Chapter 325: I have to take Lin Xiuyuan home!!!

While Kim Taeyeon was asking everyone about Lin Xiuyuan's situation in the apartment—

Over at the tavern, the Lin Xiuyuan who had been named was currently fully immersed in an intense gaming battle with Sunny, their back-and-forth shouting filling the entire tavern.

"Hey! Li Sunkyu! Lee Sunny! Is it really okay for you to play dirty like this? My hands are about to be shaken apart by you!"

Lin Xiuyuan shouted at Sunny, who was practically pouncing on his controller, while he tried his best to maneuver his character to dodge.

Just because this gaming girl had lost several rounds to him in a row, she had resorted to physical interference since she couldn't win online.

"I'm not playing dirty! Who told you not to wait for me to get ready!"

Sunny, being teased, began her own rebuttal with righteous indignation, her hands not stopping as she continued trying to press the buttons on Lin Xiuyuan's controller.

"It's not that I didn't wait! You didn't even shout 'start', and you just attacked me by surprise. How can this be? Rematch, rematch."

"???"

Lin Xiuyuan, who was left speechless by her twisted logic, glanced at her. "Wow, Li Sunkyu, do you even hear what you're saying? The game ends the countdown and starts automatically; does it need someone to shout? And you were the one who pressed 'ready' just now."

"I don't care! My hand slipped!"

As a woman, Sunny began her unreasonable pestering, her small face full of obsession with victory. "And you must play this often, so your proficiency must be higher than mine, since I only play occasionally. This isn't fair; you have to let me win."

"???"

Lin Xiuyuan was completely speechless now. He could only try his best to resist her physical and logical attacks while attempting to complete his character's combo. "Are you crazy? This game just came out; how could I play it often? This is my first time playing it too."

"I don't care."

"Then let's not play."

"No."

"Then let's be fair."

On the sofa nearby, Kim Taeyeon and Zheng Xiuyan watched the two of them bickering like children, their eyes curving into crescents with laughter, temporarily casting aside those complex thoughts and enjoying this rare moment of relaxation.

Time slipped away quietly, and it was now evening.

The setting sun outside the tavern slanted in through the glass windows, casting a warm, soft hue over the interior.

Having been clinging to Lin Xiuyuan since waking up early that morning until noon, and only having eaten two or three fried dumplings to pad her stomach, Zheng Xiuyan's stomach finally began to protest strongly.

"Gurgle~~~"

A clear and lingering sound of hunger rang out abruptly in the gap between the game sound effects and their bickering.

Hmm, save it first just in case, or rather, keep it as a memento.

Zheng Xiuyan touched her flat abdomen, her cheeks flushing slightly. "I drank a lot, but didn't eat much."

"Then should we go eat now?" Kim Taeyeon suggested.

Zheng Xiuyan touched her stomach; the intense hunger was real.

But thinking that Lin Xiaolu and Lin Yun'er might still be talking upstairs in the apartment, she shook her head lightly. "Let's wait a while longer. Although I'm a bit hungry, I can endure it."

Although their conversation wasn't loud, it was still captured by Lin Xiuyuan's sharp ears.

So, taking advantage of the countdown after his character died, he turned to Zheng Xiuyan and shouted, "Xiuyan, there seem to be some snacks in the cabinet under the bar counter; you should pad your stomach with those first."

Hearing this, Zheng Xiuyan's eyes lit up, and she immediately stood up and walked over.

She went behind the bar, crouched down to check, and sure enough, found some individually packaged cookies and a few bags of mixed nuts and dried fruits, and even a few bags of beef jerky in the storage cabinet.

Although the tavern hadn't been officially open for business for a while, it didn't mean that no one came to clean and replenish basic guest supplies regularly.

As the agents for the taverns in both time-spaces, Xueli on this side and Zheng Xiujing on the other were very conscientious and attentive in this regard.

Just as Zheng Xiuyan was eating cookies to relieve her hunger, the phone she had placed on the bar counter suddenly vibrated, the screen lit up, and the caller ID was Lin Xiaolu.

Glancing at the screen, she immediately swallowed the cookie in her mouth and answered, "Hello, YoonA, what's up?"

"Unnie~" Lin Xiaolu's voice came from the other end of the phone. "Can you help me call Xiuyuan up? I have something to find him for."

Zheng Xiuyan, hearing this, turned to look at Lin Xiuyuan, who was currently accepting a new round of complaints from Sunny on the sofa. "Is it urgent? If not, can you wait until he finishes this game?"

"It's not urgent, just come up in a while," Lin Xiaolu's voice replied.

"Got it," Zheng Xiuyan replied, then hung up the phone.

She then continued to sit on the sofa eating cookies, watching Lin Xiuyuan operate his character with skillful techniques, KO-ing Sunny's character to the ground again with a beautiful combo.

Then the word "WINNER" popped up on the screen.

Only then did Zheng Xiuyan speak. "Xiuyuan, you heard the phone call just now, right?"

"Yeah, I heard it." Lin Xiuyuan put down the controller, let out a long sigh, stood up, and said to Sunny, who was still unsatisfied and wanted to continue, "Not playing anymore, YoonA is looking for me, I have to go up."

"Ah————"

Sunny, whose desire to win had just been thoroughly aroused, let out a disappointed wail, her small face collapsing. "Why is that? I just found the feeling————"

But she still knew the priorities; since Lin Xiaolu had specifically called, it must be important.

So she could only watch helplessly as Lin Xiuyuan and Kim Taeyeon walked toward the tavern entrance and disappeared inside.

Then, she cast a resentful look at Zheng Xiuyan, who was still leisurely eating cookies, and muttered gloomily.

"No, Xiuyan, you guys are really taking turns to replace me. First Taeyeon went up, then Xiaolu went out, and now Xiuyuan and Taeyeon are going up. What kind of heaven-defying secret is there that I can't know? Xiuyan, Sica~ just tell me!"

Sunny, who couldn't take it anymore, began to use her aegyo and pestering tactics.

However, Zheng Xiuyan was not someone else. Looking at her curious-to-the-point-of-exploding appearance, she just elegantly wiped the cookie crumbs from the corner of her mouth and revealed a mysterious smile.

Then she spat out two words: "Secret."

Sunny: "Hey!!!"

Ten minutes later.

Inside the apartment.

Lin Xiuyuan, who had just come in with Kim Taeyeon, was pulled aside by Kim Taeyeon, who then began to tell him about some things she had called him up for.

However, after hearing Kim Taeyeon's sincere plea filled with tears, Lin Xiuyuan did not immediately answer yes or no.

Instead, his brows furrowed slightly, and his face revealed a look of contemplation and weighing.

He subconsciously turned his gaze to Kim Taeyeon, who was standing beside him.

Because, to achieve the request Kim Taeyeon had mentioned, there was a key person involved, as well as key steps.

And Kim Taeyeon, who had been sitting on the side listening to the whole thing, also had a somewhat conflicted expression, fully explaining the tricky nature of Kim Taeyeon's request just now.

She looked at the tearful Kim Taeyeon, feeling somewhat mixed emotions in her heart.

Actually, she couldn't really understand the other person's longing and expectation for her father, because she possessed it herself now and couldn't feel too many complex emotions.

But setting aside the lack of understanding, even if she were willing to help, it was still a bit troublesome to implement.

Thinking of this, Kim Taeyeon spoke up. "No, what are you doing going back to my room?"

Following that, she scratched her hair, her tone somewhat troubled and helpless. "You know, it's really impossible to let Appa see you here; everyone knows that. Setting that aside, even if you stay in the room, you won't see Appa, so what's the point of going back to the room in the past?"

Kim Taeyeon tried to find the unreasonableness of this request from a logical perspective to alleviate the pressure of whether she should agree or not.

In response, Kim Taeyeon's appeal was exceptionally simple and pure, carrying a heart-breaking persistence. "I just want to hear the sound of Appa calling me for dinner one more time, not through the phone, but the real, live kind."

At the moment when the tears slid down her eye sockets, her voice became firmer and clearer. "In that house, in that space. Even if it's through the door, the feeling is different. The sound on the phone and the sound echoing in the house are different."

These words made everyone in the room fall silent instantly.

Among them, Zheng Xiujing actually understood this emotion the best.

And although Kim Taeyeon couldn't fully empathize with the heart-cutting pain of losing a father, hearing this explanation and imagining the other self cherishing and longing for an ordinary instruction from her father so much, her heart also trembled violently, as if it were being gripped by an invisible hand.

She also felt a headache and a sense of softness in her heart.

So she scratched her hair hard again, her brows locked tight. "It's not that I'm unwilling to help you, Taeyeon, really, I can understand your mood."

She called her own name for the first time to show her seriousness to the other party.

"It's just that this idea of yours is really troublesome to operate. Because according to the situation Lin Xiuyuan mentioned before, he needs to personally go into my room, right? That's the only way to mark it, or establish some kind of connection?"

By the end, she was looking at Lin Xiuyuan, asking in a tone of seeking verification.

Lin Xiuyuan nodded lightly. "Based on the current information, it does require such on-site marking. At least I need to have stayed in that space personally; the rest, just looking at photos or descriptions, I've tried, and it's useless."

So the core was clear: to help Kim Taeyeon, he had to go to Kim Taeyeon's home in Jeonju and personally enter her room.

"So————" Kim Taeyeon spread her hands and looked at Kim Taeyeon. "This is very troublesome. This means I have to take Lin Xiuyuan home. What excuse should I find to explain this to Appa and the others?"

"Can't you go back secretly without them knowing?"

Lin Yun'er spoke up at this time, trying to provide a solution. "For example, find an excuse saying you want to go back to get something, or just miss home and want to go back to see. Then when they are not at home, or when they are asleep at night, let Lin Xiuyuan sneak into your room for a while?"

"Of course I can go back secretly."

Kim Taeyeon immediately retorted, but her tone was even more troubled.

"But the problem is how do I ensure I won't be caught? Lin Xiuyuan is such a big person, not a kitten or puppy that I can just stuff into a suitcase and bring in. What if, I mean what if, we are caught by Appa and the others? I have to think of an excuse that makes sense beforehand, right? Otherwise, what should I do? Say this is a lost man I picked up on the road?"

The more she said, the more absurd she felt, and the expression on her whole face was scrunched together.

Everyone who hadn't tried to bring a close male friend home felt a bit stumped.

This was indeed a realistic and awkward problem.

However, driven by a strong desire and almost regardless of the consequences, Kim Taeyeon made a bold suggestion at this time.

She began to try to establish a seemingly reasonable professional identity for Lin Xiuyuan. "Then, if we are really caught, just tell Appa and the others that this is a new life assistant assigned to you by the company? Or a bodyguard? Following you back to help carry things?"

"Still a bit far-fetched————" Kim Taeyeon bit her thin lips, carefully pondering the loopholes in this excuse. "I'm going back to my own home, not running a schedule in a remote place. Bringing a male assistant home? And entering my room? Appa and the others will definitely think it's strange. No, any normal person would think it's strange————"

However, before Kim Taeyeon could completely deny it, Kim Taeyeon, as if she had gone all out, threw out an even more explosive suggestion.

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly transmitted to everyone's ears. "If it really doesn't work, just say Lin Xiuyuan is my boyfriend."

As soon as these words came out.

"No!!!"

Two crisp, anxious, and even slightly panicked voices exploded on the sofa almost simultaneously.

Lin Xiaolu and Zheng Xiujing, as if they were cats whose tails had been stepped on, bounced up from the sofa at the same time, their faces full of determination that "it is absolutely not allowed," as well as a trace of indescribable complex emotions.

Among them, Lin Xiaolu said urgently, "We can't do this, Taeyeon Unnie, this excuse is too dangerous! How can you just say boyfriend? This will cause a lot of misunderstandings, and if it accidentally gets out, it will be a big trouble for Unnie or the group."

The reason she found was very high-sounding, but her flickering eyes revealed more thoughts.

Immediately after, Zheng Xiujing also nodded repeatedly, her cold little face full of seriousness. "That's right! This excuse has endless troubles! If Uncle and Aunt take it seriously, what will happen if they keep asking later? Do we still need Lin Xiuyuan to continue pretending? Too ridiculous!"

And with the opening of the two, Lin Yun'er and Zheng Xiujing were also a bit surprised and looked at each other.

They both saw a trace of laughter and satisfaction in each other's eyes.

Fortunately, they weren't stupid to the point of no return.

However, the air in the living room also became subtle and tense because of the intense opposition of these two young girls.

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