It was very late by the time he returned.

Shen Mo pushed the door open. Light shone in the living room.

A candle sat on the tea table, burned nearly to its end. The flame was like a tiny creature tethered to the wick—leaping and dancing, yet unable to escape.

Bai Youwei sat on the sofa wearing a white sleeping gown, her black hair loose. She shot Shen Mo a cold glance, then gave a light, airy humph. “So you do know how to come back.”

Shen Mo smiled at the corner of his mouth.

Bai Youwei was unhappy. “What are you smiling at!”

When Shen Mo came close, a wave of alcohol breath wafted toward her. She grew even more irritated. “You even drank!”

Shen Mo sat down beside her. In one easy motion he scooped her up and settled her onto his lap, then held her there and smiled gently. “Mm—did drink a bit.”

Bai Youwei: “…”

The sudden intimacy caught her completely off guard. She couldn’t help but stare suspiciously into Shen Mo’s eyes, wondering if he was… drunk.

Some people, when drunk, tend to do things out of character.

She felt an inexplicable flicker of anticipation…

One hand quietly found its way to his abdomen and she pressed it there experimentally, asking, “Are you drunk?”

“More or less fine,” Shen Mo said, leaning back on the sofa with one arm around her waist, and slowly explained: “At my dad’s place, a lot of uncles and older relatives came. Everyone was rarely together like this, so a few more cups were had.”

Bai Youwei sat perfectly still, stroking his abdomen.

A rare opportunity. Normally he was so proper—he never let her touch.

After two or three strokes, Shen Mo caught her hand and wouldn’t let her move anymore.

Bai Youwei was mildly disappointed. She hadn’t expected that even drunk, he’d be this on guard…

Shen Mo tilted the corner of his mouth upward and said: “Just now, you looked exactly like someone from a TV drama—a wife who discovered her husband coming home late smelling of drink, and then flew into a rage.”

A mental image of a permed, slightly pudgy middle-aged woman in slippers instantly materialized in Bai Youwei’s mind.

“Nonsense! Was I really that fierce?!”

Shen Mo laughed low and long—uncharacteristically unable to stop.

He was emotionally contained and rarely laughed like this. Bai Youwei fixed her eyes on him, somehow feeling that tonight’s Shen Mo was a little strange.

After a while, Shen Mo coaxed her, still holding her: “You weren’t fierce at all. I was complimenting you—you had an air of authority.”

The authority of a mistress of the house.

Bai Youwei turned the phrase over in her mind. Her face grew faintly warm—though in the dim light of the living room it wasn’t particularly visible.

Shen Mo adjusted his position slightly, still holding her, and asked: “What did you do today?”

“Tidied up the place—we brought back a whole heap of junk from that bridal game. No use keeping it, but throwing it away seemed a waste. And then Tan Xiao and Xiaoxin went to the riverside to dig up a few bags of dirt, because Cheng-laoshi wants to grow vegetables in the back yard of the dollhouse…”

Bai Youwei trailed off, remembering something. She twisted around on the sofa and picked up a stack of document papers, then handed them to Shen Mo.

“This afternoon I went to see Professor Song. These are from him—all game records from the surrounding area.”

Shen Mo took them and skimmed through.

He’d thought he was only mildly tipsy, but staring at the dense writing on the pages, his head suddenly began to swim.

He set the papers down and asked Bai Youwei, “Do you want to go?”

Bai Youwei pursed her lips slightly. “These games—you can’t just ‘want’ to go and then go. Every game requires at least one person to die; otherwise a full-team clear triggers the anti-grinding system and the game vanishes—and then a new, unknown game appears. So the organization has a rule: until the new game has been cleared, the old one can’t have a full-team clear. Whoever clears it is responsible for tackling whatever new game appears next.”

She picked up the papers again and continued, “Even though we can’t play them, the information is important. We can organize it for Cheng-laoshi and the others to read through and build up their game knowledge.”

Shen Mo said, “Take your time. I already mentioned to my dad the plan to head north—but first, tomorrow, come with me to pay him a visit.”

Bai Youwei thought of Cheng Weicai’s suggestion, and nodded her agreement. “All right.”

Since everyone seemed to think it was fine, she would go pay her respects to the elder.

……