Other people were thinking about what, whether the loser dog was sounding the counterattack trumpet—these things had no impact on Chen Tang and Liu Yan for the time being.
After all, those things hadn’t truly entered their lives.
To be honest, Liu Yan felt his little life was pretty sweet.
Classes every day, playing games, and occasionally getting a little benefits from Chen Tang.
As for Bai Mengling, she hadn’t appeared before them since that day, as if she had vanished from school—one thing that bothered Liu Yan was that Liu Mengmeng had recently started copying Chen Tang too.
Come to think of it, ever since Chen Tang became a girl, it felt like she had unleashed her true nature. When she first became a beautiful girl, she often wore pants.
Now she frequently wore short skirts.
And she also bought some cosplay outfits.
“I set up an account online just for cosplay. You’ll be my photographer, and we’ll use this to earn some pocket money.”
Chen Tang made this suggestion.
“Huh? But I’m not a professional photographer.”
Chen Tang wore an inexplicable smile on her face: “I said you’ll be the photographer, so you’ll be the photographer! Don’t talk back… And don’t think I don’t know what’s going on in your head. If I actually found someone else to be my photographer, you’d start complaining. Then you’d say something like ‘Watch out for people with ulterior motives.’ I don’t want to cause conflict over something like that.”
“…” Liu Yan rubbed his face awkwardly. “Then, wouldn’t it be fine to find a female photographer?”
“Don’t you think finding a female photographer is even more dangerous?” Chen Tang snorted lightly. “Alright! It’s settled! I used to be a man too, so don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking! By making you the photographer, you get to decide which photos to post. That way, I won’t have to worry about you thinking some angle might expose too much, or that someone might take advantage of me—even if you don’t have those kinds of feelings for me, I’m well aware that men tend to see beautiful girls as their own property.”
Liu Yan felt even more embarrassed.
Because he couldn’t refute Chen Tang.
A lot of the time, arguments between girls and guys happen over things like this, precisely because girls find it hard to understand how guys think in this regard.
Even if the photographer she found was truly professional, and even if the guy really did act respectfully and followed the rules, he was still another person documenting the life of his woman.
Every man has a desire that borders on extreme and twisted.
This desire, taken to its extreme, manifests in the emperors of feudal times.
The three palaces and six courtyards shut out everyone else, even for physically demanding tasks that the girls couldn’t handle, they would have to be castrated and sent into the palace—of course, Liu Yan wasn’t about to push his desires to that point. But Chen Tang had indeed considered this issue well.
This left Liu Yan unable to say anything “sanctimonious,” because since Chen Tang had already said that, claiming “I’m not that kind of person” or “I don’t care about that” would sound too fake. Liu Yan wasn’t thick-skinned enough for that.
“Speaking of which, didn’t Mengmeng say she wanted dry pot today?”
Chen Tang nodded: “Yeah, she specifically asked for small sausages, chicken wings, spare ribs, and shrimp—most restaurants at most do dual combinations, but she wants all four!”
“The sweet small sausages are really just a side dish. I think we still have lotus root slices, potato slices at home, plus some celery and wood ear mushrooms. If we mix them all together, it should be pretty nutritious.”
“Are you planning to recruit Mengmeng as a coser too?”
“Huh? What are you talking about, coser? It’s just some side work to earn pocket money. You know my parents aren’t like yours.”
Chen Tang’s family, surprisingly, was from a scholarly background.
Both her parents were faculty staff. Her mom taught middle school, her dad taught high school… Their income wasn’t low, and they had savings, but when it came to spending money, they were strict with Chen Tang.
Although Liu Yan personally felt that was because Chen Tang had been too troublesome as a child and had lost her parents’ trust, which is why they restricted her spending. His own parents were relatively generous with money.
“Ah! Too bad you missed your chance to cling to a rich woman’s thigh. Otherwise, I might have been able to get some scraps too.”
Liu Yan spread his hands: “No way around it. If they’re just moderately wealthy, that’s manageable, but if they’re too rich, you can’t hold onto them. Hands are only so big; they can’t grasp that much money.”
“But Mengmeng has a softer personality. She probably won’t get involved. Though if it’s just everyday wear, I think she’d be willing to wear it for you.”
“Wait, why would she wear it for me? Don’t girls say they dress for themselves, to please themselves?”
Chen Tang shot him a look: “Anyone who believes that is a *, do you agree or disagree?”
“…That’s a bit extreme.”
“Well, if you don’t go out—say, summer break starts next week—you won’t even bother grooming yourself. If you have no plans to go out today, you won’t even shave! People just want to lie down. If it weren’t for showing off to others, no one would bother getting all dressed up. You actually buy into that ‘dress for yourself’ nonsense? Maybe there are people like that, but I dare say you can’t find one in a hundred. Not even worth considering.”
“Forget it, I can’t argue with you.”
Although Liu Yan felt Chen Tang’s words were a bit extreme, he couldn’t find a good rebuttal for her… Besides, with her beautiful girl face right now, he really didn’t want to hurt her.
I guess good looks really do make a difference.
Looks like he really was a shallow person.
This conclusion was hard for Liu Yan to swallow.
But after thinking about it, he figured it was only natural.
So what if he was shallow? So what if he was a pervert?
It’s not like he’d lose a piece of meat.
Chatting like this, they walked into the kitchen.
Was Chen Tang there to help?
No, not at all. She was just pestering Liu Yan to chat—in Chen Tang’s words, she was afraid Liu Yan would get bored cooking alone. If she just played games while he cooked, she’d feel a bit guilty.
So she wanted to provide Old Liu with some emotional value.
Which meant companion service.
“But Bai Mengling hasn’t jumped out to find you this week. Looks like she got too mad that day and completely gave up on you. Feels like smooth sailing from now on.”
Liu Yan blanched the vegetables in water first, then said: “Sigh, two failed relationships in a row make me wonder if I’m even suited for dating. Maybe I’ll just stop looking? It’s so exhausting.”
“Do you know what your problem is?”
“What?”
Liu Yan asked curiously while preparing the marinade seasoning.
“You’re too fake.”
“Fake?”
Chen Tang stated firmly: “Too fake! With Xia You and Bai Mengling, on the very first day of dating, you should have dragged them to a hotel! Done what couples should do! Just go for it. As they say, the shortcut to a woman’s heart is… And once you’ve succeeded, even if you break up later, you won’t have lost anything. Look at you, playing the nice guy, doing so much for them, and what did you get?
The benefits they gave you weren’t even as much as what I’ve given you.”
“I’m truly grateful to you!”
“You’re welcome, we’re bros.”
Was that a compliment?
Well, I guess so, since I did benefit.
But on the other hand—Chen Tang still wouldn’t do anything more. Every time I enjoyed her benefits, I ended up feeling frustrated too.
I guess pain and pleasure go hand in hand.
But if I actually did something to Chen Tang, I’d feel too beastly. She’s my bro after all, I can’t do that…
Sigh!
Chen Tang had no idea what Liu Yan was thinking. She continued: “Ah, anyway, don’t worry. You’ll find a girlfriend later. You’re not bad. When you take over the family restaurant, you’ll be a little boss!”
“Thinking about that gives me a headache. Your dad gets up at three in the morning to go to the market and buy ingredients, then starts boiling bone broth. It’s used as the base for stir-frying the next day. All kinds of prep… plus maintaining connections.”
“See, if you had clung to the rich woman Bai Mengling’s thigh, you wouldn’t have to worry about all that.”
“No matter how poor a man is, he doesn’t sell himself!”
Chen Tang just laughed.
Anyway, Liu Yan wouldn’t lack a girlfriend. Since he had already broken up with Bai Mengling—even though it happened much earlier than expected—this might not be a bad thing.
After all, before meeting the third heroine, Liu Yan had nearly a year of rest. No matter how heartbroken he was, a year should be enough to dull the pain.
At worst, she could try harder, or get Liu Mengmeng to try harder.
That would work too, right?
So Liu Yan really didn’t need to worry about not finding a girlfriend.
“How’s your review for the final exam going?”
“No problem at all!”
By evening, Liu Mengmeng came back from driving practice. She had just graduated, and her parents had signed her up for driving school—which ruined her plan to travel with her besties. Instead, she had to go out in the scorching sun every day to practice.
She heard she was about to take the second test soon.
“Ah! I’m going to get sunburned to death! I’ll turn into a little black spot!”
“Hey! You finally showed your true colors!”
Chen Tang came out of the kitchen and picked up Liu Mengmeng’s joke: “Don’t worry, no matter how dark you get, your cousin won’t mind.”
“! I, as long as I get my license! I’ll get pale again soon! Sister Tang, you can’t say I’m dark!”
In reality, Liu Mengmeng wasn’t really sunburned. She was just a bit darker than before, but overall, she was still quite fair.
“Wait until your university military training, then talk about getting sunburned. You’ll suffer then.”
“Mm—can I take sick leave?”
She really didn’t want to do military training.
However, unless you had a serious illness, you still had to do it. Even if you had a serious illness—you might not participate in the training, but you’d still have to sit in the shade and watch everyone else train, just to show you participated in the event.
If you were so sick that you couldn’t even do that, then maybe college wasn’t for you.
At that moment, the sizzling sound of meat hitting hot oil came from the kitchen, crackling and popping.
“Mmm! That’s dry pot! I smell bean paste! And hot pot seasoning!”
“Weren’t you talking about it during the day? Your cousin and I had nothing to do today, so we bought the ingredients for dry pot~ You’re so favored! Whatever you say you want to eat, he makes it for you! If it were me, he’d just throw a pack of spicy beef noodles at me!”
“Hehe~” Liu Mengmeng seemed very pleased with this special treatment from her cousin.
Liu Yan stood at the kitchen door: “You’re slandering me again, Chen Tang. When have I ever not made whatever you said you wanted to eat? And now you’re saying I’d just give you spicy beef noodles, like I’m mistreating you.”
What an unappreciative and clueless man.
Chen Tang shot him a glare. Can’t you see I’m trying to help you score points! You had to come out and clarify! Look at you!
Mud that can’t be plastered on the wall! No wonder you got dumped!
After cursing him a bit in her heart, she felt better and said: “Go on, go chat with your cousin in the kitchen! Otherwise, he’ll say we’re freeloaders! I’ll take a break!”
“Okay~”
Liu Mengmeng then went into the kitchen. Soon, the kitchen was filled with Liu Mengmeng complaining to Liu Yan about the troubles from her driving practice today and how harsh the instructor was. Liu Yan responded with laughter while cooking.
Chen Tang sat down on the sofa.
She really liked this kind of life.
It was peaceful, day after day moving forward normally. Study when it’s time to study, play games when it’s time to play games, do whatever needs to be done. Not getting involved in Xia You’s original family, not getting caught up in Bai Mengling’s power struggle—if later on, Liu Yan wasn’t so warmhearted as to help that advisor, that might not be a bad choice either. Although that advisor might face some rather tragic events.
But so what?
There are so many suffering people in the world. Do you have to help them all?
Just live your own life.
She didn’t want to see Liu Yan stabbed over a dozen times.
The thought of Liu Yan lying before her, covered in blood, made her heart ache.
No matter what, when that plot trigger happened later, she had to do something.
Maybe she should prepare in advance.
But on the soil of the Kingdom of Xia, if someone was surrounded by over a dozen thugs—safely getting them out…
That was difficult.
Unless she could predict the time and place in advance, call the police ahead of time, and stall for time.
Otherwise…
She silently filed this matter away in her heart.
Then she saw Liu Yan’s phone light up.
He had gone to cook and left his phone on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
The girl leaned in to look.
“Shi Yiyi?”
She saw the name displayed on the screen, picked up the phone, and pressed “Answer.”
“Hello, is this Liu Yan?”
“Mhm—Liu Yan is cooking. I’m his girlfriend Chen Tang. We’ve met before, Shi Yiyi.”
Chen Tang directly introduced herself as Liu Yan’s girlfriend.
“Ah… Chen Tang, could you please hand the phone to Liu Yan?”
“You can just tell me.”
“…I was hospitalized and received care from Liu Yan. I’d like to thank him by treating him to a meal.”
“Oh? Can I come? After all, I’m his girlfriend. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with him meeting you alone.”
She said these words without hesitation.
On the other end of the line, Shi Yiyi couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She looked awkwardly at Bai Mengling in front of her. Bai Mengling just nodded, signaling her to continue.