Middle-aged Love Patch

Before taking a shower, Xu Youyuan sent Cang Lu a message:

"Are you free tomorrow? I'd like to meet up."

Xu Youyuan had already finished drafting her proposal and thought it would be best to meet with the team sooner rather than later. Sitting down together to discuss things would surely be more productive than holing up at home, hammering away at ideas alone.

She expected Cang Lu’s reply to come the next day, but as soon as she grabbed her towel, her phone buzzed with a new WeChat notification. She tapped it open—it really was Cang Lu responding.

Cang Lu: "Who the hell are you?"

Xu Youyuan: "??"

Her fingers hovered over the screen as Xu Youyuan’s mind instantly conjured a hundred scenarios. Less than five seconds later, the message was retracted.

Ten seconds after that, another message came through: "Sent that to the wrong person, ignore it. Tomorrow at 11 AM, I’ll pick you up."

This one had to be from Cang Lu herself. But who had sent the first one? Was that little troublemaker she’d mentioned still clinging to her? Clinging so hard they could snatch her phone and reply to messages?

Xu Youyuan imagined the scenario—some young girlfriend not only sneaking a peek at Cang Lu’s phone but also daring to reply to messages. Honestly, if that happened to her, Xu Youyuan would’ve unleashed a fury of slaps, each one landing with precision.

By the time she finished showering, it was nearly 1 AM. Footsteps still echoed occasionally in the hallway outside. At this hour, people returning from work wasn’t unusual—whether it was overtime at the office or social obligations like dinners. Especially for those living in the distant suburbs, this was just the reality. The farther out you lived, the harder life tended to be.

The young couple next door, however, had come back early. They’d been arguing nonstop since Xu Youyuan got home, smashing plates and bowls in the first round. By the time she stepped out of the shower, the noise had escalated—sounded like they’d run out of dishes to break and had moved on to hurling furniture.

Xu Youyuan had been trying to live the healthy, middle-aged life—early to bed, early to rise, no caffeine dependency. But lying in bed now, with the walls shaking, every time she teetered on the edge of sleep, a fresh crash would jolt her awake.

Head pounding, she gave up and turned on the light, deciding to read for a bit. The moment the light flicked on, the world fell silent.

Had they finished fighting? Finally, sleep?

She waited a while, confirming the quiet, then turned the light back off, tucked herself in, and lay flat, coaxing herself back toward slumber.

Just as she brushed against the edges of sleep again, a creaking noise yanked her back to reality.

Bleary-eyed, Xu Youyuan listened.

Creak… creak…

No way.

Then, moans.

Seriously? They go from brawling to bed in the same night? What kind of whirlwind romance was this?

Xu Youyuan practically launched herself upright, her hair a tangled mess in her face. The neighbors’ amorous noises only grew louder, escalating into full-blown cries with no sign of stopping. On the verge of losing it, she grabbed her VR headset and logged into the game.

The auto-system had mined a heap of resources for her. Her expanded inventory was packed—mostly worthless copper and iron ore, with the occasional rare metal mixed in.

She pulled out the copper and iron first, crafting a few storage units to sort everything neatly, prepping for the level-three workshop.

Even if the secret of the Philmoth Canyon was long gone, she wasn’t about to give up.

Who could predict life’s twists? She’d barely lived half of hers.

Focusing on forging a level-two mining arm, sparks flew.

The upgrade would take forty minutes. Xu Youyuan suited up in her spacesuit and stepped outside, scouting for more rare minerals to expand her mining base.

She kept glancing over her shoulder—paranoia had set in after too many ambushes. That damn "Xixixixi" always seemed to be lurking, never showing up unless it was to ruin her at the worst possible moment.

But tonight was peaceful. No sign of Xixixixi.

Once the level-two mining arm was done, extraction would be faster. Even better, she stumbled upon an ice layer—her experience told her that meant this planet held far more resources than she’d thought.

Upgrading her spacesuit to level three bought her two full hours of work time.

After setting the ice-mining commands and activating auto-mode, she prepared to log off, praying her dear neighbors had exhausted their… emotional exchange.

Before disconnecting, she hesitated, then pulled up the logs. To her surprise, the player "Xixixixi" was online.

So she was around but hadn’t come to mess with her? Had she finally moved on? Xu Youyuan almost wanted to set off firecrackers in celebration.

But Shi Ye had mentioned Shi Yue was working now. If that was true, why was she still online at this hour? Didn’t she have to wake up early?

She clicked on Xixixixi’s profile:

[Player: Xixixixi

Level: 46

Constellation: Piscis Austrinus

Public Territory: Fomalhaut β

Private Territories: 5+]

Judging by the server location, Xixixixi was likely overseas—not many domestic players picked the Piscis Austrinus server. Then again, some just preferred starting fresh in foreign zones.

Half the constellations in the domestic servers were still untouched, and resources were identical across regions. If someone wanted to mine more, they could just expand within their own server—way easier than juggling multiple accounts.

Xu Youyuan thought back to Shi Yue denying she was Xixixixi. Maybe she was telling the truth.

Sure, young people had energy to burn, but a working adult staying up past 2 or 3 AM gaming on a weekday? That was a one-way ticket to burnout. Unless she was some kind of superhuman, who’d grind levels at the cost of their health?

Most importantly, even if Shi Yue had her ways, how could she have possibly found Xu Youyuan’s brand-new, unshared alt account?

Unless…

Nah. If she had that kind of skill, she wouldn’t be working for someone else—she’d be running her own empire.

Xu Youyuan logged off, returning to reality. She lay still, listening. No more moans. Just faint footsteps, then the hum of the bathroom shower kicking on.

Good. They were finally winding down.

The soft sound of running water soothed her. Clutching her Shiba Inu pillow, she finally drifted off.

Xu Youyuan managed to sleep, but her other neighbor, Yi Rushuang, wasn’t so lucky.

Two hours earlier, after dragging herself home from work, she’d nearly fallen asleep in the shower. Collapsing into bed, she’d hoped to rest fast—tomorrow’s to-do list was brutal. But her neighbors’ lack of consideration had other plans, their noise drilling into her skull.

Once awake, sleep refused to return.

Her head throbbed, every bone ached, and though exhaustion tugged at her, she couldn’t slip under.

After tossing and turning twenty-four times, Yi Rushuang gave up. She turned on the light, pulled out her notes for tomorrow’s meeting, and rehearsed her talking points, aiming to present without relying on the script.

Logging into the company work group, she saw nearly everyone was offline—except the boss.

Almost 3 AM, and after a full day’s work, the boss was still awake.

Yi Rushuang felt a deep respect for her young boss. Truly, no one achieves success easily. Everyone only sees the boss's youthful accomplishments and envies her talent, but no one notices the sweat she sheds in places unseen.

Yi Rushuang brewed a cup of coffee, rallied her spirits, and prepared to work through the night.

The next day at 11 a.m., Cang Lu's car arrived punctually at the foot of Xu Youyuan's apartment building. Cang Lu herself didn’t come—instead, she sent an autonomous vehicle.

A keypad was embedded in the car door. Xu Youyuan entered the password Cang Lu had sent her earlier and got in. The car smoothly and swiftly exited the unmanned gate of the residential complex.

Glancing at the central console, Xu Youyuan saw their destination was Pengpai Plaza.

Pengpai Plaza wasn’t far from Cang Lu’s company and was also a central hub for her activities. The trip would take at least an hour and a half. Xu Youyuan first logged into "Reshape the Universe" to organize the minerals she had automatically mined overnight, upgrading her workshop to Level 2. By the time she returned to reality, only seven kilometers remained until their arrival.

Having downed two cups of coffee that morning, Shi Yue was in decent spirits. As she stepped out of the meeting room, her senior Bai Rui called, asking if she had time for lunch.

Knowing she couldn’t avoid it, Shi Yue didn’t bother making excuses and simply agreed.

"Let’s pick somewhere nearby. I can’t go too far—I have things to do this afternoon."

"Of course, of course! We’ll come to you," Bai Rui quickly replied. "How about Pengpai Plaza? It’s only five kilometers from CRUSH Tower. There’s plenty to eat and drink there, and I know someone who can get us a private room even if we book now."

"You arrange it, Senior. I’ll head over in half an hour."

The last time Xu Youyuan visited Pengpai Plaza, its second phase was still under construction. Even then, it was already a massive shopping center. Now, with the second phase complete, the five-story circular building housed nearly every well-known brand, each floor spanning the size of ten football fields.

Traditional walkways had been replaced with conveyor belts. As Xu Youyuan stood on one, colorful nebulae drifted down from above. She looked up—the arched dome had been transformed into a 4D screen, currently playing an advertisement for the new version of "Reshape the Universe."

The ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‍deep cosmos glittered, nebulae filling the entire mall. Occasionally, virtual in-game currency even rained down in sync with the ad’s storyline. Children squealed and jumped in excitement—it was hard not to be drawn in.

Xu Youyuan had only been living in the suburbs for a few months, yet 4D screens had already advanced so much, finding real-world applications.

She couldn’t help but keep her eyes glued to the ad. The conveyor belt spared her the worry of bumping into anyone while distracted. Visitors here didn’t need to do anything—even walking was optional. All they had to do was watch the ads and open their wallets for anything that caught their eye.

While Xu Youyuan gaped at the 4D screen like a country bumpkin visiting the city for the first time, she didn’t notice someone watching her from a distance for quite some time.

"Junior!"

Bai Rui approached from afar, followed by six or seven men and women, waving at Shi Yue.

In that brief moment, when Shi Yue glanced back to where Xu Youyuan had been, she was already gone.

"What’s got you so captivated?" Bai Rui beamed as he strode up to her.

Shi Yue: "Nothing. Just saw someone I know."

"Oh? Invite them to join us for lunch!"

"She’s gone now. Doesn’t matter—let’s go."

Cang Lu’s assistant, Little Cha, met Xu Youyuan and escorted her to Private Room 6 at the Extreme Path Restaurant, where a group of people were already waiting.

Xu Youyuan knew Little Cha was from her hometown—a university graduate who had come to the big city to make her fortune, her accent still untouched.

Little Cha introduced Xu Youyuan to the group:

"This is our lead designer, Ms. Xu. Everyone knows her, so I won’t say more."

The seven or eight people in the room all appeared to be Gen Z, young and energetic. Half were already fans of Xu Youyuan, thrilled to finally meet her in person, and erupted in cheers.

"What’s going on? Some celebrity in there?" Bai Rui, leading the way to Private Room 11 with Shi Yue and the others, paused outside Room 6, startled by the commotion.

"Could be. This place is famous," boomed a middle-aged man with a buzz cut and a burly frame, who had been sticking close to Shi Yue. "If we kicked open every private room door here, we’d probably catch a few minor celebrities! Otherwise, why would they shut the doors so tight? Right?"

He laughed heartily, and a few others around him chuckled awkwardly in response.

This man was Bai Rui’s so-called friend, Liu Feng. His name was eerily similar to "Fat Liu," the president of SQUALL, though their fates couldn’t be more different. Liu Feng had once worked at SQUALL but left to start his own business. Three years of entrepreneurship later, he had nothing to show for it, still living under SQUALL’s shadow.

Now, he had pivoted entirely—abandoning game development to start a marketing company, setting his sights on Shi Yue for a collaboration. Somehow, he had gotten in touch with Bai Rui.

Once seated in their private room, a few words were exchanged, and Shi Yue’s suspicions were confirmed.

Liu Feng wasn’t just after a simple partnership—he wanted exclusive rights to promote Shi Yue’s flagship product across all platforms.

As Liu Feng spun grand visions, his mouth running dry, Shi Yue didn’t even lift an eyelid.

This little brat looks down on me—Liu Feng wiped sweat from his brow, sensing disaster looming.

One of Liu Feng’s companions returned from the restroom, buzzing with excitement. "Hey, guess who I just saw in the bathroom!"

The others were visibly impatient. Who else could it be but some minor celebrity? Couldn’t she read the room?

"It was Xu Youyuan!"

The name sent a ripple of surprise through the group—even Shi Yue, who had been zoning out, looked up.

"Xu Youyuan?" Liu Feng exclaimed. "You mean my old colleague who got delusional, tried to exploit a loophole for some quick cash, and nearly ended up in jail? What a rare sighting! After the vehicle incident, I thought she’d become a social pariah, too ashamed to show her face in public! Perfect timing—I owe her a lot for how far I’ve come today. Now that she’s down on her luck, it’s only right I extend some sympathy. Consider it a gesture of camaraderie! Let’s go!"

Clutching a glass in one hand and a bottle of liquor in the other, Liu Feng demanded directions and marched off to find Xu Youyuan himself.