Chapter 117

I didn't rest for a moment in early summer, and ran all the way home in the cold wind.

She stopped only after entering the room and closing the door. However, the heat on her face did not dissipate because of the cold wind blowing all the way. Instead, it rose again after she stopped inside the room.

Chuxia closed her eyes and relaxed for a while.

Because I ran all the way back, my breathing and heartbeat are now faster and heavier than before.

After her heartbeat and breathing calmed down a little, Chuxia turned around and sat down at the desk.

She bent down and buried her face in her hands. The heat on her cheeks gathered in her palms, becoming more real and clear.

Before she could calm down completely, there was a knock on the door.

Chu Xia was so shocked that she sat up straight and turned around to see Wu Xuemei opening her door. She stuck her head in and asked her, "Has Xiao Lin returned home after setting off the fireworks?"

Chu Xia nodded hurriedly and said, "Well, let's go back."

Wu Xuemei asked her again: "Why didn't you turn on the light when you came back?"

Chu Xia said, "I just came back and sat down. I haven't had time to open it yet."

Wu Xuemei had nothing else to ask, so she told Chuxia to go to bed early and left.

Chuxia let out a long breath, then bent down and fell on the desk. Her hot face pressed against the cool table top, and she felt a little more comfortable.

She sat like this in the dark for another ten minutes.

Her heartbeat couldn't be calmed down, so she took two deep breaths, turned on the light and went to wash up.

After washing up, I turned off the lights and lay down on the bed, but my heart was still beating fast.

Especially when she thought about what had just happened, Lin Xiaohan’s face was very close to her, telling her what it really meant to like someone.

She placed her palm on the left side of her chest.

Feeling the real and clear heartbeat, many things unconsciously come to my mind.

She felt that she was really crazy, she really fell in love with Lin Xiaohan.

Moreover, I may have started to fall in love with her very early on.

Although she had always been on guard in her heart.

When she was in the countryside, she reminded herself again and again not to have a romantic relationship with him and not to treat him as a friend, but when he turned against her and asked her to keep a distance from him, she still felt lost.

After returning to the city and getting rid of the constraints of the original novel's setting, I couldn't help feeling empty when I thought that I might not see him again in the future.

When they met again, he ignored her. Besides feeling embarrassed, she also felt like her heart was stabbed.

She had decided that they would be strangers from now on, but when he came to her, she still paid attention to him.

Later, I agreed to be friends with him and truly treated him as a friend.

During the years we have been friends, there have been countless moments of accelerated heartbeats.

…

She had never thought of liking him.

She had never thought about developing another kind of relationship with him.

She also couldn't imagine developing any other kind of relationship with him.

Many times she couldn't even figure out his emotions, let alone his deeper thoughts.

Being friends doesn't require you to think so much, nor does it require you to care so much. You can be relaxed and comfortable. But if we are no longer just friends, you can't help but care about a lot.

She would care whether he liked her or not and how much he liked her.

He is a person who does not value feelings too much. Even though he has changed a lot in the process of getting along with her, how much weight do feelings have in his heart?

She had been an insignificant alternative to Han Ting for long enough.

She didn't want to continue being an insignificant alternative in another person's world.

She finally crawled out of Han Ting's pit.

She can't fall into a pit that makes her anxious and insecure.

With her mind in a mess, Chuxia turned over, curled up, and buried her face in the quilt.

She pressed her heartbeat with her hand, slowing it down, and then slowing it down again.

***

I tossed and turned in bed that night in early summer until the second half of the night before I fell asleep.

Just a few hours after falling asleep, Wu Xuemei woke him up again. He washed up, put on the new clothes he bought before the New Year, and went out to visit relatives and continue to celebrate the New Year.

After four days of visiting relatives and four days of New Year greetings, the restaurant officially opened on the sixth day of the New Year.

She hadn't slept well in the past few days after the early summer New Year, and she didn't need to get up early today to visit relatives, so she slept a little longer and didn't wake up until half past ten.

I got up and washed myself groggily.

After washing up, I went to the restaurant in front to find something to eat.

I entered the restaurant through the back door and walked around the screen, and suddenly I saw Lin Xiaohan behind the counter.

Their eyes met suddenly, and Chu Xia's heart tightened, and her heartbeat quickened uncontrollably again.

Then she quickly retracted her gaze and went straight to the kitchen.

Lin Xiaohan watched her go into the kitchen from behind the counter.

He got up and went to the kitchen, but just as he entered the kitchen, Chuxia came out with a plate of prepared food, walked past him, went around the screen, went out the back door, and went to the inner courtyard.

Lin Xiaohan stood there for a while and didn't follow him to the backyard.

He took a deep breath silently, then sat back behind the counter, his eyes empty.

Chuxia finished her breakfast and washed the dishes in the back, and never came back to the front.

She was sitting in the room reading a book, but she became restless and couldn't concentrate, so she lay down on the bed again. After a while, she couldn't lie there any longer, so she got up and read again. She repeated this over and over again.

The restaurant closed at night, and she didn't go out to see Lin Xiaohan off.

Tang Haikuan and Wu Xuemei also felt strange after not seeing her for a day.

After closing time, Wu Xuemei came to her room and asked, "Xia Xia, what happened to you today?"

Chu Xia said with an "oh", "I will report to work in a while, I will make preparations in advance."

Wu Xuemei was a little confused, but just said "oh".

Back in her room, she discussed with Tang Haikuan: "Did you have a quarrel with Xiaolin?"

Tang Haikuan thought for a moment and said, "I don't know. Hasn't everything been fine all along?"

Wu Xuemei didn't know if she was overthinking it.

Lin Xiaohan didn't show any reaction and was pretty normal throughout the day.

The accounts for this day have not yet been settled.

Tang Haikuan and Wu Xuemei didn't discuss this any further and went back to counting the money and doing the accounting.

After finishing the accounts, I was tired, so I washed up, turned off the lights, and went to bed.

The next day, the restaurant opened and Lin Xiaohan came to help as usual.

Chuxia stayed in the back room reading and did not go forward.

Wu Xuemei asked Lin Xiaohan if he had a quarrel with Chu Xia, and Lin Xiaohan smiled and said no.

Seeing that she couldn't get anything out of either side, Wu Xuemei just felt puzzled and stopped getting involved.

Day 3.

Lin Xiaohan stayed in the restaurant for most of the day.

At dinner time in the evening, he looked at the screen on the back door and couldn't help but take two deep breaths.

Then he stopped staying in the restaurant to help.

I found Wu Xuemei, said hello, and said to her with a smile, "Auntie, I'm going to the back to find Xia Xia."

Wu Xuemei said, "Go quickly, we can handle the work here."

***

Room in the north house of the inner courtyard.

Chuxia turned on the desk lamp. There was a book in front of him, but he didn't sit down to read. Instead, he bent over and leaned directly on the table, with his face pressed on the open book, his eyes empty.

Just as I was daydreaming, I heard a knock on the door.

She looked back and saw that the curtain on the door was drawn tightly and she couldn't see anything, so she stood up straight and walked to the door and opened it.

When she opened the door and saw Lin Xiaohan, she was stunned for a moment and subconsciously became nervous again.

The two looked at each other across the door frame for two seconds. Chu Xia suppressed her heartbeat and nervousness, pretended to be calm as she prepared to go out, saying, "Are you too busy up front?"

Lin Xiaohan watched her squeeze past him and go out.

When she took two steps, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulled her back into the room and closed the door.

Chu Xia was so shocked that she hadn't reacted yet. Lin Xiaohan had already pulled her to the desk, forced her to sit on the desk, and blocked her way.

Chu Xia subconsciously wanted to run, but was stopped by his arm.

He placed his hands on the edge of the desk, blocking Chu Xia inside, staring at her and asking, "How long are you going to hide from me?"

Chuxia was so nervous that she stepped back.

She didn't dare to look into Lin Xiaohan's eyes, so she lowered her eyebrows and held her breath.

Seeing that she didn't say anything, Lin Xiaohan asked her again: "Why are you hiding from me?"

Clearly all her previous reactions showed that she had already fallen in love with him.

Chuxia took a moment to calm down, held her breath, raised her head and looked at Lin Xiaohan.

Meeting his eyes, she spoke incoherently: "I... I have never thought about liking you... I am also afraid of liking you... I..."

He stared into Chu Xia's eyes solemnly, "Why can't you like me?"

Chu Xia looked at Lin Xiaohan without answering.

Lin Xiaohan's eyes became darker.

He clenched his fingers tightly and suddenly laughed.

Why can't you like him? Of course it's because he is not worthy of being liked by anyone.

Lin Xiaohan stopped smiling, looked at Chu Xia with a dark gaze and said, "What if I insist that you like me?"

Chu Xia rubbed her fingers together, holding her breath and said, "Why do you have to? Even if you like me now, these things are insignificant in your heart. I will only be unlucky if I like you, and the more I like you, the more unlucky I will be. I don't want to suffer the pain of love again. Besides, there is no way you can have another person in your life. You have to separate eating and drinking clearly, and you can't let anyone see you. If someone accidentally sees you putting on your pants, you will turn against me and ask me to keep my distance from you. You can't even touch you. When we are not acting, you can't even shake hands..."

The last word "OK" was not uttered.

Lin Xiaohan suddenly lowered his head and covered her mouth.

The moment his lips pressed against hers, Chu Xia's eyes suddenly widened and she froze in place.

Lin Xiaohan didn't move. After a moment, he let her go, looked at her with a soft expression, and asked, "Where else do you want to touch?"