I Start with a Mysterious Island-Chapter 44: A Heart Full of Resentment for a Certain Person

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: A Heart Full of Resentment for a Certain Person

Seeing her mom drop the act and get straight to the point, Su Yue stopped making excuses. "I’m just not into him," she said bluntly.

"Feelings can be cultivated over time. Besides, you’ve only met Zhang Xiaohao once. How can you be so sure there’s nothing there?"

"Mom, stop. Not into him means not into him."

"You..." Seeing how resolute her daughter was, Su Yue’s mother was momentarily at a loss for words.

The mother and daughter fell silent on the phone.

After half a minute, Su Yue’s mother spoke again. "Xiaoyue, you say you have no feelings for an excellent guy like Zhang Xiaohao. Then tell me, what kind of guy do you have feelings for?"

Su Yue sat cross-legged on the sofa, holding the phone in her right hand, her left hand resting on her pale, smooth thigh.

Hearing her mother ask such a question after a long silence, she froze for a moment. Then, the image of a certain someone surfaced in her mind.

When her daughter didn’t answer, Su Yue’s mother seemed to sense something. She asked uncertainly, "Xiaoyue, are you already seeing someone?"

Startled by her mother’s question, Su Yue snapped back to reality and immediately denied it. "No! If I really had a boyfriend, I would definitely tell you..."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Oh, Xiaoyue! Don’t blame Mom for constantly setting you up. You have to think, you’re not getting any younger. You’ll be twenty-six after the New Year...

"If you already have a boyfriend, just bring him home for your dad and me to see. Then I’ll stop trying to introduce you to people..."

"Mom, I really don’t have a boyfriend, why don’t you believe me... Look, that’s enough for now. I’m going to take a shower."

"Alright, alright, I believe you. Let’s leave it at that for today. Go take your shower.

"Let me just say one more thing. If you really do have someone you like, be brave and bring him home. Your dad and I aren’t some old-fashioned patriarchs. As long as you like him, that’s all that matters."

"..." Hearing her mother’s words, Su Yue replied with a helpless expression, "I know. If I find someone, I’ll bring him back for you and Dad to meet."

After hanging up, Su Yue tossed her phone aside, slumped over, and fell onto the sofa, burying her face in her pale, smooth arms.

"What’s the use in me liking him? That block of wood is scared of his own shadow. The moment I get a little closer, he completely chickens out.

"If I confessed, I’m afraid he’d turn and run. After that, we probably couldn’t even be friends anymore." Su Yue muttered, her heart full of resentment for a certain someone.

* * *

「In the living room.」

"CRUNCH, CRUNCH..."

As Lin Li watched TV and ate some KFC, his ears suddenly felt hot.

He touched his ears with the back of his hand and grumbled to himself, ’Who’s talking about me behind my back now?’

"DING DONG..."

Lin Li had just finished a spicy fried chicken leg when the doorbell rang.

He pulled a napkin from the box, wiped his hands, and went to the entryway.

Looking through the peephole, he saw it was his next-door neighbor, so he opened the door.

"Miss Xia, what’s this...?"

"I steamed some pork buns. Have a taste."

"Oh, you’re too kind. You should keep them for Zhou Tongtong to eat!"

"I made a bit too many, and there are still a lot left at home. It’s just me and Tongtong, so we can’t possibly finish them all. Don’t be polite."

’Just her and her daughter? Where’s her husband?’

The question flashed through Lin Li’s mind. He hesitated for a moment, then accepted the plate of hot, large pork buns from Xia Qing. "W-well, alright then. Thanks, Miss Xia."

"You can just call me Xia Qing." Xia Qing smiled when she saw Lin Li accept her steamed buns.

"Okay. You can just call me by my name, too," Lin Li nodded.

"Mm."

"Wait a moment, let me empty the plate and give it back to you."

"Mm."

Lin Li turned and walked to the kitchen with the pork buns. A moment later, he returned to the door with the empty plate and handed it back to Xia Qing.

"Let me know when you finish them. I still have plenty more!" Xia Qing said with a smile as she took the plate.

"This is more than enough! That plate had about eleven or twelve buns. That’s enough for two or three meals for me," Lin Li said with a laugh.

The two chatted for a few more sentences before parting ways.

"THUD."

After closing the door, Lin Li scratched his head, wondering if he should also make something to eat as a return gift for his beautiful neighbor.

The thought had barely surfaced in his mind for three seconds before he dismissed it.

Because Lin Li knew that with his cooking skills, anything he made as a return gift for his neighbor would be too embarrassing to present.

’I’ll leave it for now. No need to rush a return gift; there will be plenty of opportunities later.’

Lin Li walked into the kitchen and picked up a large pork bun from the small bowl.

"So hot! These buns must have just been steamed... Man, Miss Xia brought me such a big plate as soon as she finished steaming them. She’s so friendly!"

Lin Li juggled the bun between his hands for a moment before taking a big bite.

"Hm? There are shiitake mushrooms in the meat. This tastes really good. The buns Miss Xia made are on par with the ones Su Yue used to make."

After eating one large pork bun, Lin Li stopped. There was still some KFC left in the living room! He would finish that off first.

He could have Xia Qing’s steamed buns as a late-night snack if he got hungry later, and then have them for breakfast the next morning.

* * *

"SPLASH..." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

After dinner, Lin Li squirted some body wash in the bathroom to wash his greasy hands.

"BURP~" Lin Li walked out of the bathroom, letting out a belch. He had eaten a little too much for dinner; after finishing the KFC, he had eaten two more of Xia Qing’s large pork buns.

He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he felt like his appetite had grown a little bigger than before.

’They say people who do manual labor have big appetites, and it’s true,’ Lin Li thought. It was probably because he had used up so much energy in the wilderness this afternoon, which increased his appetite.

Full and satisfied, it was time to go to the Mysterious Small Island to check on his precious little fruit. After all, he had toiled all afternoon under the hot sun for it!

With a single thought, a Spiritual Light flashed around Lin Li as he sat on the sofa, and he instantly vanished.

On the Mysterious Small Island, shrouded in a vast, white mist, a figure appeared out of thin air.

* * *