Chapter 466: Mom Is Bathing, Dad Is in the Bedroom

After lunch, Yin Zhicheng drove off to the airport to pick someone up.

Li Luo waited until Ying Chanxi finished preparing the bedroom next door for Yuan Wanqing, then took the two of them out for a stroll, visiting Zhao Rongjun and Jin Yuting's house.

At four in the afternoon, Yin Zhicheng drove back with Yuan Wanqing to the courtyard, just as Li Luo and the other two returned from their outing.

"Mom," Yan Zhusheng ran over and helped carry Yuan Wanqing's luggage; Li Luo also stepped forward to assist.

Ying Chanxi led Yuan Wanqing up to the third floor, opened the door of the already-prepared bedroom: "Aunt Yuan, you'll stay here these next few days—the sheets and pillowcases are all set; if you need anything else, just tell me."

Yuan Wanqing glanced at the stairwell, then looked around the bedroom.

Entering from the stairwell, the third floor opened into an L-shaped corridor.

Ying Chanxi's bedroom was the first one, closest to the stairwell.

Opposite it was the bathroom.

Straight ahead from the stairwell, at the very end, was Yin Zhicheng's bedroom; turning right from there led directly to the door of Yuan Wanqing's current bedroom.

Beside it was a small guest room.

"Thank you, Xixi," Yuan Wanqing smiled at Ying Chanxi, watching her sweet expression, and thinking that this was Yin Zhicheng's hometown, and that she was finally staying here.

Even if only for a few short days, it still left Yuan Wanqing feeling dazed.

If one day she and Yin Zhicheng revealed their relationship to the two children, then she would essentially be Ying Chanxi's mother.

Thinking of this, Yuan Wanqing unconsciously raised her hand and stroked Ying Chanxi's head: "Xixi is so well-behaved; Zhusheng really needs to learn from you."

When Yuan Wanqing touched her head, Ying Chanxi froze for a moment.

Yuan Wanqing immediately realized her mistake, hastily pulled her hand back, and took the suitcase from Yan Zhusheng: "I'll unpack first—you all go play, don't worry about me."

Li Luo looked at Yuan Wanqing, then at Ying Chanxi, then his gaze settled on Yin Zhicheng's face.

Yin Zhicheng was also secretly observing his daughter's reaction; noticing Li Luo's gaze, he gave a subtle signal.

Li Luo understood, nodded, and said: "Then we won't disturb Aunt Yuan anymore—Xixi, Zhusheng, let's go play next door."

"Oh," Ying Chanxi obediently turned and followed Li Luo toward the stairwell, but as she stepped out of the corridor, she tilted her head and gently touched her own hair, still savoring the feeling of Yuan Wanqing's stroke.

How strange…

If Lin Xiuhong had touched her head, that would've been understandable.

But why did Aunt Yuan touch her hair?

They seemed to know each other, but in reality, they'd met only a handful of times—mostly at parent-teacher meetings or when the families had dinner together.

Or occasionally when she'd gone with Li Luo to Yan Zhusheng's house.

They weren't particularly close, let alone compared to Lin Xiuhong.

Such a head-patting gesture should only come from a very intimate elder.

Still, Ying Chanxi figured it was probably just because she'd made the bed for Aunt Yuan, so once downstairs and hit by the cool wind, she let go of the thought and followed Li Luo next door to play.

Meanwhile, on the third floor, in Yuan Wanqing's bedroom.

Yin Zhicheng followed her in, closed the door, and wrapped his arms around her slender waist from behind, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Don't play around," Yuan Wanqing, still tense over the earlier slip-up, whispered as he suddenly embraced her, "Xixi and Zhusheng just left—be careful."

"It's fine," Yin Zhicheng pulled her to the window, "Look, they've already gone next door—Li Luo knows about us; he won't let them come over to disturb us."

"No," Yuan Wanqing stepped back half a pace, refusing to remain by the window while he held her, "You're ridiculous—what if they look up and see us?"

"They've already gone up the next stairwell; they can't see anything," Yin Zhicheng pressed her against the window, "Don't move, be good."

"... I still have to unpack."

"Unpack me first."

…

At dinner, Yuan Wanqing followed Yin Zhicheng downstairs to the second floor to sit.

Li Luo glanced at Yuan Wanqing and noticed her hair was smoother, her skin faintly damp, her cheeks softer and paler—clearly just bathed.

Recalling Yin Zhicheng's earlier signal, Li Luo couldn't help but smirk inwardly: Uncle Yin, you really can't hold back.

You're the general manager of a big company—how can you have zero self-control?

You're even worse than me!

The others noticed nothing, but Yan Zhusheng, seated beside Yuan Wanqing, sniffed and caught the distinct scent of her post-bath body wash.

"Mom, did you take a shower?" Yan Zhusheng asked curiously.

"Mm," Yuan Wanqing replied calmly, nodding, "After unpacking, I had nothing else to do, so I washed up."

Lin Xiuhong and the others had already brought out all the dinner dishes one by one.

Everyone else's eyes shifted when they saw Yuan Wanqing.

After all, the last time Yuan Wanqing visited, she hadn't even appeared on the Spring Festival Gala yet.

This time, her status was completely different—she was the hot singer who'd performed two songs on this year's Gala.

One, "Mother and Daughter," about family.

The other, "As Desired," about the nation.

Both home and country covered—this kind of honor and ability would make most entertainers envious.

But after dinner, everyone gradually stopped thinking about it.

Yuan Wanqing remained humble, showing no star attitude at all; she chatted and laughed with Lin Xiuhong, and without makeup, though well-maintained, she looked exactly like an ordinary person.

Compared to her dazzling, elegant appearance on last night's Gala, she seemed like two entirely different people.

Of course, Yuan Wanqing's down-to-earth demeanor also eased everyone's nerves slightly.

After all, she was a big star—and for older folks like Li Xuefeng and Li Xuexian, they still hadn't fully grasped just how popular Yuan Wanqing had been before.

But after watching the Gala, they understood perfectly.

Even Li Luo's grandparents felt a completely different way about a singer who had or hadn't appeared on the Spring Festival Gala.

But Yuan Wanqing wasn't just unpretentious—after eating halfway through her meal, she rose with Ying Zhicheng and went around the two round tables, raising glasses to everyone.

She claimed it was to make up for the New Year's Eve dinner they'd missed, but Li Luo watched her follow Ying Zhicheng around toasting, and couldn't help but look perplexed.

Especially when he saw Yuan Wanqing come to toast Ying Grandpa, Li Luo couldn't help but doubt—Ying Grandpa's smiling face and eyes made him wonder.

Could it be that Ying Grandpa already knew about this?

The dinner ended comfortably.

After finishing her toasts, Yuan Wanqing had, in a preliminary way, integrated into the family atmosphere.

After dinner, she sat at the mahjong table and played with Lin Xiuhong and the others.

Ying Zhicheng, sitting on the sofa chatting with Li Guohong, watched Yuan Wanqing fully immersed in the mahjong game, and couldn't help but smile.

Li Luo, watching this warm scene, felt a pang of emotion.

If, after the truth was eventually revealed, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng both understood and accepted everything, and this scene could still be maintained, it would be wonderful indeed.

In fact, Li Luo felt Ying Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing's matter didn't need to wait until college.

Compared to Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng from his past life, this life had clearly changed a great deal.

Their attitude toward Ying Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing might be entirely different.

At least, in his past life, Yan Zhusheng hadn't visited Yuan Wanqing's home for over half a year, and Yuan Wanqing had never once said she wanted to visit her mother's house.

Honestly, based on Li Luo's understanding of Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng's high school personalities in this life, he thought Ying Chanxi would be the one less able to accept it.

But according to his past life's events, it seemed the opposite was true?

Li Luo could guess there was probably some reason tied to himself, but he didn't know exactly what.

Maybe because in this life Yan Zhusheng relied more on him, while in his past life she relied more on Yuan Wanqing?

Li Luo mused over these thoughts as he played cards with Chen Lu and the others, accompanied by the two girls.

When they finished playing past ten at night, the mahjong game disbanded, everyone returned home, Li Luo took a shower upstairs, then went to his bedroom to write.

Writing diligently on the first day of the New Year, as a millionaire author, he was indeed quite hardworking.

In these past two chapters, he should mention it clearly—let the readers know how hard he worked.

As for having drafts ready, he'd never tell the readers that.

No matter who asked, today's chapter was always the one he'd painstakingly written that very day!

Just as Li Luo was focused on writing.

On the third floor next door, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng went to the bathroom together and took a bath.

Yuan Wanqing, chatting with Ying Zhicheng on the sofa in the third-floor corridor, saw this and fell into deep thought: "When did their relationship become this close?"

They could even bathe together now?

In Yuan Wanqing's mind, Yan Zhusheng had only officially moved into Bihai Lanting after finishing her first year of high school.

Li Luo and Ying Chanxi had known each other since childhood, and had co-rented with Xu Youyu since high school.

As the last girl to move into Bihai Lanting, it was already good enough if Yan Zhusheng became friends with Ying Chanxi and the others.

How had it progressed to bathing together—this level of best-friend intimacy?

"It's good for us if they're closer," Ying Zhicheng said, taking Yuan Wanqing's hand and playing with it in his palm.

Yuan Wanqing pulled her hand back nervously and whispered, "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Wait till later, then come to your room."

"So after you finish your bath, come over?"

"Wait till Chanxi and Zhusheng are asleep."

They sat on the corridor sofa for a while, made their plan, then stood and returned to their respective rooms.

After Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng finished bathing and stepped out of the bathroom, Yuan Wanqing picked up her change of clothes and went into the bathroom to shower.

The two girls exchanged a glance, then quietly pulled on their down jackets.

"Mom's in the shower," Yan Zhusheng whispered.

"Dad's in his bedroom," Ying Chanxi whispered back.

The two of them leaned against the doorframe, peered left and right along the corridor, then slipped quietly out of Ying Chanxi's room, closed the door, and tiptoed down the stairwell.

Following the rooftop path, they quickly reached the stairwell next door, hurried up to the third floor, and arrived at Li Luo's bedroom door.

Since Lin Xiuhong and Li Guohong's room was right next door, they dared not knock—instead, they simply pressed the doorknob.

Li Luo, writing inside, heard the noise at the door and couldn't help but sigh with amusement: "Come in already, stop sneaking around."

Hearing Li Luo's voice, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng dropped the act, pushed open the door, and walked in.

"Brrr… so cold, so cold," Ying Chanxi said, rubbing her tiny hands and stomping her feet as she entered the bedroom.

Li Luo glanced and saw they were still in their pajamas, only wearing down jackets—his smile turned to a shake of the head. He waved to Ying Chanxi: "Come here."

"What is it?" Ying Chanxi obediently walked over, and saw Li Luo extend his hands—two large palms wrapped around her small ones.

As her icy little hands were enveloped in warmth, she sighed contentedly, feeling them grow pleasantly warm.

Seeing this, Yan Zhusheng also extended her hands toward Li Luo.

But Li Luo only had two hands, so he looked up and said to Yan Zhusheng: "Put them on my neck."

"Oh," Yan Zhusheng didn't hesitate—her cold little hands pressed against Li Luo's neck, making him shiver violently, and it took a long while before he recovered.

Once both girls' hands had warmed up, Li Luo thought the task was done.

But Yan Zhusheng spoke up: "Li Luo, my feet are cold too."

"Me too," Ying Chanxi quickly added.

Li Luo had no way out—he paused writing and said to them: "Then get into bed."

He didn't know if it was a physical thing, but girls always seemed to have cold hands and feet in winter.

Especially since these two hadn't worn socks—just cotton slippers when they came over.

Now tucked under the covers, their translucent little feet poked out, playfully greeting Li Luo.

Li Luo pulled back the quilt and covered them both, then sat down at the foot of the bed.

Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng leaned against the headboard; seeing this, they straightened their legs and tucked their feet into Li Luo's lap.

Yan Zhusheng's feet were long and beautifully shaped, with a distinct arch along the instep.

Ying Chanxi's feet, by contrast, were small, pale, and soft, looking delicate and adorable, and felt wonderfully pliable when squeezed.

Li Luo gathered all four of their feet into his lap, rubbing one, pinching the other, warming them against the cold.

But Yan Zhusheng's feet were especially mischievous; one of them quietly pressed hard, slithering like a nimble little snake beneath the hem of Li Luo's nightclothes.

A chill brushed Li Luo's abdomen, and he hissed sharply, shooting Yan Zhusheng an irritated glance: "Do you want to freeze me to death?"

"Fine, I won't touch there," Yan Zhusheng said, but as her eyes darted, her foot began causing trouble again.

Li Luo hissed again—this time not from cold—and quickly pinned her foot down, refusing to let her go on.

"Li Luo, are you alright?" Ying Chanxi asked, puzzled.

"I'm fine…"