Just as Zhenxiu had finished her job, her boss returned in what was best described as a very drunk state. He was quite generous with her pay, giving her forty dollars for half a day of work.
Yang Chen wanted to punch his cocky face so badly but eventually decided against, remembering Zhenxiu’s previous lecture.
She’s right. The people around me might look like me, but they are not like me. Normal human beings have their own ways of dealing with things. I need to realize that and stop acting like a tyrant. Looks like I really have to organize my thoughts. Shouldn’t my cultivations provide me with a more carefree life? Why am I still so troubled? he thought.
Yang Chen still couldn’t understand the source of his cultivation even after reading loads of books from the Tower of Scrolls.
The cultivation he had gotten from the Endless Resolve Restoration Scripture was unlike any other type of cultivation he had seen.
They walked in silence to the car.
Yang Chen was still contemplating how he should apologize to Lin Ruoxi whereas Zhenxiu didn’t want to break the atmosphere.
She chose not to question Yang Chen’s change of car. She assumed it was one of Lin Ruoxi’s cars and he selected it at random.
Yang Chen felt frustrated and when he saw that Zhenxiu wasn’t talking. It made him want to ask for her opinion.
Just when he was about to start talking, he heard a weird noise coming from beside him…
Zhenxiu covered her belly while blushing.
Yang Chen was confused at the noise. “Zhenxiu, you haven’t had your dinner, have you?”
Zhenxiu nodded awkwardly and said, “I was too busy so I forgot to eat…”
Yang Chen frowned. “What do you want to eat? I’ll buy it for you. Think of it as the fee for your lecture.”
Zhenxiu rolled her eyes at him. “What are you talking about, fees and whatnot…”
“That’s not the point, just tell me where you want to eat.” Yang Chen smiled.
Zhenxiu bit her lip and answered, “Turn right in front to the late-night supermarket there. It has Korean instant noodles and seaweed wrapped rice, let’s eat there.”
“What? Instant noodles? Seaweed wrapped rice?” Yang Chen’s lips twitched. But he gave anyways upon seeing Zhenxiu’s serious face.
It seemed that her background had more of an influence on her choices than he thought.
After deciding to eat at the supermarket, Yang Chen accompanied her to get her favorite kimchi flavored instant noodles and a box of seaweed wrapped rice.
They sat outside the supermarket while waiting for the instant noodles to be cooked.
It looked rather silly of them to wait for a bowl of instant noodles to be cooked late at night, but Zhenxiu looked rather excited at the thought of it.
Yang Chen couldn’t help but ask, “Zhenxiu, what should I say to Ruoxi so that she will forgive me?”
She was licking her lips hungrily and she frowned at his question. “Why should you have to explain anything?”
“I shouldn’t? So I should pretend as if nothing had happened?”
Zhenxiu replied, “What I meant to say is there is no point in you trying to explain yourself. Brother Yang, do you really think Sister Ruoxi really wants to listen to your long-winded explanations?”
Yang Chen was confused. “Then what does she want to hear?”
Zhenxiu looked at him hopelessly and sighed. “She’s furious at you right now. Any explanations you make will come across as you trying to tell her that she has no reason to be mad. It would only sound like she was asking for it. All you can do now is apologize to her and hope to be forgiven.”
Yang Chen contemplated for a while and said hesitantly, “So I should beg her?”
“You’re the one who didn’t settle things right so what’s wrong with that? I thought guys had a big heart?” Zhenxiu said, “Girls don’t respond well to reason when they are upset. If I were you I wouldn’t have walked out of the office. I would have begged and kept apologizing until she forgives me! If she scolds you, you should listen. Better yet, you should reprimand yourself. If she hits you, stay still. She wouldn’t hit you too hard anyway. If she kicks you out, stay no matter what. Don’t care about others, she’s your wife so why care about what other people think?”
Yang Chen gulped. “Zhenxiu, where did you learn all this from?”
Zhenxiu rolled her eyes. “Brother Yang, you really are simple-minded. Look at all the Taiwanese and Korean dramas. The male lead actors might act all macho in the beginning but would throw their egos aside in front of their women. You can be strong in front of everyone else but why would you do that in front of your wife?”
Yang Chen nodded numbly. It felt like he had been out of touch for years. Generation gap? It couldn’t be. He wasn’t even 25 yet!
But those dramas all sound very exaggerated. Yang Chen thought, scratching his head.
The instant noodles were served after a while and Zhenxiu opened up the seaweed wrapped rice. She counted them and said, “Brother Yang, there are five pieces in here and each of us gets two pieces. What should we do with the last piece?”
Yang Chen answered nonchalantly, “You can just eat it, why bother asking me?”
“How could we do that? It’s like I made you give it to me. You said we were friends so why should you let me have it?” Zhenxiu pouted and complained.
Yang Chen smiled bitterly. “Alright if you’re bothered then I’ll have it.”
“No!” Zhenxiu shook her head. “Why don’t we play rock, paper, scissors? The winner gets to eat.”
Yang Chen was caught off guard. “You want me to play a child’s game with you for it?”
“Why? Are you scared?” Zhenxiu taunted him.
Yang Chen had already been called a simple-minded person, he couldn’t let go after being taunted like this.
“Alright I’ll play but the loser has to be flicked on the forehead!” Yang Chen said.
Zhenxiu pounded the table. “Okay! But let me tell you now, I was dubbed the ‘King of Foreheads’ in the orphanage!”
Yang Chen rolled up his sleeves. “Stop talking and let’s start!”
Others would have thought they were idiots if they saw them but they were very serious about it.
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”
Yang Chen showed rock and Zhenxiu showed scissors.
Zhenxiu’s face went green as she pouted. “Hmph, you got lucky. I guess God took pity on you for getting scolded by Sister Ruoxi. Come!”
Yang Chen didn’t hesitate and flicked her forehead while wearing a proud smile.
“Ouch!” Zhenxiu covered her forehead and pouted. “Brother Yang, I’m a pretty girl. How can you hit me so hard? It hurts!”
It was incredibly painful even though he didn’t use a lot of strength.
“Which pretty girl on earth would call themselves one? Let me tell you, we don’t cheat in this house and bluffing isn’t allowed either.” Yang Chen laughed wickedly.
Zhenxiu cursed under her breath. “No way, let’s play two more rounds!”
“Again?” Yang Chen was dumbfounded, “Do we really have to do this for a piece of seaweed wrapped rice?”
“This will affect my honor as the ‘King of Foreheads’! How can I treat it lightly?” Zhenxiu huffed.
Yang Chen didn’t really care. “Alright…”
And so they played another round.
Yang Chen showed paper and it was cut by Zhenxiu’s scissors.
“Yay!” Zhenxiu jumped off her chair and ran to Yang Chen. “Okay, don’t move, it’s my turn!”
Yang Chen felt more relaxed seeing her happy face. She really is still a little girl, he thought.
So he closed his eyes and waited for it.
Zhenxiu licked her lips and blew air towards his forehead…
Yang Chen opened his eyes in curiosity. “Zhenxiu, what are you doing? Why are you blowing air?”
Zhenxiu caught his head. “Don’t move, don’t move! It hurts more after doing this! You should lower your guard since I’m a girl.”
Yang Chen was dumbfounded as he thought it wouldn’t hurt no matter how she hit him. But he chose to keep that little bit of information to himself.
So he closed his eyes again and let Zhenxiu do her thing.
Zhenxiu went closer to Yang Chen and was going to blow air, but it felt weird after being interrupted.
Her lips were so near to his face and if she leaned closer, she could kiss his face…
Zhenxiu couldn’t help but think what would happen if she kissed him. Could she have played it off as a reward for picking her up? But he wasn’t her lover so wouldn’t it be weird to kiss him so randomly?
No no no, Sister Ruoxi treats you so well. How could you even think about it? she told herself.
Zhenxiu blushed from her thoughts, her mind jumbled with thoughts as she struggled to decide…
She stood still and even forgot to breathe.
Yang Chen waited for a while but he couldn’t sense anything from Zhenxiu, so he opened his eyes and asked in confusion, “Zhenxiu, what’s wrong? Why’s your face so red?”
Zhenxiu was surprised and she stuttered, “Oh… I’m doing it now.”
After saying that she didn’t care if Yang Chen closed his eyes and immediately flicked his forehead.
She kept quiet as she ran back to her seat and ate her instant noodles without uttering a single word.
Yang Chen asked, “I thought we were playing three rounds? So who’s eating the food if we both scored one?”
“Who cares! We’re not kids so why care about it!” Zhenxiu looked up and grumbled.
Yang Chen’s lips twitched. This girl has such a fickle mind. One moment it was super important to her, the next moment, I’m being called a kid for caring at all.
Yang Chen shook his head and didn’t say anything else. He had to find a chance to apologize to Lin Ruoxi when they got home after eating.