In Virtual Reality 65☆ The Gap between Reality (2/3)

"Release me! Release my elbow!" The restrained young man shouted loudly, "Let go of my elbow!"

Xu Jin Yi retorted, "Release you? So that you can continue to touch young girls?"

The bystanders turned their heads, and even the boarding students who were initially running away slowed down to observe. As for the high school girl previously caught by the young man, she had long since disappeared.

"It's a misunderstanding, really!" The young man's face turned red as he pleaded in a low voice, "Sister, Miss, it's genuinely a misunderstanding! Let's talk it out. My elbow really can't take it anymore!"

As if in response to his words, a crisp sound emanated from the young man's elbow. Xu Jin Yi instinctively reduced her strength.

Sensing the female warrior's hesitation behind him, the young man quickly explained, "I just opened a skewer shop nearby. It's a new establishment, and I merely wanted to survey what the students prefer to eat!"

A skewer shop?

Xu Jin Yi was momentarily taken aback and surveyed the area. Indeed, there was a shop under renovation not far away, and the high place where the store sign should have been was still blank.

"Furthermore, why would I act inappropriately in this situation if I had wicked intentions?" The young man almost squatted and begged, "Could you release me?"

Xu Jin Yi frowned and let him go. As soon as she released him, the man sighed and cautiously straightened his elbow as if Xu Jin Yi had broken it.

She knew how much strength she had exerted, and fracturing an adult's elbow was impossible. Rather, this young man was too fragile... he needed to consume more calcium. However, upon closer inspection, he appeared pale and weak.

The bystanders saw nothing serious going on and gradually resumed their own paths.

The young man rubbed his elbow and turned around, "Miss..."

He had braced himself for a confrontation with a tall and sturdy female warrior, but upon turning around, he was met with a sweet-faced girl who looked up at him with a serious expression and blinked her eyes.

The young man stood there, silent.

As the saying goes, looks can be deceiving. He struggled to suppress a phrase that was quintessentially Chinese. "Good day, I'm Ye Du." The young man took a cautious step back, revealing a tentative smile to Xu Jin Yi. Despite his height of one meter and eighty centimetres, he managed to exude a presence that was only one meter and two centimetres tall.

Xu Jin Yi remained silent for a moment. "Hello, I'm Xu Jin Yi."

After exchanging pleasantries, an awkward silence descended upon them. As the minutes ticked by and the crowds thinned out, Ye Du tentatively suggested, "Shall we go to my shop and take a seat?"

**

The two of them stood inside the unfinished shopfront of the fried skewer shop. Ye Du, the owner, scanned the area before hurrying inside to retrieve two red plastic high stools from a pile of construction materials.

Xu Jin Yi hesitated to speak, but ultimately, she couldn't avoid it and was carefully invited inside. She even suspected that her previous actions had psychologically impacted Ye Du.

Ye Du took some tissues and wiped the plastic stool several times, making it gleam in the reflected light. Xu Jin Yi sat down on it in a complex mood, and she saw Ye Du seated nonchalantly on the dusty high stool.

Although the shop was not yet completely decorated, he was on their own ground. Ye Du seemed much more relaxed; when he wasn't speaking, he looked like a youthful and handsome man. However, when he said this, all of the handsome filters disappeared.

"I'm Ye Du," he reintroduced himself, his rare deep amber eyes locking onto Xu Jin Yi's, "I'm 25 years old and the owner of this... um, still unfinished fried skewer shop."

Construction materials were strewn about the shop, indicating that Ye Du had been struggling with its decoration.

"Just now," Xu Jin Yi hesitated, "I saw you searching for someone in the crowd. It appears the girl wasn't someone you just randomly plucked from the crowd, was she?"

Ye Du was a little taken aback. "How long had you been watching me?" He smiled weakly, "Well, yes, I was looking for her."

"But let me make it clear first, I don't know her," Ye Du quickly waved his hands to demonstrate his innocence, "And I'm not a pervert! I've been here for a few days. Isn't high school starting soon? I came here to investigate the future market environment. As for that girl..."

The young man lowered his voice and cautiously whispered to Xu Jin Yi, "She's an old customer around here. She must know the nearby fried food market!"

Xu Jin Yi raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. "Speak properly," she chided.

How did a normal conversation turn into an underground meeting because of you?

Undeterred, Ye Du blinked, revealing a bright smile, and shifted away. "This is a trade secret!" he protested.

Xu Jin Yi remained expressionless. "Oh. But even if what you said is true, it's not appropriate to pull the arm of a strange underage girl on the street, right?"

"I'll reflect on it." Ye Du admitted his mistake straightforwardly. The young man pursed his lips and clasped his hands in a gesture of pleading. "I won't do it again next time!"

Xu Jin Yi felt a bit uneasy. She frowned and shifted her sitting position. "I'm not the one you should apologize to."

"Then next time," Ye Du pondered for a moment, stretched out a finger, and made a pained expression of giving up something precious, "I'll apologize to that girl when I meet her again and give her a corn dog as a gift!"

Xu Jin Yi stared at him incredulously.

Ye Du poked his head out. "Why are you not saying anything?" he asked.

"I just have nothing to say," Xu Jin Yi sighed. She would be more lively around quiet people, but for someone like Ye Du, who was so familiar with strangers, she didn't know how to approach him. "Since the misunderstanding is resolved, I'll leave first."

"Hey! Wait!" Ye Du hastily reached out to stop her. Seeing Xu Jin Yi's puzzled expression, he showed his familiar and bright smile again.

"I just introduced myself earlier," he pointed to himself and then to Xu Jin Yi, "But you haven't yet, right?"

"Well, we can say we've met through this misunderstanding?" Ye Du smiled, "Can we be friends?"

Xu Jin Yi raised an eyebrow, sceptical. Friends who break each other's arms?

Noting the other person's gaze unconsciously flicker to his arm, Ye Du blinked and presented a tearful expression, pitifully shaking his weak arm. "Can you aid me out of kindness? I've just arrived here. Although I want to launch a skewer shop, I lack good ideas," Ye Du said despondently. "I had hoped to find a friend for advice, but as you can see, approaching strangers will make them think I'm a weirdo!"

After speaking, he looked at Xu Jin Yi with pitiful eyes and pleaded, "Can you assist me? I'll treat you to a corn dog!"

...Is he being cute? Is he trying to be cute!

Xu Jin Yi felt a bit creeped out.

However, after all, Ye Du didn't seem to have any malice except for the misunderstanding caused by his ignorance of the circumstances. Besides, she wasn't familiar with Summit's Second Gate High School. If she recklessly went there to investigate Fang Xiao Hong, it seemed unlikely to yield any results. But if Ye Du opened a kebab shop here in the future, she might learn something from the students of Summit's Second Gate High School.

With these thoughts in mind, Xu Jin Yi's expression softened, and she sat back on the high stool. Seeing her move, Ye Du became very delighted, and his eyes brightened.

"My name is Xu Jin Yi," Xu Jin Yi introduced herself again and added, "I'm 20 years old and still a student," recalling what Ye Du had mentioned earlier.

"Oh! A university student on holiday!" Ye Du beamed. "But I graduated long ago and am preparing to open a skewer shop! However, the shop's supplies haven't been stocked yet, so the corn dog I promised you may have to wait a day or two," he said bashfully. "But if you come back in the future, we will certainly have corn dogs in the shop!"

Xu Jin Yi couldn't resist teasing, "What kind of fixation do you have with corn dogs..."

'You can't seem to say anything without mentioning corn dogs. Are you a fanatic follower of corn dogs?'

After receiving her criticism, Ye Du didn't feel embarrassed but nodded solemnly. "Well, one could say it's an obsession," he said seriously. This time, he didn't flash his dazzling smile but just spoke plainly, "When I was a child, I struck a deal with an uncle that I would open a skewer shop in the future and treat him to corn dogs every day."

...A deal?

Xu Jin Yi was taken aback for a moment.

"I also happen to relish them," Ye Du said with a grin, his throat gurgling and his eyes brimming with yearning. "Especially with cumin chilli sauce! The taste is simply divine when it's half starch!"

Xu Jin Yi: "..."

This guy is beyond help.

"What about you?" The young man tilted his head and looked at her inquisitively, batting his eyelids. "You mentioned seeing my search for someone, so you must have been observing me for quite some time, right?" Ye Du raised his eyebrows suddenly, displaying a proud yet restrained expression. He clenched his right fist and pretended to cough: "Ahem, could it be that my handsome appearance caught your eye in the crowd at first sight?"

Xu Jin Yi: "You are probably the only person in history who can be so shameless."

Ye Du: "..."

Although it was a criticism, Ye Du was genuinely handsome. He wasn't a delicate young man but exuded a sunny and pure temperament.

In essence, he was a bit silly.

"Silly might be a bit much!" Ye Du muttered grumpily but then suddenly questioned himself and rubbed his chin. "Am I genuinely that silly?"

Xu Jin Yi was even more taken aback than he was. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Well, no," Ye Du glanced at her, speaking weakly. "But your thoughts are plastered all over your face."

Is that so?

Xu Jin Yi touched her face.

Unless she made a conscious effort, she rarely displayed her emotions.

"I'm here to look for someone," Xu Jin Yi said after hesitating. "I'm searching for a high school girl named 'Fang Xiao Hong'."

——— Translators Notes ———

Ye Du 叶渡

Ye = leaf / page / lobe / (historical) period / classifier for small boats

Du = to cross / to pass through / to ferry