Yu Wanqiu knew that playing games could only provide a slight relaxation for the mind and body, and overindulgence would only lead to losing oneself.
She put away her phone and went back to her room to do yoga. After an hour, Yu Wanqiu was covered in a light sweat. She took a shower, did her skincare routine, and by the time she finished, it was already 9:45.
Jiang Lan had only taken her fifteen minutes to play a game together.
Yu Wanqiu frowned as she pushed open the door. Outside, it was pitch dark, with only a faint light coming from the lower three floors. Jiang Lan had already returned to her room.
Jiang Lan had been gaming until one in the morning. In the last game, two teammates were cursing at each other, giving her a headache. After carrying the two fools to victory, she finally logged off.
Before falling asleep, Jiang Lan thought about how she had managed to 1v3 without dying and felt incredibly proud of herself. Satisfied, she drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Thursday.
The production team was busy editing the video. Tomorrow night at ten, *Mother-in-Law is Coming II* would air on Fruit TV, and simultaneously, Penguin Video would also release the episode. Zhang Tian had a feeling that the second season would be even more popular than the first.
This episode had been edited under his supervision. He had gone over the subtitles, special effects, and visuals multiple times. The show would air at ten, and if there were any exciting moments before noon tomorrow, they could still be added in.
Jiang Lan had set nine alarms and finally woke up at 7:10. She went to wash up and change her clothes. When she opened the door, she saw Yu Wanqiu sitting on the sofa, a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.
Jiang Lan, who had stayed up late and gotten up early, kept yawning. Yu Wanqiu pointed to the fridge, and Jiang Lan asked, "The sandwich that wasn't thrown away?"
Yu Wanqiu pursed her lips. "You can throw it away if you don't want it."
Jiang Lan wasn’t about to throw it away. She heated the sandwich in the microwave for two minutes. For her, breakfast was optional as long as it filled her stomach.
She had slept for less than six hours and kept yawning while eating.
Yu Wanqiu frowned at her. "You're still young. Don't be a night owl. Staying up late is bad for your health."
Jiang Lan sniffled. "I didn’t!"
She had just lost track of time, but she hadn’t overslept. However, Jiang Lan was extremely tired all morning. By 9:30, she went back to her room to nap and didn’t wake up until 11:30 when Yu Wanqiu called her.
When she woke up, she was still groggy. Yu Wanqiu asked sternly, "Are you going to eat or not?"
Jiang Lan: "I’ll eat, I’ll eat!"
There were chicken wings in the fridge, and Jiang Lan wanted to make cola chicken wings. However, there was no cola in the fridge. She thought about asking if anyone else had some, but then she remembered that Zhang Lin was pregnant, Shen Xingyao, a celebrity, had to maintain her figure, and Aunt Zhao… probably had never even touched the stuff.
Yu Wanqiu told her to pick something else.
Jiang Lan sighed. "...Let’s do braised or sweet and sour then."
Yu Wanqiu frowned. "Why do you always eat such unhealthy things?"
Carbonated drinks could corrode teeth if consumed too much.
Jiang Lan had been living with Yu Wanqiu for three days now. While they talked occasionally, Yu Wanqiu mostly disapproved of her lifestyle habits.
Jiang Lan didn’t mind. After her nap, she felt refreshed. After eating, she proactively washed the dishes and pots, then played two rounds of games.
Yu Wanqiu watched Jiang Lan and hesitated for a moment. At four in the afternoon, Li Jia, who lived on the second floor, came over for a visit.
Both were wealthy socialites, but Li Jia and Du Wanzhou were quite different. Du Wanzhou had a more robust figure, and everything she wore screamed wealth. Li Jia, on the other hand, was slim, dressed casually, and had a short bob. Rumors had it that she was the second-in-command at Xu’s Real Estate Company.
Li Jia and Yu Wanqiu had met a few times before.
Yu Wanqiu’s husband, Lu Shuangchen, worked in the internet industry. At fifty-two, he was six years older than Yu Wanqiu. Despite being past fifty, Lu Shuangchen only had a bit of gray hair and didn’t look old. He maintained his figure well, exuding the charm of a middle-aged man.
As netizens would say, he was the "uncle type."
But online, people speculated that Yu Wanqiu’s husband was a pot-bellied, balding old man.
Both were from wealthy families, but Li Jia’s husband, Xu Qian, couldn’t compare to Lu Shuangchen. That’s why Li Jia always spoke politely to Yu Wanqiu, though that wasn’t the only reason. Another part of it was that Yu Wanqiu had her own career.
Li Jia and Yu Wanqiu chatted for an hour. Around five, Zhang Lin came upstairs. "Mom, dinner’s ready."
Yu Wanqiu glanced calmly at Zhang Lin, who was smiling. With her gentle, water-like appearance, her smile was as soft and harmless as moonlight.
Li Jia stood up. "I’ll head back for dinner then. Let’s chat again another time. By the way, where’s Jiang Lan?"
Yu Wanqiu replied, "She’s young and loves to play. We don’t have much in common."
Li Jia was as surprised as Zhang Tian. She had thought Jiang Lan would be similar to Zhang Lin—a delicate, fragile flower trying to please Yu Wanqiu on the show. But instead…
She didn’t even come out of her room.
Li Jia composed herself. "Alright, I’ll head back then."
Zhang Lin maintained her soft smile. She had a slender figure and didn’t look pregnant at all. Shortly after they left, Yu Wanqiu knocked on Jiang Lan’s door. Jiang Lan came out holding her phone, the screen showing the interface of *Honor of Kings*.
Yu Wanqiu stared intently at the game screen.
Jiang Lan was controlling the hero Han Xin, securing a kill. "What’s up, Teacher Yu?"
Yu Wanqiu: "Do you know what time it is? All you do is play games. You spend the whole day glued to your phone."
Jiang Lan blinked. "I’ll stop after this game."
Yu Wanqiu: "…………"
Yu Wanqiu was fuming. "Staring at your phone and playing games all the time is bad for your eyes. Overindulgence isn’t good for your brain either…"
Jiang Lan muttered, "I know, I know," while her hands swiftly controlled the hero to secure two more kills and decisively destroy the enemy’s base.
She glanced at the quartz clock. It was 5:20. "Teacher Yu, what’s for dinner?"
If it were up to Yu Wanqiu, it would be a vegetable salad and yogurt. But Jiang Lan loved meat, oily food, and spicy dishes. Last night they had noodles, and now Jiang Lan was craving barbecue or hotpot.
Yu Wanqiu: "We had meat for lunch, so let’s keep it simple for dinner."
Then she glanced at Jiang Lan and added, "You should control yourself a bit."
Jiang Lan: "？？？？"
Jiang Lan: "！"
She wasn’t fat!
Jiang Lan weighed just over a hundred pounds. She had some meat on her, but by ordinary standards, she was slim. However, on camera, even thin people could look heavier. According to Baidu, Shen Xingyao weighed ninety pounds, and Yu Wanqiu weighed ninety-four.
But Yu Wanqiu’s slimness wasn’t just skin and bones. She had muscle from yoga, fitness, and even weightlifting.
She could tell at a glance that Jiang Lan loved to eat but hated exercise. This kind of lifestyle wasn’t sustainable. If Jiang Lan were a bit closer to her, Yu Wanqiu would definitely drag her to work out.
That evening, Jiang Lan had a salad with Yu Wanqiu. She thought to herself that after ten, she’d definitely order some takeout—fried chicken and beer, or maybe hotpot skewers.
After dinner, she sprawled on the sofa playing games. Still hungry from the light dinner, Jiang Lan wasn’t in high spirits and lost three games in a row. By the time Yu Wanqiu came out of her room at eight, Jiang Lan had lost six out of eight games.
"Teacher Yu, log in! Let’s play a game!" She wanted to stomp some noobs in the Bronze tier!
Yu Wanqiu had just taken a shower and smelled faintly of fragrance. She said, "Don’t you have anything better to do besides play games all day?"
As she spoke, she tapped on the old Arthur icon.
Yu Wanqiu said, "This game should have an anti-addiction system..."
Jiang Lan remembered that there was indeed such a system, and she had already been playing for several hours. "Wait, let me see if I have an alternate account..."
After logging out and re-entering, there was a page to select another account, and sure enough, there was a small account with an anime avatar. Jiang Lan logged into it—a gold-tier account that hadn’t been played in a long time.
It only had a few jungle heroes, but it had been a King rank a few seasons ago.
"Teacher Yu, I’ll add you. Let’s play ranked matches. Use your gold to buy a couple of heroes."
Yu Wanqiu asked, "Ranked matches?"
This was another thing Yu Wanqiu hadn’t experienced before. She thought casual matches were fun enough.
Jiang Lan nodded. Ranked matches were different from casual ones. In ranked, you climbed stars, and you could truly feel the thrill of winning.
Soon, the two teamed up. Beginners in ranked only had access to five heroes and often made all sorts of rookie mistakes, but Yu Wanqiu didn’t. She played as Yao, and no one contested her for the hero. She spent the entire match following Jiang Lan’s Li Bai around.
Sometimes she would ride on Li Bai’s head, and other times Li Bai would turn back to pick her up. Jiang Lan’s alternate account didn’t have any skins, but even with the default skin, Li Bai recited, "Ten steps to kill one, a thousand miles without leaving a trace." With two dashes, he took out two squishy enemies, and Yu Wanqiu’s shield wasn’t even broken. Yu Wanqiu couldn’t help but feel her heart flutter.
She had to admit, Jiang Lan’s Li Bai was quite charming.
She and Lu Shuangchen had been married for over twenty years. They were an old couple now, spending little time together. Lu Shuangchen was a workaholic, and she was also career-driven, always busy with filming. It had been a long time since she had felt this relaxed.
"Teacher Yu, here’s another blue buff for you."
Yu Wanqiu’s mana bar was almost empty.
The enemy jungler hadn’t gotten a single blue buff, while Yu Wanqiu had already secured two.
"Okay."
From 8:30 to 9:45, they played several matches, each lasting about ten minutes. Yu Wanqiu won six matches in a row and was now at Bronze II with three stars. One more win, and she’d reach Bronze I.
Jiang Lan said, "Let’s play one more match, then call it a night?"
Yu Wanqiu looked up and realized it was almost 10 PM. Luckily, she had been proactive and done her yoga and taken a shower earlier. She could go straight to bed after this match. She urged, "Yeah, let’s start."
However, this match didn’t go as smoothly as they had hoped. Some jungle prodigy on the enemy team was smurfing and carrying their teammate. Jiang Lan and Yu Wanqiu’s team had all three lanes crushed. By six minutes, they only had three high ground turrets left. By fifteen minutes, all high ground turrets were destroyed. Jiang Lan could only split-push and try to backdoor. At twenty-one minutes, she managed to take down one of the enemy’s high ground turrets, but their own Nexus was destroyed.
Defeat.
They lost.
Yu Wanqiu had some bravery points, so she didn’t lose a star, but it was still frustrating. They had been so close to destroying the enemy Nexus, but their three teammates couldn’t defend their base. Yu Wanqiu felt it was a pity.
Otherwise, she would have reached Bronze I.
Jiang Lan said, "Let’s go to bed. Ah, wins and losses are part of the game."
Yu Wanqiu didn’t say anything.
Jiang Lan added, "We’ll make up for it tomorrow!"
Yu Wanqiu simply responded, "Oh."
Jiang Lan waved her hand. "Goodnight, Teacher Yu." She was already hungry and ready to order some takeout.
Last time, she had fried chicken. This time, since she was sneaking in another takeout order, she decided on barbecue and beer—beef, lamb, pork belly, eggplant, green beans, crayfish, and two cans of beer.
Yu Wanqiu went into her room and lay down on the bed. The word "defeat" kept replaying in her mind. More than ten minutes later, she suddenly opened her eyes.
If only those three teammates had tried a little harder, they wouldn’t have lost!
