Chapter 163: Are You Serious?

Chang Yu was taken to a restaurant called “Saucy Braised Beef.” The place was fairly spacious, and its decor was quite elegant. It looked rather promising.

“Welcome! This way, please!” The server at the entrance warmly ushered them inside.

“What would you two like to order?” After showing them to their seats, the server handed them a menu.

“We’ll have Set B.” Katerina clearly came here often and knew the menu by heart.

“Certainly! One beef hot-pot set!” The server entered Katerina’s order into the ordering device.

“Would you like anything else?”

“No, that’s enough.”

“And what would you like to drink?”

“Then two cans of cola...” Chang Yu began, only to be interrupted by Katerina.

“Bring us a pot of hot water!” Katerina first signaled with her eyes for Chang Yu to keep quiet, then instructed the server, “We don’t want cola.”

And just like that, before Chang Yu could finish speaking, he swallowed the rest of his words.

After the server left, Katerina quietly told him, “Drink more hot water. It’s good for you!”

Chang Yu: ...

“Cola isn’t good for you. Water is better. It’s very healthy.” After a pause, she added, “It’s good for maintaining your health.”

Chang Yu was completely bewildered. His head buzzed as he thought, Why does “Drink more hot water. It’s good for you” sound so familiar?

Wasn’t that usually something men said to women?

They said that whenever a woman felt unwell, all you had to do was give her plenty of hot water and every illness would magically disappear. Amazing...

Before long, the server brought over a large pot and placed it on the induction cooker in the middle of the table. Then came a large basin of beef and a bowl of sauce.

Chang Yu glanced inside and saw that the bottom of the pot was covered with whole cloves of garlic, mixed with plenty of green peppers, celery, and carrots.

“What kind of way is this to eat it?” Chang Yu wondered aloud.

He was no culinary expert and could not understand why they were leaving the perfectly good beef aside instead of putting it into the pot. Why were they stewing garlic first?

Katerina did not seem inclined to explain, however, so Chang Yu did not press the matter.

He merely waited quietly for her next move.

Surely she did not intend for them to sit at the table, staring at the pot and drooling.

About ten minutes later, Katerina finally lifted the lid to take a look. After confirming that the garlic had been roasted through, she added the beef, which had already been mixed with the sauce.

Only then did Chang Yu realize that the garlic was meant to serve as the seasoning base. They had put it into the pot first so that it could roast and release its juices, lending the beef the fragrance of garlic.

At last, the beef was braised. Chang Yu picked up a piece and put it into his mouth. It was bursting with the fragrance of garlic, tender and smooth, with even a hint of sweet heat mixed in.

It was delicious.

“This is really good.” Chang Yu smacked his lips, savoring the aftertaste.

“Isn’t it?” Katerina unexpectedly revealed a satisfied smile. “I often come here to eat. They make excellent braised beef.”

At that moment, Katerina looked like a child eager to share her happiness with someone else—adorable and utterly guileless.

“How about you feed me again?” Chang Yu shamelessly grinned.

“...”

Katerina lowered her head and pretended not to hear him, continuing to eat the meat in her bowl.

“I wonder what’s wrong with me lately. My chest always feels tight.” Chang Yu rolled his eyes and quickly came up with an idea.

“Maybe I haven’t been in a good mood lately and have become depressed? I’ve heard that depression causes symptoms like mine—constant chest tightness and shortness of breath.”

“If someone could cheer me up right now, perhaps this illness would go away.”

“Your lack of energy could also be caused by kidney deficiency. It isn’t necessarily depression.” Katerina calmly wiped her mouth, appearing completely innocent. “Zhen Youcai was like that for a while.”

Chang Yu: !!!

Good grief! What kind of outrageous remark was that?

Chang Yu felt that he needed to get to know Katerina all over again.

“Actually...” Katerina stared at the meat in the pot and slowly continued, “if you want to cheer yourself up, you don’t necessarily need someone to feed you. For example...”

“For example, I can feed you, too!” Before Katerina could finish, Chang Yu gave her a wicked smile.

He picked up a piece of beef and, while Katerina was still staring blankly, stuffed it straight into her mouth with his chopsticks.

The entire movement was smooth and seamless.

Before Katerina had even understood what was happening, the beef was already in her mouth.

Katerina: !!!∑(?Д?ノノ

She instinctively pressed her lips together and chewed the beef, as if trying to recall what had just happened.

It had all happened too suddenly. Even now, she still could not understand why Chang Yu had inexplicably fed her.

Meanwhile, Chang Yu wore the satisfied smile of a schemer whose plan had succeeded. Then he slowly placed the chopsticks that had been inside Katerina’s mouth into his own.

Under Katerina’s astonished gaze, he stuck out his tongue and licked the tip of the chopsticks wildly, up and down, left and right. Every now and then, he let out a lecherous little chuckle.

He looked exactly like a pervert.

I kissed Katerina!

I finally kissed Katerina!

Chang Yu laughed hysterically inside.

“So it can be done like that?”

Staring blankly at Chang Yu’s deranged behavior, Katerina felt as if she had discovered an entirely new world.

That counted as an indirect kiss, right? she wondered.

It seemed... she did not really dislike it.

But why did he have to make such an ugly gesture?

If he wanted to lick the chopsticks, then he could simply lick them. Why stick out his tongue?

Just as Chang Yu finished licking the chopsticks until they were gleaming with grease and saliva and reached them toward the pot again, Katerina’s first reaction was to lean backward.

The same trick could not work twice, and one could not fall into the same trap twice.

Katerina had learned her lesson. Before Chang Yu could make another move, she moved far away, leaving him not the slightest opportunity to take advantage of.

“How boring...” Chang Yu sighed in disappointment, feeling as though he had missed out on a fortune.

He had been planning to feed her several more times, but from the wary look in her eyes, he knew that Katerina was now on guard.

If he kept fooling around, he might truly anger the beauty sitting before him.

And so, during the rest of lunch, Chang Yu behaved impeccably. He made no further mischief and finished the meal in an entirely ordinary manner.

Katerina, who had remained tense for more than an hour in anticipation of another surprise attack, eventually realized that all her precautions had been unnecessary.

After lunch, Katerina suggested that they go sing at a karaoke booth.

The suggestion made the fearless Chang Yu shudder violently.

The miserable memory of secretly hiding outside a karaoke booth and listening to Katerina sing still remained painfully vivid. The scene had been truly indescribable.

To be fair, Katerina’s singing was terrifying.

Even through the soundproof glass enclosure, Chang Yu had felt as though her demonic voice had penetrated the glass from every direction and bored straight into his skull, stabbing until his head throbbed.

No one knew how he had endured the half hour he spent hiding outside that karaoke booth. He only knew that ever since then, he had developed a psychological aversion to singing that was difficult to describe.

Even that night after he returned home, Katerina’s uniquely off-key, unbearable singing continued to echo through his mind. He barely slept.

“Do we really have to go sing?” Chang Yu gazed pitifully at Katerina, hoping that his display of suffering would persuade her to change her mind.

“Don’t you like singing?” Katerina still did not realize that Chang Yu had already placed her on his personal karaoke blacklist.

“Yes, yes, I do!” Chang Yu nodded furiously, like a woodpecker. “I’m a little tone-deaf, and I don’t sing very well. It makes me feel inferior.”

“Don’t be afraid.” Katerina encouraged him with a reassuring look. “I understand your situation. I used to sing badly too.”

“But after practicing more, I became a good singer. Someone like you just needs more practice. Once you practice enough, you’ll become confident. I’m like that now—I sing beautifully.”

Chang Yu was utterly despairing.

With singing like yours, you call that beautiful? he thought. I’d say it’s deadly!

How confident did she have to be to say something like that?

He could not even imagine what she must have sounded like before.

If she considered her current singing ability excellent, just how awful had she been in the past?

Zhen Youcai, having a sister like this must have been hard on you.

The fact that you made it to adulthood is nothing short of a miracle.

“Forget it. I really don’t want to go.” Chang Yu felt there was still a chance to save himself, so he decided to make one last attempt.

“That won’t do.” Katerina immediately grew anxious. “The main reason I brought you here was so that we could sing.”

“You said you’ve been feeling depressed lately, didn’t you? Singing is specifically meant to treat depression. If you don’t sing, how are you going to get better?”

Singing could treat depression?

Chang Yu was sure Katerina was lying to him.

With a voice as soul-searing as hers, would it not be more accurate to say that she caused depression?

“From the perspective of health cultivation, the reason a person becomes depressed is that the gloomy energy inside their body cannot be released,” she explained.

“At times like that, we need to use artificial means to expel it. Shouting and screaming have always been the best ways to release gloomy energy.”

“Many people, when they are unhappy, choose to stand on a cliff and shout at the top of their lungs.”

“After they finish shouting, they find that their mood has improved and that life is once again full of hope. That is the principle.”

“Singing works the same way. When you loudly belt out a song, you are actually expelling your gloomy energy.”

“High notes are especially relieving. I’ll help you choose several songs with high notes in a moment.”

“I’m finished!” Chang Yu clutched his forehead in agony. “I only claimed to be depressed because I wanted to trick Katerina. Now I’ve managed to trick myself as well.”

And what was worse...

If he had not misheard, Katerina had just said that she wanted to sing high notes.

Was she planning to send him straight to the afterlife?

Katerina dragged Chang Yu directly toward the karaoke booth, leaving him no chance to refuse. With an expression of complete despair, Chang Yu could only let himself be hauled toward the execution ground.

The two of them entered the booth, one after the other. Many male passersby who did not understand the situation looked at Chang Yu with envy and jealousy.

They could not understand why a man with such a beautiful girlfriend accompanying him to karaoke would wear an expression that clearly said, I’m going to die, I’m going to die.

Was this the legendary art of humblebragging?

They understood now. They absolutely understood.

Katerina pulled the green curtain shut from inside, and the tiny karaoke booth became a miniature paradise.

It blocked the eyes of the outside world and shut out the sounds beyond. Everything inside was part of an entirely independent space.

Chang Yu sat upright on a tall stool, his hands stiffly resting on his thighs as his heart pounded nervously.

The booth was very small. There was barely enough room for two people to sit shoulder to shoulder, leaving them extremely close.

How close were they?

Close enough that Katerina’s soft, slightly trembling breaths brushed against Chang Yu’s face—warm and moist.

A faint fragrance drifted into his nostrils, carrying a delicate, elusive scent that was cool and tranquil.

It was the perfume Katerina wore. Chang Yu could not identify the brand.

Having never been in a relationship, he possessed no talent for recognizing women by their fragrance. He only knew that the perfume smelled pleasant, fresh, and elegant.

It must have been a fine and famous perfume, he thought.

A trace of searing warmth traveled from the place where their shoulders touched, passing through their clothes and reaching straight into his heart.

It was Katerina’s distinctive warmth—so hot that it was intoxicating, and so intoxicating that it made him dizzy.

At that moment, Chang Yu’s heart began to itch unbearably.