Chapter 18

Walking through the long corridor, dragging his small suitcase behind him, Li Ye took out his phone from the belly of the plush toy's backpack. The phone showed 3:30 pm. After confirming the accommodation information, he waved to the side.

"When you get off the train, are you going straight back to school?"

Zhou Yuan and Li Ye bought their tickets together this time, and naturally chose consecutive seats. Even though they traveled together, they were still a bit tired after a five or six-hour journey. Zhou Yuan simply agreed to show his approval and then waited for Li Ye to say what he wanted to say next.

"Um."

"The temporary accommodation I found is in a different direction from the school, so I won't take you there. We can talk about it tomorrow."

Suddenly, the vast hall and the light from the outside behind it made Li Ye squint slightly. No matter how many times he came, he still couldn't get used to the design of Shanghai Station.

The two exited the station one after the other and then took the subway. This time, they went in different directions. Seeing Zhou Yuan's barely cheerful appearance, Li Ye couldn't help but nag before parting ways.

"Remember to send a message when you get to the dorm. After you've calmed down, go get something to eat first, make your bed, and then go to sleep. You've had a long day, so get some rest early. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

Zhou Yuan was already queuing to enter the platform. He raised his phone and waved in Li Ye's direction to indicate that he had heard him.

Upon seeing this, Li Ye dragged her suitcase to another line and sat on the subway for almost an hour. She felt like she was about to die or turn into an iron butt, and she was afraid she would have to sleep on her stomach that night.

After exiting the subway, he used his phone to navigate around and around. Although he had lived in Shanghai for nearly seven years, Li Ye didn't bother to learn about every residential area here, just like he didn't back in his hometown.

Her location matched the location of the destination on the map. Li Ye stood at the entrance of the community. Her temporary residence was inside, but there was no access control. Without help, she couldn't get in for a while.

Li Ye pulled out her chat history with her good friend Yao Yao and confirmed several times that she would go straight in after arriving at the community. She turned her gaze to the security guard who was watching a TV series on his phone and gently knocked on the glass of the security booth.

After signing his name in the visitor registration form, and with Yao Yao having already spoken to the security guard this morning, Li Ye easily entered the community. Among the towering buildings, he tried to find Yao Yao's home without the help of his phone map. Fortunately, the address information, which was sent along with the phone, was accurate down to the house number.

Following the map of the neighborhood, Li Ye figured out the layout of the apartment buildings and arrived at Yao Yao's building without any trouble. However, this time he really had to wait for someone destined to help him open the door.

After standing downstairs for about ten minutes, a woman in her fifties came downstairs. She seemed to be picking up her grandchild from school. When she saw Li Ye standing there with his suitcase, she helped hold the iron gate open for a while.

After thanking the aunt, Li Ye entered the building. Before the iron door closed again, she successfully pressed the elevator button and waited for an empty metal box. After entering, she pressed the button for the floor where Yao Yao lived.

Standing at the door of Yao Yao's house, Li Ye was reminded again that he did not have the key to enter. He sent Yao Yao a message asking how to open the smart lock. After receiving a reply and performing a series of remote operations, Li Ye was finally able to go inside and rest.

However, upon entering the house, Li Ye couldn't help but feel a vein throbbing on her forehead at the sight of Yao Yao's living room, which looked clean but was definitely messy. She sent Yao Yao an unfiltered panoramic photo of the living room.

Yao Yao Pills: It looks a bit messy, huh?

Yao Yao Pills: Don't worry about these.

Yao Yao Pills: Your room is the one next to the master bedroom.

Yao Yao Pills: Place the mattress and four-piece bedding set on the bed board, and make your own bed first.

Yao Yao Pills: The new team leader has been going crazy lately.

Yao Yao Pills: We'll talk about it when we get home.

Yao Yao Pills: [Slipped away].jpg

Hoping he hadn't been caught, Li Ye toured Yao Yao's long-term rental apartment. It included the master bedroom where Yao Yao was currently living, the second bedroom where Li Ye would be staying, a study, a bathroom with separate wet and dry areas, a relatively spacious kitchen, and a living and dining area connected to the balcony.

The rent here is definitely not as cheap as Yao Yao said, especially since she hasn't shared an apartment with anyone yet, at least Li Ye hasn't heard her mention it.

When Yao Yao first started working after graduation, the apartment she rented was quite basic. This time, when Li Ye came to stay with her, she didn't bring much luggage because she was afraid it would take up space. She never expected things to turn out like this.

Before pushing the suitcase into the second bedroom, Li Ye disinfected his hands. After entering the room, he looked at the two piles of objects on the bed board and chose to be considerate of someone who was already very tired from working every day.

He tried to pick up the pile of bedding and move it to the living room, but then remembered that the living room was also messy. So Li Ye went back to the living room, chose a sofa close to the second bedroom, and moved the clutter piled on it to the sofa next to it.

After finding a new location, Li Ye successfully made up the bed in the second bedroom. Originally, the next task was to sweep the second bedroom, but the living room, which had almost no space to rest, made sweeping a lower priority.

The sofa was covered with clothes that had been worn out recently. There was no trash on the coffee table, but game controllers, game consoles, notebooks, and reference books were stacked on top of each other, along with other odds and ends scattered in the corner.

It was clear that she tidied and cleaned regularly. Li Ye relaxed about Yao Yao's living environment and began to fold the clothes that were left in the living room according to Yao Yao's habits, dividing them into two parts: one part to wear and not wash for the time being, and the other part to leave to wash later when there was time.

These clothes were still placed on the sofa in the living room, and the entire living and dining room instantly became much tidier. Li Ye then set his sights on the coffee table, and the items were still placed on the coffee table. A simple tidying up made the overall look much better.

Finding cleaning tools on the balcony, Yao Yao actually bought a floor scrubber. Li Ye had never used one before. His family had bought a robot vacuum cleaner years ago, but it was only used for half a month before returning to manual cleaning. Now it was a good time to try something new.

First, he searched online for the model and usage instructions of the floor scrubber, then watched videos on video websites about how to use it. Li Ye also found the instruction manual for the floor scrubber on the balcony. With this complete set of instructions, Li Ye felt he had mastered the essentials and began his new journey by gripping the handle.

Aside from the initial unfamiliarity, this thing is indeed much easier than sweeping and mopping by hand. It cleaned the living room and the second bedroom in less than ten minutes. The last part, carrying the machine into the base station, was a bit counterintuitive. Overall, it's easy to use.

"To learn more about new smart home appliances, it's important to remember that in the early days, the focus was mainly on advertising. Back then, the products weren't practical enough. Now, times have changed, and it's easy to fall behind the times if you're not careful."

As Li Ye washed his hands, he looked in the mirror and muttered to himself, "What should I do next?"

Naoki Haruka: [Dinner Image].jpg

Naoki Haruka: We've arrived at the dormitory.

Naoki: The takeout I ordered has arrived.

Flower Tears: Read.

Li Ye put his phone back in his pocket, went to open the refrigerator in the kitchen, which was quite full, and took a picture to send to Yao Yao.

Flower Tears: Orders are welcome, but we don't make dishes that require you to go downstairs to buy groceries.

Yao Yao Pills: !!! !!! !!! !!!

Yao Yao Pills: Bring fried chicken home after get off work

Yao Yao Pills: The rest is up to you.

Once the owner gave permission, Li Ye began exploring the kitchen. He quickly found the rice bag, poured the rinsed rice (enough for two people) into the rice cooker, closed the lid, and pressed the cook button.

"Ding-dong!"

When Yao Yao arrived at her door, she made a point of ringing the doorbell to call Li Ye to open the door. Li Ye opened the door and took the fried chicken that Yao Yao was carrying.

I'm back from work!

"Welcome home. You've had a long day. Dinner is ready."

Hearing the doorbell ring, Li Ye knew what Yao Yao was up to. Since she also wanted to try it out, she went along with Yao Yao's words.

While Yao Yao was changing her shoes and disinfecting her hands, Li Ye went to the kitchen and brought the prepared food to the table, placing it together with the still-warm fried chicken he had just brought back.

More than an hour later, Li Ye sent Zhou Yuan a photo of dinner. The only unexpected thing was that Yao Yao's hand was accidentally seen in the photo.

"Waaaaah, this is the first time I've had a warm meal waiting for me after get off work. I'm so happy."

Yao Yao looked like she was about to burst into tears of happiness, although you could tell she was indeed very... joyful?

Li Ye put down his phone and kept up with Yao Yao's speed in grabbing the food. Was it because she prepared very little food? Since he himself ate a lot, he would cook half again as much food when he cooked, so that there wouldn't be not enough to eat, right?

"That's enough, there's still fried chicken left untouched. It's just that I usually get home late and cook dinner, so I tend to eat quickly."

Li Ye was certain she hadn't spoken. His gaze drifted to Yao Yao, who was busy gnawing on a large chicken leg. She pretended not to see him and just kept spreading mustard mayonnaise on the chicken leg.

Li Ye chose to join the team, scooped out a large chicken leg covered in cheese from the fried chicken and stuffed it into his mouth. The variety of food in the big city is still more than that in his hometown. He hadn't eaten it for more than half a year and was starting to miss it.

After eating and drinking her fill, Yao Yao put the pile of plates and bowls into the dishwasher, wiped the table lightly with a cloth, and that was it—she had finished cleaning the kitchen.

The two sat lazily on the sofa. Yao Yao turned on the TV, projected the content from her phone, connected the game controller, covered herself with a small blanket, and began to complete her daily gaming routine.

The other half of the blanket was on Li Ye. After connecting to the internet in the house, Li Ye turned on his computer and received a message from the agent. It was tomorrow's schedule, which was very tight.

“Lanlan is away on a business trip to Beijing right now, otherwise the three of us should have gotten together. Last time Yuanyuan got married, we had such a good opportunity, but I was sent away for training, so we couldn’t get together. No wonder you want to have a special get-together.”

Suddenly, Yao Yao added, seemingly feeling it was a pity, "Lanlan even quit her job at the dance class this time when she went to Beijing."

"?" Li Ye knew what Yao Yao meant. "You encountered some opportunity in your voice acting work."

"Speaking of which, I haven't even started learning the dance I wanted to learn yet, and the teacher has already quit. Luckily, I had some poses for the animation beforehand, otherwise the animation would be in trouble too."

"Which dance, from the game?" Yao Yao didn't have much of an impression of it. She only hoped that the part she was responsible for wouldn't have any bugs. She vaguely remembered that there was a dance before the ending.

"Tango, just one step away, I watched the movie many times back then."

Li Ye decided to wait until Ye Tinglan finished her busy period before enrolling in a class, hoping it wouldn't be as difficult as people online said.

"Let's sleep together tonight."

The girlfriends invited Li Ye to stay, and Li Ye initially agreed but then questioned, "Is the master bedroom okay?"

"Ah, the living room was an accident. The master bedroom isn't that messy. Let's go take a look together."

Yao Yao put down the controller, lifted the small blanket, snatched Li Ye's laptop, pulled him up, and led him to the master bedroom door.