EAY Chapter 38

You guys are too good at wasting your youth.

You guys are too good at wasting your youth.

38

Qi Ye smiled and said, “Almost off work, just bored.”

Shi Ran smiled insincerely and said, “Couldn’t tell, you’re quite good at making girls happy.”

“Her personality seems to be prone to exaggeration, but she’s a pretty good person,” Qi Ye said. “Even though it’s just a short-term part-time job, I still want to get along well with my colleagues.”

Shi Ran suddenly felt like he was being too petty. Yeah, Qi Ye, with his socially awkward personality, took this job with the intention of improving himself. Getting along well with his colleagues is the most basic thing. It’s just a small drawing, what’s he fussing about?

Shi Ran reflected on himself and moved a little closer to Qi Ye, saying, “Help me carry one.”

Qi Ye reached out and took both bags. Shi Ran said affectionately, “There’s your favorite candied fruit. I traded some other things with my colleagues for two extra bags.”

“Thank you.” Qi Ye felt warm inside. He reached out to brush the hair that was messed up by the wind and asked, “How many days until your part-time job ends?”

“About a week or so,” Shi Ran said, putting his hands in his pockets. “But the manager hopes I can stay longer. He’s giving me a raise.”

Qi Ye frowned: “It’s better not to. This job is too hard. Look at your hands.”

Shi Ran didn’t care: “I’m experienced, so I’m not afraid. And you’re working nearby now. If you keep doing it, I could–”

Qi Ye quickly said, “I won’t do it for that long. I’ll work the same time as you.”

This was equivalent to stating “for you” clearly. Shi Ran shook his head helplessly, “Qi Ye, you’re too chivalrous.”

Qi Ye felt a little embarrassed and racked his brains to change the subject: “Um, I heard Meng Nan say you’re saving money to buy something. What are you buying?”

Shi Ran slightly avoided his gaze: “It’s nothing special, besides a gift for my grandpa, there’s something I’ve had in my shopping cart for a long time.”

“I’ll buy it for you,” Qi Ye said.

“No way.” Shi Ran glanced at him. “That’s why I’m not telling you. You’re too enthusiastic and pure. It’s easy to bring out my bad side.”

“How could you have a bad side?” Qi Ye laughed.

“Hey, I’m a living person, okay? Everyone has a bad side. You haven’t discovered it yet because one, you have too deep a filter on me, and two, I’m trying my best to control it. So, please restrain yourself,” Shi Ran shook his head and sighed. “If I ever become shameless, you’ll be largely responsible.”

Qi Ye nodded in agreement, but he didn’t really think so in his heart.

Two days later, the female colleague who was prone to exaggeration suddenly ran up to him and asked, “Do you want to make money with your talent?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like this, my classmate and I have been running a stall on the shopping street near our school, but business hasn’t been good. So, we want to ask you to join us.” The colleague excitedly told him, “To be precise, we want you to cooperate with us. We mainly sell cute hair accessories and stuff. You can set up an easel next to us and draw cartoon portraits for people. If anyone wants a drawing, we’ll take the opportunity to promote some cute little hair accessories to the customers. What do you think?”

Speaking of cute hair accessories, the scene of Shi Ran setting up a stall at the night market before popped into Qi Ye’s mind again, which he thought was cute. But regarding the current proposal, Qi Ye refused.

“Why!” the girl asked in great puzzlement.

Qi Ye’s reasons were sufficient: “I just draw for fun. I’m not qualified to charge money yet.”

“Enough, enough, definitely enough!” The female colleague said firmly, “I showed your drawings to my friend, and I also followed your Weibo. The works you posted are so cute. Let me tell you, there’s more than one person drawing cartoon portraits on that street, but I don’t think any of them draw as well as you.”

Qi Ye still shook his head: “Those are just your subjective judgments. And when you say there are other people drawing, I feel even more hopeless. I don’t have any competitiveness.”

“You do!” The girl looked Qi Ye up and down, showing a satisfied expression, “Just you sitting there is enough competitiveness.”

Qi Ye ignored her. Just then, a customer came in, and he went to take their order. After taking the order, the girl actually started talking to the customer: “Miss, let me ask you, do you think this clerk in our shop is handsome?”

Qi Ye: “…”

The customer nodded repeatedly: “Very handsome, very handsome.”

“It’s a pity that he’s handsome but doesn’t know it himself.” The girl smiled. After the customer left, she continued to persuade Qi Ye: “Try it. This is a good opportunity. You just need to prepare your drawing materials, pens, paper, and stuff. As for the stall and even the easel, I can solve it for you! And I don’t want any of the profits. Whatever you sell is yours. My friend and I are just responsible for our own goods.”

It sounded like a good opportunity, but Qi Ye still didn’t agree. Firstly, he didn’t quite trust this girl. He felt that she was exaggerating everything she said, which didn’t make her seem reliable. Secondly, and most importantly, he didn’t believe in himself. He didn’t think his doodles could really make money.

After that day, Qi Ye told Shi Ran about this matter. Unexpectedly, Shi Ran listened in silence for a moment and said to him, “Why don’t we go take a look? Go to that shopping street.”

Shi Ran said seriously: “Regardless of how you do, the most important thing is that drawing is something you like. You’re not short of money, anyway. Going to draw is definitely more fun than shaking milk tea at the milk tea shop, right?”

Drawing was definitely more fun, but if it became a job…

Seeing that Qi Ye was still hesitating, Shi Ran suddenly patted him on the shoulder: “What are you afraid of? I’ll go with you then!”

“Really?” Qi Ye immediately became interested.

“Yeah, but I’ll have to wait until my part-time job is over. If you’re in a hurry, then I’ll see if I can–”

“It’s okay, I’m not in a hurry. Anyway, it’s not like we’re going right away. As you said, let’s go take a look at the shopping street first. And then, I’ll have to practice for a while,” Qi Ye said. “I still have to buy drawing paper and drawing tools.”

Shi Ran looked at him with a smile: “Looks like you’re still interested.”

Hearing that Qi Ye was going to set up a stall to sell paintings, Li Tianyi was even more excited than he was, clamoring to be Qi Ye’s first customer.

“Oh, oh, I’m going with a girl I recently met. You help us draw together!” Li Tianyi said, rubbing his hands.

Qi Ye said, “You don’t have to wait until then. Bring her here now, and I’ll draw for you for free.”

Li Tianyi shook his head: “That won’t work. It doesn’t have the atmosphere of the street here, and the first business is called a good start. It can’t be free.”

Meng Nan asked curiously: “Are you in love?”

“Currently, we’re still in the getting-to-know-each-other stage.” Li Tianyi was lost in beautiful fantasies, “But I feel like she’s a little interested in me too. Otherwise, why would she agree every time I ask her out?”

Meng Nan poured cold water on him: “Maybe she just happens to be free when you ask her out and is bored, so she goes out with you.”

“Don’t jinx me, okay?” Li Tianyi rolled his eyes at him and then said sweetly to himself, “I plan to get along as friends first, and then confess on Christmas Eve. That way, our anniversary will be easier to remember in the future.”

Shi Ran asked him: “Don’t keep being a fool and just be friends. If you have feelings for her, you have to send signals from time to time to let her know. Everyone knows that you like to play around and ask friends and classmates out. Maybe the girl hasn’t thought that much about it at all.”

Li Tianyi’s heart skipped a beat: “Have I been sending signals? I think so. Oh, I smile sweetly when I see her. Does that count?”

Meng Nan: “It’s just silly and even sillier. Most people can’t tell.”

“Then what signals should I send? Oh, I bought her small gifts. Ah, no, I gave them to everyone in her dorm.” Li Tianyi was still thinking hard.

Shi Ran quickly said, “See, that’s not right. You have to give those kinds of small gifts separately to make them special. As for her friends, you can just give them food and drinks. In short, you have to let her discover that you treat her differently from other girls.”

“I got it. I also have to do something special with her so that I can see her intentions even more.” Li Tianyi rubbed his hands excitedly and bumped Shi Ran’s shoulder, “Shi-ge, you really know a lot. Did you use this trick to pick up girls before?”

Shi Ran scoffed: “I didn’t.”

“Then how do you know so much?”

“I learned it from others.” Shi Ran said, naturally looking at Qi Ye, “The friends I used to hang out with were idle all day and just thought about how to be in a relationship. To say nothing else, their success rate in love was quite high. However, they also die quickly. So, all I can teach you is the stuff before you’re together. After that, I’m completely in the dark.”

Li Tianyi said mischievously: “Don’t be in the dark. It’s too easy for you to be in a relationship with your conditions. Otherwise, why don’t you go learn about the stuff after being in a relationship and then come back and teach me.”

“Get lost.” Shi Ran pushed him away. “I knew I shouldn’t have taught you.”

“Hey, I’ve found that you guys are really good at wasting your youth. Two out of three are busy working and studying all day, and there’s one more.” Li Tianyi suddenly leaned over to Qi Ye’s seat, “This one isn’t busy making money, and he has a lot of pursuers. Qi-ge, why don’t you go learn it first?”

“Not interested.” Qi Ye also pushed him away and asked Shi Ran, “When are we going to the shopping street?”

“Oh yeah, we got off-topic.” Shi Ran pulled out the calendar on his phone, which marked the end of his part-time job, “Next Friday? Friday night? Usually there are more people at night, right?”

“Okay.” Qi Ye agreed and glanced at Li Tianyi. This person was really annoying. It’s okay if he goes to be in a relationship, but why does he have to instigate others?

However, Qi Ye now realized that Shi Ran actually knew so much, and even knew about sending signals.

But even though he knew, Qi Ye felt that Shi Ran himself was still quite oblivious. In the process of Qi Ye being friends with him, even though he tried his best to control himself, he inevitably revealed some clues.

More sensitive people should have noticed that his feelings were unusual.

Only Shi Ran still foolishly said “Qi Ye, you’re so great” or something like that.

Maybe Shi Ran didn’t think about it in the same-sex direction at all, which added another thick protective shield to his already slow nerves.

Qi Ye felt a little sad, but when he thought about it, he had never thought about confessing in the first place. If he, who was so boring, became a couple with the person he was thinking about, for some reason, he always had a feeling of doom.