Chapter 164: “then Let’s Invite Taeyeon To Join Us”
Just as Lin Xiuyuan was sparring with Lee Ji-eun in 2025, over there in 2013, Jung Soo Yeon, who had just finished work, finally had some free time.
She immediately rushed to the studio and workroom mentioned before; the renovation progress here was already more than halfway done.
She had already arranged for a friend who had just returned from overseas to temporarily serve as manager, responsible for supervising the renovation progress and procuring the necessary materials.
As for formal professional staff, the headhunting company had already started looking, and they promised to deliver the list within the next couple of days.
After arriving at the site, Jung Soo Yeon stood in the work area under renovation, looked around, and seeing that the partitioned independent offices and the gradually forming space layout matched her imagination perfectly, she nodded in satisfaction.
She then approached the construction supervisor and added a few details she had just thought of. Learning that everything could be completed in three days, she left the site contentedly.
Before leaving, she made a special detour to the small workshop that had been handling the outsourcing, and picked up the final batch of samples.
In a few more days, her designs and products would completely break away from the outsourcing model and fully shift to independent production.
By the time Jung Soo Yeon finished all this, it was already past 4 p.m.
So, sitting in the car, she hesitated for a moment, pulled up her contacts, originally intending to call Lin Xiaolu, but stopped her finger, thought for a bit, then switched to Sulli’s contact and dialed.
After a few seconds, the call connected, and Sulli’s sweet laughter came from the other end, “Hello~ older sister.”
“Have you guys finished over there?”
Hearing Sulli’s voice, Jung Soo Yeon unconsciously smiled, her tone light and cheerful.
Sulli on the other end glanced at Lin Xiaolu, who had already stood up and bowed goodbye, then replied, “Yeah, we just finished.”
“Then I’ll come over to find you. Tonight…”
“Older sister, tonight I’ll cook. You didn’t come last time, so tonight is perfect.”
Before Jung Soo Yeon could speak, Sulli seemed to have guessed what she wanted to say and laughed happily, “You didn’t make it last time, right? Today we can make up for it. In a bit, we’ll go to the supermarket first, buy some snacks and things the house is missing, and make dinner together in the evening, okay?”
Jung Soo Yeon, who had planned to suggest dinner anyway, naturally agreed happily, “Sure, that’s settled then.”
Soon after, the three met up at a supermarket in the middle, wandered around leisurely for once, and bought some decorative items, clothes, hats, and such, planning to go back and fix up the apartment.
By the time they returned to the apartment carrying big and small bags, it was approaching dusk.
So after getting back to the apartment, they immediately started preparing tonight’s dinner.
During this time, Jung Soo Yeon and Lin Xiaolu wanted to help in the kitchen, but Sulli unceremoniously pushed them out, justifying it vigorously, “Older sisters, you not making trouble is the best help. I really don’t want to make tuna kimchi fried rice.”
Then she got a good ‘scolding’ from Jung Soo Yeon.
In the end, though, she still went out to the living room, and together with Lin Xiaolu, unpacked the small decorations, aroma, and hanging cloths bought in the afternoon, and rearranged the apartment that they didn’t live in often but visited frequently.
Even though they didn’t live here, they came and went, so they still wanted to make it comfortable.
However, at that moment, the time-space door was opened by someone.
……
……
Time went back to when Lin Xiuyuan was sparring with Lee Ji-eun in 2025, to the scene where Kim Tae Yeon suddenly called.
Looking at the phone, Lin Xiuyuan quietly glanced up at Lee Ji-eun and Ham Eun-jung chatting and laughing across from him, then answered the call in a relaxed tone, “Hello~ Taeyeon, what’s up?”
“Xiuyuan, where are you now? I need to find you for something.”
Kim Tae Yeon on the other end spoke quickly, her tone carrying a hint of urgency, which made Lin Xiuyuan’s expression tense up a bit.
Lee Ji-eun and Ham Eun-jung across from him also sensed the subtle atmosphere and looked over.
So Lin Xiuyuan got straight to the point and told her the address of where he was eating.
There was silence for a few seconds on the other end, not sure if she was looking at the map or thinking about something, and after a while, Kim Tae Yeon’s voice came again, “It’s not far from me. I’ll send you a location; come over and help me out.”
After hearing the reply, Lin Xiuyuan looked up again at the two across from him; Lee Ji-eun and Ham Eun-jung were still gazing at him, but Lee Ji-eun nodded lightly.
So Lin Xiuyuan replied, “Sure, I’ll head over now.”
After hanging up, he looked across, and Ham Eun-jung spoke even faster than him, “Go quickly. I don’t know why Taeyeon is so urgent to find you, but it should be something important.”
“Then I’ll head out first.”
As he spoke, Lin Xiuyuan specially lowered his head to scarf down a few bites of rice before getting up from his seat and leaving.
Polite and efficient.
Lee Ji-eun gazed at his departing back, sighed softly, and muttered, “What’s all this about? Eun-jung, do you think Taeyeon knows I made plans with Xiuyuan and is deliberately causing trouble?”
“Older sister, don’t be so sensitive,” Ham Eun-jung chuckled lightly. “It sounds like she really has something urgent with him; it’s not that targeted at you.”
Seeing Lee Ji-eun’s anxiety, though Ham Eun-jung didn’t understand why, she still comforted her according to her own thoughts.
But Lee Ji-eun still felt uncomfortable, pursing her lips and frowning, “I don’t get it. If there’s something, why not ask someone else? Why specifically find Xiuyuan? Aren’t they not that familiar?”
No sooner had she said it than Ham Eun-jung couldn’t help laughing out loud, “But you also specially invited Xiuyuan to dinner, right? Isn’t it the same?”
And speaking of this, she asked Lee Ji-eun again, “Older sister, so what’s really going on? I’ve noticed lately that both you and Ji-yeon keep talking about Xiuyuan.”
In Ham Eun-jung’s view, Lin Xiuyuan was indeed excellent—young, full of ideas, and sensible—but not to the point where sisters their age would keep getting interested.
She really couldn’t imagine any “love at first sight” possibility.
That kind of heartbeat might belong to little girls new to the circle or married women caught in forbidden emotions.
But for them, at this neither-here-nor-there, half-dead age, it was completely impossible.
Lee Ji-eun didn’t respond immediately, but pondered for a moment, beckoned to Ham Eun-jung, leaned in, and whispered a few words in her ear.
But Lin Xiuyuan didn’t know about their situation there; after leaving the restaurant, he quickly got in the car and headed straight to the location Kim Tae Yeon sent him.
It was a residential area address, and if nothing unexpected, it should be Kim Tae Yeon’s apartment.
And along the way, Lin Xiuyuan was somewhat puzzled; he didn’t understand why Kim Tae Yeon was suddenly so off emotionally, nor why she would call him specifically.
Logically, she should have plenty of closer friends around her; there was no reason to call him alone.
But recalling her almost panicked tone on the phone, Lin Xiuyuan didn’t ask more or thank her, choosing to go check it out first.
The distance between the two places wasn’t far at all—just over 4 kilometers in a straight line—so Lin Xiuyuan drove there in about 10 minutes.
After driving into the underground parking lot, Lin Xiuyuan quickly parked the car, followed Taeyeon’s instructions, entered the door access code, walked into the elevator hall, took the elevator straight to her floor.
After exiting the elevator, he could immediately see one household on each side of the corridor, with Kim Tae Yeon’s on the right.
He confirmed the floor and door number, pocketed his phone, walked up, and rang the doorbell.
About ten seconds later, the room door clicked open, and a visibly anxious Kim Tae Yeon came into view.
“Xiuyuan, you’re finally here!” Kim Tae Yeon, who had yanked the door open, looked tense. “Come in quick and take a look at zero; it’s been shaking since this morning.”
Hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan finally understood why Kim Tae Yeon was panicked; it was the puppy’s issue.
And it was that zero with quite some popularity in the Korean Entertainment Circle.
Thinking of this, Lin Xiuyuan quickly entered the room and soon spotted the puppy in the corner.
It had a tense, trembling all over appearance, evasive gaze, exposed gums, occasionally low growling as if warning someone not to approach.
“Is it sick maybe?” Lin Xiuyuan frowned and squatted down.
“I don’t know!” Kim Tae Yeon anxiously rubbed her hands, standing about two meters from zero, not daring to get close, her tone almost bringing tears, “Whenever I get close, it bares its teeth and barks fiercely… It was never like this before.”
Lin Xiuyuan turned back to look at her, his tone carrying some confusion, “Didn’t you always take it for baths, checkups, and vaccines before? How come suddenly…”
“I don’t know either…”
Kim Tae Yeon replied almost aggrievedly, “It was fine this morning; there was a period at noon when I didn’t see it, and when I found it again, it was hiding under the sofa and wouldn’t come out. I tried to pick it up, and it growled at me; I almost got bitten.”
Hearing her say this, Lin Xiuyuan observed zero’s state again.
Though the puppy kept low growling, it seemed just emotionally agitated; its eyes weren’t sickly dilated, breathing normal, no obvious fever or weakness.
It didn’t look sick; rather, it seemed stimulated by something, the whole dog tense like a taut string.
But Lin Xiuyuan knew he wasn’t a professional vet after all and didn’t dare to conclude lightly, so he said, “How about you get me a bath towel? I’ll catch it for you, and we can take it to the hospital to check?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Kim Tae Yeon nodded quickly; actually, she had called Lin Xiuyuan because she didn’t know what to do.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t find others, but they had just eaten and chatted together yesterday, so she subconsciously thought of him.
Soon, she handed him a bath towel. Lin Xiuyuan folded it a few times, quickly threw it over zero, and in the gap between its barks, nimbly grabbed the scruff of its neck and lifted it.
“Got a cage?”
“Yes, I’ll get it!”
Kim Tae Yeon immediately turned, rummaged in the corner for the portable cage, and skillfully opened it and placed it on the ground.
But at that moment, zero saw the cage and got even more agitated, its limbs flailing wildly in the air.
If Lin Xiuyuan hadn’t gripped its scruff tightly in time, it probably would have broken free.
In this chaos, he suddenly noticed something unusual: zero’s head and eyes were always fixed on the balcony direction while barking. The barks were even more intense.
Following its line of sight, Lin Xiuyuan saw an old doll hanging in the balcony corner.
Seeing this, Lin Xiuyuan looked at Kim Tae Yeon, “Taeyeon, is that doll yours?”
Hearing this, Kim Tae Yeon turned to look, then shook her head, “No, that’s zero’s doll.”
“Doll?”
“Yeah, that cloth doll it’s had since it was little. I saw that thing was filthy black, so I washed it when it wasn’t looking.”
Lin Xiuyuan chuckled lightly upon hearing this, then carried zero to the balcony, took down the still damp doll, and placed it on the ground with it.
Sure enough, as soon as zero saw the familiar doll, the barking stopped immediately.
It whined and nudged it with its nose, then grabbed the doll in its mouth, trotted back to its bed, the whole dog seeming to relax at once, no longer trembling.
The whole dog lay on the ground, head buried in the cloth doll’s embrace, breathing softly, even making faint purring sounds.
Kim Tae Yeon looked at Lin Xiuyuan puzzled, “Why is that?”
“You don’t know?”
As Lin Xiuyuan walked back to the living room, he explained, “Many puppies latch onto something as a ‘security object,’ called a comfort object. Could be a ragged towel, a stuffed toy, an old piece of clothing—anything that’s been with them since young. If it’s taken away or disappears, they get extremely anxious.”
While explaining, Lin Xiuyuan walked back into the room, “That doll of zero’s has probably been with it from puppyhood till now; you suddenly wash it and hang it on the balcony to dry… That’s like you stealing its emotional anchor, so its emotions collapsed, and that’s what happened.”
“But it was really too dirty…” Kim Tae Yeon frowned, defending softly.
“Human worldviews and a dog’s world are two different things…”
He originally wanted to say dogs eat poop too, but Lin Xiuyuan decided not to say it; too gross.
The two squatted down again in front of the bed; Kim Tae Yeon carefully reached out to pet zero’s head.
This time, it just whined softly twice, eyes half-closed, no longer wary, letting her pet it.
This made Kim Tae Yeon widen her eyes, “It… it was really just because I washed that doll?”
“Yeah, it’s not human; does reasoning with you work?” Lin Xiuyuan stood up and glanced around, answering casually, “In its eyes, you stole its most important treasure, hid it, threw it away.”
Kim Tae Yeon was stunned for a moment, lowering her head to gaze at zero in the bed.
The puppy was now contentedly gnawing on the cloth doll, its calm state like a different dog from before.
“I just… wanted to clean it up a bit…” She pouted aggrievedly, saying softly.
“Your action is like someone washing your favorite childhood toy behind your back and hanging it outside to dry; you might cry too.” Lin Xiuyuan held back a laugh. “And though that thing is dirty, to it, it’s the source of its sense of security.”
Kim Tae Yeon looked up at the puppy peacefully sleeping on the carpet, finally feeling relieved.
And while Kim Tae Yeon was seriously petting zero, Lin Xiuyuan’s gaze passed over the distance, involuntarily landing on a certain photo frame in the nearby cabinet.
The figure inside was very clear, the glass lens extremely clean, as if someone wiped it often.
So he thought of that incident he chatted about with Park Ji-yeon at KTV not long ago, then looked down at Kim Tae Yeon seriously stroking zero nearby.
He suddenly realized that the “security object” theory he just explained might not only apply to zero.
After a good while, Kim Tae Yeon finally stood up, looking at him with a hint of apology and fatigue, “Thanks, Xiuyuan. Good thing you came to check; otherwise, I really would have taken it to the hospital, making it suffer again.”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it struck Lin Xiuyuan’s heart. He originally just wanted to wave it off, but hearing this, his hand paused, brows furrowing slightly.
This dog’s emotional anchor was an old doll.
But what was Kim Tae Yeon’s anchor?
At this time, Kim Tae Yeon seemed to realize her words were a bit heavy.
So after a moment of silence, she gently sat on the sofa edge, gaze on the now quietly sleeping puppy, murmuring to herself.
“I don’t remember when it was, but one day after finishing a schedule and coming home, the house felt too quiet, nothing there. Suddenly, I really wanted something at home waiting for me, that when I turn around, it’s there, won’t leave.”
Hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan looked down at zero in the bed, already sleeping motionlessly, the cloth doll still firmly under it.
“So I went and adopted zero; it was tiny then, fit in one hand. But when it looked at me, that gaze seemed to say ‘I’ll wait for you to come back.’ And from then on, it always has.”
Saying this, Kim Tae Yeon thanked Lin Xiuyuan again, “Thanks, Xiuyuan; zero is very important to me.”
And Lin Xiuyuan suddenly somewhat understood why she had been so panicked earlier.
Besides worrying zero might suddenly get sick or have an accident, more than that, perhaps she was afraid her last remaining “sense of security” would disappear too.
Thinking of this, he shook his head with a light smile, “No big deal, just a small issue; even if I hadn’t come, you could’ve handled it.”
“But it would make it suffer.”
“It’ll be fine in the end.”
After saying this, Lin Xiuyuan stood up to leave.
He planned to rush back to Lee Ji-eun’s side; though he had left the table temporarily, since the matter was resolved, he should go back to continue the appointment.
Seeing this, Kim Tae Yeon didn’t try to keep him, just thanked him repeatedly, saying she’d treat him to dinner next time as compensation.
Lin Xiuyuan didn’t take it to heart, nodded, and left, quickly returning to the car and calling Lee Ji-eun.
As soon as the call connected, the background noise from Lee Ji-eun’s side was the golf course. In just half an hour, she had rebooked with Park Hyomin to continue the golf they didn’t finish yesterday.
Hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan didn’t say he’d already handled his side, just briefly explained the sudden situation and expressed his apology.
Casually, he echoed Kim Tae Yeon’s tone, “I’ll treat you to dinner next time, Ji-eun.”
Hearing this, Lee Ji-eun immediately cheered up. Originally, with Ham Eun-jung as wingwoman today, there probably wouldn’t be much anyway.
But if it traded for a chance to eat alone, that would really be great.
So she quickly said, “You promised, Xiuyuan; don’t go back on it.”
“I won’t.”
Lin Xiuyuan smiled and agreed.
After hanging up, he started the car and returned to the villa.
But along the way, his mind was still lingering on everything that happened at Kim Tae Yeon’s home earlier.
Especially her words “if something happened to zero, I really wouldn’t know what to do,” which even made emotionally dull him raise a brow, feeling a few unusual stirrings.
Until he got back to the villa, relying on gaming to slowly shake off these stray thoughts, and ended up playing until evening.
His waist was a bit sore; Lin Xiuyuan then stood up, stretching his muscles while preparing to pass through the time-space door back to 2013 to find something to eat.
But as soon as he entered the door, he bumped into Jung Soo Yeon and Lin Xiaolu arranging things in the living room.
“How come you’re here?” Lin Xiuyuan asked somewhat surprised.
Facing Lin Xiuyuan’s curiosity, Jung Soo Yeon explained their situation today, then while placing the aroma, countered, “How come you’re back so early? I thought you’d be till evening.”
“Nothing to do over there; just wanted to find some food… Now it seems I don’t need to go out.”
As he spoke, Lin Xiuyuan’s nose twitched lightly; the aroma of food from the kitchen made his lips curve up.
Jung Soo Yeon smiled too, then glanced at the still-open time-space door and suggested, “Want to call Soo Jung and Yoona? Everyone gathering like this is rare.”
Last time they had a dinner party, she only learned about it later from Sulli, so this time with more people, she wanted to see Krystal, whom she hadn’t seen in a while.
But Lin Xiuyuan was a bit stunned, remembering the bombshell Krystal dropped at last meal.
Still, he didn’t refuse in the end, “I’ll go ask.”
Then he turned back to the 2025 villa living room, took out his phone, and called Krystal, but she was busy with work today and unavailable.
So the next call, Lin Xiuyuan made to Im Yoon Ah.
It picked up quickly over there, familiar laughter coming through, “Xiuyuan, what’s up~”
“Yoona, where are you? Come over for dinner together.”
Lin Xiuyuan’s voice startled Im Yoon Ah again; she turned to look at Kim Tae Yeon beside her.
And the other was amused and annoyed, couldn’t help feeling down, shouting at the phone, “Hey, Xiuyuan, is it every time Yoona’s eating with me, you call her away? Though you helped me this afternoon, this is still a bit much.”
Hearing Kim Tae Yeon’s voice, Lin Xiuyuan paused, “Oh? Taeyeon is there too?”
“Yeah, older sister invited me to dinner and brought zero out for a walk.”
Im Yoon Ah explained with a smile.
But the next second, she seemed to hear something, her face changing abruptly as she turned to Kim Tae Yeon beside her.
Because Lin Xiuyuan on the phone, following her reply, said calmly.
“Then bring Taeyeon along too.”
Next chapter, Kim Tae Yeon joins the cult, so monthly tickets, subscriptions, rewards, everything!!!
《Peninsula: Reborn and still playing pure love?》 Author: Memory of gatherings and partings.
Synopsis: When the simp meets a bad end, the warrior soul finally awakens. Reborn, deciding not to simp anymore, he ascends.
Giving up a forest for one tree, and that clown was once me? Unacceptable!
Female leads: (Main 2nd, 3rd, 4th gen) Tai Xiyun, white cabbage, Bae Soo Ji… Author says 21 specific viewable character cards, considering adding more.
This author previously wrote 《Korean Entertainment Reincarnation Splendor》 《Peninsula’s Most Beautiful Encounter》 《Peninsula’s Sweet Taeyeon Whispers》, veteran author.
Strength and updates are guaranteed.
