One year later.
Lin Yu had just put the chopped mushrooms into the pot when his phone rang. He called out, “Liang Zhi, take over for me for a sec. I need to answer this—it might be Xiao Lu arriving at the airport.”
Lying on the couch playing Ludo with Mi Lan, Liang Zhi immediately got up. “On it!”
Lin Yu took off his apron while reminding him, “The sauce is ready in the small bowl—remember to stir the mushrooms a few times.”
Liang Zhi grinned. “Got it, don’t worry. You can trust my cooking skills.”
Lin Yu answered the call, but it was just a delivery notification.
“…Oh, okay. Thanks, just leave it at the package station.”
Mi Lan, lounging on the couch munching on potato chips, looked up and asked, “Not Ziqing?”
“No,” Lin Yu scrolled through his WeChat messages to make sure he hadn’t missed any. “He should be arriving soon, though…”
Mi Lan said, “Maybe the flight got delayed. Just wait a bit—hic!”
Lin Yu frowned. “Stop eating those chips, or you won’t have room for dinner.”
“Don’t worry, I—hic!—I can eat!” Mi Lan declared stubbornly. “I’ve been suffering through this diet for so long—finally, it’s my cheat day! If I don’t eat until I’m stuffed, it won’t be worth it!”
Nearby, Liu Yuwen was adjusting a display shelf, trying to make it look more artistic, while Zhu Lan was doing his best to disrupt the process.
The display shelf was a new addition that Lin Yu had custom-made to showcase Lu Ziqing’s jewelry designs. The table was already overflowing with pieces, and some were too uniquely shaped to fit in regular jewelry boxes. So, Lin Yu had ordered a two-meter-tall wooden display shelf with dark brown compartments arranged at different heights. Against the off-white living room walls, it looked great.
Liu Yuwen kept shifting the shelf back and forth, mumbling, “It looks better a bit forward… No, maybe a little closer to the wall…”
Zhu Lan leaned on the shelf, flicking his jet-black short hair. His black sweater highlighted his solid build. “I agree—push it closer to the wall.”
Liu Yuwen grumbled, “Then why are you standing in the way?”
Zhu Lan flicked his hair again. “Oh? Am I in the way? I didn’t notice… Hey, Ge, what do you think of my new hair color? Doesn’t it match the display shelf?”
Liu Yuwen pushed him aside with one finger. “…One is black, the other is brown. How do they match?”
Zhu Lan pouted. “Ge, I’ve been showing off my new haircut in front of you for an hour now, and you really didn’t notice?”
“I noticed.” Liu Yuwen finally pushed the display shelf into the perfect spot and nodded in satisfaction. “You’ve been acting all dramatic since you came to pick me up after work. I just wanted to see how long you’d keep it up.”
There was a knock at the door.
Xu Yunyi came in, sweating, with two bags of groceries. “I’m exhausted. I went to two markets and still couldn’t find any termite mushrooms. I was so pissed I almost drove to the next city.”
Lin Yu quickly took the bags from him. “If you couldn’t find them, it’s fine. They’re not easy to get, anyway.”
Xu Yunyi said, “But Ziqing specifically requested them! He’s been suffering in Birmingham for a month, eating bland white people food. Every day on WeChat, he keeps ranting about how, once he’s back, he wants termite mushrooms stir-fried with meat… How much longer till he lands?”
Lin Yu shook his head. “I messaged him, but no reply. He might still be on the plane.”
Xu Yunyi said, “No problem, I’ll pick him up when he lands. I’m free tonight anyway.”
They waited until 7:30 PM. Lin Yu had finished cooking everything and set the table when Lu Ziqing finally called.
“…Sorry, baby,” Lu Ziqing’s voice was a little hoarse. “They added a last-minute meeting, and the venue had signal blockers, so my messages didn’t go through. I had to reschedule my flight—I won’t be home until tomorrow night.”
Lin Yu: “……”
Lu Ziqing: “You’re mad, aren’t you? I’m sorry, I should have told you earlier…”
“No,” Lin Yu said. “As long as you’re okay.”
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.
Lu Ziqing: “Did you… think something happened to me?”
With a table full of people watching, Lin Yu didn’t want to say too much.
He quickly gave a few reminders, telling Lu Ziqing to send him a message before departing, then hung up.
The welcome-home dinner prepared for Lu Ziqing, who had been away on a business trip for a month, ended up missing its main guest.
“Forget about him,” Lin Yu poured drinks for everyone at the table, smiling as he said, “Let’s just treat tonight as an early celebration for my promotion. No one leaves sober!”
The news shocked everyone.
“Whoa! You’ve only been at that company for a little over half a year, and you’re promoted?”
“Of course! Director Lin single-handedly pulled our company back from the brink!”
“A toast to Director Lin, the legend!”
“For such a glorious occasion, I must have a bite of the termite mushroom!”
“You’re just in it for the food… Hey, leave some for me! That one bite of yours nearly wiped out half the dish!”
“I ran across half the city to buy this! Save me some too!”
Outside, the wind howled.
Inside the tightly shut rental apartment, the heater filled the room with warmth.
Around the hotpot table, people laughed and bickered, their voices filling the space. The windows fogged up with white mist, faintly reflecting the lively scene inside.
…
By the time dinner ended, it was already past ten at night.
Lin Yu walked everyone out, calling taxis and designated drivers as needed, ensuring that each person got into their ride safely before returning home.
An empty home.
Only at times like this did he realize how eerily quiet it was, his own footsteps echoing loudly, like heavy raindrops hitting a glass window in bad weather.
While brushing his teeth, Lin Yu caught sight of the yellow Pikachu cup and suddenly remembered when he first moved in with Lu Ziqing.
Lu Ziqing had asked him why he used that cup.
What had he answered back then?
…Because water conducts electricity, and maybe one day, while brushing his teeth, he’d get electrocuted and pass out—then he wouldn’t have to go to work.
The thought made Lin Yu chuckle. He recalled Lu Ziqing’s reaction—half surprised, half speechless—but instead of commenting much, Lu Ziqing had simply made sure to set the cup properly on the sink for him.
Lin Yu had always been practical, avoiding waste whenever possible. So when they moved a year ago, he brought along all their household items.
He still wore the same Doraemon pajamas every day. The red nose on the Doraemon design had fallen off multiple times. Eventually, after one particularly bad wash, it was completely ruined.
Lu Ziqing had used jewelry-making thread to sew on a new round red nose.
It looked… weird. Maybe it would have been better left alone.
But Lu Ziqing had been immensely proud of his work, calling it a “Xinjiang-style naan with embedded red dates.”
When they first started their studio, there were many challenges.
Neither of them had any experience registering a private studio. Lin Yu, despite being more street-smart, knew nothing about jewelry design—he was a complete outsider.
Lu Ziqing had reassured him, telling him to focus on finding a job and not to worry about anything else.
“I got this,” he had boasted, flexing his arm muscles. “If I can’t even handle this, do I deserve to be your husband?”
From spring to summer, he ran back and forth between the business bureau, banks, and tax offices. He got tanned and lost weight, and no amount of chicken soup from Lin Yu could bring it back.
But he had grinned and said, “It’s a win. Some people pay for tanning, and I got this shade for free. Hehe.”
He still didn’t check price tags at the supermarket, but he bought fewer electronic gadgets. He no longer insisted on getting the latest models every season.
His ties to the Lu family had mostly been severed. Lu Zhaolin refused to let him use any family connections.
Fortunately, they had friends.
Xu Yunyi and Liu Yuwen introduced them to many clients. Liang Zhi and Mi Lan often visited on weekends, offering advice and joking that he should hire them once the business took off.
Mi Lan’s eyes sparkled. “We don’t ask for much—just pay us twice the market rate!”
Liang Zhi added slowly, “I’m not as greedy… 1.5 times is fine.”
Mi Lan gasped. “How could you betray me like this, you backstabbing traitor?!”
Liang Zhi grinned. “Hehe.”
That summer, they received an unexpected package.
It had been forwarded by Mi Lan, who said that Wu Yu had sent it to the company and asked her to pass it on to Lu Ziqing.
Inside was a handwritten letter from Wu Yu. The handwriting was an absolute mess—so bad it seemed like alien script.
It took them ages to decipher what it said.
The general gist was:
Although Wu Yu couldn’t understand why someone with Lu Ziqing’s background would elope with a mere assistant, even at the cost of breaking ties with his family, he was ultimately glad it happened—because it made him realize Lu Ziqing wasn’t worthy of him.
Given his own beauty and charm, if he had seriously tried to seduce Lu Ziqing, there was no way Lu Ziqing would have resisted.
But as a kind and responsible omega, Wu Yu refused to let someone he once liked fall into ruin. So, out of sheer benevolence, he had decided to walk away.
Wu Yu humbly mentioned that he had embarked on a journey around the world, accompanied by his 1.9-meter-tall, double-door-refrigerator-sized, handsome personal trainer boyfriend, thoroughly enjoying life. He urged them not to worry about him.
When Lin Yu opened the package, a few gold bars tumbled out.
At the end of the letter, Wu Yu casually noted that while he found their decision utterly foolish, these gold bars had originally been intended as a birthday gift for Lu Ziqing. Since they were just sitting around, he figured he might as well send them over—better than letting them go to waste.
Oh, and he added a final remark: these gold bars were nothing to him, just pocket change—barely the cost of a single meal. No need to be too grateful.
After all, kindhearted and beautiful omegas like him were a rare find these days.
Lin Yu finished reading the letter and couldn’t help but chuckle.
He glanced at Lu Ziqing and asked, “What should we do with the gold bars?”
Lu Ziqing looked troubled. “Of course, we return them.”
Lin Yu said, “He’s off traveling the world. Where are you going to return them?”
Lu Ziqing pressed his temples. “I’ll go home in a couple of days and have my mom return them to the Wu family.”
…..
Aside from these small incidents, their life was calm and peaceful.
After Lu Ziqing’s studio got on track, invitations kept coming, and orders flooded in like snowflakes.
Lin Yu was thriving at his new company. Although it wasn’t as large as the Lu family’s business, the overall atmosphere was relaxed, and his boss valued him highly.
Both of them were busy with work, but when they got home at night, they cooked together and sometimes played video games.
Though often, in the middle of playing, or even while cooking, things would somehow end up with them rolling onto the bed.
Lu Ziqing always justified it with, “Cooking in bed is still cooking. High heat stir-fry, slow simmer, even water searing.”
At first, Lin Yu would blush. Later, he would just grab Lu Ziqing by the ear and scold him for being shameless.
Shameless as he was, Lu Ziqing would always grin and slip his hand into Lin Yu’s clothes, squeezing his soft, warm skin, saying, “What’s dignity compared to my warm, precious husband?”
