Chapter 300: Before The Tai Xiyun Gathering
The next day at noon, Magic City.
Sunlight streamed through the huge windows of the Platinum Bay apartment, sprinkling onto the messy big bed.
Lin Xiuyuan, who had only fallen asleep at dawn, was now completely sunk into that soft down quilt, sleeping soundly.
However, the spot beside him on the bed was already empty. Jessica had obviously gotten up and gone out, diving into her work schedule for the day to make money and support the family.
At the same time, far away in Seoul, Kim Tae Yeon, who had just finished a long audio recording session the night before, dragged her exhausted body and the emptiness after completing work out of bed.
Then, suddenly with nothing to do, she naturally thought of a certain figure who could bring her some “fun.”
So, an overseas call was dialed to Lin Xiuyuan’s mobile phone.
“Ding ling ling… ding ling ling…”
The phone ringtone rang persistently once, with no answer.
It wasn’t until the second ring was about to end that a big hand finally stretched out from under the quilt, fumbling around on the bedside table and grabbing the noisy mobile phone.
Then, Lin Xiuyuan’s voice, thick with sleepiness and muffled, came through the earpiece.
“Hello~”
“Xiuyuan, are you still over there in Magic City?”
From the earpiece, Kim Tae Yeon’s voice came through.
She had been present for the previous discussion in the group, so she naturally knew that Lin Xiuyuan was in Magic City right now.
Especially after Jessica joined the group later, seeing all these familiar faces, it was another entertaining scene, and she even complained in the group about how thoroughly she had been “isolated” before.
Thinking of this, Kim Tae Yeon secretly laughed out loud.
“Yeah, still here…”
Listening to her laugh, Lin Xiuyuan subconsciously replied, then his mind cleared a bit, and he corrected himself, “No, it should be said I just arrived not long ago. I only landed yesterday. Even if I were to fly to Seoul, there wouldn’t be a flight until this afternoon or evening.”
Still lying in bed, he felt his eyelids heavy from last night’s excessive physical exertion, not wanting to open them at all.
Hearing this response, Kim Tae Yeon muttered softly on the other end of the phone, then her tone carried a bit of acting cute and complaining, “Then what am I supposed to do…”
“What do you mean? What do you want?” Lin Xiuyuan tried to focus his mind and asked.
“I want to come over to your side to get that watch I bought before.”
After saying this, Kim Tae Yeon was actually like dropping a code phrase, so Lin Xiuyuan instantly understood.
What watch or no watch—it was just an excuse for her to go back to the 13-year side to call Kim Soft Soft.
So once Lin Xiuyuan understood this meaning, he immediately replied, “Then the timing you picked isn’t very convenient. Not only am I in Magic City, but crucially, your ‘watch’ isn’t in the watch box in Seoul right now.”
He had just learned from Jung Soo Yeon last night that the entire Girls’ Generation team was flying overseas for an activity, so Lin Xiuyuan immediately replied to Kim Tae Yeon in code.
Because Kim Soft Soft on the 13-year side right now wasn’t in Seoul at all—he couldn’t find anyone even if he opened a door to go there.
This was a time-space arbitrary door, not Doraemon’s any door.
Kim Tae Yeon was surprised upon hearing this, “Ah? Where did it go?”
She clearly hadn’t expected this situation either.
“If it’s not there, it’s not there. In a few days, when it comes back, I’ll help you look for it.”
As for the reason and situation, Lin Xiuyuan definitely couldn’t explain clearly over the phone, so he yawned vaguely in agreement, hinting to wait until the overseas trip on that side ended and they returned.
Then Kim Tae Yeon immediately realized this issue couldn’t be clarified over the phone, so she naturally changed the topic, her tone carrying a bit of boredom and anticipation.
“Then shall we video call? I’m home alone and so bored. Come keep me company, how about joining me for a meal.”
It was just unknown if this so-called “meal” meant something else.
So for this invitation, Lin Xiuyuan’s response was very simple and direct, “How about you come over instead?”
Kim Tae Yeon on the other end of the phone went silent for a moment, seemingly considering the feasibility of the suggestion, then nodded crisply in agreement after a bit, “Sure.”
Thus, the arrangement was settled.
On the Magic City side, Lin Xiuyuan got out of bed the second after hanging up the phone, throwing off the quilt.
He didn’t even bother changing clothes, heading straight to the bathroom in the bedroom, pushing open the door and stepping out, returning from the Magic City apartment to the 13-year apartment side.
Without pausing at all, he opened the door again, his figure flashing, and directly appeared in 25-year Kim Tae Yeon’s apartment.
At this moment, on the living room sofa, Kim Tae Yeon had just set down the phone after ending the call and hadn’t even had time to sit up from her reclining position.
Lifting her eyes, she saw Lin Xiuyuan pushing open the bathroom door and coming in.
The guy was only wearing a pair of loose boxer sports shorts, exposing his toned upper body and straight legs, his hair a messy bedhead, his face still carrying the hazy sleepiness of not being fully awake.
Kim Tae Yeon was first surprised by how quickly he had arrived, then her gaze swept over his nearly half-naked body, a smile rising on her face filled with desire and ambiguity.
“Oh ho, Xiuyuan~ Why did you run over dressed like this? Planning to deliberately seduce me?”
Lin Xiuyuan rubbed his eyes and let out a big yawn, waving at Kim Tae Yeon, his tone obviously sleepy, “I haven’t even woken up yet. You woke me up with your call. Alright, no more chit-chat, come here quick. I still want to go back and catch some more sleep.”
Seeing his lazy yet somewhat impatiently eager look, Kim Tae Yeon couldn’t help laughing out loud, nodding obediently, “Got it~”
But before following him, she remembered something and quickly said, “Wait, first give me Jessica’s new phone number over there. I need to set up call forwarding.”
The number Kim Tae Yeon was referring to was, of course, Jessica’s secondary mobile phone number in Magic City.
After all, 25-year network technology was on a completely different level from 13 years, and Seoul and Magic City were two different things.
So for safety and convenience, the core members had discussed before that when needing to cross regions in 25 years, it was best to forward calls from the usual mobile phone number to a local number in the area, so important calls wouldn’t be missed.
As for other app messages, it was just a matter of logging in again—no big deal.
Lin Xiuyuan knew this too, so he unhesitatingly gave Kim Tae Yeon Jessica’s secondary phone number that was kept in the apartment, without considering how Jessica, who was currently working hard outside, would feel about her private secondary number being shared like this.
But it probably wasn’t a big issue—mainly, everyone was in the same boat now… no, grasshoppers on the same rope. Information sharing was a necessary sacrifice.
After all, the man was already shared.
After that, Kim Tae Yeon skillfully operated on her own mobile phone, set up the call forwarding, tossed the phone casually onto the sofa, and happily walked toward Lin Xiuyuan with light steps.
Seeing this, Lin Xiuyuan naturally extended his hand, and Kim Tae Yeon smilingly placed her small hand into his palm.
The next moment, Lin Xiuyuan pushed open the time-space door again, leading Kim Tae Yeon one step back to the 25-year villa, without stopping there. In the blink of an eye, the two were back in the Magic City apartment’s bedroom bathed in afternoon sunlight.
From answering the call to successfully sneaking Kim Tae Yeon over, the whole process seemed to take less than five minutes.
One could only say that Lin Xiuyuan’s human-shaped time-space arbitrary door efficiency was ridiculously high.
And when Kim Tae Yeon followed Lin Xiuyuan into the Magic City apartment’s bedroom, her gaze was immediately drawn to the unparalleled river view and Lujiazui skyline outside the window.
She subconsciously exclaimed “wow,” marveling, “This location, this view—looks like Jessica really went all out this time. Did she buy it or rent it?”
“Rented.”
Lin Xiuyuan’s voice, thick with sleep, came from behind.
While answering, he unceremoniously threw himself back onto the soft big bed, face buried in the pillow, mumbling a supplement, “No need to buy it. It’s not like we’re living here forever…”
Kim Tae Yeon nodded, stepping on the soft carpet intending to walk to the window for a closer look at the expensive view, but suddenly felt an unusual sensation underfoot.
She looked down.
On the carpet lay an extremely sexy black lace underwear with barely any fabric, lying there in an utterly bold pose.
Judging by the style and state, it was clearly a product casually discarded after last night’s intense battle.
This sight instantly lit up Kim Tae Yeon’s eyes with excitement like discovering a new continent.
At the same time, her little head began scanning around like a detective.
Sure enough, in the bedroom’s soft light, she quickly discovered more evidence chain.
A torn black stocking casually draped on the bedside table, a wrinkled man’s T-shirt hanging on the chair back, and the air seemingly still faintly lingering with an amorous aura…
Finally, Kim Tae Yeon’s gaze landed on Lin Xiuyuan on the bed, who was only wearing boxer shorts, sprawled image-lessly with his perky butt line on display, and the corners of her mouth curved into a meaningful smile.
“I’ll go check out the place. You sleep first.” She said to the culprit on the bed.
Lin Xiuyuan just muffled an “mm,” then seemed to instantly return to the land of dreams.
Meanwhile, Kim Tae Yeon quietly opened the bedroom door and walked into the living room.
Then she found the living room scene even more shocking.
Several pillows scattered messily on the floor from the sofa, the blanket half-draped down, a subtle wrinkle in one area of the carpet, and the glass window printed with two ceramic small bowls.
All of this silently told of the equally intense battle that might have happened here last night.
Seeing this, Kim Tae Yeon finally couldn’t hold back her laughter, shook her head, and sighed softly, “You guys really went all out playing…”
Then, as if thinking of a brilliant idea, her eyes lit up, and she slipped back into the bedroom.
She picked up Lin Xiuyuan’s mobile phone on the bedside table, unlocked it with his fingerprint, and opened the camera function.
After that, like a professional crime scene investigator, she began “click click” photographing the messy traces left after the deed in the apartment.
The wrinkled sofa, torn stockings, blanket fallen on the floor, the conspicuous black underwear on the bedroom carpet, even the towel casually discarded at the bathroom doorway…
After taking the photos, Kim Tae Yeon originally planned to send these “evidence” directly to their core small group for everyone to critique and appreciate together.
But after hovering her finger over the send button for a moment, she changed her mind.
Though the saying goes that sharing joy alone is not as good as sharing with many, sometimes a precise strike might have a better effect.
Thinking of this, Kim Tae Yeon exited the group chat, found her private chat with Jessica, and sent over those “wonderful” photos she had just taken, one after another.
At this time, Jessica, who had just finished a brand socializing activity and was taking a brief breather in the lounge, had only just picked up her mobile phone.
Before she could check messages, she heard a series of notification sounds.
Puzzled, she opened the chat with Lin Xiuyuan, and the first thing that came into view was those incredibly familiar photos with a crime scene déjà vu.
However, Jessica’s first reaction upon seeing these photos was a bit bafflement.
Didn’t we do it last night? You clinging to me, me holding you…
So what did this guy mean by taking these photos and sending them to her now? Reliving? Showing off? Or had his brain short-circuited?
Frowning, Jessica replied simply in the chat: 【?】
Almost the instant she sent it, a voice message came back instantly from the other side.
This instant reply speed gave Jessica a strange feeling.
After hesitating a bit, she finally tapped to play the voice message.
The next second, a female voice full of teasing and banter, absolutely not expected to be on Lin Xiuyuan’s phone, clearly entered her ears, “Yo~ Jessica, you had quite the wild time~ Even wore fishnet stockings? Tsk tsk…”
This voice… was Kim Tae Yeon?!!
This realization made Jessica, known for her calm and expression control, pupils shrink sharply, her composure nearly crumbling instantly.
She could even feel her cheeks uncontrollably heating up slightly.
Her instinctive thought was: How could Kim Tae Yeon be using Lin Xiuyuan’s phone? And in the Magic City apartment? And she saw those…
Fortunately, the shock only lasted a brief moment, and her strong mental fortitude quickly calmed Jessica down, guessing the situation.
So after taking a deep breath, her fingertips quickly typed on the screen, replying in text: 【My legs are long, anything looks good on me. Envy won’t help you.】
Her tone calm, even carrying a bit of counterattack.
Right after, she quoted that voice message and added: 【Also, take it easy on that.】
In the apartment, Kim Tae Yeon, sprawled on the sofa back, saw Jessica’s feigned calm reply and laughed even more happily.
At the same time, she stopped using voice replies and started typing.
【Got it~ When do you get off work?】
Jessica glanced at the busy venue outside the lounge and the waiting staff.
【Not that soon, probably not until evening.】
Kim Tae Yeon: 【Dinner together later?】
Jessica thought for a moment and replied: 【Sure.】
At this point, Kim Tae Yeon mischievously added another line.
【So… I really can’t send these wonderful photos to the group for everyone to study and appreciate together? Bad smile.jpg】
Jessica on the phone side, reading this, could almost imagine Kim Tae Yeon’s troublemaking expression. She helplessly rubbed her forehead and replied with a string of ellipses.
【……】
In the end, due to Kim Tae Yeon’s mercy or Jessica’s silent threat, these photos didn’t appear in the group.
The two chatted casually a bit more, during which Kim Tae Yeon also had Jessica order lunch takeout for her and Lin Xiuyuan.
When the takeout arrived, Kim Tae Yeon opened the door and took the bag from the doorway floor. Jessica was about to resume work.
After ending the chat, Kim Tae Yeon placed the takeout bag on the dining table and was preparing to return to the bedroom to wake up the guy sleeping like the dead when the nearby phone rang again.
This made Kim Tae Yeon look down, discovering the flashing name on the screen was none other than Yoona, who had been busy for a while.
Seeing this name, an even brighter, mischief-filled smile bloomed on Kim Tae Yeon’s face.
Almost impatiently, she pressed the answer button and spoke in a very natural tone, “Hello~ Yoona~”
On the other end, Yoona, about to speak, froze instantly upon clearly hearing Kim Tae Yeon’s voice, which absolutely shouldn’t be on Lin Xiuyuan’s phone.
She subconsciously pulled the phone away from her ear and carefully checked the number displayed on the screen…
Frowning, she muttered: It’s definitely Xiuyuan’s number. He should be in Magic City.
But why is Taeyeon older sister answering the phone?
But soon, like Jessica before her, she figured it out, chuckled, and was about to say something but held back for safety.
Switching to another line, “Shorty little nanny, call the owner of this phone over. I have something with him.”
This line stunned Kim Tae Yeon in place, her brain seemingly lagging for a few seconds, not immediately realizing she had been teased back.
Ten minutes later.
Lin Xiuyuan at the dining table looked at Yoona and Kim Tae Yeon play-fighting on the sofa, his eyes full of helplessness and amusement. Moments later, he knocked on the dining table.
“Had enough fun? Time to eat.”
