Author’s Note:

The main storyline ends here~ Mwah~

Chapter 127 Extra: Spring Festival 01

January 25th, about a week before the Spring Festival, The Vault finished her work and had to start pondering a serious question—she felt that Julian Grant had changed, become strange in a way she could no longer ignore.

This wasn’t some pathological illusion after starting a relationship, but a reasonable deduction based on careful observation.

Because of Julian Grant’s invitation, The Vault was temporarily staying at Trident to help with post-release testing, while also continuing her consulting work with the police system. As a result, her chances of seeing Julian Grant inevitably increased.

Aside from regular work handovers, whenever he had free time, Julian Grant would come over to chat or invite her to eat. His obvious, unnecessary displays of affection made the single folks like Susan Scott howl in protest, almost disrupting team harmony.

But in the past couple of days, Julian Grant had rarely taken the initiative to talk to The Vault, instead hovering at the threshold of her office, watching her with a probing, observant gaze.

The Vault had seen him several times and wanted to greet him, but Julian Grant always looked worried, either distracted or turning away immediately—acting extremely out of character.

Once, when The Vault passed by Julian Grant’s office intending to bring him some fruit, she walked in and caught him on the phone.

His voice was hurried and tense, deliberately lowered as if afraid of being overheard, one hand tapping anxiously on the desk as he explained something to the person on the other end. The moment he noticed The Vault, he immediately hung up and tossed the phone onto the desk.

…He looked exactly like someone with a guilty conscience.

The Vault asked what he’d been talking about. Julian Grant scratched his head and then casually said the client was being unreasonable again, making absurd demands, and he had righteously refused to protect the employees’ legitimate rights.

The Vault gave him a slightly skeptical look.

Whenever Julian Grant lied, every line on his face would twitch.

Of course, The Vault had no intention of prying into Julian Grant’s privacy. She believed that even couples should keep some distance. But Julian Grant’s behavior was just too suspicious for her to pretend not to notice.

After going home, The Vault seriously searched through a lot of information, but found nothing, so she consulted Quinn Foster.

Quinn Foster’s answer was: “There’s definitely something wrong. Are you just bored?”

The Vault frowned, “You mean Q-ge?”

Quinn Foster dug at his ear expressionlessly: “I mean you.”

The Vault: “……” That was definitely not the right answer.

Unable to quell her curiosity, The Vault turned to an online relationship forum for anonymous advice, hoping for some collective wisdom.

Most netizens replied: He’s cheating, break up, if you don’t break up you’re not human.

—That’s impossible.

The Vault believed Julian Grant would never do something so morally bankrupt.

Among the many enthusiastic replies, The Vault found one relatively reasonable guess.

Maybe this was just normal male anxiety, The Vault thought. After all, on Jinjiang, thirty-year-old protagonists are already mocked as old men by young readers, and Julian Grant was gradually entering that stage.

The Vault felt understanding, caring, and tolerant about this.

She thought she shouldn’t overstimulate Julian Grant at a time like this, so she chose to pretend not to notice.

The Vault shut down her computer, calmly got up, and added some goji berries and codonopsis to the health pot, waiting for Julian Grant to come home.

·

It was nine thirty in the evening when Julian Grant finally dragged his exhausted body home.

With the year-end approaching, work at the company was especially busy. Besides preparing for the launch of a new game instance, he also had to plan New Year’s events.

Julian Grant collapsed on the sofa, physically and mentally drained. The Vault brought him a cup of goji berry health tea, and then heard him, covering the speaker, making a mysterious phone call.

“All right, all right, I know, I’ll go see you, just don’t bother The Vault!”

“Leave it to me, I know, I will! I’ll talk to her properly. Don’t do anything rash!”

“…I know I have to take responsibility, but I don’t want to upset her either. That’s a separate issue. You know, The Vault’s upbringing was rather unique.”

The Vault set down the cup, smiled at him, and then went back to the bedroom.

At night, when they went to bed, Julian Grant kept tossing and turning.

The Vault was a light sleeper, so even though Julian Grant tried to move quietly, he still disturbed her rest. It wasn’t until the second half of the night, when she couldn’t resist sleepiness any longer, that she finally drifted off.

She hadn’t slept long before the restless Julian Grant started shaking her shoulder, calling her name.

“The Vault, The Vault.”

The Vault, half-asleep, heard his repeated calls, feeling like her soul was floating above her head. Unable to stand his pestering, she frowned and mumbled a response.

Julian Grant leaned close to her ear and whispered, “The Vault, will you come home with me for the New Year? I want to introduce you to my parents. They’re really nice, not strict at all, and they really like you. They get lonely during the holidays—let’s go stay with them for a couple of days. What do you think?”

The muffled grunt The Vault let out from her chest was clearly full of sleepiness; she didn’t even want to open her eyes.

Julian Grant, like a devil whispering temptations, kept repeating, “The Vault, please? Come home with me.”

The Vault actually heard him clearly, but couldn’t process the meaning of his words. All she wanted was to sleep, so she would have agreed to anything at that moment, nodding against the pillow.

The thing Julian Grant had been fretting about for days was finally resolved. Instantly overjoyed, all his insomnia, fatigue, and loss of appetite vanished without a trace. In the middle of the night, he was as energetic as if he’d been injected with adrenaline, snuggling up to hug The Vault in his arms.

After holding her for a while, dissatisfied that The Vault was facing away from him, he had her turn around.

The Vault turned her head, the haze in her eyes fading as she was almost fully awake. In the darkness, she stared at Julian Grant with a hint of grievance and said, “This is the last request, right?”

Julian Grant nodded with a smile, finally a little aware of how much he was disturbing her sleep. “Yes, just hold me, and I’ll go right to sleep. Good girl, sorry.”

The Vault turned over and snuggled into his arms.

The next morning, Julian Grant was a new man, full of energy as he bustled around packing The Vault’s luggage.

He moved all of The Vault’s clothes over, piling them on the bed, sorting them one by one as he asked, “Should we bring this one? Want to buy some new ones? If you don’t like shopping, we can just order a bunch online and try them on.”

The Vault leaned against the bed, feeling a bit dazed, as if she’d blacked out from drinking.

Julian Grant, oblivious, pulled the pillow from behind her and packed it into the suitcase as well.

When he started sorting her books, The Vault finally couldn’t help but ask, “What are you doing?”

Julian Grant, in a great mood, replied while doing chores, “Going home.”

The Vault asked in confusion, “…So where am I now?”

Julian Grant looked up at her expression, feeling secretly pleased.

This meant that, in The Vault’s eyes, the place they lived together was home.

He happily explained, “I mean going back to my hometown, where my parents live.”

The Vault was stunned for a moment and asked, “Did I agree to that?”

Julian Grant was also stunned, then immediately shouted, “You agreed!”

Thinking she wanted to back out, he blurted anxiously, “You agreed yourself last night! You said ‘mm’ and even nodded!”

A look of confusion appeared on The Vault’s face as she tilted her head, trying to remember.

Julian Grant felt like his youth was over, instantly deflated, his hands dropping onto the suitcase, losing all motivation to pack or even live.

He sighed softly, his eyes showing a maturity beyond his years, as if he’d seen through the ways of the world and could only resign himself to fate.

Seeing him like this, The Vault felt a little sorry for him. After thinking for a moment, she asked, “You’ve been acting all mysterious these days, just for this?”

“‘Just’?”

Julian Grant drew out the word, staring at The Vault, silently reproaching her.

“This is a big deal! I’ve never brought anyone home to meet my parents! The Grant family is super traditional, you know? Once you meet my parents, you’re part of the family.”

He’d been worrying himself sick, while The Vault was completely clueless.

Was it because his family wasn’t rich enough? Or were his hints not obvious enough? Couldn’t The Vault be a little more tempted, so he could also enjoy the thrill of being pressured to get married?

Julian Grant lowered his head, half his face hidden, his tone sad and anxious.

“Sigh, as an older single guy, every New Year when relatives and friends gather, I’m always the butt of their jokes.”

The Vault was surprised, thinking, Do even rich people have such simple troubles? But what she cared about more was something else.

“Gather together?”

The Vault didn’t like dealing with elders. To be precise, if she hadn’t met Julian Grant, she would have preferred to be alone.

Julian Grant’s heart skipped a beat, realizing he’d misspoken, and quickly corrected himself, “I mean, they gather behind my back to talk about me. At home it’s just… the four of us.”