Of course the new name sounded good—just look at whose surname she was taking.

Lu Sui glanced at Wu Mangmang indifferently and paid her no more attention.

Wu Mangmang was currently receiving a warm welcome through private messages.

“Wow, Master Lu, you’re finally online! I’ve been waiting for you for ages.”

“Master Lu, quick! The arena is waiting for you. Half an hour to finish—my wife is about to give birth.”

“Master Lu…”

Hearing “Master Lu” made Wu Mangmang feel like she was floating on cloud nine. How did she have the virtue and ability to earn the title “Master”?

Being so popular in the arena made Wu Mangmang immediately log off, then shove the laptop into Lu Sui’s arms. “Master Lu, you handle the trouble you caused yourself. In the arena, I can only lie there dead.”

Lu Sui pushed away Wu Mangmang’s laptop, saying lightly, “No matter how good I am, I can’t dominate with just a touchpad.”

“Oh, oh.” The laptop indeed had this limitation—you’d need at least a mouse to perform heaven-defying operations.

Wu Mangmang put away the computer and looked at Lu Sui with affectionate eyes. “Have you read that XX novel? The male lead is a gaming god—super handsome. If you seriously played games, you’d definitely be a god too. So many people would set off fireworks for you.”

The gaming world respected the strong. Even if you were wealthy, if your skills were too poor, everyone would just treat you like a fat pig—there’d be no respect.

But if you had godlike skills, even if you might be so poor in reality that you could only gnaw on steamed buns, you’d still enjoy extremely high status in the gaming world.

So even Lu Sui wasn’t immune to the passionate world of gaming. He smugly replied to Wu Mangmang, “Even without playing seriously, I’m still a god.”

“I think I’m about to be dazzled by you,” Wu Mangmang said dramatically.

Lu Sui shook his head helplessly—he really couldn’t understand the psychology of these young girls. To be honest, in Lu Sui’s view, men addicted to games weren’t very reliable unless they were in professional esports.

But there were young girls who were particularly infatuated with such people.

When Lu Sui first started helping Wu Mangmang with quests, he was completely clueless. Although he’d studied various guides that Peng Ze had compiled for half a day, gaming was ultimately about practical operation.

So Mr. Lu also learned to use another type of software—XX voice chat.

Although he only used it once when first entering the arena, the male identity of the loli character Lu Mangmang was already beyond doubt.

Thus, for the first time in his life, Mr. Lu was greeted by many people as a transvestite.

Then, as Mr. Lu’s path to godhood opened, he collected quite a few cute girls hoping to “send gifts from afar.”

Of course, Lu Sui simply skipped over these romantic encounters—no need to tell Wu Mangmang about them.

“Collecting all these outfits for me must have taken you a lot of time, right?” Wu Mangmang asked Lu Sui again.

For Mr. Lu, that little bit of money naturally didn’t matter, but the time spent on it was worth a fortune.

The actual situation was far less sweet than Wu Mangmang imagined.

Spending money to buy outfits was naturally no problem—Lu Sui knew about Wu Mangmang’s little tendency to show off.

But if he had to spend large amounts of time helping her collect limited holiday outfits and dye various costume sets, Lu Sui really couldn’t spare that much time.

However, while he didn’t have time, there were many other girls who sincerely and enthusiastically wanted to help him.

For example, that Qixi limited bridal outfit was something a cute girl had immediately messaged Lu Sui about when she saw someone auctioning it online.

As a reward, Lu Sui gave that girl a very expensive set of dye stones, then messaged her: “I’m Mangmang’s husband. She’s on a business trip, so I’m playing for her for a few days.”

He’d thought that girl would disappear from then on, but unexpectedly, not only did she not disappear, she was very moved and said: “You’re so good to your wife.”

The rest of the story was simple—basically all the outfits on Lu Mangmang were collected by that cute girl spending her time to help Lu Mangmang.

Of course, Lu Sui simply skipped over such subplot details, then rubbed Wu Mangmang’s head and said, “Although it was time-consuming, as long as you’re happy.”

Wu Mangmang was so moved she was about to cry—she had a feeling of being so happy she could fly.

Reunions are always brief, while partings are the most hateful.

Lu Sui walked back after dropping Wu Mangmang off at the entrance of Huangtu Village—the conditions in Huangtu Village really couldn’t accommodate his entourage.

Wu Mangmang grabbed Lu Sui’s hand and said, “I called Old Peter and asked him to help hold back the letters. Don’t blame him when you go back. He only agreed because I pestered him relentlessly. I just wanted to surprise you.”

“Let’s have fewer of these kinds of surprises,” Lu Sui said.

For someone you love, losing news of them inevitably makes you think in the worst direction—that feeling is too terrible.

“Call me when the work is finished. I’ll come pick you up.” With one sentence, Lu Sui shot down Wu Mangmang’s next planned surprise.

Wu Mangmang returned to the city in early October. When Lu Sui picked her up, he looked her up and down carefully, then said, “Is this my girlfriend, or my girlfriend’s mother?”

Wu Mangmang was immediately petrified. Although she’d expected Lu Sui to vent after holding back his anger for so long—she’d even prepared for physical compensation—she never expected this person to strike at her like this.

This grudge was getting serious.

If it had been before, Wu Mangmang would definitely have acted like Lu Sui’s mother-in-law, but now she just jumped onto Lu Sui, wrapping her legs around his waist and holding his face to start gnawing on it. “You dislike me, don’t you? You dislike me, don’t you?”

Lu Sui quickly held Wu Mangmang securely, afraid she’d fall and hurt herself.

After a long separation, they were like dry kindling meeting fierce fire. Even Lu Sui let go and showed off their affection in public.

When getting in the car, Wu Mangmang took out a small mirror to fix her appearance—though there wasn’t much appearance to speak of. She hadn’t dared look at herself in the mirror for many days, but now she had no choice but to face reality and figure out how to rescue her skin.

Wu Mangmang looked at herself in the mirror with criticism and disgust, then turned to Lu Sui and said, “Mr. Lu, you really have heavy tastes—you could still make a move on this face.”

Lu Sui coughed twice and said, “My vision has been a bit blurry these past two days.”

They didn’t return to the city until the afternoon of the next day. Wu Mangmang luxuriously soaked in a milk bath—only then did she feel like she’d returned to the civilized world.

When Lu Sui pushed open the door, Wu Mangmang was busy doing full-body maintenance, with her hands and feet all occupied. She’d already made an appointment at the beauty spa for tomorrow.

Her hair also needed careful care for a while.

All that talk about natural beauty being hard to abandon was nonsense—without maintenance, you’d look fifty at thirty.

While applying body lotion, Wu Mangmang was calculating her schedule when she suddenly heard Lu Sui say they were going out together that evening. Wu Mangmang didn’t even process it. “Huh? I have to go too? But I…” She was so dark—she really didn’t want to go out, okay?

“Ning Zheng and the others all want to see you, and Lu Lin is stirring things up. You’ve been gone for over two months—everyone thinks we broke up again.” Lu Sui sat beside Wu Mangmang with dissatisfaction. “Explaining this once is fine, but explaining it multiple times will make people suspicious.”

Wu Mangmang pouted—it seemed she had no choice but to go.

When your skin is fair and beautiful, everything looks good on you, but once your skin darkens, color coordination becomes a major problem. Wu Mangmang picked through her closet for a long time before reluctantly selecting a blue dress to wear.

The first thing Lu Lin said when she saw Wu Mangmang was: “Darker and thinner.”

“Being darker is sexier,” Ning Zheng said, walking up from behind Wu Mangmang.

Wu Mangmang turned around to see Ning Zheng’s signature smile.

“Long time no see. I thought you’d dumped Lu Sui again,” Ning Zheng said.

Wu Mangmang saw the completely undisguised regret on Ning Zheng’s face and finally understood why Lu Sui had insisted on dragging her here.

As they were talking, Shen Ting and the married couple Jiang Baoliang and Wang Yuan also came over.

Although Wang Yuan and Jiang Baoliang hadn’t held their wedding banquet yet, their legal procedures were complete.

Wu Mangmang went over to exchange pleasantries with them.

“I heard you went on an archaeological expedition?” Shen Ting said.

“Mm.” Wu Mangmang nodded, raising her hand to tuck loose hair behind her ear.

Shen Ting looked at her strangely. Women’s intuition about these things was always particularly keen, yet he’d never said anything inappropriate—the most outrageous thing he’d done was eat spicy hot pot with her once at A University.

“Was it very difficult?” Shen Ting asked again.

“It was okay,” Wu Mangmang replied.

“How are things between you and Lu Sui?”

“Pretty good.”

“When are you planning to invite us to your wedding banquet?” Shen Ting asked again.

Uh, this question stumped Wu Mangmang.

Fortunately, Ning Zheng came to rescue her. “Lu Lin is calling for you over there.”

Wu Mangmang nodded apologetically to Shen Ting and walked away.

Ning Zheng said in Shen Ting’s ear, “Stop asking her. Lu Sui said last time that he and Mangmang don’t have marriage plans yet.”

Shen Ting lowered his eyes without speaking.

Ning Zheng also didn’t say anything.

People always judge others by themselves, and smart people especially love to be presumptuous.

The Lu family was large and wealthy, and Lu Jianan didn’t like Wu Mangmang. Lu Sui might indeed choose to only maintain a romantic relationship with Wu Mangmang—this was too normal for people in their circle.

Marriage wasn’t just about two people.

Wu Mangmang had no idea that someone was worrying about her marriage prospects.

The only thing she was worried about now was how to get her fair skin back.

Fortunately, Wu Mangmang had naturally good foundation. After staying indoors for a month, she’d restored her great beauty standards, but she was a restless type—running back and forth between A University and the city without getting tired.

“What have you been busy with lately?” Lu Sui frowned at Wu Mangmang, who had just come home. This girl had been missing for three days.

Wu Mangmang wasn’t afraid of Lu Sui’s frowning at all—her face was brilliantly cheerful. She put her hands behind her back and said to Lu Sui, “I have something to show you.”

Lu Sui raised his eyebrows, and Wu Mangmang, like a child seeking praise, presented a celadon imitation Ru kiln vase to Lu Sui.

Although Lu Sui didn’t understand antique appraisal, he could tell at a glance that this was modern goods, not valuable.

“I learned from a master craftsman and fired it myself. What do you think about giving this to Aunt for her birthday? Isn’t it very sincere?” Wu Mangmang said.

“You know Aunt’s birthday?” Lu Sui was slightly surprised.

Wu Mangmang put down the vase and went to hug Lu Sui’s arm. “Of course I know—I looked it up. Quick, tell me, don’t you feel especially happy, especially warm-hearted, especially moved, especially…”

“Especially want to devour you,” Lu Sui said against Wu Mangmang’s lips.

Lu Jianan’s birthday was in mid-November. Since it wasn’t a milestone birthday, she only invited relatives and a few best friends.

When Wu Mangmang walked into Lu Jianan’s home on Lu Sui’s arm, her heart was particularly anxious—this was her first formal visit to Lu Jianan since she and Lu Sui had reconciled.

Having delayed this long, Wu Mangmang became more and more worried the more she thought about it.

When Lu Jianan saw Wu Mangmang, she was as kind as ever, which made Wu Mangmang breathe a huge sigh of relief. She’d really been overthinking—someone like Lu Jianan would never embarrass people to their faces.

“I really like the vase you gave me. Lu Sui said you fired it yourself?” Lu Jianan asked Wu Mangmang.

“Yes,” Wu Mangmang said.

Lu Jianan said, “Come have dinner with Lu Sui more often when you’re free.”

Wu Mangmang nodded. She suddenly remembered something she’d seen online.

It said that if the son in a family was strong-willed, there wouldn’t be mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts. Although Lu Jianan wasn’t exactly Wu Mangmang’s mother-in-law, without Lu Sui’s strength, Wu Mangmang felt that being this nephew’s wife would probably be very difficult.

Thinking of this, Wu Mangmang couldn’t help but glance toward Lu Sui.

Lu Sui was currently chatting with his uncle-in-law—Lu Jianan’s husband Chen Mingshu’s sister and her French husband.

Wu Mangmang quietly walked to Lu Sui’s side and heard him chatting with Baptiste in French. She listened for a few sentences, and thanks to her dedicated study these past months, she could actually interject a few comments.

Even Lu Sui looked sideways at this. Although Wu Mangmang had studied with a French teacher for a while initially, given her learning attitude, the results were predictable.

“When did you cram French?” Lu Sui asked in Wu Mangmang’s ear.

Wu Mangmang thought for a moment, then turned her head and said, “When you tricked me saying you’d take me to play at French wineries, I started learning then.”

Lu Sui’s expression told Wu Mangmang: Like hell I believe that!

That night, after Wu Mangmang was caught by Lu Sui in bed and subjected to the torture of “tickling the soles of her feet,” she had no choice but to confess. “Okay, it was after the Merovingian couple came last time. I thought next time I’d definitely accompany you to entertain them—I couldn’t not speak a word of French, right?” Wu Mangmang whispered in Lu Sui’s ear.

Although Lu Sui shielded her from all the social obligations she disliked, people’s hearts are made of flesh—Wu Mangmang also wanted to do something for Lu Sui.

“How did you have time to learn French?” Lu Sui expressed doubt.

“Time is always squeezed out. I discovered that the busier you are, the more motivated you become. When I went to Huangtu Village, I brought French textbooks and audio materials. When I missed you and couldn’t sleep at night, I’d study for a while,” Wu Mangmang said. Although she spoke lightly, the hardship involved was imaginable.

Without Wu Mangmang realizing it, her current lifestyle was actually very similar to when she was dating Lu Sui last year.

Perhaps one day in the future, when she suddenly looked back, she’d discover this fact.

She still had to accompany Lu Sui to various social functions, then also had to cram French, Japanese, and other languages, busy as a dog every day with barely time to play games. But the aversion and resistance that had once been hidden in her heart had now completely disappeared.

It was an incredible change—the same lifestyle, but because her mindset had changed, everything was different.

Time flew quickly into December, a month with grand holidays and Lu Garden’s Christmas dinner.

Even before Christmas Eve and Christmas, the streets were already full of Christmas atmosphere.

Wu Mangmang had recently been doing experiments and rushing to finish her thesis at A University, neglecting Lu Sui for quite a few days. Seeing the holidays approaching, she flew back to the city without going home to Lu residence, heading directly to Lu Corporation, wanting to give Lu Sui an advance airdrop of a “Christmas beauty.”

After Wu Mangmang got out of the elevator, her nerves had been in an excited state. Thinking about the specially customized “Christmas Daddy” version ultra-short red dress in her backpack made her feel uncontrollably excited. It came with a cute red triangular hat—Wu Mangmang was sure Mr. Lu would be super “excited.”

This way he could forgive her week-long absence.

Wu Mangmang passed through Lu Corporation’s central park’s giant Christmas tree and was preparing to swipe her face card to go upstairs when she heard someone call “Mangmang” beside her ear. She reflexively turned around and saw that person.

Cheng Yue.