Chapter 65: You Slightly Outweigh Principles

“I know you wouldn’t let me lose face.” Shen Chaoyi added another sentence.

Yi Qingzhuo stayed silent, her face expressionless, but inside she was a sea of surging joy.

“By the way, did you wait long for me?” Shen Chaoyi recalled the words Yi Qingzhuo had whispered in her ear when she appeared—something about making a person who waited for her feel anxious.

Was Yi Qingzhuo waiting for her?

“I waited a bit in the parking lot. Thought you hadn’t gotten off work yet, so I got bored and wandered over to take a look. But I didn’t expect to see Doctor Shen’s heroic side.” Yi Qingzhuo raised an eyebrow. “You even knew to deliberately save face for the other side. You’re quite savvy about these social niceties.”

On those final steps, Shen Chaoyi had intentionally stopped Yi Qingzhuo from helping her.

She lost as she should, leaving the old man opposite some dignity.

No sharp edges revealed, low-key yet graceful.

“And you waited for me without saying a word again. Why didn’t you call me?” Unmoved by Yi Qingzhuo’s teasing, Shen Chaoyi’s focus was entirely on the fact that Yi Qingzhuo had silently waited for her so long without telling her.

Was it really that hard to take the initiative to send her a message?

She had already come to pick her up from work.

Contradictory and tsundere.

Yi Qingzhuo stuck her hands in her pockets. “Afraid you were busy.”

Always afraid of bothering her, so she treaded carefully, not even daring to send a text.

When it came to Shen Chaoyi, Yi Qingzhuo seemed to have a lot more concerns.

At those words, Shen Chaoyi’s expression tightened, and she said seriously, “If I’m busy, you calling me definitely won’t get through, and I wouldn’t have a chance to reply to messages. But once I’m done, I’ll get back to you immediately. So you won’t bother me—don’t worry. If something comes up, just contact me first.”

Before her voice faded, Shen Chaoyi added, “And even if nothing’s wrong, you can still look for me.”

She had mentioned this before, but Yi Qingzhuo didn’t seem to have taken it to heart.

“Mm.” Yi Qingzhuo nodded.

After a moment’s thought, she suddenly said, “I’m very free. I’m free all day long.”

The implication being: you can bother me anytime.

Upon hearing this, Shen Chaoyi’s serious expression instantly cracked.

She let out a quiet laugh. “I know, Boss Yi’s daily work is very leisurely. So if I have time, I’ll bother you anytime.”

Yi Qingzhuo’s lifestyle was something even Shen Chaoyi, exhausted after a night shift, envied.

She’d go to the internet café when she felt like it, or stay home if she didn’t want to.

The café, thanks to its good location, brought in a steady monthly income.

Not tiring, close to home, and mentally free.

“Are you jealous?” Yi Qingzhuo glanced sideways at her.

Shen Chaoyi tilted her chin down slightly and smiled faintly. “Having free time to do the things you love—how great is that? Your chess skills, you studied them on your own when you were bored, right?”

“Chess? Actually, no.” As if recalling something unpleasant, Yi Qingzhuo’s gaze froze.

She stared at Shen Chaoyi motionless for two seconds, then explained, “In junior high, I wanted a phone, so I made a bet with my grandpa. I said I’d get it when I beat him at chess. So I took a book, read it while playing against him. He taught me intentionally. The more we played, the more I picked up some of his techniques.”

“Then you won in the end?” Shen Chaoyi asked without thinking.

To reach that level, Yi Qingzhuo must have put in a lot of effort.

She’d uncovered another of Yi Qingzhuo’s odd skills.

Yi Qingzhuo’s expression stiffened. “No.”

“I never beat him, but he still bought me the phone. The latest model at the time—it cost almost four months of his retirement pension.”

“Why?” Shen Chaoyi didn’t understand.

She hadn’t won, yet she still got the phone—and such an expensive one.

Yi Qingzhuo tilted her head slightly, biting her lip with her teeth.

She seemed to hesitate for three seconds, but in the end, she shared her past with Shen Chaoyi.

“When I was in my third year of junior high, my grandpa had late-stage lung cancer. As he was leaving, he handed me the phone. I watched him close his eyes.”

“He’d already prepared the phone when we made the bet. Whether I won or not, he was going to buy it for me.”

Shen Chaoyi listened silently, her expression growing complicated.

It was the first time she had heard about Yi Qingzhuo’s past from her own lips.

What Yi Changhuan had told her before were just Yi Qingzhuo’s hobbies, none of which touched on anything private.

So when Yi Qingzhuo herself said it, it gave an extra feeling.

That feeling was called trust.

It was a sign that she was gradually entering Yi Qingzhuo’s world.

“Your grandpa loved you very much.” After searching for words for a long time, Shen Chaoyi finally uttered that single sentence.

Yi Qingzhuo was loved—someone held her in their palms.

But Zhou You and those others called her evil and worthless.

Someone who loves you will love you no matter what.

Yi Qingzhuo smiled and murmured softly, “I loved him very much too.”

Her voice was so soft that when it reached Shen Chaoyi’s ears, it felt light as a feather.

She reached out, her fingertips brushing Yi Qingzhuo’s sleeve.

She wanted to hold her hand.

But Yi Qingzhuo had both hands in her pockets, and Shen Chaoyi wordlessly withdrew her own.

She wanted to tell Yi Qingzhuo that someone would always pick up the scattered fragments of you and then love you.

But when the words reached her lips, only silent companionship remained.

“Alright, that’s all in the past. No need to bring it up again. Do you want to go straight home, or grab something to eat together?” Yi Qingzhuo suddenly stopped walking, fiddling with the car keys in her hand as she asked Shen Chaoyi.

“Are you inviting me on a date?” Shen Chaoyi said gently.

“If you want to think of it that way.” Yi Qingzhuo raised an eyebrow. “That works too.”

Shen Chaoyi’s face lit up with a smile. “That sounds good, but my car is in the shop—I had some repairs and maintenance done, won’t get it back for a couple of days. Should we take a taxi?”

Their first date?

Yi Qingzhuo opened her palm, revealing the car key inside.

Under Shen Chaoyi’s surprised gaze, she pressed the button, and the Cadillac parked nearby unlocked with a beep.

Yi Qingzhuo pulled open the driver’s door. “Let’s go.”

“So you… have a car?” Shen Chaoyi was stunned.

That time she’d seen Yi Qingzhuo waiting at the hospital entrance for a bus, plus when she’d taken her to the police station—

Shen Chaoyi had always assumed Yi Qingzhuo didn’t have a car, so she’d kept offering her a ride.

Turned out she had one?

Without changing her expression, Yi Qingzhuo feigned complete ignorance of the fact that she’d been hitching rides with Shen Chaoyi, or even pretended not to have a car when she actually drove. “Yes.”

“Just got your license?” Shen Chaoyi glanced at Yi Qingzhuo’s car.

“Only recently,” Yi Qingzhuo answered honestly.

Shen Chaoyi hesitated for a moment, then said softly, “Want me to drive?”

“You don’t trust me?” Yi Qingzhuo’s face darkened.

Seeing this, Shen Chaoyi pulled open the passenger door. “No, it’s fine. You go ahead.”

Only then did Yi Qingzhuo’s expression soften a little.

After getting into the car, Shen Chaoyi fastened her seatbelt, took out her phone, and searched. “What do you want to eat?”

“Anything works. Wherever you want to go, we’ll go.” The car glided forward smoothly, Yi Qingzhuo staring straight ahead.

Shen Chaoyi glanced sideways at Yi Qingzhuo, who wore no makeup.

The words seemed casually spoken, but they rippled through Shen Chaoyi’s heart.

Yi Qingzhuo drove very seriously, her gaze fixed unblinkingly forward.

“Can’t eat anything spicy or strong—bad for the wound. How about we go for clay pot congee?” Shen Chaoyi suggested.

Yi Qingzhuo nodded. “Okay.”

“Your younger brother came to the café today,” Yi Qingzhuo said unhurriedly in the quiet car.

Between Shen Chaoyi and Shen Gan, she had unhesitatingly chosen not to cover for Shen Gan.

Shen Chaoyi had been staring at Yi Qingzhuo, and this sudden remark made her turn her head.

Their eyes met, both startled.

“He went to the internet café again? You let him in?” Shen Chaoyi collected herself.

Shen Gan was really obsessed with that café.

There was a computer at home, and Shen Chaoyi had even bought the best graphics card for him to play games occasionally, but he just didn’t like gaming at home.

When he was at school, he spent most of his time training; whenever he got the chance, he’d go online.

Shen Chaoyi was at her wit’s end, not understanding why Shen Gan, who was so obedient and good in every other aspect, was so fixated on outside internet cafés.

He never learned his lesson.

Yi Qingzhuo paused. “No, I didn’t let him in. He left. I don’t know if he went somewhere else.”

“Oh.” Shen Chaoyi paused, as if realizing something.

“You didn’t let him go online… what about your… principles? You gave up on them?”

She had specifically talked to Yi Qingzhuo about it before, but Yi Qingzhuo not only disagreed but had even shut her down with a string of logic.

And now, suddenly, she compromised?

At that, Yi Qingzhuo, who had assumed Shen Chaoyi would focus on Shen Gan, stiffened.

Clearly, she hadn’t expected Shen Chaoyi to so easily see through her little scheme.

She licked her lips. “I don’t want them anymore.”

“Why?” Shen Chaoyi asked softly, a faint smile playing on her lips.

At a red light, Yi Qingzhuo braked and slowly stopped.

She turned to face her completely. “Because you…”

Seemed to slightly outweigh principles.