Chapter 17: The Pretty Boy and the Perplexing Explanation

“Look, that’s the pretty boy senior.”

“Honestly, I don’t get it. What’s with these beautiful girls’ taste nowadays? Why don’t they like *me*? Why do they go for these scrawny boys instead!”

“Cough, keep your voice down. It wouldn’t be good if he overheard you…”

The summer afternoon in Nanyun Province was utterly cloudless, and the air naturally carried a hint of oppressive heat.

Perhaps it was the oppressive atmosphere, but Ye Yu, having just emerged from the library, found himself hearing the term ‘pretty boy’ far more frequently than usual today.

Was it a testament to his good nature, or simply a matter of habit?

Regarding the ‘pretty boy’ moniker, Ye Yu’s heart was utterly calm.

Having gone without sleep all night, and not having eaten since his ability awakened yesterday afternoon, Ye Yu was more concerned with filling his stomach than with the stares of others.

Yunqi Academy, as Yun City’s largest compulsory education institution, boasted four canteens due to its large student body.

Ye Yu’s choice of canteen was quite deliberate.

Since the food was prepared by different chefs, each canteen offered a distinct flavor profile.

For instance, Canteen A’s cooking leaned sweet, Canteen B’s salty, and so on.

Ye Yu opted for Canteen D, which specialized in dishes heavy on vinegar.

Part of the reason was Ye Yu’s genuine love for sour flavors.

Another reason was that during their student years, many young people, unaware of the importance of health, often gravitated towards spicy, sweet, or savory tastes.

Consequently, Canteen D had significantly fewer patrons, offering a much quieter dining experience.

As it was already past the lunch rush, Ye Yu noticed the sparse crowd on his way to Canteen D, which was located beside the library.

The willow trees lining the road offered a welcome shade from the scorching sun above, creating a pleasant, cool respite typical of summer.

Basking in the overhead shade, Ye Yu watched a couple walk by, hand in hand.

A sudden thought struck him.

Huangpu Pingqing had mentioned this morning that she would explain things to his wife, Tang Yue. What was the situation now?

He pulled his phone from his pocket, and upon unlocking the screen, he saw a message on his WeChat.

[Wifey Yue: Hubby, when I get back, you’d better explain yourself properly.]

Ye Yu read the message several times, yet he couldn’t discern any emotional fluctuation from his wife, Tang Yue.

However, adhering to the philosophy that ‘the cart will find its way over the mountain, and the boat will straighten at the bow,’ he decided to play it safe.

Ultimately, Ye Yu could only send a timid, somewhat guilty reply on WeChat: –Okay, my dearest wife.

After sending the message, he stared at his phone, waiting for Tang Yue’s delayed response.

A little uneasy, Ye Yu found another contact on his phone: ‘Rival in Love.’

Due to the incident with the computer repair and the exposure of certain ‘lily’ files, Ye Yu hadn’t contacted Huangpu Pingqing in a long time.

He scrolled for a while before finally finding her contact information.

Curious about how she had explained things to his wife, Tang Yue, Ye Yu intended to get straight to the point on WeChat.

However, as he began to type, Ye Yu hesitated.

Huangpu Pingqing’s name contained the character  (píng), meaning ‘bottle.’

Before their falling out, he, like Tang Yue, used to call her by the nickname ‘Bottle.’

But after the events of this morning, and considering they hadn’t spoken in nearly a month, Ye Yu found himself conflicted as he stared at the WeChat keyboard.

Calling her ‘Bottle’ felt too intimate, while ‘Huangpu Pingqing’ sounded too formal and awkward.

As for ‘little wife,’ that was completely out of the question.

After much deliberation, Ye Yu finally composed a ‘polite’ message and sent it.

“Senior Sister Pingqing, how exactly did you explain this morning’s incident to Tang Yue?”

Whoosh~

As Ye Yu sent the message,

Inside a female dormitory building at Yunqi Academy, Huangpu Pingqing, lying on her bed in a camisole nightgown with one shoulder bared, deep in thought, hastily picked up her phone.

Why use the word ‘hastily?’

Because at this moment, the young woman was plunged into deep distress.

This distress had freshly blossomed that very morning, after she’d left the library and made that call to Tang Yue.

She recalled Tang Yue, her best friend, whose cherry lips had parted softly over the phone that morning after she had revealed the truth, proposing, “Pingqing, if you want to be a little wife, it’s not impossible, you know?”

Huangpu Pingqing was utterly incredulous.

She believed that, given their eight years of friendship, the tone of her best friend’s suggestion was genuine, not a jest.

Yet, from a practical standpoint, considering how much Tang Yue loved Ye Yu, she found it mostly unbelievable.

After all, what woman would willingly share her beloved husband?

So, was her best friend, Tang Yue, truly angry, or not?

Just as Huangpu Pingqing was agonizing over this, the notification sound from her phone jolted her.

Seeing Ye Yu’s equally bewildered message, Huangpu Pingqing’s amber eyes darted about.

Since her best friend might have misunderstood, and thinking of Ye Yu’s honest and somewhat clumsy demeanor, she decided it would be safer to coordinate their stories beforehand.

With this in mind, the cautious Huangpu Pingqing typed, “Where are you right now?”

In Canteen D, due to the late hour, the dining hall was rather quiet.

Only a few people with irregular eating habits sat peacefully at tables, enjoying their lunch.

Most of these diners were solitary individuals who preferred quiet.

Normally, Ye Yu quite looked forward to the quiet dining experience at this time of day.

However, recalling the WeChat message from Huangpu Pingqing — his ‘rival in love,’ though now, it seemed, not quite — who wanted to discuss how to explain the misunderstanding with Tang Yue, Ye Yu felt a pang of disinterest. The thought of his peaceful lunch being interrupted left him somewhat dispirited.

But for the sake of clarifying things with his wife, he would endure it!

Since Huangpu Pingqing was also coming to the canteen, and as a man, Ye Yu felt he had taken advantage of her today.

To uphold his pride, and because he was genuinely hungry, Ye Yu decided to generously order three dishes with a bowl of rice.

As they were all leftovers, there wasn’t much choice, to be honest.

The kind-hearted cafeteria auntie served Ye Yu a generous portion, even giving him a 15% discount.

Holding a tray with three dishes and two bowls of rice, Ye Yu, to maintain balance, casually placed the book he had rented from the library to avoid suspicion, ‘The Unofficial Biography of Diao Chan,’ on the counter.

He planned to find a nearby seat to put down his tray, then retrieve the book.

Though a bit troublesome, the cautious Ye Yu felt this was preferable to spilling soup on the book and having to pay three times its price in compensation.

However, Ye Yu’s plan, though well-conceived, was interrupted after he placed his food on the table.

A kind voice came from behind him.

“Young man, you left your book at the counter. Library books must be taken good care of, or you’ll have to pay for them.”

Ye Yu paused slightly, the voice sounding vaguely familiar.

Turning around, he was surprised to see Elder Gu, the librarian from that morning.

But shouldn’t he be on duty at this hour?

Though he harbored doubts and a strange sense of incongruity, Ye Yu simply smiled and nodded, thanking the librarian for his help. He didn’t give it much further thought.

What Ye Yu didn’t know, however, was that on the open flyleaf of ‘The Unofficial Biography of Diao Chan,’ which now lay beside him, a faint crimson mark had appeared.