Chapter 22

Lin Si reluctantly followed Lu Wei’s movements and turned his head, just in time to see Lu Wei effortlessly lay his suitcase flat with one hand.

Before the suitcase was even opened, Lin Si unhappily walked away.

He had already promised not to reveal Lu Wei’s secret, so why was he still being so fierce?

If he wasn’t interested, then fine, because Lin Si didn’t find Lu Wei attractive either.

Stuffed with annoyance, Lin Si walked out of the room and called out to Li Lifang, “Aunt Li, it’s done.” Feeling a little embarrassed for keeping her waiting, he quickly moved her shoes to the side. “Aunt Li, I’ll clean my own room. No need to trouble yourself.”

Li Lifang’s professionalism exceeded Lin Si’s expectations. She didn’t show any unusual reaction and simply replied, “Alright, Mr. Lin.”

Lin Si nodded and returned to his room. Just before closing the door, he glanced at Lu Wei through the narrowing gap.

Lu Wei bent over and pulled clothes out of the suitcase. His fingers were long and well-defined, with a proportion as pleasing as his figure.

As Lin Si shut the door, a sudden thought popped into his head: if Y’s fingers looked that good, would his physique also be just as impressive?

He opened the Bubble app and searched for Y’s profile. Height: 189 cm.

Without hesitation, Lin Si sent Y a message, asking: [How tall are you?]

Coincidentally, Y was free and replied almost instantly: [191 cm.]

Lin Si’s eyes widened. Even taller than 189!

Lin Si: [Is your profile information incorrect?]
Y: [Everything except my age is inaccurate.]

Lin Si chuckled, thinking Lu Wei might also be around 190 cm. Comparing the two, he typed: [You’re so tall! I must be half a head or maybe even a full head shorter than you…]
Y: [That’s still plenty tall.]

Lin Si: [Thank you for the compliment.]

He dragged the little virtual ball and gave Y a playful nudge.

“Meow~ Wang Le Ai stretched lazily toward Y.”

On the screen, Lin Si’s little avatar was dressed in a festive red outfit, a recent purchase from a Bubble app event. It was hard to imagine that someone like him, a self-proclaimed gaming disaster who only played casual games like Dream Town, would actually spend money on in-app purchases.

He messaged Y: [Did you know, you now need to upload a photo of yourself holding your ID to keep using Bubble? It feels so strict.]

Y paused for about half a minute before replying: [Some people need official protection.]

Lin Si: [True. Someone once told me they were worried about scams and how some naïve people might fall for them.]

Y: [You’re right, some naïve ones do.]

Feeling smug about his own cleverness, Lin Si added: [By the way, I saw that Bubble’s virtual glasses are now available, and there’s a discount if you buy them during the Spring Festival.]

Y: [I know.]

Lin Si: [Are you going to buy them?]

Y: [No.]

Lin Si’s eyes darted mischievously: [Can you take a call right now?]

Y didn’t reply in text but immediately initiated a voice call.

“Hmm?” Y’s voice was low and restrained, with a slight pressure behind it.

For a moment, Lin Si was dazed. It felt as though Y’s voice overlapped with Lu Wei’s in his mind.

If he were to describe their voices using a coordinate system, Y’s voice was like a sine curve—rising and falling with emotion—while Lu Wei’s voice was the X-axis: flat, steady, and devoid of feeling.

Unless, of course, Lin Si had successfully irritated him.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Y’s tone rose slightly, warm and human.

Lin Si immediately felt the difference and decided Y was nothing like Lu Wei. In fact, in his heart, he smugly concluded that Y was better than Lu Wei.

“Oh, nothing,” Lin Si replied hastily.

Y fell silent for a moment before saying, “Your voice really does sound a lot like Lin Si’s.”

Lin Si coughed nervously.

He had forgotten to turn on his voice changer!

Since he couldn’t mimic the software’s artificial tone, he softened his voice and deliberately imitated the cutesy, high-pitched voices often heard in videos: “How could Lin Si be as cute as me?”

Sigh, I’m so clever that I’m even roasting myself, he thought.

“……” Y remained silent as expected.

Lin Si burst into laughter for a good while. Taking advantage of the pause, he quickly turned on the voice changer while continuing to tease Y. In a pitiful tone, he said, “You’re not saying anything. Looks like you don’t like me and prefer Lin Si instead.”

Y: “No.”

Lin Si wasn’t sure which part Y was denying, but he chose to interpret it as Y rejecting the idea of “not liking me,” which essentially meant Y did like him.

That’s what mutual affection felt like, right?

Even if they weren’t in a relationship yet, they were already on the path to one.

Lin Si squinted his eyes, smiling with satisfaction.

Once the voice changer was set up, Lin Si coughed lightly and resumed speaking in his normal voice, now brimming with joy. “So that means you like me more, right?”

“I prefer your current voice,” Y replied ambiguously.

Lin Si grinned foolishly. “Maybe it’s just my voice in calls. But it’s fine; everyone says I sound like Lin Si anyway.”

“Hmm.” Y, who had almost uncovered Lin Si’s true identity, finally remembered the main point of their conversation. “Why did you call me?”

“Wasn’t it you who called me first?” Lin Si said smugly. “This is the first call you’ve ever made to me!”

His proud tone made Y chuckle softly on the other end. “Alright, so what’s the matter?”

“It’s about those glasses,” Lin Si said, adjusting his position to sit cross-legged on the bed. “I want to try out that virtual world. Wanna join me?”

“You can go by yourself,” Y said. “Once you buy the glasses, you can access the virtual world. There’s no restriction.”

Lin Si took on the role of a persuasive speaker. “But so many features in there are only available for couples. For example, that villa I’ve been eyeing—you can only apply for it as a couple. If you’re single, you can only rent a small room. And without someone familiar to explore with, it’ll be so lonely. Such a huge city… and I’d be all alone…”

Y chuckled softly again, a restrained kind of laugh that made Lin Si’s heart itch.

“Stop laughing! I really want to go,” Lin Si said earnestly. “I haven’t matched with anyone on this app, so I really don’t have a partner.”

Y seemed to have no resistance to Lin Si’s whining, and he also felt a twinge of guilt for blocking Lin Si’s potential matches.

With a light sigh, Y said, “But I don’t have the time to play with you. That virtual world is like The Sims—it requires effort to manage.”

Lin Si clenched his fist, determined. “That’s fine! I’m really good at these kinds of games. You can just relax while I get you a house and a car.”

“You’re sure you want me to play with you?” Y asked.

“You’re the only one I can play with,” Lin Si pleaded, then reassured Y, “I’ll take care of the outside world, and you can manage the inside. We’ll definitely become the best players in the virtual world.”

The words were so childish that Y couldn’t stop his low chuckles. “Alright.”

Lin Si immediately slapped his blanket excitedly. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re the best!”

Y paused briefly before saying, “Go buy the glasses, then.”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!”

After hanging up, Lin Si wasted no time placing an order for the glasses in the Bubble store. While filling out the address, he suddenly realized he’d forgotten the apartment number.

He opened his door to check and happened to catch Lu Wei crouching by the wardrobe near the entrance, talking on the phone.

“…Send the glasses to the office,” Lu Wei said, finishing his sentence.

Lin Si froze for a moment, turning back to glance at Lu Wei. Lu Wei ended his call just as Lin Si blocked his path.

“What’s wrong?”

Lin Si shook off the fleeting, mistaken thought. How could he have even entertained the idea that Lu Wei and Y were the same person? Impossible.

“Nothing,” Lin Si said. Without making way for Lu Wei, he turned around, checked the apartment number, and walked past him without a word. As he passed, he closed the door with a definitive click.

Just as he was about to call Y again, Liao Ji’s number popped up.

“After the New Year, there’s going to be a livestream for ‘Missing You 66’ at the set,” Liao Ji said. “Keep an eye on it.”

“I didn’t hear anything about this livestream. Why the sudden notice?” Lin Si asked.

“They just confirmed it today. Oh, and I bought you red envelopes and stuffed money in them. Transfer me the amount back, and you’d better send more, not less,” Liao Ji said.

This was a tradition in Beicheng: on the first day of work after the New Year, the boss handed out red envelopes. While Lin Si wasn’t a boss, the team assigned to him would expect it, and if he ran into colleagues, he’d have to give them envelopes too.

Lin Si laughed over the phone. “Which one of us is stingier, huh?”

“I don’t know, maybe the guy who gave me a red envelope and used a housewarming party as an excuse to take it back the next day,” Liao Ji retorted. “By the way, how’s Xijiang?”

Lin Si glanced toward the door and pouted. “Lu Wei moved in too, and on the first day, we… had a fight.”

“What did you argue about?”

“I slipped up and mentioned Deng Tian. Turns out she’s now his former sugar baby,” Lin Si said. “He got really mad.”

Liao Ji sighed on the other end, then lectured him about being cautious. “You’re in a delicate situation right now. Lu Wei is technically your boss, and you’re under his roof. Plus, you’re relying on his pheromones—so keep your head down.”

“Got it, got it,” Lin Si dismissed impatiently. “I’m going to eat now. Bye.”

There were still some groceries left from yesterday in the fridge. When Lin Si stepped out, Li Lifang had already gone. Perhaps since it was the first day, Lu Wei hadn’t asked her to cook dinner.

Lin Si wasn’t very hungry, so he decided to cook some noodles. While waiting for the water to boil, he casually watched dance videos on his phone and mimicked the moves in small gestures.

Lin Si smoothly turned on the beat, striking what he thought was a very cool pose before lifting his head to face forward, preparing for his dramatic ending.

And then—!

Lu Wei was standing by the sofa!

Startled, Lin Si quickly retracted his arms and legs, clutching the edge of the counter for support. He took a few deep breaths, blinking to confirm that it was indeed Lu Wei and not some creepy shadowy figure.

Lu Wei, however, was staring at him with an expression that clearly said, Are you an idiot?

After calming down, Lin Si shouted across the distance, “Why do you always show up without a sound? Standing there all dark and shadowy—it’s terrifying, you know that?!”

Lu Wei had changed into a black turtleneck sweater paired with linen-gray pants, looking effortlessly refined and tall.

If Lin Si hadn’t been so startled just now, he might’ve silently admitted that Lu Wei’s model-like physique deserved some praise.

But Lu Wei seemed entirely unaffected by Lin Si’s complaint about his “shadowy presence.” He simply stated, “Your music was too loud.”

Lin Si wanted to snap back, but remembering Liao Ji’s stern warning, he forced himself to swallow his words. Instead, he turned around and focused on adding noodles to the boiling pot.

Lu Wei, on the other hand, settled down in the living room, turned on the TV, and started watching financial news.

For a brief moment, peace reigned in the apartment.

When the noodles were done, Lin Si glanced toward the living room. Yesterday, with Lu Wei absent, he had happily sat cross-legged by the coffee table to eat. But now, with Lu Wei claiming the space, Lin Si reluctantly carried his bowl to the dining table instead.

The clink of the porcelain bowl on the tabletop caught Lu Wei’s attention. He turned his head, glancing at Lin Si.

Feeling his gaze, Lin Si looked back and, for some reason, blurted out, “Do you want some?”

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Author’s Note:
Lu Wei: Dream on.

The big reveal is coming soon… just a few more chapters!

T/n: New chapter is up 🥳🎈. If you want to support me buy me a Ko-Fi or go to my paypal page. Happy Reading 😀🎉.