Chapter 90: Warm Welcome
Chapter 90: Chapter 90: Warm Welcome
At ten in the morning, Zhang Yan opened his eyes. His arms were filled with a soft, fragrant warmth. He gently slipped his arm out from under her, carefully got out of bed, and stretched luxuriously. He felt incredibly refreshed.
Xiaoyan’s breathing was long and steady. She was dead to the world, completely undisturbed by his movements. It was understandable. She was simply too exhausted.
He sat on the edge of the bed for a while, admiring her sleeping face, and gently stroked her flawless, delicate skin. It was hard to reconcile this tranquil expression with the passionate, almost crazy woman from last night. Once she had cast off all restraints and stopped putting up a front, Xiaoyan had revealed a completely different side of herself to him. It made her much more endearing.
As an outstanding dance student, her flexibility and stamina were truly remarkable. In these aspects, she was far superior to Yuebao. Many highly difficult positions seemed effortless to her, unfolding before him like a genuine dance performance. Her physical gifts were equally exceptional.
Her two excellent "leverage points" made it easy to "empower" her. As long as they "aligned their granularity," he could drive straight through the "middle platform" and directly penetrate her "underlying logic." By focusing on her real-time feedback, he could in turn continue to increase the intensity of his "empowerment." Thus, on this specific "track" of hers, they formed a perfect "closed loop," achieving an endless cycle of synergy.
The exact moment Xiaoyan would need to remember for the rest of her life was 8:24 PM yesterday.
After eating and drinking their fill, the two didn’t take any long halftimes. They did "cardio" together until the wee hours of the morning. Of course, whenever they got tired from "running," they would pause to chat or switch to a "walking pace." Perhaps because yesterday was the first time she had completely unleashed her true nature, she "ran" a bit wildly, completely ignoring her own physical limits. So much so that during their final "sprint," she actually fell asleep halfway through without any warning.
That was certainly an eye-opener for Zhang Yan.
However, there was a minor issue: Zhang Yan still hadn’t managed to test the absolute limits of his buffs. Whether it was the Concentration Potion or Shimizu Ken’s blessing, the stated effect was a 100% enhancement of the corresponding ability, but the actual results far exceeded that number. His reading efficiency hadn’t just doubled; at his fastest, he could effectively read three to four hundred thousand words an hour. The improvement in his combat stamina was roughly the same.
Therefore, the ultimate effect of this enhancement was non-linear—it seemed to follow a square or cube law. He had consulted the Great God Jipti, and it seemed to be based on a principle called the "ability superposition effect" and the "advantage of resource utilization." He wondered when he would finally hit his limits. That day would surely be incredibly satisfying.
But regardless of the type of buff, it was always based on his own foundational stats. Therefore, even without any system rewards, he took his daily exercise much more seriously now. Thinking of this, he eagerly marched into the living room and did thirty minutes of Kegel exercises.
After sweating buckets, he took a short break and pulled out his phone. There were two messages from Yuebao. One was sent after eight o’clock last night, reporting that her entire family had safely arrived in Beijing. The other was a good morning text from today. Zhang Yan hadn’t replied promptly, but she hadn’t pestered him about it, showing exceptional maturity.
"I was busy until late last night. Opening my eyes to see your message today makes me feel like I’ll be in a great mood all day!
"Don’t be stingy with medical expenses. If you run out, just ask me for more anytime. Don’t overwork yourself. Love you, baby."
He hit send. The junior didn’t reply immediately; she was probably busy checking her father into the hospital.
Among the other chats, he was rather surprised to see that Xia Xiqing had taken the initiative to message him for the first time. It was sent over two hours ago.
"You didn’t come."
The corners of Zhang Yan’s mouth subconsciously curled up. After a moment of thought, he replied, "Miss me?"
There was no response from Xia Xiqing either. He didn’t know if she was just busy, or if she simply didn’t know how to handle such a slightly flirtatious text. Aside from that, Brother Gan had sent a final reminder about the banquet tomorrow and had set a meeting time for them to head over together.
He locked his phone. Seeing that Xiaoyan wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon, he got dressed and headed out.
Later that morning.
The sun was high in the sky when Xiaoyan lazily opened her eyes. Recalling every little detail of last night, her heart swelled with joy and satisfaction. But that feeling abruptly vanished when she reached out and grasped nothing but air. The other side of the bed was cold.
She quickly threw off the blankets and sat up. Without even bothering to put on clothes, she dashed barefoot across the floor—THUMP THUMP THUMP—searching every corner of the house, but there was no trace of him.
"He left," she thought.
In that moment, she felt like crying.
A woman was often most precious to a man when he hadn’t yet won her over. Xiaoyan had always known this. That was why, even when she already liked Zhang Yan immensely and was completely infatuated with him, she had still agonized over whether or not to give herself to him. She was terrified that once he finally had her, he would quickly lose interest and eventually leave.
Just like this.
What she hadn’t expected, however, was for it to happen so fast. After only a single night, she had lost him.
Xiaoyan felt all the strength drain from her body, as if the light had gone out of her life. She collapsed onto the living room floor, her legs splayed in a W-pose, and stared blankly out the window. The floor was freezing, but she didn’t seem to feel it. The chill in her heart was far colder.
"Did I recklessly gamble everything away, only to be left with nothing?" she whispered.
Just as she was drowning in self-pity, the rattle of keys turning in the lock echoed through the room. Zhang Yan pushed the door open, carrying two bags of takeout.
"What are you doing? Isn’t the floor cold?"
Zhang Yan was completely bewildered by the bizarre sight the moment he walked in. He hadn’t expected her to have a habit of sitting naked on the floor. Xiaoyan froze for a second. Then, her dull eyes quickly regained their sparkle, immediately bursting with radiant joy.
"Darling, you didn’t leave!"
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP
Zhang Yan had no idea what was going on. All he saw was Xiaoyan springing to her feet, throwing her arms wide, and sprinting toward him at top speed. His eyes were instantly glued to a certain sight, tracking the intense swaying left and right. He hurriedly dumped the takeout bags on the floor to free up his hands.
The next second, Xiaoyan launched herself into the air, wrapping around him tightly like an octopus.
A charging foul with two basketballs was totally against the rules—especially when the impact went straight to the face.
With a heavy THUD, the two of them slammed into the front door.
Gravity pulled Xiaoyan down just a fraction of an inch, sparing Zhang Yan from imminent suffocation. He quickly supported her thighs with his hands, his fingers sinking deeply into her plush, rounded flesh. The moment their gazes locked, Xiaoyan kissed him with frantic passion.
He had no idea what kind of crazy spell had come over her. He had merely gone out to grab her some food, yet she was giving him a hero’s welcome.
But Zhang Yan was definitely not one to refuse an offering.
Faced with the classic dilemma of whether to eat or take a bath first upon returning home, he naturally chose to feast on the delicacy delivered straight into his arms.