In the kitchen, a low flame was burning on the stove. A pleasant GURGLE GURGLE sound came from the iron pot, and the rich, fragrant aroma of fish soup drifted out from the kitchen. It smelled absolutely incredible...
On the table were four prepared dishes: hot and sour shredded potatoes, sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried kidney flowers, and pan-fried hairtail. They were all dishes Lin Li loved!
Er... no, that wasn't right. The truth was, as long as Su Yue was the one cooking, Lin Li would eat anything and everything she made. He loved it all.
GULP.
For the past two days, he'd been eating nothing but egg and shredded pork noodles or self-heating rice. Lin Li was now desperate for a normal, home-cooked meal. Seeing the table full of food, his mouth began to water, and he couldn't help but swallow hard.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and sit down! I'll go get the fish soup." Su Yue came up behind Lin Li and patted him on the shoulder.
"Oh." Lin Li nodded, quickly pulling out a chair and sitting down. Watching Su Yue's graceful figure sway as she walked slowly into the kitchen to get the soup, a thought couldn't help but pop into his head.
'Sigh, Su Yue is so beautiful and such a good cook. If only she were my girlfriend... Ugh, stop dreaming. Tons of guys are chasing after her. What chance do I have?'
Lin Li shook his head, dismissing his unrealistic fantasy. Then, he remembered something very important he'd forgotten to do.
"Su Yue, my phone's about to die. Can I borrow your charger for a bit?"
"The charger's on my nightstand in the bedroom. Go get it yourself!" Su Yue called out from the kitchen, where she was dishing out the soup.
Lin Li got up from the dining room and walked toward Su Yue's bedroom.
CLICK.
He pushed open the door to Su Yue's bedroom and walked in. A delicate, orchid-like fragrance immediately washed over him. Such a pleasant scent definitely wasn't from perfume.
Lin Li subconsciously twitched his nose a few times and reached out to turn on the light.
As the light came on, the darkness in the room was instantly dispelled.
His gaze fell on the nightstand, and he immediately saw the charger Su Yue had mentioned. Lin Li walked over to the nightstand, bent down, and picked it up.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, his eyes inadvertently glanced at Su Yue's bed. That one casual glance made him stop in his tracks.
On the white bedsheets, a few pieces of purple lace underwear were strikingly conspicuous.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP...
Just as Lin Li was frozen in a daze, he heard footsteps from outside the door.
The footsteps were a bit hurried, which indicated that their owner was in a rush.
Besides himself and Su Yue, there was no one else in the apartment. It was obvious who the footsteps belonged to.
Startled by the hurried footsteps, Lin Li quickly averted his gaze and walked toward the door, pretending that nothing was wrong.
Just as he reached the bedroom doorway, he collided with Su Yue, who was rushing into the room.
"Ah!" Su Yue, who had run right into Lin Li, let out a cry of surprise as her body tilted to the side.
Just as she was about to fall, Lin Li's reflexes kicked in. He shot out his right hand and grabbed her fair, delicate wrist as it flailed wildly.
With a slight pull, Su Yue immediately fell into Lin Li's arms.
The first collision had been too sudden for Lin Li to feel much of anything, but this intimate contact made him acutely aware of Su Yue's ample bosom.
Even a seasoned veteran couldn't withstand such an assault, let alone a complete rookie like Lin Li who had never even had a girlfriend.
To avoid embarrassing himself in front of Su Yue, Lin Li quickly placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away from his embrace.
"You scared me to death." Su Yue patted her ample chest, creating a magnificent, turbulent scene that Lin Li didn't dare to look at directly... It was too intense.
"I'm starving, I'm going to eat." Lin Li replied in a fluster, then hurried toward the dining room.
Su Yue stood where she was, watching the flustered Lin Li leave, then looked toward her bed.
The purple underwear lay conspicuously on the bed.
The moment she thought about Lin Li having just seen her underwear, the usually carefree Su Yue felt a blush creep across her fair cheeks.
...
At the dining table, Lin Li and Su Yue ate in silence. This was completely different from how they usually were when they ate together.
'Sigh, this is so awkward! Why did I run off in such a hurry just now?' Lin Li stared intently at the dishes in front of him, not daring to sneak a peek at Su Yue's expression.
'So embarrassing. I should have put my clean laundry away in the closet...' Although Su Yue felt a little shy, her reaction appeared much more composed. While eating, she was also secretly observing Lin Li.
When she saw Lin Li completely absorbed in the grand enterprise of eating, her shyness gradually faded... 'What am I so shy about? It's not like this coward would actually dare to tease me or anything, right?'
The silent atmosphere didn't last long. Once Su Yue's shyness had completely vanished, she took the initiative to break the silence.
"Lin Li, you've graduated from college now. Do you have any plans for the future?"
'Plans for the future? My plan is to hunt Mutant Beasts in the wild, feed the Magical Little Tree on the Mysterious Small Island until it's full, and have it grow one Magical Little Fruit after another.'
'Then, I'll eat those Magical Little Fruits, become a powerful Cultivator, make tons and tons of money, marry a beautiful, rich woman, and reach the Peak of my life...'
'Sigh, too bad I can't tell anyone about this grand ambition... This must be the period of forbearance a future expert has to endure before achieving success!'
As Lin Li was concentrating on his food, Su Yue's question sent a torrent of passionate words flashing through his mind.
Swallowing the food in his mouth, Lin Li turned to the beautiful and charming Su Yue and replied with an unambitious air, "Haven't really thought about it. I'll just hang around like this for now. It's not like I'll starve."
Su Yue had started renting Lin Li's place after she graduated from college, which was almost three years ago now. Over that time, various things had happened that made them not just landlord and tenant, but also very good friends.
Su Yue had known for a long time about Lin Li's desire to just laze around at home and be a carefree "salted fish."
But Su Yue didn't want to see Lin Li, at such a good age, just cooped up at home being a salted fish.
"Even though you have some savings, it's not good to just live off them until they're gone!"
'Lady! Don't talk about living off savings. I don't even have a dime to my name right now. I'm completely broke...'
Lin Li felt a bitterness he couldn't express. If Su Yue hadn't called him over for dinner just now, he wouldn't even have had a place to charge his phone.
...