Chapter 71: Daily Life 05

Daily Life

005

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Last time, Chen Yi had returned to France at year’s end to finalize her pre-defense materials. She and Xu Yan had thus spent a brief time apart in different countries.

In May of the new year, Chen Yi once again picked up her small suitcase and headed off. At the international airport security checkpoint, she replayed the agony of parting, sobbing with tears and snot, clinging to Xu Yan and refusing to let go.

Xu Yan patted her back helplessly.

Chen Nanyun and her husband, who had come to see Chen Yi off, witnessed the scene and both averted their eyes.

“Enough already,” Chen Nanyun said as she stepped forward, grabbing Chen Yi by the collar and pulling her back. “You’ll be abroad for at most two months. Is it really that bad?”

Chen Yi looked at her mom pitifully. “Of course it is!”

“Two months—that’s sixty days, fourteen hundred and forty hours, eighty-six thousand four hundred minutes…”

Chen Nanyun couldn’t take it anymore.

She shoved Chen Yi back into Xu Yan’s arms and told her daughter to shut up.

Chen Nanyun was utterly baffled. “How did I end up with such a lovesick fool for a daughter?”

She glanced at her husband.

At that moment, tears welled up in his eyes as he watched Chen Yi—finally steeling herself to head toward security—off in the distance. He kept calling out reminders. “Be safe, Yi Yi. Text Mom and Dad when you take off, and again when you land. If the food there isn’t good, just tell Dad, and he’ll fly over a chef to cook for you. Yi Yi…”

Chen Nanyun sighed helplessly.

She finally understood the power of genetics.

~~~

Chen Yi had been living abroad since childhood, so she was long familiar with these farewell scenes. But for some reason, ever since she started dating Xu Yan, she found it impossible to hold back the small emotions stirred by parting.

In the past, leaving her parents had felt like a fledgling leaving the nest.

As she grew older and her wings grew stronger, she stopped feeling sad about it altogether.

But leaving Xu Yan felt entirely different from every previous goodbye.

In that instant of separation, it was as if a giant hand from the world itself gripped their shoulders with overwhelming force, prying them apart.

Yet they had already become one.

Like the modeling clay she’d played with in kindergarten—different colors, but once fused, impossible to separate.

Forcing them apart would be like carving one person out of another’s body.

Perhaps that was the wonder of love.

In this vast sea of people, you finally found someone you could merge with. Like a missing puzzle piece finding its match.

Being together in love was blissful, but parting brought waves of pain.

It wasn’t just leaving the person before you; it was losing a part of yourself.

Fortunately, for Chen Yi and Xu Yan, it was only a physical distance. Deep down, they remained tightly entwined.

The moment Chen Yi’s plane landed in France, her first act was to message her parents and her wife that she was safe.

She knew France well; it was practically her second home.

Though she’d been away for a while, stepping onto its soil again, she adapted quickly.

Except for the sudden realization, after living together with her wife for so long, that she couldn’t hug or cuddle her to sleep every night.

After a brief adjustment period, Chen Yi dove headfirst into her graduation preparations.

Refining her thesis, revising her project, rehearsing her presentation over and over.

She spun like a top, and unluckily, Xu Yan was equally swamped during this time. They both understood each other’s schedules, so they were fine with the online chats suddenly dropping off or one of them conking out from exhaustion.

Chen Yi didn’t complain.

She just occasionally ached for Xu Yan.

If not for Chen Nanyun’s arrangements, Xu Yan wouldn’t have been so busy this year.

Whenever she received scattered messages from Xu Yan, Chen Yi would smile to herself and snap a photo of the all-night library lights, filled with students racing against deadlines, then send it over.

From another angle, having someone fighting alongside her across such a vast distance felt pretty good. Though they trod different paths, they both knew those paths would soon converge and merge.

Because everything before them wasn’t just their individual futures—it was their shared future, the one called “us.”

~~~

That day, Chen Yi had been pounding away at her thesis late into the night. When she checked the time, it was already three in the morning.

She sat in the library, surrounded by classmates: some still scribbling furiously, others slumped over their desks, their soft snores providing a kind of white noise.

Chen Yi still had a few loose ends to tie up, plus she needed to double-check the formatting.

After mentally listing her remaining tasks, she stretched lazily, then massaged her sore neck from holding the same position too long.

She flexed her wrists.

Then she slumped halfway into her chair and picked up her phone to check messages.

Xu Yan hadn’t replied yet—probably still asleep.

It was the weekend back home, and Xu Yan had said she had the day off.

Chen Yi snapped a photo of her situation and sent it to Xu Yan. She opened Instagram.

She tapped into Xu Yan’s account—a jumble of random characters with nothing posted, following only Chen Yi.

As for how she found it: Xu Yan had been reluctant to admit it at first, embarrassed that she’d stalked Chen Yi’s online presence with this account for years.

But Chen Yi was clever. She’d spotted clues in Xu Yan’s home among things related to her, then traced back through her own old posts to uncover it.

She was practically an internet Sherlock Holmes now.

Thinking of this, Chen Yi’s eyes crinkled with amusement. She backed out of Xu Yan’s profile and scrolled her own feed.

Suddenly, an iMessage notification popped up.

[Baby, it’s cold tonight. Need some company? +v1283.3541.4991]

Chen Yi: …

What the hell kind of spam ad was this?

How did it reach her?

Couldn’t these scammers target their audience better? She wasn’t buying it!

Without a second thought, Chen Yi deleted the message.

Two minutes later, another iMessage appeared.

[Dear guest, why so heartless? I’m so cold. I really need your company. +v1283.3541.4991]

Chen Yi’s temper flared.

She wasn’t usually this irritable—probably from sleep deprivation with graduation looming, fraying her nerves.

She was losing it! Totally losing it!

No college student escaped the tyranny of theses!

[Are you nuts?]

After firing that off, she went to block the number. That’s when she noticed it was a French number.

Weird.

Usually, these random shady ads came from Southeast Asia, like Cambodia.

She paused in surprise for a second, then moved to block it.

But before she could, a voice message flashed up.

Chen Yi was still wearing earbuds, and the phone auto-played it.

“So fierce. Why so mean?”

Chen Yi froze.

She knew that voice intimately.

It was Xu Yan.

Convinced she’d misheard, Chen Yi played it again. Definitely Xu Yan.

Then a photo arrived.

【Picture】

It was a woman taking a mirror selfie in an outfit Chen Yi didn’t recognize. Black leather hugged her body, accentuating her already stunning figure. Black and white—the simplest combo, yet packing the biggest punch.

But the photo was only partial. She wore a trench coat over it, concealing her best assets completely. Chen Yi could only glimpse hints through the coat’s open collar and loose hem.

The woman sat in a hotel chair, phone in one hand, a small whip in the other—its soft tail dangling like bait for some innocent little fish.

Chen Yi bit.

But why was Xu Yan in a hotel? Was she on a business trip? How come Chen Yi didn’t know?

She fired back quickly: [Wifey TT]

[I was wrong! I thought it was a stranger!]

Xu Yan ignored her. The next message was the same: [Sister’s so cold. Come keep me company. +v1283.3541.4991]

Chen Yi was at her wits’ end.

Had Xu Yan come up with some new game?

She played along dutifully.

[How should I keep you company?] she asked.

Unknown number: [I’m an AI companion. To continue, add v and recharge.]

Chen Yi got it.

She switched apps and found Xu Yan’s WeChat. That code was obviously fake.

Since Xu Yan had two accounts, Chen Yi transferred 9999 to each one.

She switched straight to the messaging app.

[I topped up! Where’s my wife?!]

Unknown number: [Whoa! I’m absolutely thrilled! You’ve hit the recharge cap, so we’re specially inviting you to join as an SVIP customer—complete with a complimentary gift.]

【Picture】

The trench coat slipped away.

Snowy white blended into inky black.

In the mirror, Xu Yan’s lips gleamed a vivid red, her eyes sharp hooks that reeled in the fish called Chen Yi.

Chen Yi couldn’t resist typing: [So, can I become an SSVIP too?]

If she leveled up once more, would the photos get even hotter?

Xu Yan dropped the pretense.

A voice message pinged through.

“Want to see more?” Xu Yan’s voice carried a teasing laugh. “What, my exalted SSVIP customer—ready to meet up and check it out in person?”

Right after, she dropped a location pin.

A hotel, just blocks from Chen Yi’s school.

That flicker of confusion Chen Yi had brushed off suddenly clicked into place.

A French number? And a hotel?

Chen Yi bolted upright, scrambling to clear her desk with frantic efficiency.

Her classmate nearby gaped in surprise. “Yi? You finished already?”

Chen Yi shot back, “Nope!”

“Then what’s the rush? Where are you off to?”

“To become an SSVIP!!”

Her wife!

Her smoking-hot wife!

She’s here!