After Saving My Possessive Best Friend, I Couldn't Escape (GL) - Chapter 21

“I’m sorry,” Fang Zhile said, “Did I say something wrong again?”

Ye Yu swallowed the mutton she was chewing. The taste was delicious, rich yet not heavy. In this warm environment, she naturally had no reason to be upset.

“No,” Ye Yu shook her head. “I just don’t want you to misunderstand.”

“This place is great,” Ye Yu said. “The food is good, the atmosphere is nice, and we can come again next time.”

“Really?” Fang Zhile smiled. “I didn’t expect you to like it.”

Ye Yu let out a soft laugh. “Did you think I would look down on this place?”

“Not exactly,” Fang Zhile explained. “It’s just that I thought you wouldn’t be used to it. And, you know, you’re so particular about cleanliness.”

“It’s not dirty here,” Ye Yu’s eyes curved, her voice soft. “I don’t have OCD.”

Fang Zhile thought about it, and it seemed true. It seemed she was the one who spoiled Ye Yu so meticulously; Ye Yu herself never complained about anything.

As they talked, the two servings of braised rice with sausage were ready. The owner brought them over and also sent a complimentary plate of cold pickles.

“Eat more! Xiaole, high school must be tough!” the owner said with a hearty laugh.

Fang Zhile placed the braised rice with sausage in front of Ye Yu, picked up her chopsticks, and smiled sweetly. “It’s not tough. Students aren’t that tough; it’s just studying, really.”

“Ay, my brat doesn’t see it that way,” the owner said with a worried tone. “You good students don’t feel tired, but he, who is dead last in the class, keeps complaining that school is killing him. He’ll never amount to anything.”

Fang Zhile’s tone was serious. “Everyone has their own talents. If he doesn’t like studying, maybe he has talent in other areas?”

“Don’t even mention it,” the owner shook her head as she walked back to the kitchen. “His only talent is eating. He eats a lot every day and gains plenty of weight, but his grades never go up.”

The two spoke very familiarly, and Fang Zhile’s tone with her was relaxed, completely different from the Fang Zhile Ye Yu had seen at school.

“Are you very familiar with the owner here?” Ye Yu poked the sausage in her bowl. The sausage was a bright red color and looked very appetizing.

Fang Zhile chewed three pieces of sausage at once, saying contentedly, “Kind of. I grew up around here.”

“People here talk like this,” Fang Zhile said. “They’re more affectionate.”

Ye Yu nodded, put the piece of sausage on her chopstick tip into her mouth, and it was indeed as fragrant and tender as it looked.

“You too,” Ye Yu suddenly said halfway through the meal.

Fang Zhile paused for a long time before realizing. “I… make you feel close, too?”

“Yes,” Ye Yu held the water cup on the table, recalling the scene of their first meeting in the water room, her eyes curving. “It feels… just like Xiaohua.”

Fang Zhile listened intently to the beginning, but at the mention of Xiaohua, the corners of her mouth almost dropped. “Forget Xiaohua. It’s filthy.”

Ye Yu didn’t speak, but the smile in her eyes didn’t fade. You’re filthy too. You look pitiful, but you’re also fierce, aggressive, and threatening.

“That,” Fang Zhile ate relatively slowly, but Ye Yu was even slower. After dawdling for over half an hour, Ye Yu still had more than half a serving left. “If you can’t finish it, don’t worry about it.”

Ye Yu shook her head, saying unhurriedly, “Don’t rush me. I can finish it.”

“Are you sure?” Fang Zhile didn’t believe her. “This is a large serving, and the owner deliberately added more. Even I feel stuffed when I finish it. Can you?”

Ye Yu touched her stomach, seriously estimating her stomach capacity.

“I can finish it,” Ye Yu looked up and repeated.

Fang Zhile gave a helpless smile. “Alright, then I’ll get you some hawthorn berries.”

Fang Zhile returned from the kitchen with a handful of hawthorn berries, placed them in front of Ye Yu, then wiped her hands on a tissue and looked around nervously.

“Um,” Fang Zhile was a bit awkward. “I don’t know if I should ask, but I think you’re in a good mood now, so maybe I can ask, but I’m also afraid that if I ask, you’ll feel bad.”

It was a convoluted way of speaking, but Ye Yu understood her nonetheless.

“My parents had a fight,” Ye Yu said without looking up, her tone quite calm. “I didn’t want to stay home, so I went out.”

“Oh,” Fang Zhile immediately showed an exaggerated expression of realization, smiling as she said, “I knew it! As long as it has nothing to do with you, we’ll pretend we didn’t hear them if they aren’t scolding you.”

“When I saw you in the rain this morning, I thought something had happened to you. You scared me,” Fang Zhile said.

Ye Yu battled through to the last spoonful of rice. After stuffing it into her mouth, she leaned back on the chair and raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you still bring me home?”

“Because you’re Ye Yu,” Fang Zhile lied easily, without a trace of guilt. “The campus celebrity—beautiful and good-tempered. Besides not talking much, you’re flawless.”

Ye Yu’s tone was slow. “You’re the first person to say I have a good temper.”

“In private, they probably say I’m falsely virtuous, aloof, pretentious, overly sensitive, and artificial?”

A string of heavily insulting words coming out of Ye Yu’s mouth completely stunned Fang Zhile.

“Why are you staring? I’m not stupid. Of course, I know what they say about me.” Ye Yu was happy after eating and started talking more. “You can’t have not heard it, right?”

Fang Zhile retorted stubbornly, “I haven’t heard it.”

Her defensive reaction was unexpected for Ye Yu, who became even more intrigued. “Then let me put it another way. Have they said that I’m a sparrow trying to fly onto a branch, that a sparrow can never turn into a phoenix?”

Fang Zhile’s eyes were fierce. She turned her face and said sullenly, “Those are just groundless rumors. How could you be the type of person who throws herself at others?”

Ye Yu watched her for a moment, the smile on the corners of her mouth gradually fading. She suddenly said, “They say that for a reason.”

Fang Zhile seemed to resist the topic, standing up and motioning to Ye Yu. “We’re done eating. Let’s head back.”

She bent down to gather the hawthorn berries. As she leaned over, her wrist was suddenly grabbed by Ye Yu.

Ye Yu’s gaze was deep and still, like a lake that wouldn’t ripple no matter how much it was stirred. “Zhou Meize and I have an engagement.”

“It was decided by both families when we were children,” Ye Yu started, and the rest of the words flowed smoothly. “In principle, she is now my fiancée, the kind where we plan to marry right after graduation.”

Fang Zhile’s lips slowly tightened. Then she shook Ye Yu’s hand off.

“So what,” Fang Zhile turned around, her tone stubborn. “Is a meaningless engagement going to put food on the table or make money?”

“What do you plan to do for the sake of an engagement that hasn’t even been fulfilled?” Fang Zhile was sullen.

Ye Yu looked at her quietly. “The Ye and Zhou families’ marriage is not strictly a business alliance, but our being together benefits the development of both companies. In other words, it can put food on the table and make a lot of money.”

Fang Zhile fell silent.

Ye Yu suddenly brought up this topic, making Fang Zhile feel anxious, fearing that her next sentence would be to maintain distance. But based on Ye Yu’s character arc, she would say this eventually.

Zhou Meize was the female lead, and she would eventually realize that the person she deeply loved was Ye Yu. And Ye Yu, the female secondary lead, loved the female lead from beginning to end.

“Well, that’s too bad then,” Fang Zhile looked up, but she didn’t care. In Fang Zhile’s dictionary, there was no such thing as complying with other people’s arrangements. “I just finished cursing out your fiancée.”

Fang Zhile stared at Ye Yu with a determined boldness, “Are you going to take revenge for your fiancée?”