Chapter 116: He’ll Never Find a Wife in This Lifetime

At the door of Wu Xingyu’s little cabin.

“Where did that brat run off to? I’ve been yelling for ages and there’s still no sign of him!”

Standing outside the wooden fence, Pei Yu widened his peach blossom eyes and glared fiercely at the door, as if he could force it open with his stare alone.

“Why not try the chat channel? Didn’t they say it’s been enabled?” Yuan An yawned, bleary-eyed as he trailed behind, looking like he could fall asleep standing up.

Pei Yu turned around, huffing, “Hmph, you think I didn’t try? You can only chat one-on-one if you’ve added each other as friends. Otherwise, there’s no way to contact him.”

Yuan An nodded blankly. “Oh.”

Pei Yu grumbled, “Why are you such an infuriating little chub?”

He reached out and gave Yuan An’s chubby cheek a squeeze—not hard, just enough to squish it like dough. Yuan An, still half-asleep, didn’t even bother to dodge, letting him knead away.

Just then, Yun He came back, munching on a plate of steaming hot white dumplings.

Cheeks puffed out, he raised a hand in greeting, his face brimming with energy. “Hey, you guys are up!”

Pei Yu’s eyes lit up. He hurried over, grabbed a soft, hot dumpling from the plate, and stuffed it into his mouth. After a bite, his eyes sparkled. “What is this? There’s filling inside—it’s delicious!”

“Hehe, these are called dumplings. Tang En got a bag of flour yesterday, so I knew he’d make something tasty today. I went early to buy a few. Early bird gets the worm, you know—if I’d been any later, Tang En would’ve given them all to the kids, and there’d be none left for sale.”

Yun He grinned, stuffing another dumpling in his mouth as he spoke.

Seeing Yuan An still looking dazed, he shoved a dumpling into his mouth too.

“Mmm.” Yuan An smacked his lips, savoring the flavor. His sleepy eyes finally began to wake up.

“Tasty.”

“Hehe, I think these are the best too.” Yun He saw Pei Yu hadn’t finished chewing yet, but was already greedily grabbing more with both hands, so he quickly gulped his down and reached for another.

In the midst of this, he managed to ask, “So, what are you two doing at Third Brother’s door? He left early this morning—he’s not home.”

Pei Yu’s ears perked up. “Not home? Where’d he go? Isn’t he usually the last one up?”

He looked suspicious and wary—something was definitely up.

Yun He, oblivious to Pei Yu’s expression, kept eating as he explained, “I think he went to talk business with Village Chief Yun. Said he wanted to invest in a restaurant. He was up super early, even put on that cool black cotton jacket I made. I saw it—Third Brother looks way better in it than you do. Super handsome.”

“Hmph, I wouldn’t be caught dead in that crow-black jacket. I like my orange one—bright and stylish!” Pei Yu retorted, indignant. “Mine’s the best-looking jacket.”

Yun He looked at him, at a loss for words. What a bizarre sense of style!

“…As long as you’re happy.”

Pei Yu cheered up at that, then sidled up to Yun He, nudging his arm and whispering gossip, “Hey, do you think that brat Wu Xingyu is, you know, getting close to Village Chief Yun?”

Yun He’s face was expressionless, utterly unmoved. “No way. Third Brother is face-blind when it comes to women. My brother said so—he’ll never find a wife in this lifetime.”

Pei Yu was unconvinced. “But what if? I mean, he got up so early to talk business with Village Chief Yun—he must be thinking about her, right?”

Yun He calmly countered, “Third Brother just wants to get the business done early so he has more time to hunt monsters and explore the mountains. We only got halfway up that mountain yesterday.”

Pei Yu tried to prove his point, “But that brat was standing really close yesterday—just a finger’s width away from brushing her shoulder!”

Yun He argued back, “That’s just to soak up some of Village Chief Yun’s good luck. It’s rare to meet someone so lucky. If I had the guts, I’d try to get some of that luck too.”

Pei Yu: “But—”

“No buts. Third Brother is never going to fall in love. Not in this lifetime.”

Thud. End of discussion. Pei Yu was left speechless, unable to stir up any more gossip.

Yuan An obediently squatted in front of them, dumpling in each hand and another in his mouth, wide-eyed as he listened to their debate with great interest.

When Pei Yu made a good point, he nodded—Third Brother really was unusually close to Village Chief Yun, something no other woman had ever managed.

But when Yun He rebutted, he nodded too—Third Brother was face-blind, how could he even recognize a beauty like Village Chief Yun, let alone like her? He might just forget her the moment he turned around. How could he possibly have a sweet romance?

“Hey, stop talking, here come Village Chief Yun and Third Brother.” Yuan An looked up and spotted the two walking side by side in the distance.

The man was handsome and upright, the woman delicate and charming. They looked perfectly at ease, chatting and laughing together.

Even Third Brother’s usually stoic face looked more animated—was this really not love?

Yuan An swallowed his dumpling whole, nearly choking, as his mind wandered.

Pei Yu and Yun He immediately straightened up.

“Third Brother, have you had breakfast yet? I bought some dumplings from Tang En—want to try one?” Yun He hurried over, offering the plate ingratiatingly.

Yun Qimu turned to Wu Xingyu in surprise. “You haven’t eaten breakfast?”

Wu Xingyu stiffened, a little awkward. “The danmu fruit tea and pumpkin cakes you gave me were enough.”

Yun Qimu looked skeptical. “You eat so little in the morning?”

“Yeah.” Wu Xingyu nodded seriously. “I don’t have much appetite in the morning, and I want to try the food at the restaurant.”

Yun Qimu’s beautiful eyes flashed with understanding. “Alright, give me the energy coins and I’ll start building it right away. In a few minutes, we can go in and try it.”

“Okay.”

Wu Xingyu’s lips curled up slightly, a hint of happiness on his beautiful face. He took off the red gemstone ring from his finger and handed it over. “There’s exactly 500,000 energy coins inside.”

Yun Qimu eyed the red gemstone ring greedily, smacking her lips as she asked sneakily, “Can you give me the ring too?”

Wu Xingyu shook his head firmly. “No.”

“Oh.” Yun Qimu looked disappointed. “Can I at least borrow it? It’d be handy to use as a spatial accessory when traveling, so I wouldn’t have to reveal my storage space.”"