My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The owner froze for a moment, apparently not expecting Xia Xingye to ask such a question in a coffee shop. Although she did say she offered all services, asking so boldly—if it were anyone else, she might think they were looking for trouble. But what kind of place was this? This was her shop!

“Of course, there is a bathhouse,” the owner said with a smile. “It’s located about a hundred meters to the right after you exit the shop.”

Xia Xingye asked curiously: “What kind of place is that?”

“Oh, that place,” the owner said, “It’s a sauna opened by my partner. If you want to take a bath, you can go there.”

Xia Xingye looked at Jiang Yingyue and asked: “Should we go?”

She personally wanted to go, as she had gotten covered in dust at Ren Ruofang’s old house earlier today. Although she had tidied up a little, she still felt like there was dust in her hair.

“Let’s go together,” Jiang Yingyue said. She also felt a bit dirty, and it was a good idea to take a bath since they had the time.

The two followed the owner’s directions and indeed found a very discreetly hidden sauna shop.

Xia Xingye excitedly walked inside. Suddenly, a hand blocked her way. Xia Xingye looked at the person, a woman with a blank expression.

The woman looked at Xia Xingye with cold eyes and asked: “Who let you come here? This place only serves regular customers.”

Xia Xingye blinked and said innocently: “I was just at the coffee shop, and the owner said this shop was opened by her partner. She said I could come here if I wanted to take a bath.”

Hearing this, the corner of the woman’s mouth twitched slightly. She waved her hand and said: “Go inside.”

Xia Xingye looked around curiously and asked: “Where is the owner’s partner? I don’t see them.”

The woman cleared her throat and said: “I am. Hurry and go inside.”

Before Xia Xingye could react, Jiang Yingyue pushed her in.

Only after putting down their belongings and preparing to shower did Xia Xingye realize what had happened. She immediately widened her eyes and asked Jiang Yingyue: “Sister, did you hear her say she was the coffee shop owner’s partner?”

Jiang Yingyue looked at her strangely: “I know. She just said so. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong,” but Xia Xingye said a little excitedly, “But they’re both girls.”

Xia Xingye thought she had made herself clear enough for Jiang Yingyue to understand what she was saying, but Jiang Yingyue looked at her with increasing confusion.

Xia Xingye paused, sighed, and said: “It’s nothing, just a bit surprised.”

After showering separately, the two went to the sauna room. There weren’t many people in the sauna room now, possibly because the place only served regular customers and was located in a remote area.

Xia Xingye started sweating immediately. She looked at Jiang Yingyue next to her, who looked completely composed, as if in meditation, and asked: “Don’t you feel hot?”

Xia Xingye could already barely stand it and wanted to go out. Jiang Yingyue, who had been meditating with her eyes closed, opened her eyes when she heard this and said: “A little.”

“I can’t take it anymore,” Xia Xingye stood up and said, “I’ll wait outside. I think I saw some food being sold outside.”

“Okay, you go first,” Jiang Yingyue replied.

Xia Xingye left the sauna room and immediately found the empty space she had seen when she came in. There was an area for people to do yoga, and not far away, various cooked foods were being sold.

Xia Xingye walked over and realized it was the same woman as before, the owner of the sauna shop. Xia Xingye asked with a smile: “Owner, are you making this yourself?”

The owner was making lemon tea. Hearing Xia Xingye’s question, she asked: “What do you want?”

Xia Xingye scanned the options and said: “Give me a set meal,” she pointed to one of the central set meals, and then asked: “Owner, are you and the coffee shop owner really a couple?”

The owner’s hand movements stopped. She looked up and coldly asked Xia Xingye: “Is there a problem?”

“I didn’t say there was a problem,” Xia Xingye quickly waved her hands to prove her innocence, “I’ve just never met anyone who admits it so openly.”

Because they were so open about it, when the coffee shop owner told her that the sauna shop owner was her partner, she assumed the sauna shop owner would be a man, but she turned out to be a woman.

Xia Xingye rarely encountered same-sex couples in real life, only occasionally seeing them in videos. She always felt it was very distant from her, but now that she suddenly encountered it, she was 100% sure that she was only surprised and held no prejudice.

The owner watched her for a while, made sure she meant no harm, and then lowered her head to continue making the lemonade.

The shop owner didn’t talk much, so Xia Xingye pouted and didn’t say anything more, lest she annoy the owner and get chased out. She had to be a good girl in front of Jiang Yingyue. It would be too embarrassing if she got kicked out.

Not long after, Jiang Yingyue also came out of the sauna room. Xia Xingye had a quick bite to eat, and then she and Jiang Yingyue left the place.

As soon as they left the shop, Xia Xingye asked: “Are we going to the school now?”

“Yes,” Jiang Yingyue nodded, “We’ll go to the school now.”

Xia Xingye happily followed behind Jiang Yingyue. When they arrived at the school, Jiang Yingyue didn’t go towards the main entrance but walked towards the wall not far away. Xia Xingye belatedly asked: “Sister, are you going to climb the wall?”

She looked at the gentle and soft person in front of her and simply couldn’t believe that Jiang Yingyue could do something like climb a wall.

Then, the next second, she saw Jiang Yingyue take two steps to run, and then flip over the wall.

Xia Xingye: “…”

Xia Xingye looked around and saw no one. She lowered her voice and asked: “Sister, is this what you meant by the old method?”

They hadn’t expected the old method Jiang Yingyue mentioned to be so simple and brutal: directly climbing over the wall.

What Jiang Yingyue did was very inconsistent with her appearance, but Xia Xingye was involuntarily impressed. Jiang Yingyue’s movements when climbing the wall were agile, smooth, and incredibly stylish.

“Can’t you get in?” Jiang Yingyue asked from inside, then added: “If you can’t get in, wait for me outside. I’ll be out soon.”

“I can get in,” Xia Xingye quickly said, “Wait for me.”

Since she had followed her all the way to the school, she wasn’t comfortable with Jiang Yingyue going in alone. If someone discovered she had snuck in, given Jiang Yingyue’s personality, she would probably let the other person scold her.

Xia Xingye couldn’t bear for anyone to treat Jiang Yingyue roughly. If she was inside, she could draw the attention, at least saving Jiang Yingyue from getting scolded.

She was good at getting scolded. She had been naughty since childhood and had been lectured by teachers many times. She had developed a thick skin. Getting scolded was just an everyday occurrence for her.

Xia Xingye looked around and found nothing to help her. She tried to reach up and jumped a couple of times, barely managing to reach the wall. With repeated practice, she grabbed the wall and laboriously climbed up.

The university wall wasn’t high, and there were no broken glass shards or anything similar installed, probably because they thought anyone who wanted to sneak into the school could just walk through the main gate, only needing to sign in. There was no need to climb the wall.

Xia Xingye finally climbed up and sat on the wall, looking down with a bit of trepidation. Jiang Yingyue’s voice came from the other side of the wall: “Look here. Jump down, and I’ll catch you.”

Xia Xingye looked inside the campus. Jiang Yingyue was standing below her, arms outstretched, waiting for her to jump down.

Jumping down like this would most likely mean landing in Jiang Yingyue’s arms. Xia Xingye dismissed the thought after only a second. She said: “Sister, step back, and I’ll jump down. If you’re too close, you might get hurt.”

The height she was jumping from wasn’t too high. If Jiang Yingyue caught her, she might be pulled to the ground due to her weight.

“It’s okay. I’m strong. Just jump,” Sensing Xia Xingye’s concern, Jiang Yingyue smiled reassuringly.

Xia Xingye hesitated. In her eyes, Jiang Yingyue was beautiful but also delicate. Even if she was a little stronger than the average person, she was still an adult woman. Jumping from that height, even an adult man might not be able to catch her.

“Jump. If I don’t catch you, I’ll agree to anything you want.”

Xia Xingye hesitated for a while, closed her eyes, and said: “Alright, then I’m jumping.” With that, she jumped down.

She didn’t end up rolling on the ground with Jiang Yingyue as she had imagined. Jiang Yingyue firmly caught her, retreated a few steps to absorb some of the force, and then gently set Xia Xingye down.

Xia Xingye stood on the ground, taking a moment to react. Her eyes shone with excitement as she asked: “Sister, are you that strong?”

Jiang Yingyue smiled and said: “It’s required for the job.”

When work was mentioned, Xia Xingye became worried: “Aren’t you just catching ghosts? Why do you need physical strength?”

“Sometimes you need to run away if you meet someone you can’t defeat.”

Xia Xingye: “?”

It took Xia Xingye two seconds to process what Jiang Yingyue had said. She had a preconceived notion that Jiang Yingyue was too powerful to need to run away when facing danger. It seemed she had worried too much.

She had been constantly worried that Jiang Yingyue would be in danger when catching ghosts. Now she was certain that Jiang Yingyue could run away even if she encountered danger, and the stone that had been weighing on her heart finally dropped.

“Let’s go, we need to find someone.”

“Are we just going to look for them like this? Many people are sleeping now. We might not find anyone to ask.”

Jiang Yingyue smiled: “Who told you I was going to ask the students here?”

“Ah?” Xia Xingye looked at her blankly and asked, “If not the students, are we going to ask ghosts?”

She blurted out the question, but then saw Jiang Yingyue actually take out a talisman, burn it, and say to the air: “Yes, we’ll ask ghosts.”

Xia Xingye: “…”

She almost forgot that Jiang Yingyue could summon ghosts. This was good. They didn’t have to ask other students or staff, and they wouldn’t disturb them.

After the talisman finished burning, a shadow rushed toward them. It was very fast and reached them in the blink of an eye. It took Xia Xingye a couple of glances to confirm that this was a ghost and not a person.

The ghost asked nervously: “Who are you?”

She wanted to run away, but her body was beyond her control. She could only stand forcefully in front of Xia Xingye and Jiang Yingyue. Even if she was slow to react, she realized that Xia Xingye and Jiang Yingyue were the reason she couldn’t leave.

Xia Xingye comforted her: “We don’t want anything from you. We just want to ask about someone.”

“I don’t know who you’re looking for.”

Jiang Yingyue took out some spirit money and burned a little for the female ghost. The female ghost quieted down considerably. Jiang Yingyue asked: “What’s your name?”

“Yin Nianyun.” Yin Nianyun was much more cooperative and asked cautiously: “Who are you looking for? I might not know the person you’re looking for.”