Chapter 88

Finally admitting that he likes Lin Jin

Cheng Sangluo couldn't stand the smart home assistant's tendency to make lewd jokes at the drop of a hat; after all, its voice, which sounded exactly like hers, was unsettling.

A chill ran down her spine, giving her goosebumps. She had to shrink back and shiver, cursing as she commanded, "Shut up right now! You don't learn good things, you learn these crooked ways! Who taught you that?!"

The puppy was asking a question it already knew the answer to; it seemed to be getting impatient.

The quick-witted butler answered immediately: "Of course it's because you taught me well~ I also know a lot of flattering words for you. You just need to say: 'Cheng Sangluo made me happy,' and I will activate the intelligent question-and-answer mode for you, giving you a perfect experience."

Wait, we haven't even reached the Q&A stage yet!

Cheng Sangluo raised an eyebrow in disbelief, leaned against the desk with her arms crossed, and smiled wickedly with narrowed eyes.

Suddenly intrigued, the man wondered how the crazy woman had trained the AI ​​butler before, and asked, "Tell me, how did your master play with you when she was bored?"

"Ah...ah..."

"Master...my dearest master..."

Do you like it?

"Do you like me like this...?"

"Not enough...not enough...I want to corner you..."

"Take it hard!"

In an instant, the entire villa was filled with Cheng Sangluo's passionate moans, so seductive and wild that they were almost unbearable!

Cheng Sangluo was startled by Zero Frame's close-range attack, nearly knocking over the pot on the gas stove. She hurriedly screamed and commanded, "Shut up! Shut up right now!"

Heavenly Bodhisattva, Lin Jin is playing so wildly at home all by herself!?

'Ding-ding-'

Fortunately, the smart home assistant reacted quickly, immediately stopping upon hearing the command. The subsequent ringing startled the puppy, making it shudder.

She picked up her phone and saw it was Lin Jin calling. Furious, she answered, "Crazy woman! You...you...you..."

Lin Jin was taken aback by the barrage of threats and said, bewildered, "What do you mean, 'I'? Did you eat a firecracker? Why are you getting angry so early in the morning?"

"You...you...your smart home assistant is sick...seriously sick!" Cheng Sangluo stammered angrily. "What did you teach it before? I just told it how to set up the smart home assistant using my voice. I never knew Lin Jin could be so adept at it all by herself!!"

"Oh~ Did you hear something you shouldn't have?" Lin Jin probably knew that the puppy had discovered her little quirk, and instead of being ashamed, she laughed heartily: "How about it? The intelligent 'Cheng Sangluo' is much more fun than your blockhead, at least it can satisfy my needs~"

"What's so fun about it?! It's a good thing your villa is in the mountains. If it were any populated neighborhood, making such a racket would make me look like a nuisance. I'd be in deep trouble!" Cheng Sangluo turned around and stirred her eight-treasure porridge irritably. Her tone, which had started off aggressively, suddenly turned mournful: "It's all your fault...it's all your fault..."

"What's it to me? You're a classic case of curiosity killing the cat. If you hadn't asked, would the smart assistant have responded?" Lin Jin retorted to the puppy with a smile, then switched to a soft, sweet voice to ask, "Have you had breakfast? You promised to take pictures of all three meals a day, but you still haven't submitted them."

"I'm cooking eight-treasure porridge, and the steamed buns are still being steamed, it won't be ready anytime soon," the puppy answered honestly, then added with concern, "What about you? Has Secretary Zhou arranged breakfast? I know your temper; when you're busy, you only know how to survive on air. Be careful of low blood sugar."

Lin Jin covered her mouth and chuckled, "Not bad, you still know how to care about your wife."

"Isn't that also to help you play the role of a wife well?" Cheng Sangluo stubbornly insisted as usual, but her stubbornness was also soft and yielding. She warned, "You may be busy, but you have to eat properly. The first thing you should do when you get home is to weigh yourself. If I find that you've lost weight, I'll stuff pig feed into your mouth."

"Alright, stop with the empty talk and give me a proper report on what you plan to do today."

"I'm staying home all the time, just doing one thing: carving seals to meet deadlines, so you won't suddenly decide to nag me about this or that." Cheng Sangluo pouted, her tone even more resentful: "It's so boring. When are you coming back? Arguing over the phone is so pointless. I still prefer arguing with you face to face."

"Aren't you shameless?" Lin Jin asked with a half-smile, but her heart softened a little when she heard the puppy's complaining voice. "If you behave well, I'll reward you properly when we get home. You can have whatever you want."

Cheng Sangluo lowered her eyes and stared at the bubbling eight-treasure porridge. She had no appetite and could only respond with a muffled "hmm".

She didn't know what to say. Hearing Lin Jin talking to someone else on the phone, she felt she couldn't join in and could only listen silently to the background noise outside the phone.

Lin Jin noticed her silence and asked, "Hey? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Cheng Sangluo asked softly, "Are you busy?"

"Yes, I just finished packing and am about to go to the company for a meeting," Lin Jin answered truthfully. Knowing that the puppy was in a bad mood, she coaxed him gently, "Go have some breakfast. I'll call you when I'm done."

"Oh," Cheng Sangluo replied listlessly, "Then I'll hang up."

"Go ahead and hang up."

"I'm really hanging up!"

Lin Jin gave Cheng Sangluo the chance to hang up, but they lingered for a long time, neither willing to end the conversation. Lin Jin couldn't help but sigh, "You really are like a little puppy, a clingy little puppy."

The puppy said dejectedly, "Don't you want to hear me say something goodbye?"

"A dog's mouth can't produce ivory, I should be thanking my lucky stars you're not angry with me." Lin Jin said sharply, but feeling he couldn't let the dog get away with it, he smiled and urged, "So, what does Spicy Soldier want to say to someone who's going to blow up the earth?"

This time, Cheng Sangluo didn't stutter and said clearly, "Wife, I miss you."

Lin Jin pressed her advantage: "Anything else?"

"Um...and...um..." Cheng Sangluo gripped the phone tightly with her knuckles, humming and hawing for a while, cursing under her breath, "You deadbeat, give it your all!"

"Mmm... You're so clumsy, you can't even say nice things."

“With you not around, I find the bed has become very big, um... I don’t seem to be able to eat anything... um... I hate talking to the smart butler, talking to myself like an idiot…” Cheng Sangluo sighed, and finally concluded: “Why don’t you scold me, you can argue a bit, this house is so big, so empty, there is loneliness everywhere.”

"What kind of weird request is this? Before, if I scolded you a few times, you'd react like a firecracker, but now you're actually begging to argue with me. How shameless can you be?"

Lin Jin's soft laughter was like a bell tinkling in the wind, clear and ethereal. It entered Cheng Sangluo's ears and became a pleasant sound, a sound that touched his heart and soul.

"Okay, okay, I'm shameless, I'm just that shameless." Cheng Sangluo admitted in an annoyed tone, and after letting out a long sigh, she was about to hang up the phone. "I won't bother you anymore, you can hang up now. Hurry up and go give your instructions, finish your work as soon as possible and go home."

After a few seconds of silence on the other end of the line, Lin Jin called out in a deep voice, "Cheng Sangluo."

"Why are you suddenly calling me so seriously?"

"Give me a good morning kiss, is that too much to ask?"

Cheng Sangluo's face instantly turned red, but instead of her usual refusal, she covered her phone and tapped it like a chick pecking at rice: "Good morning, Lin Jin, mua (shaking with embarrassment.jpg)".

Lin Jin was generous, returning the kiss with a smile: "Kiss~ Remember to break the time into seconds, think of me every second, and maybe the time won't be so hard to bear."

When Cheng Sangluo heard the cold, busy tone from the receiver, she came to her senses; the crazy woman had already hung up the phone.

She absentmindedly turned off the gas stove, lifted the lid, picked up a piping hot white steamed bun, and took a big bite, completely forgetting that it was burning her mouth.

Those dry, white steamed buns were like life without Lin Jin—tasteless, unpalatable, and leaving no other feeling but a tightness in the chest.

She felt a little annoyed, thinking that she should have said more things to make Lin Jin happy in the limited time available.

Right now, I can only continue practicing on my own.

"Honey, I miss you."

"Honey, what are you doing?"

"Honey, have you eaten properly?"

"Honey, aren't you bored?"

"Honey, the weather in Zhouhai is nice today, the sun is shining brightly."

"Honey, I really want to eat a seafood feast, please come back soon!"

"Wife..."

As she was talking, Cheng Sangluo fell silent, biting into her steamed bun.

She suddenly realized that being alone was boring.

This dullness didn't stem from Lin Jin's absence, but rather from her own monotonous and uninteresting life, which made her words sound lifeless.

Cheng Sangluo couldn't compose herself for a while, so she could only eat breakfast in the garden with a steamed bun in her mouth and a bowl of eight-treasure porridge.

Life is just like that when you're alone; no matter what scenery you see, it's all gray and monotonous.

The sunlight shone on the leaves that had turned yellow in autumn, and the golden hues that covered the mountains and fields seemed to fade into desolation and loneliness before her eyes.

So the wind that rolled by was cool, the clouds were lonely, and even the sunlight lost its warmth.

When she is alone, she can see many emotions that she cannot see on ordinary days, just like right now.

Cheng Sangluo stirred the spoon, turning a bowl of eight-treasure porridge into a watery mess.

She kept sighing sadly, but she didn't put the porridge in her mouth. She was in a daze and didn't know what was wrong with her.

However, the answer to this problem was quickly found.

Countless times I refused to admit that my heart was fluttering, but in just a moment, it was easily forced open by an intense and uncontrollable longing.

That heart, forged in cement, was clearly unbreakable, immovable as a mountain, and untouched by the seven emotions and six desires. Yet, it collapsed suddenly and unexpectedly, with the force of a collapsing building.

We've only been apart for two days, how could I possibly miss someone I absolutely hate so much like I'm sick?

Why can't I eat?

Why can't I sleep well?

After living with loneliness for so many years, why am I now so afraid of it?

Cheng Sangluo sat alone on the steps leading to the garden, put down the tasteless eight-treasure porridge, and gazed at the vast mountains and fields.

Those bright eyes gradually dimmed, and disappointment in themselves overflowed from them.

She was disappointed that she hadn't avenged her great grudge, so how could she have fallen in love with her lover? Love would ruin all her plans and throw her into chaos.

But those eyes were also overflowing with an uncontrollable wavering, an unprecedented wavering, like a wild horse breaking free of its reins, dragging its feelings for Lin Jin into the sky and scattering them everywhere.

What does it look like?

Like a gust of wind scattering autumn leaves across the mountain, leaving them scattered and in disarray, a tangled mess.

What can be done to stop this storm raging in the soul?

no way.

Yes, she could never get along with Lin Jin.

Finally, this stubborn and restrained person admitted the fact she had been denying all along—she liked Lin Jin, liked him to the point of being unable to eat or sleep, like she had contracted an incurable lovesickness. The unspoken affection turned into a raging flood, breaking through the floodgates of her heart and destroying her orderly life. She could no longer use denial as an excuse.

It turns out that when someone becomes very important, you forget their bad points; those vivid humiliations all become trivial matters.

When that person wasn't around, losing my appetite and sleep became the norm, and even dreaming about her became a luxury.

It turns out that those irresistible kisses and hugs, and the endless nights of sweet nothings, were all justified expressions of affection.

It turns out that everything stemmed from liking, an addictive liking for Lin Jin.

Cheng Sangluo slapped her forehead, both amused and exasperated: "Why do you have to like the person you hate the most? Cheng Sangluo, how shameless are you?"

[Author's Note]

1. My pre-order novel, "The Sinful Lover," is available for collection.

2. Stay tuned for the next chapter!