“Boom!” Xia Yuan closed the door. It was already dark outside, and he had just returned from work.
“Wife, I’m home.”
The lights in the house went out instantly after he said that, which confused Xia Yuan. He used the dim light from the moon to wear his sandals and then walked into the house.
“Wife, I’m home.” Even after waiting for a while, Xia Yuan didn’t get a reply. He was usually home from work around this time, and his wife, Ning Qing Yin, would always be standing at the door waiting for him with dinner prepared.
But today, not only do I not see my wife, but even dinner didn’t seem to…
Xia Yuan was deep in his thoughts as he walked towards the dining room. As he stepped foot inside the room, the lightbulb on top of the table suddenly lit up. It was just bright enough to light up the whole table.
Red wine, steak, caviar, foie gras¹, and the candle in the middle of the table. It was a candlelight dinner.
Then a woman in a black dress came out, her perfect body shape showing vividly. Her posture was elegant and her face was gorgeous, as if she was someone straight out of a painting.
It made Xia Yuan’s mind blank for a second. He knew that his wife was beautiful, but she was exceptionally beautiful today.
“Husband, happy first anniversary!” Ning Qing Yin smiled slightly, her voice soft, like a wisp of breeze blowing through Xia Yuan’s heart. After saying that, Ning Qing Yin stretched out her hands and handed him an exquisite square box.
Xia Yuan finally reacted and realized what she meant by the first anniversary. Today was their first wedding anniversary! He had forgotten about it and hadn’t prepared a gift at all. It was too late to buy a gift now, so he could only tell Ning Qing Yin the truth.
“Wife, I’m sorry. I forgot to prepare a gift.”
Hearing this, the light in Ning Qing Yin’s eyes dimmed for a moment, but it immediately became bright again. Her eyebrows curled, and she smiled understandingly.
“Husband, it’s okay, marrying you is my best gift.” She stretched out her hands and handed him the gift in her hands. She quickly changed the subject.
“Husband, you must be hungry, let’s eat dinner!”
“En,” Xia Yuan lightly nodded. After he sat down, Xia Yuan opened the box and looked at the gift. It was a watch from a brand that he really liked. His name was also engraved on the watch, and he could immediately tell that Ning Qing Yin had carefully prepared the gift. He had seen the changes on Ning Qing Yin’s face. She felt down, but she tried not to show it. Ning Qing Yin had always tolerated him, understood him, and supported him in this way.
She had never shown any expression of dissatisfaction in front of him. She unconditionally supported his words and decisions. So for Xia Yuan, she was a good and virtuous wife. However, he felt that there was something still missing between the two.
“Husband, I have another gift for you. It’s one of my secrets.” Ning Qing Yin said, handing the book in her hand to Xia Yuan.
The book looked like a diary. However, the moment Xia Yuan opened the book, a burst of white light stung his eyes, making him unable to open his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, everything in front of him changed.
“Ding ding ding!”
The sound of the bell made Xia Yuan sober.
“Teacher, class is over!”
Xia Yuan looked at the person who made the voice, who was complaining to the person on the podium and writing on the blackboard. The man heard the person and turned around.
He said with a dissatisfied expression, “You all only know to play! You’re already in the third year of high school! What are you guys going to do about the college entrance exam!? Hmph!” With that, he left the room.
Student, podium, blackboard, teacher, senior year?² Xia Yuan’s memory slowly returned to him. Everything in front of him was indeed his senior year’s classroom.
How did I get here? Wasn’t I just eating candlelight dinner with my wife?
“System bound successfully!”
A mechanical sound appeared in his mind.
System? What system?
“This system is a sign-in system. Host can sign in every day to get system rewards.”
What rewards does the system have?
“Host can sign in today to know what the reward is.”
Sign in, Xia Yuan said silently in his heart.
“Congratulations to Host for signing in successfully, the system rewards radiant aura.”³
What is this? What’s the use of it?
“This question is not within the scope of questions that the system needs to answer.”
Xia Yuan felt that his head was full of black lines, and his mind was full of question marks.
“Brother Yuan, why are you in a daze? Come on! Let’s go play basketball!”
Suddenly, someone came from behind him and shouted at him. Xia Yuan’s pupils dilated the moment he saw the person. Xie Wen Qi? How did you become this young?
“Why are you here? Weren’t you surfing the waves in Maldives?” That was what Xie Wen Qi had told him a few days ago in a video call.
“Brother Yuan, what are you talking about? Surf what wave? Let’s go to play basketball! We won’t have a place to play if we don’t go to the basketball stadium right now. This is one of our rare PE class times!” Xie Wen Qi said, raising his hand and punching Xia Yuan’s left shoulder.
The punch was neither light nor heavy, but Xia Yuan still felt a bit of pain from it.
Xia Yuan finally woke up. This is all real! I’m not dreaming!
…
“Ning Qing Yin, I really despise⁴ you. You already wrote the love letter, so why won’t you send it?” Lin Miao Miao frowned as she looked at the pretty girl in front of her. She was a little speechless. If I didn’t happen to come over and coincidentally see the love letter in your hand, then you wouldn’t have sent it, would you?
The girl looked at her with her beautiful eyes, blinking. Her face was a bit tangled, and it was obvious that she didn’t dare to send her love letter.
Seeing Ning Qing Yin’s timid appearance, Lin Miao Miao decided to give her some stimulation.
“If you don’t dare to go, then don’t go. Leave the love letter as a memorial for yourself! Just don’t be sad when the college entrance exam is over and everyone graduates and Xia Yuan gets together with someone else.”
Translator’s Notes:
¹ Basically goose liver but foie gras sounds fancier.
² So in China, high school only has 3 years, while middle school has 4 years, so yes, 3rd year of high school is actually senior year.
³ 光芒四射. Literally, light shine 4 directions.
⁴ 看不起. It basically means despise, but without the hate part. Like, just the looking down on someone part.