Taking advantage of some free time, Lin Xinyuan opened the writer’s platform on her phone and spent nearly two hours writing.
Come to think of it, her recent laziness with updates had left the Comment Section of her novel full of complaints, with Readers all saying they were going to send her knives…
But that was just a side note. She always replied to Readers saying she’d been busy lately and just tried to brush it off.
But since it was a matter of her little earnings, Lin Xinyuan secretly resolved that tomorrow she’d definitely work hard and write more!
With that thought, she put down her phone, turned off the light, and was about to go to sleep.
But as soon as she closed her eyes, she tossed and turned for a long while. Even when she forced herself, she just couldn’t fall asleep.
“He should have gone back to the hotel by now…”
“But it’s so late, and he drank tonight. How could he possibly have made it back…”
Lying on her side in bed, the girl gazed at the Warm Light Lamp on her bedside table, her vision blurring as she mumbled to herself.
The more Lin Xinyuan thought about it, the more anxious she felt. She already couldn’t sleep, and now she was even more awake…
She sat up and leaned against the headboard, picking up her phone to call a certain someone and check how he was doing.
A busy tone rang for a moment, then the call was picked up quickly on the other end—
“Hello…”
Lin Xinyuan asked cautiously, not daring to speak too loudly. After all, it was already past eleven, and she didn’t know when her mother might come out into the hallway to check, so it was best to be careful.
“Mm… Xiaoyuan, what’s wrong? Still not asleep?”
Qin Nan Feng’s clear and gentle voice sounded in her ear, low and warm, especially alluring in the quiet night.
Hearing this familiar voice, Lin Xinyuan couldn’t help but recall what happened not long ago, and felt a little awkward, but she still forced herself to sound casual: “Brother Feng, did you… make it back to the hotel?”
At that, Qin Nan Feng gave a strangely soft laugh.
“What are you laughing at…” Lin Xinyuan was a bit confused, then mumbled under her breath, “So weird…”
Yet even as she said that, the man’s laughter didn’t stop, as if he was making fun of her.
Just as the girl was about to lose patience, Qin Nan Feng seemed to sense it and finally spoke: “I just had a drink, you know. I don’t even have a car. You’re really going to make your boyfriend go back to the hotel in the middle of the night? Heartless.”
He joked as he scolded, his tone carrying… a trace of pitifulness?
“I see…”
Lin Xinyuan felt awkward about Qin Nan Feng’s new way of addressing her, but she couldn’t really object, so she was a little embarrassed. After all, it had been her assumption.
She muttered again, “So where are you now…”
Qin Nan Feng chuckled, his tone deep and teasing: “Would you believe me if I said I’m next door to you right now.”
“Oh…”
Lin Xinyuan was a little surprised, but on second thought, it actually made sense.
After all, it was late at night, and it was normal for Grandpa to let guests stay over. Besides, this guy was… her person now…
He should be considered family, right? There’s nothing wrong with him staying over for a night…
And although she didn’t know exactly how he managed it… seeing how well Qin Nan Feng got along with her family during dinner, she was secretly happy inside. Letting Qin Nan Feng stay… was all the more reasonable.
“That’s fine then… okay, I’m going to sleep!”
After finding out where Qin Nan Feng was, Lin Xinyuan finally relaxed. She didn’t give him a chance to keep talking and immediately hung up.
Hmph!
After so many lessons, she wasn’t going to give this guy a chance to tease her! Lin Xinyuan was still very clever!
Lin Xinyuan put her hands on her hips with a proud little humph, looking quite pleased with herself.
Her heart felt a lot more at ease. She lay back down, pulled up the covers, her long eyelashes fluttering gently.
Soon, the girl drifted into dreamland…
Night in the countryside, the cold wind whistled.
Branches and leaves clashed together, the sound unending, like a melody stitched together from chaos, with no rhythm at all—
Inside the room, darkness was everywhere, save for a Warm Light Lamp on the bedside casting its gentle yellow glow over a small area.
It was like the bright moon in the black world, bestowing grateful light upon everything nearby.
It was the same for the girl sleeping soundly, letting her slip into that dreamlike world…
But in the past, she had never slept so peacefully. At least, not as deeply as tonight, for reasons she couldn’t name.
The soft light softened her features, making her look so delicate that one would want to pinch her tender cheeks.
Gradually, the corners of the girl’s lips curled into a peaceful, sweet smile…
It seemed that life was always this beautiful. For the next few days, Qin Nan Feng frequently came to the Tang family as a guest, growing ever closer to Lin Xinyuan’s family.
At the same time, as the epidemic worsened, the “Influenza” that many people hadn’t taken seriously began spreading nationwide at an unimaginable speed.
The most obvious sign was that reports about it were increasing every day.
Grandpa had already been paying close attention, and now he was even more concerned.
One afternoon at lunch, Grandpa finally brought it up to the children.
“These days, try not to go out and wander around, understand?”
Grandpa’s tone was more serious than ever, his already stern face looking even grimmer, making Lin Xinyuan and the others realize just how severe the situation was.
Since the family’s second son was in business, they had access to a lot of information, so Grandpa had heard quite a bit from him.
And his eldest son, who had a Military background but now worked somewhere else and rarely contacted the family, had even sent a rare message that morning.
His message was clear: the whole family should reduce outings as much as possible. Unless absolutely necessary, best not to go out at all…
That showed just how serious things were.
Before the most hot-tempered of the three grandchildren could speak up, Grandpa turned to his quiet granddaughter at the table: “And Xiaoyuan, isn’t Xiaofeng unable to go back to Tianbei City? That place is under lockdown.”
At that, Lin Xinyuan blinked, then nodded quickly: “Yes, Grandpa.”
“The number of cases in Tianbei City keeps climbing, the virus there is really bad. Xiaofeng definitely won’t be able to return any time soon.
“It could be a month… or even two months… So we need to be prepared! After lunch, Xiaoyuan, call him over to stay at our house. We’ve got plenty of rooms, and it’s not only a waste for him to stay in a hotel, it’s not safe either—things outside are dangerous these days!”
Hearing this, Grandma nodded in agreement: “That’s right, Xiaoyuan, after lunch, tell Xiaofeng to pack his things and come stay here.”
Lin Xinyuan didn’t know whether to be happy or anxious, but on the whole, she felt more positive…
With that in mind, she quickly said, “Okay, Grandpa, Grandma, I’ll call him after lunch.”
“That’s good. Have him come over in the next couple of days, since things in Lei City aren’t safe either.” At this, Grandpa sounded both angry and worried. “Just yesterday, some people were caught trying to sneak in from Port City along the east coast of Lei City, and two of them were suspected cases…”
He shook his head with a sigh. “Aye… Even this remote corner of Zhannan isn’t peaceful anymore…”
At these words, Tang Chengmin, who had been silent, didn’t react much—she just frowned slightly, clearly having expected this.
Tang Yayun, on the other hand, was at first worried about whether this would affect her going out to play, but then it hit her: if there was an epidemic, didn’t that mean she might get to postpone going back to school?
Thinking this, she actually started to look forward to it a little.
Clearly, at her most playful age, she didn’t really grasp the seriousness of the epidemic.
After lunch, Lin Xinyuan hurried back to her room, locked the door, and with mixed feelings of joy and worry, got ready to call a certain someone.
Just thinking about that annoying yellow-haired guy being right next door for the foreseeable future made her uncontrollably happy!
If not for this sudden outbreak, maybe after their brief parting, the two of them would have had to drag things out again, and wouldn’t have ended up together so smoothly…
But at the same time, she couldn’t help but worry about Qin Nan Feng’s family.
Although she didn’t know exactly what his family situation was… after a year and a half of knowing each other, they’d mostly gotten along well, except for those few months.
She could tell that Qin Nan Feng didn’t seem to have a very harmonious relationship with his family.
But he must still be worried about them…
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.