The Gift of Two Fish

Because he had received Christmas presents, Ye Shuang decided to take Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke to the mall that afternoon in return. They also bought some useful things while they were there.

Keke was easy to deal with. She was a complete shut-in, after all, and Ye Shuang stuffed her shopping cart with all kinds of figures and merchandise. Her eyes immediately lit up brighter than lanterns.

As for Bai Yuyou, Ye Shuang bought her several winter outfits. Bai Yuyou’s sense of fashion was practically nonexistent, and she relied entirely on her looks to carry whatever she wore.

Still, no matter how beautiful someone was, it was difficult to pull off looking like a Michelin tire mascot.

“Don’t wear so many layers next time.” Ye Shuang pulled up Bai Yuyou’s zipper for her.

“Oh.”

Just then, Ye Shuang’s phone rang. He took it out and glanced at the screen—

It was a message from An Shiyu.

An Shiyu: Are you free to come out and hang out today?

Ye Shuang: I’m out shopping with Bai Yuyou and the others. Want to come?

An Shiyu: Oh…

An Shiyu: Never mind, then.

Ye Shuang looked at her reply. Then he remembered how the two fishes had helped him quite a bit when Chen Qin was giving birth. In the end, he sent another message.

Ye Shuang: Then I’ll come over.

An Shiyu: It’s fine. I was just asking.

Ye Shuang: Really?

An Shiyu: [Location] Loli City Plaza, second floor.

An Shiyu: You can come if you want.

Ye Shuang: “…”

She had sent him the location directly. Wasn’t it obvious that she wanted him to come?

Ye Shuang couldn’t help thinking that to himself.

Since he had already agreed to meet An Shiyu, Ye Shuang turned to Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke. “I have something to take care of later, so I’ll have to leave for a while.”

Bai Yuyou nodded. “Okay.”

The girl did not ask what it was about. She simply assumed Ye Shuang had work to deal with. After all, Ye Shuang had indeed been leaving early and returning late for work recently. A lot of the time, he would come home, take a shower, and immediately go to bed.

After dropping the two girls off at home, Ye Shuang followed the address and arrived at the place where he had arranged to meet An Shiyu.

“Yo—”

He spotted An Shiyu and Anshi Yi from a distance. The two girls were sitting in a café, eating desserts. When Ye Shuang saw the two fishes, he hurried over.

An Shiyu and Anshi Yi were wearing different outfits today. Although both of them had on thick coats, one was dressed in black and the other in white. Beneath their pleated skirts, one wore white tights and the other black tights. The only thing they had in common was their brown camel-colored cloth boots.

“So you’re both here?” Ye Shuang asked. Since An Shiyu had been the one to message him, he had assumed she was alone.

“Isn’t it better with two people?” Anshi Yi asked.

“That depends on the situation.”

“What about in bed?”

“Don’t suddenly jump to something like that.” Ye Shuang sighed helplessly.

Ye Shuang was still carrying a shopping bag. Since he knew it was Christmas today, he had bought a small present before coming to see An Shiyu. In reality, it was just a little stuffed toy.

“A Christmas present?” Anshi Yi asked.

“Something like that.” Ye Shuang suddenly found himself in a difficult position. He had only bought one, but there were two girls in front of him.

“You only prepared one present?” Anshi Yi asked.

After Chao Yiyu saw right through him, an awkward expression appeared on Ye Shuang’s face. All he could say was, “I actually forgot it was Christmas today, so I didn’t have time to prepare anything properly.”

“I see. Then give the stuffed toy to Little Yu,” Anshi Yi said.

“Huh?” Ye Shuang froze, hesitating slightly.

“It’s fine. Just give it to her.” As she spoke, Anshi Yi took the stuffed toy from Ye Shuang’s bag and handed it to An Shiyu. “Here, this is for you.”

An Shiyu stared at the stuffed toy Anshi Yi had handed her, and her expression stiffened slightly.

An Shiyu knew that Anshi Yi liked Ye Shuang too, so for a moment, she couldn’t figure out exactly what the girl was trying to do.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll take it,” Anshi Yi said.

“…”

An Shiyu said nothing. She simply reached out and took the stuffed toy.

“I’ll have another kind of present,” Anshi Yi told Ye Shuang. “Something like a money transfer…”

Ye Shuang’s mouth twitched. So that was what she was after.

Still, he smiled without minding. “Sure. As long as you like it.”

The next second, Anshi Yi rose onto her toes and kissed Ye Shuang on the lips.

“…”

The sudden move left Ye Shuang stunned for several seconds. He instinctively touched his lips, while An Shiyu, standing beside him, had already crushed the stuffed toy out of shape. Her gaze fell on Anshi Yi as though she were asking, What the hell are you doing?

It was an attack launched with zero warning. No one had been prepared for it.

“Hmm? Why does the air smell kind of sour?” Anshi Yi said, pretending to sniff the air. She glanced at An Shiyu beside her, covering her mouth as she tried not to laugh. “Aww, what’s with that look?”

An Shiyu: “…”

“Heh.” An Shiyu suddenly let out a cold laugh. “I don’t know whether the air smells sour, but there’s definitely a fishy smell.”

“Eh—”

“Fishy and slutty.”

Ye Shuang suddenly realized that things were taking a bad turn. Seeing the two fishes begin to trade barbs, he cleared his throat and said, “Um…”

For a moment, he had no idea how to mediate.

“How about we watch a movie?” he suggested, attempting to change the subject.

“Not interested.”

“Right…”

After calming herself down a little, An Shiyu took out a paper bag and handed it to him. “Here.”

“Huh? What’s this?” Ye Shuang asked as he took it instinctively.

“A Christmas present,” An Shiyu said.

“So I get a present too?” Ye Shuang couldn’t help smiling. He reached into the bag, but immediately felt that something was off. When he pulled it out, he found a scarf.

It wasn’t very long, but its purple-and-black color scheme looked especially stylish.

“Little Yu knitted the purple part, and I knitted the black part,” Anshi Yi explained from the side. This meant that the scarf had been knitted by both of them together.

“The craftsmanship is excellent.” Ye Shuang was genuinely surprised. It was so refined that it looked as though it had been made by a machine.

“The color combination looks great too. How did you come up with the design?” Ye Shuang continued.

“Oh, that’s because we ran out of purple yarn.”

Ye Shuang: “…”

Forget it. Ye Shuang decided not to dwell on it.

“Oi, aren’t you going to try it on?” Anshi Yi asked when she saw Ye Shuang about to put it away.

“Looks like he doesn’t like it,” An Shiyu said.

“It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just…” Ye Shuang instinctively touched the scarf around his neck.

“Tsk. So that’s how it is.”

At that moment, An Shiyu and Anshi Yi also noticed the pattern on Ye Shuang’s scarf. It was obvious that some girl had knitted it by hand.