Chapter 78 Join the chat group.

"Xiaoyu, we're in the room, wake up..."

Hua Manlou called out like that, and the person in his arms, apart from creased eyelids, did not change their even breathing at all.

Helpless, he had no choice but to carry her into the room.

Based on her senses, she gently placed Lu Yusheng on the bed and noticed the slight sweat on her face. After a moment's thought, she wrung out a hot towel and came over to wipe her face.

It was much colder upstairs than downstairs. Although Lu Yusheng had installed air conditioning in every room on the second floor while they were away, the three of them hadn't had time to teach them how to use it when they returned.

So Hua Manlou carefully wiped her face, tucked her in, and adjusted her position to lie on her side to prevent her from choking on her vomit during the night.

As he turned to leave, a pale white hand grabbed his drooping arm.

He turned around in surprise, unable to see if Xiaoyu was awake on the bed, or if she was sleepwalking. Not wanting to reach out to check, he could only ask her softly, "Are you awake?"

Lu Yusheng's eyes were actually open; she opened them when Hua Manlou wiped her face.

Although she was awake, her consciousness was still hazy. She watched him wipe her face and cover her with a blanket, but because she had lost the ability to think, she could only let him do as he pleased, like a puppet.

Even as she watched him turn to leave, though she was still not fully conscious, a deep sense of reluctance welled up within her and compelled her to grab him.

Perhaps she was too anxious, and lost control of her strength. As if afraid that if she didn't use enough force, her opponent would slip away, so she grabbed with all her might.

Hua Manlou could clearly feel a slight pain coming from his wrist, a force that made him want to break free.

But... he could sense the lingering affection and reluctance hidden within, how could he bear to pull his hand away?

He could hear the even breathing in front of him suddenly become rapid the moment he was grabbed, but the owner of the sound remained silent.

This won't do. He wants to hear her voice; he wants to clearly feel her attachment to him.

Then Hua Manlou spoke again: "If Xiaoyu wakes up... can she talk to me?"

Fortunately, it was a very clear instruction. Although Lu Yusheng's mind was blank at this moment, he was at least able to figure out how to execute it.

And they did it subconsciously.

"Do you miss me?" she asked.

Hua Manlou didn't know how to describe the feeling of his heart being struck at that moment. He stood there blankly, as if he had been struck by a belated drunkenness. The belated drunkenness seemed to have made his emotions particularly sensitive.

So he crouched down, wanting to get closer to her.

Unfortunately, Lu Yusheng had lost the patience to wait for his reply.

"I miss you a little," she said.

Hua Manlou felt as if his heart had been struck again. Afraid that Lu Yusheng would lose patience if he continued talking, he finally confessed, "I do."

"When I'm sleeping, I wonder if you're resting; when I'm traveling, I wonder what you're doing; and when I found the murderer, I was still thinking... I can finally go back."

He didn't know where such overwhelming emotions came from, but by the time he realized it, it was already too difficult to let go.

If you can't even understand something yourself, you naturally don't have the confidence to ask the other person to reciprocate with the same fervent feelings. So you go along with her idea, neither interfering nor forcing her, and just quietly wait for her answer.

Is it because she can't understand or doesn't believe that she can't give an answer?

Hua Manlou withdrew his hand from hers, but instead of taking it back, he cupped the much smaller hand in his own and silently pressed it against his forehead.

His boiling love seemed to have found an outlet, and he restrained himself from making any other movements, simply maintaining the same posture quietly.

Until he confirmed that Lu Yusheng's breathing had become even again.

He smiled faintly, though he didn't know if the other person had heard him, or if they had, whether they would remember it when they woke up tomorrow.

When Lu Yusheng opened his eyes again, it was already bright outside.

She rubbed her eyes, sat up, and realized she was back in her bedroom, wearing the same coat she had worn yesterday.

Although Lu Yusheng rarely gets drunk, she knows she won't black out. After trying hard to remember, she recalls that it was Hua Manlou who brought her back to the room.

Unfortunately, the memory of waking up midway through the night is no longer clear.

After quickly washing up, she walked out of her room and bumped into Sikong Zhaixing, who was about to go upstairs to call her for breakfast.

When Lu Yusheng walked to the table, she was pleasantly surprised to find that some righteous person had cleaned up the table, chairs, and floor for her.

There was breakfast wrapped in oil paper on the table, which looked like it had been bought from the city. Upon closer inspection, it was quite varied, including pancakes, steamed buns, meat buns, and a small dish of pickled vegetables.

Everyone else was already seated, and when they saw her come over, they naturally started eating.

Lu Xiaofeng absentmindedly chewed a couple of bites of the meat bun, not even tasting the filling, before he couldn't help but ask Lu Yusheng, "You said yesterday... that family members had come over?"

The latter didn't think much of it upon hearing this; she still remembered this excuse to explain the source of the alcohol, and nodded twice in response.

"Then... did Miss Yu accompany you?"

"Cough cough cough cough—"

A sudden, earth-shattering cough rang out, and Sikong Zhaixing, who made the noise, deliberately turned her head away from the food.

However, her overreaction still caused Lu Xiaofeng to frown slightly: "What's wrong with you?"

"No..." Lu Yusheng quickly tried to cover for him, "Your sudden words startled him."

"When did this monkey become so timid?"

He looked somewhat suspicious, it was unclear how much he believed him.

Just then, Chu Liuxiang spoke up, repeating in murmur, "Miss Yu?"

He then subconsciously touched his nose and asked curiously, "Last night, Hua Manlou said that a white-haired beauty had won your heart. Is this the Jade Girl you care about so much right now?"

Hua Manlou paused slightly, but did not say anything more.

But Hu Tiehua clearly had the same question as him, and couldn't help but ask Chu Xiangshuai.

"What time last night did he say she was a beauty?"

Lu Yusheng: So none of you had any memory loss?

She sighed silently and decided to bring out the gift she was going to give to help Xiaoxing out of this predicament.

So she first answered that Lu Xiaofeng's sister hadn't come, and then, despite the other party's somewhat disappointed look, she continued, "Brother Lu, do you remember what we agreed on before we left? Although Sister Yu wasn't among the relatives who came this time, they also brought a little trinket that would be very suitable for you."

The latter indeed raised his eyebrows again.

They had seen the mechanisms from their hometown many times at the crossroads, and their various strange and wonderful ways of playing and their functions were truly amazing.

Even now, after knowing each other for so long, I can't help but feel curious when she mentions new gadgets.

As Lu Yusheng walked back from the bar carrying a pile of boxes, he saw the waiting group and suddenly felt like he had become Doraemon.

"What is this?" Nobita asked.

Chu Liuxiang and Hu Tiehua, who were breaking apart the dough, also silently slowed down their movements. They both remembered that Lu Yusheng had said yesterday that someone from their hometown had sent them a novel device, and they both wanted to know what its effects would be.

In front of the others, Lu Yusheng opened the packaging box and carefully took out the three communicators.

The communicator came with a battery, so the screen lit up smoothly after she turned it on.

Sikong Zhaixing also approached a bit and felt that this thing was somewhat similar to the "cell phone" he had bought earlier.

She logged into the accounts of the three communicators one by one. When she entered the code name, she hesitated for a moment, but then remembered that the instruction manual seemed to say that it could be changed later. So she didn't think much about it and just filled in the names of the three people.

The communicator has a very limited function, allowing communication with other members on the same channel via text chat. But since there's no radio here, having this device that lets them type is already a pleasant surprise.

Once the accounts were created, the next step was to create a group. Lu Yusheng quickly created the group for them and then added people to it all in one go.

When they finally handed over the item, all three of them couldn't help but examine it closely, and then they all looked at the few lines of small print inside the white box.

Because the group wasn't named, only a lone "3" at the top of the screen indicated the current number of people.

Below the group name, there is a very light dividing line followed by a screen full of text boxes. Even though the font size is small, the black text is still eye-catching within the white boxes.

——"[Lu Xiaofeng] has joined the chat group."

——"【Hua Manlou】 has joined the chat group."

——"【Sikong Zhaixing】 has joined the chat group."

"Why is my name at the very bottom?" someone asked, trying to stir up trouble.

“Didn’t you see that this can only be written by hand?” Lu Yusheng frowned at him: “I’ll type the one with fewer characters first, and since your name is the longest, I’ll put it last.”

Sikong Zhaixing reluctantly accepted the explanation and said nothing more.

Then she continued to explain the rules: "Just like I just demonstrated, first press the small dot on the side to open the mechanism. After opening it, the interface where I just created the account will no longer appear. Instead, you will be in a scene where you can communicate via text."

To prevent too many groups from causing confusion, she doesn't plan to create any other chat groups in the short term. With no other options, this is the only channel that appears on her screen.

As she spoke, Lu Yusheng took two communicators from the group again and placed them on the table. She typed text into one of them, and sure enough, the other two received the message after she pressed "send".

[Sikong Zhaixing: 33333]

After finishing his explanation, he glanced at the somewhat confused looks on the faces of the people around him, thought for a moment, and then added, "It can recognize both simplified and traditional Chinese characters, but the text order can only be from left to right."

“Hua Manlou can use it too.” Lu Yusheng looked at the only communicator that she hadn’t taken back to continue the exercise and explained, “This software can be set to broadcast content, but it can’t recognize voice input.”

I just have to turn on the "love mode".

"With voice broadcasting, it can't accurately identify which segment of text you're listening to. It will continue playing the content you heard last time after you turn on the device, until the latest message finishes or you manually turn off the device. So if you don't want to keep bothering him, please keep your group messages as concise as possible." As she spoke, she glanced at the other two people.

Sikong Zhaixing and Lu Xiaofeng, who had been looking thoughtful, nodded in unison upon hearing this.

Lu Yusheng then looked at Hua Manlou: "If you can accurately remember the location of these function keys, you can also send out some messages later. Even if the wrong text is recognized, you can resend it after you hear the broadcast."

After finally finishing her long-winded explanation, she couldn't wait to see the others' reactions and immediately gulped down a large glass of mineral water.

Then, holding the cup, he returned to his seat and waited for the others' reaction.

"I think..."

The three tentative words successfully drew Lu Yusheng's attention.

Then Sikong Zhaixing rested his finger on his chin, deep in thought: "We can make a similar device. Since your mechanics have a way to record sound, why can't we transmit our voices between the two devices in real time, just like this 'communicator'?"

Lu Xiaofeng's eyes lit up upon hearing this: "Yes, isn't voice more convenient and efficient than text?"

...This is just a feature-reduced version of a mobile phone for the elderly.

She covered her face helplessly: "There is a big difference between broadcasting voice and directly transmitting voice content. There are still technical difficulties that have not been overcome."

In contrast, Chu Liuxiang and Hu Tiehua's reactions were much more honest.

"It's unheard of for a machine to be able to do this, especially to pack such a bunch of difficult functions into such a small device."

"Do you have any more? Give me and Old Bug a couple too."