Chapter 49: Can’t hear, can’t hear~ 3,000 words
Let’s not delve too deep into this topic.
Otherwise, if we keep discussing it, we might easily touch on one of Ye Zhibai’s knowledge blind spots.
What right do I have to discuss career matters with a top student from Capital University?
Only by knowing one’s limits can one remain undefeated.
— I won’t expose my ignorance as long as I avoid this topic.
《Zhibai’s Thoughts》— recorded.
By this point, all the dishes had already been served.
The waitress, trembling slightly, carefully brought over an ultra-luxurious fruit platter that the restaurant owner had specifically instructed to gift them.
She asked if the two needed anything else.
This question only got a cold response from Ye Zhibai.
—”Please close the screen properly.”
Then, nothing else was said.
“Got it!!”
Without another word, the waitress hurriedly pulled up the three-tier screen, her arms trembling slightly as she set down the fruit platter, before strategically retreating!
The aura of this silver-haired beauty is terrifying!
Not just her expression, but even her gaze made it seem like she was thoroughly dissatisfied with the restaurant!
It doesn’t matter if she’s dissatisfied, but the consequences would be severe!
Wuuu… wu… The boss said if these two aren’t satisfied, the restaurant will have to close, and everyone will lose their jobs!
Including the boss!
So, does this mean tomorrow I might be out of work already?
Ye Zhibai looked at the hurriedly “fleeing” waitress.
She could only feel confused inside.
And some unexplainable frustration.
“How strange… I was very polite just now, I even said ‘please,’ but why did she look so angry… tsk.”
“Haha… Ye Zhibai, I don’t think she was angry, more like she thought you were angry?”
“Me… angry?”
I didn’t know that!
Ye Zhibai blinked blankly, pointing at herself.
Then, she remembered the matter of her face being like an ice cave.
“……”
She had no expression.
But Chi Yuliang couldn’t help feeling that Ye Zhibai had gotten a bit… dazed!
Chi Yuliang quickly waved her hand, trying to console her with a wry smile.
“Ahem, Ye Zhibai, some things are just innate, nothing you can do about it. You know, maybe you could try smiling? To be honest, ever since I met you again, I’ve only seen you smile once, at the cemetery! Hmm… Look at you, do you not feel happy when you’re with me? You’re so stingy with your smiles~ even though you look so beautiful when you smile.”
“Sister to be honest, since I woke up, I’ve only smiled that one time.”
“……”
Chi Yuliang’s hand, which had just picked up her chopsticks, suddenly stopped.
Her expression froze as well.
“Eh…? Ye Zhibai, are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t smile usually?”
“Not only do I not smile, I don’t cry either. I’m just a pure block of ice, managing my expressions is unusually difficult.”
You think that the smile I gave you was just the tip of the iceberg of my colorful expressions.
But little do you know, that smile was nearly the entirety of my meager stock of expressions.
I’ve already smiled everything for you! There’s nothing left!!
Not being able to make expressions… this was somewhat beyond Chi Yuliang’s understanding.
Being unable to freely express emotions through facial expressions?
Poor Ye Zhibai.
Chi Yuliang, who had just taken a few bites, put her chopsticks down again.
A good elder sister would always be concerned about her younger sister’s well-being at all times.
“Ye Zhibai! Don’t give up, I think this situation might not be because you don’t want to smile, but because you haven’t had the chance to smile.”
“Chance…?”
“Mhm! Like, for example… telling jokes! How about I tell you a cold joke?”
“Okay.”
Yay! Cool Sister’s cold jokes. I haven’t heard one in so many years!
Chi Yuliang hesitated slightly, quickly searching her mind, then suddenly had a lightbulb moment!
“Ah… got it! Ye Zhibai, I’ll ask you a riddle, get ready!”
“Mhm.”
“Let me ask you, why did Xiao Hua cross the road?”
“Because Xiao Hua wanted to get to the other side of the road.”
Hiss…!
Is it really that surprising?
Cool Sister, this is the same joke you told me when I was a kid!
And! Guang Yu, you’ve already heard this joke, don’t act so shocked when I get the answer right! What are you pretending for?
When Ye Zhibai confidently gave the correct answer and wasn’t even amused, Chi Yuliang felt deeply ashamed.
She suddenly lowered her head in disappointment!
“We… Sorry, Ye Zhibai, your Cool Sister has been so busy with studying all these years, I haven’t looked at any new jokes. I… I thought changing the subject of the joke would make it feel fresh, but… it’s still the same!”
Of course, it’s the same!
The original subject was Xiao Hong, so what if you changed it to Xiao Hua?
Even if you swapped it with Xiao Huang, Xiao Hei, Xiao Guang, or Xiao Zi, or heck, even if you changed it to Tom! It’s still the same cold joke!
Turns out, Cool Sister hasn’t updated her cold joke collection in all these years!
Sigh… I almost forgot, sometimes Cool Sister can be adorably clueless~ but it’s precisely this that makes Ye Zhibai feel she’s the most human.
Speaking of which, once Ye Zhibai understood this, she suddenly remembered Guang Yu’s gasp of surprise just now.
Ye Zhibai: You dumb fox! Don’t tell me, just because Xiao Hong was changed to Xiao Hua, you didn’t know she was going to cross the road?
Guang Yu: I thought Xiao Hua was a flower! How would I know a plant would cross the road, does that even make sense?
This one cold joke sparked a whole storm of debate in the private room between the two people and one fox.
In the end, Chi Yuliang decided to drop the topic.
“Alright… Ye Zhibai, I’ll go home and look up a few more cold jokes and tell them to you later. For now, let’s eat. If we don’t, the food will get cold.”
“Agreed.”
The storm of thoughts was brought to a halt.
Mastering the art of smiling is no small feat that can be accomplished in a single day.
Once the meal officially began, Ye Zhibai noticed that the frequency of the rotating table was extremely high.
Of course, this wasn’t Guang Yu’s doing—she was elegantly preparing by taking out her mustard sauce from her bag for the meal.
The one spinning the table was Cool Sister.
As the plates rotated, Ye Zhibai noticed that the best dishes always seemed to end up in front of her.
Ah, this…
“Cool Sister, you should eat too, no need to fuss over me.”
“Mhm, Ye Zhibai needs to grow, your main job is to eat well. As for me, I’ve already passed the stage where I need nutrition.”
Bling~~~ Bling This sound effect was something Ye Zhibai couldn’t help but imagine in her mind. Actions speak louder than words.
Looking at the considerable… weight visible in Chi Yuliang’s chest area, Ye Zhibai found this claim hard to refute.
Fortunately, Ye Zhibai had ordered enough food today that she couldn’t finish it all even if she stuffed herself to death!
So Cool Sister had no choice but to dutifully “replenish” her excessively abundant nutrition.
After five flavors of the meal passed, Chi Yuliang slightly parted the screen with her fingers and peeked out the window of the private room.
In the distance, one could see the main gate of “Qihai University” glowing in golden light at the end of the road.
Further beyond, the neatly arranged outlines of the university’s teaching buildings could be seen.
She retracted her hand, closed the screen again, confirmed their location, and then gracefully swallowed her food before gently asking Ye Zhibai.
“By the way… Ye Zhibai, this was the university you used to attend, right? On the way here, I saw quite a few college students.”
“Mhm, Qihai University’s Xiaolin Road, just straight from here, and you’ll reach the main gate.”
“A university town has its atmosphere. It’s been so many days since I graduated, but coming back to this kind of environment suddenly makes me feel nostalgic.”
“Indeed… hmm?”
“Ye Zhibai, what’s wrong?”
Ye Zhibai chewed the fish in her mouth, and suddenly something occurred to her. She almost choked on a fishbone!
Luckily, after glancing at Guang Yu drinking mustard, her inner rage helped force the bone out.
Cough cough
She pinched the small fishbone from her lips with her fingers.
Ye Zhibai quickly sorted out her thoughts.
Speaking of university, it naturally brings to mind the unique atmosphere of university life.
And when we talk about that atmosphere, it’s all about youth, the last green years before we burn out and become corporate drones.*
[*”Burn out and become corporate drones (燃烧成为社畜)” — *rán shāo chéng wéi shè chù*. *Shechu* (社畜) is a slang term that refers to people trapped in the corporate world, working tirelessly without much personal fulfillment, commonly used to describe overworked employees in China【9†source】【8†source】.]
Speaking of burning away the years of youth, I can’t help but think of those annoying xiàn chōng!!*
[*” Xiàn chōng (现充)” — *xiàn chōng* refers to someone who is living their best life, usually used to describe people who have a lot going on socially, romantically, or in their personal life. The term originates from *xiànshí chōngshí* (现实充实), meaning “fulfilled in real life,” often in contrast to those who escape into online games or other virtual worlds【9†source】.]
Some people burn away their youth by lying in bed in the dorm, playing games on their phones all day long.
But others burn away their youth by hanging out with their romantic partners, bustling around the city all day!
The difference between people is really that obvious.
As for Cool Sister, didn’t she just finish four years of university?
Whether it’s her looks, her personality, or her academic abilities, she’s absolutely a super xiàn chōng-level existence!
So, with Cool Sister being such a xiàn chōng, did she have a relationship during her university years?
This should have nothing to do with Ye Zhibai, and it might even be considered a somewhat private matter, not something one should ask.
But… Ye Zhibai didn’t know why, she just really wanted to ask this question.
It was like the fishbone from earlier. Once you thought of it, if you didn’t get it out, it would feel like it was stuck in your throat.
If a fishbone is stuck, you have to remove it.
If you want to ask a question, then don’t keep it bottled up inside.
Under Chi Yuliang’s concerned gaze, Ye Zhibai raised her little head.
“Cool Sister, did you have a relationship when you were in university?”
“Huh?!”
Ye Zhibai wanted to defend herself, I’m not being nosy, okay? I just…
Sigh, forget it.
I’m being nosy!
Ye Zhibai’s light purple eyes even sparkled as she stared directly at Chi Yuliang, waiting for the answer.
Being asked so suddenly, Chi Yuliang was momentarily caught off guard.
But soon enough,
she didn’t avoid Ye Zhibai’s gaze.
Her own eyes, warm as water, honestly revealed the answer to her curious little Ye Zhibai.
“Nope, ahaha… I even got ‘teased’ by my roommates for this. All of them got into relationships, but your jiejie* here, I stayed single until graduation~ They even spent a hundred yuan to buy a huge banner and hang it on the dorm window to celebrate my 22 years of being single on the day of graduation!”
[*”Jiejie (姐姐)” — *jiějie* means “older sister.” Used affectionately by Ye Zhibai to refer to Chi Yuliang【8†source】.]
Goodness!
Those roommates are ruthless!
Even though this answer inexplicably made Ye Zhibai feel a sense of relief, she still found it odd.
“That doesn’t make sense… Cool Sister is so beautiful, and you’re so good at studying. Shouldn’t there have been boys chasing you in droves?”
“Hehe, thank you for the compliment, Ye Zhibai… But yeah, about that, I still have a headache thinking about it. During university, I hinted more than once in my class speeches and department talks that I didn’t want to be in a relationship, but the love letters kept piling up.”
A true xiàn chōng!!
Thinking about this, Chi Yuliang could only shake her head helplessly.
“I originally wanted to throw the letters away, but it seemed like a waste. So I saved them all and, at graduation, I sold them to a recycling shop and made over twenty yuan! Lucky I didn’t toss them!”
What the heck!
Cool Sister, you’ve truly carried forward our orphanage’s spirit of thrift and resourcefulness!
In her heart, Ye Zhibai was left speechless.
She didn’t know what to say.
In the end, her thoughts led to one final question.
“But… why didn’t Cool Sister want to date? Everyone says… that love is an important part of youth, right?”
“Mhm, that’s true~ So, why didn’t I want to? What could the reason be?”
Chi Yuliang playfully teased, her mischievous gaze continuously wandering over Ye Zhibai.
When Ye Zhibai responded with her usual expressionless face and slightly pouted lips,
Chi Yuliang decided to stop playing around, raising a finger and laughing jokingly.
“Maybe, it’s because I’ve never met anyone better than Ye Zhibai?”
“!?”
I didn’t know I was that amazing!
Chi Yuliang wiggled her finger and added, “After all, Ye Zhibai is my only di… no, wait, I should say it like this now—because Ye Zhibai is my only little sister! If I’m always thinking about you, of course, there’s no room for anyone else, right?”
“Th-this isn’t right.”
“Weren’t we just talking about romance?”
“What you’re talking about now is family!”
When Ye Zhibai raised this doubt, Chi Yuliang covered her ears, shook her head playfully, and responded mischievously.
“Eh, I can’t hear you~~ We were discussing family matters just now, weren’t we?”
“……”
“You’ve got me all mixed up!”
“Cool Sister, stop swaying your body like that, or the cotton candy* will shake too!”
[*”Cotton candy (棉花糖)” — *mián huā táng*. Here, it is used humorously to refer to Chi Yuliang’s chest bouncing as she moves【9†source】.]
“Not only am I mixed up, you’ve shaken me up too!”
Watching Ye Zhibai, who was dazed and counting on her fingers to retrace their conversation, Chi Yuliang laughed in satisfaction.
To her, tonight’s meal was truly both fragrant and sweet.
