pry.
He’d find out when the time was right.
Pretending not to have noticed, Lin Yu continued:
"Ah, so it’s your mom! She’s amazing, keeping everything so well-organized!"
"And she grows so many things—does she come back often?"
Ye Mengfu added softly:
"Mm, she was here just yesterday. The left side… is my mom’s planting."
Lin Yu: "Then the right side is… yours?"
Ye Mengfu shook her head.
Slowly, she explained:
"The right… is my dad’s. They’re… competing."
Lin Yu’s smile stiffened: "…"
What the—?
Could she not pause like that mid-sentence?!
From her earlier words, Lin Yu had already conjured up all sorts of dramatic scenarios!
Turns out, not only were her parents happily together, but they were also competing in gardening, living some idyllic life?
Just as Lin Yu was internally facepalming.
Little Fufu lowered her head and murmured:
"Did you… think my parents weren’t together anymore?"
"Just… kidding."
Lin Yu: "!!!"
Just kidding…
So?
Fufu had deliberately phrased it ambiguously!
She wanted Lin Yu to misunderstand.
Only to reveal it was all a joke.
I see…
Even socially anxious girls crack jokes!
It’s just.
Their humor isn’t something everyone can keep up with.
That said.
If she hadn’t fully accepted Lin Yu as part of her world.
Would she even joke with him?
Even if this one was downright diabolical!
Watching Lin Yu flounder in awkwardness.
Ye Mengfu’s face burned red as she whispered:
"N-never mind…"
"Let me… show you around inside…"
In the life of someone socially anxious, mustering the courage to crack a joke—to deliver a punchline—was rare.
And yet!
The punchline fell flat?
For Ye Mengfu, this was catastrophic.
But as she moved past Lin Yu.
Lin Yu reached out and pulled her into a side hug.
Before she could slip away.
He tightened his grip, trapping her against him.
Ye Mengfu: "???"
The next moment.
Ye Mengfu felt a pinch on her nose.
Realizing Lin Yu had flicked it lightly.
"You little troublemaker!"
"Since when did you get so bold, huh?"
"Scaring me like that—I really thought your parents had split!"
"Pinching your nose this time, but next time it’s your butt!"
"See if you dare tease me again, tsk tsk!"
[Ding!]
[Masterful move! The playful banter between the Saint and his Dao Companion deepens her affection for him!]
[Reward: 50 Spirit Stones.]
Ye Mengfu covered her nose, trapped in Lin Yu’s scolding embrace.
She quickly pleaded:
"W-won’t do it again, sorry."
But her barely suppressed smile betrayed her true feelings.
So she could joke with someone—she could joke with Lin Yu!
After a light swat on her backside, Lin Yu finally let her go.
Then.
He took the keys from her hand, examining them:
"Is this the one for the house?"
"As punishment, I’m commandeering your home now!"
Ye Mengfu’s smile only widened as she whispered:
"Okay."
Lin Yu took a sharp breath: "!!!"
Gah!
That "okay"—so unbearably sweet!
It seeped straight into his bones, melting him on the spot.
No, no—must resist the urge to "commandeer" things further.
This was supposed to be a proper date.
Couldn’t jump straight to bedtime antics!
Otherwise.
Every time Fufu thought of him, it’d just be… in and out, out and in—nothing else!
To truly win a girl’s heart, you had to create sweet memories together.
Not just focus on the… sweaty ones.
Lin Yu unlocked the house door.
Inside was sparse—a pool table covered with a green dust cloth, a few chairs, and two wooden sofas.
No extra furniture or unnecessary clutter.
This, at least, looked untouched.
But it was clear.
Fufu’s parents were people who knew how to enjoy life.
Installing a pool table in their old home?
On the windowsill nearby sat a red scoring board.
Red: 20, Blue: 15!
No dust on the board—someone must play often.
"A pool table too?! Do both your parents play?"
"This is the dream life—color me jealous!"
Lin Yu couldn’t help but gush.
Ye Mengfu replied gently:
"My mom doesn’t."
(Second update for today! There’ll be an extra chapter later—not too late!)
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
