Chapter 20 — At the moment, Xia Wei felt as if she was on stage, performing in the opera, as an old military general.
Feeling her heartbeat speed up indescribably, Xia Wei panicked internally and could only immerse herself in eating to hide her agitation. Once she had finished eating everything in her bowl, her heart had finally calmed down.
Jiang Zhi Zhou looked at her from across the table. “Are you not afraid about getting fat from eating so much?”
Xia Wei: “…”
Why did her heart actually speed up for this trade-building straight guy?!
She set down her chopsticks and looked solemnly at him. “Let me instruct you a bit more. Even if a girl eats a lot, you should not tell her she will get fat. On the contrary, you should comfort her and say that even if you get fat, I will still like you just as much.”
“You girls have so many issues.” Jiang Zhi Zhou placed quite a bit of ridicule in his tone in the word ‘girls.’
Xia Wei paid no mind to his tone and merely said, “Falling in love is naturally a troublesome matter.”
Jiang Zhi Zhou started. “I second this point.”
The hotpot dinner continued rather merrily, but the mood became rather unpleasant when the question of who would be was.h.i.+ng the dishes came up. Xia Wei felt that since she provided all the food and hotpot ingredients, Jiang Zhi Zhou should clean up. Jiang Zhi Zhou retorted that she was the one to invite him to dinner.
Xia Wei felt aggrieved. “But last time when you treated me to lamb kebab, I had washed everything!”
Jiang Zhi Zhou replied, “But today, I still prepped the ingredients. I also cooked the hotpot as well as making the salad.”
“…” Xia Wei reflected on this for a long time and chose to compromise. “Then we’ll each wash half.
Jiang Zhi Zhou: “…”
In the end, the two of them went to the kitchen and washed the dishes together. With the size and configuration of this apartment, the two of them did not feel crowded at all even when together in the kitchen. Jiang Zhi Zhou and Xia Wei silently washed the tableware in the kitchen, with only the slight sound of running water hitting the porcelain tableware being heard.
When she reached out for the next plate, Xia Wei’s fingertips carelessly brushed against Jiang Zhi Zhou’s palm. An electric shock traveled through her body. Jiang Zhi Zhou turned his head to glance at her. The two of them had coincidentally reached for the same plate to place into the sink.
Xia Wei picked up another plate and rinsed it beneath the continuously running water. Her fingers had yet to stop burning. Her heart began beating rapidly from just that minor touch a moment ago, causing Xia Wei to involuntarily knit her brows together.
After the dishes were done, Jiang Zhi Zhou left. Xia Wei sat cross-legged on the sofa and stared blankly into s.p.a.ce.
Why did her heart speed up because of Mr. Jiang?
It must be because Mr. Jiang was toxic.
Mn.
After giving herself a rational explanation, Xia Wei’s heart felt much better. She decided that since the dishes were done so early, she could get some beauty rest.
She put this matter aside, and Jiang Zhi Zhou naturally did the same. The two of them lived their lives like before, only with a few minutes in their day being changed.
For example, after the two of them became connected via QQ, Xia Wei found a pastime in disturbing Jiang Zhi Zhou during her free moments, with the messages being like such——
Xia Wei: 「Boss Jiang, can you make sweet and sour pork chops?『cute』」
Jiang Zhi Zhou: 「『image』」
Xia Wei clicked open the image and discovered that he had sent a picture of Tian Xia Restaurant’s menu, specifically the page with sweet and sour pork chops.
Xia Wei: 「…」
She wanted to curse, but she was a fairy. She had to restrain herself.
Sometimes it went like this——
Xia Wei: 「Doctor Jiang, what did you eat for lunch today?『cute 』」
Jiang Zhi Zhou: 「I am currently making crispy fried fish.」
Xia Wei: 「Oh! Oh! Crispy fried fis.h.!.+ I also like to eat that!『cute』」
Jiang Zhi Zhou: 「Feeding it to the orange cat.」
Xia Wei: 「…」
Tangeriney was living a better life than she was. She envied Tangeriney, even if it did not have whiskers.
Jiang Zhi Zhou knew that Xia Wei liked to send him annoying messages around mealtimes, with the intention of freeloading food, but he could not say why he liked teasing her. Thinking of her reactions as she looked at the screen was extremely amusing to him.
He suddenly realized Xia Wei was just like the orange cat who lay beside his car, waiting for him at mealtimes.
This thought caused Jiang Zhi Zhou to burst out laughing.
One morning, Xia Wei and Jiang Zhi Zhou met in the elevator again after not seeing each other in a long time. Seeing Jiang Zhi Zhou enter, Xia Wei frowned and turned her head to the side.
She still bore a grudge against him for not feeding her crispy fried fish.
Jiang Zhi Zhou chuckled lightly and stood next to her, silent. The elevator then closed, and the two of them remained in the same sort of silence like they had been in countless times before, though this time seemed a bit different.
At least, Xia Wei felt it was different, because she realized there did not seem to be enough air in the elevator!
She did not have claustrophobia, but after Jiang Zhi Zhou came in, she felt the elevator had become unusually cramped. She could not even breathe easily!
“What’s going on?” Jiang Zhi Zhou looked puzzledly at her and approached closer.
“Don’t move!” Xia Wei immediately stopped him. “It’s better if you don’t breathe!”
Jiang Zhi Zhou: “…”
What new defect did this girl get?
When the elevator finally reached the first floor, Xia Wei nearly rushed out. Only once she was outside, in a wide open s.p.a.ce, did she seem to return to normal, like a fish returned to the river.
Too terrifying. Xia Wei’s heart felt distressed; Mr. Jiang’s toxicity had increased tremendously.
The nail salon was so busy that she forgot temporarily about Mr. Jiang. During her lunch break, Xia Ming Ming sent her a message, saying he had a voucher to give to her.
Xia Ming Ming: 「This voucher is valid inside Starlight General Merchandise. I only was able to get one, for the food court on the fifth floor!」
Xia Wei: 「So lucky? But you’re giving your only voucher to me?」
Xia Ming Ming: 「Last time, you treated me to Tian Xia Restaurant, so this can be repayment『grin』」
Xia Wei: 「You can be considered to be very conscientious. I’ll go to Starlight General Merchandise to visit you later.」
Xia Ming Ming: 「『OK』」
Xia Wei thought for a moment before opening a chat window with Tian Tian. 「Are you free tonight? Xia Ming Ming gave me a food voucher for Starlight General Merchandise. I want to treat you~」
Invincible Little Sweetie: 「(:з」∠)」
Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year: 「Working overtime?」
Invincible Little Sweetie: 「Mn『smile-cry』」
Invincible Little Sweetie: 「Forget about it, I’ll bring work home to do today, so let’s go eat!」
Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year: 「Hahaha okay, what do you want to eat?」
Invincible Little Sweetie: 「Barbecue!」
Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year: 「『OK』」
The two of them made plans to meet at Starlight General Merchandise at seven o’clock in the evening. Xia Wei made a reservation, so she waited at the entrance to the barbecue restaurant for Tian Tian.
Invincible Little Sweetie: 「I’m roughly ten minutes away. You can grab food first!」
Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year: 「Okay~」
Xia Wei took off her coat and draped it over her forearm before standing up from her perch on the restaurant’s small sofa. Just as she stood up, she caught sight of Jiang Zhi Zhou and a girl walking inside together.
The two of them chatted as they came in, neither one taking note of her presence. The girl was walking closer to Xia Wei’s side, so Xia Wei could clearly see her appearance.
Ah, it seemed like the girl was the blind date Jiang Zhi Zhou had showed her a picture of. She was prettier in person than in the photo. Her long, jet-black hair fell down in gentle waves to her shoulders. Her face was touched up with very light makeup, giving her a fresh and clean air. She only reached Jiang Zhi Zhou’s shoulder. When speaking to him, she tilted her head up to look at him, her eyes smiling.
At present, Xia Wei was convinced that Jiang Zhi Zhou’s last blind date had truly ended on his terms, because she could sense that this girl must really like him. She pondered, There is a high demand on the market for people like him; if not for his obsession with cleanliness, he might have gotten married eight hundred years ago.
The two of them walked forward and entered an Italian restaurant with a pretty good aroma. They were probably in the mood for Italian dishes.
“Xia Wei, why are you still sitting here? Didn’t you go ahead to grab food?” Tian Tian had seen Xia Wei sitting on the small sofa, coat and purse in hand, looking like she had lost her soul. “What’s up with you? Are you feeling unwell?”
Xia Wei stared blankly at her. She felt like she had just blanked out for a moment; how did Tian Tian suddenly appear? “No, no, I wanted to wait for you. Anyway, I reserved some nice seats.”
“But all the food might have been taken by others!” Tian Tian pulled her up and dragged her inside. “Hurry, hurry, I want to eat roasted streaky pork! There might not be any more scallops left!”
Xia Wei: “…”
She felt that Tian Tian had just come out of nowhere.
Spreading out the things she wanted to eat on the table, Tian Tian brushed the meat with more oil and asked Xia Wei, “Why are you not in the mood to eat even meat?”
Xia Wei sighed and explained, “Because the one paying is me, I naturally am not in the mood while you are.”
Tian Tian: “…”
“Then eat more.” She placed the newly grilled streaky pork onto Xia Wei’s plate. “Right, how have things been between you and Mr. Jiang from downstairs recently?”
Ke—ke— Xia Wei covered her mouth, choking on the meat. “How come everytime I eat with you, you bring him up? You’re harboring unfathomable motives.”
Tian Tian laughed out loud. She still wanted to ask something; however, Xia Wei turned from pa.s.sive to active and asked, “How has your work been recently? Still working overtime every day?”
This, sure enough, successfully s.h.i.+fted Tian Tian’s attention. “Right. A few days ago, an inquiry was conducted. They said that they received a report about how our company was working exceedingly long hours.”
“Haha, you employees reported on yourselves?”
“It was definitely reported by an employee. Everyone was sick working ‘overtime’ all the time..”
“Hahahaha. Isn’t this a good thing?”
“What’s good about it? In the end, I instead had to dealt with it; and so, my workload increased.” Tian Tian felt incomparably distressed at this point. “That won’t do. Today, I must eat a lot of meat.”
“It’s all yours, all yours.”
Because she still had a lot of unfinished work, Tian Tian headed home after she was done eating, without strolling through the department store. Xia Wei originally wanted to look at clothes, but she was afraid of running into Jiang Zhi Zhou and his blind date and returned home early instead.
Away from the noisy crowd and bustling streets, Xia Wei lay down on her bed and gradually relaxed.
“When you like someone, you will miss him when he’s not there. You’ll feel nervous again when you do see him, and his words will cause your nervous heart to thump and skip a beat. When he approaches, it will feel like he had sucked away the air, making it simply impossible for you to breathe!”
…At the moment, Xia Wei felt as if she was on stage, performing in the opera, as an old military general, with large flags coming out of her back.
Okay, she conceded, I seem to have a slight crush Mr. Jiang.