Invitation
When Su Yao got home, she discovered that her silent phone had received calls from both Ge Jin and An Chi.
She went back to Ge Jin first; he should have his own considerations regarding today's events.
Sure enough, "Mr. Su, I apologize for what happened today."
"It's nothing." She knew Ge Jin; if it were simply about apologizing, he wouldn't have made a special phone call. Sending a message would have saved both of their time. "What's wrong?"
"Next month, an investment project in Singapore is scheduled to be launched. How would you like to make arrangements?"
"Just make the arrangements as usual. I'm not going to skip work until then. By the way, ask Wenxie if he wants to go out and have some fun."
Su Yao had never forgotten that Su Wenxie had been unhappy ever since Su Qingye passed away, but she had never been able to find a time or place to take him out for a walk.
"OK."
After hanging up the phone, he called An Chi back.
His purpose in calling was clear: "When are you going to finish what you promised me?"
"The day after tomorrow, I guess." Su wanted to answer crisply. Tomorrow's schedule was already set, and she couldn't spend the whole day with him. The schedule for the day after tomorrow could be postponed. It was better to keep this promise as soon as possible.
"Then I'll pick you up the day after tomorrow."
"good."
Today is finally over.
The diverse people she encountered made Su Yao realize that the world was not as simple as it seemed on the surface. She always saw through too much, which is why Su Qingye was wary of her, Su Wensheng couldn't do anything about her, and Su Wenxie relied on her. In fact, she was already the center of the Su family. She didn't have any so-called backers as they claimed, only the solitary growth, sacrifice, and responsibility.
When Su arrived at the company the next day, she actually found it relaxing. However, the thought of meeting An Chi gave her a headache. Perhaps being with him always brought a sweet feeling of hormones, but she didn't look forward to it.
What was bound to happen has finally happened.
An Chi arrived at the villa entrance in Yuhai Bay on the appointed day. After greeting the gatekeeper, he was allowed to come and go as he pleased.
She was still wearing her unflattering nightgown when she opened the door for An Chi.
"Let me change my clothes."
She didn't intend to entertain An Chi; she just wanted him to stay by himself.
Underneath the denim jacket was a white tank top and denim pants, which made An Chi stare intently.
Su tapped An Chi on the head and said, "Are you stunned? Let's go."
An Chi wanted to take her out, so Su voluntarily sat in the passenger seat. Even now, she still doesn't know what she's supposed to do today, but she still grits her teeth and follows An Chi.
The car drove to a small street, which took quite a while, not including the time Anchi needed to stop.
She got out of the car as he instructed, and followed him on a winding, circuitous route for quite some time.
Finally, we stopped in front of a small breakfast shop in a hutong (alleyway).
The steamer, billowing white steam, seems like a weapon in the summer; getting close will make you sweat. But the aroma emanating from the steamer is genuine—a light and refreshing scent, the sweet fragrance of freshly steamed noodles.
"What would you like to eat?" An Chi asked first.
People inside peeked out, and a man suddenly quickened his pace and walked over: "Xiao Chi!"
An Chi smiled at him: "Uncle, how's business lately?"
"They're all just like that, mostly old folks. It's been a long time since I've seen you, Xiao Chi. Your mom said you went abroad."
"Yes, I'm back now."
"Then let's not leave?"
The man asked this question, even though An Chi could answer it herself, but he insisted on looking at Su Yao and making her answer.
She glared at him, then laughed and said, "He's not leaving, he's not leaving."
"Oh, who is this? Oh, I see. What would you like to eat? It's on me." The man's expression of sudden realization showed that he had misunderstood the relationship between the two. Seeing that An Chi was not going to explain, Su Yao didn't want to abruptly talk about their relationship with someone he wasn't familiar with.
Su didn't like making choices, and since she didn't know what was there, she tugged at An Chi's sleeve.
An Chi paused after seeing her movements, then spoke to the expectant man.
"Two baskets of xiaolongbao and two bowls of sweet soy milk."
The two sat at a small table set up by the door, on a colorful plastic stool. The morning breeze outside was quite pleasant, and the sweet aroma of steam wafted through the air.
The food was served quickly. An Chi took out two pairs of disposable chopsticks from the iron can, broke one pair apart, rubbed the two chopsticks together to make sure there were no small splinters, and then handed it to Su Yao. He even raised his head towards the food on the table: "Try it. If you don't like it, change it."
Su took the chopsticks.
Even the xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) in the North are huge, a whole steamer full, and each bite is packed with filling.
Su nodded, indicating that he could.
An Chi also took a bite of his bun and said, "I used to eat breakfast here all the time when I was a kid."
“No wonder that boss knows you.” Su said something completely useless, but it still connected with his sentence, as if in retaliation for his lack of response earlier.
He said that, and that was it.
Su Yao thought she had gone too far and wondered when An Chi's tolerance had become so low. But then she realized that An Chi was eating seriously and didn't seem to want to talk to her at all.
So naturally, she wouldn't cause trouble for herself, and she quietly took a bite.
The sounds of the morning noise still linger in my ears.
After they finished eating, An Chi still paid the bill, but as soon as he did, he grabbed Su and tried to run outside.
Su Yao didn't understand, but after hearing the words "You brat" behind her, she roughly understood.
While running, she suddenly felt less averse to being with An Chi. It was as if she had underestimated the day's potential, and then suddenly realized that there were no expectations for today, which brought her such a pleasant surprise. She began to look forward to it.
The sounds of voices in the streets and alleys, the beaks of birds in the branches and trees, and the faint barking of dogs and meowing in the alleys.
The moment she got into the car, it was as if she had just been stripped of her inhibitions; the contrast was so stark, yet it only piqued her interest more. "Where to next?"
"I'll take you on something exciting." An Chi looked at her and pulled up her seatbelt, which she had forgotten to because of her fluctuating emotions.
Their eyes met, and this time An Chi was the one who withdrew even faster. He was no longer sinking into depravity, but Su Yao lasted even longer.
Actually, Su had some idea that he would take her to go racing, but there was a slight difference in her expectations. She thought it would be like last time, going to the suburbs, but this time he took her to a racetrack, a kind of go-kart track.
He also knew the people who were being hosted this time.
The two greeted each other familiarly, while Su Yao stood aside.
"Go change your clothes." He took the clothes that someone had just handed him. "Don't worry, you wore the same clothes when you went to that place last time. Only you wore them, no one touched them."
When she heard the last part, she felt a mix of emotions. He had truly learned to consider many things and was no longer the person who waited for her to solve problems at the amusement park.
When Su came out after changing, An Chi was still chatting with that person. This time it was as if he had met a talkative partner. However, he had already changed his clothes and was holding a helmet. When he saw Su come out, he waved to her and said, "Come here, I'll put this on you."
She stood in front of him, and his height was just right. He helped Su put on the helmet, but he still had to bend over and even kneel down to fasten the remaining buckles for her.
After checking him over completely, he asked, "Do you know how to open it?"
"I've played with Zhou Qingran and the others a few times."
"Okay, then shall we each drive our own cars?"
"OK."
"Want to have a match with me?"
"I can't beat you. Haven't you won awards before? Besides, I'm not familiar with this venue."
“I’m not familiar with it either, it’s my first time here. That car is a bit different from this one.” He answered one by one. “Then I’ll drive the four-stroke, and you drive the two-stroke, let’s have a race?”
Seeing An Chi's expression, he wasn't worried at all that Su Yao was a beginner. Instead, he just wanted to win. Su Yao patted his shoulder and said, "Alright, since we're going to compete, let's be fair and just. Let's use the same equipment, so that I won without feeling like I'm winning unfairly."
An Chi and Su Yao went on the track after listening to the track structure, without either of them familiarizing themselves with the track beforehand, and started the race directly.
The howling wind revealed the two men's competitive spirit.
Su Yao always thought that An Chi liked her and would give in to her, and that all suitors were like that. It was only because of a turn that she was overtaken and lost that she realized An Chi really wanted to compete with her.
Thus, she became serious, and any desire to yield completely vanished.
A back-and-forth scene unfolded on the racetrack.
Su was not someone who easily gave up. She knew that she and An Chi were somewhat inferior in this aspect. After all, he had participated in racing competitions, while she had only participated a few times with her friends. But she still went for it, and not only that, she was determined to win.
As the flag waved in front of him, there was still one lap to go, and he was still a little short of An Chi.
An Chi's near-perfect performance made it impossible for her to find a way to catch up.
In the end, An Chi crossed the line first and finished with a cool finish.
She almost lost control at the first bend, but managed to keep up, and the two were only a few seconds apart.
But Su didn't have such a cool and graceful movement; he just came to a steady stop.
An Chi took off his helmet, turned away from the sunlight, stretched out his arms to her in a hugging gesture, and walked towards her.
"How was it?" He smiled smugly, happier than Su Yao had been on many other occasions.
She said willingly, "That's good."
However, the two did not hug each other. Su Yao also took off her helmet and walked outside. When An Chi followed, they could only put their arms around each other's shoulders.
She deliberately shook off his hand, not with much force, but with such strength that it was impossible to shake him off: "You, the winner, shouldn't stay with me, the loser."
An Chi smiled without saying a word, and the sunlight shone perfectly on their profiles.
After changing her clothes, Su raised an eyebrow and asked him, "Is the next stop lunchtime?"
"You're so clever," An Chi said. "I'll cook for you. What do you want to eat? We'll go buy it."
"Can you do anything?" she asked.
“I can learn,” he said calmly, his emotions not as high as hers, but his answer was firm: “I can learn anything for you.”
The friend who had greeted him when he arrived came over and asked, "Why didn't you play a couple more rounds?"
"Busy," he said briefly.
"Busy on a date? Alright, I won't bother you anymore," the man laughed, then turned to greet others.
As Su followed him outside, she casually remarked, "You know quite a lot of people in City A now."
“That’s a high school classmate. You should know his father. His surname is Li.” He opened the car door for her.
Su recalled the Li family she had met at several parent-teacher meetings. They weren't people she needed to remember, so she didn't have a deep impression of that child.
“The owner of the breakfast shop this morning was a friend of my father’s when he was alive, and he took good care of our family,” he explained further.
Su looked at him and asked, "Is your family native to Beijing?"
“No, didn’t you have the documents when you adopted me? Didn’t you look at them carefully? We moved here because my sister was sick. My dad was still alive then, but he passed away because of overwork. My mom raised my sister and me.”
He drove to the supermarket, his words seemingly calm, the only expression of emotion he uttered being the rhetorical question at the beginning of his sentence.
This kind of topic is always like a damp, never-drying quilt for the family, a biting pain when it's on their skin, and a bone-chilling cold when it's out in the sun.
Su tried to change the subject: "How about we have sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried vegetables, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes for lunch? Is that enough?"
"Add another soup, what would you like to drink?"
"Drink seaweed and egg drop soup."
His words also changed in response to her.
When they arrived, An Chi was pushing the cart, while Su Yao simply followed beside him, occasionally placing her hand on the edge of the cart and searching for the fruit and vegetable section.
Before we even reached the produce section, we were stopped: "Take a look at this hair dryer. You can use it to dry your loved one's hair. It's the perfect temperature. Give it a try."
Su waved her hand, wanting to refuse.
An Chi said to the salesperson, "I won't try it. We need to go home and cook, but you're very nice, so I'll take one."
Su Yao understood the salesperson's sweet-talking phrase; it meant "lover." She secretly pinched An Chi: "Everyone says that, and you buy it."
"Not necessarily, but she's the first one to say that." He gently took her hand that was pinching him, then casually wrapped his arm around her waist. "Let's go, let's go buy groceries."
Knowing what to cook, grocery shopping became a purposeful and enjoyable experience. Su didn't lift a finger; An Chi carried the bags, and he even handled the self-service payment himself.
After getting on the bus, Su Yao suddenly remembered Aunt Hong: "Should we tell Aunt Hong that we're coming over?"
“I’m not going there,” An Chi said. “I’m going to my place.”
Su Yao was unaware that he had bought a house. "You bought a house? Where is it?"
"It's close to the company." The company he was referring to was naturally the company where he lived.
Su Yao was still very curious: "Then how will you go to school?"
Hasn't he already been accepted into graduate school? How can he study properly while working like this?
"Once I've finalized everything for the China region, headquarters will send someone over. I don't need to focus entirely on company matters." He said, his eyes fixed ahead, his hands on the steering wheel as if he were strategizing a grand plan. He had everything arranged perfectly, without Su needing to interfere, and without any loopholes.
An Chi bought a house that was relatively close to the supermarket they had just visited. When they arrived at the underground parking lot, he took down the things he had bought and asked Su to follow him.
The elevator button was pressed for the 16th floor.
The elevator is designed for one apartment per floor. Once the elevator door opens, there is a shoe-changing area, but you still need to open a password door to go further inside.
He put the bag on the shoe cabinet, took out a brand new pair of white slippers from the cabinet, but "cunningly" wore the same style of black slippers himself.
He was holding a bag in one hand and a hairdryer gift box in the other, making it inconvenient to open the door: "Password 0113, open the door."
She paused for a moment after raising her hand, but still pressed the key; the password belonged to her birthday.
The house was spotless, indicating that it was regularly cleaned.
Su said, "If you hire a part-time cleaner, you can save some money. You can have Aunt Hong come and clean for you. Aunt Hong always tells me she's bored and wants to go back to the old house."
"I cleaned all of this myself. I didn't have any hourly workers or maids." He walked confidently to the kitchen, took off the apron from the hook, and put it on. "Su Yao, come and help me tie this apron, okay?"
Su Yao followed him into the kitchen. Seeing that An Chi could tie the long ribbon himself, she still went up to help him tie it at the back, saying repeatedly, "If you don't call me Mom, you should at least call me Sister. How old are you? How old am I? Stop calling me Su Yao all the time."
She seemed to genuinely want to sever all ties with the two of them, even fussing over the slightest thing about how they addressed each other.
"Why didn't you say it before? I've gotten used to calling you 'sister' now." He washed his hands, grinning at her with his back to her. "Go out, there's cooking fumes here. Go and wander around in another room."
"Are you really not afraid that I'll find out all your secrets?" she said as she walked.
The person behind me was a beat slower in washing vegetables, but their mouth was a step faster: "You already know my biggest secret."
Su was walking quickly and didn't hear those words.
She hadn't cared what An Chi called her before; in fact, he always liked to call her by her full name and would make "want" sounds in bed. But later, when she learned about An Chi's feelings for her, she was afraid that these external factors of addressing each other might cause him to misunderstand her feelings, so she started to care more about these things.
An Chi's biggest secret is that he likes Su Yao.
Many people thought that the two had a simple sponsorship relationship, and that they were just calling each other mother and son on the surface, but everyone knew that they were not actually mother and son.
When Su adopted him, there were quite a few rumors and gossips.
The younger sister's age coincides perfectly with Su Yao's growth period, which is also the time she spent dating Bai Lutong.
Rumors circulated that her adoption was merely a means to indirectly care for An Lan, and that she later devoted herself to helping An Lan with her illness. As a result, Su Yao was often misunderstood, and she was not valued in her class after transferring schools.
If it weren't for Su Yao's series of actions, I might still be trapped in my own corner and wouldn't have made friends with so many people.
And because Su rejected Bai Lutong again and focused on cultivating herself, the rumors about her and An Lan were dispelled.
She never seemed afraid of those words.
Su Wenxie told him all of this.
And she never mentioned anything to him.
An Chi looked at Su Yao outside the glass sliding door, who remained completely proper. She quietly surveyed the living room but did not enter the bedroom.
She has always been this kind of person: intelligent, respectful, reliable, and polite, but he hopes even more that he can be the one she's willing to barge into her bedroom at any time.
Except for the sweet and sour pork ribs, which took a little longer to cook, the other three dishes were served very quickly.
Su sat at the dining table, carefully observing An Chi as he cooked.
He brought the last dish to the table, a plate still steaming from the cooking fire. "I'll get you some rice. How much do you want?"
"Just a small bowl will do."
An Chi not only took a bowl of rice but also a bowl and chopsticks. For the entire meal, all Su had to do was wait.
"Try it." He picked up a small piece of pork chop and put it in her bowl.
She watched as the honey dripped down, soaking into the rice, turning the white rice red and releasing a rich, sweet aroma. Taking a bite, her mouth was filled with the sweet and sour taste of the honey sauce, and the meat was stewed to perfection, tender and soft: "Not bad, your cooking skills are always so good."
The meal for the two of them was as quiet and pleasant as it had been in the morning.
After finishing their meal, An Chi was about to wash the dishes when he asked Su Xiang if she wanted to take a nap.
Su looked out at the bright sun and asked, "Okay, which guest room is it?"
“There are no guest rooms,” he said without changing his expression.
Su watched his busy figure, and swallowed the words she wanted to say. "Then I'll sleep on the sofa."
"Then go to that room inside and get a blanket."
Su was about to go in when she noticed a small, colorful blanket on the black quilt.
She took it out, squinted, and lay down on the sofa.
As she drifted off to sleep, she suddenly felt herself being lifted into the air. Su opened her eyes and found An Chi carrying her towards the bedroom.
She resisted slightly, but it was to no avail, so she let him be.
In the end, the two of them ended up sleeping together in his bed.
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