5 - The Fifth Flavor

Translator: tarararawr

Five minutes later.

Xian Bei shuffled back to the room, and then she clumsily collapsed into the chair.

Xian Bei eyebrows furrowed when she looked at the monitor’s black screen that had been on standby.

She felt somewhat sad, but also somewhat guilty.

Were her actions too much just now?

In an instant, her face was extremely hot. She subconsciously pushed the door back with all her strength, so……

I cl-closed the door……

With a bang! The speed was so fast that one could feel a gust of wind in the air.

Xian Bei’s eyes became dejected. She spread out her palms and she looked at them desperately.

:-(……

She didn’t know where the strength came from…….

And didn’t know if the other person was angry……

After she closed the door without thinking, there was no movement outside.

For a long time, she waited until her cheeks stopped burning. She got close to the peephole and secretly looked out.

The passageway was empty as if no one had ever been there.

Thinking about this, Xian Bei scratched her head.

She couldn’t help it. She couldn’t help it at all. She was so afraid of this kind of problem.

When the problem was acknowledged, it was the same as figuring out which mahjong tile to pass to other people 1 . It also meant that she was about to be consumed by her own expectations of the future.

It’s just like……

Like establishing a relationship. Behind this relationship, there must be many huge, complex, inconvenient, and specific things that need to be dealt with by her.

Stepping into the unknown forest, was the road ahead a flower field or a swamp?

She did not want to think about it at all.

However, it was obvious that she mentioned it first.

So, why did she open her mouth to ask?

Her reaction completely did not match her question.

Did that person think she was really crazy?

What should she do?

Xian Bei was so anxious that her eyes turned red and her heart was thrown into sour lemonade 2 .

She thought about it and she could only find one person for help.

Xian Bei woke up the computer and she pulled up QQ to find her editor, Yuan Yuan.

She click-clacked away on the keyboard. It was much easier to type than talk face to face.

Xian Bei: Yuan yuan, are you there……

Yuan Yuan: Speak.

Xian Bei: I seem to have done something wrong.…….

Yuan Yuan: Is it that the Onmyoji master 3 hasn’t revised the draft today?

Xian Bei: …….No……

Yuan Yuan: Then what? I can’t think of a more serious mistake at the moment.

As a result, Xian Bei spent close to 10 minutes figuring out the wording, deleting, and editing her message.

She explained in detail to Yuan Yuan about what had happened at noon.

Finally, she ended with the sentences: “What am I going to do next. Help me. TAT 4 ”.

Yuan Yuan: I almost fell asleep waiting.

Yuan Yuan: Wait a moment. Let me see.

Xian Bei: Okay.

Xian Bei let out a sigh of relief at this time. Her left hand unconsciously clenched into a fist and was pressing against the palm of her right hand.

It was wet and sweaty all over.

Xian Bei was surprised and reached out to pull a tissue. She rubbed it hard between her hands, and then went to touch the mouse.

……The mouse was also slippery from her sweaty palms……

Her face was inexplicably hot again. Xian Bei pulled out another tissue and gently wiped the mouse……

On the screen.

Yuan Yuan already messaged a reply. Her focus was completely out of the Milky Way——

”Is the milk tea delivery man handsome?”

Xian Bei: …….

Xian Bei: Why do you ask?

Yuan Yuan: This determines how I will answer you later.

Xian Bei thought for a moment: Very sensible. Very gentle. Different from other people.

Yuan Yuan: Can you just say if he is handsome or not?

Xian Bei slowly typed each letter one finger at a time: Handsome……

After sending it, she looked quickly to the left and right with subtlety and shamefulness, as if the involved person was standing next to her and her response could be seen by him.

Yuan Yuan: Then let me just say it. You were too much.

Yuan Yuan: He gave you a free drink to try and you painted art as feedback. There is no problem with that.

Yuan Yuan: But later you asked if in the future it would be him delivering. It was that bit……

“Do you understand what it means to express good intentions to him?”

“Will you be delivering in the future = I hope it will be you delivering all the time.”

Those sentences were like thunder hitting the ground. Xian Bei was a little dazed by the explosion.

Yuan Yuan’s messages continued to come like gurgling water.

“If you didn’t want the other person to deliver, you wouldn’t have asked.”

“Then, you can just impatiently complain in your heart that it won’t be delivered by him in the future.”

Is that so?

The computer screen probably became a radiator because Xian Bei’s face warmed up.

She stared without blinking at the message box with her editor.

“This is a good thing. You have someone you want to be friends with.”

Yuan Yuan still sent a long message.

“But at the next moment you closed the door??”

“There’s still a chance to fix this, and that is to take the initiative to apologize.”

“He delivered to you, so you should have his contact information. Send a text message and sincerely apologize to him.”

“As for why he did not directly reply, push the question back to him……”

“I think he might be shy and embarrassed to say that he wants to come too.”

“You see how patient he is with you. Who would want to write and communicate through the door with someone who can clearly speak? It’s weird, okay. You acted like a junior high school student passing notes in class.”

“By the way, how old is he?”

Was it her turn to speak?

Xian Bei quickly in a flustered state touched the number key: 30……

She thought about it and added three words: It looks like.

She hit enter.

Yuan Yuan was flabberghasted.

“So old!”

“I thought it was a young, good looking Xiao Gege 5 and it turns out he is an old uncle?”

Xian Bei pursed her lips and was silent.

“That’s definitely not shyness.”

Xian Bei whispered in her heart. Then what is it?

“He’s deliberately flirting with you!!!” Yuanyuan used three exclamation points, one after another, to express her excited emotions.

——

That same evening, Chen Zhuo took a bath. He rubbed his wet hair and put his towel directly on his head.

When he was about to open the door and leave the bathroom, he stopped his hand. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the door handle.

Thinking of what happened at noon, he did the same thing with a similar door handle.

Because of his bad taste 6 and some of his impulses, he couldn’t understand himself.

Just like that night at the supermarket.

The door was slammed on you, you deserve it.

Chen Zhuo mocked himself with a chuckle.

At the end of the memory, Chen Zhuo walked back to the bedroom.

He picked up the cell phone from his desk. He pressed it and saw a text message notification.

He clicked on it to open it. Chen Zhuo was slightly shocked. The sender was “Miss Xian”.

The message was not long. The three sentences could be read with a quick look.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to close the door like that. I’m very sorry. 【Kneeling】”

He couldn’t help but laugh. Chen Zhuo read through the message again and his lips curved up more and more.

He pulled the bath towel off of his head and sighed to himself.

Chen Zhuo, Chen Zhuo, it’s only been a few days. How can you let your little customer kneel to the Gods so many times?

The man casually put the towel on the back of the log chair and he stopped by the window.

Behind the screen were the City Plaza’s brilliant and vibrant lights.

Muttering to himself for several seconds, Chen Zhuo lifted his hands and pressed on the message box to reply.

——

At the same time, Xian Bei held her cell phone in both hands as she was circling around the room anxiously, going around, and around, and around again.

She was in a competition against a strong opponent——her heart. They were competing to see if her heart’s jumping was faster or if her walking was faster.

She pressed her hand against her lips and her knuckles to her front teeth. She felt a slight pain and it was as if this was the only way to relieve her tension.

Xian Bei’s mental strength was consumed for half an hour as she moved her thumbs to write the less than 20 words text message and press send.

It was a huge decision.

Very quickly, the cell phone that was being worshipped like Buddha, vibrated.

It’s a text message notification!

Xian Bei leaned forward on to the table with relief.

Aaaahhhh.

After rubbing her arm to release her feelings, she tilted her head sideways and held her breath as she clicked on the message. One word. There was only one word.

“Sorry.”

Huh?

Xian Bei was shocked and her eyes widened.

She subconsciously lifted her eyes to look at the upper right corner of her message. The one that said sorry was her. Could it be that her response should have been “It didn’t matter.”……

No, no. Xian Bei immediately denied this thought. He didn’t have to forgive her. It didn’t matter if she was not forgiven……

It really didn’t matter…….

Her cell phone suddenly vibrated again and a startled Xian Bei almost got rid of it.

“Did it scare you?”

What?

Does he mean what happened during the day or right now when he apologized for no reason?

Her back started sweating again and she completely did not understand. Is it too late to ask Yuan Yuan now?

But it seems like she already got off of work.

At the next moment, another text message popped up. He studied her apology and he gave her a clearer answer.

“I’m very sorry. I asked that on purpose because I still want to see you tomorrow. ”

Footnotes

When you play mahjong, you receive a tile and must discard another from your set. Other players can claim the discarded tile for a set or a part of a series. Eventually they can claim a discarded pile to win. A sour heart means she is sad. 阴阳师 (yīnyáng shī) – practitioner of the Yin and Yang with the ability to perform magic and divination. TAT is an emoticon for crying. 小哥哥 (xiǎo gēgē) – form of address used for good-looking boys and does not have any familial ties. 恶趣味 (wù qù wèi) – phrase for someone that likes to watch others make a fool of themselves. It’s a phrase that doesn’t have a negative connotation.