Gan Lan gave a soft snort.

“If you can’t finish it, then don’t ask someone to make you so much!”

Wasting food was shameful.

Gan Lan had once lived through some very lean times, and thrift was etched into her bones.

Making do with Ye Yubai’s chopsticks and bowl, she ate every last bit that was left.

As she ate, she scolded the wasteful guy.

“I told you that was all you could eat. You wouldn’t be able to finish any more, but you just wouldn’t believe me.”

She nudged the food around with her chopsticks.

Then she gestured to show him how much.

“There. Next time, only make this much. Got it?”

Her cheeks puffed out, and she looked thoroughly indignant.

She was clearly lecturing him, but somehow she looked more cute and coquettish than anything.

Ye Yubai covered his mouth, chuckling softly.

He’d been scolded, and yet it made him happy.

How strange.

……

After dinner,

Gan Lan cleared the table and carried the dishes and chopsticks back to the kitchen.

Ye Yubai very readily offered to wash up.

Gan Lan was happy to let him.

Once the sounds around the house had died away, the two of them—each in a separate room—still couldn’t fall asleep.

Gan Lan was still trying hard to recall every detail about that lottery ticket.

She checked those two numbers over and over.

A melancholy feeling settled in her heart.

“I wonder if I just imagined those numbers, or if they were real.”

She tossed and turned in bed until her shoulders ached.

In the end, she got up and climbed out of bed.

“I’ll go to the bathroom.”

She didn’t actually need to use it. It was just a habit she’d picked up after starting work.

Whenever she ran into something she couldn’t figure out or solve, she’d sit on the toilet lid, rest her chin in her hand, and think.

Every now and then, she’d have a nice cigarette, too.

But her high-school sophomore self hadn’t even learned to smoke yet. And now that she was in a girl’s body, she’d decided to quit the habit.

“If I don’t smoke, I can chew gum instead.”

“And if there’s no gum, I can just close my eyes and rest!”

“I should really quit smoking sooner rather than later.”

She opened her bedroom door and headed toward the bathroom.

Just past the corner of the hall, she caught sight of the bathroom light.

Gan Lan stopped short, then turned around to leave without a second thought.

But the sounds from inside the bathroom had already reached her ears.

Those long, lilting moans made her whole body go numb.

Even if she’d thought about it with her toes, she could’ve guessed what kind of unmentionable stuff Ye Yubai was watching.

“Ye Yubai! What’s wrong with him?! In the middle of the night… hiding in the bathroom… watching… watching that kind of…”

Gan Lan gritted her teeth.

Her face turned scarlet in an instant.

But her steps grew more and more unsteady.

Her arm bumped into something beside her.

With a loud thump, the thermos on the table suddenly toppled to the floor.

The sounds in the bathroom stopped dead.

Ye Yubai held his phone in one hand and pushed the door open with the other.

……

At that very moment,

time stood still.

Gan Lan stared at him in alarm, crouched halfway to the floor like someone caught sneaking around and eavesdropping.

Ye Yubai, meanwhile, looked perfectly calm.

He had absolutely no idea what shame was.

How did that saying go? If I’m not embarrassed, then you’re the ones who should be.

So at that moment, Gan Lan’s face was red enough to drip blood.

She’d never run into something this awkward in either of her two lives!

Gan Lan: “Um, I was going to…”

She ought to explain herself, at least a little.

But no matter how she explained it, she couldn’t hide the fact that she’d overheard what was going on!

Ye Yubai: “You were going to the bathroom?”

Gan Lan nodded with difficulty.

Bathroom, my foot!

Her head was full of those long, lilting moans. She could practically see the scene in her mind!

If she went in there and caught a whiff of that semen-like smell, she’d have nightmares tonight for sure.

Ye Yubai put his phone away as if nothing had happened.

He stepped aside.

“Go ahead. I’m heading back to my room.”

She watched Ye Yubai walk away.

Gan Lan sprang to her feet and called after him without thinking.

“Wait a second!” Her expression was grave.

“Hm?” Ye Yubai turned to look at her.

“Y-you shouldn’t do that kind of thing too much, you know?” Gan Lan decided she should try to talk to Ye Yubai from the perspective of a worldly adult.

Though in her previous life, she’d never heard that Ye Yubai had any kind of physical problem…

But!

You never knew, right?

What if he was too embarrassed to talk about it, so no one knew?

Ye Yubai scratched his head, looking baffled. “What thing?”

Gan Lan was speechless.

That kind of thing!

How could she say it outright?

Ye Yubai frowned. “What thing, exactly? Stop being so vague and just tell me.”

As he spoke, he started walking toward her.

Gan Lan backed away step by step.

She retreated until her back hit the wall and she had nowhere else to go.

Ye Yubai reached out toward her.

Leaning against the wall, Gan Lan slowly crouched down.

He crouched down along with her.

His hand came to rest on her head.

“Gan Lan, talk.” His tone was calm, but it carried a hint of pressure.

In a dim corner of the living room, she hung her head and rubbed the back of her neck helplessly.

Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

“I-I’m just warning you. Doing that isn’t very good for your… your, um… health…”

“What did I do?”

With him pressing her at every turn, Gan Lan just couldn’t get the words out.

The awkward silence dragged on.

Ye Yubai withdrew his hand, shifted his feet, and crouched against the wall beside her.

“I didn’t do anything, Gan Lan. Did you misunderstand something?”

He even sounded a little aggrieved.

Gan Lan hugged her knees and buried her face in them, playing ostrich.

Ye Yubai turned his head and glanced at her.

“If you’re going to accuse me, at least let me know what I’m supposedly guilty of.”

Gan Lan secretly pulled out her phone, opened the browser, and quickly typed a few words into the search bar. Then she held the lit screen out to Ye Yubai.

Ye Yubai took it and looked. He froze on the spot.

The screen clearly read: “Frequent masturbation can cause… prolonged congestion, reduced local immunity, and fatigue and weakness… In severe cases, it may lead to infertility later in life…”

He ran a hand through his hair and coughed twice.

The phone suddenly felt scorching hot in his hand, and he quickly gave it back to Gan Lan.

Gan Lan let out a soft breath and said quietly, “I know this isn’t something I should be saying to you.”

Ye Yubai sighed. “I appreciate you caring about my… health, but…”

As he spoke, a hint of suppressed laughter crept into his voice.

“But I think you really did misunderstand.”

Then he took out his phone, opened what he’d been watching, and held it out in front of Gan Lan.

Gan Lan took the phone and glanced at it.

On the screen was a beautiful young elf receiving a back massage.

Those long, lilting moans from earlier had come from her.

Aside from the moaning, which was rather out of place, everything else was perfectly wholesome.

Ye Yubai deliberately let out a whistle.

“As a macho man, it’s perfectly reasonable for me to watch a beautiful elf girl, right?”