16.2 - The Sixteenth Flavor Part 2

Translator: tarararawr

Once she heard his voice, Xian Bei’s cheeks blushed uncontrollably. Her weak communication skills instantly plummeted to the level of primitive people.

“Are you awake?”

“……Mhm……” She answered carefully without opening her mouth.

“Can you open the door? I need to see you.”

Xian Bei looked at the bedroom door and in hindsight……

He must have had no other option but to call her after knocking on the door for a long time when no one answered……

She patted her head in annoyance. Would he think that she slept as soundly as a dead dog……

Seeing there was no sound from that side, the other side asked, “Is it convenient now?”

“Y-yes……” To prevent losing another person’s kindness, Xian Bei hurried to answer and got out of bed.

After combing through her messy hair twice, she put on a cardigan over her pajamas and rushed to open the door.

Chen Zhuo felt somewhat speechless after the door was suddenly opened.

He was astonished. His eyes dropped to Xian Bei’s……head.

The little girl was gasping for her breath at the door. It was like she had just finished running a long distance marathon.

While holding a cup of milk tea in one hand and the paintings in the other, he asked, “Can we sit down and talk?”

O……okay…… Xian Bei didn’t look at him at all. She only nodded and slightly moved her feet out of the way.

Inside the room, the window curtains were closed.

Fortunately, sunlight came from the living room and brightened up everything.

The comforter on the bed only had one corner exposed. It was where a pink and white rabbit had its eyes closed and appeared to be sleeping soundly.

On the desk was a slanted tablet. Next to it was a cup of water and snacks and a monitor that was still on sleep mode.

Next to the bed was a small side table. It had a notebook with several sheets of paper and a pencil on top.

Chen Zhuo pointed at the two wooden chairs. It was a suitable place to talk.

Xian Bei walked without thinking and followed behind him. Her mind was in a mess and could it be……that he saw some clues about her feelings?

After all, yesterday she panicked after changing her shoes and rushed back to her room with a red face.

It couldn’t be that he came to seriously declare……it’s strictly prohibited to have these strange feelings for her landlord……

Chen Zhuo abruptly stopped walking when they were near the chairs.

The extremely anxious Xian Bei almost hit her head against his back. Fortunately, she stopped in time.

Chen Zhuo did not take another step forward from his spot for a long time.

Xian Bei was confused. She quietly poked her head out from behind the man to find out why he stopped.

In the next moment, her eyes suddenly widened. Every nerve in Xian Bei was jumping up.

AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

Every cell in her body was screaming!

She forgot, she unexpectedly forgot——

When she couldn’t sleep last night, she pulled out a piece of paper to sketch and sat down next to the window. While foolishly smiling and lost in her imagination, she sketched out a profile of Chen Zhuo.

It was a quick sketch. Even though it was unfinished, it was already……very clearly……

It could be seen who it was——

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no……

This barrage of thoughts was going to make her head explode. Xian Bei was shocked and sweaty. Her face paled. She didn’t know how to alleviate the current predicament.

Her eyes reddened and she clenched her teeth. She quickly walked out from behind and tried to put the sketch back into the notebook.

You didn’t see anything……

What you see in front of you is an illusion… …

Even if she repeated these words like a spell to comfort herself, it was useless. The slightest bit of relief could not be found in Xian Bei’s embarrassing predicament.

Just as her little white hands were about to touch the portrait——

The man’s arms and legs were long. With one stretch of his arm, he was faster than her in taking control of the sketch into his own hands.

Xian Bei could only watch helplessly……as it flew very high……out of her reach……

It was……

Even more embarrassing……

She wanted to die……

Dying was better than living……

Who could give her a quick stab……

Could there be a hole in the ground for her to fall into……

The man intentionally put down the milk tea in his hand and he held up the sketch as if he wanted to seriously and carefully look over it.

Xian Bei’s scalp felt numb. She also felt a cold and endless air current rushing through her neck to her ankles.

It was like being on a mountain of daggers and in a sea of flames 1 while suffering from the top ten tortures 2 . Xian Bei started hoping that she could become invisible.

But fantasies were only fantasies. She could only do nothing during this crisis and let Chen Zhuo look at it as if nobody else was in the room.

The anxiety brought on by her imagination made Xian Bei bite her lower lips until they were almost swollen.

After a while, Chen Zhuo unexpectedly said in a meaningful tone, “This sketch looks a little familiar……”

Xian Bei immediately shook her head to deny it. “N……no……”

The man became silent and did not open his mouth for a long time.

He was doubting it. Does she want to admit it? Xian Bei was so worried her nose became sore. Just admit it. If she died, then she would just die. Turning back now would only make her blame herself.

And so, she gave a slight nod. “Yes……”

She tried to defend herself. “It’s just……practice sketching……”

She gave an excuse that she didn’t believe in.

Xian Bei sniffled twice with her head down. Those eyes wanted to cry right now, but she held it back. She saw that the quick sketch had been put back to its original place. “So it’s to practice sketching.”

With the same hand, he picked up the milk tea from the table and handed it to her. The owner of the hand smiled. “I thought it was the personification of this milk tea.”

What……

Personification…….

Bewilderment was crammed halfway into her panic. Xian Bei slowly released her clenched hands. She lifted a hand up to take the cup of milk tea.

It was warm and snug in her cold hand.

She suddenly froze when she looked at the cup. Xian Bei was dumbstruck in the same place. Her pale face that was like a white sheet of paper gradually became pink.

Because printed clearly on the very small black square label stickied on the cup:

"

"

Original flavor and 30% sweet.

tarararawr’s rararamblings: Does anyone remember Chapter 3 when Chen Zhuo mentions the song “little rabbit obediently open the door”? It seems like our little rabbit finally opened the door…

Footnotes

刀山火海 (dāoshānhuǒhǎi) – idiom for extreme danger. 十大酷刑 (shídàkùxíng) – The main criminal law punishments from ancient China.