Chapter 1: Acting Out of Spite

8 PM, British Time.

In a student dormitory at a university in London, Dormitory 515—

It was already late at night. A chilly breeze was rustling outside the window, squeezing through the gaps and causing the leaves of the money tree beneath the window to rustle noisily.

A black-and-white cat was sleeping at the foot of the bed, snoring loudly.

“I know your situation right now.”

“My friend August opened a café near your school. I’ve already spoken to him. If you’re short on money, you can go there for a part-time job,” came a cold, male voice from the phone on the nightstand, which was on a WeChat call.

The other side of the call was eerily quiet. A faint male voice could be heard, but it wasn’t the voice of the person on the phone.

The caller waited for half a minute without receiving a response. After hesitating for a moment, he raised his voice and asked, “Zhu Yu, are you listening?”

The tone grew more solemn, carrying the authority of an elder.

“Or are you still angry that I didn’t take your side back then and speak up for you?” The speaker seemed to have figured it out, and though it was phrased as a question, it carried a sense of certainty, as if he had already seen through Zhu Yu.

The person holding the phone, cross-legged, supported his chin with his hand. His gaze and attention never left the tablet placed on the nightstand.

The tablet was playing a live stream of a cooking tutorial.

Zhu Yu was watching with great interest, not at all wanting to deal with the person on the phone, until he heard the other person speak with such certainty. Finally, he showed some reaction.

He picked up the phone, turning the camera to face himself.

“Let me correct you. I’m angry not just because you didn’t speak up for me,” Zhu Yu said, raising his right index finger, emphasizing the words “not just” with a sharp tone, and a faint silver glimmer flickered at the tip of his tongue.

There was no face shown on the other end, but Zhu Yu could hear the sound of a car horn, though he had no idea where Zhu Ting was heading.

Zhu Ting lowered his gaze, watching the phone screen.

In the camera, Zhu Yu was wearing a short bear-patterned pajama, his half-tied hair in disarray, with a stray tuft of hair drooping on his head, looking rather lackluster.

He was of East Asian descent, with delicate features, but this delicacy was different from the typical Eastern beauty, more like a doll from a department store window—slightly mixed-race in appearance. His skin was very fair, and even with his striking pink hair, his complexion was unaffected.

His eyes were clear and bright, like a shallow pool bathed in moonlight, full of spirit.

The dark black ear studs under the light emitted a cold gleam.

Zhu Ting furrowed his brows. He remembered that three days ago, when he spoke to Zhu Yu, his hair wasn’t this color.

But that was a small matter.

He knew what Zhu Yu meant by “not just.”

“Mom specifically warned us after you left, giving you money will only make you stay longer in the UK.” Zhu Ting had used all his patience for his younger brother.

Zhu Yu became even angrier, frowning and glaring at the camera with a look of dissatisfaction, “Oh.”

He knew Zhu Ting could see him.

“Fine, you don’t want to give me money. Do you think I care?”

“I don’t care at all.”

“You think this will make me submit?”

“Ridiculous, actually, I don’t need your money.”

“But why do you all have to interfere when I ask my friend for money?”

“You all are really… too much!”

There was a hint of childishness in his tone. Zhu Ting hadn’t expected that Zhu Yu would let his guard down and say so many words all at once.

After speaking, Zhu Yu threw the phone aside and picked up the tablet, continuing to watch the live stream.

Zhu Ting couldn’t help but sigh lightly.

Zhu Yu had always had a bad temper and held grudges, spoiled, unreasonable, yet he was the most favored child in the Zhu family. It seemed all these flaws were nurtured by that very favoritism.

“Looks like you still haven’t changed your temper. Do you know? No one else but us can put up with you.” At least, Zhu Ting’s tone sounded concerned for Zhu Yu.

Zhu Yu responded out of spite, “Then you can just hate me, I don’t need to be liked.”

He was being willful again.

“And Zhu Yu, sending you abroad and controlling your allowance was a unanimous decision by the family, even grandmother agreed.” Zhu Ting added.

“What do you mean, a unanimous decision by the family? Am I a Zhu family member? Did I agree to that?” Zhu Yu laughed in anger. He moved on his knees to the phone, threw a few air punches toward the camera to vent his frustration.

Zhu Ting watched the phone, slowly curling the corner of his lips into a smile. “The minority must obey the majority, your protest is invalid.”

He caught a glimpse of Zhu Yu’s tablet on the side, which was still playing a food live stream.

He kindly reminded him, “And don’t watch this kind of live stream on an empty stomach, it could give you gastritis.”

“Do you think I want to be hungry?” Zhu Yu sneered. “If I starve to death, you’ll be the murderers!”

Then he heard Zhu Ting chuckle lightly, and Zhu Yu almost got so angry he fainted. He wasn’t hungry at all, he was full of anger.

So, he furiously said, “I’m hanging up! We have nothing more to talk about.”

Zhu Ting nodded, saying, “Alright.”

Zhu Yu was about to hang up, but his hand froze. A hint of discomfort appeared on his face as he awkwardly asked the other person:

“By the way, your friend ‘I Am Ghost,’ uh, what’s the name of his café?”

“I’m just going to drink coffee, don’t overthink it.” He quickly added, trying to cover up his words.

“It’s August,” Zhu Ting corrected helplessly, sparing Zhu Yu’s pride by not calling out his hidden thoughts. “I’ll send you more information about him on WeChat later. Don’t block me after hanging up.”

After hanging up, Zhu Yu tossed the phone aside, and it quickly buzzed with a few incoming WeChat message notifications.

—

Zhu Yu had been ‘sent to wander’ in the UK for three months.

Because his runaway and disappearance had caused a lot of anger at home, his mother had arranged for someone to pack his things overnight and send him here. Zhu Yu’s resistance had no effect—basically, he needed to admit his mistakes and soften up if he hoped to return home.

But Zhu Yu was naturally proud, enduring three months of hardship without ever taking the initiative to contact his family and apologize. The only person who had reached out to him was Zhu Ting, and it had been on his initiative.

In fact, the hardship wasn’t all that bad because, at least with hardship, there was something to endure. But in the UK, there was only tasteless British food and overpriced Chinese food that didn’t taste like home.

He had come to understand that studying abroad wasn’t about family background—what mattered was how tough you were.

Now, his daily routine in the UK consisted of lying in bed starving and watching live streams to distract himself from hunger.

At first, it was just about starving.

Watching live streams to stop the hunger started one day when he was scrolling through an ^[1]“Alphabet station” is likely referring to Bilibili (B站), a popular Chinese video streaming platform. Some people jokingly call it “alphabet station” because … Continue readingalphabet station on an empty stomach and found a food tutorial host. He got so engrossed that he forgot about being hungry.

Later, he noticed that this blogger never sold products, never did advertisements, and didn’t act overly dramatic like other bloggers. He didn’t utter a single unnecessary word.

The dishes he made also looked quite appealing, and there was…

“While the meat in the pot is blanching, we can take the washed shiitake mushrooms and cut them into pieces.” The blogger’s movements were steady and unhurried, and his voice was warm and clear.

Zhu Yu was snapped back to attention by the voice, refocusing on the live stream.

The blogger didn’t show his face, but the upper half of his body, constrained by the apron, outlined a streamlined and fit physique. The blogger had a typical inverted triangle shape—broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and strong, muscular arms with clearly defined veins.

So, in comparison to other bloggers, this one’s body was among the best.

Zhu Yu, being an art student, naturally gravitated toward appreciating beautiful things and people, just like many other art students.

So, watching this live stream at the same time every Friday became a fixed part of Zhu Yu’s routine.

Perhaps because it was already too late for viewers in China, the number of people in the live stream had decreased by more than half, and the barrage comments were sparse.

【It’s past four in the morning now, why is the teacher streaming at this time?】

【He went abroad.】

【He went abroad, to the UK. Check his homepage.】

—

Zhu Yu’s sharp eyes quickly noticed these few comments in the live stream.

He casually clicked on the blogger’s homepage and saw that, indeed, the IP address had changed from Beijing to the UK.

The personal description, which had previously been empty, now included, “I’m studying in the UK, the live stream schedule is now from 1 AM to 2 AM every Saturday, with variable times.”

No wonder the fixed live stream time on Fridays was delayed until now.

So, when did he come to the UK?

Zhu Yu didn’t pay much attention to those details, he had always only cared about the food the blogger made.

The blogger’s portfolio consisted entirely of food-making tutorials.

Zhu Yu quickly skimmed through it, making sure he hadn’t missed any videos before returning to the live stream.

The live stream continued.

The wall clock ticked, and Zhu Yu, feeling hungry, tightened his belt a notch.

The blogger placed a transparent lid on the pot and reminded, “Just let it simmer for another fifteen minutes, and it’ll be ready.”

“If there are no more questions, I’ll end the stream now. Everyone, go to bed early.” The blogger’s voice was clear and gentle, like spring water from a mountain stream—pleasant to listen to.

Zhu Yu couldn’t tell if it was his imagination, but he kept smelling a delicious scent in the room.

A familiar, long-missed aroma.

Why long-missed? Because it seemed to be the same smell as the braised chicken rice he had eaten in China.

He lowered his thick eyelashes and focused his gaze back on the tablet. Tonight, the blogger was making braised chicken with rice.

Zhu Yu started to wonder if the internet in the UK was unusually advanced.

Suddenly, Zhu Yu felt a jolt in his brow, his back chilled, and an ominous feeling crept up his spine.

He turned around to see that the cow-patterned cat, which had been snoring soundly at the foot of the bed, had woken up at some point.

It was sneaking toward the door, moving with catlike stealth.

“Liu Bo, what are you up to again?” Zhu Yu called out warily.

Liu Bo froze, its front paws hanging in the air, obviously caught in the act of trying to do something bad.

Zhu Yu didn’t believed it before, but now he was truly convinced that the cow-patterned cat was a bit neurotic.

Fortunately, Zhu Yu had already gotten used to Liu Bo’s daily antics. Even if Liu Bo screamed its lungs out now, he wouldn’t bother with it.

Then—

“Meow!” “Meow—” Liu Bo seemed determined to scream its head off.

The dormitory’s soundproofing wasn’t very good, and it was already very late, so Zhu Yu didn’t expect Liu Bo would really choose this time to disturb the peace.

He hurriedly jumped out of bed, grabbed Liu Bo, and covered its mouth with his hand to silence it.

“What’s wrong with you now? I already said I’m going to work at the café tomorrow to earn money to buy you some cat food.” Zhu Yu lifted it by the back of its neck and made eye contact with it.

Liu Bo struggled, making it difficult to hold onto.

It was originally a scrawny stray cat, and even though Zhu Yu himself was struggling, he couldn’t resist softening and bringing it home. Now it had grown chubby and strong.

Zhu Yu, too tired from hunger to catch it properly, simply opened the bedroom door and let it out.

It was better not to open the door, but once it was open, the delicious scent grew even stronger.

Zhu Yu finally confirmed that the scent he had been smelling while watching the live stream wasn’t just from his hunger-induced delirium—it was real! Someone was cooking at this hour!

After escaping from Zhu Yu’s grasp, Liu Bo ran toward the entrance hall door.

It looked back at Zhu Yu, as if asking him to open the door for it.

Zhu Yu really wanted to ask it if it had decided to wander off in the middle of the night because it felt sorry for him.

He opened the door and followed Liu Bo outside, curious to see what it was up to.

Liu Bo didn’t run far. It stopped right in front of the opposite room, 514.

Zhu Yu could smell the same braised chicken rice aroma filling the entire hallway.

And the source of the scent…

Was coming from the 514 dormitory across the hall.

No wonder Liu Bo had come out and was crouching at the door. Who wouldn’t be confused by this smell?

Zhu Yu had always remembered that no one lived in the room across from him, and he didn’t know when a new chef from New Oriental had moved in.

Unable to accept the embarrassment and awkwardness of being rejected, Zhu Yu held back his urge to knock on the door and beg for food.

He held himself back, but Liu Bo by his feet didn’t necessarily do the same.

It first let out a tentative meow, and Zhu Yu immediately looked at it warily, “Liu Bo, I warn you, you’d better keep quiet.”

It was too late. Liu Bo began frantically scratching at the door with its front paws, its cries echoing down the hallway.

Zhu Yu’s vision went dark. He bent down, ready to pick up Liu Bo and escape from the scene.

But he didn’t realize just how close he was to the 514 dormitory door.

“Thud!”

Zhu Yu was knocked back, stars dancing before his eyes. He stumbled back a few steps, finally losing his balance and falling to the ground on his knees.

He pressed his hand to his forehead in pain, tears squeezed out from the corners of his eyes. When he finally regained his senses, he saw the door handle of the 514 dormitory turn.