DMPSA CH 18

Chapter 18: Friendship

Even though he had promised himself not to go back to the Night Owl Teahouse, only a week had passed before Yue Qi found himself unable to resist. That awkward scene from the other day still lingered in his mind. He wasn’t sure how long it would take Su Qing to recover, and logically, Yue Qi knew he should give him more time. But emotionally, Yue Qi was struggling.

During this time, Su Qing’s figure often appeared in his thoughts—the straight yet sorrowful and lonely silhouette he saw at the end. It was an image Yue Qi couldn’t shake off.

Oh, and there was this.

Yue Qi glanced at the watch in his hand.

At the time, out of sheer frustration and a desire to shut Qin Yang up, he had put the watch on his own wrist and even taken it home with him. But in truth, he hadn’t obtained the real owner’s permission.

Even with the simplest of social gifts, it would be rude to pass it along to someone else. Not to mention, this was no ordinary watch.

This watch carried Su Qing’s feelings for Qin Yang. It wasn’t something Yue Qi had the right to keep. Nor did he believe Su Qing would willingly let him have it.

Yet now, Yue Qi found himself in a dilemma.

The watch clearly needed to be returned to Su Qing. It wasn’t something he could truly claim as his own. But he worried that seeing the watch might trigger Su Qing’s emotions. Worse, he feared Su Qing might misunderstand his intentions. After all, before putting it on, Yue Qi had made a pointed remark about Qin Yang’s inability to appreciate what he had. If Yue Qi returned the watch now, would Su Qing think he, too, looked down on him, just like Qin Yang?

Having the same watch rejected twice would surely be humiliating.

Sighing deeply, Yue Qi found himself stuck no matter which way he looked at it. Forget it. No use overthinking. He decided to go to the teahouse tonight—to see the cats and their owner.

That evening, Yue Qi chose to visit during dinnertime. It was a busy hour, and if Su Qing didn’t want to see him, he would at least have the chance to avoid him.

But Su Qing didn’t avoid him. When he saw Yue Qi come in, he greeted him with a warm smile. “Welcome! Would you mind sitting at the bar? All the other tables are taken.”

Su Qing’s open and cheerful demeanor made it seem as if nothing had ever happened.

Yue Qi let out half a sigh of relief. Watching Su Qing flit about busily, the anxiety he’d been carrying for the past few days began to ease.

The posters on the walls had been taken down, and the music in the teahouse had reverted to its signature relaxed bossa nova^[1]. Two new, friendly female waitstaff had joined the team and were bustling around, taking and delivering orders. Da Huang still lounged on the counter with narrowed eyes, casting disdainful glances at the customers. Hua Dian remained her timid, shy self, cautiously following Jasmine over to rub against Yue Qi’s leg. It seemed like nothing had changed in the teahouse—just the waitstaff.

Since the place was busy, Yue Qi couldn’t monopolize both cats. He patted Jasmine on the head, urging her to visit another table, and then scooped up Hua Dian for a little reunion.

Soon, Yue Qi’s dinner was served—kung pao chicken with rice. Su Qing personally brought it over, raising an eyebrow playfully. “There’s a surprise coming with dessert!”

Seeing Su Qing in good spirits, Yue Qi couldn’t help but feel uplifted himself. That was, until the dessert arrived. Then, he began to think that maybe today wasn’t the right day to come after all.

“Ta-da! Sorry for the wait,” Su Qing exclaimed happily, placing a plate of eye-catching green cookies in front of him. “You’ve been waiting for this for a long time, haven’t you? You missed out the last time I made them, but today’s your lucky day. This whole plate is yours!”

“Uh, no need for that… let’s, let’s share it with everyone,” Yue Qi stammered with an awkward smile. “Good things should be shared with good friends…” He caught Su Qing squinting at him and finally relented. “Alright then, I’ll graciously accept.” Internally, he was crying a storm.

Honesty is always the best policy!

Under Su Qing’s watchful gaze, Yue Qi carefully took a bite of the cookie. Perhaps because he’d braced himself for something truly awful, it actually wasn’t that bad. It tasted a bit like dried green peppers baked on pizza, with a subtle, spicy aroma.

“Did you add black pepper to this?” Yue Qi asked, taking another tentative bite of the green pepper cookie. Paired with the jasmine tea, it wasn’t as terrifying as he’d feared.

“Yep, I added extra black pepper this time. Not bad, huh? You really paid attention to the flavors. Next time, I’m thinking of making bitter melon cookies. You’ll have to be my taste tester again.” No, thank you.

Please, can we stop with these green-hued cookies?

But, as they say, the heartbroken get a free pass. Yue Qi could only swallow his complaints, silently nibbling on the cookies as punishment for his dishonesty.

After the dinner rush subsided, a temporary calm settled over the teahouse.

Su Qing returned to the bar to tidy up the tools and chatted with Yue Qi for a bit. He mentioned that the new servers were twin sisters with the surname Qiao, so he simply called them “Da Qiao” and “Xiao Qiao.”^[2]

Yue Qi took a closer look and exclaimed, “Wow, they really do look identical!”

“Can you tell them apart?”

“I can’t,” Su Qing admitted with a shrug.

“Then what do you do?” Yue Qi asked.

Su Qing suddenly called out, “Da Qiao!”

One of the servers raised her hand and responded, “Here.”

“That’s how I do it,” Su Qing said.

Yue Qi shook his head, laughing.

Once Su Qing finished up another wave of work, he sat down behind the bar. Yue Qi took the opportunity to pull out a small box, placing it on the bar and sliding it over to Su Qing.

Su Qing looked at the box, puzzled. “What’s this?”

“It’s something that doesn’t belong to me. I took it home that day, but I’m not sure if you want to see it again, so I put it in this box,” Yue Qi said, his hand still pressing down on the box. “If you don’t want to see it, I can…”

“Are you talking about the watch engraved with ‘QY’?” Su Qing interrupted openly. He took the box from Yue Qi’s hands, opened it, and retrieved the watch inside, smiling with a trace of helplessness.

“When I asked the artisan to engrave the initials, I used his name, but after it was done, I realized that flipped around, the letters ‘YQ’ made me think of the word for ‘friendship.’ Maybe it was subconscious, but it felt like fate. My love with him wasn’t meant to be,” Su Qing said calmly. He placed the watch back in the box. “Thank you for returning it. Da Wang predicted you’d give it back. He even said that if you did, he wanted it.”

“Huh? You’re giving it to him?” Yue Qi didn’t look pleased. “Then why not give it to me?” he blurted out without fully understanding his own words.

Su Qing shook his head with a smile. “It’s not suitable for you.”

“Why not? You just said it represents friendship,” Yue Qi protested, taking the watch out of the box again and fastening it onto his wrist. “I’ve worn it for the past few days and grown attached to it. Can’t you just let me have it?”

Su Qing furrowed his brows at Yue Qi’s odd behavior but, seeing how much he seemed to genuinely like the watch, hesitated before saying, “I suppose I could give it to you, but it’s not a gift. It’s… something someone didn’t want anymore…”

“Who says that? I want it, and I’ll even fight Da Wang for it,” Yue Qi declared. “This is a great watch. Just because someone else doesn’t appreciate it doesn’t mean everyone else is blind. Its value doesn’t diminish because of that.”

“…” Su Qing knew Yue Qi was talking about the watch, but the words still made his face flush and his heart race. He scolded himself inwardly for overthinking it. Yue Qi didn’t mean anything else. He couldn’t possibly mean anything else.

“Come on, let me have it,” Yue Qi continued to plead. “I’ll really cherish it. I looked it up—the watch is rated for 20 BAR. It can be used for diving up to 200 meters deep…”

“When did you start diving?” Su Qing asked suspiciously. He remembered Yue Qi saying he liked basketball, but he had never mentioned swimming, diving, or any other water sports.

“…I don’t dive,” Yue Qi quickly changed his tone. “With our job, we wash our hands a lot, and sometimes I forget to take off my watch when I shower. A waterproof watch like this is perfect for me. I’ll wear it every day…”

A diving watch isn’t meant to be used just for showering! Da Wang actually dives for real. Ah, forget it.

“Fine, fine. As long as you don’t mind,” Su Qing relented, unable to resist Yue Qi’s persistence.

“Of course I don’t mind,” Yue Qi said, grinning as he happily fastened the watch back onto his wrist.

Seeing how delighted Yue Qi was, Su Qing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This guy clearly didn’t lack for watches. The one he had taken off last time looked far more expensive than this one. What was the point of competing with Da Wang over this?

A fleeting thought crossed Su Qing’s mind—one so absurd he didn’t dare to examine it closely. But Su Qing knew what it was. It was an impossible idea, a ridiculous notion.

Shaking his head, he forced the fanciful thought out of his mind. Yet, for the rest of the evening, he couldn’t shake the illusion of being deeply cherished.

(To be continued…)

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