Chapter 15 : Pufferfish

Someone slept very well. Someone else—well, it’s hard to say if they slept at all.

Jiang Yanlin woke up naturally, made a healthy meal, handled various tasks, and replied to all sorts of unread messages. Before she knew it, the afternoon had arrived.

Her professional account had been doing well recently, and many advertisers had reached out. Jiang Yanlin selected a few products to try. The items had just arrived, so it was the perfect time to film an unboxing video and do a review later.

When she was busy with work, everything else was pushed to the back of her mind. Although her side gig wasn’t as lucrative as her main job, it was a pleasant source of extra income.

After she finished filming and started processing the footage on her computer, a friend she hadn’t spoken to in a while called.

Jiang Yanlin answered the voice call and let it run on her computer as they chatted idly.

– “I went back to my hometown to visit my grandmother a while ago. It’s been so long, I almost forgot how to speak Japanese. It was terrifying.”

Hearing her exaggerated tone, Jiang Yanlin couldn’t help but tease her.
– “And yet, when we walk down the street in Tokyo together, I’m always the one mistaken for a local and asked for directions.”

Li Yuncheng shrieked in protest.
– “Jiang Yanlin, you woman with a poisonous tongue!”

It had been a while since Jiang Yanlin had heard her boisterous voice, and she felt a rare sense of comfort.

– “It seems you’re in a much better mood lately.”
Jiang Yanlin said casually as she moved the mouse to edit a photo.

Li Yuncheng sighed.
– “What else can I do? I ran into a player, so I just have to accept it.”

Li Yuncheng was a mixed-heritage Asian. Her father was an overseas Chinese, and her mother was Japanese, but she had hardly ever lived in either China or Japan.

Jiang Yanlin had met her at a friend’s party, and they hit it off immediately. Not only were their birthdays just two days apart, but some of their experiences and views were also very similar. When they first met, they could talk from morning till night, sharing their bizarre life stories.

A while ago, Li Yuncheng had fallen hard for a woman she met online. She went to great lengths to travel from her country to Singapore to meet her, only for the other woman to leave right after they slept together, insisting they were just friends.

What followed was a long period of the silent treatment. She wouldn’t reply to messages but wouldn’t cut off contact either, often appearing in their mutual social circles, making her presence known.

– “Who sleeps with a friend? I’m just asking, who does that?”
Li Yuncheng had been on the verge of a mental breakdown at first, cursing every time the topic came up.

Later, she slowly woke up from the illusion of love and realized that such an draining situation wasn’t worth it.

Jiang Yanlin had never advised her to stop dwelling on it, because all she needed was time.

Now, Li Yuncheng seemed to have truly come to terms with the experience.

After all, in her relationship history, this was just a minor episode.

Every time she was a moth to a flame, every time she got burned, but she was always ready for the next time.

What Jiang Yanlin admired most was this attitude of knowing what you want and going after it.

The current social climate’s over-criticism of the “love brain” was mostly a self-warning for young people who saw “love” as a terrifying beast.

One doesn’t choose their background, and education and career are rarely entirely up to oneself. In a life where a sense of control and value is chronically lacking, it’s only human to crave love yet fear losing the last piece of sanctuary.
‘I was born with nothing, how can I bear to lose myself as well?’

Love is the surrender of free will.

Everyone who realizes this inevitably wants to resist the outcome of disarming themselves completely.

To stand so nakedly before a person, praying for their favor with almost no certainty—how undignified.

So what people resist is not “love,” but the powerless version of themselves.

One’s background, education, and career still have a chance of being changed through effort.

But a person who might not love you back—will they turn and walk away, taking your whole heart and never returning it?

Even the smartest, wealthiest person has no answer.

—So, to some extent, love is the only thing in this world as fair as death.

A true “love brain” is more like an ordinary person blindly speculating in the stock market. They fail to assess the risks, have unrealistic fantasies about the returns, act recklessly when they get swept up, and lack the resilience to bear the loss of everything.

That’s why they become despondent, hysterical, and go to extremes.

Li Yuncheng was not that kind of person.

Every time she tasted love and pain, she grew. The concept of failure did not exist in the process of love. As long as she was sure she could bear the cost, she would not fear giving her heart away the next time.

So the prerequisite for accepting love is to have such courage and ability.
—Usually, people call this “loving oneself.”

Jiang Yanlin first practiced this ability with Qining.

And it was from that time that she proved to herself that she no longer feared the “cost.”

So she packed her bags decisively and continued on to the next unknown journey.

But a seasoned adventurer is, after all, different from a novice.

When encountering nameless small mobs on the road that weren’t elite monsters or bosses, she wouldn’t even bother to spare them a glance.
‘Killing them doesn’t drop any loot. Not worth sharpening my blade for.’

– “What about you? How have you been lately?”
After talking about her own affairs, Li Yuncheng immediately switched to story-listening mode, which was their usual dynamic.

Jiang Yanlin paused, not answering immediately.

Li Yuncheng was always sharp in this regard. When she was the one involved, she didn’t need guidance. As an observer, she was even more incisive.

– “You’ve got something going on. Spill it. Which woman? An ex-girlfriend? That college student from the party?”

Jiang Yanlin finished editing the picture, clicked save, and then finally let go of the mouse.

Her thermos was filled with lemon water. She drank it hot even on hot days. It was still warm now, just right.

After drinking the water, she finally answered:
– “None of them.”

Li Yuncheng’s interest was piqued.
– “Someone new? That’s you alright, meeting several new people every month.”

Jiang Yanlin immediately retorted:
– “Don’t spread rumors. My dry spell is longer than yours.”

– “Dry spell? Just flirting without committing is a dry spell now, is it? You wicked woman.”
Li Yuncheng exposed her with a sharp jab and then pressed on, “Quick, tell me, where did you meet, where is she from, what does she look like, what’s her deal…”

Jiang Yanlin’s head ached from her barrage of questions, so she gave a concise and general summary.

After listening, Li Yuncheng savored it for a long time before saying meaningfully,
– “Jiang Yanlin, you’re in trouble this time.”

Trouble?

Jiang Yanlin didn’t feel that way yet, so she simply and crudely attributed it to Li Yuncheng’s poor Chinese—all foreigners were like that.

But Miss Péi was indeed a type that most people couldn’t handle. Most would be deceived by her appearance, flocking to her one after another, ignoring the fact that the more beautiful the color, the more lethal the poison.

Facing her, even Jiang Yanlin had to be on her guard, summoning her utmost patience and insight.

Can’t be too hasty, or you’ll be poisoned.

Can’t be too slow, or it won’t be fresh.

One must be precise with the knife, removing the toxins to preserve the most delicious bite.

Wait a minute.

Jiang Yanlin paused, amused by the image that had appeared in her mind.
—Isn’t this just a pufferfish?