Firefly Journey

Lin Yuanran was very nervous, even more nervous than when facing the Titan.

Wind chimes, on the other hand, are quite the opposite of him.

She squinted: "It seems you planned this all along."

Now that everything was out in the open, Lin Yuanran stopped pretending and straightened his back.

"Don't you think I'm too scheming...?"

Fengling smiled and said, "No, I just think you're really good at holding your breath. You'd definitely win the breath-holding contest."

If liking someone is considered scheming, then I'm probably even more scheming than you.

Lin Yuanran felt somewhat embarrassed and asked, "Then... when did you start liking me?"

Lin Yuanran was somewhat smug. Although Fengling's previous behavior indicated that she liked him, she hadn't explicitly said so.

Now that she's saying it herself, besides ecstasy and excitement, she feels a sense of accomplishment. Nothing is more fulfilling than someone you like liking you back.

It feels like playing a gacha game. You keep saving up gacha tickets for the card you want most, and when you finally have enough to draw, you win it on your first try.

Wind Chime tilted her head: "I don't know, maybe it was when I was bored in the temple, or maybe it was earlier, who knows."

Love arises without warning, but by the time you realize it, it's already buried deep in your heart; there's really no answer to this question.

Lin Yuanran looked at the moon in the sky, feeling the warmth from his palm, and asked cautiously, "So... are you going back to school today?"

“I’m not going back. I’m not used to living there,” Fengling said. “Didn’t you say that you rented a house outside to avoid people from cultivating? You just invited me, so let’s do it today.”

Lin Yuanran said blankly, "Uh, my place is indeed quite big. If you're going to stay there tonight, I'll help you move your luggage tomorrow."

Although being confessed to first by the girl made him feel slightly frustrated, the thought of their future relationship made him realize that the frustration was insignificant.

If we become a couple in the future...would offering to help her with her luggage increase her affection for me?

Thinking of this, Lin Yuanran couldn't help but hum a soft song.

He was in a good mood, but he forgot one thing.

Wind Chime looked at him with amusement: "I have 'Venus,' so I don't need your help with the luggage; it's all in here."

Feng Ling gently twirled the bells at her waist with her other hand.

The singing stopped, leaving only awkward silence. Fengling said, "We can't spend the night in the park, can we? Take me back."

Lin Yuanran quickly said "Oh," then took Feng Ling's hand and headed towards their residence.

Fengling wasn't short, only a head shorter than Lin Yuanran, but her hands were much smaller than Lin Yuanran's. Because Lin Yuanran was leading the way, she was half a body length behind, and from this angle, she could freely observe everything about Lin Yuanran.

The wind chime thought of a similar scene.

That was when she was a child, on her first day of kindergarten. Her father held her hand and painted a picture of a wonderful kindergarten for her, saying that it would be a lot of fun, with kind teachers, equally lovely classmates, and games to play together, in an attempt to ease her resistance.

To be fair, Fengling didn't really hate going to school, because she could grasp the material quickly and spent the rest of her time daydreaming.

Now, the person holding my hand and walking in front of me is still a man, but no longer my father, but someone I can weather the storm with.

Their moods shifted—Lin Yuanran was the one who felt uneasy, as if he was still immersed in the confession he had just received and hadn't quite recovered.

Feng Ling, on the other hand, felt like an old father, and seeing Lin Yuanran looking slightly uneasy, she couldn't be happier.

Even the longest road has an end. The two of them did not use any divine oracle, but the time it took to return to Lin Yuanran's residence felt incredibly fast.

Just as he was about to open the door, Lin Yuanran finally let go of the warm little hand and opened the door with a serious expression.

Turning on the lights, the environment is quite nice, a typical three-bedroom, one-living room apartment.

There are actually cheaper and more affordable rental apartments near the school, but what Lin Yuanran is going to do is something "shady" and cannot be shared with others, otherwise it will be very troublesome to explain later.

He hasn't started earning money yet, and renting such a suite is a huge expense for him, but he won't tell Fengling that.

At first, the two weren't familiar with each other, so naturally, they would ask for rent. But now... Lin Yuanran automatically put himself in the mindset of earning money to support his family, so how could he still charge for the wind chimes?

She didn't offer the wind chimes either. For her, the rent was a minor issue; she had to consider her awkward boyfriend's pride.

"Are you hungry?" Lin Yuanran asked, turning his head.

Uh oh, it's that line again.

This time, Fengling nodded.

She said she was going to a dinner party, but the moment she saw Lin Yuanran, she forgot everything else. She hadn't eaten anything since they met and was really hungry.

"Do you want to do it yourself?" Fengling asked as she sat down on the sofa.

Lin Yuanran just wanted to find a topic to talk about, but he didn't expect Fengling to take the bait, so he had no choice but to go along with it.

"Well, all we have in the kitchen are noodles. If you don't want to settle for that, I can order takeout."

"It's okay, the noodles are fine."

With a spatial storage artifact like "Venus" inside, how could there not be some leftover food? But for Fengling at this moment, all she wanted was to be closer to him, so even if it was just boiled noodles, she would swallow it and then praise his cooking skills.

"Then wait a moment." Lin Yuanran happily went into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, he came out carrying a bowl of noodles that looked quite appetizing.

The noodles and soup in the bowl were unusually light, probably without any strange seasonings. There were scallions on top as a garnish, which was one of the few decorations.

Fengling took a small bite; the taste was very bland, not exactly unpalatable, but definitely not delicious either.

"It seems slightly lacking compared to your stewed lamb with potatoes and fish."

"Do you want to eat lamb and fish?" Lin Yuanran asked.

Feng Ling had only said it casually, but she didn't expect him to ask that question. After thinking for a moment, she replied, "It's been so long since I've had anything you made. Anything is fine."

Lin Yuanran's face visibly turned red again.

He looked out the floor-to-ceiling window: "Well... just tell me what you want to eat. You should use this time to master the art of puppet control."

"Ah."

After giving a soft reply, Fengling fell silent and slowly ate the noodles in her bowl.

After a while, only a little soup remained in the bowl.

They said goodnight to each other and went to different rooms.

……

Lin Yuanran lay in bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

In a single day, the person he had been longing for suddenly appeared, then suddenly came home with him, and is now right next door. Such a wonderful thing happened to him, and Lin Yuanran felt like he was dreaming.

But that's exactly what happened.

Suddenly, Lin Yuanran rolled over on the bed twice, then buried his head in the pillow.

Looking back on his performance today, he felt extremely ashamed.

There were so many things to say, so why did you choose the worst one in the end?

He felt it was an unexpected stroke of good luck, which caused him to be overly shy.

He made up his mind that he absolutely could not continue like this from tomorrow onwards, and that he had to return to the way he and Fengling used to get along.