A Short-Lived Cannon Fodder Alpha Just Wants to Be a Salted Fish - Chapter 18

The clay pot shop was two streets away from the library. The midday sun was scorching, making the sun umbrella they brought a lifesaver. The two walked under its shade, chatting idly.

Chu Yihan visited the library often and had tried almost every well-rated restaurant in the area; she even remembered exactly where the winding alleys led.

“It’s faster if we take that alley and turn right,” Chu Yihan pointed to the entrance of an alley ahead. “But… I don’t quite dare to walk there alone.”

“Why?”

Before she could finish, a sudden bark erupted from the alley. Chu Yihan turned pale with fright and took two steps back.

Before she could even process it, Wen Yuan instinctively moved to protect her, stepping forward to shield Chu Yihan behind her. Startled by the barking and unable to think, Wen Yuan fixed her gaze toward the sound and felt her nerves slowly relax.

A large black dog was locked inside a courtyard ahead. Likely hearing their conversation, it had started barking alertly.

Wen Yuan turned back to comfort Chu Yihan: “It’s locked up; it can’t bite anyone.”

“Last time the gate wasn’t closed and it came out,” Chu Yihan said, still a bit shaken. “Let’s take the other way.”

Wen Yuan naturally had no objections. She turned around and let Chu Yihan walk in front while she stayed half a step behind, looking back occasionally to make sure the dog hadn’t chased them out of the yard.

Once the barking faded, Wen Yuan quickened her pace to stand beside Chu Yihan and asked exactly what was on her mind: “Are you afraid of dogs? Were you bitten when you were little?”

“It’s not exactly that I’m afraid of dogs, I’m just afraid of this one. It was so fierce last time, like it really wanted to bite someone.”

Chu Yihan kept her head down, and Wen Yuan couldn’t see her expression. Seeing that Chu Yihan’s tone sounded quite somber, Wen Yuan assumed she hadn’t recovered from the shock and teased her on purpose: “Even the ‘biter’ is afraid of being bitten?”

Her voice held a faint hint of amusement. Chu Yihan immediately realized Wen Yuan was poking fun at her for her previous “bite.” Catching the curve of Wen Yuan’s lips before she could hide it, Chu Yihan grew certain. She shifted her eyes and whispered, “Afraid of being bitten by dogs, not people.”

Wen Yuan clicked her tongue and joked, “Then give me a bite back.”

“No.”

“Weren’t you just saying you aren’t afraid of being bitten by people?”

“You’re a little hawk. You don’t bite; you peck.”

Wen Yuan was caught off guard by the comeback. After a moment of speechless surprise, she saw that Chu Yihan was no longer as tense or somber, and the smile on her own lips widened.

Forget it, the goal was to make her happy anyway. I won’t get petty with a poor thing who was scared by a dog.

” ‘Little Hawk’ doesn’t sound good at all. Call me ‘Little Bird’ instead,” Wen Yuan threatened with a mock-serious face. “Don’t mess with me, I really do peck. Hawks eat little lambs, you know.”

Chu Yihan couldn’t suppress her laugh, her eyes curving into crescent moons as she responded obediently, “Okay, Little Bird.”

Inside the clay pot shop, the cool air conditioned breeze dissipated the heat. Wen Yuan let out a sigh of relief; if she had walked much longer, she would have only needed a pinch of cumin to become a barbecue roast.

They found a corner seat. After picking their items from the menu, Chu Yihan called the waiter and ordered two “Family Portrait” clay pot vermicelli sets.

When the pots were served, Wen Yuan saw a sea of green on the soup and let out an “Ah.” “I forgot to say no cilantro.”

“Give it to me.”

As she spoke, Chu Yihan picked the cilantro out of Wen Yuan’s bowl into her own. She used her spoon to scoop away even the tiny floating bits. The movement was practiced and seamless.

“Do you do this for people often?” Wen Yuan asked.

Chu Yihan denied it. She looked up at Wen Yuan with an unreadable emotion and said, “I’ve only ever done it for you.”

Wen Yuan froze. Even though this was the first time Chu Yihan had picked cilantro for her, the way she said it made it feel as though it had happened many times before.

A fleeting, indescribable feeling passed through her. It felt like there was someone in her past life who used to pick the cilantro for her all the time…

“Alright, that should be all of it,” Chu Yihan paused. “I don’t like egg yolks; can I give you my quail eggs?”

Wen Yuan snapped back to reality. She put a fish-roe lucky bag and a fish ball into Chu Yihan’s bowl, then held out her spoon. “Give them to me. Thanks for the cilantro…”

Chu Yihan smiled and placed the quail eggs into Wen Yuan’s spoon. “You’re welcome…”

The clay pot was delicious, and Wen Yuan ate with great satisfaction. Seeing that Chu Yihan wasn’t finished yet, she went to the restroom and paid the bill on her way.

When Chu Yihan finished and headed for the counter, Wen Yuan stopped her. “I already paid. Let’s go.”

Chu Yihan made a move to transfer the money to Wen Yuan, but Wen Yuan stopped her. “You haven’t charged me any tuition for tutoring. How could I let us go Dutch for a meal?”

“Those are two different things,” Chu Yihan insisted on transferring the money.

Wen Yuan couldn’t win, so she tried a different tactic, saying leisurely, “Next time, you treat me then.”

Next time…

Chu Yihan’s eyelashes fluttered, a look of anticipation rippling through her eyes. She gave a slight smile. “There’s no better day than today—let’s make it tomorrow.”

The implication was that they were coming back tomorrow. Did I just get played?

A helpless smile floated on Wen Yuan’s lips. “Alright then. Take me to a new restaurant tomorrow.”

“Okay…”

The summer breeze carried Chu Yihan’s soft voice past her ear. Wen Yuan, who used to hate everything related to studying, suddenly felt that coming to the library in the heat of summer was quite nice. There was AC, books to read, a “little teacher” to teach her, and even good food.

It was hot—too hot to go out—yet Wen Yuan found herself looking forward to the next day.

In the afternoon, Chu Yihan helped Wen Yuan organize her knowledge points. She leaned in close, her head lightly touching Wen Yuan’s, as she explained the problems Wen Yuan had gathered in her mistake notebook in a low whisper.

Once they finished, Chu Yihan suggested, “I’ll find a few problems similar to your mistakes. Do you want to try solving them again?”

Wen Yuan agreed readily. While Chu Yihan searched the teaching materials for problems, Wen Yuan propped her chin on her hand, watching the pages flip, and then watching the person flipping them.

She had noticed just now that Chu Yihan’s profile was smooth and defined, her skin as delicate as warm, dense mutton-fat jade—translucent, pure, and flawless.

It felt nice too—soft and tender.

When Chu Yihan slowly turned her head to look at her in confusion, Wen Yuan suddenly snapped out of it. She had actually reached out and touched Chu Yihan’s cheek.

After a couple of dry laughs to ease the awkwardness, Wen Yuan praised her sincerely, “Your skin is really good.”

“Your skin is good too.”

Chu Yihan stared at Wen Yuan’s cold features for a moment. She lowered her eyes and, imitating Wen Yuan’s previous action, very lightly poked Wen Yuan’s cheek twice, pausing subtly in between. It was so cautious, as if she were confirming whether Wen Yuan’s face was real. Wen Yuan was amused by her own strange thought, then she froze as she connected it to her situation of being in a book.

“Do you think if a person dies and enters a book, the world in the book is fictional, and the people inside are just illusions?”

As she spoke, Wen Yuan instinctively looked at Chu Yihan. The latter’s amber eyes were swirling with emotion—surprise, shock, and other complex feelings that Wen Yuan couldn’t quite capture before they vanished.

“Why the sudden deep thought?” Chu Yihan regained her composure and asked casually.

Wen Yuan made up an excuse: “I read a novel a few days ago and it just popped into my head.”

Chu Yihan thought for a moment and offered her perspective: “I think once the characters in a book gain their own consciousness, they will act outside the fixed plot. This creates a series of butterfly effects. From that moment on, the fictional world becomes real, and the people in it are no longer illusions.”

The question that had been weighing on her was resolved. Wen Yuan looked at Chu Yihan with admiration and respect. It made sense why her grades were so good; she had such deep insight at such a young age.

“What novel was it?” Chu Yihan asked.

Wen Yuan added the word “transmigration” to the original title of the novel she was in. Chu Yihan’s brow arched almost imperceptibly, but she didn’t press for details. Wen Yuan breathed a secret sigh of relief.

Like a small interlude, the topic was dropped, and the room fell silent again. Wen Yuan buried her head in the example problems while Chu Yihan read beside her, using a ruler and a blue pen to draw perfectly straight lines under key points.

After finishing the problems, Wen Yuan checked the answers herself; predictably, they were all correct. Satisfied, she closed her book and saw it was almost 5:00 PM.

“How did you do?” Chu Yihan asked.

“All correct,” Wen Yuan said happily. “It’s five o’clock. Heading home?”

Chu Yihan hummed and handed a book to Wen Yuan. “Take this home and read it. Memorize the points I underlined in blue.” Wen Yuan tucked the book into her bag.

They packed up and headed to the service desk to return the card, then walked out of the library together.

“How are you getting back? A taxi?” Chu Yihan asked.

“Yeah,” Wen Yuan wished aloud, “I hope this time I get a driver who doesn’t like to talk.”

Chu Yihan bit her lip and made a casual suggestion: “My driver doesn’t talk much. Do you want a ride?”

“Is it on the way?” Wen Yuan hesitated.

Seeing a sign of softening, Chu Yihan pressed on: “It should be. I live at Tianhu Villa.”

Wen Yuan checked the map and saw it really was on the way, so she accepted the ride. Chu Yihan’s exclusive driver, Li Zhang, was indeed very quiet. The car was a luxury model with leather seats; Wen Yuan relaxed as the AC blew.

Likely because she woke up early and had studied all day, she was tired. The soothing instrumental music in the car made her drowsy, and her eyelids grew heavy. Just as she was about to fall asleep, her shoulder felt heavy—Chu Yihan had fallen asleep and tilted her head onto Wen Yuan’s shoulder.

Startled, Wen Yuan’s sleepiness vanished instantly. Feeling Chu Yihan slowly slipping down, Wen Yuan carefully supported Chu Yihan’s cheek and adjusted her posture so Chu Yihan could lean properly on her shoulder again.

No longer sleepy, Wen Yuan pulled out the geography book Chu Yihan had given her. Blue lines were drawn under the knowledge points; even the sections previously marked in pink had been re-underlined in blue.

With Chu Yihan’s brain, she didn’t need to underline points for herself. These were clearly marked specifically for Wen Yuan.

Being so close, the scent of Chu Yihan’s gardenia pheromones lingered faintly at the tip of her nose. Wen Yuan stared at the straight blue lines in the book. Even though blue was a cool color, she felt warmth from them—warmth that reached straight to the bottom of her heart.

Wen Yuan glanced sideways at Chu Yihan, her gaze holding a tenderness she hadn’t even noticed herself.