My girlfriend is from the future!

Eating hot pot...

It's a wonder He Tianran came up with this idea.

It's only a little before 1:30 pm, what kind of hot pot restaurant can stay open from noon until night?

Cao Aiqing, who was standing at the door, quickly recovered.

After all, the three of them were currently on the same side, and judging from He Tianran's appearance, Wen Liang probably had only arrived recently, otherwise he would have explained things to her on the phone half an hour ago. So after a brief moment of surprise, Cao Aiqing looked at the female star who was usually radiant in front of the camera, and then at He Tianran in front of her, who was covered in sweat and looked like he had broken a taboo. A helpless yet tolerant smile appeared on her lips.

"What do you mean you won't come when I come? You were just popping up in the surfing fan group yesterday, sending red envelopes to wish fans a Happy New Year, and complaining about having to spend the New Year on set again. But today you made a point of showing up here. So you can't just fly back to the set for nothing because I'm here, can you?"

The front lines are united, but that doesn't mean we have to admit defeat in some way. The softest person uses the softest knife, that's exactly what Cao Aiqing is like.

Wen Liang couldn't hold back for a moment; that melancholy air of Lin Daiyu vanished, replaced by something unbelievable:

"You...are in my fan group?"

"Yes."

"That fan group requires fan status verification and answering questions!"

The so-called "fan status certification" refers to proving that you are a fan of a certain celebrity by showing related merchandise and endorsed products. In short, it's about consumption, which is actually quite simple. However, when it comes to answering questions, the more core the fan group, the more tricky the questions they ask. They are mostly niche questions like what perfume Wen Liang uses or what the name of her dog is, which can only be found in a certain interview.

"Yes, there are a few questions that are indeed not very common."

Cao Aiqing walked past the two of them with remarkable ease, went to the refrigerator as if it were her own back, and began to gather the ingredients, saying:

"I specially bought a chicken, let's make soup for dinner tonight."

Wen Liang was shocked that Cao Aiqing had laid such a trap for her, while He Tianran really didn't want to think about whether to have hot pot or chicken soup for dinner that night. The question was too sensitive. If the two of them didn't ask him, he would never bring it up. Besides, their words already indicated that they would stay for dinner. So, how to get through the three of them peacefully from noon to evening was the most urgent thing for He Tianran to consider.

"When did this happen? How long have you been here?"

Wen Liang walked to the open stove, propped her hands on the table, and asked Cao Aiqing, who was picking through the refrigerator, "I'm not sure what this is about." It was clear that she really cared about this matter. Even though she wasn't usually active in the fan group, only posting two or three times a month, it was like your rival infiltrating your best friend group. You could stay silent, but that didn't stop your fans or best friends from discussing your situation with everyone. Besides, that group was a large fan group with only two or three hundred people. Wen Liang's schedule announcements and fan activities were usually posted in this group first.

Upon hearing this, Cao Aiqing turned her head, looked at Wen Liang who was somewhat exasperated, smiled slightly, and continued with her work without saying anything.

"..."

Wen Liang was furious, but she knew that it was precisely in situations like this that she needed to remain calm.

An eerie silence fell over the three people in the living room…

"Um... how about we watch some TV?"

He Tianran placed the hot pot ingredients that Wen Liang had brought by the stove and tentatively asked, "In this kind of atmosphere, it's always good to have some noise."

"Okay~"

Wen Liang turned around, striding across the sofa with her long, straight legs encased in tight jeans. Her long legs stretched out, instantly taking up half the sofa.

"Whoo~"

He Tianran let out a breath, the situation was temporarily stable. He looked at the backs of the two people, one was a big star sprawled on the sofa, and the other was a strong woman organizing the refrigerator. At this moment, the man felt like a husky that had accidentally wandered into a pack of wolves and a tiger's den, and no matter which way he wagged his tail, his life was in danger.

Just as He Tianran was at a loss, Cao Aiqing, who had finished tidying up the refrigerator, suddenly spoke up:

"Natural, you write this down."

As she spoke, she left the refrigerator and pulled out a roll of bright red stuff from the bottom of the bag she had brought, which appeared to be full of cured meat and sausages.

"What?"

Goodness, He Tianran hadn't even said a word when Wen Liang, who was lounging on the sofa, immediately turned around at the slightest sound. Was all that relaxed look on her face just an act?
"couplet."

Cao Aiqing walked out of the open kitchen and went to a table on the side. She slowly spread out the scroll on the table. It was several neatly cut sheets of red Xuan paper sprinkled with gold powder. She had even prepared a brush and ink.

"The Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and we always need to put up some red decorations at home to make it festive..."

Cao Aiqing raised her head and smiled gently at He Tianran:
“I always write my own couplets. I thought you might not have prepared any since you're here alone. I had some extras at home, so I brought you a copy.”

This subtle and effective approach perfectly enhances the "homey atmosphere."

He Tianran felt a warmth in his heart. Looking at that splash of red, the chill he had felt from being alone was instantly dispelled. He was about to reach for his pen...

"Oh, handwritten couplets?" Wen Liang curiously came over, almost pressing half her body against the coffee table. She looked at the red paper, then raised her head, squinted her eyes, and looked at He Tianran with a sly expression.

He Tianran felt a little uneasy as those crescent-shaped smiling eyes stared at him.

"Go ahead and write, why are you looking at me?" Wen Liang said with a grin.

"Yeah, is there anything written on Wen Liang's face? What are you standing there for?"

Behind them, Cao Aiqing's sinister voice urged them on.

Alarm bells rang in He Tianran's mind. The intense sense of crisis was making him somewhat mentally unstable. He wished that beautiful words would fall from the sky and he could write three hundred poems in a frenzy. How could he ask such a wonderful pen to enter his dreams...?

"Uh... well..."

Only in such an extreme crisis can a person truly see how reliable their survival instinct is and how masterful their ability to compromise is.

He Tianran picked up an inkstick, handed it to Wen Liang, and explained:

“It’s the New Year, so let’s share the good fortune. Ai Qing, lay out the paper, I’ll write the characters. Wen Liang, I’ll trouble you to grind the ink.”

"..." Wen Liang looked at him blinking, then suddenly smiled charmingly, took the ink stick, and praised him in a way that was neither a compliment nor a praise: "You are such a clever little devil~ At a time like this, you can still think about sharing the blessings... no, sharing the good fortune? Okay, I'll help you grind it."

Seeing He Tianran's comical predicament—his heart pounding with panic while trying to maintain his composure—Cao Aiqing shook her head, suppressing a laugh as she turned away. She couldn't guarantee she wouldn't burst out laughing if she looked any longer…

And so, an utterly surreal scene unfolded in the living room. He Tianran stood nervously before the coffee table, pen in hand, with Wen Liang gracefully grinding ink on his left and Cao Aiqing slowly and methodically cutting paperweights for him on his right.

This isn't writing couplets; it's clearly two concubines serving the emperor as he reviews memorials!

"Write, write what?"

He Tianran felt as if the calligraphy brush in his hand was incredibly heavy.

"Since it's just the three of us celebrating the New Year, we definitely need to write something appropriate for the occasion..."

Wen Liang's eyes darted around, and he was the first to challenge her, laughing:

"I propose the first line of the couplet: New love and old love gather together."

He Tianran's hand trembled, and a drop of ink almost ruined the red paper.

"Then the second line should be: Jealousy and rivalry lead to a pot of porridge."

Cao Aiqing, who was standing nearby, immediately remarked that the two women were actually getting together, even with He Tianran between them. The teasing and mocking tone was so obvious that it made He Tianran blush.

"No, no..." He broke out in a cold sweat. "Don't do this during the New Year. These are things we need to post out in public."

Cao Aiqing said softly:

"Then write something a little more elegant, something that reflects your current situation and also expresses some aspirations."

He Tianran nodded silently, standing with his brush in hand. Seeing him absorbed in his thoughts, the two women quieted down and didn't disturb him. The man pondered the events of the past month, images flashing through his mind like lightning. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he inexplicably uttered two lines—

"The rainbow's light shines brightly from the origin, the mirror of emptiness is cold. To cling to it is to be bound by holiness, to relinquish it is to fall into either extreme..."

When someone has a sudden epiphany, the writing comes naturally and skillfully. He Tianran, talking incessantly, wrote with flowing strokes, producing the first line of a couplet:
"The Vajra Sword of Profound Truth shall cut through all subtle egoistic views."

He dipped his brush in ink again, and Cao Aiqing quickly gave him new paper. He then wrote the second line of the couplet in one go:

"Returning home, I laugh at the affairs of this life; without cultivation or proof, I am naturally pure."

There was no sound around him. He stopped writing, his forehead already beaded with sweat. After a moment, he seemed to suddenly come back to his senses. He first looked at the words he had written, and then looked around. He met the eyes of the two girls.

"nothing……"

"It's written very well..."

Both of them reacted somewhat subtly, perhaps admiring the man's eloquent writing in that extremely short interval, so they lost their desire to tease him for a moment.

"Did you come up with this yourself, or did you see it somewhere? It's rare to see this kind of couplet."

Cao Aiqing asked, and He Tianran shook his head:

"I don't remember, those two sentences just suddenly popped into my head."

Wen Liang looked down and examined it closely, also asking with a puzzled expression:

"It feels like those couplets pasted in temples, very mysterious. If I were to paste it on my front door, wouldn't it be missing a horizontal scroll?"

"The horizontal scroll... I can't think of one for now."

He Tianran scratched his head.

"The sentence is good, but it still lacks a main theme. Let me write it!"

This time, Wen Liang genuinely praised him, then she took the pen from He Tianran's hand and pulled over the last red scroll with the horizontal inscription.

She bent down and wrote four characters in a flowing, elegant style—

"A refreshing coolness in the world"

He Tianran and Cao Aiqing were both stunned.

"How is it? Isn't it quite evocative?" Wen Liang tossed aside her pen, admiring her masterpiece with considerable satisfaction. "Your couplet was too 'otherworldly,' like you were about to become an immortal. These four characters of mine, didn't they instantly pull your kite, which was about to soar, back down to earth?"

Cao Aiqing looked at the four large, wildly cursive characters, then at Wen Liang's smug expression, and suddenly covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

"A sense of tranquility in this world... Hmm, that's really not like you. But are you sure that this 'tranquility' refers to a state of mind, and not... yourself?"

Wenliang tilted her head back confidently:

"They're both included! What's wrong with that? I didn't favor one over the other. Didn't I include you too? So why can only He Tianran write his own 'Tianran' in the couplet, but not the two of us in the horizontal scroll?"

He Tianran raised his hands in surrender: "I swear, I never thought that way..."

The man looked at the wild horizontal scroll, then at his own couplet, which exuded a touch of Zen.

The first line severs attachments; the second line returns to one's true self.

The horizontal scroll reads: "A refreshing tranquility in the world."

“It’s great.” He Tianran touched his nose and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “It’s really great. It feels like… I originally wanted to become a monk, but I was lured back by the mortal world.”

"That's right!" Wen Liang patted his shoulder. "How old are you to want to become a monk? If you become a monk, who will pay my salary? As long as I'm here, don't think about those unnecessary things!"

Cao Aiqing looked at this scene and smiled gently.

She knew that Wen Liang's seemingly silly behavior was actually a way to help the mentally unstable He Tianran return to accepting reality.

She didn't object; instead, she picked up the scissors and tape herself.

"Then let's use this one. It's a bit of a mix of styles, but these days, mixing and matching is all about individuality." (End of Chapter)