GV – Chapter 56

Having her entire theory denied by Song Zhiqing, Ye Yuhuan felt like she’d bought a bag of chips in a flavor she disliked, only to win a “free pack.” She was both dejected and happy.

Ah, so Song Zhiqing really does still like Shangguan Xianxian?

Well, liking Shangguan Xianxian is fine too.

They won’t end up together anyway.

And if she and Song Zhiqing weren’t lovers, they wouldn’t have to face the inevitable tearing each other apart as love turned to hate.

They would always be together.

Even if this wasn’t the happiest state she knew, it was the safest and most enduring one.

For the rest of her life, there was a very high probability that she would always have Song Zhiqing’s companionship.

At this thought, even though the recent experience had been so awkward she’d wanted to jump out the window, a warm spring surged through her heart, flowing through her entire body and bringing a scorching comfort.

How wonderful, a life like this.

A life with Song Zhiqing in it.

Song Zhiqing was still squatting, her hands propping up her face in a very awkward manner. From this angle, she could clearly see the change in Ye Yuhuan’s expression. Even with her eyes closed, you could feel that she had completely relaxed.

How annoying. Although I was prepared for Ye Yuhuan to be super hard to pursue, I didn’t expect her to be this resistant.

Just now, her expression made it seem like she would burst into tears the second I admitted it.

However, Song Zhiqing’s eyes darted. In that case, hadn’t she accomplished half of the first rule in the 《The Ultimate Guide to Wooing》? Ye Yuhuan must have seriously considered the possibility of the two of them being together.

Although her considerations were certainly extreme and pessimistic, that was something that could be corrected. As long as Ye Yuhuan could imagine the two of them together as lovers, that was enough.

An egg had to be hatched first before it could be trained into a fine falcon.

That meant, with a little effort, she could have a girlfriend.

“So, the reason you were suddenly ignoring me was because you suspected I liked you?” Even though she was in a good mood, this was a separate matter. Song Zhiqing still planned to settle the score.

She had agonized over it for so long, thinking she had offended Ye Yuhuan somehow.

This sentence undoubtedly hit Ye Yuhuan right on her sore spot. The color that had just returned to her face flushed red again.

One really should think thrice before acting.

Ye Yuhuan spoke with difficulty. “Can we not talk about this?”

Song Zhiqing huffed. “What’s wrong? You’re allowed to secretly speculate about me, but I’m not allowed to ask you? Ye Yuhuan, you’re too domineering.”

It seemed that, yes, it wasn’t very fair.

Ye Yuhuan opened her eyes, revealing a pair of glistening, almond-shaped eyes. It should have been an alluring sight, but her tone was full of the resignation of a kitten being placed in a bathtub. “Alright, yes. I was overthinking it back then.”

Now that Ye Yuhuan had admitted it, Song Zhiqing became bashful. She glanced at Ye Yuhuan’s face, then glanced again. Only when Ye Yuhuan couldn’t help but close her eyes once more did she ask in a small voice, “Can I know what I did to make you ‘misunderstand’?”

On this topic, Ye Yuhuan hesitantly tapped her index finger on Song Zhiqing’s ear, which had been red ever since she’d opened her eyes. She felt her throat go inexplicably dry. “When you look at me, you’re always shy.”

Alright, that was hard to control.

But Song Zhiqing wasn’t convinced. She reached out and touched Ye Yuhuan’s face, both probing and provocative. “You’re shy too. So, do you like me too?”

Their two hands stubbornly felt the other’s temperature rise, and when it reached an unavoidable heat, they both pulled away at the same time.

Song Zhiqing coughed and began to shamelessly spin a tale for the level-ten love-phobic Ye Yuhuan. “The two of us have a pure friendship. Friends can be shy with each other, you know. There are lots of things that aren’t exclusive to couples. Besides, I’ve been shy around pretty girls since I was little. It’s just my nature, I can’t help it. Don’t let your imagination run wild and pollute our pristine friendship.”

Ye Yuhuan, whose personality test results were ninety percent INTP (Logician), offered a powerful rebuttal. “Shen Wei is very pretty too. How come you just roll your eyes whenever you see her?”

Song Zhiqing sighed and waved her hand, as if she didn’t want to discuss it further. “Shen Wei? Shen Wei is hideous. Her face is as pale as a skinless saltwater chicken, her lips are as red as pig’s blood curd, and her hair is like expired seaweed. All together, it’s a total culinary disaster.”

Recalling the novel’s content, where every chapter contained a microscopic analysis of the female lead’s charming appearance—her cool gaze, her noble expression, and so on—and comparing it to Song Zhiqing’s down-to-earth description now, Ye Yuhuan fell silent.

All she could say was that Song Zhiqing had once again picked up her villainess supporting character persona.

Hmm, was the idea that I’ve already changed Song Zhiqing’s destiny too arrogant of me? Ye Yuhuan began to doubt herself.

Song Zhiqing snapped her fingers in dissatisfaction, reminding her, “Your turn.”

Her turn for what?

Her turn to… explain why she was shy?

But explaining something like that was embarrassing in itself!

Ye Yuhuan bit her lip and took a deep breath, telling herself, You’re going to be a psychologist in the future. This level of honesty is acceptable.

“…”

“Ahem…”

“Can I… not say?”

Still not acceptable.

Because I only get shy because of Song Zhiqing.

Saying that out loud is too weird.

Ye Yuhuan was completely unaware that her current state had already given the answer away, her coyness comparable to an ancient maiden whispering that her parents would decide.

Having successfully reeled in her catch, Song Zhiqing’s face broke into a wide smile, her almond eyes curving into beautiful crescents. “Alright, as you wish. You can tell me later, then.”

Ye Yuhuan nodded hastily.

Phew, the wall that had been blocking the hormonal exchange between them was finally torn down.

Satisfied, Song Zhiqing stood up, but her legs, numb from squatting for so long, gave her trouble. She placed a hand on Ye Yuhuan’s shoulder and slowly moved to sit beside her. Feeling the body beneath her hand grow increasingly stiff, Song Zhiqing thought, We’ve barely even started. Good thing I didn’t try to pounce on her like they do in dramas, or would Ye Yuhuan just melt on the spot?

Probably not, right? It’s not like we haven’t hugged before.

She was a little curious.

No sooner said than done, Song Zhiqing let out a poorly acted “Ouch!” and slumped into Ye Yuhuan’s arms. Ye Yuhuan subconsciously steadied her by the waist. The person who had inherited none of her mother’s acting talent continued to complain theatrically, “It’s all your fault. We couldn’t just talk properly, and now my legs are all numb.”

“…”

Ye Yuhuan pressed her lips together. The waist under her hand felt like it was turning into a branding iron. Her knuckles twitched slightly as she said, “Don’t tease me.”

Meeting Ye Yuhuan’s increasingly complex gaze, Song Zhiqing placed her other hand on Ye Yuhuan’s shoulder, leaned forward, and whispered close to her ear, “I’m not teasing you. My legs are really numb.”

Those few words seemed to take physical form, crawling from Ye Yuhuan’s ear canal into some densely-nerved region of her brain, causing a tremor. The meaning of the words themselves was lost; what mattered was that the person speaking was too close.

Didn’t we… didn’t we already clear this up? That she doesn’t like me? Then why… why is she still doing things like this? Even if we’re friends, you can’t just do this, right?

However, recalling how the straight girls she saw usually interacted, this wasn’t really crossing a line. If they had cleared the air and were going to be good friends, being too distant would seem deliberate.

Ye Yuhuan pressed her lips tightly together, then relaxed them, trying hard to convince herself to accept the fact that the beautiful body on her lap was tempting her.

No, she still couldn’t take it.

Grabbing Song Zhiqing’s waist and moving her to the side, Ye Yuhuan immediately shot up from the sofa, grasping for something to say. “You must be hungry. Do you want something to eat?”

Without waiting for Song Zhiqing’s reply, she bolted toward the kitchen like a sprinter, only to freeze in front of the refrigerator door.

Damn it. She’d been eating takeout all this time; the fridge was practically empty.

She turned to see Song Zhiqing watching her with a smile. From Laozi to Kant, all of Ye Yuhuan’s spiritual pillars made an appearance in her mind.

Then she spoke calmly, “I forgot to ask. Maybe you’re not hungry at all?”

Song Zhiqing pouted slightly, refusing to give her an out. She shook her head. “I’m so hungry. I only had a few pieces of fruit on the plane.”

She wasn’t actually that hungry, but Ye Yuhuan’s expression was too amusing.

It made one… want to tease her.

From Laozi to Kant, those figures paraded through Ye Yuhuan’s mind once more.

“Eat out or order in?”

Song Zhiqing wasn’t done settling the score. She said with a grin, “I want to eat the noodles you make.”

Noodles it is. Better than continuing to hold each other.

Resigned, Ye Yuhuan took out her phone and placed a grocery delivery order.

“Tomato and beef brisket noodles, is that okay?”

“That’s fine. But while we wait for the tomato and beef brisket to arrive, what should we do?”

The current Song Zhiqing was clearly not easy to deal with. Ye Yuhuan had half-guessed it.

Is Song Zhiqing still angry? Is that why she’s deliberately doing ambiguous things to make me feel awkward? Indeed, the current situation is even more worthy of overthinking than before.

Ye Yuhuan admitted she was in the wrong and quietly waited for Song Zhiqing to make her move, only tentatively suggesting, “Watch a variety show?”

“The recent ones are all so boring.”

“A movie.”

“Too long.”

“Read a book?”

Song Zhiqing just smiled at her quietly. Ye Yuhuan took it upon herself to reject the option. “Reading is even more boring.”

Ye Yuhuan was out of ideas. It seemed Song Zhiqing hadn’t finished venting her anger.

“Alright, what do you want to do?”

Song Zhiqing took two packages out of her suitcase. One contained pearls, a gift for Ye Yuhuan. The other contained liquor-filled chocolates, also for Ye Yuhuan.

“I want you to eat some candy.”

Song Zhiqing unwrapped the package. Ye Yuhuan could read the words on the wrapper and couldn’t help but give Song Zhiqing a deep look.

“Eat candy?” she asked.

“Mhm, eat candy.”

Ye Yuhuan reached out and picked one up. With her constitution, it would probably take less than ten seconds for her to become dead drunk.

From Shen Wei’s descriptions, Ye Yuhuan had some idea of what she was like when drunk.

It was, supposedly, complete and utter honesty.

Ye Yuhuan didn’t consider herself a dishonest person. She rarely lied and hated lying.

But as an ordinary person still mired in the seven passions and six desires, she had things that were difficult to speak of or that she was unwilling to discuss in depth. Was that the part Song Zhiqing wanted to know?

“What do you want to ask me?” Ye Yuhuan asked directly.

Song Zhiqing had no intention of hiding it. Or rather, it had been her intention all along, impossible to hide.

Ever since New Year’s Day, when Ye Yuhuan had spent her birthday and her mother’s death anniversary alone, in a place she didn’t know about.

Oh, perhaps even before that, when Ye Yuhuan had spoken of her mother’s death anniversary as if it were any other ordinary memorial day.

“I want to know, was your mother good to you?”

“That’s not a question that can be answered with ‘good’ or ‘not good.’ She didn’t have the capacity to be good to me, so having such expectations or criticisms of her is meaningless in itself.”

Song Zhiqing picked up a chocolate and held it to Ye Yuhuan’s lips. “See, you only say things like that. That’s not what I want to hear.”

“What I want to hear is, ‘Ye Yuhuan feels very wronged. Ye Yuhuan needs to be comforted, needs a hug.’”

“And then I’ll give her a hug.”

“So, do you want me to hug you?”

Ye Yuhuan blinked rapidly a few times.

Then she opened her mouth.

I’m just fulfilling Song Zhiqing’s wish, she thought. I misunderstood her and gave her the cold shoulder for no reason. This is a necessary concession.

This is how friends should be.

It’s definitely not because I want a hug.

The emotion of feeling wronged… I learned a long time ago that it’s meaningless. Just as meaningless as wanting my mother to love me.

The heart-shaped chocolate disappeared between her crimson lips.

Less than five seconds later, a freshly-minted, mentally-regressed version of Ye Yuhuan was ready.

Song Zhiqing poked her curiously. She still had a vivid memory of Ye Yuhuan’s strange behavior last time and wondered what state she would be in this time.

Ye Yuhuan slowly turned her head, her large eyes blinking. “Hey, why did you poke me?”

Song Zhiqing clapped a hand over her mouth.

A lethal cute-attack!!!

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