Love Apartment: Yifei is my junior aunt

Chapter 41 Wan Yu's Tears

As night falls, the lights are on.

The empty 3604 apartment had its doors and windows tightly shut and was completely silent.

In the pitch-black 3603, the faint strains of an old record player could be heard. Nanfeng lay with his eyes closed on a swing chair that was slowly rocking on the balcony. His feet were propped up on the edge of the swing chair, his hands were placed on his lower abdomen, and there was a comfortable smile on his lips. At first glance, he looked like a peaceful dead man.

The candlelight flickered in room 3602 as Meijia and Curry Sauce bustled about in every corner of the living room and kitchen, striving to create a romantic scene for the victorious negotiator and the beautiful woman who had traveled from afar.

As for 3601...

Um, 3601...

Sigh, 3601...

"Next, let's talk about how to maintain the metallic paint on the model. First and foremost, as I've mentioned countless times: try to avoid getting it wet and touching it with your fingers..."

Inside room 3601, Zhanbo was giving a long and detailed explanation of the cleaning and maintenance of various parts of the figurine model.

He became more and more excited as he spoke, and when he got emotional, he would even stand up from the sofa and walk around the living room three and a half times.

It's as if he's not standing in the living room of 3601, but on a stage performing "Romeo and Juliet".

"well……"

Amidst the enthusiastic teaching voices filling the room, Wan Yu's helpless sighs could be heard intermittently.

Wan Yu held her face in her hands, turning her head from time to time to make sure her eyes could follow Zhan Bo, who was performing an opera.

Wan Yu's smile was polite but stiff; it was less a smile and more a mysterious arc forced out by her hands pulling at the corners of her mouth.

If she could still manage a polite smile, then the utter despair in her eyes was undoubtedly the truest reflection of her inner state at that moment.

Who am I? Who is he?

Where am I? Where is this place?

What am I doing? And what is he doing?

I'm so devastated!!!

Wan Yu roared in her heart.

If a tall, handsome young man who is determined to find a partner can remain pure and innocent despite studying abroad for many years, then Zhanbo's deeply ingrained straight-male nature is definitely the biggest contributor to his single life.

All the excitement and ambiguity were limited to the first three minutes of the lesson. As Zhanbo gradually got into the teaching mode, the shy boy who was originally stumbling and explaining instantly evolved into a passionate lecturer who was full of energy.

The tedious content that Wanyu found completely uninteresting also entered her ears along with Teacher Zhanbo's loud voice.

While knowledge corrupted Wanyu's ears, it also poured cold water on her burning red ears.

"Wanyu, Wanyu?"

Zhanbo shook Wanyu's eyelids, which were already beginning to close.

"Ah, what's wrong?" Wanyu forced herself to stay alert.

"How should we maintain the metallic paint on the model?" Zhanbo asked.

"Should...should..." Wan Yu yawned and kept repeating "should" for a long time, but couldn't come up with anything useful.

"Sorry, Zhanbo, I fell asleep just now," Wanyu mumbled sleepily.

[Wanyu, while holding up the bags piled on her left and grabbing the Transformers model on her right: "Oh my god, why is cleaning and maintaining a figurine harder than cleaning and maintaining a luxury handbag?!"]

Wan Yu was inwardly grumbling, but she forgot that although her luxury bags did indeed need regular cleaning and maintenance.

Even her most treasured and favorite luxury handbags were never cleaned and maintained by her personally.

Not to mention those "worthless things" that can be replaced or discarded at any time.

Zhanbo said considerately, "Wanyu, you can go and rest if you're tired... If you really can't learn it, I can help you with the cleaning and maintenance of that Transformers set."

"No need, absolutely no need, I'll do it myself, I can do it myself." Wan Yu was startled by Zhan Bo's words and instantly lost all sleepiness.

She forced a smile that had almost dried up from the evening: "Zhanbo, I just didn't get enough rest today. Trust me, I'll definitely learn it tomorrow."

"Wanyu..." Zhanbo hesitated, but finally steeled himself and asked, "Actually, do you not really like these things?"

"No, I really like it." Wan Yu still held a sliver of hope that Zhan Bo wouldn't notice.

Zhanbo looked as if all his energy had been drained. He was no longer in his "energetic" state and sat back down on the sofa dejectedly.

"So you really don't like these things, Transformers, cleaning and maintaining figurines."

And then there's me, so weird and boring... I thought if I just talked harder, you might like me.

Whether it's liking Transformers, or...

Zhanbo is a bit dull and straightforward; when he talks about things he likes, he has a desire to express himself without caring about the lives of others.

But that doesn't mean he's a fool or blind.

With Wan Yu's personality, it's quite obvious whether she likes or dislikes something. Even if Zhan Bo has low emotional intelligence and might not have noticed at first, they've been sitting here for so long that even with his low emotional intelligence, Zhan Bo has finally realized it.

"I didn't, I just..." Wan Yu wanted to argue, but when she saw Zhan Bo's sincere eyes, she instantly felt that even if she said another word against her conscience, it would be like spitting out a sharp blade from her throat, hurting herself and others.

Wan Yu lowered her head and said somewhat resignedly, "I just don't understand what the point of cleaning and maintenance is. If it breaks, we can just buy another set."

"But this is a limited edition originally produced in the United States twenty years ago, and it is no longer sold worldwide."

"Zhanbo." Wanyu tried her best to protect Zhanbo's self-esteem. "My father told me since I was little that in this world, apart from integrity and character, these spiritual things can't be bought with money. All material things..."

"If you have enough money, you can definitely buy it."

However, Zhanbo wasn't as fragile in his self-esteem as Wanyu thought, or rather, Zhanbo's emotional intelligence and way of thinking didn't allow him to think in a way that would hurt his self-esteem.

"It seems like the idea that you can buy anything materially as long as you're rich enough is true," Zhanbo said, shrugging. "But that's the life of the rich. I don't have any money right now. I'm just an ordinary person. Why should I think like you?"

Wan Yu was taken aback.

Zhanbo added, "By the way, you don't have any money either... no, you're even poorer than me. Since we're both just ordinary people now, and neither of us has that much money, we can't just buy whatever we want. But we should at least protect this limited edition we managed to get, right?"

Wan Yu chuckled; this was the first time in her life she had ever heard someone say she was poor.

But Zhanbo is right. If she were at home, she could certainly say that she could buy anything with money.

Forget about those limited edition Transformers from the US twenty years ago. Even if Transformers really exist in this world, if I want them, my dad can have them parked in our garage the very next day.

But now she's just Wan Yu from Love Apartment, with no family background, no connections, no education, and not even a job.

Then what right does she have to say these things?

"Zhanbo, you're right. We're just ordinary people now, and we can't expect to buy everything with money."

"Right, I think so too." Zhanbo's dejected expression brightened a bit. "Besides, many things can't be bought with money. For example, this Transformers set took me ten years to collect. It's beyond what money can measure."

Wan Yu asked curiously, "If someone were willing to pay five million to buy this Transformers set from you, would you sell it?"

"Of course we'll sell! That's five million! Why wouldn't we sell? Only a fool wouldn't."

Wan Yu joked, "Then why did you say this Transformers set couldn't be measured in money? You think a mere five million would be enough to get rid of you?"

"What do you mean by a mere five million?" Zhanbo's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock. "Five million is a lot! I might not even earn five million in ten years!"

Wan Yu originally wanted to say that before her card was frozen, five million yuan wouldn't have been enough for her to live on for half a year. Even so, she was considered a thrifty person who didn't spend much money among her circle of girlfriends.

But when the words reached her lips, Wanyu still couldn't bring herself to say them.

Before Wanyu could say anything, Zhanbo started talking to himself: "And what I meant by 'not being able to measure in money' wasn't the value of the Transformers set itself. If someone is really willing to pay such a high price to buy it, then I will definitely sell it."

"Compared to my hobby, I would definitely choose money, which could significantly improve my family's living conditions, because I love my parents and older sister more than Transformers."

"Zhanbo..."

"But even if money could buy the Transformers in my hands, it couldn't buy what's truly precious: the memories I have with Transformers."

"It took me ten years to collect all of these Transformers. The money I used to buy the first Optimus Prime was the first pot of gold I earned by writing code for someone else for several months."

"Even so, I had to beg Nanfeng for a long time before he finally agreed to ask Aunt Gu for help so that she could make a special trip to the United States to bring it back for me."

"After I got my hands on this Optimus Prime, I was the one who went online to find information on how to clean and maintain it. Back then, the internet wasn't as convenient as it is now, where you can easily find the information you want."

"I researched for a long time, but in the end, I still had to try each step one by one, testing each tool and making mistakes along the way. I bought dozens of different soft-bristled brushes and tested them one by one before finding the best one..."

When Zhanbo talked about things he liked, he got excited again and regained his desire to express himself without caring about the lives of others.

Wan Yu gazed at the excited Zhan Bo, whose eyes shone with such fervor and brilliance. Even without hearing Zhan Bo's words, Wan Yu understood from his gaze what that immeasurable thing truly was.

Zhanbo became happier and happier as he talked, but every bit of his happiness seemed to be forcibly ripped out of Wanyu. The more warmth he radiated, the more Wanyu felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

Regret and remorse filled Wan Yu's chest. She had never tasted regret before, having always been carefree.

Even though she voluntarily gave up her comfortable life and ran back to China alone, and is now running out of money and can barely afford the rent, Wan Yu is at most just depressed and frustrated.

Tonight, the carefree little princess finally experienced the taste of regret for the first time.

The feeling was like acid reflux in your stomach, like someone was putting invisible pressure on your heart, like someone was cutting your flesh with a dull knife...

In short, this feeling is very, very bad, and Wanyu hates it.

I hate this feeling, and I hate Lu Zhanbo for making me feel this way.

I especially hate myself for making mistakes.

"Wanyu, you look terrible." Zhanbo finally noticed Wanyu's unusual expression. He was at a loss and said, "Wanyu, what's wrong? Did I say too much again and you didn't like what I said? Don't worry, I won't say these things anymore. I won't say these things anymore from now on."

"No, I really enjoy listening to it." Wan Yu's eyes were filled with tears. She stubbornly raised her head and asked with a hint of reproach and self-reproach, "Since you treasure your tin can so much, why did you give it to me?"

Zhanbo fell silent.

"Tell me quickly, or I'll ignore you."

"I'll talk, I'll talk..." Zhanbo moved his lips and said in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "I don't know what you like, and I don't know what I should give you that you'd like, so I can only give you my favorite thing, give it to..."

This is for you, my favorite person.

Before Zhanbo could finish speaking, Wanyu finally couldn't hold back her tears and started sobbing loudly.

Here it comes!

(End of this chapter)