Interlude

New Calendar 2019, December 24, Friday, evening.

It had been snowing on and off for over half a month. Though the temperature was cold enough, there were still plenty of people on the streets. After all, today was the so-called Christmas Eve in the West. Dragon Country's people might not think much of Western holidays, but women always found all sorts of reasons to get their boyfriends to buy, buy, buy. So Western holidays hadn't escaped the women's notice either, and had grown popular in Dragon Country over the past few years.

The streets were full of small vendors selling apples and couples walking together.

Of course, there were plenty of men with men and women with women, too.

At Chu Yu's home, he, Su Ruo, and Zhao Qinyin sat around the heater, waiting for the results of the fifth episode of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

This had become a tacit routine among the three of them over the past few weeks.

With the manga artists under her leaving one after another, Su Ruo's workload had dropped considerably. And since her hometown wasn't around here, she found it boring to spend her evenings alone, so she liked to come over to Chu Yu's place four or five nights a week.

Of course, she claimed she came to make sure Chu Yu and the others finished their work to a high standard and on schedule.

But Chu Yu thought the real reason was that she came over to eat and drink for free. Ever since she started coming by, the amount of snacks, drinks, groceries, and rice he bought each month had multiplied several times over, and she ate most of it.

She weighed less than a hundred jin, yet somehow ate far more than Chu Yu, a grown man who weighed a hundred and twenty jin. Even more absurdly, the fat went to all the right places, and there wasn't a trace of it anywhere a woman wouldn't want it.

That was one thing about Su Ruo that Zhao Qinyin envied.

Of course, Chu Yu had money now. He was a big shot in the truest sense of the word, bringing in seventy or eighty thousand a month, so he didn't care about those expenses.

He used to like buying things like Leibi, Kangshuaifu, Wangzi Milk, Aoliao, Six Walnuts, and Zhouzhu Brand laundry detergent from Bingxixi to keep at home.

After all, he had no real source of income and was living off the small inheritance his parents had left him. Chu Yu had felt the pressure keenly, and saved wherever he could.

But things were different now. He had money, and Bingxixi was beneath him. He'd switched over to Tianmao instead.

Even the down jacket he was wearing had cost several hundred Dragon Country Currency on Tianmao.

"sigh!" Su Ruo cracked sunflower seeds as she looked at her phone and let out a long sigh.

"What's wrong, Sister Su? Were this week's results disappointing?"

"They haven't even sent this week's report yet. What are you in a hurry for?"

"Then why did you sigh?" Zhao Qinyin asked, puzzled.

"I was looking at all those people on my Moments. Every time there's a holiday, they love showing off. It's annoying..."

"I didn't know you had that sort of problem, Sister Su." Zhao Qinyin was a little curious.

"Given your circumstances, I bet you could find someone, start dating, and be married by next month."

"Next month... cough, cough, cough..." Su Ruo nearly sprayed the cola in her mouth.

"Even my mom only tells me to hurry up and bring someone home next year. And you're saying next month, Zhao Qinyin..."

"It's not that I can't find a boyfriend. I just haven't met the right person..." Su Ruo said.

"I don't understand." Zhao Qinyin shook her head at Su Ruo.

If she didn't want to find someone, why envy other people for being coupled up?

After all, Zhao Qinyin's world consisted of nothing but studying and manga. She couldn't understand Su Ruo's feelings: longing for the ideal romance while feeling disappointed with reality, and being pressured by her family to get married whenever a holiday came around.

"Ahem..." Chu Yu coughed.

Why were three single people sitting here discussing this sort of thing?

And Su Ruo was already in her twenties, yet she was talking about this with a high school student. He didn't even know what to say...

That said, Chu Yu still took two bags he'd prepared earlier out of the cabinet nearby.

After all, the two of them had worked hard to help him finish Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal. He wasn't fond of foreign holidays either, but this was a good opportunity to give them some gifts and show his gratitude.

"Here, Zhao Qinyin. This is for you..."

"Su Ruo, this one's yours."

Zhao Qinyin and Su Ruo took the paper bags Chu Yu handed them and exchanged a look.

What was going on?

"Go on, you can open them! It's that holiday today, right? These are gifts for you!" Chu Yu said.

Gifts?

The two of them were a little confused, but then delight quickly took over.

No matter what, getting a gift during a holiday was like getting a red envelope from an elder at New Year's. They hadn't expected Chu Yu to do this, but they were still very happy to receive his gifts.

What could they be?

Su Ruo eagerly opened the package inside her paper bag...

What was this?

The next moment, Su Ruo stared at it in a daze.

"What... is this?" She turned her stiff head toward Chu Yu.

Inside the wrapping was a round, disk-shaped object.

"Can't you tell?" Chu Yu said.

"It's a bathroom scale!"

A bathroom scale?

Su Ruo's expression changed. What the heck?

"Think about it. You've said before that you can eat whatever you want without getting fat, but I've always thought that was just wishful thinking..."

"I heard that Russian beauties' figures change drastically once they hit thirty, and they turn into Russian aunties."

"I was worried that would happen to you too, so I bought you this. Don't let its small size fool you—it has plenty of features. Its weight readings are accurate to the gram, and it can even measure body fat..."

As Chu Yu went on, he sensed the mood in the room changing completely.

Not just Su Ruo—even Zhao Qinyin was looking at him as if he were an alien.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Chu Yu blinked.

Zhao Qinyin glanced at the package in front of her and hesitated before opening it.

Halfway through unwrapping it, she let out a sigh of relief. Judging by its shape, it didn't look like a bathroom scale.

Once she'd completely removed the packaging, a full set of manga drawing tools appeared before her.

"Um, I noticed that you'd been using your old set for a long time, Zhao Qinyin, so I bought you a new one..."

Zhao Qinyin breathed a huge sigh of relief. Good, it wasn't a bathroom scale.

The manga tools were exactly what she wanted. Another set would definitely come in handy.

"Um, do you not like the gifts I got you?" Chu Yu asked with an awkward laugh.

"I like mine."

"I don't like mine."

Zhao Qinyin and Su Ruo answered almost in unison.

Who gave a girl a bathroom scale? He might as well not have given her anything.

Su Ruo was just about to criticize Chu Yu for what he'd done.

Brrring, brrring!

Just then, Su Ruo's phone, lying on the table, rang.

All three of them looked toward it.

Su Ruo picked up her phone, looked at the other two, and nodded.

For the moment, all three forgot about the gifts. Compared to those, the contents of the message were undoubtedly more important.

The message would also tell them whether Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal had managed to break into Man Ying's top three in this week's voting rankings.