How Did The Young Lady Go Bankrupt? - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Princess and the Pea

The scene fell into silence.

Duan Zishu’s expressions were always difficult to decipher, and Lu Zhiyao wasn’t sure if she truly didn’t know or if there was some hidden circumstance, so she didn’t press the matter. With the topic exhausted, there was nothing left to say.

Duan Zishu didn’t seem to mind; she turned her attention to the fried chicken on the table.

“Eating too much grease at night is bad for your health,” she said, picking up a piece with her chopsticks.

Lu Zhiyao watched with trepidation. Most people eat fried chicken by putting on gloves and using their hands, as it’s hard to grip a heavy piece of chicken with chopsticks. But Duan Zishu wasn’t the type to bring the food up a little bit and lean her head forward to eat; she insisted on holding the food right up to her mouth before taking a bite. Would she clean it up if she dropped it?

Noticing Lu Zhiyao’s intense gaze, Duan Zishu’s movements faltered.

“I don’t have that big of an appetite,” she said. “I won’t snatch it from you.”

After that, she simply sniffed it and placed the chicken back into a small bowl she’d just retrieved from the kitchen. While Lu Zhiyao was lost in the conflict of whether she should be relieved the chicken didn’t fall or speechless that she had to wash another bowl, Duan Zishu added, “The oil used isn’t very good. Don’t you find it a bit greasy?”

It was as if a day of adapting to her new environment had passed; the Duan Zishu who was so quiet last night that she felt both familiar and strange to Lu Zhiyao had, by today, become exactly as she was in her memories.

How could someone remain completely unchanged after so many years, aside from their physical appearance?

“What difference could there possibly be?” Lu Zhiyao didn’t know why, but she couldn’t bring herself to get angry. She realized the other person had always been this way, and she was the one who had liked her for it back then. Suddenly, her mood became very complicated. Of course, her high-school self was aware of these quirks; she’d just believed the flaws didn’t overshadow the beauty.

“If you had ever eaten cleaner fried food,” Duan Zishu said with a straight face, “you would be able to smell what’s bad.”

There was probably some truth to that, but it was enough to make Lu Zhiyao roll her eyes. “If you don’t want to eat it, don’t.” She thought about it and decided that this sentence alone wouldn’t be enough to silence Duan Zishu. Look at how picky she was being—she was clearly unwilling to be hungry, but also unwilling to endure it. If she didn’t act precious for a while, she wouldn’t be satisfied.

So, Lu Zhiyao added, “If you don’t want the fried chicken, I can boil some noodles for you.”

As expected, Duan Zishu’s expression immediately became grave. She stopped whining and bit into the chicken with a frown.

Lu Zhiyao suddenly remembered something: “What did you eat for lunch?”

Duan Zishu chewed slowly and replied, “I didn’t eat anything.”

Under Lu Zhiyao’s surprised gaze, Duan Zishu added, “I don’t know how to cook, and I didn’t have any money.”

“What do you mean ‘not much money’?” Lu Zhiyao asked.

“My bank card is frozen. Not a single cent.”

The scene fell silent again.

Duan Zishu continued eating the fried chicken.

“Then what are you going to do from now on?”

Duan Zishu tilted her head, not understanding why she would ask such a thing.

“You have to find a job eventually; you can’t just go on without earning money.”

To her surprise, Duan Zishu’s brows rose. Although she said nothing, it betrayed her shock.

“What are you thinking!” Lu Zhiyao immediately raised her voice. “I can’t possibly support you for a lifetime! Even if you were my actual girlfriend, there’s no way I could support you forever.”

As she finished, she suddenly realized something. This person hadn’t been in touch for four or five years, suddenly appeared at her door, and started talking about reconciling in the middle of the night—could it be that she was just looking for a long-term meal ticket? Looking at her expression, it was clear she hadn’t even considered the idea of going out to earn money!

Seeing Lu Zhiyao’s firm stance, Duan Zishu could only say lethargically, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

Lu Zhiyao flopped into the sofa. “You’re a graduate from a top-tier university abroad, you shouldn’t be worried, right?”

“Actually…”

Duan Zishu opened her mouth, then closed it, and only spoke after a long while.

“I didn’t graduate from university.”

“What?!”

“…I only have a high school diploma.”

Lu Zhiyao felt the world go dark.

Duan Zishu finally seemed to feel a bit embarrassed. She opened a can of cola. This time, she didn’t pose by the bay window drinking it with one hand like she had yesterday; she obediently held it with both hands. “Can you get me a straw?”

Lu Zhiyao ignored her.

“Tomorrow,” Lu Zhiyao said, staring at the ceiling, “you’re coming with me to make milk tea.”

After settling that, she went back to her meal.

“Lu Zhiyao.” Duan Zishu suddenly spoke.

Lu Zhiyao started.

When they dated in high school, they didn’t have any nicknames for each other. Duan Zishu usually called her by her full name, and she called her “Senior.” Lu Zhiyao liked being called by her full name by Duan Zishu; she didn’t feel it was distant at all. She thought Duan Zishu’s voice was beautiful, and her name sounded different when it came from her mouth—a melody of three syllables she loved to hear regardless of how many times it was said.

Being called that way so suddenly by the same voice and the same person, Lu Zhiyao told herself there was no need to make a fuss after so much time had passed, but her heart leaped, thumping so hard it made her chest ache.

“When can we get back together?”

This was the kind of question where a refusal would suffice, but her traitorous heart was still pounding so violently from a second ago that Lu Zhiyao couldn’t force the rejection out.

“You don’t need to worry about your sleep score now, right? You didn’t reject me directly last night, does that mean there’s still a chance?”

That was a polite refusal, do you understand?

Lu Zhiyao felt a pang of melancholy. She knew she was hesitating. If the person you loved with your entire being during your youth suddenly showed interest again, it would be hard not to be swayed, even if the feelings were gone, let alone when Duan Zishu was so beautiful. Lu Zhiyao knew that with her limited social circle and her half-dead energy levels, it would be hard for her to find another girlfriend.

Every month, there were a few days where she felt lonely living alone.

However, Lu Zhiyao was, after all, a creature of habit; human beings are not beings that change easily.

“We’ll talk about that when you get a university degree.”

Having said that, she cleared the table and left.

They didn’t have any long conversations until bedtime.

Lu Zhiyao thought she would dream of high school again, but she didn’t; she dreamt of her mother.

Her mother had a pair of beautiful eyes—large, with a deep, piercing gaze. Lu Zhiyao hadn’t inherited those eyes; people always said her half-lidded expression made her look like she wasn’t someone to be trifled with. In fact, if she didn’t deliberately widen her eyes, they always looked like they were barely open.

Her mother’s eyes were beautiful, but sadly, there was no sunny memory of them. They were always, forever, looking deep into the distance, revealing a hollow and sorrowful emotion.

Duan Zishu was the same.

“Wake up, wake up…”

Being pushed awake for the second time rather than by an alarm, Lu Zhiyao opened her eyes helplessly. She saw the other woman with her brows knit tightly in pain—Duan Zishu rarely made such expressive faces, so Lu Zhiyao didn’t have the energy to complain. “What’s wrong?”

“My stomach hurts, I feel a bit nauseous,” Duan Zishu said, her voice faint as a thread.

Lu Zhiyao quickly turned on the light and saw the cold sweat on Duan Zishu’s forehead—this couldn’t be faked.

They went to the emergency room in the middle of the night. On the way, Duan Zishu looked like she was about to keel over. They couldn’t get a taxi, and Lu Zhiyao’s most comfortable form of transport was her little electric scooter. It was a bumpy ride on a road that had been under construction for years, and she was terrified that Duan Zishu would die on the way.

“Why don’t you try vomiting? You’ll feel better if you let it out.”

Duan Zishu groaned, but refused to vomit.

“It’s so undignified,” she said.

“Oh, my dear Young Lady, what’s more important: dignity or feeling better?”

Clearly, to Duan Zishu, crouching on the side of the road and vomiting into a trash can was a deeply undignified act, far more important than the agony she was suffering on the back of the scooter.

The hospital was busy tonight; no one paid them any mind. Just as Lu Zhiyao was about to anxiously find a doctor to beg for medicine because she thought Duan Zishu was dying, an ambulance pulled up, sirens blaring. Nurses pushed a gurney past them at full speed, and a doctor was on his knees on the bed performing CPR as they rushed inside. Lu Zhiyao silently swallowed her words.

A while later, a worker came to the emergency room carrying his own severed palm; the sight of those bloody fingers flashing before Duan Zishu’s face was the final straw. She finally needed to vomit.

Lu Zhiyao quickly pulled out the bag she’d prepared in advance.

“I need to… rinse my mouth…”

Even if she were one second away from entering nirvana, Duan Zishu had to finish her final words. She wouldn’t allow herself to die with the taste of vomit in her mouth. If possible, she added, she wanted the mouthwash to be peach oolong flavored.

Lu Zhiyao got up and fetched her a cup of water from the hospital’s large iron tank.

“Gum… gum would be okay too…”

After vomiting, Duan Zishu seemed to feel a tiny bit better. She curled up in a corner, wrapped in her coat, looking so pitiful she couldn’t even keep her eyes open. A moment later, she was uncomfortable again—not pain, not itching, just a indescribable discomfort in her stomach that left her restless.

Finally, after a long process, they got an IV drip. Duan Zishu sat against the chair, pale-faced and silent.

The doctor said it was acute gastroenteritis—likely from eating food that was too greasy, which her stomach couldn’t digest.

“Did you stop eating oil for a long time while dieting, then suddenly eat too much?” the doctor warned. “Don’t ever do that again, be careful of pancreatitis. Stick to light meals for the next few days, and after three days of IV drips, you’ll be fine.”

Lu Zhiyao nodded repeatedly, feeling miserable as she looked at the bill. Duan Zishu hadn’t even eaten that much, had she? Could it really be that she just couldn’t handle bad oil? But she, Lu Zhiyao, had been perfectly fine.

The story of the Princess and the Pea shouldn’t just be taken as a joke. Duan Zishu was the one who was sick, but Lu Zhiyao felt like she’d been slapped across the face—was the food they usually ate really that dirty?

After a long, exhausting night, they could finally go home. Lu Zhiyao rode through the dark night with Duan Zishu behind her, staring at the starless sky and remembering an essay she’d written in elementary school.

After tossing Duan Zishu back into bed, Lu Zhiyao wiped the nonexistent sweat from her forehead. Duan Zishu’s eyes were tightly shut; she was probably too tired and had fallen asleep immediately. Lu Zhiyao didn’t linger; she stretched her aching waist and prepared to sleep. But unexpectedly, Duan Zishu accurately grabbed her sleeve.

“What about a goodnight kiss?”