Chapter Thirty-Nine: Utterly Humiliated

With the rhythmic knocking at the door, I opened my eyes again. The room was now flooded with light, warm sunshine streaming through the window onto my body, making me feel cozy and content.

I struggled to get out of bed and open the door. In this nearly isolated little cabin, I knew that if someone came knocking early in the morning, it could only be the rent collector or my beautiful sister.

“Little fool, get up and have breakfast,” Zhao Kewen’s voice rang out as soon as I opened the door.

“Why are you up so early… What time is it?” Instinctively, I thought it must be morning, but after what happened yesterday, I couldn’t be sure how long I’d slept.

“Eight-thirty. You haven’t eaten in almost two days. I was worried you’d just keel over. You managed to survive the worst, but if you ended up starving to death, how could I, as your sister, ever forgive myself?” Zhao Kewen laughed as she walked in, carrying three bags of buns and both milk and soy milk.

She sounded much like her old self, but I couldn’t tell if she had truly come to terms with everything, or if she was just putting on a brave face for my sake.

“Why did you buy so much?” I stared in confusion at the mountain of buns on the table, with two bags of milk and two cups of soy milk beside them.

“Yang Chen, please remember at all times that you’re a patient who hasn’t eaten in two days!” Zhao Kewen sat across from me, handed me a bun, and put on a serious face. “Have one, and you’ll get addicted!”

Addicted… I was a little embarrassed. The way she said it, it felt as if she were trying to coax me. Hopefully, she hadn’t put anything in the buns.

With these half-joking thoughts in mind, I took the bun and bit off a large mouthful.

Zhao Kewen took a small bite herself, then watched me in silence.

“Eat. Don’t look at me,” I said, feeling my face flush under her gaze. I forced myself to take smaller bites, eating more slowly to avoid looking too ravenous.

Noticing my awkwardness, Zhao Kewen smiled and handed me a cup of soy milk. “I don’t know if you like this, but since I do, I trust you won’t object.”

What kind of robber’s logic is that? Just because you like it doesn’t mean I will…

“These two bags of milk are for after you finish eating. The internet says drinking milk on an empty stomach isn’t nutritious!” Zhao Kewen ate only one bun before pulling out her phone. After a while, she added, “When you’re done with the milk, come with me to pick out a new phone.”

“What?” A new phone? How does her mind jump around so quickly?

“Don’t ‘what’ me. It’s really inconvenient not having a phone now. There’s not even a clock in this dump. How are you going to tell the time or chat up girls?” Zhao Kewen gave me a sidelong glance and pointed at my face. “Honestly, your overall condition is just barely passable, but you really do need to find a girlfriend soon… Actually, I think that fiery girl from last night was pretty good. She’s got the looks and the figure—quite the catch. What do you say, want to consider her?”

“First of all, you think my condition is passable? I don’t have a house, I don’t have money—aside from myself, there’s nothing here that belongs to me. If this is passable, then even calling it ‘difficult circumstances’ is putting it nicely.” I swallowed the bun and continued, “Second, do you think finding a partner is like buying vegetables at the market? ‘Consider her’… You saw Luo Qing yourself. With her qualities, even if half the men in the world disappeared, she wouldn’t consider me!”

“Well, you do have a point…” Zhao Kewen propped her chin in her hand, looking thoughtful. “But you can’t be too self-effacing. There are plenty of good women in the world—you might just meet one who likes your type.”

“Can we change the topic? I’m already down on my luck as it is. If you keep this up, I’d rather not have woken up last night.” I decided to ignore her and focused on stuffing buns into my mouth, washing them down with sips of soy milk.

Just as Zhao Kewen said, after eating the first bun, my stomach seemed to open up and switch into binge-eating mode. Two bites for each bun—I wolfed them down, using both hands, unable to stop!

“Looks like we need to get you some new gear. You can’t keep wearing these old clothes every time you go out—it really doesn’t help your image.” Zhao Kewen seemed to still be thinking about finding me a girlfriend, looking me over from head to toe.

After finishing the buns, I let out a satisfied burp. I had devoured two trays’ worth, even drinking an extra cup of soy milk that belonged to Zhao Kewen. The feeling was amazing—almost like coming back to life after a brush with death. In a word: fantastic!

“All right, drink your milk, tidy up, and let’s go!” Zhao Kewen seemed a bit impatient.

Seeing her like this, I quickly nodded in agreement. Judging by her stance, I wouldn’t be allowed to say no anyway…

Once I’d finished, I followed Zhao Kewen out of the apartment complex. We took a taxi to the nearest phone store. Standing amid the bustling crowd, I couldn’t help but feel conflicted—I barely had a thousand yuan to my name, and the cheapest phone here would probably cost at least that much…

“What are you standing around for? Go pick one!” Zhao Kewen shoved me toward the counter, grumbling about how slow I was moving.

Ah, you never know the price of rice and firewood until you run a household. Sis, you really don’t understand my situation right now!

“These phones are all too high-end for me. Let’s go check out the small phone shop over there. If nothing else, buying a second-hand phone wouldn’t be bad—it’s more cost-effective,” I said in front of the counter, too embarrassed to meet the eager staff’s gaze, turning my head and softly urging Zhao Kewen.

“Are you an idiot? Can’t handle it, seriously…” Zhao Kewen lowered her voice, too. “Just pick something already. Why are you so slow? After we get the phone, we still need to go get your number!”

“You look here first. I’ll go check out the other brands to see if there’s something more suitable for you.” With that, Zhao Kewen squeezed through the crowd to another display, examining the phones seriously.

Left with no choice, I let my eyes wander meaninglessly over the various stylish, high-end phones in the display case, unable to decide.

“Sir, what kind of phone are you looking for, and at what price range?” the attractive saleswoman asked kindly.

“Uh… what’s the cheapest phone you have here?” I scratched my head awkwardly, feeling my face burn.

“The cheapest is this domestic smartphone—originally fifteen hundred and fifty yuan, but now on special, just eleven hundred and fifty yuan,” she replied, still enthusiastic.

“Anything even cheaper…?” If there were a crack in the floor, I’d have crawled into it without hesitation.

This was just too humiliating. It almost felt like getting stabbed would be less painful.

“Cheaper? Sir, you might want to check out the second-hand phone store over there instead!” The saleswoman’s tone grew dismissive, her face taking on a faintly mocking smile as she oh-so-helpfully pointed toward the distance.