Chapter 59: Our Pure Friendship

Fang Wei sat on a bench in the Little Woods.

He had thought Zhuge Yu would take him to some holy land for couples’ dates, but it turned out he had overthought it.

Then again, it made sense.

Zhuge Yu was a child with no friends.

Having lived in a high-pressure environment of school bullying and monster-slaying, she cherished their current way of getting along.

This feeling of being slightly beyond “friendship” but far from being “lovers” was surely the best for her.

Being too far away caused her anxiety, yet being too close brought guilt.

She always remembered that he was Qi Qiancao’s boyfriend, and that they should maintain a relationship that was just right.

Currently, the only things linking them together, aside from Qi Qiancao, were the favors she owed Fang Wei.

She was deliberately maintaining the current balance.

Regarding this, Fang Wei felt a slight sense of relief.

He picked up the steaming, insulated lunch box.

After dozens of chapters, he was finally eating the promised steak.

He opened the metal lunch box, but there was no “Wow!” or golden legendary glow.

The appearance of the food… well… it was passable.

At least there was a lot of beef.

Paired with rice, it didn’t look like much of a problem aside from potentially getting stuck in his teeth.

“H-How is it?”

Zhuge Yu cast an expectant gaze toward him.

She was likely afraid Fang Wei wouldn’t have enough to eat, so she had packed the box to the brim with beef.

It was almost overflowing.

Fang Wei felt like he should go buy a bottle of water, or he would surely choke to death here.

‘Did Gen. Little Yu already discover my identity as a **[Kaxiu]** Organization Cadre and prepare to kill me with steak?’

Brother Cow: “I offer my broken body to the raging flames!”

‘Uh, I won’t be solo-killed by a cow, will I?’

The beef was cooked through, but the chef’s knife skills were truly abysmal.

One would think she had used the Zenith to cut it.

The first piece was too big, the second was too shredded, and the third was tiny.

How did she manage to make a single knife feel like eighteen different types of weapons?

Fang Wei was puzzled at first, but then he remembered how Zhuge Yu hacked at monsters like she was mincing meat, and he let it go.

It turned out that playing high-stat characters for too long had smoothed out the wrinkles in her brain.

It was a normal phenomenon; he acted the same way when he played W’ishadel.

Fang Wei gave an awkward yet polite smile.

“What’s with that expression? I don’t think it’s that bad.”

“True, but your level is still a long way off from being a Chef.”

“Ugh—”

Zhuge Yu actually knew her knife skills were poor, but she didn’t want to admit it.

Especially not in front of this annoying guy.

As if to prove that eating such large pieces of beef was no problem, she snatched the chopsticks from Fang Wei’s hand without a word and stuffed a piece into her mouth.

Her cheeks instantly puffed up like a little hamster’s.

It wasn’t that it tasted bad, but… it was so tough and bland.

How was this different from the time she made it at home? Zhuge Yu’s mouth was stuffed so full of beef that she couldn’t chew it or swallow it.

The watery, tasteless flavor even made her feel nauseous.

She had no choice but to spit the beef out.

She wiped her mouth, signaling that this stuff really wasn’t fit for human consumption.

“Ugh, how can this be? It turned out fine when I made it at home. Is there something wrong with the box?”

“Gen. Little Yu, why don’t you just say there’s something wrong with the Earth’s gravity?”

Fang Wei couldn’t help but laugh at her.

Zhuge Yu pouted, wanting to talk back, but both of them noticed something at the same time and froze.

A faint pink stain could be seen on the spat-out beef and the back of Zhuge Yu’s hand.

It was the color of her lip tint.

Fang Wei could no longer hold it back and let out a snicker.

It wasn’t mockery; he was just amused by this cute girl.

Zhuge Yu was definitely the person he got along with best besides Lao Chen.

Every time he spoke with her, he felt a sense of ease and cheerfulness that Qi Qiancao and Xia Yuanhua never gave him.

“I… I…”

Zhuge Yu covered her mouth.

Realizing her makeup had been ruined while eating, her mind went blank, as if it had exploded.

A prickly itch and parching heat spread through her entire body.

She felt hot sweat on her back, and it was as uncomfortable as if someone were pricking her skin with needles.

Her head began to throb again.

The feeling of making a fool of herself in front of others made her feel terrible.

She didn’t want others to see her awkward side, and she hated exposing her flaws.

It made her feel very insecure.

“I… My makeup has a bit of a problem. I’ll go to the restroom to fix it… I…”

As she spoke, her entire body curled up like a hedgehog.

In this situation, even without looking at her Degen Value, Fang Wei knew she was so embarrassed she wanted to die.

Zhuge Yu shifted her body slightly.

He had noticed before that she would get itchy all over whenever she got nervous.

This was likely Cholinergic Urticaria, a neurological issue where she would suffer from allergic itching whenever she was stimulated or stressed.

Fang Wei knew this child was introverted and sensitive, and even a bit misanthropic.

He remembered that when they first met, she was in a defensive state that screamed “keep away.”

Layer upon layer of defense.

To heal a girl like this, the most important thing was to break through those layers.

He was actually already capable of doing that.

What followed was what he was best at, and the reason why being with Zhuge Yu felt so comfortable.

He wanted to infect Zhuge Yu with his own thick-skinned nature.

He wanted to tell her that the sky wasn’t falling.

Who cared if her lip tint was smeared?

He had seen a girl in his dreams with her whole face messed up before.

Well, this might have been the personality he developed while staying with that girl back then. Zhuge Yu and that person really were a bit alike.

“Gen. Little Yu, you’re being formal with me now?”

Fang Wei laughed for a moment and pulled away Zhuge Yu’s hand that she was using as a shield.

He took a tissue from his pocket and very naturally began to wipe her lips little by little.

The movements were seamless, just as common as two close bros putting their arms around each other’s shoulders.

“Actually, your lip shape is quite nice. You’re very pretty even without makeup.”

Fang Wei’s praise was sincere.

Zhuge Yu’s expression was blank, her pupils reflecting the boy who was dabbing at her lips.

Although she was still hot, the itching didn’t seem as intense as before.

Only an incomprehensible heat remained piled in her chest, making her almost forget to breathe.

Dry wiping made it difficult to remove the lip tint, so Fang Wei dipped the tissue in a bit of water.

He acted like an old master performing delicate work, focusing entirely on Zhuge Yu’s lips with gentle, refined movements.

“There, it’s mostly handled. There’s still a bit of color, but it’s not obvious anymore.”

Regarding the major catastrophe that Zhuge Yu thought was the end of the world, he just grinned and moved on, picking up the lunch box again.

The beef being too big wasn’t a problem.

He used his hands to tear the beef into shreds and mixed it into the rice.

After adding some sauce and giving it a quick toss with the chopsticks, it looked much more appetizing than before.

“Then I won’t be polite.”

Fang Wei pressed his palms together and began to eat without further ado.

Having snapped back to her senses, Zhuge Yu just watched him eat in a relaxed manner.

His eating habits weren’t exactly elegant, yet they inexplicably put her at ease.

Zhuge Yu touched her own lips, her gaze hesitant and flickering, but in the end, it settled on Fang Wei.

Her originally restless heart gradually calmed down.

This annoying guy didn’t look at her with pity or strange eyes; he was just the same as usual.

It was as if what happened just now was nothing more than a trivial, everyday occurrence.

Zhuge Yu stared at him without saying a word.

The look made Fang Wei feel as uncomfortable as if a ferret were crawling on him.

“Do you want to eat too?”

He handed over the lunch box along with the chopsticks.

Zhuge Yu took the lunch box, thinking to herself that this shouldn’t count as an indirect kiss.

She took two bites; it didn’t taste much better than before.

However, she stubbornly puffed out her cheeks and muttered softly, “I… I was planning on shredding the beef too…”

As she spoke, her cheeks turned red again.

She simply turned her body away, leaving him with only her back and her flushed face as she swallowed small mouthfuls.

When she peeked at him from the side, the annoying guy had already returned to boredly scrolling through his phone.

She suddenly felt that he always seemed so free.

Being with him made the stray thoughts in her mind drift away until they vanished without a trace.