“Finally home!” An Xin relaxed completely and flopped onto the sofa.
“Looks like you’ve been cleaning the house properly lately. Very good, very good, making progress.” Lin Chen looked around the room and found it much cleaner than before.
Although the desktop was still very messy, the floor was clearly cleaned, and the trash was properly picked up.
Hearing the praise, An Xin narrowed her eyes in comfort.
‘If I marry Lin Chen, I can’t let him do all the cleaning by himself.’ So recently, An Xin had been working hard.
“Then I’ll get started on dinner.”
“Okay~” An Xin replied lazily. “Ah Chen, do your best.”
Lin Chen skillfully cleaned the chicken wings, made the flower knife cuts, boiled them and let them dry. He pan-fried them to bring out the aroma, then simmered them over medium heat.
Soon, with the addition of cola and seasonings, the kitchen was filled with a rich aroma.
At that moment, An Xin, wearing her home clothes, silently pressed up behind Lin Chen. “So fragrant, Ah Chen. I want to eat it right now.”
“Ah! You didn’t make any footsteps. You scared me.” Lin Chen, who had been humming a tune while cutting vegetables, was so startled that his hand trembled.
“Sorry, it’s just that the dish Ah Chen is making smells so good I couldn’t help coming over to check.”
“Okay, but when did you change clothes?” Lin Chen looked at An Xin in surprise.
But An Xin had already changed out of the blue floral dress she wore during the day and put back on her beige home clothes.
“At home, of course you wear something more comfortable,” An Xin said, her tone as natural as if stating the most ordinary thing.
“Right when Ah Chen went into the kitchen to put on the apron, I changed in the living room.”
“Living room? That would mean…” Lin Chen imagined An Xin changing clothes just one wall away from him, and involuntarily swallowed.
An Xin also took in the unnatural blush on Lin Chen’s face.
She said it on purpose. She just wanted to see Lin Chen’s cute reaction.
Seeing Lin Chen’s reaction, An Xin was very satisfied.
Because it seemed Ah Chen wasn’t entirely indifferent to her after all.
“Hey, wait, it’s burning!” The slight burnt smell interrupted Lin Chen’s wonderful imagination and pulled him back to reality.
The chicken wings, which were already in the sauce-reducing stage, should have been taken off the heat long ago.
Watching Lin Chen flustering about, An Xin couldn’t help but laugh.
An Xin covered her mouth and snickered. This kind of homey atmosphere felt so much like a couple.
To keep things like this forever, she would dispose of all thieving cats who wanted to snatch Lin Chen away from her.
As for dinner, luckily Lin Chen reacted quickly, so tonight’s meal wasn’t ruined.
When getting ready to eat, Lin Chen glanced at the sofa and saw the dress and safety shorts that An Xin had just changed out of, conspicuously lying there.
“You’re way too unguarded,” Lin Chen couldn’t help complaining. “An Xin, remember to put the changed clothes in the basin in the bathroom and wash them soon.”
“Got it~” An Xin said while biting the fragrant chicken wings, her voice muffled. “Or else, Ah Chen, you wash them for me.”
“Wash them for you…” In Lin Chen’s mind, the images from the kitchen instantly connected… He quickly shook his head to throw out those strange thoughts.
“Wash them yourself. I still need to submit the game for review later.”
“Okay… but isn’t the game not finished yet? Submitting for review now?” An Xin asked her doubt.
“Currently, we’re only missing voice acting, music, and some dynamic CGs. The complete flow is already playable.” As soon as he started talking about game development, Lin Chen perked up.
“We can absolutely submit it first. Since game review takes a long time, if we submit and get approval first, we can add the voice acting, CGs, etc., later through updates. That’s completely fine.” Lin Chen shook his index finger confidently.
“Most importantly, even if it passes review, it won’t be released immediately. We need to confirm the release. During that time, we have plenty of time to add the completed voice acting and such.”
“Oh, right, the modeler I contacted already finished the dynamic CGs. She also threw in a set of UI for free.” Talking about game CGs, An Xin showed Lin Chen the files her modeler had sent.
“It’s good… but, how should I put it, looking at this at the dinner table is a bit weird.”
Lin Chen looked at the blood-pumping CGs An Xin was showing and awkwardly turned his head away.
Although he had seen them when An Xin was drawing them before, it was during work hours and they were still static back then.
Now it was so direct, and with what he had just been imagining…
For Lin Chen, this was a trial!
“Sorry, sorry, I got too excited. It’s because I’m so happy making a game with Ah Chen.” An Xin also blushed, looking flustered.
In reality, her heart was ecstatic. All the “benefits” today were deliberately arranged by An Xin.
An Xin kept telling herself in her mind: ‘I must hold back, I can’t show it yet.’
But she really wanted to devour Ah Chen. Last time, they did everything except the final step.
But it was when Ah Chen was unconscious after all. She wanted Ah Chen to take the initiative, to want her willingly and never be able to leave her.
Lin Chen saw An Xin like that and felt embarrassed to say more. After all, she was a girl; in this situation, she should be even more embarrassed.
Besides, all of this was for making the game together. It was great to find such a like-minded partner.
“It’s fine. With CG quality this high, the game is bound to sell well.” To lighten the atmosphere, Lin Chen deliberately joked.
“Ah Chen, I’m going to the bathroom.”
An Xin put down her chopsticks and quickly walked into the bathroom.
When she closed the bathroom stall door, the obedient smile on An Xin’s face completely faded.
In its place was an unusually flushed face, a dazed expression, and breathing she couldn’t control.
“So cute, Ah Chen is so cute…”
“I like him, I like him so much!”
In front of Lin Chen, she could barely control her expression anymore.
An Xin cupped her cheeks and giggled, replaying Lin Chen’s appearance over and over in her mind.
“Ah Chen is just too cute, so gentle. Just now he was even thinking of easing the awkwardness at the table~”
“I really want him to care about my feelings forever and ever, to belong to me forever and ever!”
When An Xin returned to the dining table, she had returned to her usual demeanor, burying her head in the hood of her home clothes.
“What’s wrong? Does your stomach hurt?” Seeing An Xin take so long, Lin Chen asked subconsciously.
“It’s nothing. But I have a request, Ah Chen.”
“What is it?” Now finished eating, Lin Chen was calculating his budget. After all, releasing a game required a $100 deposit to the platform.
Plus, if it officially launched, he’d need to set aside some money for promotion.
From the looks of it, his remaining money wasn’t enough… He’d have to do more System tasks. If only he could get another mission target like Lin Wanfeng.
An Xin hesitated, looking embarrassed. “Tonight… can you stay over?”
“Mm, okay.” Lin Chen suddenly realized and his voice shot up an octave. “What? Stay over at your place?!”