Return to Zero

Ye Wanqing froze, then covered her chest and asked him indignantly, "You saw it!?"

"Sorry... I tried to turn my head away." Xiao He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Ye Wanqing's face turned red. "So you did see it, right?!"

"Sorry..." Xiao He lowered his head and bowed.

"You're seriously impossible!" Ye Wanqing was both annoyed and amused. "You saw it and still told me? What was that supposed to mean?! Were you showing off or something? If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have known!"

"I was just reminding you, so you wouldn't be careless again next time..." Knowing he was in the wrong, Xiao He muttered softly.

Ye Wanqing glared at him sulkily, then handed over the scoop in her hand. "Then you do it! From now on, cleaning up its poop is your job!"

"No, this isn't what we agreed on." Xiao He frowned. "You said you'd take care of it, and you'd clean up after it."

"Wasn't that to keep me from exposing myself?" Ye Wanqing snorted.

I'll consider it payment for that beautiful sight just now. Xiao He consoled himself, then pressed his palms together and silently recited, Thank you for the meal.

Cat poop was notoriously foul-smelling. After all, cats were carnivores. But Xiao He still felt it was worth it.

Still, worth it as it was, his young soul had been stirred into restlessness. It was destined to be another sleepless night. In Ye Wanqing's room, she too tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

In the darkness, Tuantuan leaped onto her bed.

"You only get close to me when the air conditioner's on..." Ye Wanqing stroked Tuantuan's back.

Tuantuan resisted a little and moved somewhere she couldn't reach. Ye Wanqing sighed.

"My mind is such a mess." Ye Wanqing hugged her pillow and frowned. "Too much has happened these past few days..."

As she spoke, Ye Wanqing sighed, buried her face in the pillow, and mumbled indistinctly, "Even though we don't get along in a lot of ways, he's not that annoying... And he looks kind of cute when he helps me finish the leftovers. He's as lecherous as other guys, but not that sleazy..."

After a moment of silence, Ye Wanqing murmured pitifully to herself, "He saw it... But it should be fine, right? I was wearing underwear anyway... But why am I not as disgusted as I imagined I'd be..."

At that, Ye Wanqing's face reddened. She buried her face in her pillow and growled softly, "Ye Wanqing, have you no shame?!"

The next morning, Xiao He waited anxiously outside the bathroom as usual for Ye Wanqing to come out.

Sometimes, he felt that his cohabitation with Ye Wanqing was like a cycle that reset every morning.

All the goodwill, all the improvement in their relationship, vanished into thin air during the morning fight over the bathroom. No matter what had happened yesterday, a bladder swollen with urine showed no mercy.

"Can you hurry up!?" Xiao He said impatiently. "You don't even have class this morning! Why are you up so early!?"

"But I have to go for a morning run." Ye Wanqing opened the door and rolled her eyes at him. "Did you forget?"

"Uh..." Xiao He immediately looked ashen. "Four classes in the morning, plus a morning run... Why is life always so hard?"

But with yesterday's experience, Ye Wanqing had a much easier time during the morning run.

"Not bad. You made it through the whole run, even though you weren't much faster than walking..." Xiao He smiled at Ye Wanqing. "But you've improved. You deserve praise."

"Hmph, your method is pretty good." Ye Wanqing smiled smugly.

"Remember, I'm eating out at noon today, okay?" Xiao He reminded her cautiously.

Ye Wanqing's heart immediately sank, and all the things she had thought about last night instantly turned into anger.

"What does that have to do with me? Eat wherever you want!" Ye Wanqing snapped, leaving him behind as she headed upstairs alone.

"Come on, we agreed on it yesterday. Why are you getting mad..." Xiao He muttered indignantly. But he was in a hurry to get to class that morning and had no time to keep arguing with Ye Wanqing. He went upstairs, took a shower, and hurried to class.

Halfway through the fourth class, Huang Ling gently tapped him.

"Let's go, let's sneak out." Huang Ling pursed her lips in a smile and gave him a meaningful look.

"Now?" Xiao He asked in surprise. Huang Ling grinned mischievously. "If we don't leave early, there won't be any seats later."

Xiao He had imagined that Huang Ling would take him to some especially grand restaurant, with a line outside blocking the entrance to the neighboring shop. But when they arrived, he found a small roadside restaurant. The decor was warm and inviting, but the place was only a few dozen square meters and could hold at most twenty customers. It was called Willow Restaurant.

"This place has a gorgeous owner's wife, and the owner is an amazing cook." Huang Ling said with a smile. "If you're lucky, sometimes you can even eat food made by the owner's wife herself. This place has one Michelin star, you know? If you don't come early, there won't be any seats."

"I think the main reason is that this place is too small..." Xiao He said quietly, following Huang Ling inside.

"Welcome." As soon as they entered, the owner and his wife greeted them.

The owner's wife was truly stunning. Her small, delicate oval face and phoenix eyes gave her an innate allure, while her cute little nose and fiery red lips were flawless. Her figure was especially well-proportioned and slender, with curves so exquisite that even a manga artist could not have drawn them better.

"The owner's wife is already the mother of two children. You wouldn't guess it, right?" Huang Ling whispered with a smile. Xiao He looked at the woman before him in astonishment. She looked no older than twenty-three or twenty-four, yet she was already a mother of two?

"Oh, Lingling's here today?" The owner's wife greeted Huang Ling. "Skipping class again?"

"Can't help it. If I don't come early, there are no seats." Huang Ling pouted.

"What's wrong with skipping class in college? We skipped class every day back then too." The owner was a kind-looking man. There was an indescribable depth about him, the weathered air of someone who had lived through great storms, though he looked to be only in his twenties, not yet thirty. He smiled at Huang Ling. "What do you want today?"

"I'll have the daily set meal. As for my friend..." Huang Ling turned to Xiao He, blinked at him, and smiled. "It's his first time here. How about trying the Hainanese chicken rice? It's the specialty here."

"Mm, then that'll do." Xiao He nodded.

"Got it." The owner turned to his wife with a smile. "Xiaoxiao, one daily set meal and one Hainanese chicken rice."

"Okay." The owner's wife answered cheerfully and began writing on the order slip.

Before the food arrived, Xiao He had actually been skeptical about the restaurant's cooking. But after the dishes were served, one bite was enough for him to realize this place was anything but ordinary. Every detail was perfect. The chicken was steamed just right, neither too soft nor too dry. The chicken-fat rice was distinct and non-greasy, while the chicken-bone soup was rich yet refreshing.

The heart of the whole set meal was the three sauces: dark soy sauce, chili sauce, and ginger-garlic paste. Eaten together, the three sauces seemed to form a beautiful symphony in his mouth.

"This is so good..." Xiao He could not help sighing. "I'll bring Wanqing here to try it sometime."

"..." Hearing that, Huang Ling fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Did your girlfriend say anything when you came here today?"

"She... got a little angry." Xiao He said resentfully. "I even told her in advance, but she still got mad..."

Huang Ling held her cup and took a sip of water, then sighed. "I don't think things between us are going to work out."

(Recommendation votes, monthly votes. No special meaning behind it. It's mainly because tapping those two terms on mobile opens the voting page, so what if someone taps them by mistake? And after tapping by mistake, what if they happen to cast a vote?)