Bai Xiao truly hadn't expected that, somehow, he would end up starting a cohabitation life with a beautiful girl.
If he were being honest, he was actually rather innocent when it came to this sort of thing. In the past and even now, he had never really lived together with a woman in the true sense of the word.
Although he had spent a long time living with Vina, the two of them had moved into the imperial palace almost immediately after meeting. On the one hand, Bai Xiao had always felt there was something missing between them; on the other, a palace inevitably lacked the ordinary, lived-in feeling of everyday life together.
Now, standing in the living room of Ch'en's villa, Bai Xiao suddenly felt a bit like the protagonist of a light novel.
"About Living Together with the Inspector."
Now this is what cohabitation is supposed to feel like, he thought.
That magnificent palace had always placed too much invisible pressure on him. He had never truly felt that he was its master, nor had he ever felt that he belonged there.
Sensing that Bai Xiao seemed to be lost in thought, Ch'en stood by the door, nervously clenching her hands.
"You can sit anywhere."
"Sit anywhere?" Bai Xiao looked at the sofa in front of him and didn't quite know what to say. The place clearly hadn't been lived in for a long time. Not only was the furniture practically brand-new, it was even covered with dust sheets.
There wasn't the slightest trace of daily life anywhere in the house.
But hadn't Ch'en said this was her home?
Why was it like this?
As if she could see the question in his eyes, Ch'en gave a faint smile, though it was a somewhat strained one.
"It's like this. An elder of mine gave me this house, but I never really liked it very much..."
Seeing the odd look that appeared on Bai Xiao's face, Ch'en hurriedly added, "Of course, that was before. Now that we need a place to stay, this is obviously the most suitable one."
Bai Xiao found Ch'en rather interesting.
Before, she had been in full workaholic mode, stubbornly insisting on living in her office no matter what. Yet now, the moment the subject of living together came up, she had immediately had this villa prepared.
Had his previous plan gone a bit too far?
Or was Ch'en's repression really just that severe?
Bai Xiao couldn't make sense of it, and in the end decided not to think about it any further.
The two of them stood there in the living room, staring at each other awkwardly. In the end, Bai Xiao smiled and said, "No matter what, this is our home now. Let's clean it up a little first."
Perhaps because of those words—our home—Ch'en's face reddened again and again. She hurriedly went to turn on the air conditioning, making sure the house would have fresh circulating air.
The two of them spent quite a while cleaning together before they finally managed to make the living room barely presentable.
It couldn't be helped. The villa was simply too large, and neither of them was particularly good at this sort of thing. After a while, both of them were already aching in the back and waist.
Even Ch'en was a little baffled. Practicing swordsmanship had never exhausted her this easily, yet somehow cleaning a room had left her breathless.
Wiping sweat from his forehead, Bai Xiao suggested, "Why don't we just make do for tonight? We can hire someone to clean the place tomorrow. This is way too exhausting."
Ch'en wholeheartedly agreed with the proposal.
Bai Xiao had originally intended to go take a look at his bedroom, but the moment he stood up, he heard a stomach growl from beside him.
When he turned around, he saw Ch'en standing there bright red, clutching her stomach.
"Hungry?"
"No... not really."
Officer Ch'en had spent half her life being stubbornly strong, and even now she was still trying to put up a front.
Bai Xiao didn't call her out on it. He only rubbed at his head and sighed. "What a pain. Looks like we don't have any ingredients at all."
Since Ch'en had never actually lived here before, it was natural that the villa wouldn't have any food stocked.
And going out to buy some at this hour didn't seem ideal either...
"We can have someone deliver it," Ch'en suggested. "There's a house steward for this villa district. We just have to let them know."
This really was outside Bai Xiao's experience. There was no helping it—he had genuinely never lived the life of the rich.
Being wealthy really was nice.
They were missing a lot of things. The villa didn't even have basic salt.
Bai Xiao slowly made out a list, and less than half an hour later, the service staff had already delivered everything to the kitchen. They had even thoughtfully arranged the seasonings and ingredients neatly for them.
"Please arrange for the place to be cleaned tomorrow."
"Yes, Ms. Ch'en. The cleaners will arrive before ten in the morning." The staff member smiled as she took note of it. "Do you have any special requests?"
"Nothing much. Just don't damage anything."
"Of course. Please rest assured—no matter how much loss is caused, we will compensate you at triple the value."
Watching the staff's respectful attitude, Bai Xiao could only grumble inwardly about the darkness of capitalism.
This was way too comfortable.
After seeing the staff out, Ch'en returned to the kitchen, only to discover that Bai Xiao had already picked up a kitchen knife and started chopping vegetables.
"You're... cooking?"
"Of course. Why else would we have bought all this stuff?" Bai Xiao scraped fish scales off with practiced hands. He hadn't worked at the fish stall for long, but he had picked up a few skills.
"Go watch some TV. I'll have this done soon."
"Oh."
Ch'en drifted back to the living room in a daze.
It wasn't until quite a while later, when the sound of the news came from the television, that she finally came back to herself.
This feeling...
She was facing the television, but none of it registered in her mind.
From the direction of the kitchen came sound after sound: the heavy thud of a cleaver against the chopping board, the clatter of steam pushing at a pot lid, the steady hum of the extractor fan.
The last time she had felt anything like this seemed to have been more than twenty years ago.
Back then, her mother was still alive.
Little Talulah was still there too.
Every afternoon, the two of them would go out to play together. Lungmen had countless streets, and they would laugh and skip their way through alley after alley, always finding something new and different to marvel at.
And in the evening, the two of them would head home together beneath Lungmen's orange-red sunset.
That was what home had been like then.
There had been the sound of the television, the aroma of cooking, and a mother waiting for them to come back.
Even after so, so many years, Ch'en could still recall those days clearly.
But later, her mother died.
Talulah left.
And only she remained.
Over the long years that followed, she could only learn how to be strong.
She stopped crying.
She stopped complaining.
Because she knew those things were useless.
To cry was because she wasn't strong enough.
To complain was because she wasn't strong enough.
To feel lonely was because she wasn't strong enough.
So she studied desperately. She trained with the sword desperately...
But now she was strong. Strong enough to protect so many people.
Then why was she still this lonely?
That was the real reason she had never wanted to move into this villa. Aside from not getting along with Wei Yenwu, the place was simply too large and too empty. It magnified her loneliness a hundredfold.
That was why she would rather sleep in the cramped office than come back here.
But now...
Sitting on the sofa, Ch'en suddenly had the strangest illusion.
It felt as if she had gone back to that summer.
Bai Xiao would never have imagined that the simple dinner he'd decided to make on a whim would become, for Ch'en, a kind of redemption for her childhood.
"Ahem. It's a little simple, but time was short. Two dishes and a soup—you'll have to make do."
Watching Bai Xiao set the finished food on the dining table, Ch'en unconsciously raised a hand and wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.
"What's wrong, Officer Ch'en?"
"...Nothing. But when we're at home, could you stop calling me Officer Ch'en?"
Bai Xiao had no objection to that. As he started eating, he asked, "Sure. I also thought it sounded a bit strange. So what should I call you? Miss Ch'en?"
"What do you mean, Miss Ch'en?" Ch'en sniffed quietly, trying to cover up the fact that she had just been crying.
"Call me Hui-chieh."
"Sure. But Hui-chieh, if you don't start eating soon, the food's going to get cold."
-------
April Special Days *Sale 20%*
patreon.com/RuneA
-------
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (261 Chapter) (Ending)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (130 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (80 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (130 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (120 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (78 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (189 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (135 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (145 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (102 Chapter)
Gojo Satoru Flat-Out Refuses to Admit He's a Supporting Character (40 Chapter)
Chat Group Isn't Supposed to Be Like This! (30 Chapter)
If You're Moriarty...then Who Am I? (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: Since I "Can't See," They Take Turns Stealing My Underwear (50 Chapter)
Arknights: Why Are All My "Brothers" Girls? (54 Chapter)
Danmachi: Start Training Haki (59 Chapter)
Emiya Shirou's Rebirth (30 Chapter)
I Can Get Stronger Just by AFK'ing—So I Joined a Chat Group (50 Chapter)
Endfield: I Can Always Pull Out One Yuan (65 Chapter)
Limbus Company : I Started a Company in Project Moon (50 Chapter)
Lobotomy: Do Cooks of Alley 23 Dream of Bloodfiend Knights? (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: Freya Familia's "One-Blade Shura" (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: Emiya, the Great Hero Becomes the Protagonist (90 Chapter)
TYPE-MOON: One Special Instance Every Week (40 Chapter)
From Danmachi: The Abundance Apothecary (70 Chapter)
Lord Shadow Descends on DanMachi (90 Chapter)
Fuse with Me, Exusiai! (41 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail — After I Die, I Forge Their Madness (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: The Last Zeus Familia (95 Chapter)
Endfield: Arknights Heroic Spirit Summoning (75 Chapter)
Toyokawa Family Finances (105 Chapter)
Starting From DanMachi to Become Stronger (90 Chapter)
DanMachi: My Familia Is Made Up Entirely of Heroines from Every World! (75 Chapter)
Arknights: My Intel Refreshes Daily (110 Chapter)
Digimon : I Never Meant to Do Evil, Even Though I Wasn't Chosen (40 Chapter)
Miss Holmes Could Never Be the Losing Heroine! (40 Chapter)
Takayama Gamu at Tracen Academy (40 Chapter)
Legendary Trainer Takes on MYGO (40 Chapter)
Arknights : Yandere Game: The Operators Have Come Knocking (100 Chapter)
Arknights: This Dating Sim Is Seriously Wrong! (120 Chapter)
Arknights : Ch'en Hui-chieh, I'm Done Being the Good Guy! (50 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Wasn't This Supposed to Be a Family Simulator? Why Am I the Family Heirloom? (40 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail : The Trailblazer Only Wants a Peaceful Life (45 Chapter)
Arknights: The Unlucky Dad? But I've Got the Chronicle of Time! (55 Chapter)
The Wheelchair War God Is Speedrunning Hogwarts (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: The Elemental Blaster of Orario (45 Chapter)
Playing Honkai in Star Rail (30 Chapter)
As an Alien, I'm Solo Leveling in Warhammer 40K (30 Chapter)
Arknights: A Symbiote's Survival Guide (70 Chapter)
My Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Is Built Entirely from Stuff I Picked Up (30 Chapter)
I Can Hear the Thoughts of Uma Mutsume (30 Chapter)
Dead-Men Chat Group: Winning the Resurrection Bracket (40 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero: Saving the World While Falling in Love! (40 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: My Breathing Techniques Can Be Leveled Up (50 Chapter)
Type-Moon Age of Gods: Starting with a Simulation as Heracles (10 Chapter)
Terra Love Trap: They All Want Me to Themselves (10 Chapter)
Dimensional Ranking: Top Ten Saviors (10 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen: Naoya Zen'in Wants to Stay Alive! (10 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it