Chapter 1029: Chapter 425: A Surprise from Shen Jiayue! Lin Xu: Thank You, I Really Was Surprised!

"Ding ding ding ding! Isn’t it a surprise?"

Shen Jiayue proudly scooped up the two boxes, one was a 4090 graphics card, the other a PS5.

For men, these were all very tempting.

"Happy? Excited?"

Lin Xu smiled helplessly, pulled open the drawer under the TV cabinet, and took out a PS5 from inside:

"What do you think I’m supposed to be right now, happy or unhappy?"

The console had been at home for a long time, but he’d never played it.

As for the 4090, reviews online were very mixed.

The PC Lin Xu was using now, with a 3080Ti, had just the right power supply, motherboard, and CPU. If he swapped in a 4090, he’d have to replace the PSU, otherwise it couldn’t handle the card.

And if the power supply was replaced, the motherboard would also have to be upgraded to the latest high-end model, otherwise it wouldn’t match.

Plus the current 12th-gen i7 would also have to be replaced with an i9, or else pairing it with that GPU would be a tiny horse pulling a big cart—totally mismatched.

After all that swapping, the cooling system would need an upgrade too, the case would have to become a big tower, and more RAM sticks and such would need to be added.

So once the GPU was upgraded, the entire PC basically had to be rebuilt.

Not to mention the money, just the time it would eat up...

Lin Xu explained everything in detail to Baobao. He’d originally wanted to suggest returning it, but seeing the unhappy look on this girl’s face, he said:

"Let’s just keep it for now. I’ll ask Yue Liyue in the next couple of days, see when he’s free, and have him help me upgrade the PC... As for this PS5, we’ll just treat it as a backup console."

Yeah, since it was a surprise Baobao had carefully prepared, he couldn’t totally kill her vibe.

Lin Xu glanced at the separate box with the extra wireless controller, and asked curiously:

"Why’d you buy two controllers? Was there a promo?"

"Nooo, I just wanted to play games with you. People say playing games with your boyfriend makes him super duper happy, so I wanted to try."

Hearing that, Lin Xu gave up on going upstairs to play by himself. Instead he hooked the PS5 to the TV, set up the two controllers, and then said:

"Then let’s find a simple little co-op game to play."

When Shen Jiayue heard that:

"Wow, you can play like that too? I’ll go change clothes and we’ll start." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

She happily ran upstairs to change into some comfy loungewear, then moved the coffee table aside, pushed the sofa forward, sat down in front of the TV, and started browsing games.

Lin Xu had always played single-player games, so finding a co-op game wasn’t easy.

He simply logged into the store to look around, and as he browsed, he found the PS5 version of the old classic, Contra.

He remembered playing it with Sister Yuanyuan back in elementary school, and getting his arm twisted twice for running too fast and leaving her behind. Seeing the game again now, Lin Xu immediately bought it.

After it installed, he said:

"Come on, I’ll show you a game I used to play with Sister Yuanyuan when I was a kid, let you get familiar first."

As soon as Shen Jiayue saw it was a shooting game, she got interested:

"Okay okay! A few years ago when I went abroad on a trip with my mom and dad, I got several bull’s-eyes at the shooting range, you know. I’ll show you my natural talent for shooting today."

They turned on the game, picked co-op mode, familiarized themselves with the controls, and then started.

"Wow, this is intense! When you pick stuff up the gun changes too. This Heavenly Girl Scattering Flowers is insane, hahaha, you don’t even have to look, just spray and pray..."

Shen Jiayue hadn’t really played this kind of game before.

Plus she was playing together with Lin Xu, so she got really hyped.

Lin Xu hadn’t planned on nagging her, but seeing this girl’s "technique," he couldn’t help reminding her:

"Baobao, the one using the spread shot is me. Your character’s back there, hurry up and catch up. We both have to jump forward together or your character is gonna die again."

"Oh..."

Miss Shen’s face flushed red. Luckily they weren’t recording, and Yan Bao wasn’t here, or she’d definitely be mocked.

Yeah, even though games were fun, she still had to be ladylike, couldn’t just scream like crazy.

But not even two minutes later...

"Aaaah I’m gonna fall, Xu Baobao grab me, quick quick quick... It’s over, I died again."

After they barely cleared the first stage, Lin Xu asked:

"So, how’s gaming feel?"

"So fun, let’s keep going, I’ll show you how badass this iron lady is!"

As she spoke, Shen Jiayue was also quietly sighing in her heart.

"If in doubt, ask Baidu" was indeed right. Playing games with your boyfriend was exhilarating and exciting, super fun. This kind of hot-blooded game was seriously impossible for girls to turn down.

Lin Xu, meanwhile, discreetly stifled a yawn.

He felt like it was summer vacation and he was stuck at home playing games with his younger cousins again.

They played until past ten at night. When the low battery warning popped up for the controllers, Lin Xu finally said:

"Alright, that’s enough. The controllers are out of juice. We’ll charge them up, and it’s time to wash up and sleep anyway. We have to get up early tomorrow."

"Okay okay!"

However, when Lin Xu came out of the bathroom after his shower, he realized Baobao wasn’t in the bedroom.

He didn’t find her in Dundun’s room either.

It wasn’t until he went downstairs that he saw the TV in the living room was on, the lights were off, and a pretty silhouette was sitting in front of the TV, playing single-player Contra all by herself.

This...

Addicted already?

Lin Xu cleared his throat. Shen Jiayue quickly shut off the TV and the console, got up and said:

"You’re done showering? I was just... just checking if the controllers were fully charged yet..."

"Playing in the dark like this is bad for your eyes. Sony TVs are famous for their vivid colors, and that’s even worse in low light... Come on, upstairs to bed. You’re not allowed to sneak down to play anymore."

"Oh..."

Holding the hand of his newly minted "Internet-addicted girl," Lin Xu said:

"You have to balance gaming, you can’t get addicted, and you can’t mess up your routine. Otherwise how are you any different from those shut-in guys with dark circles under their eyes?"

"Got it. Then from now on after work at night, will you play with me for a while?"

"Of course, no problem at all."

Shen Jiayue bounced with joy, rubbing her head against Lin Xu’s shoulder:

"Thank you, hubby~"

Then she hurried to defend herself:

"Actually, gaming isn’t completely useless. At least I didn’t eat anything tonight, right? If I use games to replace late-night snacks every night from now on... that’s not too excessive, is it?"

The little couple checked on Dundun, then went back to their room and got into bed.

Soon, the weekend arrived.

Lin Xu took his fiancée Shen Jiayue, his cousin Chen Yuanyuan, his sister-in-law Chen Yan, and his son Dundun, and drove onto the North Fourth Ring.

Behind his car, Dou Wenjing was driving her own BMW 5 Series, with Brother Feng and two staff members handling paperwork in the car, ready to follow the boss to the headquarters of MANSORY.

Pick a car, test a car, sign the contract!

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Huge temperature drop, I’m freezing my butt off. If only I had a pot of braised pork belly right now... 5,200 words this Chapter, asking for a Monthly Ticket, brothers!