Chapter 88 p1: Empathy
“You’ve only eaten two bites. How are you full? Are you not going to eat any of this? What a pity,” Qingli looked at the mostly untouched fish on the table, a hint of disappointment on her face.
Just as Yu Chujin had put down her chopsticks, she saw her disappointment. After hesitating for two seconds, she picked up her chopsticks again and forced herself to eat a few more bites.
Seeing this, Qingli’s eyes lit up as she looked at her.
Yu Chujin had originally only planned to eat two bites, just to put on a show and not disappoint her too much.
But when she met her expectant, starry-eyed look, two bites became three, and three became four.
In the end, she had eaten until she was full and even let out a burp.
But even after Yu Chujin was full, not even a third of the fish on the table had been eaten. Mainly because Qingli had cooked too much. She was a little careless when she was cooking and didn’t consider her appetite at all.
Yu Chujin patiently said to her, “Next time you cook fish, just cook half a fish. Half a fish is the most I can eat. Any more would be a pure waste.”
Qingli was unconcerned, “It’s okay. Yu Chujin, you can eat as much as you want. It doesn’t matter if it’s wasted. I’m amazing at catching fish.”
Yu Chujin narrowed her eyes, “What are you amazing at?”
Qingli came to her senses, urgently covered her mouth, and quickly changed her words, “I’ll go to the supermarket to buy fish. I won’t catch them anymore.”
“You’d better really not catch them anymore.”
“Really, I understand it all.”
Yu Chujin shook her head. She could only give her a few more daily instructions and scare her, so that she would not expose her identity.
For the next few days, Qingli cooked fish every day.
Frequent cooking had led to an improvement in her cooking skills. At the very least, the fish was no longer fishy and was edible. But no matter how much her cooking skills improved, she couldn’t stand eating it every day.
Yu Chujin looked at another table of fish, sighed, and said very tactfully, “Can we order some takeout? This fish, isn’t the frequency of eating it a little too frequent?”
Qingli was stubborn, “You have to eat it. You have to replenish yourself. You can’t.”
Yu Chujin was annoyed and pushed the bowl forward, “I’m not eating, I’m not eating. Who can stand eating it every day? If you want to eat it, you can eat it yourself. Also, it’s not a problem of me not being able to, it’s that you’re being too much.”
Qingli looked at her, then at the fish on the table, tilted her head, and after thinking for two seconds, said, “Then I’ll change a dish for you.”
Yu Chujin raised an eyebrow, “That’s fine. As long as I don’t have to eat fish.”
She now wanted to vomit at the sight of fish.
“Actually, you don’t have to cook all the time. It’s the same to order takeout. You’re busy in the kitchen every day. Aren’t you tired? Why do you have to find things to do for yourself?”
“I’m a home-loving snake. I can’t eat takeout. Eating takeout is unhealthy.”
Yu Chujin was amused, “You know a lot. You even know that eating takeout is unhealthy. I just think that it’s very tiring for you to cook every day.”
Qingli shook her head, “I’m not tired. But Yu Chujin is tired every day. Not at all satisfied.”
Yu Chujin had just taken a sip of water from her cup. Because of her words, she directly choked.
“Cough, cough, cough,” Yu Chujin glared at her sideways, “How else do you want to be satisfied! You’re even complaining about me!”
Qingli shrank her ears, “No, no. Yu Chujin, don’t be angry. I just want to replenish you.”
Saying it back and forth, wasn’t she still complaining?
Yu Chujin was so angry that she didn’t know where to start, “Instead of saying I can’t, why don’t you say that you’re not being restrained yourself? You have to be restrained, you know that?”
Qingli was not in the right, but she was still defiant, “I don’t know.”
Yu Chujin was choked with anger. She raised her hand to hit her on the head. The hand that was about to hit her on the head was forcefully stopped. She sighed, didn’t hit her, and pulled her hand back.
Qingli blinked her eyes and smiled happily, “Yu Chujin, you can’t bear to hit me.”
Yu Chujin pouted, “Who can’t bear it? Your head is as hard as an iron lump. I was just afraid of hurting my own hand.”
“Yu Chujin, you love me even more. You can’t even bear to hit me.”
“Can’t you not just understand it on your own?”
“Yu Chujin, you love me so much.”
No matter how stubborn Yu Chujin was, Qingli always insisted on her own point of view.
“Alright, I won’t argue with you anymore. I won’t eat the fish. I’ll order some takeout,” Yu Chujin took out her phone.
Just as she was about to go to the takeout app, her phone was suddenly snatched away.
Her hand was empty. Yu Chujin looked at Qingli with a puzzled expression, “What?”
Qingli was mumbling, “Takeout is unhealthy.”
“You snake are getting more and more exaggerated. I’ve been eating takeout for the past 20-something years. How is it unhealthy?”
“It’s just unhealthy. You don’t want to eat fish. I’ll make you something more nourishing. You can’t eat takeout. You’ll be even more unable to.”
Yu Chujin took a breath and was silent for a moment, “Can’t you not always say ‘I can’t’?”
Qingli was puzzled, “Didn’t you say it yourself?”
Yu Chujin: “Alright!”
Qingli triggered the keyword, “Alright.”
“Yu Chujin, don’t be angry. I’ll make you something more nourishing, more delicious than takeout.”
“More nourishing? What?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Qingli’s tail came out from behind her. With a smack, it hit the dining table.
The bowls and chopsticks on the table shook, and the overflowing fish soup even spilled out.
Yu Chujin: “What are you doing? Why did you suddenly put your tail on the table? And with such force? The soup has spilled.”
Qingli suddenly and nonsensically said, “My tail is very strong.”
As Yu Chujin was wiping the table, she looked at her tail. She thought of something, and a hint of unnaturalness flashed across her face.
Qingli said again, “My tail is very strong. I’ll give it to you to eat.”
Yu Chujin was stunned for a moment, her face flushing. She glared at her, “Who wants to eat your tail? In broad daylight, don’t say such messy things here. Aren’t you ashamed!”
Qingli was dazed. After she came to her senses, her gaze was teasing, “What were you thinking, Yu Chujin? You’re still saying my mind is full of color. You’re more or less the same. That’s not what I meant.”
Yu Chujin took a tissue and continued to wipe the fish soup that had spilled on the table, “That’s not what you meant? What did you mean? You can’t be really asking me to eat your tail.”
“I am asking you to eat my tail. My tail is very nourishing. Eating it can strengthen your body,” Qingli said with a serious expression, obviously not joking.
“It’s just that it will hurt a little when I cut the meat, but I can bear it. I’m not afraid of pain.”
Yu Chujin’s hand, wiping the table, paused. She looked at her, her mouth twitching, “That’s not necessary.”
Qingli: “You dislike my tail?”
Yu Chujin facepalmed, “This has nothing to do with dislike. It’s just that I can’t possibly eat your meat. No matter how nourishing it is, I can’t eat it.”
“Why?”
“There’s no why. People are just like that. They won’t eat the meat of their own companions.”
“People are so strange. My meat is very nourishing.”
“Even if it’s very nourishing, I can’t possibly eat it!”
Qingli held her own tail, licked it, and tried to tempt her, “Not only is it nourishing, but it’s also very fragrant. It’s delicious, very delicious. Yu Chujin, do you really not want to try it?”
Yu Chujin: “…”
Qingli licked her own tail, made a smacking sound, and tempted her again, “So delicious. I’ll cut it and cook it for you. You like to eat cooked food.”
Yu Chujin’s vision went black. The topic was getting more and more morbid, “You’d better get rid of this idea. You can’t cut your own meat. Even if you really cut it, I can’t possibly eat it. You’ll only be hurting yourself for nothing. Understand?”
“Yu Chujin is so disobedient,” Qingli puffed out her cheeks.
“You’re still calling me disobedient? Who’s the one who’s disobedient?” Yu Chujin was speechless.
Qingli frantically showed off her tail, waving it in the air a couple of times, then waving it again, showing off its strength, “Are you really not going to eat it? It’s very strong.”
Yu Chujin patted her on the head, “I’m not eating it!”
Qingli covered her head, and with regret and grievance, she pulled back her tail and mumbled, “Such a delicious thing, and you’re not eating it. Yu Chujin is really a silly girl.”
Yu Chujin was too lazy to say more to her. She took back the phone that had been snatched away. In the end, she still ate takeout for this meal.
After not eating takeout for a while, it felt like takeout had become a delicacy.
Mainly because Qingli’s cooking was really not good. It was barely edible. If it weren’t for the fact that she couldn’t bear to refuse her kindness, Yu Chujin would not have wanted to eat it in the first place.
After eating, Yu Chujin got up and walked outside. After walking two steps, she turned her head to look at the snake still sitting at the dining table, “Stop holding your tail and being so pitiful. I’m going out to walk the dog. Are you coming?”
Qingli heard the keyword, “going out,” and stood up with a whoosh, “You have to take me when you go out.”
Yu Chujin shook her head and walked outside, “Have I ever not taken you?”
Qingli trotted after her. Now, not only did she have to walk Da Huang, but she also had to take the neighbor’s golden retriever and calico cat along.
Her other two cats didn’t need to. The other two cats were unwilling to go out.
And so, two dogs, one cat, one snake, and one person, went out in a grand procession.
Although there was an extra cat and a dog to walk, Yu Chujin was still very relaxed, because the snake would not allow her to get close to the cats and dogs at all. Qingli had taken on the job of holding the dogs and the cat all by herself.
For this, Yu Chujin said that if she was happy to hold them, then let her. It was good to be relaxed.
“These two yellow balls of yours are so annoying,” Qingli’s face was full of impatience, “They pee everywhere. They have no manners. You’re not allowed to poop. I still have to pick it up. It’s an insult to a snake. So annoying!”
Yu Chujin was on the side, and a low sound came out.
“Yu Chujin is still laughing. Why are you raising these troublemakers? They poop everywhere. They have no manners, no politeness.”
“Alright, they’re dogs. How can they be compared to an intelligent creature like you?”
Qingli lifted her chin, proud, “Of course. I’m an intelligent creature. I’m much smarter than them.”
Yu Chujin pinched her face, “Yes, our Qingli is the smartest.”
After being praised once, Qingli, who had just been full of complaints, was now even more willing to walk the dogs, shaking her head.
As always, she still liked to be praised. On this point, the snake had never changed.
“Wow!” a girl ran over, with shoulder-length short hair and a shallow dimple when she smiled, “The dogs and cats you’re raising are so cute. Can I pet them?”
The short-haired girl looked at Qingli.
Qingli looked back at her and didn’t speak. They just stared at each other.
It was awkward. Yu Chujin quickly joined in, “Go ahead, go ahead. You can pet them. They don’t bite. They’re all very good.”
The short-haired girl smiled at Yu Chujin, immediately squatted down, and patted the golden retriever’s head, then patted Da Huang’s head, and then patted the calico cat’s head, giving equal attention to all.
Qingli was silent the whole time. Yu Chujin also discovered that Qingli was a chatterbox in front of her, but when others talked to her, she would rarely pay attention to them.
She would often just stare at them. It wasn’t that she was aloof, but that she was purely ignoring them. Just now, when the short-haired girl had asked her if she could pet the dog, she hadn’t spoken at all.
“So cute. I’ve always wanted to raise a dog, but my dad is allergic to dog hair, so I can’t,” the short-haired girl’s tone was full of regret, and also a hint of envy.
“You have two dogs. With two dogs to accompany you, you must be particularly happy.”
Qingli turned a deaf ear and had no intention of joining the conversation at all.
Yu Chujin had to answer for her, “Haha, the dogs are quite cute, but raising a dog is not as good as you imagine. You have to take care of it every day and take it out for a walk. I can only say that there are good and bad things about it.”
The short-haired girl nodded and then asked Qingli again, “How many years have you had this dog?”
