Chapter 35: Refreshed

The trio played many games throughout the night and they were filled with much laughter and even a little rage of Hua Mengyao's part. By the time they had gotten off, it was already late at night—having completely forgotten about lunch someway in between.

Zhao Yingyue was dazed as she closed the lid to her laptop. She had never been able to play for such a long time before, since she used to only be able to play at night when no one could see. The time had seemed to flash by in an instant—a few hours feeling like a few minutes.

"That was fun!"

Liu Haoyu, who was used to playing for even longer stretches of time, got up and stretched himself out a little before saying, "It was. Now we should eat because playing actually does take a lot more energy than you'd think. It's important to properly care for yourself after playing."

Hua Mengyao had already been a few steps ahead of them and was in the kitchen asking the chef to create a spread for dinner. She couldn't believe that they had played so much that she forgot about lunch. They hadn't even asked for a snack.

Zhao Yingyue said, "It still feels like a dream that I get to play with 'Vortex'."

Liu Haoyu walked closer to her and opened his arms, hoping for a hug from his sweet wife. When she didn't back away, he wrapped his arms around her, engulfing her in his warm embrace.

"Shouldn't it be more of a dream that you actually got to marry him? So many women would do anything for the position of my wife."

And it was true. Not only was he good at what he did, he was still the Liu family heir and would one day take over as the patriarch of the wealthiest family in the country. Until now, he had been nothing but an unattainable dream, and in the eyes of the public, he still was.

Zhao Yingyue snickered before saying, "Honestly, I never even dared to imagine that we would one day marry. I still can't believe that it's real and we are husband and wife."

Liu Haoyu held on tighter, liking every time she referred to him as her husband, and said, "You actually make a really good Guardian, too. You said that's where you first started. Is that your secondary role?"

She nodded lightly before freeing herself from his arms to stretch herself out. She enjoyed the embrace but her joints had been aching from sitting in the same spot for such a long time.

"Actually, I thought at first that it was what I related to the most but then I realized that was the person I showed the world—not really me. While I play it well, I would even prefer playing as a Striker over playing a Guardian."

Liu Haoyu understood what she meant. Playing a Guardian meant you were selfless, yes, but it also meant you were typically expected to be at everyone's beckoned call. When playing with strangers, they even oftentimes got blamed for things that weren't their fault. However, with Zhao Yingyue's history, he knew that she didn't actually fit into that persona.

Instead, like a sharpshooter, she would assist everyone but only as she saw fit. She was more of a last resort and became a key player late game. It was a role that evolves over time, just as she wished to and now had started doing. To be relied on but not forced. The judgement call was that of her own.

It made sense.

Once Hua Mengyao came out of the kitchen, followed by a few of the chefs, everyone took a seat at the table again.

For once, dinner in the Liu household was rather silent as all three of them ate themselves full. The last meal had been breakfast and they were eating a couple hours after the typical dinner time. Not to mention the fact that so much energy was spent on the game. Mental exhaustion really could be worst than physical exhaustion.

After there was nothing left on their plates, Hua Mengyao stifled a yawn and murmured, "Alright. I'm tired. I can't keep up with you two anymore. I'm headed upstairs to sleep now and I recommend that you also do the same."

Liu Haoyu then stood up and gave his mother a hug. Zhao Yingyue also drowsily followed the affectionate action.

"Good night, mom. I think I'll be heading to bed, too."

Hua Mengyao nodded. "Haoyu will take you upstairs."

Zhao Yingyue nodded before turning to her husband. He looked at her with a smile before silently gesturing for her to follow.

Though neither knew it, they both had a similar habit of getting quiet as their exhaustion started to catch up to them. Both of them being extremely quiet, there was a comfortable silence around them as they climbed the steps.

Once they reached a certain room, Liu Haoyu pushed the door open and let Zhao Yingyue walk in before he followed.

Zhao Yingyue scanned the room. It was rather plain. The only things taking up space were the bed and the gaming set up. The colors were a boring greyish color and the sheets were black.

She lazily walked over to one of the doors inside of the room in hopes one would lead to a bathroom. She was ready to just shower and go to sleep for the night.

When she pushed it open, she was met with a large, gorgeous bathroom that was more extravagant than any bathroom she had used before. There was a separate shower and bath tub that looked like heaven for her after a long day.

It already was stocked with all of her usual toiletries. She could only assume that the family must have gotten this information from Bai Xinyi. There was even a fluffy towel and robe already waiting there for her.

Zhao Yingyue wasted no time in taking the room for herself. She really did need a nice long bath to pamper herself with.

***

Refreshed and more tired than before, Zhao Yingyue walked back into the bedroom with a satisfied sigh. Ready to relax, she lazily walked around in search of her bags.

It probably would have been smarter to look for those before she had hopped in the shower but it was too late now for her to think that far ahead. And she had to admit that she was too impressed by the bathroom.

She noticed that it wasn't out in the open so she opted for checking in the other door, which she knew had to lead to a giant walk-in closet.

Surely enough, sitting in the closet were here duffel bag and suitcase. Not only that, but apparently, all of the clothes Liu Haoyu had brought her before.

On one side, there was a full-length mirror that was about a meter away from a vanity filled with makeup.

Zhao Yingyue looked between her duffel bag and the comfortable clothes in the closet. She knew that the clothes in the closet would be more comfortable but she also felt strange accepting clothes paid for by another.

Especially when these clothes were so out of the realm of what she usually wore. She'd always wanted comfort clothes but it was still a different feeling for her.

'Decisions, decisions. Which should I choose?'

Just as she was about to grab her duffel bag, her eyes landed on what looked like an extremely comfortable pajama set. The shorts had a mouse on one side and the top had a monitor with a headset draped over it.

Caution out of the window, she walked over to the set and immediately put it on instead. It was really too cute to give up. And once it was on, she felt no regret as it was also extremely comfortable.

Now, all that was left was to climb into the bed, which she had to assume would be even more comfortable than her pajamas, and fall asleep.

Zhao Yingyue left the closet. However, her fantasies of sleep were disrupted when she saw Liu Haoyu standing next to the bed with a basket in his hands.

Immediately, her mind went straight to the gutters.

The night before had been the night of their marriage. Could this mean what she thought? But she wasn't sure if she was ready for that.

Her face heated up, turning extremely red as she peered up at the man standing in front of her.

Liu Haoyu, who could tell by the redness that overtook her face what she must be thinking, said, "Come here."

Zhao Yingyue, who had been frozen in place stuck in her own head up until then, was quaked from her intrusive thoughts as she took a few slow steps forward. She couldn't help but stare at the ground though as she advanced.

Her heart was hammering away inside of her chest and her stomach felt as if it was doing backflips.

He had said before he wouldn't touch her without her say so but what type of wife would she be to say no to the first night?

Liu Haoyu chuckled at the sight in front of him of his wife taking slow steps toward him.

This made Zhao Yingyue even more embarrassed she she snapped her head up and spoke in a very irritated tone as she asked, "Why are you laughing?"

Liu Haoyu took a few long strides to her, closing the gap between them. Zhao Yingyue looked up at him like an animal caught in a trap—her lips agape and her eyes wide open.

Liu Haoyu shook his head lightly and placed his hand on her lower back to lead her to the bed.

Zhao Yingyue could feel her heartrate pick up to an impossibly faster speed with every step they took.

Liu Haoyu shook his head with a smile.

"Relax, my wife. I'm only trying to help you out. There's nothing funny going on. Just lay on your back for me."

After she was settled on the bed on her back, she looked over at him with nerves still devouring her. She watched him shuffle through the small basket with curiosity until he took two gel patches out.

"Close your eyes."

She obeyed.

Liu Haoyu gently used his hand to push her head so her face was looking toward the ceiling. He then put the gel patches under her eyes.

Zhao Yingyue felt this feeling was familiar from when she would go to the spa every once in a while. Then suddenly, she felt something warm rest on her eyes.

Liu Haoyu gently said, "Now keep that there until it's not warm anymore, okay?"

Zhao Yingyue was going to nod but decided against it so that it wouldn't slip from her eyes.

"Why are we doing this?"

She didn't want to get used to being pampered every day if this was only a one time thing. She had to admit that she was feeling really comfortable and cared for.

Liu Haoyu gently picked up one of her hands and started massaging it and her wrists with some type of cream that made her feel weird.

"As gamers, we must protect our eyes. Staring at a screen so long everyday dries them out and this will soon be your reality when training starts. You should start getting used to these habits now."

He slowly rolled her wrist around a few more times before he placed it down and covered it with a warm compress. He then moved on to her other wrist and started doing the same.

"We also must protect our hands and wrists. You already know that damaging those too badly can end our careers quicker than they started, so you must take care."

Zhao Yingyue listened to him but was really enjoying the massage that he was giving her wrist. Once he covered that wrist with a warm compress too, she couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"Is this something you do everyday?"

"For the wrists, I try to aim for twice a week. For the eyes, I aim for everyday. We're not like normal people who can afford to use blue light glasses. Those glasses make the screen look too different and would negatively effect our gameplay."

"That makes sense. I had never really thought of the long term effects too much before since I only streamed at night and wouldn't stream for long periods of time. I'd maybe get three games in before I was done for the night."

Liu Haoyu placed the basket on the nightstand next to the bed.

"You'll need to be more aware of it now. This is something we all do on Q5."

Zhao Yingyue smiled and said, "Alright. I think the compress has cooled off now."

Liu Haoyu tested the warmth of the compress with the back of his hand before taking it off of her eyes. He then took off the gel patches that he had placed under them.

"You can open your eyes now."

Zhao Yingyue slowly opened her eyes. They felt more refreshed now compared to before. She hadn't even noticed that they weren't at 100% before he had done this.

Liu Haoyu picked up a bottle of eye drops and said, "Now this is the last thing."

Zhao Yingyue nodded and let him hold her eyes open one at a time and drop the cold liquid into them. He then took a small tube and put some type of moisturizer under her eyes.

Zhao Yingyue was happy with the feelings and gently lifted her arms to get the warm compresses off her wrists.

"Thank you."

"I will always take care of you. That's what this marriage license means for us."

Now that she thought of it, she said, "Alright, I'm feeling even more tired now. Shouldn't you be headed back to your room now?"

Liu Haoyu smirked before replying, "This is my room."