After Breaking the Ice-Beauty's Heart - Chapter 27
Chapter 27: But Song Yuli Didn’t Laugh.
“What?” Zhou Nianzhi pretended to be confused, playing dumb with a feigned innocent expression. She thought to herself that she shouldn’t waste food, so she picked up the bun again and said, “Be more clear.”
“You’re so smart, you should understand,” Song Yuli said, quietly pushing a plate of buns toward Zhou Nianzhi. “So, you should take the bracelet.”
Zhou Nianzhi couldn’t help but laugh. “So you went on and on, going in a big circle, just to persuade me to take Grandma’s bracelet.”
“Something like that,” Song Yuli replied. Then, she shook her head. “But not entirely.”
Zhou Nianzhi asked, “Then what is it?”
“To test your comprehension skills,” Song Yuli said.
“Huh?” Zhou Nianzhi was first confused, but then she became confident again. She pointed to herself. “Hey, I was the one who always got first place in Chinese in the science class.”
Song Yuli responded with a “mhm” and then continued to praise her. “That’s right. The Chinese teacher liked you the most.”
Zhou Nianzhi said, “Of course.”
Song Yuli said, “If you ever got a low score in Chinese, it was a sure sign that everyone else didn’t do too well either.”
Zhou Nianzhi said, “Keep going. There’s more to come about Student Zhou’s glorious moments.”
Song Yuli said, “You could get 56 points on a 60-point essay.”
Zhou Nianzhi couldn’t hold back her smile, but she still pretended to be nonchalant. She waved her hand and said, “Oh, it’s just okay.”
Song Yuli was silent for a while.
Zhou Nianzhi didn’t think much of it and said with a smile, “Why did you stop talking? Can’t you think of any more of Student Zhou’s accomplishments?”
Song Yuli opened her mouth again. “Student Zhou’s essays were always model essays.”
Zhou Nianzhi replied, “Mhm, mhm, not bad.”
Song Yuli said, “So you’ll take the bracelet.”
Zhou Nianzhi was so happy from all the praise that she nodded without thinking. “Mhm, mhm, of course.”
Wait a minute?
Zhou Nianzhi realized what was happening. She frowned slightly and looked at the smug-looking Song Yuli. For a moment, she was speechless, but in the end, she let out a couple of helpless laughs. “Okay, you did that on purpose. You deliberately praised me just so I would take the bracelet.”
Song Yuli raised an eyebrow, leaned back slightly, and rested her elbow on the back of the chair. The corners of her mouth curled up. “You already agreed.”
Zhou Nianzhi laughed in exasperation. Seeing Song Yuli’s relentless look, she had no choice but to give in. “Fine, I’ll take it for now.”
“That’s more like it,” Song Yuli said.
Zhou Nianzhi took a few more bites of her bun. She felt it getting stuck in her throat and wanted to pat her chest to help it go down. Suddenly, Song Yuli handed her a bowl of water.
“Thank you,” Zhou Nianzhi said, taking it without thinking too much. She didn’t forget to thank her before she took a sip.
But she regretted that “thank you” the moment the liquid touched her lips.
It was ginger soup.
She had drunk it in a hurry without even smelling it. Now that it was in her mouth, she couldn’t spit it out.
So she had no choice but to swallow it.
Zhou Nianzhi put down the bowl, her facial features all scrunched up. She said in a muffled voice, “I’m really not a fan of this.”
Song Yuli let out an “ah,” smiled, and said softly, “Isn’t it delicious?”
With that, Song Yuli picked up the bowl next to her, showed it to Zhou Nianzhi, and then drank it herself.
She took a big gulp.
Song Yuli put down the bowl, looking relaxed, completely devoid of the pained expression she used to have when drinking ginger soup. She smiled and said, “What’s not delicious about it?”
Zhou Nianzhi was astonished. She called out, “Song Yuli.”
Song Yuli looked confused. “Mhm?”
Zhou Nianzhi couldn’t help but exclaim again, “You’ve really changed. You’ve changed so much. You were nothing like this before.”
Song Yuli was stunned but quickly returned to normal. She still had that gentle, smiling expression. “People always change. You taught me that, Student Zhou.”
Bad memories came rushing back.
Zhou Nianzhi stopped talking and just stared blankly at Song Yuli.
The old Song Yuli was aloof, but when she smiled, it was a genuine smile.
The current Song Yuli was different. Even her smile was frosty, and she could even say heartbreaking things with a smile on her face.
Zhou Nianzhi lowered her eyes and stopped looking at Song Yuli. She focused on eating her bun.
So, were all of Song Yuli’s kind gestures toward her now a form of revenge?
Just because she had let Song Yuli down, was Song Yuli going to make her constantly relive those moments from the past, only to then immediately remind her of the painful parting to make her suffer?
Zhou Nianzhi suddenly felt that the bun tasted bitter.
So, was Song Yuli really that kind of person?
Were all those things—carrying an umbrella for her, accompanying her home in the dark, and walking home with her—all fake?
With every bite, Zhou Nianzhi’s heart sank a little more.
But even though her heart ached,
She still finished both plates of buns.
Zhou Nianzhi counted how many she ate and recalled the number of buns on the plates when they first came out. She realized that she had eaten most of them, and Song Yuli had only eaten two.
Oh my God.
She ate two plates, and Song Yuli ate two buns.
Did Song Yuli think her stomach was the size of an ocean?
Probably seeing her stunned after she finished eating, Song Yuli stopped eating the bun in her hand. She raised the remaining part of the bun and waved it in front of Zhou Nianzhi. “Do you want some more?”
If Zhou Nianzhi took it, it would mean that Song Yuli had eaten one and a half buns, and she had eaten most of the plates.
“No,” Zhou Nianzhi refused very directly.
“Okay,” Song Yuli said, then looked away and continued to eat the bun in her hand.
Zhou Nianzhi found Song Yuli more and more strange. Just a moment ago, she had said something as cold as “people always change,” but the next second, she would offer her the bun in her hand.
Did someone really take over her body?
She was nothing like the old Song Yuli.
She was a little worried. She cleared her throat and mentally prepared what she wanted to say.
“Just say it,” Song Yuli said, swallowing the last bite of her bun, finishing the ginger soup, and wiping her mouth with a tissue.
“Song Yuli,” Zhou Nianzhi said, taking a deep breath. She had finally gathered her courage, but the moment she saw Song Yuli, her courage faltered. Her voice was low and muffled. “Are you…”
Song Yuli put down the tissue, wanting to throw it in the trash. Without looking at Zhou Nianzhi, she asked, “Are you worried about me?”
Since the conversation had already gotten to this point, Zhou Nianzhi didn’t want to hide anything anymore. She said directly, “Is your brain okay?”
A soft laugh came from Song Yuli.
It was crisp, like potato chips.
“Do I look like there’s something wrong with me?” Song Yuli said with a laugh. Her beautiful eyes squinted, and she didn’t even bother to throw away the trash. She just stared at the person in front of her. “At least I don’t ‘pat’ people randomly.”
Song Yuli deliberately emphasized the words “pat.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Nianzhi immediately explained, “That was an accident.”
Song Yuli let out a long “oh,” then stood up and started to clear the plates.
Zhou Nianzhi thought this awkward conversation was over.
However, as Song Yuli walked past her with the plates, she said, “I really should have changed it to ‘patted me and asked if my brain was okay.'”
Those two or three sentences left Zhou Nianzhi speechless.
Why did she have to provoke Song Yuli?
The current Song Yuli was no longer the old Song Yuli. She couldn’t win an argument against this person anymore.
If her high school classmates saw the current Song Yuli, they would probably be so shocked that their jaws would drop to the floor. They would then ask in a desperate voice, “Wasn’t she an ‘iceberg’ before?!”
Hearing the sound of running water from the kitchen, Zhou Nianzhi quickly came back to her senses and turned to help Song Yuli.
Song Yuli tied an apron on and tucked her short hair behind her ears. She lowered her head and washed the dishes. “You’re a little early.”
Zhou Nianzhi gave an embarrassed laugh and scratched her head. “Not really. I was just spacing out, which is why I didn’t come to help.”
“Mhm, you’re a little early. If you had come earlier, you might have been able to wash the dishes,” Song Yuli said, taking a plate out of the sink, shaking off the residual water, and putting it back in the cabinet. “It’s good that you came now. I just finished.”
It was only now that Zhou Nianzhi realized that what Song Yuli had just said was sarcasm.
She stopped smiling and mumbled, “I can wash dishes, you know.”
Song Yuli’s sudden “Wow—” made Zhou Nianzhi flinch.
Before Zhou Nianzhi could recover, Song Yuli had already turned around and started to act. “Student Zhou is so amazing! She can wash dishes!”
Zhou Nianzhi was in shock for a long time. After she finally managed to come back to her senses, all she could ask was, “What’s… wrong with you?”
Has the pressure of life become so great that even an “iceberg” has started to become warm?
Song Yuli used a tissue to wipe the water from her hands, shrugged her shoulders, and replied in a nonchalant, normal tone, “I’m just complimenting you.”
Zhou Nianzhi said, “You’re saying such strange things with a face like that?”
“Is it strange?” Song Yuli untied the apron and put it in another cabinet. “Maybe I was just a little shocked to hear that you can wash dishes.”
“What’s so shocking about that?” Zhou Nianzhi asked, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Song Yuli closed the cabinet door and replied, “You looked so hungry, like you didn’t know how to find food for yourself.”
Zhou Nianzhi said, “Come on. If you hadn’t come to find me today, I would have been just fine for the night.”
Song Yuli was silent. After a long pause, she just said two words: “I doubt it.”
Zhou Nianzhi was exasperated and laughed for the umpteenth time. “I could have found a bench to sit on for the night. It’s not like I haven’t done that before.”
“Mhm?” Song Yuli stopped what she was doing and stared intently at Zhou Nianzhi, trying to see through her with her clear eyes. “Sat all night?”
Zhou Nianzhi originally wanted to say something like, “What? You don’t think I can do it?” But she suddenly remembered that this completely contradicted what she had told Song Yuli earlier about “going home.”
Sure enough, when people are anxious, they tend to say the wrong thing.
“Oh, I was just saying that out of spite. You believe that?” Zhou Nianzhi let out a couple of dry laughs, trying to ease the tension. She looked around the entire kitchen, trying to distract herself.
Zhou Nianzhi’s laughter echoed in the kitchen.
But Song Yuli didn’t laugh.
“Ah, I want to take a shower.” Zhou Nianzhi looked at the bathroom outside, as if she had found a good escape route. She pointed at the bathroom and said, “Can I go now?”
Song Yuli nodded.
Zhou Nianzhi quickly ran out of the kitchen, but Song Yuli called her back.
She stiffly turned around and looked at Song Yuli.
“I prepared a clean towel, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and the pajamas you used to wear. They’re all in a bag on top of the washing machine,” Song Yuli said to her from outside the kitchen. “You can just use them.”