Chapter 7 Give and Take
Shi Yanchen ate his meal quietly, occasionally pointing out problems in the code: "The data structure here needs to be redesigned. The efficiency is too low."
"But the workload of reconstruction is too heavy..." said a tall and thin boy with a frown.
"Then work overtime." Shi Yanchen said calmly, his tone leaving no room for doubt.
He paused and put a piece of twice-cooked pork into his bowl: "It must be completed before the thesis defense."
The other members of the project team looked at each other, but with the comfort of delicious food, the atmosphere was not so tense.
"Come to think of it, Leon, your coding style has become much gentler recently." The blond man with glasses suddenly said, "You used to be very sharp when reviewing."
Shi Yanchen glanced at him and said, "Concentrate on eating."
"It must be because the food is good that my mood is better." The brown-haired girl smiled and tried to smooth things over, "Spencer, this fish is really delicious!"
Pei Song thanked him with a smile and was about to go to the kitchen to get some more tableware, but he saw Shi Yanchen had silently stood up and brought the seasonings for him.
The project team's discussion continued, with the topic switching between academics and food from time to time.
Shi Yanchen kept a serious expression throughout the whole process, but every time Pei Song glanced at him, he could see that the amount of twice-cooked pork in his bowl was steadily decreasing.
It was not until after ten o'clock in the evening that the project team members left one after another.
Shi Yanchen saw them to the door and returned to the living room, where he saw Pei Song clearing the dishes.
"Let me do it." He took the plate from Pei Song, "You've worked hard."
Pei Song shook his head: "Nothing, I like cooking anyway."
"Thank you." Shi Yanchen looked at him silently for a while, and said: "But next time they come, you don't have to prepare so much."
He returned to his room, walked into the kitchen, and took out a delicate paper bag from his bag: "This is for you."
Pei Song was a little surprised: "This is..."
"I went to Switzerland for a meeting last week and bought these chocolates." Shi Yanchen said calmly, "It's a thank you gift today."
Pei Song opened the paper bag and found a box of famous Swiss handmade truffle chocolates.
He remembered that when he was browsing Instagram a few days ago, the brand had just released a limited edition.
"Thank you, but really, you don't need to..."
"I'm used to doing things in a give-and-take manner." Shi Yanchen interrupted him and continued to clean up the dishes. "Your cooking skills are indeed very professional. The project team is very satisfied."
After cleaning up the kitchen, Pei Song returned to his room and found that he had been followed by people from the project team on Instagram.
He smiled as he looked through the messages and noticed that Shi Yanchen's account was also on the follow list.
The avatar is a screenshot of the code, and the homepage only has a few paper links, which is a typical style of science and engineering students.
The latest post is a photo of the food on the table tonight, with a simple caption: "Perfect
dinner."
Pei Song turned off his phone and began to prepare course materials for tomorrow.
This way of getting along made him feel very comfortable. Both of them kept a proper distance, not disturbing each other but taking care of each other.
The next half month was exceptionally peaceful.
Shi Yanchen still goes out early and comes back late every day, and occasionally brings the project team's discussions back home.
Pei Song, on the other hand, researches new dishes in his spare time, and his number of followers on Instagram has exceeded 150,000.
Their relationship was getting better and better, until half a month later, late at night, when a loud noise was heard in the quiet apartment.
At 11 o'clock in the evening, Pei Song was editing the food video in his room when he heard a familiar British accent coming from the corridor: "Spencer!
I
know
you're
here!
e
down!"
The voice made him freeze. It was James.
He stood up reluctantly and looked out through the peephole cautiously.
James stood staggering in the corridor, holding a bottle of wine in his hand.
"Which room are you in?" James' voice became hoarse. "We need to talk!"
Pei Song took a few steps back in panic and almost bumped into the desk. He didn't expect James to find this place.
The door of the study was pushed open, and Shi Yanchen walked out with a gloomy face, obviously startled by the noise in the corridor.
"What's going on?" he asked coldly.
Pei Song opened his mouth, but didn't know how to explain.
At this moment, James started yelling again: "Spencer, you can't just hide from me like this! That night was an accident..."
Shi Yanchen frowned even more tightly.
He glanced outside, then turned and stared at Pei Song: "Someone I know."
Pei Song lowered his head and said in a barely audible voice: "Former roommate..."
"So you brought this dubious person here." Shi Yanchen's tone suddenly turned cold. "I thought you would know better than this."
"No..." Pei Song wanted to explain eagerly, but when the words came to his lips he didn't know where to start.
You can't say it was because my former roommate tried to kiss me after getting drunk.
"I don't care what problems you have," Shi Yanchen said coldly, "but I don't want this to happen again. This is a high-end residential area, not a place for people to cause trouble at will."
Pei Song bit his lower lip tightly, his nails digging deep into his palm.
Shi Yanchen saw that he was still in a state of fear, and his expression eased a little: "If you have any trouble, you can just tell me."
Just as Pei Song was hesitating whether to tell everything, the security guard had already noticed the commotion.
James' voice faded away, but before he left, he shouted, "Spencer, we have to talk this out sooner or later!"
The next day, just after class, Shi Yanchen heard a few students in front of him chatting.
"Hey, have you heard? That very good-looking Chinese student seems to be entangled by his roommate from Country Y."
"Ah? Is that the super popular food blogger on Instagram? I've seen him before, and his looks are like something out of a comic book!"
"Yeah, his former roommate got drunk and tried to kiss him, but he used Chinese Kung Fu to subdue her. He's been harassed ever since..."
Shi Yanchen paused.
"That Y countryman seems to have a background, so no one has ever taken care of this matter. How pitiful..."
Shi Yanchen returned to the office and dialed a number directly: "Hello, help me find a person, a Y countryman named James, who used to live in the XX dormitory area..."
After hanging up the phone, he dialed another number: "Well, I need your help. ..."