How Did The Young Lady Go Bankrupt? - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Desired Response

“Does your head still hurt?”

Upon receiving such an inquiry, it was only natural for Duan Zishu to take the opportunity to voice a few complaints.

Lu Zhiyao sat beside her, lightly patting her shoulder. She appeared very concerned and spoke many words of comfort; in fact, Lu Zhiyao felt that she truly was concerned. Even with an ordinary roommate, as long as there hadn’t been a conflict, one wouldn’t be thinking “you deserve it” in their heart at a time like this.

However, after offering a few kind words, Lu Zhiyao felt it became a bit tedious when Duan Zishu showed no sign of stopping while she was ahead.

It was just a slight headache, and “slight” meant “a little,” not “severe.” If it were truly severe, Duan Zishu would certainly be lying on the sofa, pale-faced and unable to get up. Lu Zhiyao stroked Duan Zishu’s head, thinking she was perhaps exaggerating a bit too much.

Should I say something like “pain, pain, fly away”? Lu Zhiyao wondered pointlessly.

“Lu Zhiyao.”

“Hmm?”

She responded, but she no longer wanted to say any more soothing words.

“You should also be careful to keep warm.”

“…” Lu Zhiyao withdrew her hand. “I’m not like you.”

“When we go to work tomorrow, I’ll teach you how to make bubble tea,” she said to Duan Zishu, returning to her own spot.

Coming into contact with something new is always a bit fresh; she herself had been happy for two days when she first started learning. Though, she had quickly become bored with the repetitive nature of the work.

“Okay.”

Duan Zishu agreed, looking not the least bit enthusiastic.

The next day, the wind was still quite strong. Lu Zhiyao forcibly placed that ugly hat onto Duan Zishu’s head. Duan Zishu was somewhat reluctant, acting like someone who had forgotten the pain once the scar had healed. But she didn’t say “no” again.

Once they reached the tea shop, Lu Zhiyao first sent the recipes to Duan Zishu, then explained while demonstrating. She told Duan Zishu to take notes, saying she would ask questions later, only to turn around and see that the other woman’s expression wasn’t very good.

“What’s wrong?”

Duan Zishu frowned slightly but shook her head, saying it was nothing. Lu Zhiyao stared at her for a moment, said nothing more, and continued the lesson.

A while later, Duan Zishu who had just said she was fine—asked, “Can I not learn this?”

“Why? You’re working in a bubble tea shop; are you really not going to learn how to make the tea?”

“I can help out with side tasks, or take orders at the front desk. It’s not absolutely necessary to learn this, is it?”

Lu Zhiyao shook her head. “We don’t have a clear division of labor here; everyone has to know how to do everything so we can step in if someone is missing. You can’t just do the easiest work all the time, right?”

“Fine.”

As things got busy, Lu Zhiyao didn’t have time to teach her hand-in-hand anymore. She only glanced over occasionally to see if Duan Zishu was learning. What was strange was that Duan Zishu kept picking up her phone to look at it repeatedly. It didn’t look like she had anything important to do; rather, it seemed like she was looking for something to do to ease some sort of tension.

What is it? Does she need the restroom?

Once the rush passed, she returned to Duan Zishu’s side and asked a few questions she had taught earlier. She couldn’t answer every one of them. Lu Zhiyao thought nothing of it—she was a novice, after all.

But looking up at Duan Zishu’s face, it didn’t seem as simple as just failing to answer a couple of questions. Duan Zishu looked extremely nervous. Even if she couldn’t answer a single one, Lu Zhiyao wouldn’t do anything to her, and it wasn’t as if Duan Zishu didn’t know that.

Yet she looked terrible. Like a person with social anxiety who knows that going out won’t cause the end of the world but can’t help feeling panicked. Duan Zishu stared fixedly at a single point; it didn’t look like she was trying to recall information, but rather as if her brain had stopped functioning due to excessive tension.

Lu Zhiyao narrowed her eyes. Hmm, I don’t find this state difficult to understand.

It was likely that a wrong answer had once landed her in an irreconcilable, embarrassing situation, so similar scenarios now triggered a stress response.

“You can’t even answer this?” Lu Zhiyao asked tentatively.

Duan Zishu licked her lips. The subconscious action betrayed her tightly wound heart.

“You won’t be able to last in this industry like this,” Lu Zhiyao continued, seemingly nonchalant. “If that’s the case, why not switch to another livelihood? Can’t you draw?”

A crack appeared in Duan Zishu’s expression. She closed her eyes and then opened them. This wasn’t a casual blink; fine lines appeared around her eyes when she closed them, indicating she was squeezing them shut with great force.

Squeezing one’s eyes shut—a symbol of fear and pain.

Just as I thought, Lu Zhiyao pondered. Duan Zishu said she wouldn’t draw anymore; it must be because of some psychological trauma. Perhaps she was shot down during some Q&A session; otherwise, she wouldn’t be so averse to being tested. Likely, even her past efforts and learning abilities were belittled along with it, or she wouldn’t be so resistant to learning how to make bubble tea.

Lu Zhiyao felt her analysis was very sound. With causes leading to effects and effects pointing back to causes, this sort of thing was all too easy to guess. Perhaps the alcohol was related to this as well. Either the drinking led to her being rejected, causing her to quit, or she turned to alcohol because she was rejected.

This won’t do.

No wonder Duan Zishu was so out of it when she first arrived at the tea shop; Lu Zhiyao had thought she was just unwilling to stoop to this kind of labor. Thinking back, she was probably unwilling to try new things even then, but because the things taught at the time were so simple, Lu Zhiyao hadn’t asked many questions. Otherwise, Duan Zishu would have snapped long ago.

One cannot be influenced by psychological shadows forever; people must look forward and not always be bound by the past.

I am a very good person, Lu Zhiyao thought. She wouldn’t use Duan Zishu’s trauma to control her emotions, even though it would be incredibly easy to do so. If she were to put on an act and scold Duan Zishu for a bit, the other would surely break down. Only a pervert would do something like that.

What Lu Zhiyao thought was that things had to change; Duan Zishu couldn’t stay like this for the rest of her life. To solve the problem, it’s best to know the exact cause of the illness. But now was clearly not a good time to ask about those things.

It would have to be at night; people’s emotions fluctuate more easily at night. Ideally, on a slightly weary evening, after a decent dinner, sitting on the same sofa. The TV could be on, but it must never play an exciting film—a sufficiently boring art-house movie would be best.

And there was one very important prerequisite: Duan Zishu had to be dependent enough on her. She had asked this question before but hadn’t received a direct answer. Even if she had answered then, it would likely have been a very superficial reason, unable to go deep.

To be depended upon, one cannot just be gentle, lest the other person gets carried away. There must be appropriate concessions, appropriate firmness, and appropriate instances where resistance is not allowed.

This is for the sake of solving Duan Zishu’s psychological issues, Lu Zhiyao thought. I have no selfish motives. Because to tell the truth, she wasn’t actually that interested in Duan Zishu’s past. Even if a wealthy young miss suffered some setbacks and was left with a shadow, how serious could those setbacks really be? Furthermore, helping an ex-girlfriend solve these problems was a bit too selfless.

Lu Zhiyao thought a great deal, but her face didn’t show it. She tapped her chin with her pen, seemingly grading Duan Zishu’s answers from earlier.

The next step: should she be gentle and reassure her that it’s not a big deal? Or should she be assertive and say it’s too brainless not to understand this much?

Just then, Little Zhang suddenly came in from outside. Her face was as red as a tomato. The girl who had asked for her contact information yesterday had come again today and had specifically greeted her. Who knows what they had talked about on their phones yesterday to make Little Zhang so shy. Clearly, one side was pursuing, and the side being pursued already seemed to have fallen for it quite cheaply.

Lu Zhiyao leaned to one side and made fun of her: “Look at you, acting so pathetic.”

“No way, don’t talk nonsense.”

Though she was denying it, anyone with eyes could see she liked it very much.

With Little Zhang acting as a distraction, Lu Zhiyao naturally returned to her work, offering no further evaluation of Duan Zishu’s answers. She was neither gentle nor firm—ambiguity is even more prone to causing speculation. Those with trauma tend to assume the worst on their own, yet they can’t blame anyone for it. Lu Zhiyao hadn’t belittled her as she’d imagined, yet it achieved a similar effect.

But she couldn’t be too annoying, either. She decided to go over and offer a few words of comfort in a bit.

Unexpectedly, Duan Zishu’s reaction was even more intense than she’d imagined. When Lu Zhiyao found a free moment and walked over, Duan Zishu spoke first.

“I don’t want to learn anymore.”

“Why?” Lu Zhiyao expressed her confusion in a standard manner.

“I won’t be able to learn it anyway, will I?” Her tone sounded a bit frantic, like words spoken in anger without thinking.

It was hard for someone like Duan Zishu to belittle herself; even if it truly were her fault, she could usually find a way to make an excuse, couldn’t she? But Lu Zhiyao understood that this was also a way of venting. Proactively belittling oneself in hopes that others will no longer offer insults is a very common form of self-protection.

Lu Zhiyao was all too familiar with it. At this moment, even saying “you can definitely learn it” would cause her to be repelled, because Duan Zishu’s defense mechanisms had been fully triggered.

“Then let’s just not learn it, okay?” Lu Zhiyao said. She knew exactly what kind of answer the Duan Zishu of this moment wanted to hear.

Sure enough, Duan Zishu was stunned and asked as if to confirm: “Really not learning?”

“As long as you do more of the other chores, no one will think you’re being lazy anyway.” Lu Zhiyao shrugged. “Even if the boss thinks it’s inappropriate, it doesn’t matter. Worst case, you get fired.”

Duan Zishu looked over, her eyes watery. “What if I really get fired?”

In truth, regardless of whether anyone still required Duan Zishu to continue learning the complex bubble tea making process, she had already accepted Lu Zhiyao’s rhetoric and was no longer so resistant. The reason she continued to press was simply to get further affirmation.

“If you get fired, you still have me,” Lu Zhiyao said. “I am your greatest support.”

Duan Zishu looked up at the ceiling, blinked, and quickly raised her hand to wipe her eyes.

“Alright, while we’re not busy, what should we have for lunch?”

Duan Zishu walked over, leaned on Lu Zhiyao’s shoulder from behind, and looked at the food delivery app on the phone. This time, she didn’t provide a list of picky eating habits longer than a wedding guest list.

“I’ll eat whatever you want to eat, Lu Zhiyao.”

“Want fried chicken?”

“Uh…”

“Just kidding. Let’s order two stir-fried dishes.”

Lu Zhiyao wasn’t surprised by this result. Probably, it was the first time Duan Zishu felt validated. Sometimes a person’s feelings are quite cheap; they just want to hear a single sentence. Not “you can do it,” but “it’s okay if you can’t.”

Lu Zhiyao knew all too well what Duan Zishu wanted to hear. Because that was the comfort she herself had wanted to hear back then.