TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 7

Wen Chenxi hadn’t replied for a long time, leaving Zhuang Yanyu wondering if his good buddy liked it or not.

Could he understand his true feelings?

Though inexperienced, Zhuang Yanyu knew some things couldn’t be pursued too eagerly. Breaking things down might not yield a satisfying answer.

So he stopped waiting for Wen Chenxi’s response, put away his phone, and boarded the bus home.

Usually, Zhuang Yanyu went straight home after work, having dinner every day at 6:30 p.m.

Today, he got home later than usual, so dinner was also delayed. Zhuang Yanyu didn’t sit at the dining table to eat until 7 PM. Normally, by 7 PM, he would already be downstairs in the neighborhood, beginning his task of learning about human behavior.

Zhuang Yanyu felt a bit conflicted. Not being able to complete his planned tasks on time was like a clock’s second hand skipping from 20 seconds to 60 seconds instead of moving steadily from 0 to 60 seconds; it made him feel uncomfortable and out of sync. But he quickly let it go, thinking, “Life as a human has its joyful times and its down moments too.”

“I’ve experienced joy from my brothers, so life gives me a little bit of discomfort elsewhere. This is the law of energy conservation,” he thought. After all, he and his father chose to live as humans after retirement precisely because humans are different from machines. A machine programmed to operate in a certain way is unchanging. Human life, on the other hand, is full of possibilities, unpredictability, and complexity.

With that, Zhuang Yanyu stopped fretting and began to eat slowly and carefully, following scientific eating habits. As usual, he finished his meal in 20 minutes, washed the dishes in 5, tidied up the kitchen, and prepared to go downstairs to study.

Just then, his phone suddenly chimed with a WeChat notification. Checking his phone, he saw that Wen Chenxi, who hadn’t replied for a long time, finally sent a response: “I don’t dislike it.”

Zhuang Yanyu was immediately pleased. His friend didn’t dislike it. Not disliking meant he was somewhat satisfied.

Zhuang Yanyu: “That’s a relief.”

Meanwhile, over at the Ji family estate, Wen Chenxi had been staring at the gift he received for quite a while. The birthday banquet had already started officially, and people were concerned about Wen Chenxi’s whereabouts. After dealing with one group of guests, another group would appear. Finally, Ji Zhiyuan personally went to the back garden to call for Wen Chenxi.

When he reached the garden, he saw his friend sitting there, gazing at something. Ji Zhiyuan was taken aback—it was the first time he’d seen Wen Chenxi not on his phone or laptop, handling work. Instead, he was looking at… a figurine?

Curiously, Ji Zhiyuan asked, “Old Wen, why are you staring at that? Where did it come from? I don’t think we have anything like that at home.”

As he reached out to touch it, Wen Chenxi blocked his hand. He put the figurine away and asked calmly, “Has the banquet started?”

Ji Zhiyuan was still processing, “Oh… yes, it started a while ago.” He watched as Wen Chenxi placed the figurine in his expensive suit pocket, causing a slight bulge that distorted the tailored fit.

Finally, Ji Zhiyuan understood and asked, “Is that yours?”

Wen Chenxi replied, “It was a gift.”

Ji Zhiyuan blinked in confusion. “??”

Who would give Wen Chenxi something like that? It looked like something that might cost just a few dozen yuan, maybe a hundred. Didn’t they consider Wen Chenxi’s status when they gave it to him? Didn’t they realize how modestly priced it was?

“Wait, that looks like one of those miniatures people place on wedding cars as decorations for the bride and groom…” Ji Zhiyuan mumbled as he followed Wen Chenxi, who briefly paused but then asked, “Are you coming or not?”

Ji Zhiyuan muttered, “I’m coming, I’m coming. It really does look like that, though. Why can’t I mention it? Oh, by the way, up ahead, people are waiting for you, so you might have to deal with that.”

Wen Chenxi didn’t mind, or perhaps he was already used to it. “Alright.”

After a few more steps, Wen Chenxi suddenly asked, “If someone gives you a gift, isn’t it appropriate to return the favor?”

Ji Zhiyuan shrugged, “Depends on the relationship. If I’m not close with them, I might not even accept it. If I am close, then of course I’d return a gift.”

Wen Chenxi nodded, already thinking about what to give in return.

The next day.

After clocking in, Zhuang Yanyu sat at his desk, only to find a beautifully wrapped box sitting there. Inside the box was a palm-sized piece of cake.

Looking at the cake, Zhuang Yanyu was puzzled. “?”

His colleagues quickly began to talk about it. “Xiao Zhuang, who sent you this cake? Was it the girl from the customer service team?”

“Didn’t you see it this morning? It was already there when I arrived.”

Zhou Quan, with his sharp eyes, said in surprise, “This cake is really expensive. Sometimes you can’t even buy it even if you have money because of the wait time. And this early in the morning, the shop probably isn’t even open yet. How did you get it, Xiao Zhuang?”

Zhuang Yanyu said seriously, “It’s not mine.”

“But it was here when we arrived, so it must be for you. Check if there’s a note.”

Zhuang Yanyu looked inside the box and found a small note that read, “To: Zhuang Yanyu,” with a signature that was simply the character “Wen.”

Zhou Quan asked, “So, is it for you?”

Zhuang Yanyu replied, “Yes.”

The whole office let out a collective “Ooh” in envy, asking if it was from a girl and who she was. Fortunately, everyone was just teasing him and returned to work after a while.

Since the department raised salaries recently, everyone had been much more eager to work, even Zhou Quan, who usually clocked in at the last second, now came in early regularly.

Once everyone was back at their desks, Zhuang Yanyu looked at the note thoughtfully. Of all the people he knew, only his close friend had the surname Wen.

Could it be his friend who sent it?

Zhuang Yanyu took a picture of the cake with his phone and sent it to Wen Chenxi: “Did you buy this?”

Wen Chenxi quickly replied: “Yes, I heard it’s good. Young people seem to like it a lot.”

Zhuang Yanyu felt happy—it really was from his good friend.

Zhuang Yanyu: “Thank you.”

Wen Chenxi: “Try it.”

Actually, Zhuang Yanyu was already full. He strictly followed scientific and healthy eating habits—only eating until he was 70% full, avoiding heavy oils and salts in the morning, and paying attention to nutritional balance. These habits were developed based on data-backed recommendations for a healthy lifestyle. Now that he was human, he wanted to take care of his body.

But since this was a gift from his friend—the first thing his friend had given him—he had to finish it! Breaking the rules just this once wouldn’t hurt.

He happily ate the cake and quickly messaged his friend: “Delicious, really delicious.”

In his office, Wen Chenxi looked at the reply and couldn’t help but smile slightly. He imagined how Zhuang Yanyu must look when he eats—like a little pampered kitten, carefully nibbling, looking particularly well-behaved.

From that day on, every morning, a beautifully crafted, high-end cake appeared on Zhuang Yanyu’s desk.

In the first week, Zhuang Yanyu was delighted with the daily cake. In the second week, he began to hesitate a bit; after all, he preferred a healthy diet, and eating sugary treats every day felt a bit unusual to him. By the third week, when the cake continued to appear every morning, Zhuang Yanyu opened his chat with Wen Chenxi, unsure of what to say.

He started typing but felt that his message didn’t sound right, so he deleted it. He typed and deleted for several minutes, unable to decide on a response.

He finally understood the complexity of human emotions. So this is what it feels like to struggle with how to say something… how curious.

Perhaps noticing his indecision, Wen Chenxi sent a message.

Wen Chenxi: “What’s up?”

Zhuang Yanyu deleted his previous draft and replied: “What’s up with what?”

Wen Chenxi: “What do you want to say?”

As a system with excellent inferential abilities, Zhuang Yanyu quickly realized that Wen Chenxi must have opened the chat and seen the “typing” indicator, only to wait and see no message, which prompted him to ask.

Wanting to be honest with his friend, Zhuang Yanyu carefully typed: “I want to tell you the truth, but I’m worried the truth might upset you.”

Zhuang Yanyu: “I don’t want you to be unhappy, so I’m not sure if I should say it.”

After sending the message, Zhuang Yanyu held his breath. He felt that his friendship with his good buddy had entered a new phase—a phase of adjustment!

In any long-lasting friendship, after getting to know each other, there comes a crucial period of adjustment. If they could get through this, congratulations—they could become lifelong friends who support each other! If not, then, unfortunately, they would just be a passerby in each other’s lives.

Wen Chenxi: “Go ahead.”

Wen Chenxi: “I won’t be upset.”

Zhuang Yanyu read Wen Chenxi’s reassurance carefully, then typed: “Alright, I’ll be direct.”

Wen Chenxi: “Okay.”

Then, Wen Chenxi waited. A minute passed, five minutes, ten minutes—and still nothing in the chat. There wasn’t even an “typing” indicator anymore.

Wen Chenxi: ?

Didn’t he say he would tell him?

Growing impatient and unable to focus on work, Wen Chenxi picked up his office phone. “Did the engineering department borrow Zhuang Yanyu again?”

Assistant Lin: “One moment, I’ll check.”

A minute later, Assistant Lin replied, “No, the engineering department didn’t borrow anyone today. Zhuang Yanyu is still in the tech services department.”

So, why no response?

After another half hour, just as Wen Chenxi was about to send someone to check on him, he saw a message notification pop up from Zhuang Yanyu’s profile picture.

It was a file. ?

A file?

With a hint of curiosity, Wen Chenxi accepted and opened it. The document title read:

“Personal Psychological and Physical Report on Zhuang Yanyu.”

The content began as follows:

“First of all, thank you, Ah Xi, for the cake. It made me very happy. Here’s how I showed my happiness— ① I usually only eat until I’m 70% full, but because I was happy, I made sure to eat the cake you sent every day. ② I normally only show six teeth when I smile at work, but after eating the cake, I would show all eight teeth in my smile…”

Reading through the list of six expressions of happiness, each one was serious on its own, but together, they were oddly cute and funny.

Wen Chenxi: “…”

He continued reading.

“Though sweets are nice, they inevitably cause harm to the body. Research shows that cakes contain far more calories than other foods. Excess energy intake can easily lead to obesity; the high sugar content in cakes can cause blood sugar spikes… To summarize: eating cakes long-term can cause ① elevated blood lipids, ② increased blood sugar, and ③ risk of obesity, among other serious health issues.”

The document continued with detailed, almost academic information about the health risks associated with those three issues.

Finally, it ended with the main point:

“So really, there’s no need to send any more cakes!”

After reading it, Wen Chenxi was silent for a while. No wonder it took him over half an hour to write; it was over two thousand words. Not bad, he worked pretty quickly.

Wen Chenxi couldn’t help but laugh.

Wen Chenxi: “I’ve finished reading it.”

Zhuang Yanyu: “So I won’t see any more cake tomorrow, right?”

Wen Chenxi: “Yes. Gained a few pounds?”

Now it was Zhuang Yanyu’s turn to go silent.

He was silent for a full five minutes.

As a former system that took data very seriously, he respected every digit after the decimal point, and if the scale could show three more decimal places, he would respect those too.

Zhuang Yanyu: “3.76 pounds!!!”

The triple exclamation marks fully expressed his disbelief and frustration.

Outside the CEO’s office, Assistant Lin, who had come to deliver documents, suddenly heard a low chuckle from inside.

—

Author’s Note:

PS—

Zhuang Yanyu: “Darn adjustment phase!”

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