Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 215 - 212: Afraid You Might Be Bored

"Then I’ll ask your Old Sister for you," Qi Yi found the term brother-in-law increasingly pleasant to the ear.

"As long as you agree, my sister has no reason not to take me in.

Your family education is really good. I should learn more from you in the future.

I’ll give the phone back to my Old Sister now." Just like that, Jiao Zhifei happily ended his first call with Qi Yi.

The person who promised not to call him brother-in-law managed to say it six times in just a few sentences.

"Do you have a guest room where you’re staying now?" After Jiao Zhifei handed the phone back to Yan Yan, the first question Qi Yi asked was very different from what Yan Yan had in mind.

"Shouldn’t you be asking me why I went on a date with another man without giving you a heads-up first?" Yan Yan became curious herself.

"What other man? He’s my own little brother; how could I mind as his brother-in-law?

Your brother just said the couch would do, so you as his sister should take him in," Qi Yi emphasized the term brother-in-law particularly strongly.

"Really? You’re letting me take in a guy, who’s also quite good-looking and seems to have a fairly normal orientation, to stay overnight in my house?" Yan Yan actually wanted to take Jiao Zhifei in, but she hadn’t figured out how best to broach the subject with Qi Yi.

Unexpectedly, this odd flower solved everything just by calling out ’brother-in-law’ a few times.

"He’s quite good-looking?" Qi Yi’s memory of the former class president from the humanities class was a bit fuzzy.

Back in high school, Qi Yi knew that Yan Yan had a ’little brother’ and had met him a few times. Qi Yi never had the habit of paying attention to other boys’ looks; he scarcely even paid attention to his own face, let alone spent time pondering other boys’ features.

If the guy were standing in front of him, Qi Yi would definitely recognize him, but as for what exactly he looked like, Qi Yi had no vivid recollection.

"Hmm, my brother, he’s fair and beautiful, with white teeth and red lips, and has never had a pimple on his face—clearly, he has skin as smooth as a newborn baby." After sizing up Jiao Zhifei, Yan Yan made a "fair" assessment.

"So that’s your standard for a good-looking guy?" Qi Yi felt he learned something new today.

"Hahaha, do you want to know what my standard is for you?" Yan Yan asked Qi Yi with a laugh.

"I don’t want to know. I’m going to take care of the resignation. You two go ahead and eat," Qi Yi knew very well that asking Yan Yan about her standard now would definitely not lead to hearing what he wanted to hear.

Yan Yan found her mood slightly off today.

She thought Jiao Zhifei would get angry because of her mistrust, but he didn’t.

She thought Qi Yi would be upset because she hadn’t given him advance notice, but he wasn’t either. frёewebηovel.cѳm

Yan Yan’s ability to read people’s expressions, honed since she was young, usually allowed her to guess what others’ next reactions would be and prepare accordingly.

Why then, on this very day, did her keen observational skills produce errors one after another with Jiao Zhifei and Qi Yi?

Could it be that she had not been the target of scheming for too long, causing even her observational abilities to deteriorate?

Hadn’t it all been fine before?

It must be because she couldn’t read expressions over the phone.

.........

The slices of ham in the ’shared platter’ of ham and cheese had all been cured for at least three years, boasting beautiful marbling like marble, evenly fat and lean, rich without being greasy, lean without being tough, with a fragrance that was delightful even to the nose.

Yan Yan tasted a slice and, finding it was the dominant salty flavor of cured ham, she ordered a bottle of Riesling to go with the "tableful" of ham slices in front of her.

The sweetness of the Riesling was perfect for pairing with such ham, first a clash, then a blend, providing a lingering aftertaste.

But after biting into the sticky, smooth texture of homemade cheese, Yan Yan felt a pang of regret. It was oak-barrel-aged Chardonnay that would have been the perfect match for these homemade cheeses.

Yan Yan wanted to order another bottle of wine, but as the thought flickered by, she decided against it. Today was not the day to get herself drunk.

After getting something to eat and drink, Yan Yan finally asked Jiao Zhifei seriously, "Why did you think of coming to Florence at this time?"

"You arrived yesterday, didn’t you? I thought you might be bored, so I took the opportunity to come see you over the weekend." Jiao Zhifei found Yan Yan’s question a bit odd.

"You worried about me being bored? You actually thought I might be bored?" Yan Yan was somewhat disbelieving.

Jiao Zhifei was indeed like a block of decaying wood. When he had just started the relationship with Zhou Yuan, he never thought about giving her a call until the end of the day. How could Zhou Yuan not find him unreliable?

Jiao Zhifei couldn’t even grasp such a simple matter, so how could he figure that his Old Sister might be bored?

Perhaps this was what they call "a dead tree coming into bloom"? Yan Yan curiously searched Jiao Zhifei’s face for any signs of romance.

"Old Sister, did you get something in your eye today?

Why do you keep giving me such strange looks?

I was bored when I first arrived in London, so I assumed you would feel the same now that you’re in Italy." Jiao Zhifei finally realized that Yan Yan’s expression was a bit odd today.

Jiao Zhifei’s logic for visiting Yan Yan was based on his own personal experiences.

He was still viewing things from his perspective, which had nothing to do with being savvy or not.

And so, Yan Yan’s search for signs of romance on her love radar was fruitless.

"What made you bored when you first got to London?" Yan Yan retracted her probing look and asked her little brother with a smile.

"I just didn’t know where to go, what to eat, what to drink, what to do for fun, so yeah, I was bored." Jiao Zhifei answered honestly.

"For real? Aren’t you the one who said all you need is ’intellectual nourishment’? Weren’t Zhou Yuan and good books the only things you couldn’t let down?" Yan Yan’s last remark was something Jiao Zhifei used to say all the time.

But right after she said it, Yan Yan immediately regretted it.

After meeting in Shenzhen last time, Yan Yan never again heard Jiao Zhifei mention Zhou Yuan over the phone.

Talking about not letting down when one has just kicked the bucket on the subject was like tearing open people’s wounds for no reason.

"Zhou Yuan let me down, and I let down the books. That makes us even," Jiao Zhifei responded in a way that was quite consistent with his peculiar character.

"That works? How long are you planning to stay here?" Yan Yan decided to switch topics to save herself from saying too much again.

"Over the weekend, then I have two more days of annual leave," Jiao Zhifei answered Yan Yan’s question.

~~~~~~~

Xiao Mo heard that the number of words in this Chapter is an important metric for measuring a new writer’s potential~ Xiao Mo feels a bit short here~ (a face of grievance)

Where are all the Mo’er Fans? Remember to pop up in this Chapter after you finish reading it~

Although this is Xiao Mo’s second book, Xiao Mo is still a newbie this year~ (asking for a hug)