OVTTGTBE Chapter 52

Apron and Milk Tea

“Where’s Bai Yao?”

Liu Yucheng returned to the dorm, carrying two bags of takeout.

“He’s already resting.”

Li Jinyang took off his headphones and called out, “Little Liu, come with me for a sec. I need to talk to you about something.”

He grabbed a hot water bottle in one hand and tugged Liu Yucheng along, dragging him to the hot water dispenser at the end of the dorm hallway.

“What is it?” Liu Yucheng asked absentmindedly.

“Bai Yao is already really annoyed, so don’t bother him tonight,” Li Jinyang replied.

“Did he tell you everything?”

“I saw it during the live stream, some well-dressed guy came to warn you…”

Li Jinyang coughed twice, then continued, “Probably just a few minutes before you got back, he told us he misjudged someone.”

Seeing Liu Yucheng lower his eyes in an instant and remain silent, Li Jinyang knew he’d guessed right. Bai Yao went straight to washing up and going to bed as soon as he got back to the dorm, probably because Liu Yucheng had pissed him off.

“So, what happened between you two? Can you tell me about it?”

Li Jinyang asked him, “There are some things he might not listen to if you say them. But Tao Lin, Zhang Yifang, and I have been living in the same dorm with Bai Yao since military training. If we try to persuade him, he’ll listen to at least some of it.”

“Thanks for your good intentions, but… there’s no need to persuade him.”

Liu Yucheng said quietly, “It’s just that I didn’t express myself clearly before.”

“Is it that you didn’t express yourself clearly, or that what you said didn’t match what Bai Yao wanted to hear? Why don’t you tell me again, and let an outsider like me help you judge?”

…

Li Jinyang and Liu Yucheng chatted outside for over twenty minutes. Bai Yao didn’t know what they were talking about, but he wasn’t planning on talking to Liu Yucheng tonight anyway.

He hadn’t eaten dinner, but he really didn’t have much of an appetite.

Moving back to the dorm was his own idea; a part of the reason things had gotten so bad with his mom, and why she’d cut off his financial support, was because Bai Yao was feeling a bit annoyed—she used to be too lazy to care about the big and small things.

Now, when it came to these trivial matters, she suddenly had a whim to get involved.

Although things weren’t entirely because of Liu Yucheng, he was at least the fuse.

Bai Yao felt like he’d really been blind.

If he could really rely on his own abilities to overcome his mom’s difficulties, and manage to earn money to support himself, then was Liu Yucheng worth him doing this for? Was he worth him choosing so firmly?

After all, at this most testing moment of their relationship, Liu Yucheng hadn’t chosen him firmly, and had seemed hesitant.

The dorm was unusually quiet that night. After lying down, Liu Yucheng didn’t climb onto Bai Yao’s bed like he had the day before.

That saved Bai Yao the energy of kicking him off.

The next morning, Bai Yao didn’t go back to the dorm after class, but instead went to a milk tea shop near the school that was hiring.

The interview went smoothly, and the shop manager greatly appreciated Bai Yao.

But because this shop was a popular internet shop, the manager required him to wear a black apron or a black close-fitting vest when working, like the other male staff, to show off his figure, in addition to wearing a hat and black mask.

Bai Yao usually managed his body hair very well, so he generously chose the apron.

This apron only exposed the muscles on his shoulders and arms besides his back. He happened to have trained these two areas well, and the rest was covered tightly by the apron, so Bai Yao accepted the job, at an hourly wage of 15 yuan. He would start with a four-hour trial shift this afternoon.

Bai Yao found a cheap restaurant on a nearby street, had a meal, changed into the apron, and officially began his first part-time job.

Including Bai Yao, there were three employees currently working at the shop. The other two were also students from their school, one a sophomore surnamed Chen, who had been working here for over two months; the other a junior surnamed Yang, who had been working here since the second half of last year.

Both of them had ridiculously exaggerated muscles. Bai Yao was someone who didn’t gain weight easily, and although he kept exercising, he could only have a thin layer of muscle. Seeing their arms, he couldn’t help but feel envious.

“Today, I’ll teach you the basics first.”

Senior Yang pointed to a row of glass jars, “This is strawberry flavor, this is banana, mango… The names are all labeled on the jars, so it’s easy to distinguish. But what’s inside here, these, you’ll have to remember yourself, but you should be able to tell if you drink milk tea often, right? This is tapioca pearls, coconut jelly, this is strawberry popping boba, grape popping boba…”

“Oh, a customer is here.”

Although he was wearing a mask, Senior Chen’s tone was full of smiles, “Hello there, what would you like to drink today?”

“Wow, your shop has a new guy!”

Three girls linked arms and greeted Bai Yao with giggles, “Hello! Are you also a part-timer from our school?”

Bai Yao smiled shyly, but unfortunately they couldn’t see it because he was wearing a mask, “Hello.”

“Wow, your voice is so nice!”

“Like a young boy’s voice in anime.”

The girl said with a giggle, “Can we touch your arm?”

Bai Yao was stunned—what kind of request was that?

Senior Chen whispered to remind him, “You can refuse if you don’t like it. Actually, they’re mostly just saying it, if they really had to touch, they’d be embarrassed instead, don’t believe me, watch—”

“Wow, as soon as the new guy comes, you’re all changing your affections?”

Senior Yang extended his arm proactively with extreme Social Cow-X Syndrome, “Why doesn’t anyone touch my arm anymore? I’m so sad.”

The three girls indeed laughed shrilly and dodged backward repeatedly, “No, no, we were just saying… Let’s just order first.”

After an hour, Bai Yao gradually got used to the atmosphere here.

Except for a few types of milk tea that he wasn’t very skilled at making and was a little slow in his movements, he was adept at how to greet customers with a smile and how to chat with those Social Cow-X Syndrome men and women.

In the evening, there were more and more people on the street, and there was a queue outside the milk tea shop.

All three people in the shop were terribly busy. As the queue grew, Bai Yao saw a familiar face.

Liu Yucheng stood in front of him and said in a low voice, “Are you crazy?”

Working here, and dressed like this.

“Are you ordering milk tea or not? If not, move aside.”

Bai Yao said irritably, “Don’t affect my work.”

Liu Yucheng stood there and still didn’t mean to move aside. After being silent for half a minute, he said, “Just give me a cup of green tea, made by you.”

Bai Yao directly ignored his words, had him scan the code to pay, and directly shouted to Senior Chen, who was busy behind him, “One green tea milk cap! Please wait here, the next customer is ready to order!”

Liu Yucheng: “…”

After this peak period, Bai Yao could get off work, because today was just a trial. Senior Yang said, you did a good job in your trial, you can confirm the specific work hours with the shop manager later.

The staff room of this milk tea shop was only the size of four square floor tiles, with the clothes and bags of the two seniors inside. When Bai Yao went in to change clothes, Liu Yucheng insisted on following him in.

“Damn, outsiders aren’t allowed in here, get out!!”

Bai Yao clutched his top and scolded.

“It’s too revealing, look at your shoulders, arms, and back, everyone has seen them all.”

Liu Yucheng held his shoulders and forcibly turned him around, then turned him back again, while observing and saying in a tone with a hint of command, “Can you stop doing this? My savings are more than you earn here.”

“We’re a legitimate business, although we wear aprons, we cover what should be covered, and there’s nothing indecent about it.”

Bai Yao untied the straps behind the apron and put on his T-shirt within seconds, “Besides, what’s it to you? We haven’t made up, and I’m not planning on making up with you.”

“Bai Yao.”

Liu Yucheng frowned, “If you have to work here, I don’t want you to dress like this. Can’t you wear a normal T-shirt?”

“The staff here are all muscular men wearing only aprons, that’s our shop’s selling point, or why do you think there are so many people queuing outside?”

Bai Yao wanted to go around him, but the space was really small. In the end, he squeezed past Liu Yucheng, who was blocking the door, and slipped out of the staff room, running to the street.

“Wait.”

Liu Yucheng quickly caught up with him and grabbed his wrist, “Quit the job.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Others appreciate my muscles, are you jealous?”

Liu Yucheng’s sourness rushed to his face, but he particularly loved seeing Liu Yucheng like this, so he deliberately said, “Is that so? My back, it seems only you see it the most. But from today on, everyone can…”

“Bai Yao!!”

“Do you want to listen to what you’re saying?!”

“Where exactly did I do wrong, why won’t you accept my help?”

Liu Yucheng gasped slightly, almost questioning, his eyes reddened with anger.

Bai Yao stared at him blankly.

So Liu Yucheng could also make such a loud noise.

Before, even if he punched Liu Yucheng’s nose and made it bleed, Liu Yucheng had never been so angry.

After being silent for half a minute, Bai Yao swung the bag on his shoulder and smashed it hard at Liu Yucheng.

Bai Yao lost control for a moment and roared, “Since you were so unconfident in me, who are you putting on this affectionate act for now?! My way of working is legal and legitimate, and it has nothing to do with you at all!!”

“Bai Yao…”

Liu Yucheng took a deep breath, “Even if you hit me, scold me… I have never thought about giving up on you!”

“Yes, I used to tell you a lot of lies, but wasn’t that because you gave up on me first? Yesterday too, if that kind of situation really happened, doesn’t it mean that you don’t want me at all, and you’re going to be with someone else…”

“Also, the Peach Milk game account, I originally wanted to save money to buy it to play with you, but before I could tell you, you broke up with me…”

“When I was with you, I really didn’t lie to you. It’s just that I didn’t really know how to reply to many of the messages you sent me… By the time I figured it out, you had already lost patience and started the next topic.”

He said so much at once that Bai Yao instantly deflated, standing in place for a long time in a daze.

His mood seemed to be on a roller coaster.

“You, really?”

Hesitating for a long time, Bai Yao’s face gradually became hotter and hotter, and he asked in a low voice, “Did Li Jinyang teach you these words?”

“No.”

Liu Yucheng confessed, “Yesterday outside the dorm, he scolded me badly, saying that I always spoke awkwardly, and even he, an outsider, found it annoying. He said, if I have any innermost thoughts and misunderstandings, be sincere and tell you everything… You may not make up with me, but maybe you won’t be angry with me anymore.”

“I see…”

Bai Yao pouted, “About the Peach Milk thing, I thought you specially bought an account to trick me.”

If he had been a little more patient with Liu Yucheng at that time, would Liu Yucheng have said this a long time ago? Now that he thought about it, the transaction schedule of that game account was about the same time he was brewing to break up with Liu Yucheng, but he changed the game name only many days later…

“Although I have no position to say this, but…”

Liu Yucheng said aggrievedly, “I really don’t like seeing you standing there flamboyantly making milk tea for others to see. I don’t know how many people had bad thoughts about you this afternoon…”

“Got it.”

Bai Yao became a little embarrassed, so he had to avoid his gaze and look him over, “So you, the meaning of opening your arms is?”

“I’m already so jealous, don’t you want to come over and hug me?”