WS - Chapter 161
Chapter 161
Over the past few days, it had looked as though Song Shiyue was constantly unconscious, always in a deep sleep — so much sleep it practically overflowed. But being conscious and awake twenty-four hours a day, not needing sleep at all — that was a flavor only Song Shiyue herself truly knew.
A body that had lost connection. A body that had lost its strength. A body that hadn't moved properly in a long while. Yesterday she had caught rabbits, slaughtered rabbits, cooked rabbits, and nearly finished building a wheelbarrow. After her body regained its strength, moving freely again felt truly, unspeakably wonderful.
Busy and comfortable during the day, she slept soundly at night.
Aside from the two times the blanket knocked away her drowsiness at the very start, and that brief, mistaken fuss about not being able to breathe later on, Song Shiyue slept genuinely well that night.
In fact, she slept too well. In the early morning as she was drifting in and out, she heard Yu Nianbing next to her stirring to get up. Song Shiyue merely shifted a little with her eyes closed, making some space for Yu Nianbing to get out, and then fell back asleep.
She slept all the way until the sky was bright and the aroma of breakfast drifted in from outside.
Mm... to be precise, it was the smell of boiled dandelion.
When Song Shiyue emerged from the tent, she looked at the small pot on the fire, sniffed the smell of boiling dandelion in the air, and felt a little embarrassed.
"Sorry, I woke up late. I'll go slaughter..." Song Shiyue walked up to the fire. She had just begun speaking when Yu Nianbing, who was tending the fire, looked up. The words took a loop around her tongue, and when they came out again, they had unconsciously softened with extra tact. "...prepare... I'll go prepare a couple of rabbits real quick."
"Your body has only just started getting better — you should sleep more. This dandelion soup actually has quite a flavor. Today I also chopped some jerky bits in." Ning Chuyang, holding a bowl and about to ladle soup, shot Song Shiyue a meaningful look. "Come have some quick, it's really good."
"Dandelion still has some medicinal properties, eating it continuously isn't great. Since we have the thermal storage box anyway, we can put this pot in for now, I..." Every word Song Shiyue spoke was the honest truth. Everyone's bodies were a little depleted right now, there were still plenty of rabbits, eating more rabbit would both nourish them and lighten the load for the road ahead.
But halfway through, Song Shiyue found it hard to keep going.
What could she do... If she hadn't quite caught Ning Chuyang's hint before, this time Ning Chuyang was tilting her eyes so hard towards where Yu Nianbing stood behind her that her expression was nearly twisted. If Song Shiyue still couldn't tell something was off, she'd basically be an idiot.
Song Shiyue glanced at Yu Nianbing, who was silently breaking thin firewood and feeding it into the flames with her head lowered.
Oh...
Dandelion...
Yu Nianbing...
"Teacher Yu made this soup?" Song Shiyue thought she'd grasped the essence of Ning Chuyang's expression and, watching Ning Chuyang's mouth already twitching, asked.
Ning Chuyang rolled her eyes at Song Shiyue and immediately went indifferent.
Hmph, some people are single for a reason. All that hinting for nothing.
Song Shiyue: "..."
If Yu Nianbing had made the soup, then Song Shiyue truly regretted her earlier words.
What she'd said was true, but it seemed like ever since they finished eating the rabbits yesterday, Yu Nianbing's mood hadn't been great. Though last night, after the breathing mix-up was sorted out, Yu Nianbing hadn't said anything and went to sleep fine... but now, looking...
Without Ning Chuyang's hints, Song Shiyue stole several glances at Yu Nianbing on her own.
She didn't know why, but instincts honed through too many crises made Song Shiyue quickly reverse her entire stance on this pot of soup.
She drank and drank.
Bowl after bowl.
Open praise, implied praise, a running stream of sweet talk, compliment after compliment.
What medicinal properties, what not good to eat continuously, what put it away for now — Song Shiyue smacked her own face so hard the slaps rang out, not the least bit hesitant.
How bad dandelion soup tasted, no one else needed to say — Yu Nianbing knew it deeply from personal experience.
And the truth was, precisely because Song Shiyue hadn't gotten up and none of the remaining people had the guts to slaughter a rabbit, breakfast ended up being this.
Yu Nianbing hadn't actually been angry about Song Shiyue saying to skip the dandelion soup and go slaughter a rabbit instead.
Now seeing Song Shiyue seemingly misunderstanding, acting cute and trying so hard to please, even the anger that had been caused by other matters could only gradually fade away.
Once Song Shiyue got a bit of a pleasant expression from Yu Nianbing, she worked even harder, praising everything from the flower stems to the flower buds, from the plant to the broth, and then backwards again.
Saying dandelion soup was delicious — utterly fake.
And yet the way Song Shiyue said it somehow carried a strange ring of truth.
Never mind Yu Nianbing, the target of the praise.
The other three holding their bowls nearby were practically getting confused listening to her.
Is it really that delicious?
Could it be they weren't drinking from the same pot!
Ning Chuyang was about to look on with worship.
Some people might be dense, but their mouths were truly honeyed. If this weren't the wilds, where everyone knew exactly what everyone else had gotten, Ning Chuyang would've thought Song Shiyue downed two catties of honey before stepping out of the tent.
To others' ears, it was a thick-skinned performance turning lies into blossoms, but for Song Shiyue herself, there was actually a bit of sincerity mixed in.
No need to overthink it. She just needed to remember the hardest days of the apocalypse, what kind of things she'd eaten then, and take another sip from her bowl. Song Shiyue felt she could keep praising for another five hundred years!
It was as if Song Shiyue's Ren and Du meridians had just been opened. Her attitude towards the dandelion soup took a sharp U-turn and showed no sign of stopping.
Yu Nianbing, however, was starting to find it a bit too much.
This person, when she started praising, was sweet enough to kill. The false was being made true, and hearing it made Yu Nianbing's heart...
flutter like a little deer.
What kind of person could taste bitterness and speak of sweetness...
What kind of person was she in her heart, to be able to turn bitter into sweet...
Yu Nianbing was thinking too much. Those feelings in her heart that she could barely suppress anyway were starting to stir.
This wasn't the time.
And it wasn't the right thing.
So after letting the little deer crash around for a while, although she was a bit reluctant to let go of this special feeling, Yu Nianbing rationally called a halt.
"Alright, enough. It's just one pot of soup. Keep praising, and I'll make you eat all the remaining dandelion. Three meals a day." Yu Nianbing glanced at Song Shiyue with feigned exasperation, but the softening of her brows and eyes was obvious.
"I'll eat it, even five meals a day. Soup made by Teacher Yu — people outside couldn't drink it even if they wanted to. This dandelion has completely absorbed the fragrance of the jerky. Eating it, it really isn't meat, but it's better than meat..." Song Shiyue's mouth couldn't brake, and paired with that face full of sincerity, it nearly made Yu Nianbing laugh from anger.
"That's it. From now on, the word 'soup' is forbidden." Smiling a little, Yu Nianbing stretched out a foot and kicked the edge of Song Shiyue's shoe.
Watching Yu Nianbing's mood now about the same as when they ate the rabbits yesterday, Song Shiyue knew enough to quit while she was ahead. So she smiled and said no more, just silently downing big mouthfuls of soup to demonstrate her loyalty.
What kind of thick-skinned, self-face-slapping, calling-bitter-sweet, keeping words and actions in perfect alignment — don't say anything more, just praise, just sincerely praise... using words that never repeat!
Yu Nianbing went from a cold expression, silently doing her own thing, to now barely able to hide the smile on her face — in just this short span of time.
Only two or three bowls of soup's worth of time, and she could coax someone to this point...
Ning Chuyang, who had been sitting on the side watching the show until her bowl of soup went cold without finishing it, felt like kneeling.
So here was the question... This character Song Shiyue, her mouth was sweet enough, but did she even know why Yu Nianbing had cheered up?
A new doubt arose in Ning Chuyang's heart, and for a moment she was so curious it scratched at her heart and lungs.
Over on StarNet, the viewers who had been witnessing Song Shiyue's whole "boil water" operation from start to finish were likewise full of both admiration and confusion.
"Really... the first time I realized that Song Shiyue's mouth, besides being really good at eating, is also really good at talking."
"Before, just working with her head down, that mouth of hers was really wasted. She could probably talk the dead back to life..."
"Hahaha, ignoring everything, head down just praising — this is the first time I've seen this technique. So here's the question: Song Shiyue suddenly praising Yu Nianbing like this, is it, hm hm hm, rubbing hands~~~"
"Dandelion really is awful. A couple days ago when they brought some back, I went out to find some and try it — oh my god, it nearly killed me. Song Shiyue is just blowing smoke with her eyes closed, no draft required..."
"Although, I think Yu Nianbing's cooking skills must be pretty good, I also believe no normal human can possibly make such a terrible ingredient taste delicious. At least not as delicious as Song Shiyue says!"
"My Sister Song, textbook-level flirt maneuver. To make Yu Nianbing happy she'll say anything. Last night I was still saying she's thick-headed and clueless — my face really hurts a bit now."
"Song Shiyue's praise was wholehearted and sincere, and Yu Nianbing seems to have accepted it. But... I'm still standing by Little Ice Block one-sided love ing..."
"Hahaha, ing+1"
"Feels like Song Shiyue is just kind-hearted, didn't want to see Yu Nianbing looking unhappy, so she started clowning around..."
"Swan... ah... if this isn't love... in two or three bowls of soup's time, my Little Ice Block has boiled over into Little Boiling Water! Song Shiyue! Do you have a heart!"
"Song Shiyue! You have no heart!"
"Hahaha, so 'do you' has just turned straight into 'you don't have'..."
"Really heartbroken for our Little Hot Water. She's boiled over, and the firewood underneath still doesn't seem to know what's going on..."
"Hearing this really stings. Want to go smack Song Shiyue's skull!"
...
Just as StarNet viewers were lining up wanting to smack Song Shiyue's skull, on Wilderness Planet, Song Shiyue had demolished five bowls of soup and was scraping the bottom of the pot. She suddenly looked at Yu Nianbing and asked: "Teacher Yu, did you get up a bit too early today to make breakfast? Look, the dark circles under your eyes, they're a bit dark. You don't seem to have gotten enough sleep."
Yu Nianbing: "..."
The smile that Song Shiyue had spent so long coaxing out — gone just like that.
Seeing the signs turn bad, Song Shiyue hurriedly waved her hands: "I just said breakfast, I didn't mention the word 'soup'!"
Yu Nianbing: "..."
How could she stop being happy so quickly?
This question, Song Shiyue was never going to figure out.
But the StarNet viewers who had stayed up all night watching the livestream understood.
"Hahaha, last night during the mix-up, Yu Nianbing's face was written all over with 'if I ever care about whether Song Shiyue can breathe again, I'm a pig.'"
"And then afterward, she was a pig all night... hahaha..."
"And today she even has to be asked why she's been a pig..."
...
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