EAY Chapter 68

by Volare

Love Requires Mutual Care

Up until now, Qi Ye was the person with the healthiest routine and diet Shi Ran had ever seen. He not only paid attention to it himself but also kept an eye on Shi Ran. The routine was fine, but the diet was a bit of a challenge for Shi Ran.

Qi Ye was a great cook, and his food was delicious, but inevitably, Shi Ran would crave the heavily seasoned and unhealthy delicacies outside.

After Shi Ran’s persistent requests, Qi Ye finally relaxed his health code and agreed that Shi Ran could go to the night market once a week. Actually, the two often went out to eat, but Qi Ye was only guarding against those small stalls, not because he looked down on anything, but because he had learned his lesson several times—Shi Ran would get a stomachache after eating.

“I’m too greedy, and it’s both spicy and icy, so I’ll be like this if I don’t watch what I eat,” Shi Ran always explained.

Finally, the day to go to the night market arrived. They had originally agreed to meet at the entrance of Shi Ran’s company, but the boss insisted on holding a meeting right on time, so Shi Ran had to let Qi Ye go to the barbecue stall and wait for him first.

“I’m here, I’m here!” Almost an hour late from the agreed time, Shi Ran finally rushed over, panting.

Qi Ye was slowly drinking beer, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and took the bag in his hand, “Why are you running so fast?”

“I was worried that if I came late, the boss would close the stall,” Shi Ran stuck out his tongue and sat down opposite him, “Of course, I was afraid you’d be angry.”

“Don’t you know my temper?” Qi Ye turned his head and said to the boss, “We can start with ours.”

“You haven’t eaten yet?” Shi Ran glanced at the clean table, with only an opened bottle of beer, “Aren’t you hungry?”

“It’s okay, I wanted to wait for you.” Qi Ye said, “I was worried it would get cold if you came late, so I kept it warm by the grill.”

After a while, the steaming barbecue came up, and the aroma was mouth-watering. Shi Ran immediately felt energized, and the fatigue of the day was dissolved in the aroma of the skewers. He first handed a lamb skewer to Qi Ye, “Don’t wait for me like a fool next time, eat first, okay?”

“Okay.” Qi Ye smiled.

After eating the barbecue, they went to the next stall. While waiting for the stir-fried noodles, Qi Ye said to Shi Ran, “I have good news for you.”

“What is it?”

“A website has invited me to contribute,” Qi Ye said.

“Really?” Shi Ran’s eyes widened. Qi Ye had been drawing since college. Although he had received offers for comic work, they were all short-term and for commercial use, not his own work.

After starting work, he had even less time to draw, but Qi Ye still insisted on practicing every day.

Shi Ran used to just love reading comics, but he didn’t know anything about the work of a comic artist. But since seeing Qi Ye’s efforts, he realized that it was really a very demanding job.

Reading comics is fun, drawing comics is torture. At least that’s what Shi Ran thought.

Now that he heard this good news from Qi Ye, Shi Ran was really happy for him. It was really a great joy in life to have one’s favorite thing affirmed.

Shi Ran punched him again, “You, why didn’t you tell me about such a good thing earlier? We should go to a good place to celebrate!”

Qi Ye said, “This is just the beginning.”

Shi Ran: “A good start is so important, we should celebrate even more! Let’s go, let’s find a good place.”

Qi Ye stopped him: “Our fried noodles are almost ready.”

Shi Ran: “We can just take them to go.”

Qi Ye smiled and said, “Are you very happy here?”

“Yes.”

“Then this is a good place for me, there’s no need to go looking for one,” Qi Ye touched the back of his neck, “And my personality isn’t suited for grand celebrations, it would only put pressure on me. This is pretty good here, and I’ve come to like it because of you.”

Of course, Qi Ye was skeptical of the healthy eating standards here, but this smoky environment did make people relax.

And his working environment was bright and spotless, but it was also filled with indifference, efficiency, and pressure, hurting people without drawing blood, and taking a greater toll on people’s health.

“Okay then.” Shi Ran heard that Qi Ye liked this place because of him, and couldn’t help but feel a little proud, putting his hands on his hips and saying, “What do you want to eat? It’s my treat, you can choose whatever you want here!”

Qi Ye thought for a while: “Then, a full set of Pancakes.”

“But we still have fried noodles, isn’t that double carbs… oh, never mind, never mind, if you want to eat it, I’ll buy you anything.” Shi Ran said with a smile.

It seems that influence is mutual. The former Shi Ran would never care about a few servings of carbohydrates. Food is food, why worry so much?

But Shi Ran now not only pays attention to it himself, but last time a female colleague with whom he had a good relationship ordered burgers, fried chicken, and noodles with fried sauce for working overtime at night, Shi Ran couldn’t help but exclaim: “Eating so many carbohydrates!”

The female colleague, who was about to turn pressure into appetite, glared at him fiercely, and Shi Ran immediately shut his mouth.

The night market had added several new stalls and was growing day by day. The two of them strolled around, bought a lot of food to take home, and Shi Ran twisted open a can of beer to celebrate with Qi Ye.

That night, under Shi Ran’s constant questioning, Qi Ye talked a lot about comics. Shi Ran was responsible for listening quietly. Sure enough, it was always the same: when people talk about what they love, their whole bodies shine.

It wasn’t until Qi Ye finished speaking that Shi Ran said what he was most worried about: “Will you be very tired if you have to work and draw?”

“No, it’s like before, I just get up early and draw before going to work,” Qi Ye said, “Now it’s just a short story, and the number of pages I need is about the same as what I used to practice every day.”

Shi Ran: “I want to help too, I’ll take care of the housework from now on.”

Qi Ye: “Hey, no need. Doing housework is like exercising. Sitting there all the time isn’t good for your body, and your brain will break down too.”

Shi Ran: “That’s what you say now, but when you really get busy, you won’t be able to take care of it. If you want to exercise, you should run every day. Didn’t you used to have a morning run habit? Pick that up again.”

Later events proved that Shi Ran was somewhat prescient.

Although the amount of practice was similar to that of formal work, the quality was incomparable. A formal comic, even if it’s just a short story, also needs a complete storyline, how to present it in a more attractive way, how to enrich the content, and it also needs to be reviewed by the editor.

So the pressure to bear is naturally different from practice.

Shi Ran couldn’t work and draw for him, so he tried his best not to worry Qi Ye in life. At his insistence, Qi Ye gave up the power of the kitchen.

Even without the editor’s review, Qi Ye himself was a very demanding person when it came to comics. For example, in Shi Ran’s eyes, he had been doodling for a long time, and finally showed a big smiling expression on the character, which felt very cute and spiritual, but in the next second, it was deleted by Qi Ye.

“The expression is still not quite right,” Qi Ye said.

Where is it not right? Shi Ran was confused, but he still nodded and said, “Well, follow your own feelings.”

Too hard. Shi Ran shook his head and sighed, but looking at the person who was as steady as a rock in front of the seat, he felt very proud. He was doing what he loved, drawing his own world stroke by stroke, how great.

Just as Shi Ran was staring blankly at his back, the washing machine beeped twice, the clothes were washed, and he quickly returned to the real world to do his auxiliary work.