At that exact moment, Qingyi pushed the door open — and immediately saw Ye Qingfeng sitting brazenly in her spot.
Using her teacup. Drinking the tea she had brewed.
The mood she had barely managed to settle ignited all over again. Ye Qingfeng, seeing Qingyi, opened his mouth but found the words escaping him for a moment.
More precisely, he didn't know what to call her.
Qingyi? Their relationship hadn't reached that point yet.
Officer Qingyi? That felt too distant... after all, she was technically a target on the affection list. The moment that thought crossed his mind, Ye Qingfeng felt like cursing.
She was already of grandmother age — and that might even be conservative. She could be older.
She wasn't even human. What was he supposed to do with that?
Play chess and drink tea with her?
He couldn't exactly call her "Grandma Qingyi," could he? At this rate, he might be getting a New Year's red envelope from her by the holidays...
Ahh! What am I even thinking!
'System, what's Qingyi's current affection level?'
[Ding! Qingyi affection: -5%]
[Advisory: Spending more time with her can raise affection. Critically low affection may escalate from dislike to homicidal intent!!!]
What?! Why didn't you say so earlier!
He had already been fully prepared to coast through things on minimal effort. But the System handed him an affection mechanic, and only now mentioned that low affection could be dangerous?
Ye Qingfeng didn't overthink it and went straight to applying the simplest formula available — use whatever Zhu Yuan called her. It wouldn't come across as presumptuous, and it showed proper respect.
There was no need to deliberate: this was unquestionably Qingyi's seat, which meant the tea sets were hers too.
"Ahem! Senior Qingyi, please, have a seat!"
Ye Qingfeng immediately put on his most brilliant smile, quietly set the teacup back on the desk, stood up, and gestured toward the chair.
Zhu Yuan: ???
Qingyi: ???
Top-tier face-changing.
The reason Ye Qingfeng had made it out of his time inside in one piece was largely his ability to read people and navigate social currents. By keeping the older inmates — the big brothers, the uncles, the grandfathers — in good spirits, and because his learning speed was decent, they had all been willing to pass on their signature skills.
Aside from when he first joined the Cunning Hares, he hadn't needed to put on much of a show since then. Or rather, he had simply slipped back into his usual laziness.
Still, the saying held true: let the past go, stay sharp in the present, and keep an eye on the future.
A flicker of surprise passed through Qingyi's eyes. A moment ago he had been doing everything possible to get under her skin. Seeing him now with that winning smile, she felt an indescribable satisfaction.
Fine. She wouldn't hold earlier incidents against him. Since Ye Qingfeng had extended the first gesture of goodwill, she would reluctantly accept it.
After all, what self-respecting adult picks a fight with a child?
[Ding! Qingyi affection +10%]
[Current affection: 5%]
Qingyi walked over with her arms folded and sat down without ceremony. The moment she was seated, Ye Qingfeng picked up the teapot, crossed to the water dispenser, tipped the used tea leaves into the bin, and rinsed it out.
He measured out roughly the right amount of fresh leaves from the canister nearby, filled it with hot water, and carried it back carefully.
Tea brewing was, truthfully, a bit outside Ye Qingfeng's area of expertise. There had been nothing to practice with back in his previous circumstances. But he had watched the warden brew tea while entertaining guests on a few occasions, and those memories would have to do.
"Senior Qingyi, please have some tea." Recalling what he had observed, Ye Qingfeng did his best to replicate the motions and poured her a cup. "I don't know much about this sort of thing. I hope it's acceptable."
Watching Ye Qingfeng's sudden transformation, Zhu Yuan was full of question marks.
She didn't plan to intervene, though. If their relationship could warm up a little, she was happy to see it.
"Indeed."
Qingyi could tell his technique was fairly rough, but the general steps hadn't gone too wrong. Since he was making such an effort to show her respect, she couldn't be entirely dismissive in return.
She picked up the cup and took a small sip. A trace of quiet satisfaction appeared in her eyes, though she kept it from her face. "Not bad," she said evenly.
[Ding! Qingyi affection +5%]
[Current affection: 10%]
The flavor wasn't perfect, but it was passable. Qingyi's estimation of Ye Qingfeng nudged up slightly.
They could, at the very least, now be considered acquaintances.
Zhu Yuan, who had been watching from the corner of her eye, saw the two getting along and quietly looked away, returning to her work.
This was just how getting along with Senior Qingyi normally looked. Thinking back to Ye Qingfeng's earlier attitude toward her, she was frankly impressed Qingyi had kept her temper at all...
Ye Qingfeng quietly poured another cup and brought it over to Zhu Yuan, watching her with a mildly expectant expression. "Zhu Yuan, try my handiwork!"
"Thank you! Let me taste."
Zhu Yuan set down her work and smiled warmly. She picked up the cup and took a slow sip, turning the flavor over on her tongue and quietly comparing it to Senior Qingyi's usual brew.
She had never really studied tea herself. It was simply that Qingyi brewed it so often that she had grown accustomed to sharing a cup each time, even if she couldn't quite tell good from bad.
If she had to put it into words — it wasn't quite as refined as Senior Qingyi's, but what Ye Qingfeng had made wasn't far off either.
Zhu Yuan looked at him with approving eyes. "Not bad at all! I think it's quite good!"
Ye Qingfeng quietly rejoiced, a faint smile settling on his face. "Glad you like it, Zhu Yuan!"
Zhu Yuan noticed Ye Qingfeng had nowhere to sit given the lack of a spare chair. She would need to bring one in next time.
"Let Senior Qingyi take you around the bureau for a bit. I still need a little longer to wrap this up." Zhu Yuan gauged how much work remained, then glanced between Ye Qingfeng and Qingyi. A solution presented itself at once, and she turned to the other side with a faintly pleading look. "Sorry to trouble you, Senior Qingyi!"
"It's nothing..." Qingyi shook her head slightly and agreed, then turned an inquiring look toward Ye Qingfeng. "Consider it thanks for the tea."
"O-of course, no problem..."
Ye Qingfeng had little choice but to go along and agree.
Truthfully, he would have been far more comfortable staying with Zhu Yuan than touring the building alongside Qingyi.
The main reason was simply that he barely knew Qingyi at all.
Setting that aside, of all the people he had come to know in this world, Nicole and Anby were the ones he spent time with every day, and Zhu Yuan was the one he knew next best outside of them — even if he technically hadn't seen her in person as often as he had messaged Belle.
But then, he and Zhu Yuan had never stopped their daily conversations on Inter-Knot. And on top of that, maintaining affection meant putting on a show of respecting his elders and showing consideration for the young.
Not that he bore any real grudge about it. It just left him feeling vaguely out of sorts.
He could only hope she never gave him any leverage. If she did, he would absolutely pinch those cheeks of hers.
He already knew full well how ancient Qingyi truly was, and yet every time he looked at her face, he ended up instinctively treating her like a child. He couldn't seem to help it.
To put it plainly: ever since the incident that had shaped him, he had completely let go of any automatic goodwill toward strangers. He maintained a reasonable level of wariness around anyone unfamiliar. After all, how was he to know whether the other person might mean him harm?
-------
A/n: New content and stories posted on my patreon go check it out!
patreon.com/deadlygoober