CH 19

As they were talking, the takeout arrived. Su Chang stood up to receive it and placed it on the table.

Just then, Peng Xiangzhi led Xiang Wan out of the recording studio with her hand on Xiang Wan’s shoulder.

“How did it go?” Yu Zhou asked as they sat down.

Xiang Wan looked puzzled. “Miss Peng said that my tongue is not shaped correctly.”

? Yu Zhou was just as confused.

“No, I mean when you pronounce certain sounds, your tongue position is incorrect, too far forward,” Peng Xiangzhi clarified.

“Hmm…” Yu Zhou pursed her lips, scratched her nose, and looked at Xiang Wan with a questioning expression: Can you understand that?

Xiang Wan’s eyes seemed to say: Do you think I can?

“Hahaha, it’s okay. I told you, she’s just starting out.” Yu Zhou laughed, trying to smooth things over.

Peng Xiangzhi looked at the two of them and laughed as well. “I just added Xiang Wan on WeChat. Wanwan, I’ll send you some videos on basic pronunciation and things to pay attention to. Practice on your own when you have time. If you’re really interested and willing to work hard, our studio will be offering a summer course in a while. You can come and learn.”

“Thank you, Director Peng…” Under Yu Zhou’s intense gaze, Xiang Wan smoothly changed her form of address stealthily.

Yu Zhou was calculating in her heart how much she would have to invest in Xiang Wan’s career. Apart from everything else, the recording software costs more than 1000 yuan a year. Would Xiang Wan be able to make enough money within a year to cover the costs?

So, she tried to be cunning: “Is the course only available offline? Are there any online options? If it’s online, I could also listen in.”

And maybe cost-effective.

“Do you, author sama, also have an interest in this?” Peng Xiangzhi was a bit surprised.

Not really, but she felt that if she could also learn from it, getting something for free is always a gain. However, she didn’t dare say that so just asked Peng Xiangzhi, “Do you think I have any talent in this field?”

Peng Xiangzhi cleared her throat, “There’s a specialization in each profession. I think you should focus on writing novels. You have great potential there.”

Understood.

“Hey,” Peng Xiangzhi looked at Su Chang across the table and suddenly had an idea, “Why don’t you come to be our guest lecturer? I’ll have Bro Feng add your name to the list.”

Su Chang’s fingers tapped on her phone, her voice a bit heavy, “I’m not part of your studio.”

“Hey! Come as a special guest. Once the poster is out, I’m sure our enrollment will fill up super fast this year,” Peng Xiangzhi revealed a cunning smile.

Su Chang tilted her head, not responding.

“What’s the matter? Why do I feel like you’re not very happy?” Peng Xiangzhi leaned in to take a closer look at her.

“You’re mistaken.” Su Chang smiled.

Weird. Peng Xiangzhi just scoffed at her.

After finishing their afternoon tea, the teachers energetically went back to work. This time, the session was even longer. Su Chang was getting tired and started to support her waist with her hands, but her voice remained unaffected.

Yu Zhou noticed that Zhou Ling was also getting tired, so she suggested, “How about taking a break?”

Su Chang’s waist was actually quite strained, but it seemed that even Peng Xiangzhi, who seemed to have a good relationship with her, didn’t know about it.

Peng Xiangzhi raised her head from the script. She originally thought that since they were all here today, they could record more and take it easy for the next few days. Moreover, this workload was normal for them.

But since Yu Zhou had asked, she responded casually, “Can you keep going?”

Su Chang gave an OK gesture but glanced at Yu Zhou thoughtfully, as if surprised.

She pulled back her hand supporting her waist and then let it go again.

Feeling like an unnecessary presence, Yu Zhou lowered her head to play with her phone.

By the time they finished recording, it was already past 11 PM. Everyone was exhausted, including Peng Xiangzhi. However, she had mentioned earlier that she would treat everyone to crawfish, and she always kept her promises. So, she asked who would be available to join them.

The voice actors were all exhausted so said they needed to head back. Just as Yu Zhou was about to say they should disperse to get some rest, she heard Su Chang ask, “Where should we go?”

Wow, Peng Xiangzhi raised her eyebrows in response while maintaining a poker face.

“How about that place I’ve been to before, the Fat Boy Crawfish?” Peng Xiangzhi started packing her things, “How many of us are going? Me, you, Author sama, and Little Wanwan?”

Yu Zhou nudged Xiang Wan, “Are you tired? Do you want to eat?”

What she meant was to say NO quickly.

Xiang Wan replied, “I do.”

Speechless, Yu Zhou didn’t know how many times she had to say that.

As they followed Peng Xiangzhi and Su Chang outside, Yu Zhou pulled Xiang Wan’s sleeve from behind, “What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you see the look in my eyes?”

“You don’t want to go?” Xiang Wan asked with her delicate voice.

“Can’t you tell?”

“If you don’t want to, just say it. Why do you want me to say it?”

“Don’t you understand worldly wisdom? You, as a kid, say you want to go home, no one would mind. But if I say it, it’s such a mood-killer.”

“I’m… a kid?” Xiang Wan looked at her calmly, her pupils reflecting Yu Zhou’s annoyed expression.

Yu Zhou deflated and admitted defeat. Fine, let’s just wait for the elevator.

Fat Boy Crawfish was located just a block away from Tianyin Building, in an inconspicuous alley. The storefront wasn’t eye-catching, so there weren’t many people waiting for seats. It looked quite ordinary. Perhaps Peng Xiangzhi and the others only came here when they were hungry or craving for something.

Peng Xiangzhi proficiently found a private room and took the iPad from the waiter to order food. She felt a little melancholic.

Thinking about milk tea and eating crawfish today, as if all the vegetables she had consumed in the first half of the month were meant to offset her body debts.

“I’ll just order casually. If any of you don’t eat garlic or anything, let me know in advance. I’ll order a spicy one, a garlic-flavored one, and a few side dishes.”

“Sure, anything is fine,” Yu Zhou replied.

Su Chang was wiping the table with a napkin. Following the principle of observing and learning, Xiang Wan also took a few napkins to clean the table.

Su Chang paused for a moment and looked at Xiang Wan’s table wiping movements.

Yu Zhou wanted to laugh out loud. How about that? By observing a third person imitating her, Su Chang finally realized how funny her own meticulous habits were.

But Yu Zhou restrained herself with grace, pursing her lips and looking at Peng Xiangzhi ordering food.

“What do you want to drink? Plum juice?” Peng Xiangzhi asked her.

“I want something cold,” Yu Zhou stretched her neck, feeling too hot that day.

Suddenly, Su Chang spoke up, “You want something cold?”

There was no need to confirm again, as Peng Xiangzhi wasn’t deaf. Yu Zhou blinked and replied, “Yes.”

Su Chang seemed to have something to say but hesitated, then lowered her head to arrange the chopsticks properly.

In no time, the crawfish was served. The bright red crawfish looked a bit cute curled up, while the garnish of cilantro made the colors even more charming. Yu Zhou’s appetite was piqued, so she eagerly put on disposable gloves.

She heard rustling noises beside her and saw Xiang Wan trying to follow her example to put on the gloves, but struggling to do so. Yu Zhou put down her own gloves first, stretched out the gloves for Xiang Wan before handing them to her, “Just put your hands in.”

“Thank you,” Xiang Wan politely expressed her gratitude.

Peng Xiangzhi found it interesting, looking at the delicate and gentle young girl.

Seeing Xiang Wan put on her gloves but kept her wrist leaning against the table without moving, Yu Zhou suddenly realized a serious problem – Xiang Wan didn’t know how to peel crawfish.

That couldn’t be.

Yu Zhou carefully reviewed the day’s events, feeling that she was in trouble.

First, she had brought a beautiful girl wearing her own clothes in front of Su Chang, and that girl had directly asked if Su Chang was her ex-girlfriend. They had been whispering all along, and now she had to peel the crawfish for this girl.

All in front of Su Chang.

Yu Zhou felt a little guilty about this “showing off new love” scene in front of Su Chang. She couldn’t stand it any longer.

So she suddenly raised her voice and said, “Xiang Wan, are you from the mountains and have never tried crawfish before?”

It was too much, Peng Xiangzhi was startled, and even Xiang Wan was slightly taken aback. Su Chang raised her head, furrowed her brows slightly, but quickly regained her composure.

“I…” Should she have eaten crawfish before? Xiang Wan thought about the “eye-killing” scolding in the elevator and wasn’t sure which scene Yu Zhou was acting out.

Was it time for the kid to say she had eaten crawfish or not?

“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t eaten it before. Look at how drooling you are. I will peel it for you in a bit.” Yu Zhou lowered her voice, feeling her ears heat up again. Acting in front of two professional actors, how dare she…

She must be crazy.

However, she heard a soft chuckle from across the table. She caught a glimpse of Su Chang laughing with her head down from the corner of her eye.

Sigh. Yu Zhou swallowed hard, picked up a crawfish, and then started peeling it.

It was piping hot, but she didn’t dare say anything. She quickly peeled it and threw it into Xiang Wan’s bowl: “Eat.”

“You can try it yourself after you watch me.”

Xiang Wan nodded, picked up the crawfish, and then chewed it slowly.

“You can dip it in the sauce after peeling for more flavor,” Yu Zhou gave Xiang Wan some crawfish-eating tips.

“Got it.” Xiang Wan chewed on the crawfish meat and smiled at her.

Yu Zhou took her gaze back, not sure if Xiang Wan’s seemingly harmless smile had any other meanings now that she knew the girl could be mischievous.

She always felt like there was a trap.

As she was pondering, suddenly, her abdomen cramped up. She knew something was wrong, so quickly took off her gloves, grabbed some tissues to wipe the oil off her hands, and rushed to the restroom.

Upon reaching the sink area, the cramps worsened. She felt as if her uterus was being pulled; cold sweat broke out all of a sudden.

She hunched over, opened the toilet stall door, took a glance, but only saw tissues. She turned around to leave, but when she opened the door, she saw Su Chang standing there.

Have you ever been cornered in a bathroom stall by your ex-girlfriend, especially when you were hunched over like the crawfish on the table just now?

Yu Zhou looked up at her timidly.

Honestly, she couldn’t even come up with this kind of scene in her writing.

She leaned against the ceramic tiles on the wall while standing up, her lips still trembling, “Are you, using the bathroom?”

Su Chang handed her a pad.

In a time of emergency, Yu Zhou didn’t bother with small talk. She took it, said thank you, then closed the door.

Fortunately, the flow wasn’t too heavy. She put the pad in place and crouched inside for a while until she felt better, then came out.

Su Chang hadn’t left. She was playing with her phone, head down by the sink.

“Thank you.” Yu Zhou walked over, glanced at her in the mirror, and then turned the faucet to the hot water side to wash her hands.

“You’re welcome.” Su Chang was still replying to messages on her phone with her head down.

Yu Zhou suddenly remembered that during the meal, Su Chang asked her if she wanted an iced drink, so she hesitated for a moment and asked, “You, remember?”

Su Chang paused for a moment, “I just got mine too.”

The two of them had lived together for a while, and during that time, their menstrual cycles gradually synchronized. So fortunately, Su Chang had brought a sanitary pad with her.

Yu Zhou didn’t know what to say. After washing her hands, she gently shook the water off and thought about the magical discovery of synchronized menstrual cycles, spacing out.

There was a sound next to her, and Su Chang moved. Yu Zhou was lost in thought and was naturally startled, looking at Su Chang’s reflection in the mirror with a bit of unease.

This subconscious action made Su Chang pause, moving her chin slightly and gently biting the inside of her lip.

“I just wanted to move aside so you could use the hand dryer.” she said.

Her voice was a bit hoarse, perhaps because she had been recording all day.

“Oh, oh.” Yu Zhou bowed her head, “I’m sorry.”

Su Chang sighed above her head, but it was very brief; it seemed that she didn’t want to do it either.

She said, “You don’t have to be so tense all the time, and you don’t have to lie to me all the time. I’m just maintaining normal cooperation with you, for now.”

“Besides,” these two words were even lower.

Su Chang gave a bitter smile, “It was you who dumped me, wasn’t it?”