Chapter 349
There was something different about her brother, but Lu Xinyi couldn’t point out. He was still his old self with few words and his aloofness, and yet after years of separation, Tian Lingyu kept his matured and aloof aura.
Her eyes stayed on him for a moment until she decided to give up and drop the issue. If her brother had an important issue to discuss with her, he wouldn’t have wasted time and said it at once.
Opening another pack of her snacks, Lu Xinyi watched as Shen Yi played another round of Hunt on his laptop while sitting beside her on the couch.
“When are you going back to the Capital City?” she asked as she munched on her beef jerky. The tapping of the keys could only be heard within the lounge area. Across them sat Shen Xue and Kang Wei discussing their plans for tomorrow’s event.
“Until your training camp is done. We will stay until then.”
“…”
She couldn’t understand his reasons, but she assumed he was just worried about her safety. After all, she wasn’t familiar with Jiang City and its nearby areas.
As if on cue, Tian Lingyu tilted his head towards them and laughed with a smug in his face.
“Of course, we need to make sure you wouldn’t have to deal with another kitchen disaster,” he teased.
“What? Our kitchen goddess had brought a disaster before,” Shen Xue blurted incredulously. He knew his older brother had some kitchen misadventures before, but to think his favorite Big SIs did the same?
“Ah,” The Silver Leaf Prince tapped his chin, “Once upon a time, little Xinxin became too confident and was in for a reality check. Eager to make something special for our dad’s birthday, she almost blew up our house because she was dumb enough to forget to turn the pilot light of the oven after turning on the gas.”
All of them stopped what they were doing and glanced at Lu Xinyi whose face was burning hot from embarrassment. She covered her face with both of her hands, but with blush spreading up to her ears, her damned older brother burst into laughter.
How dare he reminded her of that embarrassing memory? Ah, she was half-tempted to throttle his throat right now.
She could still remember it clearly. It was indeed their father’s birthday, but he still had some work to do so. She and his older brother decided to help their mom to cook dinner to celebrate. Their mother was patient enough to teach them what to do and eagerly add on the whys.
‘Lingyu, don’t brown the garlic too much, or it’ll become bitter.’
‘Xin, Baby. This is how you should mix this, alright?’
After finishing the desserts, someone came to their door; and their mom had to answer it. Lingyu was left to tidy up the mess on their kitchen counter, but before he does that, he helped Lu Xinyi put the beef in the oven to roast. He was about to set the timer, but Xinxin insisted that she’ll set it herself and pushed his brother away.
Just as he finished cleaning, he spotted his sister confidently striding out of the kitchen to watch her favorite cartoon shows when they heard it. A loud explosion resounded within the kitchen. Tian Lingyu leaped and covered his little sister with his own body as parts of the stove and kitchen utensils strewn around them.
Loud footsteps could be heard at the hallway as their mother came rushing to check what had happened. Her husband following closely and found their children on the floor with Lu Xinyi wailing as she saw the bloody back of her brother.
It took sometime before Lu Xinyi recovered from the trauma, but the scars at Tian Lingyu’s back was a good reminder that she should pay attention to the safety of their kitchen.
“Don’t worry, Xinxin. There couldn’t be anything you can explode at your camping site, eh?” Her brother laughed harder.
“You don’t have an electric oven back then?” Shen Xue’s question was paired up with a deep frown on his face.
“Second Master, unlike you, we don’t have the same capacity to live in leisure. Our dad chose to become a chef, but he never reached the pro level. His own family was livid with his career choice.” His sister-in-law explained, “You see, cooking for a living was barely considered a career at all, and without finishing Silver Leaf, our dad had to work hard for us.”
There were still questions Shen Xue wanted to ask, but as his older brother stared at him coldly, he chose to bite his tongue and nodded to Lu Xinyi.
As for Lu Xinyi, she glared daggers to her older brother for bringing up that topic. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“You are the worst older brother. Ever.”
“Hell, no. my brother is the worst! You can’t contest how he’s mean to me!” Shen Xue objected thus starting another bantering between him and Lu Xinyi. “My cooking goddess, why did you have to marry a man like him?”
Your goddess, ahh? Did you ask me to call my wife that? Shen Yi thought.
He shot his younger brother a glare while suppressing the urge to kick Shen Xue out of the room. His mouth set in a hard line. His brother would always find the right words to irritate him.
“Xue, your brother can’t be that bad, but it’s another matter if we’re talking about MY brother! You have no idea how much mischief I suffered from him!” Lu Xinyi pointed a finger to her brother.
“Heh, you aren’t an angel as people thought you are,” Tian Lingyu countered.
—
Next day…
After finishing their breakfast, the group came back to room Kang Wei’s family prepared for this day. Six computer units were installed and placed in the middle of the spacious room. The windows were opened to make place ventilated. With a gentle breeze coming from the outside, the thin curtains danced mid-air.
When Lu Xinyi and Shen Yi entered the room, Shen Xue, Kang Wei, and Tian Lingyu were already seated and ready to start the game.
“Where’s Senior Brother Huang? I thought you said you need five members to form a team?”
Tian Lingyu lifted his head, his jawline prominent as he regarded his sister. He found it interesting that she was starting to get interested in online games.
“Shenghao had to go back to the academy. Headmistress Han needs him there.”
“But the live stream will start in ten minutes. Do you want me to call someone to take his place?” Kang Wei lit a cigarette but as soon as he saw Shen Yi glaring daggers at him, he coughed violently on his hand before extinguishing the end of his cigarette in an ashtray.
“Xinxin, do you want to try?” Shen Yi opened the top buttons of his dress shirt before settling on his place. Lu Xinyi moved and sat beside him.
“Are you sure? I might ruin the gameplay?”
“Hmm…”
Lu Xinyi didn’t seem to understand why her husband suddenly took an interest in online games. She felt that something was amiss, and every time he was playing, he looked extremely cold.
Sighing to herself, Lu Xinyi immediately switched on the computer and logged into the game. She’d been playing the same game with her husband for the past four days and couldn’t help but understand why everyone liked it.
She took a quick glance at the rankings and saw her husband’s IGN dominating the rising stars rank list. He’d completed several quests and taking the fifth tier of the second ladder now. So fast! Just the other night he was in the fourth ladder; now, he jumped into the second ladder?
“Your APM isn’t that bad, Xinxin,” her brother said across her. “Just make sure you wouldn’t wander too far from the team. You can loot and pick up the equipment along the way while we make sure the coast is clear.”
Her slender fingers lightly hovered above the keyboard and started checking her own stats. With the gear that Shen Xue sent on her account, she was able to earn enough exp to reach the required level for this season. She should be preparing for their training camp, and yet she couldn’t help but join the group as they started playing the game.
Tian Lingyu turned on a huge flat-screen television mounted on the wall. On it, the live stream of the relaunch of Hunt started. Lu Xinyi stopped whatever she was doing and lifted her head. She watched as the number of viewers started to increase swiftly and let out a low whistle.
So Hunt was indeed a popular game. If it wasn’t, how come it already gained one million viewers in just a few minutes?
Five men were shown on the screen. Lu Xinyi’s eyes widened when he recognized three of them especially that man who was sitting in the middle of the long table. They were just introduced by the host, but the audience went wild.
Ah, so this was the reason why her husband suddenly took an interest in playing Hunt. Since Shen Yi was aware of what happened back at the toy store, then Chang Yifeng shouldn’t be surprised to see the demon on his doorstep.