At nightfall, Lin Yun walked out of the office building, feeling listless. He gazed at the bustling streets, turned around, and, as always, started his journey ho.
He walked through the sparsely populated residential streets, wandered around the comrcial area near the light rail station, avoiding the hands of skimpily clad won reaching out from the crowd, and stopped in front of a shopping plaza.
The brightly lit expanse of the building made him feel as if he were in a different world.
The conversation with Hong Siyu that morning seed to echo in his ears, and about whether to resign and fully return to the path of the Magical Girl, he had preliminarily made a decision:
—Finish the monthly summary eting and take care of a few tasks at hand, then he could apply for resignation.
Before leaving, he even made a special trip to the general manager's office. He ntioned the resignation, negotiated the handover of his tasks, and then left the company.
The reason he didn't go straight to the station after work, but took a detour to the comrcial area, was actually because an important date was approaching.
For instance, his wedding anniversary with An Ya.
This year marked the 15th year of marriage with An Ya, which, in more romantic terms, should be called a "crystal wedding," a day worth celebrating for couples in this period.
That was precisely why he suddenly rembered such a date, considering whether he should buy An Ya a gift she would like when it arrived.
He rembered An Ya liked jewelry, and she treasured every piece he bought for her; since it was their "crystal wedding," a crystal jewelry piece would be very appropriate.
He could wait until their anniversary to purchase the gift, wrap it carefully, and place it in An Ya's vanity box.
—And then, on her death anniversary, he would personally take it to her grave and present it to her.
Because An Ya's death anniversary fell just one week after their wedding anniversary.
This was actually a very sad and ironic matter. But for Lin Yun, besides revenge, it was his best way of paying tribute to An Ya.
As for revenge, every ti he picked up this idea, Lin Xiaolu's face would appear in his mind. It did not dissuade him from the thought, but it made him realize that the ti was not right, at least not yet.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Yun collected his emotions, tightly clutched his briefcase, and stepped forward.
He entered the shopping plaza and silently road from one storefront to another. Faced with the enthusiasm of many salespeople, he listened attentively, took it as a reference, and nodded politely in gratitude.
After about an hour, he had roughly visited all jewelry stores on the first floor of the shopping center, marking the survey complete but then walked out the entrance with a hint of disappointnt.
It couldn't be said that he was dissatisfied, but he always felt sothing was missing.
Only when he left the comrcial area and returned to the station did he suddenly feel hungry, and then realized he had even forgotten to eat dinner.
Standing on the light rail platform, Lin Yun watched the approaching train, its headlights becoming increasingly bright, piercing through the dense crowd, illuminating the weary howard path.
"I'll heat up so leftovers when I get back," he muttered to himself, and then followed the crowd onto the train, finding a mont of peace hanging onto the strap in the carriage.
On his way ho, he pondered what to discuss at tonight's study session, reviewing middle school textbook knowledge over and over in his mind, which unexpectedly made him recall life in junior high.
Continuing daily life while being a Magical Girl; thinking about textbook knowledge on the way ho—how similar, yet how vastly different.
Engrossed in such thoughts, he arrived at the upscale apartnt building where he lived.
As he walked into the corridor, planning to head straight to the elevator, he t a woman coming from that direction.
It was Hong Siyu.
"Ah, you're finally off work?"
Seeing Lin Yun, she greeted him quite naturally.
"Done with work, and in a few days, I probably won't have to go anymore."
He replied quite frankly, "Anyway, thank you for today."
"There's nothing to thank for. Getting to see a lovely junior like you is a treat for an old girl like , whose phantom limbs of the heart are almost withered."
Hong Siyu waved her hand nonchalantly: "But for you, just don't mind if I say sothing extra."
"Extra?" Lin Yun asked, raising his eyes slightly, obviously catching the important point of her words.
"Never mind, don't worry about it," Hong Siyu said casually with a chuckle, "Anyway, I've stayed long enough today. I'm heading back now."
"So what exactly did you say?"
"I told you not to take it to heart, since it wasn't sothing you deliberately hid." Hong Siyu winked at him, "Just get along well with the kids from now on."
Having said that, she waved goodbye to Lin Yun and walked towards the parking area not far away.
Watching her figure recede, Lin Yun pondered for a mont before shaking his head and heading back to the elevator.
However, when he reached the entrance to the elevator, he just happened to see one closing its doors and ascending to his own floor.
This gave him an inexplicable sense of alarm.
The scene at the entrance of the apartnt a mont ago flashed through his mind. In an instant, he pinpointed where this unease was coming from:
"...Just now, there shouldn't have been anyone coming in from the outside."
...
...
After dinner ti, having chatted for a while in the living room, Hong Siyu bid farewell to the two girls and left Lin Xiaolu's ho through the entryway.
Returning to the living room and collapsing onto the sofa in one breath, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang fell silent, entering a state of exhaustion and lethargy.
"If I had known, I would have just had so leftovers at lunch," Lin Xiaolu muttered softly while lying on the sofa.
"Even if she wanted to cook herself, I should have stopped her," Xia Liang sighed as well, "I just didn't expect it to be that disastrous."
Even after dinner, the two still dwelt on that "morable" lunch.
Hong Siyu had wanted to showcase her culinary skills, and if by that she ant torturing her guests, she had certainly succeeded.
Judging from her knife skills and control of the heat, there was not much wrong with the food she prepared; however, when it ca to seasoning, it was nothing short of a disaster. It wasn't just a matter of the food being unpalatable; it tasted like sothing only soone who had lost their sense of taste could concoct.
It was as if all the flavors in the food had their ratios swapped: what should have been salty turned sour, and what should have been sweet beca bitter. The end result was completely inedible.
In the end, only Hong Siyu managed to eat the al normally, occasionally asking the two girls, "Why aren't you eating?"
So, co dinner ti, at the combined insistence of Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu, they ended up making do with the leftovers from the fridge.
After a sowhat raucous day of study, Lin Xiaolu was thinking about taking a short rest on the sofa to gear up for the evening study session when she suddenly felt sothing stuck under her thigh.
She shifted to the side and quickly discovered it was Hong Siyu's ID badge.
Sohow, Hong Siyu had carelessly tossed the badge there and had forgotten to take it back.
Picking up the small badge, Lin Xiaolu couldn't help but exchange a baffled look with Xia Liang before asking, "What should we do?"
"Do you have her contact information?" Xia Liang, having seen what she was holding, was also surprised.
"No," Lin Xiaolu couldn't help but grab at the hair on the side of her head.
"Then let's have Erald Sparrow return it to her... What's wrong?" As Xia Liang pondered a solution, Lin Xiaolu's actions stunned her.
Because Lin Xiaolu had already stood up from the sofa and was stuffing the badge into her pocket, "She should have just gone downstairs; I can still catch up to her."
"Do you really need to rush?" Xia Liang, turning to lean on the back of the sofa and watching Lin Xiaolu head to the entryway, said helplessly, "Erald Sparrow will be here tonight anyway, and you can just return it to her tomorrow, right?"
"It's not right to lose sothing on the first visit as a guest."
At the door, Lin Xiaolu waved nonchalantly, "It's okay, I'll be right back."
She put on her sandals, stepped out the door, then pressed the elevator button and took the elevator down to the ground floor.
Exiting the elevator, she heard Hong Siyu's voice not far away. She imdiately took out the badge from her pocket, lifted it, intending to stride out of the elevator area and quickly return the item.
But her steps halted the mont she stepped out of the elevator.
Because she saw Hong Siyu standing with soone she definitely hadn't expected to see, and they seed to be conversing quite familiarly.
That person was not a stranger either; it was her father, Lin Yun.
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