Chapter 50 Online Dating 17

Lu Xuejin had the idea of ​​bringing Zhulin into the sky to become a gem master. After chatting for a while, she gradually felt that Zhulin had a gentle personality, a strong sense of propriety, and didn't talk much, but he could catch jokes. The conversation was very comfortable. The two of them talked about everything from the gem forging formulas that had been announced in Endless Back to the skill changes in the new season. They had endless topics to discuss.

Bamboo Forest: But in PvP, I only talk about it theoretically, in reality I die as soon as someone uses their skill, I catch Cloud Torrent empty-handed and just wait to die on the spot.

Bamboo Forest: My friends said if I threw a handful of rice on the keyboard, even a chicken could beat me [facepalm].

Lai Si: Hahahaha, is it that serious?

Lai Si: How about we have a 1v1 duel? I'll help you figure out the problems.

Bamboo Forest: Forget it! PvP quit! Quit! Quit! I'm better off being a peaceful, casual player. [Graceful]

At this point in the conversation, Lu Xuejin suggested that they join a guild.

As players progress through the game, they require more and more resources, and this is especially true for gem masters. Generally, famous gem masters are supported by large guilds.

But Zhu Lin refused.

Bamboo Forest: Forget it, I still prefer single-player games [facepalm]

Bamboo Forest: If you want gems, feel free to contact me anytime.

Lu Xuejin teased him: "Since we're so close, you should give me a 30% discount, right?"

Bamboo Forest: Free!

Bamboo Forest: [Smug]

Lu Xuejin stopped there and chatted for another ten minutes or so before it was almost time. Because they had a good first impression of each other, Lu Xuejin and Zhulin added each other as friends.

Lu Xuejin had no other intentions than to contact Zhulin if she ever needed special gemstones in the future, avoiding the hassle of going through intermediaries. As for further development... their social circles didn't overlap, their interests were vastly different, one was withdrawn and alone, the other was adored by many; even being friends required daily conversation topics, let alone anything else.

He assumed the dare was over and quickly returned to the channel above, only to find that the host and players had long since lost interest in the game. They were chattering away, some gossiping, others arguing like elementary school kids, and quite a few were pointing guns at him—

"What's it like going on a blind date, experts?"

"Little Lai Lai, who is that guy? Are you satisfied?"

"Are we going to have a vice-president's wife?"

over thinking.

Even Yuan Ying seemed to be immersed in this unique atmosphere, constantly talking about the matchmaking corner and potential partners, subtly and overtly probing for information. Lu Xuejin thought he wished he could squeeze into the small dark room to eavesdrop on his conversation with Zhu Lin.

Indeed, from Yuan Ying's perspective, he hadn't even fully grasped the target of his revenge, yet there were already signs of him seeking a romantic relationship. Many people forget their relatives and friends once they find a romantic partner; he was just an apprentice. From this perspective, Yuan Ying's concerns were quite normal.

He then spoke up to reassure the troops: "After that, we should just lie down and take our positions. We don't have much to talk about."

We've been talking for almost an hour even though we don't have much to say.

Yuan Ying didn't believe it, but feigned joy and said, "Alright."

For the next three days, Lu Xuejin maintained basic politeness, sending a message to Zhulin to greet him when he went online. Zhulin reciprocated with the same tacit understanding, occasionally updating him on his daily schedule. However, their brief chats ended in private, with no further interaction. Overall, the frequency of their conversations was low.

[Private Chat] Bamboo Forest: Reply with 1 to see my perfect formula diagram, reply with 2 to see the perfect formula diagram I will send to you.

For a gemologist, the greatest joy is to discover a perfect gem formula and then use it to create a unique gem.

Zhu Lin was eager to share, generously showing off to Lu Xuejin even though they were just strangers. Like a peacock showing off its bright feathers.

"Master, what did you eat for lunch today?"

[Private Message] Lai Si: 11111

[Private Chat] Lai Si: I'm ready to pay my respects [starry-eyed]

"Master?"

Lu Xuejin came to her senses: "Huh? What did Auntie cook? I don't remember."

Yuan Ying: "..."

Clicking on the formula chart shared by Zhulin, it was indeed beautiful, and Lu Xuejin didn't hold back her praise.

[Private Chat] Bamboo Forest: Isn't it beautiful? I'll send you one once I've gathered all the materials.

[Private Chat] Lai Si: That's so nice.

[Private Message] Lai Si: What materials are we still missing?

Zhu Lin casually mentioned three materials, and Lu Xuejin quickly cleaned the warehouse and sent over the materials that had been piling up for a long time.

[Private Chat] Bamboo Forest: Wow, so many.

[Private Chat] Bamboo Forest: So this is what it's like to be kept.

[Private Chat] Lai Si: Perfect timing to clean out the warehouse [hands on hips]

Even when the computer is idle, there are still sounds of typing on the keyboard.

The sudden silence just now, who were you replying to?

The bright screen light illuminated a pair of deep, dark eyes. Her sharp jawline was taut, and her lips were straight, giving her a rather aloof demeanor. Her gaze was fixed on the flashing microphone icon on YY. The crisp tapping sound from inside the headphones was like pebbles. Yuan Ying's eyebrows rose nervously, and her sharp gaze tried to penetrate the barrier of the screen.

With her voice changer running, Yuan Ying spoke expressionlessly, "I lose my appetite when it's hot, and I don't know what to eat. Master, do you have any recommendations? I don't want to eat~"

This time the response was also a little late, and the lingering laughter from when he spoke still brushed past my ears.

"Are there any spring rolls near the school? They're quite refreshing."

Before he could finish speaking, another burst of keyboard clicks rang out.

His hand, which had been resting on the table, tightened involuntarily. He deliberately softened his tone into a casual curiosity: "Master, who are you chatting with?"

"Is this the guild leader?"

The keyboard clicks stopped, and Lai Siqing's voice came through: "Replying to the news from the bamboo forest. He is a famous gem master, and I wanted to recruit him into the Heavenly Realm. But unfortunately, he refused."

"There's also the matchmaking assistant from Jiayuan.com. Neither Zhulin nor I plan to take things further, so I need to write her a reply."

"Ah... I thought I was going to have a teacher's wife." Yuan Ying couldn't help but curl up her lips, her voice becoming sweet and cloying.

Lai Si was both amused and exasperated: "You're overthinking it."

It was a very indulgent and intimate tone, the kind of tone only heard between close friends and family. But until now, his contact with Lai Si has been limited to the internet; apart from the Lai Si account and a few traces of her WeChat Moments, there's nothing else.

How old is Lai Si? What does he do for a living? What is his real name?

Many messages were casually mentioned by the fox during the chat, then deliberately paused and skipped over, leaving him completely unaware of them.

Despite it being the height of summer, Yuan Ying felt as if a dark cloud was constantly hanging over his head—a stuffy, hot, and humid atmosphere that made him restless. The sense of impending doom kept his adrenaline pumping, refusing to subside, and kept him in a state of over-excitement throughout.

The WeChat group for leveling up services kept flashing messages.

As usual, Yuan Ying said goodbye to Lai Si and logged off. He had no appetite, so he bought the cheapest set meal on the first floor of the cafeteria, ate a few bites in a hurry, and went into the nearest internet cafe under the scorching sun. During this period, he used the excuse of preparing for group assignments at night to suspend the 33 activities at night. In fact, he had been staying up all night to grind for game boosting orders since the first day.

It wasn't convenient in the dormitory, so she could just rent a small private room in an internet cafe and play games until dawn. Except for a short nap in the early hours of the morning, Yuan Ying hardly slept at all.

Such high efficiency makes the income from one night exceptionally considerable.

Yuan Ying's excessively hard-working attitude worried the studio owner who brought her into the industry. He subtly inquired, fearing that something might happen to Yuan Ying's family so she would risk her life for money. When he learned that she was only trying to save money to quickly buy a luxury item she wanted, the owner became furious.

He retorted without hesitation, "I thought you were asking for trouble, working until six or seven every day. Turns out you're just relying on your physical resilience! You scared the hell out of me! Hurry up and finish this job so you can get some rest. Even if you're young, you can't keep pushing yourself like this. The studio next door just lost someone recently. He was under twenty-five and died from overworking. He was still grinding dungeons when he died. Don't break my record!"

Yuan Ying ignored her boss's warnings and silently continued processing orders. After about a month, watching the deposit figures on her WeChat gradually increase, she finally stopped.

The online team then made the handover with the backpack vendor they had arranged in advance.

[Private Chat] Orphan Boss: The items have been sent to your email. Payment complete. Wishing you all the best and may everything go smoothly. [bow][smile]

"Master, shall we continue with 33 tomorrow? Our group has finally finished!" Yuan Ying said with a smile, completely unfazed. "And we'll also pass the final exams easily, then we'll be completely free!"

Actually, he didn't pass the exam. He was too busy with liver transplants to study and ended up having to retake it several times.

"Okay," Lu Xuejin replied casually, then asked him, "Aren't you going out to play after the exam?"

"I don't like going out. I just want to be with my master."

"You like your master that much..." Lu Xuejin slowly put on her headphones. "I just can't do anything with you. Let's go, let's do our daily routine."

That evening, the official Endless Return website released information about the Qixi Festival event and a major update preview, causing a stir in the world chat and forums. While waiting for matchmaking, Lu Xuejin took a quick look and discovered that in addition to the limited-edition Qixi Festival outfits, pets, pink wings of various sizes, and numerous other events, the official website had also launched an extra "Fireworks of Longing" event.

In short, the long, rambling description boils down to this: couples who set off fireworks together gain an extra boost to their intimacy level. Reaching intimacy levels of 520, 1314, and so on unlocks special couple titles, limited-edition outfits, and additional special effects. The official team has also thoughtfully included a small feature – "Next Year's Greetings" – aptly named so that couples who set off fireworks this Qixi Festival can reminisce about the beautiful moments of the past.

Players are complaining that this might lead to all sorts of chaotic situations and tragedies, like a "matching exes" game. After all, many people update their in-game relationships faster than the endless game client. By the time next year's Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day), their friends will have already updated to who-knows-how-many relationships. Are you expecting them to see messages from their in-game partner and their partner's ex-ex-ex-ex-ex on Qixi Festival? What kind of genius game planner came up with this idea?

Then they built a tall building to educate the unfilial son of the official, saying with absolute certainty that they would never pay for such a stupid and brain-damaged function.

However, a month later, on Qixi Festival, the sound of fireworks was deafening, the special effects were dazzling, and the broadcasts occupied half of the world channel.

[World] Loves potato chips: Wait, so all your "I'm not buying" was just a lie? Only I, this poor nanny, believed it?

[World] The sound of flutes is chaotic: I want free pink wings, who will give them to me?

[World] Baby: When will sweet love find me? [Holding back tears] If I can't have sweet love, even a rotten one will do! [Crying]

[World] I love potato chips: Young master and young lady, please stop frying! [crying] Don't waste my money, it hurts my heart!

[World] Pulse is back: Sour Sour, where is everyone? [Surprised] Don't tell me you all went to celebrate Qixi Festival??

Lu Xuejin and Yuan Ying are both single and lonely. They just find the game particularly noisy and continue to log in as usual to do their daily tasks and complete dungeons.

During this time, Lu Xuejin noticed that Yuan Ying was somewhat absent-minded and slow to react, and repeatedly asked about the fox's movements.

"He has something to do today and won't be online. 33 will be suspended for one day."

Playing 33 on Qixi Festival is quite a lifestyle choice.

Yuan Ying gave an ambiguous "Oh," and said, "The gang leader went to spend Qixi Festival with his girlfriend? Leaving us behind, that's too much."

They really don't miss any opportunity to apply eye drops.

Lu Xuejin: "Don't talk nonsense, your guild leader is working overtime at the company."

“Ah…” Yuan Ying’s tone was strange, “So the fox is single. I thought that with the gang leader’s conditions, he would definitely not lack people around him.”

Lu Xuejin really wanted to say that although the fox had the appearance of a playboy, he had never even been in a relationship and was still a pure virgin. But when the conversation reached this point, and it was Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day), Lu Xuejin instantly thought of the "matchmaking" plot in novels and thought that this scene was just right.

At this moment, fireworks rose from the sky, earth, underworld, and the four pillars of the game map. Brilliant, strange, and dreamlike bouquets filled the sky, splashed the earth, lit up the underworld, and covered the nine heavens along the four pillars of the four poles.

Everything was like a dream.

[World] Xiaozhi, stop here: @Xiaozhi, would you like to stay with me forever?

[World] Xiaozhi: I wish to be with you.

[World] Pulse is back: Sour Sour 3=1, need a healer, urgent, come quickly.

[World] Despicable: @Despicable person, this is our second year. I hope that in the third year, the fourth year... countless years later, when I look back today, I will still see you.

The channels were flooded with declarations of love and vows from young couples.

Interspersed among these were recruitment messages from lonely, stubborn players.

Lu Xuejin sent a message to Yuan Ying as the next firework lit up.

[Private Message] Lai Si: Do you like foxes?

[Private Chat] Luo Ying: Master, I like you.

Just a second after the message was sent, Yuan Ying's message followed—the two sent their messages almost simultaneously, accompanied by dazzling fireworks effects and a global announcement.

[World]: Player Luoying used [Legendary Magpie Bridge] on Player Laisi! With this, she proclaimed to both the celestial and the underworld: Delicate clouds weave patterns, shooting stars convey sorrow, the Milky Way stretches vast and silent. A single meeting amidst the golden autumn breeze and jade dew surpasses countless encounters in the mortal world. Deep affection, beyond words, is witnessed only by the Magpie Bridge, and seen and heard by all under heaven; this love will never change!

[World] Loves potato chips: Wait, who's with whom? Who's against whom? @Luoying @Laisi Today isn't April Fool's Day, @Fox What are you guys up there doing again? Don't think you can attract me to join the guild like this.

[World] Baby: Magpie Bridge!!! I saw it in person for the first time, my hands are sore from taking so many screenshots, but it's so beautiful!! Suddenly I understand those young couples who bought it at such high prices, I'll never call you a sucker again, it's really worth it!!

[World] Baby: So here's the question, who's going to blow up a Magpie Bridge for me?

[World] Health Brother: Hehe, Lao Ying, you really couldn't hold it in anymore, I knew it!

[World] Wonderful: No Need for Words @WindStops

The world was shocked.

The Magpie Bridge is a discontinued fireworks gift box. It was originally priced at 520 when it was released, but now it has been resold by scalpers for a five-figure price.

The celestial phenomena changed, meteors streaked across the sky, and the Milky Way stretched from the horizon to Lu Xuejin's eyes. The special effects were just the right amount of romantic.

The light was getting brighter, and Lu Xuejin lowered her eyes, looking at it several times before she could see Yuan Ying's message clearly.

[Private Chat] Yuan Ying: I've said it before, I only want to be with you. Lai Si, are you willing to give me a chance?

The two remained silent across the screen, the three messages with vastly different contents side by side adding to the comical atmosphere.

"?" Lu Xuejin leaned back in her soft chair, the wheels rolling backward, away from the screen.

He was confused.

Why did he suddenly confess his feelings? Why would he confess?

Unlike the first world, in this world, Lu Xuejin treats Yuan Ying entirely as a disciple, without any inappropriate words or actions. Not to mention, he deliberately flaunts Yuan Ying's real name.

What exactly made Yuan Ying develop these...feelings?

In the pre-set script, Yuan Ying would feel embarrassed and then become angry because of his "matchmaking," which would allow him to take the opportunity to increase his "goodness" towards his apprentice and raise his dedication value. Then, he would naturally provide assistance to Yuan Ying in starting her business. Once his dedication value was maxed out and Yuan Ying's favor towards him reached its peak, he would reveal everything, saying that he had been treated like a monkey from beginning to end, and then leave to see Yuan Ying's broken and angry eyes.

This script is so good; it doesn't include any romance elements at all.

What exactly is wrong?

Things took an unexpected turn, leaving Lu Xuejin feeling flustered.

Dong Yao, unaware of the host's complex and unspoken emotions, said: "Yuan Ying is part of the silence; it's normal for him to develop feelings for you."

Moreover, with Lai Si's meticulous spending spree, wouldn't any normal person be tempted?

“But I didn’t want him to like me.” Lu Xuejin frowned.

The young man looked furious, his lips pressed tightly together, the line straight, devoid of any smile. His usually gentle eyes were now brimming with anger, burning with a shimmering light, a hint of red tinged at the corners. This anger possessed a unique charm about him, no wonder Silence was so devoted to him.

Before Dongyao could offer any words of comfort, he found his own explanation: "You're planning to use my feelings to get back at me, aren't you?"

Lu Xuejin spoke with certainty.

Dong Yao: [……]

Is it okay to speculate about your husband like this?

Judging from it, the male protagonist doesn't seem to be there to deceive the other person's feelings; on the contrary, he seems to be completely infatuated with the host and becoming increasingly obsessed.

The server went into overdrive because of a magpie bridge created by Luo Ying.

[World] Potato Chip Lover: Who's there? Let me see! Let me see! I'm so anxious!

[World] Mi Chun: Don't tell me I'm going to have a romantic relationship with Lai Si, I've been crying the whole time [crying]

[World] Just got off the plane: At the scene, neither of them moved, probably chatting privately. But Lai Si didn't react to the Magpie Bridge; I think it's just Luo Ying's wishful thinking?

[World] Mi Chun: No way, no way, this gold digger doesn't actually think Lai Si would be interested in him, does he? [eye roll]

[World] Punishment: It's a bit like bringing shame upon oneself.

[World] Winning Dust: Hot knowledge, the last person who gave Lai Si fireworks has already slunk away and quit the game. Please welcome the next challenger!

Author's Note:

Jinbao's attitude towards relationships is rather complicated. [pats head]