Chapter 4
He spread his hands out in front of Li Ye, revealing long, straight fingers, fair skin, and warm palms, thus declaring that his hands were uninjured.
With a weight lifted from his shoulders, Li Ye relaxed and took Zhou Yuan's hand as they walked out of the residential area. Zhou Yuan obediently followed behind Li Ye, his gaze occasionally sweeping over their clasped hands, lost in thought.
"The job you found is still related to music, right? Then you still need to take good care of your hands, just like before. I can only say that it's fortunate that you didn't get injured this time."
Perhaps sensing that the matter was somewhat related to her, Li Ye intentionally became more talkative.
"I know." Zhou Yuan hadn't fully recovered from his thoughts that morning, and now he needed to add details of their interactions for further reference.
"The hand cream they gave you is good, does Li use it?"
Zhou Yuan particularly dislikes adding subjects when he speaks, which easily leads to unnecessary misunderstandings during communication. Fortunately, over the years, Li Ye has gotten used to it and has his own way of distinguishing between them.
"Is this a birthday present for you? The hand cream inside was buy one get one free. I liked it, so I put the remaining one in the gift box for you."
"We celebrate birthdays every year anyway, and we exchange gifts all the time. We've known each other for so long, we've run out of ideas for what to give," Li Ye muttered to himself. "So you're doing the same thing again this year?"
"It will be quite different."
The unexpected answer caused her to turn her head in surprise. Li Ye met a pair of eyes looking at her. Zhou Yuan was looking at what she had just said and realized that she had just been confessed to by this person. She quickly turned her head back.
Fortunately, they were almost at their destination. After entering the supermarket, Li Ye took her hand out to push the shopping cart and belatedly realized that the two of them had been holding hands all the way here, and that she had taken her hand first.
Li Ye's face turned unusually red in an instant. He pushed the shopping cart towards the fresh food section as if he were running away, so much so that he did not notice that Zhou Yuan's ear tips behind him had also turned as red as blood.
The temperature in the fresh food section calmed her down a bit, and Li Ye began to select ingredients according to the dishes she had planned.
It's a bit chilly, so we'll have hot pot for dinner. First, I need to buy some meat—pork belly and tenderloin. We still have some glass noodles at home, so I'll grab a head of cabbage. The chrysanthemum greens are very fresh, so I'll get a bunch too. Two blocks of tofu, keeping one to make frozen tofu, and some lettuce and potatoes that hold up well to cooking. Two bags of dried bean curd sticks, since we've used them up, and some of each kind of meatball.
With dinner ingredients sorted, Li Ye hesitated as she looked at the shopping cart, which was already half full. She had originally planned to buy more fruit and snacks, but that would be too much. She had wanted to ask Zhou Yuan to help her carry it back with her, but now she figured she'd just leave it at the supermarket counter.
"Is there anything else you haven't bought?"
After completing the task assigned by his mother, Zhou Yuan suddenly appeared pushing a shopping cart. Apart from soy sauce and vinegar, the cart was full of snacks, the kind that Zhou Yuan often ate and that Li Ye loved.
"I was originally planning to ask you to help me take them back later, and leave the things at your place while I go eat. But now that I see I've bought a lot of things from both places, I'll just take them back myself."
"Not much, and not heavy either. Restocking snacks?" Currently, these are still within the weight limit that Li Ye can bear on Zhou Yuan's hands, but Zhou Yuan thinks the upper limit can be increased a bit.
“Fruits and snacks, plus all that, will add up to a lot of weight.” Li Ye disagreed, especially since the mouse had just been broken that morning.
Changing his approach, Zhou Yuan invited Li Ye, "Let's go back together. Li, come to my house for dinner?"
Li Ye quickly refused: "No need. You just got home. Your aunt and uncle will have a lot to talk about, so I won't join them."
"Okay, I'll take out the snacks separately and help you carry them over. These have sharp edges, and it's easy to bump your legs if you carry them."
Zhou Yuan could only nod in agreement with difficulty. Fortunately, the main objective had been achieved. The two sorted the supplies at the supermarket counter, Li Ye searched for familiar restaurants on both sides of the street, and Zhou Yuan went inside to go home.
He was only asked to buy soy sauce and vinegar, and when he came home he brought back an excessive amount of snacks. Zhou's mother frowned, but didn't say anything because her son had just returned home.
During the meal, with the usual three dishes and soup laid out on the table, Zhou Yuan suddenly asked out of the blue, "You guys have something you want to say to me?"
Although I gave birth to my son, I can't always figure out what he's thinking.
Li Ye found a small restaurant he frequented, mainly a common choice when Teacher Li treated him to dinner on weekends. It was a very good restaurant, so he ordered a plate of stir-fried pork and a bowl of mutton soup.
While waiting for the food to be served, Li Ye took out her phone to see how many messages Ye Tinglan had sent her. She had been holding her phone, which was vibrating constantly, all the way in the dead of winter, afraid that if she put it in her pocket, people would misunderstand that she was carrying something unspeakable.
Anzhitinglan: Where is everyone?
Anzhitinglan: Why aren't you replying to my messages?
Anzhitinglan: Are you eating?
Anzhi Tinglan: Never mind
Anzhitinglan: I'll post this first to let it all out.
Anzhi Tinglan: Of the four, only Yaoyao hadn't shown any romantic feelings. @Yaoyao Pill
Looking up at the chat partner, Witch's House (4), a group chat of four people, this was during Yao Yao's lunch break at work, so she naturally received this series of messages.
Yao Yao Pills: What happened?
Yao Yao Pills: @Anzhitinglan What do you mean by "it's just me" and "it has nothing to do with romance"? I'm playing a romance game right now, okay?
Yao Yao Pills: @BirdStartled, do you have a boyfriend?
Yao Yao Pill: I can't even imagine what you'd be like in a relationship.
Yao Yao Pill: Is he that tall, handsome childhood friend with a really nice voice?
Anzhitinglan: You can remember it so clearly, that's really cool.
Anzhitinglan: Lili should be eating. I'll send you the chat history.
Yao Yao Pills: I get it @BirdStartled, you need a love strategist, right!
Anzhitinglan: Is this a cunning strategist? A hopeless romantic!
...
Yao Yao Pills: Ugh, I have to go to work this afternoon!
Yao Yao Pills: You guys need to chat in the group chat, I'm going to stalk you!
Yao Yao Pills: I don't want to go to work!!!
Yao Yao Pills: Throwing a tantrum.jpg
It would indeed have that effect if the two of them were chatting, which was a miscalculation. But he couldn't turn off the vibration for incoming messages, and turning on the sound would make it even noisier. Fortunately, the chat content wasn't very informative, and all the dishes he ordered had been served. Li Ye put away his phone and focused on eating.
Carrying something in each hand, Li Ye made his way from the supermarket counter to his doorstep. Luckily, the building had an elevator. After returning home, Li Ye quickly put the dinner ingredients and fruit back in their places. Just as he was collapsing on the sofa to regain his strength, he remembered that there were still snacks left at Zhou Yuan's house.
"Thump—! Thump—! Thump—!"
This was the knocking sound that Zhou Yuan and I had agreed upon when we visited each other as children: three long knocks for Zhou Yuan, and two short knocks for Li Ye. Sure enough, Zhou Yuan answered the door very quickly, as if he had been waiting there.
"It's been a long time since I've visited your home."
After entering, I looked around and felt that the layout hadn't changed much. However, I didn't see the Zhou family patriarch. There was only Zhou Yuan in the living room. Li Ye usually only came over to play when Zhou Yuan was home. Otherwise, he wouldn't go to upset Ms. Li for no reason.
"Go get some snacks."
Zhou Yuan led the person to the living room, probably realizing that Li Ye had only come to get snacks, and after giving him a brief explanation, he went back to the bedroom to get his things.
"Buzz!"
Another message notification came in, this time a new email from Zhou Yuan. It contained the house viewing information we had agreed on that morning. Li Ye turned off his phone; such a large attachment would have to wait until he got home to look at it.
Looking up again, Zhou Yuan had already brought the things out. Li Ye picked out two puddings from the snacks that were handed to him and put them back in Zhou Yuan's hand. "Here, a thank you gift for helping out. Or you can pick a few you like."
Zhou Yuan took another chocolate bar, and while tearing open the wrapper, casually asked, "What is Li doing after graduation?"
"When I first graduated, the three of us went on a two-month trip together. You should know that."
Zhou Yuan nodded. In that short period of time, he also received many promotional pictures from various travel agencies sent by his mother.
"I spend the rest of my time at home, occasionally going out for a stroll around the neighborhood, just within Ms. Li's limits."
"But that's probably not what you're asking about. Let me think. During this time, I've been learning to make clothes, cook, bake, and even arrange flowers. In short, I've only learned a little bit of each thing, trying to cultivate a hobby, but it's just something to pass the time."
"Ms. Li said that I have no self-control, and I start wasting money as soon as I make it, without any sense of thrift."
Li Ye rarely looks people in the eye, but he's had so many times with Zhou Yuan these past two days that he's even starting to get used to it.
"And what about you, Zhou Yuan? How have you been lately?"
Perhaps wanting to be more serious, Zhou Yuan unusually took Li Ye's hand and led him to sit on the sofa near the master bedroom, where they began to talk face to face.
"I contacted a senior alumnus who graduated from the college. It's a newly established department in the company, and the senior alumnus is in charge. We've collaborated before, and this time it's for recruitment."
Li Ye nodded to indicate that he understood; it was the company he had mentioned yesterday.
"That's a game company. The song I wrote for you in high school was game music. You still like games now, so this job is a good fit for you."
"I've been playing the violin for a long time, but I don't want to play it for the rest of my life, and I don't hate playing the violin. This gives me an option outside of their circle."
"I'm very happy, thank you for giving me this opportunity."
Li Ye once again fled from Zhou Yuan's side, rushed home with a bag of snacks, collapsed on the sofa, and couldn't get up for a long time until the alarm clock and video call rang at two o'clock in the afternoon.
After Zhou Yuan had finished his meal and stayed in the living room, Zhou's mother, preoccupied with something, pulled Zhou's father back to the master bedroom for a nap. After a while, they heard the sound of the front door opening and closing.
Immediately following was the sound of Zhou Yuan and Li Ye talking in the living room. Zhou's mother quietly opened the bedroom door and eavesdropped on the two children's conversation through the crack in the door.
At first, Li Ye's speech was fine, but when her son started speaking, Zhou's mother felt more and more uneasy. It seemed that he wasn't just speaking to Xiao Ye, but also to her, the mother who had been making him play the violin, and his teacher.
Sure enough, after seeing Li Ye off, Zhou Yuan walked to the door of the master bedroom and knocked twice, probably to have a conversation between mother and son.
This kid, I don't know when he started to be so cunning. The reminder I gave him this morning probably wasn't that important. This kid is probably keeping a closer eye on people than I thought.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
