【12】If romance could be mass-produced, it would seem cheap.
Most people tend to have some kind of double standard. For example, when reading submissions to "North American International Students' Complaints," Ye Xin often responds to the outrageous behavior of certain scumbag men with sharp, harsh comments. But if a girl does something similar, she'll carefully consider it and frown, saying, "That's understandable..." Similarly, if someone else engages in those ambiguous and frivolous actions, Liang Zhiyao will simply dismiss them as a pretentious, undisciplined scumbag. But if it's Tan Xu, her face will somewhat filter his image, though even after all the slurs, the conclusion remains that he's a scumbag. After he repeated his old trick and drank the same glass of wine she had, Liang Zhiyao felt a surge of inexplicable irritation. Humans are such contradictory creatures. When everything goes according to plan and flows smoothly, there's a sense of comfort and respect, but also a sense of lack of purpose. However, when flirting becomes too practiced, she's reminded that it's simply the other person's effortless repetition of countless practices. If romance could be mass-produced, it would seem somewhat cheap. Something else in her mind told her that birds of a feather flock together. Since Cheng Yan could so easily sleep with a girl he'd just met for the first time, it seemed clear from a single leaf that his friend, Tan Xu, was likely to have a similarly private life. She deliberately overlooked the fact that Liu Siyan, a woman, had also "slept with a boy he'd just met for the first time," unconsciously putting her at a disadvantage. In this respect, she echoed Ye Xin's persistent gender double standards. So, after just a few sips of wine with the "good-looking jerk," Liang Zhiyao excused himself and left the terrace. She also tiptoed downstairs and rejoined the group drinking and singing karaoke on the first floor. Ten minutes later, the two people who had been in the bedroom came downstairs one after the other. Liu Siyan even took the initiative to bring her fully charged phone with her. After all, she had just discovered a private matter that was not meant to be shared with others, and even though she herself was unaware of it, she felt awkward. She feigned composure as she took the phone, explaining she had to get up early for work the next day, and quickly took a taxi. Consequently, it was already Sunday evening when she saw Ye Xin again. They'd been together since Liang Zhiyao finished his coffee shop part-time job the next day, one returning home late and the other leaving early. They didn't reunite at home until Liang Zhiyao finished his coffee shop job the next day. She was surprised to find her roommate hadn't left the house all day. She could tell that because her hair wasn't done, and she wasn't wearing any makeup. After all, even though a beautiful woman might be as beautiful as a lotus flower without makeup, she still carries a heavy image burden and never appears aggressive...
Most people tend to have some kind of double standard in their thinking. For example, when reading the submissions to "North American International Students' Complaints," Ye Xin often immediately gives sharp and harsh comments on the outrageous behavior of certain scumbag men. But if a girl does something similar, she will frown after careful consideration and say, "That's understandable..."
For example, if someone else had acted in those ambiguous and frivolous ways, Liang Zhiyao would have simply considered them a pretentious, uninhibited scumbag. But if it were Tan Xu, his face would have been a bit of a filter, though even after all the slurs, the conclusion would still be that he was a scumbag.
Just after he repeated his old trick and drank the glass of wine she had drunk, Liang Zhiyao suddenly felt an indescribable irritation in her heart.
Human beings are such contradictory creatures. When it comes to relationships between men and women, if everything goes according to plan and smoothly, they will feel comfortable and respected, but at the same time, they will feel that something is missing.
But when flirting becomes too proficient, she's constantly reminded that it's just a repetition of a skillful technique practiced countless times. If romance can be mass-produced, it becomes somewhat cheap.
There was another string in her mind telling her that birds of a feather flock together. Since Cheng Yan could easily go to bed with a girl he met for the first time, it was clear from one glance that Tan Xu, as their friend, probably had a similar private life.
She deliberately ignored the fact that Liu Siyan, a girl, also "went to bed with the boy she met for the first time immediately", unconsciously putting the other party in a disadvantageous position. In this regard, she was quite consistent with Ye Xin's consistent gender double standard.
So after drinking a few sips of wine with the "scumbag with a nice face", Liang Zhiyao made an excuse to leave the terrace.
She also tiptoed downstairs and returned to the large group of people drinking and singing K on the first floor. Ten minutes later, the two people who had been in the bedroom just now came down from upstairs one after another. Liu Siyan also took the initiative to bring her fully charged mobile phone over.
After all, she had just discovered a private matter that the other person was not aware of, and even though the person himself did not know about it, she felt embarrassed. She took the phone with a forced calm, said she had to get up early for work the next day, and quickly took a taxi and left.
Therefore, when she saw Ye Xin again, it was already Sunday evening.
The two of them, one coming home late and the other leaving early, did not reunite until Liang Zhiyao finished her part-time job at a coffee shop the next day. She was surprised to find that her roommate had not left the house all day.
The reason I can say this is because her hair is untidy and she has no makeup on. After all, although a beautiful woman is as beautiful as a lotus flower without makeup, she has a heavy image burden and will never show up without her hair being dressed up.
"Why aren't you going out? I thought you said you had a date on Sunday."
"...I did, but I canceled it." She turned her head away, the dark circles under her eyes particularly noticeable against her fair skin, her expression a rare expression of resentment: "Zhiyao...I think I'm in love."
"Huh?" It was rare to hear such remarks from such a beautiful lady. However, Liang Zhiyao had looked through their recent conversations and could not remember which male guest had reached the "listening" stage.
So she took off her coat, poured a glass of water, and said with interest, "Tell me more about it."
"That guy from yesterday... Cheng Yan. I found him quite interesting."
"Puff." She reacted in time and was choked, but fortunately she did not spit out the water that had just entered her mouth.
My first reaction was to observe Ye Xin's expression, but when I thought about it carefully, if she knew the same amount of information as me, she probably would not be able to say "I'm in love".
"Wow, why such a big reaction?"
"Ahem..." Liang Zhiyao patted his chest while thinking about how to respond in a flash. After a while, he found a bland answer: "It's just... don't you think that Cheng Yan and Liu Siyan interacted a little too much yesterday?"
She was being subtle. Actually, anyone present at the scene yesterday who wasn't blind could see that the two had been flirting with each other from the moment they met. Even if Ye Xin didn't know more about the "inside story" like Liang Zhiyao and Tan Xu, with her observation skills, it was impossible for her not to see it.
"...I think that's why I couldn't sleep last night," the roommate said, looking bitter and resentful. "I got home at one and didn't fall asleep until after three. The dark circles under my eyes were so scary that I canceled my male guest appearance today."
At the end, she added, trying to hide her guilt, "It's mainly because I can't go out with this face... I'm not so indifferent to dating just because of a man, really."
Hearing the other party's forcible attempt to save face, Liang Zhiyao felt more and more disappointed in her. Thinking back to the two years they had known each other, Miss Ye had always been picky about men. When had she fallen to this point, actually staying up late until three in the morning for a scumbag with a dissolute private life, and the other party was interested in someone else.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but ask, "Who said 'Financial men don't talk' last week?"
A moment of silence. After all, the greatest double standard of mankind is to be lenient with oneself and strict with others.
"It's a bit late to talk about it now anyway..." Ye Xin fell on the sofa and muttered regretfully, "I should have known not to join in the fun yesterday."
Liang Zhiyao couldn't bear to see the beautiful woman who used to be exquisite and full of energy suddenly become so decadent. He hesitated whether to tell her everything about the romantic affair that he had discovered on the second floor of the villa yesterday, so that she could quickly change her mind about the scumbag and give up the idea as soon as possible.
However, on second thought, this is Liu Siyan's privacy after all. Although the other party is indeed reckless and bold in his recklessness, it does not mean that she can speak about it casually.
So she changed her mindset and acted as a military advisor: "Aren't your majors and Cheng Yan's both in the business school? You must have taken some classes together, right? Didn't you know each other before?"
"Not very well," Ye Xin said, biting her lip. "My previous impression of him was that he was a playboy with a very extravagant private life. You know I have no interest in men like that, so apart from adding each other on WeChat in the freshman group during my freshman year, we haven't spoken at all."
She thought to herself, your first impression is correct, there is a 99% chance that this person has a very messy private life.
"But yesterday...how should I put it, he suddenly seemed quite interesting? He wasn't some empty-headed rich kid. He spoke in an interesting way, and had a lot of ideas. Yeah, his voice was pretty nice too..."
"He was just showing off like a peacock, and of course he was desperately trying to show himself off," Liang Zhiyao sighed. "Who knew it would hurt innocent people?"
Despite her complaints, Liang Zhiyao was convinced she was truly moved by Cheng Yan's strengths, as she saw her roommate counting them off on her fingers. After all, among the few boyfriends Ye Xin had briefly dated before, the highest evaluation she received was "okay" at best.
After all, while they unconditionally obey her willful princess temper because of her stunning beauty, they have decided to put a lot of "good for you" weights on the other end of the scale, implicitly admitting that they are not charming enough and need to maintain this relationship in an unequal status. It is naturally difficult for Ye Xin to feel any admiration or appreciation for such a partner.
She asked again: "Did you give him any hints yesterday?"
"Does he need a hint?" Ye Xin's expression was filled with genuine confusion. "Does praising his cooking count?... How would I know? He's never needed a hint from me before."
This may sound irritating, but for Ye Xin, it has always been men who are vying to pursue her, so she has never learned this kind of skill in the previous twenty-one years.
Compared to women who are overly modest or even self-deprecating, men are creatures that are more easily overly self-conscious. Not to mention being praised by a beautiful woman for her delicious cooking, even a smile given to them may be interpreted as "Is she interested in me?"
So the men each used their own strengths, and Ye Xin slowly screened them from all kinds of approaches and flirtations, leaving only the ones she was interested in. She then compared, tested, and selected their sincerity and enthusiasm one by one, leaving the final winner as her "boyfriend."
However, an unequal relationship is difficult to maintain in the long run. Most international students have been spoiled since childhood, and the number of persistent bootlickers is relatively small. As time goes by, it is difficult for them to accept all the real shortcomings of a beautiful woman as they did at the beginning, and they will no longer be overly flattering or submissive.
So as those weights of "being good to you" were removed, the scales tilted and they all turned from boyfriends to exes.
While Liang Zhiyao was distracted, Ye Xin still looked troubled and asked again, "Should I take the initiative to find him? But they were flirting with each other yesterday, and I'd feel like a clown if I went to him again... And what should I talk to him about? Is there any more natural topic..."
The world has changed, and even fairies have to come down to earth to suffer the pain of love. Liang Zhiyao lamented: "Anyway, the awkward chat on WeChat was too deliberate. Next time, I'll find a chance to flirt with him in person? What if he's still single by then?"
She wasn't sure whether Cheng Yan, who had just slept with Liu Siyan, could still be considered single, but in the dictionary of a scumbag, maybe not.
"But we don't have many classes together, so we rarely get to talk in person." My roommate frowned, then suddenly picked up his phone and said, "I'm having a headache over this week's statistics homework... Can I talk to him online?"
"What's the difference between suddenly asking someone of the opposite sex you don't know well about homework and just telling them 'I'm interested in you'? Isn't that a bit too obvious?"
In reality, men's double standards for beautiful women and other women are even more blatant. While Ye Xin's unstructured, aggressive approach might fail others, it could be a resounding success. But Liang Zhiyao was more concerned about her displaying too much affection, making her appear "manipulable," and thus putting herself at risk in the relationship.
This was different from Liu Siyan's undisguised teasing yesterday. They were a pair of evenly matched male and female sea kings. Regardless of their true affection for each other, there was a certain desire to conquer each other at work, so they would not take each other too seriously.
"Honestly, don't you think this theory is weird?" Ye Xin disagreed. "Girls have always been told to be reserved, as if taking the initiative would lower their status. So, in the end, we can only be the ones 'chosen'."
Liang Zhiyao thought seriously for a while: "Now that you put it that way, it seems to be true."
"Because of various social norms, men can take the initiative to pursue any member of the opposite sex they're attracted to, but women are taught to be 'dignified' and to be discreet in their displays of affection, not too obvious. When I think about it this way, I always feel like I'm being taken advantage of."
"I understand what you mean," she nodded. "People who take the initiative to show affection usually do so because they appreciate certain qualities in the other person. So if a woman always remains passive, then most of the time, she's destined to only find men who are inferior to her?"
"That's what I mean," Ye Xin nodded repeatedly, then suddenly sighed, "Well... although it sounds very high-sounding, I mainly use this theory to brainwash myself and convince myself that it's not impossible to actively pursue men."
"Hey, do you remember what you said at the bar last Saturday?" Liang Zhiyao shook his head repeatedly when he saw her struggling. "Didn't you say women can also play games? If you take it too seriously, you'll lose."
"Everyone can talk about it, but it's easier said than done..." She threw her phone away in a self-deprecating manner, "Let's talk about it later... Anyway, I usually get into it quickly and get off it even faster. Maybe in a few days I'll even forget what he looks like."
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