Adverse

When Chao Yiyu woke up, it was already getting dark outside the window. Only the RGB lights from the gaming corner not far away were flashing.

"Mmm, huh?" The young girl slowly rolled her shoulders and found they were no longer heavy. She hadn't actually slept much all morning, but that recent nap had been exceptionally sweet, completely driving away her fatigue.

She glanced around and realized Ye Shuang was nowhere to be seen. He had obviously gone back.

"Did he go back?" Chao Yiyu muttered to herself. For some reason, the room felt a bit lonely—even though she was surrounded by atmospheric cyberpunk decorations, they didn't make the girl feel happy in the slightest.

She stood up and walked around. Although her steps were still a bit unsteady, she was countless times better than before. Walking skillfully to the refrigerator, Chao Yiyu took out a bottle of calamansi juice.

"An ice-cold juice after a fever, so refreshing." Just as Chao Yiyu was about to twist off the cap, Ye Shuang's words of caution suddenly popped into her mind.

Chao Yiyu: "..."

"Forget it, my mouth feels bitter, I won't drink it." The girl put the beverage back.

Porridge doesn't stave off hunger for long, especially since she only had one bowl. By now, Chao Yiyu was starting to feel hungry. Normally, in this situation, it would be fitting to order takeout or go downstairs to the commercial street for a big meal.

However, for some inexplicable reason, she wanted to eat the porridge Ye Shuang had just cooked.

Chao Yiyu swayed her way to the kitchen and opened the pot lid, only to find it completely empty. It had obviously been washed clean.

"At least leave a bowl, stingy guy." After muttering this, Chao Yiyu returned to her sofa.

As soon as she sat down, she couldn't help but fold her legs up, hugging her knees, and just sat there quietly without saying a word.

It's so quiet.

Is that guy not coming back?

The older guy is gone too. He could have at least done a striptease before leaving, right?

The girl silently watched the dusk outside the window. The world outside was a sea of tangerine, looking as if it had been set on fire.

"A bit boring," she mumbled.

Then the girl looked at her palms; a sense of weakness still lingered.

"It's fine, I shouldn't have come to this world anyway." As if to comfort herself, Chao Yiyu waved her hand, then leaned back against the sofa and continued to gaze at the setting sun outside.

So beautiful.

Will I be able to see this after I die?

I probably won't get to play the newly released games either, right?

After a while.

"It's a little lonely," Chao Yiyu murmured.

Silently getting up, she put on a thin jacket—she didn't really have a destination in mind, she just wanted to go for a random walk.

However, the moment she opened the door, Chao Yiyu froze.

A man was standing outside the door, right in the middle of reaching for the doorbell. In his other hand, he was even carrying a bag of groceries.

"Oh?" Ye Shuang was a bit surprised to see Chao Yiyu open the door and smiled. "You're awake. I was just about to ring the bell... Is your body feeling any better?"

"You..." Before Chao Yiyu could speak, a head popped out from the side. "You look really haggard."

"Is An Shiyu okay?"

Standing behind Ye Shuang were Tang Keke and Bai Yuyou. It was obvious that both of them had come to visit her, even holding fruits and other things in their hands.

"Eh..." Chao Yiyu looked very surprised. After all, she thought Ye Shuang had already left, but not only did he not leave, he even brought Tang Keke and Bai Yuyou over.

"Shall we go in first?" Ye Shuang asked.

"Then... come in." Chao Yiyu looked at them and stepped aside.

"Sorry for the intrusion. Wow, is your house actually this big? This flat must be at least over two hundred square meters, right?"

"Three hundred."

"So rich." Tang Keke then noticed the figure display cabinets and various high-end electronic devices everywhere, her eyes shining brightly.

"Are these all limited editions?!"

"Well, pretty much. If you like them, you can take one with you," Chao Yiyu said.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

While Tang Keke and Bai Yuyou went into the house to look around, Ye Shuang asked Chao Yiyu,

"Your things are so expensive, are you really that willing to give them away?"

Hearing this, Chao Yiyu showed a smile on her face, "Well..."

"They're not mine anyway."

At this moment, a certain short-haired girl who was shopping far away let out a sneeze.

...

After Ye Shuang put down the ingredients, he began to prepare today's dinner. Because Chao Yiyu was sick, he planned to make some lighter dishes. Considering that the other fish was still outside, Ye Shuang actually considered just letting Keke and the others know that there were two An Shiyus.

However, when he messaged An Shiyu to ask, he was rejected.

As for the reason, it was quite simple: the secret of the shadow clone technique couldn't be revealed.

What a chuunibyou-like reason.

"Ye Shuang, this is very fresh." Bai Yuyou helped out beside Ye Shuang, not forgetting to comment.

"Yeah, it really is. After all, it was just butchered..." Seeing the fish Bai Yuyou was talking about, Ye Shuang smiled. "When you're sick, it's better to eat some light steamed dishes."

"I want deep-fried," Chao Yiyu's voice called out from afar.

"No."

"Ehh—" Although the girl dragged out her voice like that, Ye Shuang felt that she seemed to be in a pretty good mood at the moment.

After touring the house for a while, Tang Keke also came over to the kitchen to help. Because An Shiyu's house used an open kitchen, Ye Shuang tried to avoid preparing foods that would create heavy cooking smoke.

To put it bluntly, an open kitchen was useless except for its aesthetics, but it was surprisingly suitable for An Shiyu's house—

After all, the two fishes basically never cooked; it was purely a decoration.

At this moment, Chao Yiyu looked at the busy people in the kitchen. For some reason, she suddenly kind of liked this feeling.

It felt quite lively.

"What's wrong, do you want to help too?" Tang Keke asked after noticing Chao Yiyu coming over.

"I..." Chao Yiyu thought for a moment, and the words just slipped out of her mouth, "just like watching people work for me."

Tang Keke was speechless. "Your personality is really awful, you know."

"But whatever, seeing as you're sick today, I won't nag you." Tang Keke smiled and went back to work.

Chao Yiyu looked on. Instead, Bai Yuyou beside her seemed to understand something and reached out her little hand,

"Here."

Chao Yiyu took a look and found a bulb of garlic resting on Bai Yuyou's clean little hand.

"You want to help, right? You can help us peel the garlic."

After saying that, Bai Yuyou paused and added,

"If you don't know how to peel garlic, I can teach you."

Chao Yiyu: "..."

"How could I not know."

Saying this, the girl took the garlic. Carrying an inexplicable smile, she found a corner of the kitchen and started to busy herself as well.

The house still didn't have many lights turned on, but it illuminated everyone with a special warmth.