Chapter 64: Vegetable Sister in Love?

In the end, Xu Yan and Chen Yi came up with the perfect cohabitation plan together: Chen Yi would head back to her own place during the day whenever she needed to stream or play games. They’d both clock out at the same time when Xu Yan got off work, then return to Xu Yan’s home to stay.

This arrangement not only helped Chen Yi fix her messed-up sleep schedule—bringing her in sync with Xu Yan’s rhythm, just as she’d hoped—but it also ensured one crucial thing: whenever the two of them were home together, all their time belonged to just the two of them.

If Xu Yan had work to do, Chen Yi could always keep herself entertained nearby with a laptop or her phone.

Under this new setup, Xu Yan even came up with an idea of her own: she’d try to wrap up as much work as possible at the office, leaving the home world entirely to her beloved.

Xu Yixiao considered herself the biggest winner in this whole cohabitation scheme.

Ever since Xu Yan and Chen Yi had started following the plan, Xu Yixiao got to tag along with Chen Yi to her place every weekend. As long as she finished her regular schoolwork, she could plop down with Chen Yi in the computer room and game together.

A sea-view apartment with a top-tier PC rig, custom mechanical keyboard, a mouse that rivaled pro esports gear…

This was Xu Yixiao’s dream!

And most importantly…

Who was the one gaming with her? Vegetable Sister! She had to be the happiest little girl in the world. How else could she end up shoulder-to-shoulder with her idol, goofing off in-game like total noobs?

Just thinking about it made Xu Yixiao walk on air.

She was over the moon!

But she was a girl of strong principles. She would never breathe a word of Vegetable Sister’s private life to anyone outside. They could game together all they wanted, but Xu Yixiao never bragged about it. Despite the countless times her young heart had nearly burst with a world-shaking scream—Do you know who’s gaming with me right now? It’s Vegetable Sister! Do you know who I live with every day? It’s Vegetable Sister!

Even at mealtimes, if Chen Yi had picked up a bite of food with her chopsticks, Xu Yixiao’s picky eating vanished in an instant. She’d dive right in and chow down.

According to her own theory, maybe absorbing the same nutrients as Vegetable Sister would help her become a tech whiz just like her idol.

Xu Yixiao guarded Vegetable Sister’s secrets with ironclad secrecy from the outside world. She never told a soul that Vegetable Sister was dating her little aunt.

Until one day, when her one and only good friend at school suddenly dropped a bombshell: “Hey, did you know? Your idol seems to be dating someone.”

Xu Yixiao blinked. “Huh? Who?”

Her friend explained, “The gamer one. What’s her name—I Love Eating Vegetables or something.”

“Her name’s I Love Eating Vegetables!!”

Her friend nodded. “Right, right. She’s trending on the hot search. You didn’t know?”

Now Xu Yixiao knew.

Still at school, she couldn’t wait. She snuck her phone into the bathroom and locked herself in a stall. The moment the door clicked shut, she dove into checking the hot search.

VegetableSisterInLove was right there, plain as day.

What the heck? What the heck!?

Who spilled the beans?

Sure, fans who followed Vegetable Sister’s daily updates had noticed something off lately. Her Weibo posts were vague and scattered, and plenty of people had speculated she might be in a relationship. But Vegetable Sister had never responded. Xu Yixiao strongly suspected Chen Yi had just never seen the chatter.

So how did this hot search explode today?

Xu Yixiao tapped into the entry and watched the clip from the stream. Barely ten seconds in, and she got it.

It was all her little aunt’s fault!!

Xu Yixiao’s guess was spot on.

It all traced back to yesterday afternoon’s stream.

Ever since starting cohabitation, Chen Yi had shifted her streaming schedule back to normal human hours. She’d slack off in the mornings recording playthroughs, then go live in the afternoons. This forced her wage-slave fans to sneak peeks at work, dodging their bosses’ prying eyes.

The fans raved: This was the most thrilling thing they’d ever done!

Chen Yi had planned to stream until seven in the evening.

Xu Yan had said she’d be getting off work a bit late.

But midway through an epic afternoon session, someone entered the room. Xu Yan had knocked, of course. Chen Yi just had her headphones on, game music blasting, and hadn’t heard a thing.

Xu Yan approached and tapped the edge of the keyboard lightly with her fingertip.

Chen Yi looked up in shock.

The words slipped out: “Babe?!”

The chat exploded.

【Aaaah, Vegetable Sister, why’d you say my name like that?!】

【Help! Never thought I’d live to hear Vegetable Sister say those words.】

【Some people change! Who was it swearing they could never say it? And now so bold!】

【Don’t do this, Vegetable Sister. It makes things feel too flirty between us.】

【You’re all going nuts—no one else think that call sounded off?】

【What’s off about it?】

【Don’t hog her!! Vegetable Sister, my wife!!】

Xu Yan wore contacts, her gaze sweeping over Chen Yi’s 27-inch monitor. The gaming room had four screens; two were on. One showed the game and the live window, the other stood vertically, scrolling with real-time chat messages.

Xu Yan could read the fans’ words crystal clear.

She arched a brow, knowing there was no camera on Chen Yi’s stream. Her hand rose to stroke the back of Chen Yi’s neck, rubbing slowly, rhythmically.

Chen Yi’s breath hitched.

Xu Yan leaned down, pressing a kiss to the side of Chen Yi’s neck.

Chen Yi shivered all over.

Xu Yan wasn’t done. She licked that delicate, fragile skin.

Chen Yi instinctively reached for the key to mute the mic, but Xu Yan caught her wrist, stopping her.

The chat had no clue.

【Vegetable Sister? Why’d you freeze?】

【Hey, hey, anyone there?】

【Good grief, one ‘babe’ and you bail?】

【What’s up with Vegetable Sister? Bathroom break?】

【Streamer throwing the match! I’m not happy! Come back!】

Xu Yan’s hand settled on Chen Yi’s shoulder. With a gentle push backward, the gaming chair rolled across the floor with a screech—muffled by the mic into static fuzz.

Then Xu Yan sat right on Chen Yi’s lap.

Chen Yi totally blanked out.

She mouthed at Xu Yan: “Babe, I’m streaming!”

Xu Yan saw it but didn’t back off. Instead, she grinned with delight, tipping Chen Yi’s chin up. Without hesitation, she leaned in for a kiss.

The soft rustling sounds fed into the mic.

The chat finally caught on.

【？？？？？？】

【What’s happening??】

【Holy crap, does Vegetable Sister really have a wife??】

【Sis-in-law, sis-in-law, we were just joking around!】

【So—this is—a kiss?】

【Damn it! Is there anything a level-10 superfan like me can’t see? Hackers, assemble! Turn on the camera!】

【Aaaah, how do you make me blush without a single word? You two should collab on an audio drama.】

【Opponent crushed: No one’s sparing a thought for my feelings.】

The kiss lasted a full three minutes.

Xu Yan pulled back, satisfied, her voice light and teasing from the prank. “Baby, I won’t bother you anymore. Keep at it.”

Chen Yi was still dazed, blurting out a spoiled whine on reflex: “Babe—”

Xu Yan left as casually as she’d come, turning on her heel and shutting the door behind her.

Chen Yi sat there, a meter away from the screen, staring blankly. She could see the flood of flashing words, but everything blurred into nonsense.

Her soul had been stolen by the woman named Xu Yan.

The moment Xu Yan spoke, the chat had detonated.

【Aaaah, what did I just hear!? Baby!】

【So she really is dating someone?】

【Damn! Same shut-in life, why can Vegetable Sister find love!】

【Sis-in-law’s voice is so nice… Total big-sis vibes…】

【Internet’s full of ‘sis’ shortages. Where’s my sis?】

【Don’t ask. Sis is out hunting for sis.】

By the time Chen Yi finally snapped out of it and resumed streaming, the chat had zeroed in on one thing: gossip. No one cared about the game anymore.

Their questions flew thicker than nosy aunts and uncles at family gatherings during New Year.

How’d you meet? When did you get together? Living together now? What does she do?

Chen Yi ignored every single one.

Until this popped up:

【Rude question, but is Vegetable Sister a 1 or a 0?】

Chen Yi huffed. “Excuse me, I’m a total top 1, okay?”

The chat roasted her: 【We all heard you get all whiny with your girlfriend!】

【Top 1? If you’re a 1, you’re a spoiled top at best.】

【Is Vegetable Sister fibbing?】

“I’m not fibbing!” Chen Yi insisted earnestly. “I really am a 1!”

【Okay okay okay!】

【SpoiledTopVeg! SpoiledTopVeg!】

“…”

Why did that nickname sound so weird?

Whatever. Chen Yi didn’t bother arguing with them. A whiny top was still a top. She only topped her babe anyway—what did she care what they thought?

After Chen Yi went offline, some netizens clipped the “babe” call, the kiss sounds, and even that snippet of Xu Yan’s voice. They tossed it online, and it snowballed into a massive uproar.

That was the exact video Xu Yixiao had seen.

As someone who knew her little aunt inside and out, Xu Yixiao was convinced that her little aunt was deliberately staking her claim.

Chen Nanyun, on the other hand, only knew Xu Yan from her professional demeanor at work. When she spotted the trending topic and watched the clip from the livestream, her immediate reaction was to message Chen Yi.

Mom: Young people, you still need to watch your influence when you’re dating.

Mom: Next time, don’t make the livestream audience part of your play.

When Chen Yi saw those messages, her vision went black.

Mom! Don’t just pick up random internet slang and misuse it!

Who the hell was playing!!

She felt so wronged. TT

To make up for this injustice, that very night Chen Yi dragged Xu Yan away from going home and instead whipped up a meal in the gaming room. She disconnected the computer from the internet and switched it to airplane mode. Then she turned on the camera to recreate the livestream setup.

She pinned Xu Yan’s neck, forcing her to bend over the computer desk.

“Sister, is this what you wanted today?”