How Did The Young Lady Go Bankrupt? - Chapter 10

Duan Zishu was indeed much more compliant.

She wasn’t actually someone who talked too much, but she had an endless list of strange, particular demands. For instance, in the past, she definitely would have complained that the bathroom faucet couldn’t maintain a constant temperature.

It wasn’t as if it were her first day staying here; yet every time she washed up, she had to bring it up.

The water was either too hot or too cold, there was no warm ambient lighting, no bathtub, and not even a dry-wet separation. Duan Zishu was highly resistant to the idea of facing forward to shower and seeing the toilet when facing backward.

But today, she said nothing at all.

Lu Zhiyao washed fruit while Duan Zishu was in the bathroom. The water temperature over there could be unstable, but even so, not a single complaint came through.

Wow, she’s actually that happy? Lu Zhiyao thought to herself, taking a bite of an apple.

She liked apples. Compared to fruits with such strong personalities like pineapples or grapes, apples were well-behaved and considerate. By the same logic, bananas were also pretty good.

However, even though Duan Zishu wasn’t whining like she used to, the time she spent grooming was just as drawn-out as it had been the past few days. Lu Zhiyao thought that since the surface area of a face was so small, no matter how thorough one was, it shouldn’t take forty minutes to finish, no matter how you sliced it.

Duan Zishu’s skincare products were her own; there wasn’t much left, and once they were gone, she wouldn’t have the money to restock them.

Would the young miss cry when that happens?

Seeing Duan Zishu come out of the bathroom with a sheet mask still on her face, Lu Zhiyao couldn’t keep her mouth shut: “You act like you live in the bathroom; what exactly are you aiming for?”

With that face covered by the mask, it was naturally impossible to see her expression.

Seeming to think it over, Duan Zishu tilted her head.

“To attract you.”

She didn’t seem to think she had said anything particularly mushy. She had only come out to get something and quickly returned.

Lu Zhiyao had been halfway through chewing her apple, her teeth sunk into the fruit. She paused, then took a big bite, chewing the apple with a loud, crunchy sound.

Duan Zishu really needs to stop reading so many novels.

Lu Zhiyao finished chewing the apple slowly, almost sucking the core dry—though in reality, she was never usually this frugal. Glancing at the trash can, she tossed the apple core toward it.

She missed, so she had to walk over to dispose of it properly.

Usually, she wouldn’t bother trying to “shoot hoops” with the trash can anyway.

Pursing her lips, Lu Zhiyao shook her head. Honestly, it’s not like she’s a kid anymore—what is there to be so excited about?

Still, whatever the nature of their relationship, being struck by a line like that made it impossible to say she wasn’t happy. She was willing to give Duan Zishu a bit more of a friendly face.

However…

“Wait a second,” Lu Zhiyao said, blocking Duan Zishu just as she finished tidying up and prepared to return to the bedroom.

Duan Zishu turned back, looking at her with confusion.

“You realize this is a house I’m renting, right?”

Duan Zishu nodded, though she still didn’t grasp what the other woman was getting at.

“So, you sleep on the sofa.”

Those eyes widened abruptly.

The downturned corners of her eyes already made Duan Zishu look somewhat somber, and now she looked even more pitiable. She didn’t say a word, but Lu Zhiyao felt as if she could hear her silent plea.

“I let you sleep in the bed before because you were a guest,” Lu Zhiyao said. “Now that I think of you as one of my own, there’s no need to stand on ceremony.”

“So, aren’t you being a bit unreasonable to make me sleep on the sofa?” Lu Zhiyao continued.

“We could sleep in the bed together…”

Duan Zishu’s voice was very soft. Lu Zhiyao pretended not to hear her and suddenly became serious: “Have you paid a single cent of rent?”

Duan Zishu shook her head blankly.

“Exactly. Now that you haven’t been paid, you have nothing on you. Your food, clothing, housing, and transportation are all being covered by me. Once you get your salary, you’ll have to pay me back. Let me calculate…”

Lu Zhiyao counted on her fingers, then looked up at her: “Give me two thousand yuan.”

Duan Zishu’s calm expression nearly collapsed.

“I only earn three thousand a month.”

“Wow, you can still have over a thousand left? That’s amazing.”

Without waiting for Duan Zishu to react, Lu Zhiyao continued: “Rent, utilities, food expenses, plus the daily necessities I’ve bought you—not to mention I’m the one doing all the cooking and cleaning. If you hired a housekeeper, they’d charge you way more than this. And I helped you find this job; how can that not count as a service fee?”

“So, two thousand is actually a bargain.”

Blindsided by this barrage of words, Duan Zishu just stared at Lu Zhiyao, seemingly unable to process it.

“Don’t worry,” Lu Zhiyao said, waving a hand. “I’m not obsessed with money; I’m not trying to fleece you. Most of this income is just being saved for you. If you want to move out later, you’ll need start-up capital, right?”

Duan Zishu lowered her head, still not answering.

Seeing those eyes, a subtle sense of guilt welled up in Lu Zhiyao’s heart.

Tch, when I was getting red envelopes during the Lunar New Year, how on earth did my grandma manage to be so cold-blooded and take all the money away?

“So, am I really stuck sleeping on the sofa?” Duan Zishu asked after a long pause, looking up.

“Once you can shoulder your share of the household expenses, you can sleep in the bed,” Lu Zhiyao said naturally, starting to dangle a carrot in front of her. Then, as if to compensate, she took the initiative: “Didn’t I promise you a reward? What do you actually want?”

Duan Zishu subconsciously turned her gaze toward the window again. Lu Zhiyao followed her eyes, but there was nothing there.

Originally, Duan Zishu had wanted a kiss, but Lu Zhiyao had preemptively rejected that. Then, she had pondered for a while, wanting Lu Zhiyao to come to the bed and sleep together.

She was used to accepting others’ kindness, and even more used to accepting Lu Zhiyao’s kindness. So, at the very beginning, when she was offered the bed, Duan Zishu hadn’t even felt that anything was wrong. But she quickly realized that she shouldn’t have let Lu Zhiyao sleep on the sofa alone.

However, she was afraid that suggesting it abruptly would make Lu Zhiyao misunderstand, given that the other woman had been keeping such a defensive posture the entire time.

Duan Zishu considered herself a well-behaved sleeper, and the bed was large enough for two, so she had wanted to use the “reward” as a pretext to get Lu Zhiyao to join her.

It’s not like anything would happen anyway.

But now, it seemed it had been vetoed before she could even propose it. Even if she were to say, “I want to sleep with you,” she would only get the reply, “The sofa isn’t big enough for two people anyway,” right?

Seeing Duan Zishu remain silent for so long, Lu Zhiyao couldn’t quite figure her out.

Is she angry and sulking, or does she have some demand that’s too embarrassing to voice? Duan Zishu was just too good at hiding her emotions. No matter how well Lu Zhiyao knew her, she didn’t have the power to read minds.

Finally, Duan Zishu said, “A goodnight kiss.”

“Hm?”

“I want a goodnight kiss.”

Lu Zhiyao hadn’t expected it to be just this after all that build-up. A goodnight kiss? They had already touched on that back when Duan Zishu was acting spoiled while running a fever.

“You kissed me last time. Now you kiss me.”

Lu Zhiyao remembered the previous goodnight kiss. Duan Zishu’s hand had moved bit by bit from her shoulder to her arm, then she had lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it.

Lu Zhiyao felt uncomfortable—who kisses the back of the hand? Someone needs to uninstall the novel app on Duan Zishu’s phone. She definitely couldn’t bring herself to do something that mushy.

Fortunately, Duan Zishu only pointed to her cheek; she didn’t have any particular obsession with the back of the hand.

“Alright, fine,” Lu Zhiyao agreed. “Bend down a little, I can’t reach.”