Chapter 24: The Taste of Guilt and Purple Reagents

A lump of something dark and indistinct lay nestled in the basket.

More precisely, it was a lump of something dark sandwiched between two other dark, indistinguishable slices.

If one weren’t too particular, it might, just barely, pass as a sandwich.

Wendy stared at the dark mass for several seconds, falling into a brief, uneasy silence.

While the bread and bacon had certainly been over-toasted, surely they shouldn’t have turned out this unsightly?

“Hmm… it seems a little burnt…”

“Never mind, you shouldn’t eat it. I’ll just throw it away later…”

Feeling a pang of guilt, Wendy reached out to retrieve the basket, but Yalin was quicker, already snatching up one of the sandwiches.

‘Are you kidding? The professor got up so early just to make me breakfast; how could I possibly refuse?’

‘If I were to disappoint her good intentions now, would I ever see my salary again?’

‘As the saying goes, money is hard to earn, and sh*t is hard to eat.’

‘Having already resolved to become a professional bootlicker, I must uphold my professional integrity to the very end.’

‘Making a woman sad… how could I, Yalin, ever do such a thing?’

“It’s fine. It’s rare for the professor to prepare breakfast for me; it would be a shame to just throw it away.”

“Yalin, you…”

Wendy looked at his gentle smile, her eyes stinging with an unexpected ache.

She remembered how, in the past, she had once tried her best to make breakfast for her father, hoping only for a single word of praise.

Yet, instead of the praise she so eagerly anticipated, she was met with a torrent of furious scolding.

“What is this monstrosity? It tastes awful! Let the servants handle such things. From now on, you are forbidden from stepping foot in the kitchen. You’re utterly shaming the Rhine family name!”

From that day forward, she had never cooked again.

Only today, to apologize to Yalin, had she finally mustered the courage to prepare a simple sandwich.

She hadn’t expected to mess it up so spectacularly in the end.

And yet, despite everything, Yalin was still trying to comfort her in his own clumsy way.

‘He is such a gentle person, yet I treated him with such a terrible attitude.’

‘Truly, it was unforgivable…’

Yalin, oblivious to Wendy’s complex emotional turmoil, had his gaze entirely fixed on the dark, shapeless object.

‘Well, it might look dreadful, but at the end of the day, it’s just a sandwich.’

‘Eating it probably won’t kill me.’

‘Probably…’

‘Whatever, I’m not thinking about it anymore.’

‘Let’s do this, folks! Ollie Gie (TL Note: A Chinese internet slang term, an encouraging exclamation similar to ‘Let’s go!’ or ‘You got this!’)!’

Without further hesitation, Yalin took a large bite.

Crunch! It was shockingly crisp.

After a few chews, Yalin grasped an important truth about life.

‘If something looks like sh*t, never hold onto false hope and gamble on that one percent chance that it isn’t sh*t.’

‘It is sh*t.’

“Ughhh—”

Yalin sprinted to the nearby trash can, retching uncontrollably.

‘No way, this damn professor!’

‘I thought she was just a bad cook, but she’s actually trying to poison me?’

A foul, acidic stench assaulted his senses, a bizarre flavor Yalin had never experienced in his life.

‘Money might be hard to earn, and sh*t hard to eat, but you can’t actually serve me a pile of sh*t, can you?’

‘Are you even human??’

“Ya-Yalin, are you alright?!”

Wendy, flustered, rushed over to him.

Yalin’s face was ashen. He shakily held up the sandwich, noticing a strange purple liquid oozing from its crevices.

‘Well, well, what an eye-opener. So there are purple seasonings now? It must be some high-end ingredient, I suppose.’

‘So incredibly fresh, so incredibly delicious, indeed.’

Wendy froze, her nose twitching as she sniffed, her expression changing abruptly.

“I-I’m so sorry. This… this seems to be an experimental sample I brought back for research earlier. It must have gotten mixed up with the seasonings…”

She finally understood why the sandwich had turned so black.

While it was indeed slightly burnt, the primary reason for its appearance was contamination by the reagent.

“Don’t worry, that reagent just tastes a bit strange; it’s not poisonous and won’t harm your body.”

‘I salute you! Should I be thanking you now?’

‘You can mix up reagents and seasonings? How have you even survived until now?’

‘But judging by the tragic state of this sandwich, this god-like professor probably never cooks.’

‘Alright, alright, so you’re coming for me, huh?’

‘Are you upset that you didn’t manage to poison me to death?’

Yalin glanced sideways, catching sight of Wendy’s downcast eyes.

Her gaze was filled with profound self-reproach.

A sudden chill ran down Yalin’s spine, and his anger vanished in an instant.

‘He understood.’

‘This was retribution.’

‘This was karma!’

Yalin had previously played a little trick, deliberately making Wendy feel guilty to see if he could seize the opportunity to get more money.

He just hadn’t expected the effect to be *too* good.

‘It was out of guilt that the professor had deliberately woken so early to prepare a sandwich for him.’

‘The result was that she nearly sent him to his grave in one go.’

‘And seeing Wendy’s current state, she was probably caught in another cycle of internal struggle.’

‘Holy cow, you’re addicted to this, aren’t you?’

‘No, I can’t let the professor’s condition worsen any further.’

‘If she’s serving sh*t today, Yalin dared not imagine what she’d attempt tomorrow.’

Shoving the sandwich into the trash can, Yalin took a deep breath and spoke earnestly.

“Professor Wendy, you don’t need to force yourself.”

“You might be very concerned about my injury, but frankly, it was nothing serious.”

“However, if you keep worrying about me over such a small matter, it will only make me feel uncomfortable.”

“So, please, stop blaming yourself so much.”

‘Whether I got angry or pretended nothing happened, it would likely backfire and only make the professor feel even more guilty.’

‘So, Yalin opted for his usual approach: a direct appeal.’

‘Professor, that’s enough!’

‘Stop it! Don’t torment me anymore!’

“Apologies, but I have something to attend to. I’ll take my leave now.”

With those words, Yalin swiftly fled the laboratory.

He didn’t know if his words would have any effect, but Yalin couldn’t concern himself with that now.

Because his stomach was already starting to feel quite unwell…

In the quiet laboratory, Wendy stood alone.

Yalin’s words continued to echo in her ears.

‘Please, stop blaming yourself so much.’

‘So that’s it.’

‘Sure enough, he had seen right through her thoughts long ago.’

Wendy’s earlobes flushed faintly with embarrassment, yet a warm ripple spread through her heart, as if her most tender spot had been gently touched.

She recalled hearing similar words when she was a child.

At the time, she had just been adopted by Grant, and she lived each day cautiously, terrified of making a mistake and being cast out once more.

On one occasion, she accidentally broke one of her mentor’s teacups, and she was so frightened that her face went pale, she profusely apologized, and tears nearly welled in her eyes.

But Grant wasn’t angry at all.

He simply knelt down with a smile, stroked her head, and said,

“Don’t worry, you don’t need to blame yourself so much. No matter what happens, I will never abandon you.”

‘Indeed.’

‘Someone who truly loves you will always prioritize your feelings.’

‘However, ever since her mentor left, no one had spoken such words to her again.’

‘And so, gradually, she had learned to close off her heart.’

‘She didn’t want to owe anyone, nor did she want anyone to owe her.’

‘She had believed herself strong enough, long past harboring any inexplicable expectations.’

‘Yet, upon hearing Yalin utter those words again, Wendy finally realized.’

‘She had never truly let go.’

‘She had, all along, yearned to be treated with such heartfelt sincerity and gentleness…’

“Thank you,”

Wendy murmured softly, a faint smile gracing her lips, her words too quiet for anyone to hear.