Re-engraving the Spring - Chapter 19
“Eating vinegar?”
Early the next morning, Chi Qiu woke up hungry.
The dim light fell through the thin slits of the curtains and dappled onto his pupils, outlining a pale brown pupil. Chi Qiu felt dazzling; he closed his eyes and raised his hand to cover his right eye. And his left eye was as silent as stagnant water, no matter how strong the light was, it couldn’t be awakened.
He propped himself up and sat sluggishly to ease his mind. The shirt on his body made a tiny sound, and when he touched it, he remembered that he was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday.
There was no other sound in the room, and Chi Qiu hesitantly touched his side. No one was there, the sheets were slightly cool and there was no Lu Ming’s body heat.
He was lost, thinking that Lu Ming should have gone to work.
In previous mornings, he would get up with Lu Ming and eat breakfast together.
Even though Lu Ming had said many times that he wanted Chi Qiu to sleep more, Chi Qiu cherished every minute he and Lu Ming spent together and was not willing to give up the time for breakfast together.
Unfortunately, this morning he was so deep in sleep that he didn’t even notice Lu Ming getting up.
He got out of bed depressed, and just as his feet hit the ground, the door to the bedroom opened.
Chi Qiu heard the sound and cried out in surprise: “Lu Ming?”
“Did I wake you up? It’s still early, you can sleep a little longer.” Lu Ming had just finished taking a shower and was walking out in a bathrobe.
“No more sleep!” Chi Qiu stood by the bed, “How long have you been up?”
“I got up fifteen minutes ago and took a shower. What about you, do you want to take a shower first? You went to bed without washing up last night.” Lu Ming walked straight to the closet and took out a set of home clothes from it. In front of Chi Qiu, he took off his bathrobe and started to change his clothes.
The healthy skin tone reflected Lu Ming’s figure well. It could be seen that he should have taken the time to work out.
Hearing Lu Ming’s magnetic voice, Chi Qiu turned red behind his ears as he stared in the direction of Lu Ming, “Okay.”
Lu Ming knew that Chi Qiu couldn’t see, but he was still a little uncomfortable being stared at. He quickly changed his clothes and said, “I’ll take you there.”
“I can do it myself, you haven’t dry your hair yet, don’t catch a cold.”
“It’s not a problem.”
Chi Qiu waved his hand, barefoot, and walked into the bathroom without hindrance, following the route in his mind.
Lu Ming followed up: “I’ll help you put on the water and go out. The clothes and towels for you in the old location.” He pressed Chi Qiu’s shoulders and warmed his hands, helping Chi Qiu unbutton his shirt one by one.
Unlike Lu Ming, Chi Qiu didn’t go out all year round, so his complexion was on the white side. In the warm light of the bathroom, it was so delicate as if you could pinch out water.
Lu Ming’s fingertips accidentally touched Chi Qiu’s skin, and Chi Qiu let out a short, soft cry of surprise. He hurriedly lowered his head, concealing his still shy cheeks.
Lu Ming, on the other hand, didn’t think so.
They were partners; they had done everything that should be done and seen everything that should be seen.
However, this aspect of ‘seeing’ had nothing to do with Chi Qiu, and was limited to Lu Ming. So to a certain extent, Lu Ming could probably understand Chi Qiu’s shyness.
“What do you want to eat for breakfast? I’ll ask Aunt Zhang to make it.” Lu Ming eased the awkwardness.
Chi Qiu considered and said, “I want to eat noodle soup.”
Lu Ming threw Chi Qiu’s shirt that he had taken off into the laundry basket, “Okay.”
After Lu Ming adjusted the water temperature for Chi Qiu, he walked out of the bathroom. He turned to the kitchen and asked Aunt Zhang to prepare two bowls of noodle soup with pickled vegetables and instructed her to put Chi Qiu’s favorite stewed beef slices and shrimp balls as side dishes.
The weather in the morning was good. Lu Ming returned to the bedroom and leaned on a chair, waiting for Chi Qiu while watching the stock market with his tablet.
The sound of water in the bathroom finally stopped.
Chi Qiu wiped his hair and fumbled to change into his home clothes. As soon as he opened the door, Lu Ming immediately put down the tablet and called him: “I’ll help you blow-dry your hair.”
Chi Qiu didn’t expect Lu Ming to still be at home. He slowly picked up the towel and said with both surprise and worry, “Don’t you have to go to work today, what time is it?”
“Today is Saturday.”
“You always worked overtime on the weekends before, aren’t you going today?”
“Not going this weekend.” Thinking of Chi Qiu who was bullied yesterday, Lu Ming felt that he, as a partner, should stay home with him. In Lu Ming’s understanding, this was the ‘obligation’ he should fulfill.
Chi Qiu was delighted; the corners of his mouth curved upward. He hadn’t spent a weekend with Lu Ming in a long time. He couldn’t believe it yet again: “Really not working overtime? Are you really at home for two days?”
“En.” Lu Ming smiled at Chi Qiu’s question and asked rhetorically, “Do you want me to work overtime?”
“No!” Chi Qiu’s head shook like a rattle.
He smiled to reveal his teeth and was in a happy mood, happily walking towards the front, touching Lu Ming’s arm to greet him with both hands. His sweet tone unknowingly filled the whole bedroom: “Lu Ming, quickly help me blow-dry my hair.”
Chi Qiu usually did little things like blow-drying his hair by himself. But as long as Lu Ming was at home, he would habitually help Chi Qiu.
Chi Qiu was also willing to help Lu Ming blow his hair.
During the past six months, Lu Ming was busy with the company he had just taken over, and was always away from home. How could Chi Qiu have so many opportunities to enjoy the sweet time after marriage. If he finally had it, he must firmly grasp it and never let go.
Moreover, although Lu Ming’s hands were big, their strength was very light. It was like treating something precious, fearing that Chi Qiu would be hurt, making Chi Qiu feel inexplicably that he was being loved.
Inside the dining room, Aunt Zhang brought two bowls of pickle vegetable noodle soup1 to the table, and the aroma came to the nose.
As soon as Chi Qiu stepped further, he swallowed his saliva.
Under Lu Ming’s care, he sat down in front of the soup he had been longing for and smelled it with his head down. Then, he couldn’t wait to pick up the chopsticks and spoon.
“Be careful, sir. It’s still hot.” Aunt Zhang explained with Chi Qiu as usual, “There are sliced marinated beef and shrimp balls in the noodles, the soup base is seasoned with pickled vegetables and lard. At your 12 o’clock, there is a plate of sliced pickled radish.”
Chi Qiu scooped up the soup with a spoon, took the lead and blew on it before drinking it. With the fresh fragrance of pickled vegetables, the rich base of the soup activated Chi Qiu’s hungry stomach all night.
Seeing his impatience, Lu Ming asked Aunt Zhang to bring a small bowl and pick up a few chopsticks of the noodles in Chi Qiu’s bowl, “Wait a minute.” He blew the noodles in the small bowl lightly, and put the chopsticks into Chi Qiu’s hands, “Eat a few mouthfuls of noodles first to pad your stomach, the soup is still hot.”
Chi Qiu was so hungry that he finished the bowl of noodles in a few bites. He was still hungry and it was really hard to wait. Why didn’t he know that pickled vegetable noodle soup could taste so good before?
He embarrassingly bothered Lu Ming: “Can you help me with another bowl? It’s best to pick out the shrimp balls and beef too, I’m so hungry.”
Aunt Zhang couldn’t help herself and stepped forward to take over: “Mr. Lu, I’ll do it.”
Lu Ming: “I’ll do it.” As he did so, he informed Chi Qiu, “Ji Feining sent you a message last night, remember to reply it.”
Suddenly, Chi Qiu’s expression stopped. He opened his mouth in panic, as if there was some unspeakable secret between him and Ji Feining that should not be discovered by Lu Ming.
He regretted dozing in the car yesterday: “He, what message did he send me? Did you read it?”
Lu Ming looked at his pretended calmness in his eyes and didn’t point out: “I didn’t read it.”
Chi Qiu breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said: “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.” Lu Ming handed the small bowl back to Chi Qiu, “Eat the noodles.”
Holding the bowl, Chi Qiu picked up a slice of beef with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth, the fresh soup overflowing in his mouth. He swallowed the chewed beef absentmindedly and began to round up his words: “I grew up with Yanchen, and his brother is like my brother. As you know, my eyes are not very convenient, so Ning ge has always been more concerned about me and would send me some messages privately.”
Since Chi Qiu himself mentioned it, Lu Ming naturally did not show his indifferent attitude.
Lu Ming lowered his head and ate the noodles. After swallowing it, he said lightly and nonchalantly: “I heard that Ji Feining is indifferent in nature and maintains a proper sense of distance from anyone.” He didn’t know what to say, so he simply said bluntly, “It seems he cares about you.”
Many outsiders’ evaluations of Ji Feining were ‘a sense of distance’.
No matter how many times you had worked with Ji Feining, how many times you had helped each other, he always drew a line in front of others. Only when facing his ignorant younger brother, did Ji Feining show his emotions in an obvious way.
Outsiders often said that Ji Feining was a ‘bro-con’. You could grab business with him, grab resources, grab anything, but you shouldn’t touch his brother.
Ji Feining’s mother passed away early, and his father was busy with work. The young Ji Yanchen was almost brought up by Ji Feining and spoiled by him.
It would be very wrong for someone like this, who only cared about his brother, to suddenly care about Chi Qiu in private.
“…”
The noodles in Chi Qiu’s hands didn’t smell good all of sudden. He could even round his words in the wrong direction.
His relationship with Ji Feining became more difficult to explain.
Lu Ming would not make it difficult for him, stating that he was just casually saying, “This is your social circle, if you don’t want to talk more, let’s change the topic.”
Some words didn’t have any profound meaning to Lu Ming himself. At most, it was a casual topic when chatting with Chi Qiu.
But in the ears of a Chi Qiu who had never had a relationship experience before, this turned out to be Lu Ming…eating vinegar?
T/N: I forgot my laptop at my parents’ place (it’s an eight hours drive from my place so no, I’m not going there for a laptop) so I have to use my iPad. I’ve never used my iPad for literally anything else other than watching movies/dramas and reading books so naturally I don’t have keyboard. It’s so hard doing this with iPad T_T luckily, my keyboard is arriving soon!
It looks tasty
