Daily Life, Breakfast

Finally, Bai Yuyou was lectured by Ye Shuang all evening on the meaning of "choosing friends poorly."

But Ye Shuang didn't make Bai Yuyou delete the other person; after all, it ultimately depended on how Yuyou handled it.

What he needed to do was better guide the girl onto a healthy path.

Turning off his phone, Ye Shuang wondered if he should have Koko investigate the background of that doujinshi artist tomorrow.

The night passed without incident.

The next day, Ye Shuang got up early to prepare breakfast. While frying eggs, his phone was placed on a nearby stand on a video call.

"Huh? Choosing friends poorly?" On the video call, Chen Qin seemed to have already been at her company handling work.

"Yeah, apparently she's somewhat famous, called something like Teacher Yuyue," Ye Shuang said. "They met during the school trip."

"Want me to look into it for you?" Chen Qin asked with a smile. "I travel abroad often, so I'm pretty well-connected with this kind of information."

"Alright, I'll send you the person's ID." Ye Shuang then sent a screenshot of the account to Chen Qin.

After about twenty minutes or so, Chen Qin sent back the person's information.

"That fast?"

"Hehe, of course."

"That 'Teacher Yuyue,' real name is Gong Baiyuyou, graduated from the University of Tokyo, 26 years old, married with twin daughters. She's a fairly well-known manga artist locally in Japan, called something like the 'Goddess of Pure Love'? They sure like strange nicknames over there," Chen Qin said from the video call. "Rumor has it she loves studying the figures of pretty girls for manga reference material, but there don't seem to be any negative scandals."

"26? So she's about our age?" Ye Shuang couldn't help but think.

"Yep, and she's already had babies, twins at that," Chen Qin chuckled mischievously on the call. "Hehe, having any thoughts?"

Ye Shuang coughed dryly upon hearing this, "A little."

"Oh?"

Just then, the doorbell rang. Ye Shuang hung up the call with Chen Qin and went to the entryway to open the door.

"Good morning, Brother Ye." Upon opening the door, it wasn't Tang Keke, but a very well-behaved looking Tao Xiaotao.

"Oh? Good morning, Xiaotao. You're here today..." Usually, Tang Keke would be the one arriving at this time, so Ye Shuang was a bit surprised as he smiled and invited her in.

"I made plans with Yuyou to go to school together. Since Keke was still washing up, I came up first. I also brought breakfast." Tao Xiaotao lifted the lunchbox in her hand. She seemed a bit embarrassed, "I made a lot."

"No problem, Yuyou can finish it," Ye Shuang said with a laugh, then had Tao Xiaotao take a seat.

Soon, Keke came up too. She didn't seem fully awake yet, looking weary. "Ugh, another boring school day. Who invented 8 AM classes anyway?"

"Yinshan Academy is already quite relaxed. Back when I was in school, we often had self-study sessions until 10 PM," Ye Shuang couldn't help but sigh, thinking this girl didn't know how good she had it.

"Xiaotao, what's in your box?"

"Breakfast I made."

"Let me see!"

Tang Keke eagerly opened Tao Xiaotao's lunchbox to find a white, jiggly substance inside, looking like douhua (soft tofu dessert).

"Oh?" The girl looked curiously and asked, "Tofu pudding?"

"Yeah, you eat it with some savory sauce." As she spoke, Tao Xiaotao also picked up a packet of sauce.

"Wait, this is a dessert! Why would you put that in!" Tang Keke immediately grabbed Tao Xiaotao's wrist. "Add some syrup."

Tao Xiaotao looked a bit flustered but explained, "That's how we like to eat it back home. Add some toasted sesame seeds, preserved radish and beans, mix in a bit of the savory sauce, or sometimes just mix it directly with spicy soup."

"Uh..." Tang Keke instantly felt it sounded rather unappetizing.

"It's normal. Tastes vary from place to place. There's sweet, savory, spicy, with sauce, even with vinegar directly," Ye Shuang seemed unfazed, instead curious about how Tao Xiaotao's douhua tasted. "Can I try some?"

"Of course!"

Ye Shuang put some in a bowl. Meanwhile, Tao Xiaotao opened another lunchbox containing things like carrots and beans. After the girl's preparation, a bowl of savory douhua appeared before Ye Shuang.

"Looks pretty good," Ye Shuang took a taste.

It was a bit like eating a vegetable dish; the tofu flavor wasn't very prominent.

Tang Keke also tried a bite following suit, but she didn't seem to accept it well, eventually running to the kitchen to switch to brown sugar syrup.

"Making tofu is quite troublesome. Did you buy it?" Ye Shuang also asked.

"I made it myself," Tao Xiaotao said with a smile. "My younger sisters love it too, so I started preparing it last night."

So responsible.

"She really is a good kid," Ye Shuang couldn't help but think.

"Sweet is the true way," Tang Keke said, coming out with her bowl. Seeing this, Tao Xiaotao explained that some people in her hometown also eat it sweet, but they mostly sprinkle white sugar.

Bai Yuyou seemed to have woken up too. Smelling breakfast, she stumbled downstairs, holding a confused-looking big-faced cat, Yīwàn, in her arms.

"Good morning, Yuyou."

"Xiaotao, Keke." Bai Yuyou also greeted them, still looking very sleepy. Her condition was similar to Keke's; neither had fully recovered from the fun of the trip.

"Here, douhua." Ye Shuang also served a bowl for Bai Yuyou. "What toppings do you want?"

"Toppings..."

Bai Yuyou seemed a bit confused, but after seeing that the bowls of Tang Keke and the others all looked different, she seemed to understand. "Douhua... is like rice."

"Can I add a fried egg?" the girl asked.

"Uh... we can try?"

In the end, Ye Shuang prepared a fried egg for Bai Yuyou, cut it into small pieces, and let her mix it in. It didn't seem like a hard-to-accept flavor, as Bai Yuyou finished it in two or three bites.

Later, Ye Shuang also inquired about the situation with that 'Teacher Yuyue.' After all, Bai Yuyou was with Keke and the others, so she must know about the group photo.

"Oh, yeah, I know. Those people were all pretty nice, even if their speech was a bit hard to understand at times," Keke explained. "There were eight or nine of them, all handsome guys and pretty girls."

"How did you meet them?"

"An Shiyu was the one who connected with them. They just started chatting and hit it off."

Is that so?

Listening, Ye Shuang didn't find anything particularly odd about it.

"Yuyou, you only added one person?"

"Mm," Bai Yuyou nodded.

"Yeah, the prettiest older sister asked for contact info from both Yuyou and me," Tang Keke said with a giggle. "She seems to be a painter, holding exhibitions everywhere, and even wanted to invite us to be models."

Ye Shuang: "..."

"That kind of modeling is unnecessary," Ye Shuang said, the corner of his mouth twitching.