Chapter 53: Festive Atmosphere

After that not-so-small “little incident,” the takeout Wuming and the others had ordered was finally on its way. 

Now they were simply waiting for it to arrive so they could eat together.

But before that—

“Let me give you a massage, Crosti!”

Serena suddenly suggested. 

She wanted to show off her skills to Wuming by massaging Crosti!

Hearing that Serena wanted to massage her, Wuming’s body tensed.

He could already picture exactly what was about to happen.

Here it comes… I hope she can endure it.

“A massage?”

Crosti had no idea why Serena was suddenly offering, and she certainly didn’t know Wuming was using her as a test subject.

“But I just got one recently.” 

Crosti had wanted to politely decline, but she couldn’t resist Serena’s enthusiasm.

“What’s the big deal? It won’t hurt to get a few more. I just want Crosti to see my technique.”

Wuming, sitting off to the side, didn’t dare comment on her “technique,” but he kept his mouth shut and silently let Crosti take the hit!

“Uh… okay then.”

Crosti agreed, completely unaware that hell was coming!

Rest in peace, Crosti.

Wuming prayed silently in his heart.

And then she experienced firsthand just how terrifying Serena’s technique really was.

“It hurts so much! Massages aren’t supposed to be like this!!!”

“—Eek—!”

As expected, Wuming had dodged the bullet.

Just from massaging her shoulders, Crosti was already screaming nonstop. 

Wuming had predicted this outcome and couldn’t help snickering.

Good thing it wasn’t me getting tortured by Serena.

Wuming gloated inwardly.

“Wuming, you knew this would happen, didn’t you!?”

Seeing Wuming snickering, Crosti looked at him with resentment. 

He must have known but said nothing!

“You’re so mean!”

“Sorry, Crosti. If you hadn’t taken the hit, it would’ve been me.”

Wuming silently remembered Crosti’s sacrifice.

Serena, on the other hand, looked extremely guilty. 

She twisted her hands together as she apologized to Crosti.

“S-sorry…”

“I’ll definitely do better next time, Crosti! I’ll make sure the massage feels really comfortable!”

She made the same promise again. 

Last time it had been to Wuming; now it was Crosti’s turn.

“You still have a lot to learn, Serena…”

Crosti, like Wuming, didn’t dare compliment Serena’s future services. 

She was worried she might end up bruised all over.

“Exactly.”

Wuming agreed while scrolling on his phone. 

Serena had a lot to learn—whether it was massaging or cleaning ears.

“…”

Wuming suddenly thought of something.

After today’s events, a very practical issue now faced him: the matter of phones.

Serena had been living with him for a while now, and they would continue living together in the future. 

The phone situation was becoming important.

He couldn’t let Serena keep using his phone forever. 

It wasn’t good in the long run—it would affect communication, and there were some things Wuming didn’t want her to see.

Plus, Serena wanted to play games, and his work phone couldn’t be given to her. 

Giving her another phone was especially important.

In this digital age, you couldn’t even go out without a phone.

“Guess it has to be this way…”

Wuming muttered to himself as he stood up. 

Under the puzzled gazes of the two girls, he went back to his room to rummage around.

“What’s Wuming…”

“I don’t know. What is he up to now?”

The two lolis stared at each other in the living room.

Then they saw Wuming come back out less than a minute later, holding a rectangular box in his hands.

It was clearly a phone box.

It was one his mom had sent him. 

She had won it while messing around abroad, but she didn’t like the model, so she mailed it back to him. 

Wuming hadn’t been particularly fond of it either, so it had just been sitting there unused.

Now it was time for it to see the light of day.

“Here.” Wuming handed the box to her. While Serena was still confused, Crosti reacted first.

“A new phone?”

Crosti asked curiously.

“Not really new. I just never used it. Now I’m giving it to Serena so it can actually be put to good use.”

Wuming’s gaze returned to the bewildered Serena. She had never expected Wuming to give her a phone.

“For… me?”

“Who else would it be for?” 

Wuming looked at her speechlessly. 

He had handed it right to her—how could it be for anyone else?

“Think of it as… a Halloween gift.”

Upon hearing it was a Halloween gift, an indescribable feeling welled up in Serena’s heart.

This was the first gift she had ever received. 

No one had ever given her anything like this before, and it was such a valuable one.

Serena’s hands trembled slightly as she took the box. 

Though it was light, it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds to her.

“I’ll go see if there are any SIM cards left. You try it out first, Serena.”

With that, Wuming went back to his room to search again.

“What are you waiting for, Serena? Hurry up and open it!”

Crosti was even more excited and expectant than Serena. She wanted her to open it right away.

“…”

Serena undid the packaging and opened the box. A brand-new phone appeared before her eyes.

It was an iPhone 16!

“Wow, Wuming is willing to give you such a nice phone.”

Crosti looked envious, but that was understandable. 

She hadn’t realized it was an iPhone! She had bought her own iPhone 17 herself!

“I mean… Crosti…”

Serena stared at the new phone in a daze. She suddenly wondered if she owed Wuming too much?

“Do you think… I can really accept this?”

“What nonsense are you saying?” 

Crosti looked puzzled, not understanding why Serena would say that.

“He gave it to you, so just take it. What’s there to accept or not accept?”

“But… I already feel like I owe Wuming so much. Accepting such an expensive gift on top of that… I feel really bad about it.”

Serena shared her thoughts with Crosti. Unexpectedly, Crosti burst out laughing after hearing it.

“What’s there to feel bad about? You two are husband and wife. Giving gifts is totally normal.”

“But… do I even have the right…”

Thinking about how she was always relying on Wuming made feelings of inferiority rise in Serena’s heart. 

She didn’t know how to repay him.

“What right or not? Since Wuming gave you such a great phone, you should accept it. He clearly values you a lot—otherwise he wouldn’t have given you something this nice.”

“But I…” Serena still felt anxious, but Crosti quickly interrupted her.

“If you ask me, the best way to repay him is to be a good wife to Wuming. Being a virtuous wife is better than any other repayment.”

“Things like learning massage, doing housework, and doing things that make both of you happy. Wuming would definitely love that.”

Even though she said that, Serena wasn’t sure if she could fulfill the duties of a wife.

And speaking of wives, Wuming felt more like the wife to her—he let her enjoy everything.

“Start with the simplest thing: learning massage. Try to be a good wife, Serena.”

A good wife, huh…

Just like Wuming…

Serena made up her mind. She would listen to Crosti and try to be a good wife to repay Wuming’s kindness!

“…Mm.”

“Alright, alright. Hurry up and turn it on. Stop thinking about all that unnecessary stuff.”

Crosti urged her to power it on. At that moment, Wuming also found a SIM card and came out of the room.

“You should be able to use it after recharging the plan. Go ahead and insert the card, Serena.”

After some fiddling, Serena’s new phone was working normally. 

She was now downloading various essential and non-essential apps.

The first one, of course, was games!

Besides that, registering accounts and such. There was still plenty for Serena to busy herself with.

“Thank you, Wuming!”

Serena thanked him with sparkling eyes. This was the best gift she had ever received!

While she was still messing with her phone, the takeout they had ordered arrived. 

Today they had gone for Western food. 

It had been a long time since Wuming had eaten Western food.

Burgers, pizza, fries, fried chicken, family bucket set—it was the perfect fast-food spread! They laid it all out on the living room table and grabbed a few bottles of chilled soda from the fridge.

Delicious, no need for words.

They also picked a movie to watch together. The festive atmosphere kicked in instantly.

“Let’s add each other as friends, Serena.”

“Sure.”

After registering the social app, the three of them successfully added one another as friends. Now they wouldn’t have to come over in person for everything.

Wuming and Crosti were watching the movie, while Serena couldn’t wait to start playing games!

No one could stop her from gaming now.

“Don’t stay up all night playing, Serena. Otherwise I won’t be able to wake you in the morning.” Wuming reminded her, but Serena put on a nonchalant expression.

“I know, I know. I’ll control my sleep schedule, Wuming. I definitely won’t stay up late!”

“…”

Hard to say!

Wuming was somewhat skeptical of Serena’s confident promise.

After all, when she was scrolling videos she always said “just one more” and ended up going until morning.

Wuming knew this all too well, so he had long developed the habit of never scrolling on his phone in bed!

“How about the three of us queue up together?”

Serena suddenly suggested, but Wuming wasn’t particularly interested in playing games. He preferred to keep watching the movie.

It wasn’t that he was bad at it—really, it wasn’t!

No one would go 0-15, right?

“You two play. I don’t feel like playing right now.”

He was getting old and didn’t feel like moving much. Watching others play was fine. Sometimes it was even more enjoyable than playing himself.

As for Crosti, she was happy to play with Serena.

“Wuming’s not coming, so I’ll join you.”

By now Crosti had eaten and drunk her fill. 

She opened the game and teamed up with Serena. The two lolis started happily duo queuing on the sofa.

How nice…

Seeing this scene, Wuming couldn’t help but sigh. If his mom and Aunt Viviti were still here, he didn’t dare imagine how lively the house would be.

After all, there had never been more than three people at home before.

This Halloween was really extra lively. It finally felt like they were actually celebrating a holiday.

Wuming thought this as time slowly passed. It was around one or two in the morning when Crosti finally left Wuming’s house. 

Wuming and Serena each returned to their rooms to rest.