The Seductive Pretender: Sister-in-Law is Turning Gay - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: “I Just Happen to Have an Eye for Finding the Unique.”

Before entering the kitchen, she turned on the shop’s air conditioning.

Zhong Manjing said, “Weren’t you just using the fan? I can handle the heat; you don’t need to turn it on for me. Just turn it on for the back kitchen.”

“Once the stove is on in the back, it’ll get hot in here too. Keeping it on for a while is fine.” Lin Yuqing gestured for her to sit, so Zhong Manjing didn’t insist further. She sat in the seat opposite Lin Yuqing’s usual spot and closed the ledger, setting it aside without a second glance.

“I want a large portion of noodles!” Remembering something, Zhong Manjing called out toward the kitchen window. Lin Yuqing poked her head out and asked, “Didn’t eat dinner?”

“Mhm, I was busy tidying up at home and didn’t eat much.” She had only tasted a steamed dough twist she’d made soft and delicious. “I figured I could come here for a late-night snack. I want…”

“Rich tomato soup base.” Lin Yuqing finished the sentence from inside. “And a lot of toppings? I have some crab roe paste left, but the other toppings are gone. I saved some mashed potatoes with minced meat. How about I stir-fry a fresh batch of pickled radish with beef for you? Is that okay?”

It was practically a Manchu Han Imperial Feast of the tossed-noodle world. Just hearing the list made one’s mouth water. Zhong Manjing smiled: “Perfect. I’ll definitely eat it all.”

She glanced back toward the kitchen.

A light breeze was blowing out from the back. She had noticed it when she walked in the curtains on the second floor were open.

Come to think of it, after this meal, there would only be three meals left. She still had to find a way to make Lin Yuqing owe her more.

When Lin Yuqing brought the noodles out, she noticed a stacked three-tier food container had appeared on the table.

“I can’t eat a late-night snack alone, so I brought some for you too.” Noticing the beads of sweat on Lin Yuqing’s forehead, Zhong Manjing opened the top round container. “This is homemade dried fruit yogurt—sweet and tart. Below are crispy baked potato cakes and steamed dough twists. Steaming them doesn’t cause internal heat; you can have them for breakfast tomorrow.”

The round container was quite tall, and surprisingly, it was surrounded by a ring of ice cubes to keep the yogurt chilled, ensuring it stayed in its best state until eaten.

The surface of the yogurt was as smooth as a block of silken tofu, topped with a colorful array of dried apples, raisins, mulberries, dragon fruit chunks, yellow peaches, peach bits, red date slices, and cranberries. In the center, a thin layer of pale golden honey was drizzled delicately.

“The yogurt is a one-liter batch. Put it in the fridge and just eat some whenever you want. There’s also some oatmeal here; if you’re too busy to prep, you can layer it for overnight oats. It’s very convenient.” Zhong Manjing hadn’t even touched her noodles yet; she was too busy talking to Lin Yuqing, pulling a sealed bag of oatmeal from her canvas bag.

“It’s already toasted; it’s very fragrant.”

Lin Yuqing didn’t take it immediately. While Zhong Manjing was speaking, she kept her eyes fixed on her, a complex feeling rising in her heart.

The young woman in front of her spoke so naturally, as if they had known each other for a long time, yet Lin Yuqing was certain she didn’t know her.

That left only one possibility: Zhong Manjing was a warm-hearted soul who was quite obviously trying to help her.

Pickles delivered by the dozens of pounds, yogurt by the bucket. Was she here to eat, or was she here to perform charity?

A massive, unsolvable question mark floated in Lin Yuqing’s mind. “The noodles will get soggy soon. Aren’t you going to eat?”

“Of course I am.” Zhong Manjing simply pushed the oatmeal and the food containers toward Lin Yuqing, regardless of whether she would accept them or not. To her, this meant the gift was officially delivered. After tossing the noodles thoroughly, she took a large slurp, her cheeks bulging. After swallowing, she picked up the bowl.

Lin Yuqing thought she was going to drink the soup straight from the bowl and was about to tell her to slow down so she wouldn’t get burned, when Zhong Manjing said, “Let’s go upstairs to eat.”

What?

Lin Yuqing froze.

“I came here to eat with you, and I want to eat at your place. I’m a guest, after all. What kind of host doesn’t invite a guest into their home?” Zhong Manjing slurped another mouthful of soup. Tomatoes were already appetizing, but with the addition of the hot-oil-sautéed pickled radishes and the dip in crab roe paste, the flavor was almost too fresh to bear.

She nudged the motionless Lin Yuqing: “Let’s go. Turn off the AC down here.” Why waste electricity? These were all shop costs.

Lin Yuqing said, “It’s hot up there.”

She didn’t say “You can’t go,” she was only worried about the heat. Zhong Manjing understood her meaning and said with a smile, “What heat? You opened the windows, didn’t you?”

Lin Yuqing took a deep breath and stopped resisting. Instead, she picked up the shop’s other floor fan.

“Bring the food.” Zhong Manjing directed her unceremoniously. “You didn’t eat much tonight. Whatever we don’t finish won’t go bad if we bring it down later.”

—How did she know that, too?

Lin Yuqing said nothing. She picked up the three food containers with her other hand. Zhong Manjing, holding her noodle bowl, trotted happily behind Lin Yuqing as they went upstairs.

The door opened. Inside, only the bright moonlight outlined the simple furniture. Zhong Manjing’s heartbeat gradually grew heavier—

Click. The light turned on, revealing the interior of the room.

“Wait for me a moment. You can sit on the bed.” Lin Yuqing realized she didn’t have any chairs. She patted the bed; there was no dust—she had just changed the sheets that afternoon. When she turned back, she had hidden her awkward embarrassment. “I’ll be right up.”

Before going back down, she didn’t forget to turn on the fan, pointing it toward Zhong Manjing.

The room was indeed hot, especially since they had just come from an air-conditioned space.

Zhong Manjing stood dazed, holding her bowl. She slowly paced toward the fan and began to scan the room.

She remembered this place. She had been here in her previous life, around the time Lin Yuqing was found.

It hadn’t looked like this back then.

There were so few things—so few that it seemed as if this person never intended to take root or settle down here, ready to leave at any moment.

If she hadn’t come, this fan wouldn’t have been brought up. As Lin Yuqing said, it was very hot here. How did she spend every night?

Zhong Manjing’s nose felt a bit stuffy. She quickly took two bites of noodles to hide her emotions.

“Why aren’t you sitting?” Lin Yuqing came back up. Seeing Zhong Manjing standing by the table, she hurried forward to move the table out and set down two plastic stools.

Zhong Manjing said, “The sheets are freshly changed; I don’t want to get them dirty. I’ll sit freely once I can come in loungewear.”

There was sweat on her nose and forehead. But Zhong Manjing didn’t wipe it; instead, she urged Lin Yuqing to eat: “Quick, eat the yogurt. The texture changes once the ice melts.”

Lin Yuqing picked up the yogurt and took a spoonful. The texture was thick and smooth. Homemade yogurt is usually quite tart, but this wasn’t astringent; the honey and dried fruit Zhong Manjing added were perfectly balanced. Lin Yuqing felt like she was eating thick, chilled cream.

“There are also baked potato cakes, try one.” Seeing her eat in large bites gave Zhong Manjing a sense of “feeding” joy. Ignoring her own noodles, she opened the second container.

Potatoes had been steamed, mashed, seasoned with a bit of melted butter, parsley, and black pepper, mixed with a little starch, and reshaped into rounds for baking. The outer layer was crispy and charred, and she had used ketchup to draw a little smiling face on them.

It was very fragrant—that unique aroma triggered by the collision of starch and hot oil.

Lin Yuqing ate them one by one in silence.

Opposite her, Zhong Manjing was already slurping her noodles with gusto. Finally, she picked up the bowl and drank half the soup, letting out a satisfied sigh.

“So comfortable,” Zhong Manjing said. The electric fan was blowing toward her, but sweat had broken out on her face, neck, and nose, slowly tracing the contours of her face down to her chin. She seemed completely unbothered.

Lin Yuqing had finished nearly a third of the yogurt and was very full. She stared blankly at Zhong Manjing, lost in thought. Finally, Zhong Manjing asked, “What is it?”

Only then did she pick up a tissue and press it gently against Zhong Manjing’s nose. “You’re sweating. A lot.”

“Mhm… oh, I just noticed. I was too absorbed in eating.” Zhong Manjing wrinkled her nose, indifferent. She laughed again. “Sweating in summer is good; it flushes out toxins. But it’s easy to get ‘dampness.’ I’ll make you some dampness-clearing tea tomorrow.”

Her back was also soaked with sweat. Because the fan was facing her, she felt alright, but the breeze from the window was hot it was still midsummer. She didn’t know what Lin Yuqing was thinking, but Zhong Manjing knew what she was doing.

She wanted the current Lin Yuqing to live a better life, even if just by a little bit.

Zhong Manjing stood up and walked to the windowsill, looking at the withered gardenia in the moonlight. She turned around and smiled, her entire figure enveloped in soft light and shadow. “Gardenias smell wonderful when they bloom. If you don’t know how, let me take care of it for you.”

Lin Yuqing, who was tidying the table and dishes, paused. That wasn’t a plant she had raised. But since it had already withered, the previous owner likely didn’t care much about it.

“There’s no need to go to all that trouble,” Lin Yuqing said. “I don’t know how to look after flowers, and this environment isn’t good for plants.”

Zhong Manjing pointed to the yogurt in front of Lin Yuqing and said, “Lin Yuqing, your home is actually great for yogurt fermentation. The temperature is just right; you could probably get thick, delicious yogurt in less than a night.”

She leaned against the window, cherishingly touching the dried branches of the gardenia. She whispered, “Every environment has its meaning. As long as you’re good at discovering it, people are the same.”

Lin Yuqing asked, “People are the same?”

“Mhm.” Zhong Manjing agreed. She saw the thoughtfulness on Lin Yuqing’s face, and in the next second, she heard her ask, “Then what about you?”

Why are you here? What is your meaning?

She hadn’t known Zhong Manjing for long, but this was the question that always lingered in Lin Yuqing’s mind. Almost out of instinct, she felt that Zhong Manjing didn’t belong here.

She shouldn’t be in a shabby rental room with her, nor should she be eating a bowl of almost-soggy noodles while drenched in sweat.

“Me?” Zhong Manjing paused. Meeting Lin Yuqing’s complex gaze, her hair was blown about by the electric fan.

The fan was constantly following the path of her movement; Lin Yuqing was naturally adjusting the direction. Zhong Manjing felt a sour ache in her heart, but her smile was very tender. “I just happen to have an eye for finding the unique.”

Especially… yours.

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