Chapter 17 — Wronged, Oh So Wronged
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Oh, is that so?" Shen Yushu, of course, believed not a word of it, and she fixed Wei Zhao with a suspicious look.
"Of course it's true..." Wei Zhao's face was the very picture of wounded innocence — and, in fairness, what he said was more or less the truth.
"Hmph." Shen Yushu gave a cold snort. She had no wish to keep wrangling with Wei Zhao over the matter, and reached for the set-top box remote on the coffee table, meaning to change the channel — but then her gaze caught on a crumpled wad of tissue lying there. It had not been balled up tightly, and through its folds something thick and sticky could faintly be seen glistening within...
"What is that?" Shen Yushu's face went green at once, and her very voice began to tremble. "Well, well, Wei Zhao! So you come to Yaoyao's home, watch dirty videos on the television, and do something this filthy on top of it..."
"What did I do?" Wei Zhao started, and, at a complete loss, followed Shen Yushu's gaze toward the coffee table. The moment he saw the wad of tissue he himself had used, the truth burst upon him. Damn it all — don't tell me his luck was really this rotten?
Wei Zhao knew perfectly well that Shen Yushu had jumped to the wrong conclusion: a wad of tissue, something sticky smeared inside it, set beside the dirty video he had been watching not long before — anyone would be bound to suspect the worst... How wronged he felt! What kind of nonsense was this?
"Yushu... don't get any funny ideas. I've only just come north, and the climate here doesn't agree with me — I've caught a cold. That's just the tissue I blew my nose in. If you don't believe me, look for yourself..." With that, Wei Zhao picked the wad of tissue up off the coffee table and began unfolding it, meaning to let Shen Yushu have a good, close look.
"Take it away!" Shen Yushu shrieked. "I am not looking at anything that disgusting. Wei Zhao, you utter scoundrel!"
Wei Zhao felt awkward, but there was nothing to be done; Shen Yushu would not believe him, and he could hardly force her to look, could he? Sulkily he drew the tissue back. "Believe it or not, I really wasn't..."
Shen Yushu's eyes rolled, and all at once a scheme took shape. "I've changed my mind. I don't want instant noodles after all. Go and cook me a proper meal."
"Eh?" Wei Zhao blinked, nonplussed. "Why?"
"Heh heh — because I've got something on you now. If you don't go, I'll tell Uncle Chu that you... you were doing that filthy thing in front of the television at home, and that you scared me and Yaoyao half to death." And Shen Yushu grinned a sly, wicked little grin.
A few black lines of exasperation instantly sprang up across Wei Zhao's forehead. Wronged! So wronged! But where on earth was he to plead his case? If the old man ever heard of this, his life would be ruined for good.
Wei Zhao drew a couple of deep breaths and said through gritted teeth, "All right — you're ruthless."
"Ruthless? Not half so ruthless as you. You're the one who could do something so outrageous." Shen Yushu did not yield an inch.
Wei Zhao was rather lost for words. Conceded defeat though he had, he could not resist a little revenge of his own. "And yet — would you dare eat a meal cooked by these hands?"
"Oh, no problem at all. Books say that stuff is pure protein — eating it is good for the complexion, you know." Shen Yushu replied with perfect nonchalance.
This time Wei Zhao was well and truly speechless. This little devil, Shen Yushu, was far harder to deal with than Gu Mengyao; at worst Gu Mengyao simply disliked him, whereas this girl was forever inventing new ways to torment him.
And yet what truly astonished Wei Zhao was how Shen Yushu seemed suddenly a different person from moments before. Only just now she had cried "disgusting" and ordered him to take the tissue away; now she was holding forth on its beauty benefits...
"What would you like to eat?" Wei Zhao asked.