For The Rest of Our Life – Sometimes she seems to be unexpectedly alienated and inaccessible (2)

Xiao Yuqing bought live shrimp, put them in a bowl, which would still be stretching and contracting when she was cleaning them. Xiao Yuqing has been living alone for many years and is an excellent cook, so she is very skilled in handling the shrimp. She took a large pair of scissors and began to cut off the long whiskers and sharp corners of the shrimp one by one.

Lin Xian was ready to clean the pods and turned on the faucet while watching with interest as Xiao Yuqing proceeded to work.

When Xiao Yuqing used a toothpick to pick through the part that connected the head and body of the shrimp as she rinsed and pounded the tissue in the sandbag. Lin Xian spoke out in surprise with a quiet voice, “It’s struggling so hard, isn’t it painful.”

Xiao Yuing’s hand that was holding the toothpick couldn’t help but shake.　

Lin Xian’s voice continued in a low voice, “Look at its eyes, hasn’t it stared at you the whole time, it’s big, black and round eyes. It’s looking straight at you the whole time, it must be extremely painful.”

Xiao Yuqing couldn’t help but follow her words as she looked down quickly at the eyes of the fresh shrimp in her hand, feeling all the fine hairs on her body stand up for a moment.

Lin Xian, however, continued, “Look at the redness next to its head, is it it’s blood? Are you going to pull its head off alive later…”

Xiao Yuqing finally couldn’t help but interrupt her with a slight tremble in her voice. “Lin Xian, stop it…” She forced herself to calm down and put the shrimp back in the pot, turning her head to look at the mischievous girl who had succeeded in her prank, looking gentle and helpless. “Well, I’m going to tell you some bad news, maybe you won’t be able to eat shrimp anymore.”

The smile on Lin Xian’s bright little face froze and in the next instant she realized that she had really scared Xiao Yuqing and the joke had gone too far. Her eyes dimmed and she lowered her head apologetically, “I just wanted to tease you a bit, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Xiao Yuqing didn’t blame her, she just put the shrimp in the freezer and answered her softly, “I know, it’s okay. I’m the one who’s timid.” Afterwards, in order to convince Lin Xian that she really didn’t blame her, she argued understandingly, “When I was in college, I watched a movie and there was a small scene using anthropomorphic octopus legs. The machine had mashed it into meat, because the octopus legs were too thick and the scene was so realistic that after watching it, I would never eat octopus legs anymore, and even when I saw an octopus, I would reflexively want to vomit.”

Lin Xian listened but felt even more guilty, she didn’t know that Xiao Yuqing was so timid and had such poor mental capacity. She lowered her head and muffled her promise, “Then I won’t scare you anymore.”

Xiao Yuqing smiled gently and said, “Alright, it’s okay.” She changed the subject, “Can you help me peel these garlic bulbs?”

Lin Xian nodded her head.

When Lin Xian peeled and washed the garlic, she grabbed it and was prepared to pass it to Xiao Yuqing, Xiao Yuqing seemed to feel it and turned her head to look at Lin Xian. When the two of them met, Xiao Yuqing squinted her eyes slightly and a small smile flowed in her eyes.

Translator: I’m back!!! Yay! *clap clap clap* Nobody told me it was okay but as soon as I got to the hotel Friday? I don’t remember what day it was bu- wait, it was Saturday. But as soon as I got to the hotel, somebody asked me “why didn’t you bring your laptop?”
(ㆆ_ㆆ) …Imagine the sadness I felt.

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