Chapter 62: The Song of Taotie (II) Sisyphus's Pie. ...
Li Mai explained to Zhang Deng, "Ban Mian is just a name. Actually, adding noodles to the hot pot at the end makes it more fragrant."
Zhang Deng glanced at his phone. He hadn't received any notification that changes were needed yet. Li Mai said, "Just leave now. We'll save you the trouble."
She also opened her phone and planned to order some takeout to treat herself while everyone was off work.
Today I really need to comfort myself with food. Li Mai looked at pictures of pig's trotters all day and ordered a pig's trotter rice for myself in the evening, with a fried egg and vegetables.
Zhang Deng went to look for Wei Yuanye after work. He found Wei Yuanye getting dressed and packing up his computer. Zhang Deng said, "Let's go?"
Wei Yuanye said: "I'm working overtime today."
Zhang Deng: “?”
A man saw that Wei Yuanye had packed up and urged, "Let's go and take measurements on site."
Wei Yuanye patted his shoulder and said, "Eat something yourself, don't wait for me."
Zhang Deng said, "You're working overtime on the first day."
Wei Yuanye slung his laptop bag over his shoulder and gestured with a cell phone: "Call."
Zhang Deng was speechless. He could still hear the man mumbling to Wei Yuanye, "Do you two know each other?"
Zhang Deng and Wei Yuanye's residence is near their workplace. For convenience, they directly found a hotel and paid monthly, which cost less than 200 yuan a day.
The prices here are similar to those in Zhang Deng's world, only a little higher. He treated Li Mai and milk tea to lunch, and invited more than ten people, spending nearly three hundred yuan.
The two of them had been wandering in this world for almost a week. It was Wei Yuanye who finally felt that something was wrong with the big screen. He also heard a driver say that he had picked up a girl who looked very similar to the person on the big screen. The two of them felt that this matter was a bit strange, so they found Li Mai.
It was surprisingly easy to find a slightly plump and pretty girl in the entire entrepreneurial park. Zhang Deng realized that people in this world were also tortured by the concepts of "thinness" and "beauty".
Zhang Deng has not yet felt any reflection of the low-magic setting in this world. They were not given Kunlun wood in this mission, and Wei Yuanye also said it was not necessary.
At around seven o'clock, Zhang Deng received a notice saying that his slogan was not up to standard and needed to be rewritten. Zhang Deng didn't take it seriously. He looked for takeout for a long time but couldn't find anything he wanted to eat. He ate two slices of bread he bought when he first arrived. He didn't know if it was expired, but it tasted pretty good anyway.
Zhang Deng felt as if he had returned to the days when he used to go to work. There was really nothing to miss. Going to work itself was against human nature.
He turned on the computer and wrote something. When he looked at the time again, it was already half past eight and Wei Yuanye had not returned yet.
Zhang Deng sent him a question mark, and Wei Yuanye replied quickly: "On the way."
Zhang Deng thought that the workload of people with a monthly salary of 8,000 and 4,000 is indeed different.
Wei Yuanye came back with a bag of snacks. Zhang Deng jumped out of bed, opened the bag, and asked, "What are they?"
But in fact, he had already found some bread, cakes, marshmallows, and some other snacks that he couldn't tell what they were because of the light. They might be snacks unique to this place.
Zhang Deng asked, "Didn't you eat?"
"You ate some noodles." Wei Yuanye still smelled of cold air. He took off his clothes and said, "I think you might not have eaten."
Zhang Deng: "...How do you know?"
He opened the cake and took a bite. It was incredibly delicious, and it was obvious that it was expensive. Zhang Deng asked, "Why did you buy so many high-calorie foods?"
Wei Yuanye said, "Aren't these all your favorite foods?"
Zhang Deng was speechless.
He did like to eat high-calorie food, but how could he tell Wei Yuanye? Liking to eat did not mean he had to own it. After all, it was already nine o'clock in the evening.
Zhang Deng said, "Don't buy it next time."
This time I could only eat it with tears.
No matter what time it was, the first thing Wei Yuanye did when he got home was to take a shower. After he came out of the hot shower, Zhang Deng ate half of the cake and waited for him eagerly for a long time.
"Share, share." Zhang Deng was about to give it to him to eat, but Wei Yuanye said, "I've already brushed my teeth."
Zhang Deng was disgusted by the rule that one cannot eat after brushing one's teeth: "Can I only brush my teeth once?"
"Good question." Wei Yuanye said casually while sitting in a chair and blowing his hair, "It's mainly because I don't feel like eating."
"You are really hateful."
Wei Yuanye raised his eyebrows and looked at him.
Zhang Deng said, "You should be self-disciplined, and then feed me these every day."
Wei Yuanye said, "You don't have to eat it."
Zhang Deng took a bite of cake with tears in his eyes: "I can't."
"If you can't finish it, save it," Wei Yuanye said, "I'll try it tomorrow morning."
"I observed her today," Zhang Deng said, holding his computer and looking at Wei Yuanye. "She's very normal and her emotions are very stable."
Wei Yuanye leaned on the bed, opened his phone, found a random game and clicked on it, saying, "That's great."
"You seem to be giving me a hard time."
"Because you are working." Wei Yuanye said.
Zhang Deng was indeed talking to him while writing, and Zhang Deng also knew that it was often difficult for him to be distracted when writing, and he often said something without finishing the previous one.
Zhang Deng suddenly turned off the computer.
Wei Yuanye glanced at him, and Zhang Deng said seriously: "I haven't spoken to you for a day. We need to cultivate our relationship."
Wei Yuanye laughed and asked, "How to train it?"
Zhang Deng thought for a moment and asked, "Is your work hard?"
Wei Yuanye also thought about it, and seemed to measure the standard of "hardship" in his mind. Wei Yuanye said: "Maybe a little."
Zhang Deng felt that Wei Yuanye had developed a psychological problem: "Don't you even know if you're tired?"
This question really stumped Wei Yuanye, and he looked a little confused.
"You're a human being too. You need to rest," Zhang Deng said. "You can't keep working until you can't do it anymore and then feel tired."
Wei Yuanye readily agreed: "Okay."
"Are you so obedient?" Zhang Deng felt puzzled.
Wei Yuanye asked, "When did I become rebellious?"
Zhang Deng recalled it and it seemed to be true. Wei Yuanye did listen to him more.
There wasn't much to say about the day they were lighting the lanterns. Soon, the two of them were staring at each other, and there was even a bit of awkwardness. Wei Yuanye said, "Why do you have to chat? You can do whatever you want."
Zhang Deng said, "But relationships need to be managed. We can't become strangers. Even if we're together every day, it won't work if we don't communicate verbally."
Wei Yuanye asked curiously, "Where did you hear this?"
Zhang Deng has too many theories in his mind.
Zhang Deng said, "I read it in a book."
"Because my family of origin was unhappy, it's easy for me to inherit their pain and repeat the family tragedy. This is called intergenerational inheritance," Zhang Deng said. "So I have to get rid of all the shortcomings in their relationship and manage our relationship well."
Wei Yuanye said: "Okay, let's run it."
"Date," Wei Yuanye said, "Do you want to go?"
Zhang Deng hesitated a little: "I have to go to work tomorrow."
"Forget it," Zhang Deng thought. Maintaining a relationship requires time and money. "Let's go."
The two of them put on their clothes again, one layer at a time, and then left the hotel at 9:15 in the evening without any plan.
Zhang Deng also asked: "Where are we going?"
Wei Yuanye glanced at the sky and said, "It looks like it's going to snow."
"Shall we take a walk?" Zhang Deng asked, "to see if we can wait for snow, which should be the first snow."
The two of them walked hand in hand under the colorful street lights. Fortunately, there was no wind tonight. Although the temperature was still very low, they could still hold on by sticking close to each other and shrinking their necks. They walked slowly, sweated, and no longer felt cold.
Zhang Deng expressed his own important opinion: "As long as you get moving, you won't feel bothered."
However, Wei Yuanye had never had any problems with starting up. He found it difficult to empathize with many of Zhang Deng's topics and just nodded.
Zhang Deng looked at the sky and asked curiously, "Do you like snow?"
After he finished asking, he felt that his question was redundant. Sure enough, Wei Yuanye said, "I don't like it."
Zhang Deng: "...Aren't you supposed to be indifferent? Any weather is fine."
"It's difficult to walk in the snow," Wei Yuanye said. "It delays progress, wastes time, and it's also dirty."
"Oh my god," Zhang Deng said, "you just said it was going to snow, and you actually told me that as bad news?"
"No," Wei Yuanye said, "I think you will like it."
Zhang Deng was silent for a moment, and he admitted that he was cheaply moved by this sentence.
Zhang Deng has always been wary of falling into cheap self-admiration, but there is still a long way to go to put it into practice.
They didn't know many roads, so they walked until they arrived at the company building. Zhang Deng looked at the few lights that were still on, and suddenly remembered something. He said, "Wait a minute..."
In the office, a girl was sitting on an office chair, almost unrecognizable. Her lumbar spine could no longer support her body. She slumped in the chair, about to slide down, her eyes still fixed on the computer.
There was a noise at the office door, but Li Mai didn't take it seriously, thinking it must be a colleague leaving get off work.
Another cup of coffee was placed on her desk. Li Mai was startled and pulled her thoughts back from the sky. She looked up and saw Zhang Deng smiling at her and asked, "I guessed that you might not have finished get off work yet."
Li Mai said: "You..."
Her eyes swept over the man behind him, and Zhang Deng introduced him to her: "He's another newcomer, from the project department."
Li Mai got a headache when he heard these two words and said, "So it's you."
Zhang Deng glanced at the screen and asked, "Isn't it finished yet?"
"Almost there," Li Mai said, feeling a little exhausted. He took a sip of his coffee and said, "I'll leave after I finish this."
Zhang Deng said, "I think it's already very beautiful."
Li Mai pursed her lips, a habitual action of hers, and said, "It has to be more distinctive."
Li Mai positions herself as a person who is serious about her work. She hopes that everyone can recognize her abilities and that every client can be satisfied with her designs. She has indeed put in a lot of effort for this.
Li Mai looked at them again: "Why did you come back? Do you two already know each other?"
"Yes," Zhang Deng put his arm on Wei Yuanye's shoulder and said, "We just happened to pass by the company."
Li Mai took off the lid of the coffee and threw it away, then held the cup to his lips and said, "That's great! I'm the kind of person who feels unlucky when I pass by the entrance of my workplace."
Li Mai had been wearing makeup for too long. She could feel that her nose was oily and her makeup was mottled. In fact, for a single woman, showing this state in front of two handsome guys was a very devastating thing. Li Mai criticized herself in her heart, but she also felt that neither of these two men would like her.
No man would like her now. She weighs over 140 pounds, has little savings, no car or house, an unstable job, is approaching old age, and is really not "economically feasible".
Li Mai finished his coffee in one gulp, turned off the computer, and asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
"Hmm?" Zhang Deng wanted to say something, then changed his tone and said, "Not yet. I was just about to go out to find something to eat."
Li Mai said, "Let me treat you guys. Just a quick bite. We have to go to work tomorrow."
Zhang Deng said, "I'll treat you."
"Let's save some money," Li Mai said, "whoever earns more can treat me, and you can treat me when you get a raise later.
There is an employee cafeteria downstairs that is open until the early morning. When they went there at this time, there were still quite a few people there.
Although Zhang Deng had suffered from the overtime culture before, it was still much milder than here. Their department heads probably wouldn't last more than three episodes here before they'd start complaining about being tired.
Zhang Deng was not actually very hungry, he just ordered a bowl of noodles. Wei Yuanye seemed to have a normal appetite as well, but in order to have a common topic with Li Mai, he ordered a bowl of the same red thing as Li Mai, which looked very similar to malatang, and was called fresh food here.
Zhang Deng remembered that Li Mai had ordered food when he left, but it seemed that he had turned his grief and anger into appetite.
Li Mai looked at Zhang Deng eating noodles one by one from the bowl and said, "You eat so little, no wonder you're thin."
Zhang Deng said, "I've gained almost 20 kilograms."
"How thin were you before?"
"One hundred and one," Zhang Deng said, "when I was at my thinnest."
Li Mai asked, "How did you do that? Did you eat?"
Zhang Deng said, "Basically, I don't eat much. I eat very little."
Li Mai: "How about you now? Have you gained weight again?"
"A little bit," Zhang Deng said, "Do you think I need to lose more weight?"
Li Mai studied him for a moment and said, "You'd look better if you were thinner, but... do you have a lover?"
"have."
"Then goodbye," Li Mai said indifferently, "Everyone is bound to gain weight again in this life. The end of losing weight is to gain weight again or die. You just have to live like this."
Zhang Deng asked, "Are you also losing weight?"
Li Mai said: "I may be like this for the rest of my life."
Without waiting for Zhang Deng to ask, she said, "I'm so tired from work, it's impossible for me not to eat."
And Zhang Deng saw what she hadn't finished saying - she had an eating disorder.
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