After AFK for five years, I returned to be number one in the entire server.

Night fell over the sky.

Lin Ye and Shen Yi returned to the ground floor of their rented apartment. As soon as they reached the landing on the third floor, a pungent smell of burning wafted towards them.

The door to Gu Qingxin's room across the hall was half-open, and plumes of black smoke were billowing out through the crack, accompanied by violent coughing sounds coming from inside.

Lin Ye and Shen Yi immediately pushed open the door and went inside. The smoke inside the room was even thicker than outside.

Flames leaping half a meter high were shooting up from the kitchen stove. Gu Qingxin stood a few steps away, holding a spatula, her eyes watering from the smoke. She looked completely helpless in the face of the flames.

Lin didn't use any supernatural abilities. He simply strode forward, grabbed a pot lid from the table, and decisively slammed it onto the burning iron pot.

The oxygen supply was cut off, the flame flickered for a few moments and then went out quickly. He then reached out and turned off the gas valve.

Shen Yi ran to the window and opened all the windows in the living room and kitchen to quickly dissipate the choking smoke.

Gu Qingxin put down the spatula, her fair face smeared with black ash, and looked at the two of them somewhat awkwardly.

"Are you alright?" Shen Yi asked with concern. The two had chatted several times in the few days since Gu Qingxin moved in.

Shen Yi had a very good impression of this gentle-spoken and elegant older sister.

Gu Qingxin wiped her face, her eyes showing a hint of embarrassment: "I'm fine. I was just trying to cook according to the recipe, and after heating the pan and putting in the oil, I turned the heat up too high. It caught fire while I was turning around to get the ingredients. I'm sorry, I scared you."

Shen Yi looked at the mess in the kitchen. The vegetables on the cutting board were cut into different sizes and the spice bottles were crooked. It was clear that she would not be able to cook for a while.

"It's alright, it's good that you're okay." Shen Yi checked the time. "You haven't had dinner yet, have you? If you don't mind, come and eat with us. I just bought some groceries and am about to cook."

Gu Qingxin glanced at the appalling kitchen, hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded with a smile.

The three of them went to the rented room across the street, closed the door, and found the room to be warm and cozy.

Shen Yi put on an apron and went into the kitchen to start preparing the ingredients.

Gu Qingxin felt embarrassed and wanted to go to the kitchen to help wash vegetables, but Shen Yi pushed her out as soon as she entered, citing the "excessive fumes".

Gu Qingxin could only sit back on the sofa. Lin poured her a glass of hot water and placed it in front of her, while he sat on the other end of the sofa watching TV.

After the dishes were ready, the three of them sat around the small but cozy wooden dining table and began to eat.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was very harmonious. Shen Yi first mentioned that she and Lin Ye had gone for a walk and date, and then casually mentioned the strange uncle who dragged Lin Ye to play badminton.

Then, Shen Yi mentioned the fortune-telling nun she met later under the old locust tree.

Upon hearing this, Gu Qingxin's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

But her face quickly regained its gentle smile: "Most of those fortune tellers on the street are swindlers. They're good at saying scary things to frighten people. You two have such a good relationship, your future together will definitely be long, don't listen to her."

"Well, the fortune stick that the Taoist nun drew again later was pretty good." Shen Yi smiled again.

The dinner ended in harmony, with a "whooshing" sound coming from the kitchen. Just then, Gu Qingxin was about to leave, so Shen Yi asked Lin Ye to see her off.

As the two walked out the door and reached the stairwell, Gu Qingxin asked, "When did you and Shen Yi get together?"

Lin also replied, "The end of October."

"Well, the fortune stick that the Taoist nun drew again later was pretty good." Shen Yi smiled again.

The dinner ended in harmony, with a "whooshing" sound coming from the kitchen. Just then, Gu Qingxin was about to leave, so Shen Yi asked Lin Ye to see her off.

As the two walked out the door and reached the stairwell, Gu Qingxin asked, "When did you and Shen Yi get together?"

Lin also replied, "The end of October."

"Shen Yi is a very good girl," Gu Qingxin said earnestly. "Kind, earnest, and she likes you very much. You should cherish her."

When she said this, her tone didn't sound like she was talking to someone she had just met; rather, it sounded like an older sister giving instructions to her younger brother, naturally conveying a sense of intimacy.

The subtle tone of her voice and the gentle, tolerant look in her eyes made Lin feel that Gu Qingxin was somewhat familiar, as if he had encountered a similar gaze a long time ago.

This fleeting sense of familiarity only lingered in his mind for a moment, without prompting him to delve deeper.

Lin didn't ask any more questions, but simply looked into Gu Qingxin's eyes and nodded gently.

She turned around, opened her door (which still smelled slightly burnt), and went inside.

the next morning.

Two uninvited guests arrived outside Gu Qingxin's door.

Yesterday, the uncle at the riverside square knocked on the door and said, "Qingxin, open the door."

After knocking for a long time, there was no response from inside the house. Uncle Zhao frowned, stopped what he was doing, and turned to look at the young man standing on the platform.

The young man had changed his clothes today, his hands in his pockets, leaning against a wall with a piece of plaster peeling off.

"Stop knocking. He's obviously angry and doesn't want to talk to you at all."

"What are you angry about? I didn't do anything!" Uncle Zhao asked, looking puzzled.

"What are you so angry about? What did you promise her before you came to Ningchuan? You said you would never provoke her. And what happened? Yesterday, you not only went up to her in the square, but you also got into a fight with her and almost tore down the riverside square." The young man rolled his eyes.

Uncle Zhao was hit where it hurt, and a hint of embarrassment flashed across his old face, but he refused to back down.

"Hey, you little rascal, you've learned to turn the tables now? Yesterday in the square, I saw you were really good at pretending to be weak, panting like a dog, and you even shoved the racket into someone's hands. It was a perfect blunder."

Just as the young man was about to continue his rebuttal, a very subtle change occurred in the expressions of both men.

They dared not use the magnetic field here, but with a slight twitch of their ears, they keenly caught the sounds coming from behind the door opposite.

Without any hesitation, the two turned around in perfect unison, their figures disappearing silently down the old cement stairs like ghosts, vanishing from the third floor in the blink of an eye.

Shen Yi had a long, early professional class this morning, while Lin Ye was still sleeping.

After she went out, she walked down the steps one by one. When she got downstairs, she saw two people squatting on the ground, looking bored.

The middle-aged man was whistling off-key, while the young man half-heartedly sang along, his voice sounding intermittent in the cold wind.

The two dogs looked like stray dogs that had been kicked out of their homes and were now trembling on the roadside.