Eat Less Fish in the Future - Chapter 17
Zheng Yimian saw her own reflection in his pitch-black pupils. She froze for a moment, holding the eye drops, and blinked.
It was proven that when people don’t know what to do, they tend to say nonsense.
So Zheng Yimian didn’t defy this truth and blurted out. “… You need to look up, otherwise how can I apply the drops?”
Liang Yu also seemed to pause for a moment before softly replying, “Mm.”
After applying the eye drops, Zheng Yimian sat back in her seat, staring blankly at the transparent liquid in her hand.
The sensation from just now was still vivid – Liang Yu’s thin eyelids, the slight trembling of his eyelids under her hand, and his eyelashes…
Liang Yu reached out, took the eye drops from her hand, and then said, “Let’s go back.”
Zheng Yimian followed him out and stood in front of the tandem bicycle.
At this point, they couldn’t care less about whether they looked like a couple or not. Protecting their legs was most important, so Zheng Yimian sat on the front seat.
Liang Yu sat behind her and said, “You just control the direction, I’ll pedal.”
Despite saying this, when they started riding, Zheng Yimian still held the handlebars while pedaling.
The two coordinated well, and after riding for a few hundred meters, they heard Li Min and Zhao Yuan’s exclamations from behind.
Li Min: “Zhao Yuan, where are you going? Balance! Balance! I’m going to fall!”
Zhao Yuan: “Hey, brother, don’t pedal randomly! Don’t pedal, let me do it, okay…”
Li Min: “No, brake a bit–”
Zhao Yuan: “No, let’s switch positions and try.”
In the end, Li Min rode the bicycle alone, following behind Zheng Yimian and Liang Yu, while Zhao Yuan pitifully ran behind.
Li Min sped up to ride alongside Zheng Yimian.
Zheng Yimian asked her. “Is this how you treat Zhao Yuan? Letting him run alone?”
Li Min shrugged. “He asked for it, and we were too chaotic together, not as in sync as you two. Look, you’ve been riding for so long without any accidents.”
As she said this, Zheng Yimian braked, and Liang Yu stopped at the same time.
Li Min raised an eyebrow with a knowing smile. “See, I told you.”
After getting off the bike, Liang Yu helped them carry their things upstairs before going back down with Zhao Yuan to return the bikes.
After Zheng Yimian and Li Min finished tidying up their things, they went downstairs to check out the bathroom environment.
“This isn’t a bathroom, it’s clearly a public bathhouse!” Li Min said despairingly, reaching out to pull the curtain inside.
The few square meters of the bathhouse had seven shower heads, each small space separated by a curtain for basic privacy protection.
Fortunately, the curtains provided decent coverage.
“Pull open the curtain and you can be naked with your neighbor, and if necessary, even have a karaoke session to bond,” Li Min said with a frozen smile on her face, gritting her teeth as she spoke, “This place is just so delightful.”
After a while, Li Min exclaimed. “Oh my god, we’re only two hundred meters away from the men’s bathhouse?!”
“…”
The men’s bathhouse was tucked away in the corner of this road, with a sign hanging above it.
Li Min: “I hope no guys will try to peek at us while we’re showering?”
“It won’t happen.” Zheng Yimian laughed at her comment, “Besides, even if the door is open, there are curtains inside, and people are always passing by here. Nothing will happen. Let’s go upstairs first.”
Outside the bathhouse was a row of washbasins, where people brushed their teeth in the morning and washed clothes at night.
Although it was inconvenient, they were staying away from home after all, and it was arranged by the school. She hadn’t had high expectations to begin with, but at least the place was kept relatively clean.
The two went upstairs. As soon as they reached the dorm room, Li Min let out an excited cry. “Rapid Burn Time is updating today! In just three hours I’ll be able to see my Nie Buxiu, I’m so happy…”
She fell back on her bed, clutching her phone to her chest.
“Nie Buxiu? Who? Do you mean Nie Jianlan?” Zheng Yimian asked.
“Yes, Nie Jianlan!” Li Min sprang up from the bed, “Nie Buxiu is the nickname we gave him. A photographer once said his features were so perfect they didn’t need any retouching, and his skin was so good that photos could be published straight after shooting… Later, that Weibo post was shared many times, with many industry professionals saying the same thing, so we started calling him Nie Buxiu.”
Rapid Burn Time was an outdoor competitive reality show, a rising star that had quickly become popular in just a few episodes. Each episode featured an original invention, with segments designed around the invention, all interconnected. The regular cast members and invited celebrities often created explosive entertainment effects.
Nie Jianlan was a regular guest on Rapid Burn Time, appearing in every episode. He had debuted through this show and, with his cold but attractive appearance and likable personality, had gained countless fans, quickly joining the ranks of “husbands” for many young girls.
“What’s all this about retouching? Our Gu Yulin is also rumored to not need any photo editing,” Zheng Yimian smiled, “In the last episode when they stood together, you couldn’t tell at all that our Boss Gu is older than Nie Jianlan. He looks absolutely youthful.”
“Okay, okay, they’re both faces of the century, alright?” Li Min urged, “Didn’t you say you were going to take a shower? Go quickly, there’s hardly anyone there now. It’ll get crowded later.”
“Alright, I’ll go down first then.”
Zheng Yimian gathered her clothes and went downstairs. She was lucky; there was no one on the ground floor.
She pushed open the bathroom door, turned on the switch, pulled the curtain closed, tested the water temperature, and began to shower.
Xiao Feng stood at the entrance of the men’s bathroom, pointing to one side. “Was that Zheng Yimian who just went in?”
“Seems like it.”
Xiao Feng took a couple of steps forward, looking around.
His accomplice laughed and said, “No one’s here.”
The accomplice stood beside him, fanning the flames. “When she rejected you, she said something like ‘I don’t have any such thoughts recently’, but I see her looking quite happy with Liang Yu. Look at how their classmates seem to know what’s going on…”
Xiao Feng didn’t even blink. “Why couldn’t she just tell me the truth back then? What’s the point of all this pretense?”
“Exactly, it’s too fake.”
“Huh, she dares to fool me.” Xiao Feng gritted his teeth, “I’ll make her know how formidable I am.”
“But, her and Liang Yu… aren’t you afraid of Liang Yu’s temper?”
“Afraid? Like hell I am.”
As he finished speaking, Xiao Feng took out his phone, opened the camera mode, and walked to the front of the women’s bathroom, placing his hand on the doorknob.
Just as he was about to press down and quietly open the door, a voice suddenly came from behind.
Cool and casual, yet carrying an intimidating force that made it hard to breathe.
Liang Yu stood with his arms crossed, his eyes so cold they could almost form ice.
“What the f*ck… are you doing?”
Startled, Xiao Feng turned his head abruptly, feeling a rush of heat in his nose.
At first, the sound of water had completely blocked out the small noises from outside.
Suddenly, something fell outside with a few muffled thuds, startling Zheng Yimian.
The clamor of voices, stumbling footsteps, and the sound of falling wooden racks and ceramics gradually arose.
Zheng Yimian quickly finished washing her hair, changed her clothes, and pulled open the curtain.
The main door was tightly closed, with mist swirling around.
She opened the door and was momentarily stunned by what she saw.
Liang Yu had Xiao Feng pinned to the ground, gripping his collar, and swung a punch at his jaw.
Xiao Feng curled up in pain, gritting his teeth, looking utterly wretched.
Liang Yu stood up and threw him into the corridor. Xiao Feng’s back slammed hard against the corridor railing, and he took another punch.
Xiao Feng’s head was knocked to the side, his clothes stained with blood, his collar torn open.
Xiao Feng should have been able to fight back, but at this moment he seemed powerless, unable to even lift his arms.
Liang Yu grabbed the corridor railing with one hand, using his forearm to press against Xiao Feng’s throat, forcing him to look at him.
Xiao Feng’s facial expression was grotesque, but he had no choice but to meet Liang Yu’s gaze.
Liang Yu lowered his head, his eyes bloodshot, speaking clearly and slowly.
“Is it because my temper has improved that you’ve forgotten what you looked like when you knelt down and called me ‘brother’ back then?”
Xiao Feng began to tremble, nearly crying from fear.
“You should be grateful this isn’t like before,” Liang Yu said in a low voice, narrowing his eyes, “Otherwise, you’d be dealing with more than just two broken arms.”
With that said, Liang Yu let go and glanced towards Zheng Yimian.
–She had never really witnessed such a fight scene before. Her first thought was: What happened? What terrible thing had Xiao Feng done this time?
Her second thought was: Liang Yu…was he hurt?
……
He raised his hand, his long fingers with distinct knuckles stained with a bit of blood. He wiped the corner of his mouth with his fingers, perhaps feeling some pain as he frowned almost imperceptibly.
The blood from his fingers smeared onto the corner of his mouth.
He walked up to her, his gaze unusually evasive.
… His appearance just now might have been a bit frightening, and he was afraid she might be scared of him.
Or perhaps, would she think he was too rash? Or too impulsive?
He stood still, feeling his heart tremble slightly, not knowing how to start.
Unexpectedly, she looked him over carefully and asked in a soft voice. “… Are you hurt?”
He was stunned for a moment, and when he spoke, his tone was slightly hoarse. “… Were you scared?”
“It’s okay.” She pursed her lips and asked again, “Is the blood yours?”
“No.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good then.”
Coming back to her senses a bit, she looked up and asked him. “… What happened between you two? What wrong did he do again?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she paused for a moment.
She had said, what wrong did Xiao Feng do again.
After this brawl, her first concern was whether he was hurt and how badly, and only then did she ask about the reason for the fight – and in considering the reason, her first instinct was to completely trust him, to believe that he wouldn’t have attacked Xiao Feng without reason, to believe that he was the one who had been provoked.
Liang Yu also caught the implication in her words, feeling as if a pair of hands had gently squeezed his heart.
When he was fourteen, he was provoked by classmates and struck first, but no one believed that the “good boy” would hurt others. Everyone unanimously believed he was a troublemaker, that he had a record, so the one who did wrong was him.
It seemed like it had been a long time since someone had trusted him so wholeheartedly.
He looked down at her, his tone softening, a smile forming at the corner of his mouth. “We’ll talk about it later, let’s go upstairs first.”
“Mm, okay.”
She hugged her basin of clothes and walked with him to the stairway.
As they passed by Xiao Feng, Liang Yu paused for a moment.
He looked down at Xiao Feng, his gentleness fading, and said in a deep voice one last sentence. “Dare to set your sights on her again, and see what happens.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but Zheng Yimian could hear it clearly.
Even without asking for details, she could roughly guess what had happened based on this sentence.
A fight at the door of the women’s bathroom, Xiao Feng in the wrong, and it had something to do with her.
Probably Xiao Feng was about to do something to her, but was caught by Liang Yu.
Thinking of this, Zheng Yimian stopped on the stairs and turned back to look at Liang Yu.
He was also injured, with a wound at the corner of his mouth, a slight bruise on the right side of his cheek, and some abrasions on his knuckles, but no blood.
Liang Yu was also looking at her.
Zheng Yimian reached out her hand, gently touching the wound at the corner of his mouth with her fingertip.
The girl’s fingertip was soft, still carrying the warmth and moisture from her recent bath.
Liang Yu trembled.
She blinked her eyes, meeting his gaze, and asked in a gentle voice –
“Does it hurt?”
We are currently recruiting. CN/KR/JP Translators/MTLers are welcome!
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/HGaByvmVuw