Give Me Another Smile

Tang Yu walked home with several plastic bags of ingredients. The familiar streets she crossed had hardly changed since she moved into the area. The small house she rented with Yin Zhao-an for the convenience of attending university also had not changed. The only thing that did change were the tenants in the building. Some had come, and some had gone. However, it didn't really matter as she hardly knew any of these people.

Tang Yu paused when she walked past the door that hadn't been opened for a very long time. A thick layer of dust had collected on top of the door handle. Ever since the premeditated explosion that took place here a few years back, no new tenant had moved into this house.

The former tenant of this house was a female student. The girl owned a ragdoll, but the feline disappeared at some point, and taking its place was another girl. From the conversations Tang Yu had with the female student, the other party vaguely told her that her friend was sensitive to cat hair.

When Tang Yu passed by this house back then, she could occasionally hear strange sounds that stirred one's imaginations coming through the door. Yet, the two people inside were clearly both female…

Tang Yu's face warmed up slightly when she recalled this memory. With reddened ears and hidden emotions, she turned around and opened the door to her house.

Yin Zhao-an's door remained tightly shut, the faint clicking sounds coming through the door indicating that she was still busy with her game.

After letting out a disappointed sigh, Tang Yu washed the carp she bought and put the pieces of fish into a white porcelain jar filled with water. Then, she simmered the fish over a small flame, set an alarm, and left the kitchen.

…

There was a stack of printouts sitting on her bedroom desk. Tang Yu grabbed the printouts and plopped herself down on the bed. Then, she turned to the bookmarked page and began whispering quietly.

"Let me go. Your kingdom has never had a place for me," a low and desolate voice rang out in the silent bedroom, the voice carrying feelings of sadness mixed with a strong disappointment.

After a few seconds of silence, the voice sounded once again, "No need. I, Ji Ruxue, wish your kingdom eternal stability, and you, eternal longevity and fortune. May we never meet in the next life."

The calm voice carried hints of laughter. It was a laughter of liberation, indicating that the speaker had finally freed herself from the prison made of sweet romantic words.

Tang Yu exited the parting scene and blinked her dry eyes. Then, she turned to the last page of the script.

This was the script for a role in an ancient romance radio drama she had accepted. The story was about a down-and-out prince who was rescued by a songstress, and it began with the two supporting and loving each other. Then, when the prince took the throne, he suddenly began casting suspicion on the songstress. Emperors of ancient times were prone to suspicion, so it wasn't all that surprising for such a development to take place.

Even so, Tang Yu couldn't help but feel uneasy when reading about this part. The songstress was such a gentle woman, yet the emperor had the gall to say words such as "You are just a lowly courtesan" to the songstress.

If the songstress is such a "lowly courtesan," maybe she should have just left you to die out on the street that day? She would have been much better off relying on her skills and making a living for herself! Thankfully, she made the right decision and left you in the end! Die in regret, you bastard!

Tang Yu climbed out of her bed indignantly and got ready to record her part. After wetting her throat with some water, she promptly adjusted her emotions and immersed herself into her role.

…

The sun outside gradually descended, and the room's illumination began to dim. After pressing the "End" to conclude her recording, Tang Yu listened carefully to her recording once, and her expression gradually loosened. Then, she compressed the audio file and dragged it into a chat window.

Sweet Sugar: I'm done recording the dry sound. See if there are any problems with it. Contact me anytime if you need me to rerecord it. Thank you for your hard work!

Tinker Bell: Received! Thanks for your hard work, Lord! ♡

Sweet Sugar: ♡~

Tang Yu moved her stiff neck and stretched her limbs as she finally concluded her task. However, she couldn't help but get the feeling that she had forgotten something…

Oh, no! The fish soup!

Tang Yu dashed out of her room and into the kitchen. Then, she hurriedly turned off the stove and opened the porcelain jar's lid, only to let go of it immediately as she watched blisters forming on her fingertips at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Tang Yu frowned and rinsed her fingers under a running faucet. However, when she noticed that the pain wasn't going away, she simply ignored it and removed the jar lid with a wet rag.

Sure enough…

Tang Yu sighed when she saw that the large jar only had one person's worth of soup left in it. The soup had been boiled down so much that it had become cloudy white and exuded a rich fishy fragrance. It even smelled a little sweet.

…

The door to Yin Zhao-an's room remained shut. Tang Yu covered her burned fingertips with her sleeve and gently opened the door.

Yin Zhao-an still had her headset on. While glaring at the boss monster on the screen, she swiftly tapped away at the keyboard and yelled, "Healers, guard the circle! I'll draw aggro! Mages, don't attack first!"

Tang Yu couldn't understand what Yin Zhao-an was saying. While carrying the bowl of fish soup, she walked up to Yin Zhao-an and looked at the latter quietly. Yin Zhao-an had all of her attention focused on her game, and she didn't even notice Tang Yu entering the room.

The next moment, something seemingly happened as Yin Zhao-an sternly cursed, "You motherfucker! Didn't I call for mages to not attack?! Why are you in a raid if you can't listen to commands?!"

Tang Yu was given a scare by Yin Zhao-an's sudden rage, her body shuddering and causing her to lose her grip over the bowl of fish soup momentarily. As a result, she spilled the warm fish soup all over Yin Zhao-an's clothes, the scene suddenly turning chaotic.