Prince charming, your persona has collapsed!
Chapter 838 - 345: The Past and the Present, What Was Lost and Gained (7000 words)_3

At such a lively moment, the other girls were all competing for attention.

But Lu Lin didn't even bother to look for Zhou Yuwen.

This made Zhou Yuwen quite unhappy, so he sent a message to Lu Lin, saying: "Not even a New Year's greeting? Who are you messing around with now?"

Zhou Yuwen was actually just joking.

But right after he sent the message, Lu Lin directly initiated a video call.

Zhou Yuwen clicked to accept.

On the screen, Lu Lin was wearing pajamas, sleepily slouched on the couch, scratching her head as she looked at Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen glanced around her room and couldn't help but laugh, saying, "You don't even clean up when you're at home."

"Why bother? There's no one else here."

Lu Lin mumbled as she lay sprawled on the couch, her slender feet naturally dangling behind her during their chat.

Zhou Yuwen thought to himself, all right, of all the girls he was involved with, Lu Lin might be the one he felt the most comfortable and at ease around.

Zhou Yuwen had interacted with many girls by now, but when he really thought about it, Lu Lin was a bit colder than the others. It seemed like as long as she had enough good food and drink, she didn't care much about anything else.

He remembered a few times when he teased her.

Lu Lin simply sat on Zhou Yuwen's lap playing video games—while playing, she even bounced up and down on him absentmindedly.

She was truly something else.

Zhou Yuwen asked her how things were in Jinling and if she missed him.

Lu Lin suddenly became serious and said, "If I said I missed you, would you come back right away?"

"Probably not..."

"Then why would I bother missing you?" Lu Lin said smugly.

Zhou Yuwen chuckled softly and asked her how things were going at work.

Now that Jiang Xinyi was in Hawaii, the labor department was left to Lu Lin and Lv Hui to manage.

Lu Lin said most of the students had gone home for the New Year.

Only a small handful were still at the factory, and Lv Hui was keeping an eye on things there.

Everything was basically under control.

Zhou Yuwen nodded, "Thanks for your hard work."

"It's not really hard work for me; I think Lv Hui's the one who's working hard." Lu Lin said lazily.

Zhou Yuwen replied, "It's only right that she's working hard—I'm giving her double pay, after all."

"So I don't get that?"

"You do too."

"Then why should I work hard?"

"This is your husband's way of expressing care for his wife."

By then, Zhou Yuwen had walked from the living room to the courtyard, smiling as he spoke to Lu Lin.

Hearing this, Lu Lin uncharacteristically blushed a little and responded with a proud "hmph," not saying another word.

Seeing this shy reaction through the video call, Zhou Yuwen couldn't help but laugh.

He chatted with Lu Lin for a while longer in the courtyard before hanging up.

At that moment, a child came running over, pestering Zhou Yuwen to take him to set off firecrackers.

Seeing that Lu Wanting was nearby, Zhou Yuwen said, "Why don't you ask your Cousin-in-law to take you? I don't have time."

The child didn't think much of it, grabbing Lu Wanting's hand with one of his own and Zhou Yuwen's hand with the other, saying, "Cousin and Cousin-in-law should go together."

The words were spoken unintentionally, but the two adults couldn't help finding them a bit awkward.

Zhou Yuwen felt he was probably overthinking it, but when he glanced up at Lu Wanting, he could tell from her expression that she had also caught on.

The atmosphere became a bit uncomfortable.

Lu Wanting pretended not to understand the underlying meaning, quickly lowering her head and saying, "All right, let's not bother Cousin anymore. Cousin-in-law will take you all to set off fireworks, okay?"

"Okay!"

And so, Lu Wanting ended up taking a group of children off to play.

Zhou Yuwen chatted with a few other girls for a while and then, when he checked the time, it was already about 8:30 PM. He glanced at Lu Wanting in the distance, still playing with the kids and fireworks.

After thinking for a moment, he decided there wasn't much going on at home.

So he might as well head to Su Qing's house to spend time with her and her mother.

For most people, the New Year was lively and festive, but for Su Qing's household, it was actually quite uneventful—two women, eating a meal, chatting, and watching the New Year's Gala on TV.

Still, the atmosphere this year wasn't bad. After all, they had bought a car and looked at a new home.

Overall, there was some sense of hopefulness about the future.

At Su Qing's suggestion, the two of them even opened a bottle of red wine.

Su Qing taught her mother how to drink wine: swirl it around a bit, then take dainty sips.

Pan Min couldn't help chuckling at her daughter's pretentiousness.

She remarked that after being away for four months, Su Qing hadn't learned much except for indulging in this bourgeoisie-style decadence.

"How can you call it decadence? This is called enjoying life."

Su Qing tilted her chin up and replied with a grin.

Today, she had her hair styled in a thick braid that draped over one shoulder and wore a white round-neck sweater. Holding a wine glass, she really looked the part of someone classy and refined.

Pan Min chuckled, "Yes, enjoying life."

"These are things you didn't know before, right? I bet Zhou Yuwen taught you," Pan Min asked.

Su Qing replied, "How could it possibly be him?"

"That brute—no way he could have taught me this. I was the one who taught him, okay?"

In her past life, Zhou Yuwen had been a rough-around-the-edges guy, unrefined in these things.

But Su Qing had a bit of a bourgeois flair and occasionally shared romantic moments with Zhou Yuwen.

This was indeed something Su Qing had taught Zhou Yuwen.

However, Pan Min didn't quite believe it. From her perspective, her daughter had always been quite simple in her high school days, so there was no way she could have picked up so much in just four months away.

Still, Pan Min didn't argue over such trivial details with Su Qing.

Instead, she clinked her glass with her daughter's and told her that Zhou Yuwen was a decent guy and she should make sure to cherish him.

"You know, I've spoiled you all these years. But when you're with Yuwen, you must restrain yourself a little."