A carefree, laid-back top x a competitive, devoted-wife bottom
Xu Lin x Ruan Ciqing
In the seventh year of their happy marriage, Xu Lin runs into a career crisis.
Ever since humanity conquered the instances of the Infinite Flow, instance designers, who create instances like "gods," have emerged.
Xu Lin, a retired instance designer, is forced back into service to save the instances as one after another disappears.
From then on, his late-night game livestreams are forced to become online NPC job training sessions. During the day, he has to blend in with players to collect feedback, and at home he has to hide everything from his partner.
After all, Ruan Ciqing is just an ordinary, kindhearted and conscientious cram-school tutor who doesn't even know the "instance worlds" exist. He's nothing like those monsters and demons.
But what's most infuriating is that the "twisted" methods Xu Lin designs are always countered by the guy the players call the "Mentor," no matter what he tries. He can't meet his KPIs for the life of him.
Xu Lin, exhausted and barely thinking straight, grits his teeth. "So you're the Mentor, huh? Just wait until I find out who you are..."
With no other choice, he goes to his darling for comfort.
In the seventh year of their marriage, Ruan Ciqing discovers that Xu Lin seems to be cheating on him.
He's distracted every day and uses his livestreams as an excuse to stay up late at night. During the day, he sneaks out while Ruan Ciqing is away, staring at his phone, and then guiltily glances at him.
"Honey, I'm having dinner with a friend today, so I won't be home!"
Holding a bowl of breakfast, Ruan Ciqing raises the corners of his lips and nods with a smile. "Okay. Try this congee and see if it's too salty."
Watching Xu Lin walk away, Ruan Ciqing unties his apron, picks up a knife, and strides off with his long legs, expressionless, taking a few "students" with him to carve through several instances and blow off steam.
That's right. The famous "Mentor" who makes every instance designer grit their teeth in frustration and has nearly carved through every instance world is none other than Ruan Ciqing, a kindhearted, conscientious cram-school tutor.
For some reason, the instances have been updating faster and faster lately. The players are more interested, but her husband's divided attention is making him increasingly impatient, and he's hacking every boss he encounters during his conquests into mincemeat.
Some game designer hailed as a returning "god" has left him with no time to sit down and talk with his own husband. That designer who has nothing better to do than torment players had better not let Ruan Ciqing run into him in the real world, or he'd definitely sit him down for a little heart-to-heart.
The instance boss he'd dragged over to talk trembles as he looks at him. "We're cut from the same cloth. Why make things hard for each other? I'm sure we can talk this out."
Ruan Ciqing toys with his long knife. "I think my husband might be cheating on me."
The boss covers his face. "The seven-year itch, huh... That's easy, man. Divorce him. You have to divorce him!"
"But he's still pretty good to me, and he bought the dog at home. If we divorce, it'll go with him."
The boss asks tentatively, "Then... why not just make do?"
Ruan Ciqing lays a knife against the boss's neck. "But he doesn't even touch me anymore."
The boss bursts into tears. "Then you really should hurry up and divorce him, man."
Ruan Ciqing sighs. "Forget it. Being a game streamer isn't easy for him. He stays up all night for his channel's viewership every day. He's been exhausted lately, and even all the pork rib soup I've made him hasn't helped."
Boss: "..."
Boss: "Man, why don't you just kill me instead?"
Ruan Ciqing says, "Oh," and brings his knife down. "I can't keep you here too long. If I don't get back soon, I won't have time to cook for him."
Content notes:
1. In private, the top calls the bottom "wife," "honey," and similar names. In public, they both call each other their partner or husband.
2. There's plenty of melodrama, but no cheating or falling out of love. They're both love-brained.
3. There are some minor Infinite Flow scenes where the top and bottom are separated. Neither of them is a background character.
4. The bottom really is a devoted wife, and the top really is laid-back.
Theme: A marriage is sustained by mutual trust.
