Chapter 870: I Prefer White Chocolate

February 14, morning.

With only one day left until Lunar New Year's Eve, Li Luo and the others would return to the countryside first that afternoon.

Ying Chanxi, taking advantage of the morning's free time, rushed to the company to give instructions.

Most employees would be on holiday during the New Year, but two or three had no plans to return home and intended to stay in Yuhang City.

After discussing with them, Ying Chanxi arranged for these few to remain at the company over the holiday to handle tasks related to the TikTok partnership.

Of course, overtime pay during the holiday would be higher, and Ying Chanxi had specially prepared red envelopes for every employee, with those staying to work receiving slightly more.

After giving brief instructions, Ying Chanxi took her leave and quickly drove back to Sky Ridge Elegant Residence.

At this time, Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng had already woken up and were packing their luggage in the bedroom.

Xu Youyu had not yet risen, but because Yin Zhicheng was coming, she had left Li Luo's bed and returned to her own room for a nap.

When Ying Chanxi arrived home and got out of her car, she saw her father's vehicle parked beside the SUV Li Luo had once bought for Li Guohong.

Realizing the elders had already arrived, Ying Chanxi quickened her pace and immediately returned to the first-floor living room.

At this moment, Li Guohong and Yin Zhicheng were in the backyard, chatting while enjoying the view.

Lin Xiuhong sat alone on the living room sofa watching TV.

Ying Chanxi came in and hurried over to sit beside Lin Xiuhong, wrapping her arms around her arm: "Lin Yi, you're here?"

"Xixi? Finished your work?" Lin Xiuhong's face lit up upon seeing Ying Chanxi. "Li Luo said you went to the company."

"Yes." Ying Chanxi nodded lightly. "I needed to arrange some matters—during the holiday, we need to coordinate with TikTok, so I kept a few people on duty and gave them detailed instructions."

"You've worked so hard, Xixi." Lin Xiuhong patted Ying Chanxi's hand gently, then couldn't help saying, "Li Luo really is something—your company keeps growing, yet he doesn't show you any consideration. It's almost New Year, and you're still running around like this."

"Oh, Lin Yi, don't say that." Ying Chanxi hurried to reply. "Li Luo cares about me deeply. I just want to have something to do—managing the company is my responsibility."

"After all, Senior Lin and Zhusheng both have their own careers; I'm the only one among the three who's best suited for this."

"Li Luo himself is busy too—he's currently preparing his new book, and 'The Beginning' has just wrapped filming; he still needs to oversee the editing."

"Being able to help him with the company is already enough to make me happy—I can't assist with online novels, music, or TV dramas anyway."

Lin Xiuhong listened, increasingly delighted, and couldn't help thinking her son must have saved the Earth in his past life—how else could such a virtuous girl as Xixi have ended up with this boy?

And it wasn't just Xixi—there were also Zhusheng and Youyu, two equally outstanding girls.

Just imagining it, Lin Xiuhong sank into a happy kind of headache.

She couldn't fathom what her son was thinking—bringing all three girls to live together at Sky Ridge Elegant Residence. Did he really intend to take them all?

The thought made her head ache even more.

After all, she was now on excellent terms with Cui Suling and got along well with Yuan Wanqing.

If either of them found out what this brat Li Luo was thinking, Lin Xiuhong didn't know how she'd face her two good friends.

But if she had to choose, she couldn't bear to let go of any of them—she wished all three could become her daughter-in-law.

＿

"Lin Yi, I'll go upstairs and check how Li Luo and the others are packing." Ying Chanxi said. "You sit here a bit—we'll have lunch here, then head to the countryside this afternoon."

"Alright, go ahead." Lin Xiuhong nodded. "I'll just watch TV. You all go ahead."

"You can also go up to the second floor to see the kittens." Ying Chanxi smiled. "They're so cute."

"What's so interesting about cats?" Lin Xiuhong waved her hand. "Go on, don't bother with me."

Ying Chanxi nodded and took the elevator to the third floor, quickly finding the two in Yan Zhusheng's bedroom.

"What are you two doing?" Ying Chanxi stared blankly at Li Luo, pinned under Yan Zhusheng's kiss, then at her beloved younger sister. "Lin Yi and the others are here—can't you be a little more restrained?"

"So what if they see?" Yan Zhusheng refused to get off Li Luo, turning her head toward Ying Chanxi. "Only Dad, Lin Yi, and Uncle Li are here—they already know our relationship."

"Shameless." Ying Chanxi grumbled. "Have you finished packing? Don't tell me you've only been kissing."

"Of course we finished packing before kissing." Yan Zhusheng finally climbed off Li Luo and pointed to the suitcase beside them. "All here."

"Then let's go downstairs." Ying Chanxi clapped her hands. "Lin Yi and the others are waiting. Lunchtime's almost here—has the kitchen started cooking?"

"I told Butler Liu." Li Luo sat up from the bed. "You two go ahead—take the suitcases. I'll go wake up Youyu."

Saying that, Li Luo stepped out of Yan Zhusheng's bedroom and headed toward Xu Youyu's room.

Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng picked up their three suitcases, took the elevator down to the basement, and loaded the luggage into the car.

"Youyu, wake up."

Li Luo knocked, then pushed open the door to find Xu Youyu with half her face buried under the covers. At his voice, she immediately pulled the blanket over her entire body.

"Everyone's waiting downstairs. We're having lunch soon—if you're still sleepy, you can come back and sleep later."

"No~ Five more minutes." Xu Youyu mumbled from under the blanket.

"Did you forget what day it is?"

Li Luo sat down on the edge of the bed and grinned mischievously. "Such an important day—I thought you'd remember."

"What?" Xu Youyu frowned, thinking hard. "Tomorrow's New Year's Eve—what day is today?"

"Open the blanket, and I'll tell you."

"Liar." Xu Youyu pouted. "Will five more minutes of sleep kill me?"

"I'm not lying. Open the blanket—if it's not important, I'll let you sleep another ten minutes."

"Really?" Xu Youyu grew curious and finally pulled back the blanket, looking at Li Luo.

The next second, he pinned her down and kissed her hard.

"Mmm… no… you lied…"

"I didn't lie." Li Luo grinned, pulling a chocolate from his pocket, unwrapping it, and shoving it into her lips. "Here. Happy holiday."

Xu Youyu's face went blank, tasting the sweet chocolate, and only after a long moment did she realize: "…Valentine's Day? I'm impressed you even remembered this holiday."

Although Li Luo and the four of them had been together a long time, they rarely paid attention to Valentine's Day, May 20, or Qixi Festival.

So Xu Youyu hadn't thought of it at all until now—when she finally realized, she glanced at the chocolate wrapper in Li Luo's hand, then immediately scowled.

"If this were some important day, you'd just use the chocolate on the living room coffee table to placate me?" Xu Youyu said with a deadpan expression. "So unromantic."

"You're picky, aren't you?" Li Luo tilted her chin up. "Do I have to make the chocolate by hand?" "That's not necessary, but…" Xu Youyu was now fully awake, grinning as she reached out and patted his chest. "I prefer white chocolate."

Li Luo: "... Stop fooling around. Get up quickly. Let's go downstairs for lunch."

…

While Li Luo and Xu Youyu were playfully teasing each other in the room, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng had already put away their suitcases and returned to the first-floor living room.

But Li Guohong and Ying Zhicheng had already returned from the backyard and were now sitting on the sofa chatting and watching TV.

But Lin Xiuhong was nowhere to be seen.

This puzzled Ying Chanxi, and she couldn't help asking Ying Zhicheng: "Dad, where's Lin Yi? I just saw her here a moment ago."

"Huh?" Ying Zhicheng looked confused. "Didn't she go up to find you? When we came back, I saw her take the elevator upstairs."

"Really?" Ying Chanxi blinked, puzzled.

Nearby, Butler Liu whispered softly: "Ms. Lin went up to the second floor. She's currently… in the cat room."

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi froze for a moment, then her expression turned peculiar.

She told Zhusheng to stay on the first floor and keep the two dads company, then took the elevator to the second floor and slowly walked toward the cat room.

As she neared the door, Ying Chanxi clearly heard a soft "suck-suck-suck" sound coming from Lin Xiuhong's mouth.

"Mimi, mimi, come here, Auntie's going to hug you."

"Oh, good girl."

"This fur is so smooth. You've raised them so well."

"But they're too thin. Look—don't they hardly eat anything?"

"Has that brat Li Luo been starving you?"

"So cute. Auntie's gonna kiss you."

Ying Chanxi reached the door and heard this, then quickly stepped back against the wall, her face flushed with embarrassment, barely holding back laughter.

She peeked cautiously into the cat room and saw Lin Xiuhong had her back to the door. She sighed in relief and took a quick look around.

Since the cat passage between the cat room and the study was closed, all four kittens were trapped inside the cat room—and all were caught by Lin Xiuhong.

Watching Lin Xiuhong pet each kitten one by one, Ying Chanxi nearly burst out laughing and quickly retreated down the hallway to take several deep breaths.

Then she checked the time—it wasn't long until lunch. She stepped back to the elevator entrance and pretended she'd just arrived, calling out toward both ends of the hallway: "Lin Yi? Lin Yi! Are you over here?"

Before she'd finished speaking, hurried footsteps came from the cat room—but soon slowed to a steady pace.

Before Ying Chanxi could reach the cat room, Lin Xiuhong stepped out calmly, closing the door behind her.

"Lin Yi, what are you doing here?" Ying Chanxi feigned surprise. "Came to see the kittens?"

"Cough…" Lin Xiuhong's expression flickered slightly awkward, but she quickly regained composure, speaking calmly: "I just came up to check how you're raising them."

"After all, they're four cats. If you just let them roam freely around the villa, what if they damage the furniture?"

"Besides, I heard cat poop smells terrible. If they're not properly managed and start urinating and defecating everywhere, the whole house will stink."

"But I see you're raising them well. That's a relief."

As she spoke, Lin Xiuhong walked over to the elevator entrance and waved at Ying Chanxi: "Come on, let's go downstairs for lunch."

"Mm-hmm." Ying Chanxi struggled to suppress her laughter, ran over to Lin Xiuhong's side, and walked down with her.

She didn't expose Lin Xiuhong. She thought Lin Yi was kind of adorable—after all, even she couldn't resist the kittens' charm.

Even in the elevator, Lin Xiuhong asked: "We're going back to the village and won't return for at least half a month. Will the cats be fine left here? Won't they starve?"

"No worries, Lin Yi," Ying Chanxi covered her mouth and giggled. "Butler Liu will arrange someone to feed them and clean up every day."

"But…"

"If you'd like, we could take one or two back to the village with us."

At this, Lin Xiuhong's eyes lit up—but she immediately shook her head and refused: "No, no. If we take them to the village, they'll go wild. Then bringing them back won't be easy to manage. Better not."

Ying Chanxi didn't press it. She found it even funnier, barely holding back her laughter.

…

After Ying Chanxi and Lin Xiuhong came downstairs to the living room, a few minutes later, Li Luo arrived with Xu Youyu.

The whole family sat around the dining table, had a simple lunch, then Xu Youyu excused herself and went upstairs to nap again.

"You're coming back tomorrow, right, Youyu?" Lin Xiuhong asked Li Luo.

"Yeah, she has to go home for dinner tonight," Li Luo nodded. "She'll come to the village tomorrow and celebrate the New Year with us."

"That's great," Lin Xiuhong beamed, her anticipation rising.

After a quick tidy-up, the group got into their cars.

This time, they took three cars.

Originally, two cars were enough—one for Ying Zhicheng and one for Li Luo's side.

But Li Guohong couldn't bear to leave his beloved car behind and insisted on bringing his own.

So Li Guohong drove alone in his car, while Yan Zhusheng drove her Mercedes, carrying Ying Chanxi and Lin Xiuhong.

Li Luo was called over by Ying Zhicheng and joined his car, so they could discuss the upcoming promotion of "The Beginning."

By 1:30 p. m., they arrived safely at Li Family Village.

As soon as they got out of the car, Ying Chanxi didn't bother with her own luggage—she immediately grabbed Yan Zhusheng's and held it tightly, as if guarding it.

"You're being overly sensitive," Yan Zhusheng glanced at her. "We already agreed. I won't back out. What are you afraid of?"

"If you're not going to back out, why mention it at all? I'm just helping you carry your luggage."

The sisters, as always, exchanged each other's luggage and walked into the neighboring Ying family house.