Ye Ling had a great sleep, conking out from around two or three in the afternoon all the way until ten at night. When he woke up, the sky outside was completely dark.

His eyes were still a bit dazed as he slowly propped himself up. The moment he looked down, he got a huge shock.

He was covered by a blanket, but he wasn’t wearing a single piece of clothing underneath!

’What the hell is going on?’

Ye Ling scratched his head, trying to recall what happened that afternoon.

It seemed he’d gone drinking with He Jian and those other morons, and he’d brought Ning Ruoxi along...

’And then... I think Ning Ruoxi drove me back?’

"Stinky, you’re awake!"

Hearing him moving around, Ning Ruoxi came in from outside the room.

"Now that you’re up, go freshen up. I made dinner a while ago; I’ll go heat it up for you."

"Um... so, where are my clothes?"

Ye Ling asked, looking at Ning Ruoxi awkwardly.

His memory seemed to stop at the point where Ning Ruoxi drove him home. As for what happened after that... he really had no recollection at all.

"You were drunk, and you reeked. If I’d let you sleep like that, you would’ve made the whole bed stink. So, I took off your clothes and gave you a wipe-down."

Ning Ruoxi rolled her eyes and said in exasperation:

"You! If you can’t hold your liquor, then don’t drink so much. You were heavy as a rock! It took me forever to drag you in."

"Wait, forget that for a second. Did you just say you took off my clothes... and then wiped me down?"

Ye Ling, however, had latched onto the key words, his voice strained as he spoke.

"Yup."

Ning Ruoxi nodded, looking completely unfazed.

"Th-That’s not right!"

For once, Ye Ling’s face turned red as he couldn’t help but lower his head.

’Damn it.’

’A grown man like him, stripped naked by Ning Ruoxi?’

’Even though he was drunk, being disarmed by a woman... it just felt wrong, no matter how he thought about it!’

Now that Ye Ling had brought it up, Ning Ruoxi did, in fact, feel a bit awkward at first. After all, she was a proper, unmarried young woman...

However, when she saw the rare sight of Ye Ling blushing, that sliver of awkwardness vanished into thin air.

"What’s the big deal about wiping you down? Is there any part of you I haven’t seen? I’ve even taken measurements!"

As she spoke, Ning Ruoxi’s gaze shifted to a certain spot under the blankets covering Ye Ling.

Ye Ling’s eyes instantly widened, and he stared at Ning Ruoxi in utter disbelief.

’He never would have dreamed that Ning Ruoxi would hit him with a line like that.’

’What the hell?’

’Did her ’shameless vixen’ stat just awaken or something?’

’Can I please have my innocent girlfriend back?’

"I’ve washed your clothes for you. Just put on your pajamas. I’m going to go get your dinner."

Clearly satisfied with Ye Ling’s reaction, Ning Ruoxi’s eyes curved into crescents. She let out a soft chuckle before turning and leaving the room.

Looking at the neatly folded pajamas by the bed, Ye Ling couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.

For some reason, he suddenly felt that Ning Ruoxi was acting more and more like a doting newlywed wife.

Wiping him down after he got drunk, preparing dinner for him...

After quickly getting dressed, Ye Ling walked out of the room. On the bathroom counter, a cup was already filled with water and toothpaste was already squeezed onto his toothbrush.

Clearly, Ning Ruoxi had prepared all of this for him.

At that moment, Ye Ling couldn’t help but feel a warmth spread through his chest. ’This feeling of being taken care of down to the smallest detail... it’s actually pretty nice, isn’t it?’

He felt a sudden urge to marry Ning Ruoxi as soon as possible. ’If I missed my chance with a girl this wonderful, I’d regret it for the rest of my life, wouldn’t I?’

’What’s that term people use on the internet again?’

’Right!’

’A hidden gem.’

’That must be who they’re talking about—Ning Ruoxi!’

"Here, drink this chicken soup. You drank so much this afternoon, it’ll help settle your stomach."

Ning Ruoxi ladled out a bowl of chicken soup and placed it in front of Ye Ling, chiding him gently, "Honestly, drinking so much... aren’t you worried you’ll ruin your stomach?"

A small smile touched Ye Ling’s lips. As he took in the rich aroma of the chicken soup, he felt that this moment was absolutely perfect.

Perhaps... ’this is what it feels like to have a home?’ 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

After they finished eating, Ning Ruoxi cleared the dishes while Ye Ling lounged on the sofa, playing on his phone. He opened his group chat, "3222 Demon Lords of Chaos," and sent a message.

’Ye Ling: @everyone, my boys, awake yet?’

’Yang Yefeng: They’re still asleep, Brother Ling. Especially Yang Yu. That guy snores like a freight train.’

’Ye Ling: Hahaha, that’s hilarious. What a couple of lightweights. And they were talking about drinking me under the table. I thought they were supposed to be tough.’

At this point, Ye Ling conveniently forgot that he hadn’t fared much better himself. But... he had to keep up appearances.

’After all, he’d only passed out after he got home. Nobody else knew, right?’

"Stinky, what are you smiling about?"

Ning Ruoxi had finished the dishes by now. She came over and snuggled right into Ye Ling’s arms.

Seeing this, Ye Ling openly showed his phone to Ning Ruoxi.

"Here you go. Time for your inspection?"

Ye Ling said nonchalantly, a smile playing on his lips.

"You’re the one who offered."

When Ning Ruoxi saw how freely Ye Ling handed over his phone, a blissful look flashed across her face. She took the phone and began her inspection.

First, she looked at his home screen. It was a photo of her and Ye Ling, taken when they’d gone to the amusement park.

A satisfied smile spread across Ning Ruoxi’s face. In fact, her own phone’s wallpaper was also a photo of the two of them.

Next, she began to check his messaging apps.

First up was QQ, but... well, it turns out our Brother Ling doesn’t use QQ.

The main reason was that Ye Ling found QQ to be too flashy and full of cash grabs.

Plus, it displayed likes and view counts, and he found it a bit awkward when a post didn’t break a hundred views, you know?

So, he just stopped using it altogether.

WeChat, on the other hand, was much more minimalist, so he only used that.

Ning Ruoxi opened WeChat and glanced at his contact list. She was pinned to the very top, followed by the "3222 Demon Lords of Chaos" group chat...

Ye Ling didn’t really contact many people on a regular basis. Zhu Yun would occasionally message him with work updates, and he’d shoot the breeze with his friends in the group chat, but that was about it.

And while he had quite a few female contacts on WeChat, most were just classmates—the type he generally couldn’t be bothered to reply to.

Take Su Yun, for example. Even though Ye Ling had her contact info, he hadn’t reached out to her once since the auction.

For him, it seemed the main purpose of WeChat was simply to stay in touch with Ning Ruoxi.

A sweet feeling filled Ning Ruoxi’s heart. She then opened his Moments feed, which was exceptionally clean—nearly every post was about her.

"Alright, we are very satisfied. Keep up the good work,"

Ning Ruoxi said with a sweet smile as she handed the phone back to Ye Ling. Then, she pulled her own phone out of her pocket and offered it to him.

"Here. Your turn for an inspection!"