Super Soldier in the City

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Once it's past midnight, it'll be a new week, and I want to try to make it onto the popularity rankings. To do that, I need everyone to bookmark, click, vote, and, additionally, to tip. I've been writing for over seven years and have never actively asked for tips before—they've always come from readers at their own discretion, and it has felt embarrassing to ask. But this time, since tips are also a factor in popularity, I'll have to thicken my skin and say, albeit feeling very timid, after midnight, how about leaving a tip?

If I make it onto the popularity rankings, I promise to release at least four chapters a day, and if I rank even better, then five chapters, effective every week!

Seeing Xu Zhenguo's beaming smile, it seems that his earlier argument with his wife was all prearranged—a good cop, bad cop routine.

Xu Shanshan had realized this long ago, and she now chuckled gleefully, while Xu Yingying felt somewhat helpless. She knew all too well her parents' tactics, but if she didn't agree now, the subject would never end. So, it was better to just agree with them for now. After the holidays, she could say she'd broken up with Li Yifei, and without a prospective partner for marriage, she could easily bluff her way through another year.

During the holidays, everyone gets together and always looks for some fun, and Xu Shanshan promptly invited everyone to play mahjong. For the youngest sister in the family, this was undoubtedly the best opportunity to win money from everyone.

The mahjong table was set, and Xu Zhenguo and his wife joined in, along with Xu Shanshan and Li Yifei. Xu Yingying, however, wasn't playing. She usually played reluctantly every year, but with Li Yifei here, she could completely bow out. After watching a few games, she went inside to start the computer and get some work done. She was a workaholic, already thinking about plans for the coming year.

Everyone was enjoying the game and didn't pay much attention to Xu Yingying.

After a few rounds, Li Yifei suddenly felt a pain in his thigh and turned to see Xu Shanshan, his opponent, sneakily winking at him.

Before Li Yifei could understand what was happening, he felt warmth on his thigh—it was Xu Shanshan's left hand.

This startled Li Yifei. What was this Little Aunt up to, sneakily touching his leg under the table? That was definitely too provocative. Even a pretend brother-in-law would find this sort of temptation from a Little Aunt too much to handle.

To make matters worse, Xu Shanshan's fingers began to trace along his thigh, intensifying the temptation.

If it were just the two of them, it would be one thing, but this was happening right in front of Xu Shanshan's parents. Xu Shanshan seemed a little too bold.

"Six bamboos!" Xu Shanshan shouted out as she discarded a tile with her right hand, while her fingers pinched Li Yifei again.

"Why so loud? Got good tiles there?" Xu Shanshan's mother reproached her daughter with mock annoyance.

"Hehe, no big tiles, but you've got to exude confidence when playing mahjong. If not, the good tiles won't come." Then her fingers traced along Li Yifei's leg again.

It was then that Li Yifei finally understood what Xu Shanshan was up to—it was nothing more than asking for tiles and acting spoiled, not actual seduction. This left Li Yifei both amused and exasperated. But if the Little Aunt had such a request, naturally, he couldn't refuse. Feeling that Xu Shanshan was asking for a character of two dots, which he just happened to have, he played it.

"Pung!" Xu Shanshan immediately shouted, her hand gently patting Li Yifei's leg twice under the table in approval.

With Li Yifei's collaboration, it was impossible for Xu Shanshan not to win. She quickly won several large hands, raking in over a thousand.

But for Li Yifei, having a beautiful woman's hand on his leg, moving back and forth, was too much for any robust and healthy man to bear.

"Say, Little Li," Xu Zhenguo said as he shuffled the cards, eyeing them suspiciously, "how come whatever Shanshan is short of, you end up providing?"

"Yeah, whatever tiles Shanshan needs, Yifei throws out. You guys must be up to something," Shanshan's mother also came to her senses.

"That's not the case at all. I only met my brother-in-law this morning. How could I have conspired with him? Don't be a sore loser," Xu Shanshan, of course, would never admit to it.

"That won't do, we have to change seats. There's definitely something odd about you two."

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"Fine, let's switch if we must, I'll win just the same," Xu Shanshan had to stand up at this point, since her parents were growing suspicious. If she didn't switch, the jig would really be up.

Once they were seated again, Xu Shanshan's mother said with a chuckle, "Yifei, don't mind this girl. When she finds someone she can pick on, she doesn't hold back. Now you won't have to feel so awkward." She knew her daughter all too well; such sneaky ideas were definitely Xu Shanshan's doing. Though she didn't know how Xu Shanshan had managed it, she was sure there had been mischief at play, and obviously, Li Yifei couldn't have done it on purpose.

Li Yifei chuckled and said, "Shanshan hasn't bullied me."

"Alright then, let's continue. Shanshan, this time you don't have your brother-in-law to help you. Let's see how you win now."

"Hmph, I'll win just the same," Xu Shanshan, caught in the act, didn't blush or lose her breath. She had no qualms about being cheeky and taking advantage with her parents.

After a few rounds, Xu Shanshan didn't manage to confuse anyone; without Li Yifei's help, she lost her edge and sat pouting, unwilling and discontented.

Li Yifei found it somewhat amusing; Xu Shanshan could sometimes be quite childlike, lacking the maturity of her sister.

Win or lose, Li Yifei had never experienced this family atmosphere, from childhood to adulthood. At this moment, he was truly grateful to Xu Yingying for hiring him to pretend to be her boyfriend—an arrangement that meant he wouldn't have to spend the New Year alone and bored.

While they were having fun, someone stepped on Li Yifei's foot. He didn't pay it much mind, assuming he had stretched his legs out too far, and quickly pulled them back.

But he caught Xu Shanshan giving him a look from across the table, and realized that the step had been intentional. She couldn't fiddle with her hands anymore, so now she was resorting to using her feet.

This reminded Li Yifei of the delightful sensation of holding Xu Shanshan's foot at the mall, and he couldn't help but stretch his foot toward her again.

A foot promptly stepped on his, and he could even feel that the other person wasn't wearing socks. The soft sole pressed against the top of his foot, warm and slightly stimulating. He wondered when Xu Shanshan had managed to slip off her socks.

"No more tricks," Xu Zhenguo said with a bemused warning upon seeing his daughter acting fidgety again.

Xu Shanshan huffed and sat up properly. "What tricks can I possibly play? I'm sitting right across from my brother-in-law."

"Then why all the fuss?"

"My back is itchy, just rubbing to relieve the itch," she answered.

"Such a big girl and still so unruly," he chided.

"Aren't we at home? Do I have to be all prim and proper even here?" she retorted.

Li Yifei, observing Xu Shanshan's posture, had already deduced that if he didn't extend his foot forward a bit, she wouldn't be able to reach his foot while sitting up straight. And now that the Little Aunt had made her request, he, as the brother-in-law, naturally had to accommodate, so he stretched his foot forward.

Xu Yingying's foot immediately stepped onto Li Yifei's, and although she didn't show much expression, she seemed quite satisfied with his cooperation.

The mahjong table was a regular square one, with a mat for the tiles and a long tablecloth underneath it that reached down to their legs. So, as long as their leg movements were subtle, others at the table would not notice.

Most importantly, Xu Shanshan's parents never imagined that this brother-in-law and Little Aunt duo could be secretly communicating with their feet under the table.