I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 387: Chapter 287: A Woman Adorns Herself for Her Admirer

"Phew..." Su Yue exhaled softly after finishing her water. She set the glass on the coffee table, then walked over and sat down on the sofa.

First, she reached out and patted the head of the stuffed bear sitting on the sofa. It was the same one Lin Li had won in a ring toss game back when they were in Qiongcheng.

Then, Su Yue picked up the phone she had tossed onto the sofa earlier.

’At this hour, Dad probably isn’t asleep yet...’

Su Yue checked the time, then called her father, Su Chen.

RING... RING... RING...

The call went through, and it was answered in just a few seconds.

"Hello."

When the call connected, the clear, pleasant voice of a mature woman came through the phone.

Hearing the familiar voice, Su Yue thought she had dialed the wrong number. ’Why did Mom answer the phone?’ she wondered, asking aloud, "Mom, how come you answered? Where’s Dad?"

「Far away in the Capital City, in the master bedroom of a villa that spanned several thousand square meters and featured a private garden.」

A woman with a face mask on and a curvaceous figure was leaning against the headboard. On her well-proportioned thighs rested a tablet, paused in the middle of a variety show.

Holding the phone, Zheng Qiuyi—who was wearing a silk slip dress of the same style as Su Yue’s, just in a different color—heard her daughter’s question. She patted the mask on her face with her free hand as she answered.

"Your dad’s in the shower! Did you need him for something?"

Hearing Zheng Qiuyi say that Su Chen was in the shower, Su Yue said, "Oh," and then told her mother why she had called her father.

"Mom, I called Dad because I wanted to borrow that Spiritual Artifact he won at the auction, the one that lets you fly for a limited time. I wanted to play around with it."

"Didn’t you already play with it when you were home? I remember you saying that flying around was just okay and that it got boring after the novelty wore off.

Why are you suddenly interested in that Spiritual Artifact again and want to play with it?" Zheng Qiuyi asked, a little puzzled.

"..." Hearing her mother’s puzzled question, Su Yue didn’t answer. Of course, she wasn’t going to tell her mother that she wasn’t borrowing the Spiritual Artifact for herself to use, but for Lin Li.

"I just suddenly thought of it and wanted to play with it again! There’s no special reason!"

"Is that really all?" Zheng Qiuyi asked again, skeptical. She had a feeling her daughter wasn’t telling the truth.

"Mom, this is exhausting! I just had a whim to borrow a Spiritual Artifact from Dad to play with, that’s all. Why so many questions?" Su Yue said, flicking her hair back with one hand.

"Fine, fine! I won’t ask. But I still have a feeling you’re not being completely honest with me about why you suddenly want to play with that Spiritual Artifact..." Zheng Qiuyi said.

Su Yue was shocked to hear her mother’s words. ’How is Mom so perceptive?’ she thought.

One might think Su Yue was invincible, given how she constantly ran circles around Lin Li, leaving him unable to fend off her advances and always falling for her traps. She had him completely wrapped around her finger, to the point where he’d silently cursed her as a "cunning woman" more times than he could count...

...But now, this very same "cunning woman" had been seen through in an instant. It just goes to show, there’s always a bigger fish.

When Zheng Qiuyi heard only silence from her daughter’s end, she thought the call had dropped. She pulled the phone away to glance at the screen and saw they were still connected, so she spoke up.

"I’ll arrange to have someone send that Spiritual Artifact you want to you in Rongcheng..."

Hearing her mother say that, Su Yue knew it was a done deal. "Okay, thanks, Mom..." she said happily.

"Anything else? If not, I’m going to hang up. I have to get back to my show!" Zheng Qiuyi said.

"..." Su Yue replied, "Nope, nothing else. Good night, Mom."

After hanging up, Su Yue let out a long sigh of relief. If Zheng Qiuyi had kept pressing her for the real reason she wanted to borrow the Spiritual Artifact, Su Yue wasn’t sure how she would have handled it.

If she told the truth, Zheng Qiuyi would have started gossiping and bombarding her with questions.

But if she didn’t tell the truth, Zheng Qiuyi could have easily refused, saying she wouldn’t lend her the Spiritual Artifact without an honest explanation. In that case, Su Yue would have been completely stuck.

Fortunately, Zheng Qiuyi didn’t press the issue all the way and simply agreed to lend the Flying Spiritual Artifact to Su Yue...

’Mom said she’ll arrange for someone to send the Flying Spiritual Artifact over. I estimate it should arrive in a day or two.

Once I get it, I won’t tell Lin Li right away. I’ll ask him to meet me, and then I’ll show it to him. It’ll be a great surprise...’ Su Yue muttered to herself, then got up and went to the kitchen for some ice cream.

...

CLICK.

The bedroom door opened, and a handsome, middle-aged man with a well-proportioned figure and a composed air walked in, dressed in pajamas.

Fresh out of the shower, Su Chen walked into the bedroom and saw his phone—which he had originally left on the desk—was now next to his wife.

He knew his wife wasn’t the type to secretly check his phone, so its presence beside her most likely meant someone had called him while he was in the shower.

So, he asked, "Qiuyi, did someone call me just now?"

Leaning against the headboard with her face mask on, Zheng Qiuyi was engrossed in her variety show. Hearing her husband’s question, she answered without looking up, "It was Xiaoyue. She called you a little while ago."

"Hm?!!" Su Chen was surprised. A call from his precious daughter? It had been a long time since she’d called him; she usually just called her mother.

He was quite happy to know his daughter had called him, but that happiness was quickly followed by a pang of regret for having missed it.

"Did Xiaoyue say what she called for?"

Still feeling disappointed about missing the call, Su Chen walked over to the bed, sat down, and picked up the phone from beside his wife.

He asked his wife the question as he opened his call history to see when his daughter had called.

Zheng Qiuyi, still engrossed in her show, replied casually, "She called to borrow one of the Spiritual Artifacts you won at auction, said she wanted to play with it."

"Which Spiritual Artifact?" Su Chen had won quite a few; there were several cabinets full of them in their collection room. Hearing his wife’s vague description, he had no idea which one his daughter wanted.

"She wants to borrow the Flying Spiritual Artifact you spent five hundred million on at that auction six months ago," Zheng Qiuyi said.

"Oh, that one! I remember Xiaoyue played with it before. Back then, she said it wasn’t very interesting..."

Su Chen muttered to himself, recalling the image of his daughter flying through the sky with the very same Spiritual Artifact he had won.

At the same time, he saw on his call log that the call had ended just five minutes ago...

At that moment, Su Chen thought, ’If I hadn’t gone down to the garden for a bit after my shower and had come straight back to the bedroom, I could have taken the phone from my wife and chatted with her for a bit.’

Zheng Qiuyi nodded without speaking. But when she glanced over at her husband and saw the look of utter disappointment on his face, after so many years of marriage, she immediately knew what he was thinking.

So she spoke up to console him, "Honestly, you. If you want to call your daughter, just call her. She’s not a stranger. What’s there to be so conflicted about?"

...