"Apples don't satisfy hunger. And if you eat an apple right after brushing your teeth, your teeth will feel sensitive."
Shang Yechu swallowed back the words, "How about you bury your head in the toilet and have a big meal?" and asked, "What do you want to eat?"
"casual."
It felt like all the blood in my body was flowing into my brain.
"There's only bread," Shang Yechu issued her ultimatum. "Eat or go hungry."
Sheng Wenzhi shrugged: "Okay. How did you sleep last night? I didn't go to bed until seven o'clock."
Shang Yechu glanced at him sideways: "You went to bed at seven last night and woke up at one this afternoon? Have you developed a sleep addiction?"
“Oh, that’s not accurate,” Sheng Wenzhi corrected. “I didn’t go to sleep until seven this morning.”
As they spoke, the two arrived at the study. Sheng Wenzhi looked around and saw two chairs, so he sat down in the one that looked more comfortable.
"..." After closing the door, Shang Yechu turned around and saw that her beloved rocking rattan chair had been taken over by Sheng Wenzhi.
It seemed that hearing about it always easily ignited Shang Yechu's anger.
Shang Yechu silently repeated "Demolition at the end of the year, demolition at the end of the year, demolition at the end of the year" to himself, "Grandma Hu, Grandma Hu, Grandma Hu, Grandma Hu," "Aunt Lu, Uncle Fan, Aunt Meng, Uncle Ke," several times before suppressing the anger in his heart.
"Here you go." Shang Yechu held up a huge cream bread and tossed it to Sheng Wenzhi. The latter caught it precisely, tore open the wrapper, and sniffed it discreetly.
Sheng Wenzhi picked up a small piece of bread, being extra careful not to let it get covered in cream, and put it in his mouth.
Shang Yechu pulled a chair to sit opposite him. "You eat first, and then we can talk business."
"You might as well just tell me," Sheng Wenzhi said, swallowing a mouthful of bread with difficulty. "This stuff is awful, it's better to talk to you to distract myself."
There's a saying, "When man thinks, God laughs," but Shang Yechu thinks it should be changed to "When Sheng Wen opens his mouth, Shang Yechu gets angry."
If two friends broke up a year ago and met again a year later, they might feel awkward, deliberately ignore each other as if they were strangers, or awkwardly sit down and try to reconcile. Whatever their reaction, it certainly wouldn't be like what Sheng Wenzhi did, acting as if they were in his own home.
Shang Yechu almost suspected that Sheng Wenzhi's brain had some kind of automatic cleanup program that periodically deleted junk files. It seemed that only she herself felt anger, shame, sadness, and loss over that falling out.
Perhaps because he had been stared at by Shang Yechu for too long, Sheng Wenzhi seemed to realize something was amiss. He put down the damned bread, and then—took off his coat.
Shang Yechu couldn't help but focus her gaze on the coat. Sheng Wenzhi rummaged through the inside pocket of the coat, took out a thin book, and handed it to Shang Yechu: "I almost forgot to give this to you."
Shang Yechu took it and saw that it was a small gray book. The cover was thin and torn, and a few faded cursive characters were printed on it—"The Wasteland in the Mirror".
"You haven't finished reading this book yet, have you?" Sheng Wenzhi said. "This book was first edition and first printing in 1998. I checked, and it's very difficult to buy online now."
Shang Yechu stroked the book cover, sensing something was off: "How did you know I hadn't finished reading it?"
Sheng Wenzhi said, "You left a lot of books at my house, and I read them all. I've read most of them, but not this one. I saw that you put a folded piece of paper as a bookmark on page thirty-three."
"You've been rummaging through my things again," Shang Yechu said coldly.
Sheng Wenzhi replied crisply, "Sorry." However, his expression showed no sign of apology.
In just over ten minutes, Shang Yechu was already exhausted. Talking to Sheng Wenzhi was more tiring than filming a movie. How come she hadn't noticed before that Sheng Wenzhi was so difficult to communicate with?
After a moment's thought, Shang Yechu understood the reason for this change.
In the past, Sheng Wenzhi did not regard Shang Yechu as an equal to him. He didn't care what Shang Yechu said or did. It was like a fool giving a normal person a handful of sand and saying it was sugar. The normal person would never be angry. At most, he would throw the sand away after the fool left and wash his hands.
In Sheng Wenzhi's eyes, Shang Yechu used to be a fool. Sheng Wenzhi couldn't be bothered to show any personal interest in Shang Yechu, let alone discuss anything with her. Even if Shang Yechu said 1+1=3, Sheng Wenzhi would just casually say yes—it was pointless to argue with Shang Yechu.
Now that Shang Yechu has progressed from being considered a fool to someone who can communicate, Sheng Wenzhi no longer tolerates or accommodates Shang Yechu—in other words, he has finally revealed his true colors. He treats Shang Yechu with equality, in a manner befitting Sheng Wenzhi.
This is a problem that shouldn't be thought about too much; even thinking about it for a second longer will cause high blood pressure.
Ye Chu hadn't finished reading the book. She stood up, put the book back on the shelf, then sat back down and looked at Sheng Wenzhi.
Even if she disliked this guy, Shang Yechu was willing to try anything for the sake of Happiness Commercial Street.
“You once told me,” Shang Yechu gently tapped the table, “that you wrote a novel, an adventure story about a group of people in a general store?”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
