His sincerity
When Zuo Xiao woke up, he felt his body was as light as if floating on clouds, and there was a comfortable tingling sensation.
It seemed like she had a good meal last night… She stretched contentedly and turned to look around. No one was beside her pillow. She sniffed, recognizing the aroma of onions wafting in from the crack in the door, and smiled.
I threw off the covers and stepped onto the ground. My feet gave way, and I nearly fell flat on my face. Suddenly, a strange feeling became clear: a slight swelling on the outside, yet a sense of emptiness inside…
She suddenly lost her breath - how long had that guy been playing with her?!
After washing up, she went to the kitchen to confront him, but she saw him holding the chopsticks with his left hand, clumsily stirring half a bowl of egg liquid, and she swallowed back her words of blame.
"Are you up?" He bent down and kissed her between the eyebrows. "Breakfast will be ready soon."
He used the ingredients in the refrigerator to make two bowls of tomato and egg noodles, a plate of stir-fried broccoli, and also made steamed egg custard, millet porridge and blanched lettuce, which he would take to the hospital for Lao Zuo later.
"I won't go with you later." He offered after dinner, "I'm worried your dad will see me and it'll be hard to explain. I'll make lunch and send it over. Does he have any dietary restrictions?"
He was so virtuous and sensible, but she felt embarrassed and said, "Don't cook, I'll just go to the restaurant and take it away."
Zhuang Yu'an shook his head: "Uncle is a patient, he still needs to pay attention to his diet. It's safer to make it at home."
"They're not that delicate." Zuo Xiao retorted, "There are so many patients in the hospital, most of them eat in the cafeteria or get takeout. It's good enough to have something to eat."
"That's okay." The other person said with a smile, "I like cooking anyway, and I have nothing to do anyway."
Zuo Xiao frowned: "But you only have one hand, it's so inconvenient."
"Yeah, I only have one hand, so I need to practice more to make it more flexible." He stood up and said, "It's getting late, shouldn't you leave?"
When Zuo Xiao walked into the single ward, Lao Zuo was already lying on the bed, and a nurse was giving him medicine.
"Have you eaten?" she asked.
"I ate," Lao Zuo answered concisely. At this moment, the nurse came out of the bathroom and added with a smile, "I bought Teacher Zuo a nutritious breakfast from the cafeteria this morning."
"Oh." Zuo Xiao put the thermal bag on the small table against the wall. "Here are some egg custard, millet porridge, and lettuce. You can eat some more if you're hungry."
"Wow!" the nurse exclaimed, giving it enough emotional value, "Miss Zuo, did you do this yourself? You're so filial!"
Zuo Xiao was suddenly speechless, while Lao Zuo looked unconvinced, smiled and said nothing.
The scene on Zhuang Yu'an's side was completely different.
"Boss, give me a sea bass, two kilograms."
The fishmonger looked at him several times and said as she cut the fish: "Handsome guy, you're not from here, right?"
"Yeah, from out of town."
"I told you!" The eldest sister quickly glanced up at him and said with a smile, "He's so handsome, I'd have remembered him if I'd seen him before! Are you here to visit relatives?"
Zhuang Yuan paused and said with a smile, "I'm here to find my girlfriend."
"Tsk tsk..." The elder sister glanced at him again, and said meaningfully, "Your girlfriend must be as beautiful as a fairy..."
After buying the sea bass, he bought some meat dishes, mushrooms and some vegetables.
At twelve o'clock, he took a taxi to the hospital, walked downstairs to the inpatient department, put down the thermal bag and called Zuo Xiao.
Five minutes later, she came downstairs, looking unhappy.
"What's wrong?" He grabbed her hand. She curled her lips and said, "I was mad at Lao Zuo."
He raised his hand and stroked her back: "Calm down, we'll talk slowly when we get back."
Zuo Xiao went upstairs with the thermal bag in a depressed mood, and when he came down he was still holding the one he had in the morning.
"He ate the hospital breakfast this morning and didn't touch what you made. Don't do it tomorrow," she said.
Zhuang Yu'an thought for a moment and said, "The hospital's meal time is quite early, and it would be too tiring for the baby to be sent to the hospital. So it's fine to let uncle eat the hospital's breakfast. I'll send lunch and dinner to the hospital."
"No need." Zuo Xiao said angrily, "He doesn't deserve it," and walked out. Zhuang Yu'an hurriedly followed.
After they returned home and finished their lunch, Zhuang Yu'an pulled her to sit on the sofa and asked her what was going on.
"He's crazy and unreasonable!" Zuo Xiao complained. "He doesn't allow me to play in a band and wants me to go to a regular class, otherwise he won't acknowledge me as his daughter! Damn it, I don't even want to acknowledge him as my father! What kind of person is he!"
Zhuang Yu'an was silent for a moment, then said, "That's why you quarreled on the third night of the Lunar New Year, right?"
"Um."
Zhuang Yu'an grabbed her hand and held it in his palm: "Why does he object to you making music?"
"Isn't that all? Poverty! Chaos! Lack of class!" She grew increasingly angry as she spoke. "In his mind, band members are all jobless, the dregs of society, the parasites of families! He also said the entertainment industry is too chaotic, with promiscuous relationships, drug use, and so on... I mean, which industry doesn't have promiscuous people? Those in finance, technology, professors, and bosses—how many of them appear glamorous and righteous, but aren't they also filthy scoundrels behind the scenes? Haven't there been enough news stories about them in recent years? Humph, he's just calling himself an intellectual, a cultured person, thinking he's superior and looking down on the so-called lowest class... He's just extremely conceited and narrow-minded! He's hopeless!"
Zhuang Yuan listened quietly to her complaints, pondered for a moment, and said, "It's true that there are many people like him who are prejudiced against certain professions. From a father's perspective, he's afraid that you will suffer, and that you will be led astray in such a complex environment."
"What do you mean?" Zuo Xiao raised his eyes and glared at him. "He's a father, so he has the right to be unreasonable and arrogant and interfere in my life and belittle my career?"
"Of course that's not what I meant." Zhuang Yu'an's eyes and tone were sincere. "I just think that everyone has his limitations, but he himself doesn't recognize them, so he will do some things with good intentions but wrong methods and bad results. Just like what I am saying to you now, perhaps it is because I have my own limitations, and I think it is for your own good..."
He paused and continued, "He is your father after all, and I can see that you love him very much. No matter how much you argue now, you will eventually reach a reconciliation. The shorter the process, the better for both of you. It's difficult for you to change him, but perhaps you can change your perspective, understand his actions, and make yourself feel better."
Zuo Xiao was so angry that she shook his hand off: "Why is it that he doesn't understand me, but I understand him?"
"Hmph..." She sneered, "As expected, the butt determines the head! As a man, a brother, and a future father, you are destined to stand on the same side as him!"
Zhuang Yu'an was stunned. Zuo Xiao stood up and walked into the room angrily.
After a while, Zhuang Yu'an also entered the room. She was lying on the bed in her home clothes, leaving him with a stubborn back.
He took off his coat and trousers and lay down behind her.
"Baby, please don't be angry, okay?" He couldn't move his right hand, so he raised his left hand to pinch her shoulder. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have interfered in your family affairs, let alone stood on my side and made decisions. I promise not to say anything more in the future. Please forgive me, okay?"
The shoulder beneath his hand shifted, and suddenly his body flipped over, with the vest pressing down on his right arm. Unable to dodge, Zhuang Yu'an groaned in pain.
Zuo Xiao suddenly realized what was happening and sat up with a change of expression. "Did I crush you? Does it hurt?"
Zhuang Yu'an's forehead was covered with sweat, and he said with all his strength, "It doesn't hurt."
"You're sweating!" Zuo Xiao gritted his teeth in pain and said helplessly, "How about taking off your clothes and seeing if there's any bleeding?"
"Okay." Zhuang Yu'an sat up and unbuttoned his clothes with his left hand. Ever since his right hand was injured, he only wore clothes with buttons or zippers for easier dressing and removal.
Seeing him struggling to unbutton his clothes one-handed, Zuo Xiao quickly stepped in to help him. He unbuttoned his cashmere cardigan and shirt, revealing his distinct chest and abdominal muscles. Zuo Xiao's eyes burned, and he quickly looked away—seeing such things in broad daylight was a completely different experience than seeing them at night.
She stripped him of his clothes and carefully examined the bandage, and was relieved to find that it was still snow-white and without a trace of blood.
"Baby is so good to me." Zhuang Yu'an looked at her with emotion. His strong, bruised body, masculine face, and loyal words set a fire in her. But the thought of his fatherly words and actions just now extinguished the fire.
"I'm sleepy." She lay down again and closed her eyes.
After a while, the man's warm chest muscles pressed down.
"What are you doing!" She opened her eyes and said angrily, "Didn't you hear me say I wanted to go to bed?"
"But I'm in pain and need to heal." After saying that, he pressed his lips against hers, blocking her mouth.
Zuo Xiao's face flushed red, and he pulled his face away, gasping for breath and asking, "Didn't you say it didn't hurt?"
He drowned her with a gaze that could drown someone, then pressed on her again: "It hurts there... It hurts so much that I feel like I'm going to explode..."
When Zuo Xiao woke up again, it was dusk outside the window. The aroma of green onions wafted into his nose again, exactly the same as it had been that morning.
Walking into the living room, I saw the thermos bag already on the dining table. Zhuang Yu'an walked out of the kitchen, holding a glass lunch box.
In the heavy dusk, the two came to the inpatient building.
Zhuang Yu'an handed her the thermos bag. Zuo Xiao said, "If you don't eat the lunch I sent you at noon, then starting tomorrow you won't have to cook. Just eat at the restaurant. Okay?"
Zhuang Yu'an nodded.
When Zuo Xiao walked into the ward, the nurse was dozing in a chair. Seeing her coming, he quickly stood up and whispered, "Teacher Zuo is asleep."
Zuo Xiao put down the thermal bag and asked in a low voice, "Have you eaten the food that was delivered at noon?"
The nurse nodded quickly: "They've eaten it all! Although the dishes are light and low in oil, they are so delicious. They can't be compared with the hospital cafeteria. I'm craving them just by smelling them..."
Zuo Xiao felt a mixture of emotions. She was relieved that Old Zuo hadn't wasted the cook's kindness, but she also felt bad for the disabled man having to cook for her every day. The caregiver, unaware of her concerns, kept nagging, "You really have to raise a daughter. A daughter is like a little cotton-padded jacket! I need to talk to my wife about having a second child..."
Zuo Xiao was speechless, thinking that it was a big cotton-padded jacket, almost 1.9 meters tall...
Zuo Xiao stayed for a while, but Old Zuo still didn't wake up, or was pretending not to. So she said, "I'm leaving now. I won't be bringing you breakfast tomorrow. I'll come back for lunch at noon." She added, "If you need anything, just call me directly."
"Old Zuo didn't eat lunch, so he gave it to the nurse." After going downstairs, she said this to Zhuang Yu'an.
Zhuang Yu'an frowned slightly and said, "He's still angry with you."
"He's always been so petty." Zuo Xiao said, "Starting tomorrow, we'll go to the restaurant to eat and pack him something light."
After the two of them went home and had dinner, Zhuang Yu'an suggested going downstairs for a walk.
As soon as they went downstairs, they ran into Wang Xuemei, who was coming back from outside carrying a few gift boxes and bumped into them head-on.
It was too late to take a detour, so Zuo Xiao had no choice but to bite the bullet and say hello. Wang Xuemei stared at Zhuang Yu'an and said with a smile: "Are you Xiaoxiao's colleague? You came here on the 11th."
"Hello, Auntie." Zhuang Yu'an greeted politely, then turned his gaze to Zuo Xiao, waiting for her decision.
Zuo Xiao said calmly, "Yes, my colleague. He happened to be visiting relatives here and came to see me on the way."
Wang Xuemei said "Oh" with a playful expression, and then asked, "Where's your dad? I sent him a message, but he didn't reply."
Zuo Xiao thought about the lame lie Lao Zuo had made up and couldn't bring himself to tell it, so he just said, "He's out having fun. He probably doesn't have time to check his phone." After thinking for a moment, he said, "If you have anything, just call him directly."
After saying goodbye to Wang Xuemei, the two left the complex and strolled side by side, chatting about their upcoming itinerary. Today was the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and Zhuang Yu'an would return to Beijing on the seventh. Zuo Xiao would remain at home until his father was discharged from the hospital, which would be the tenth at the earliest. After the Lantern Festival, Zhuang Yu'an would depart for Canada, a trip expected to last over a month. At best, the two of them only had a week left to spend together.
After counting the days, she was surprised to realize how precious time was. Zuo Xiao felt a heavy heart, and she imagined Zhuang Yu'an, who was in love, would feel even worse. With this thought in mind, she reached out her right hand and held his left.
Zhuang Yu'an was slightly startled, then he squeezed her hand back even harder. The warm feeling passed through his palm, causing her lips to curl up unconsciously.
Late at night, Zuo Xiao curled up in his arms, skin against skin. She felt warm and peaceful, even happy. However, she didn't notice the solemn expression on the man's face, the resolute look in his eyes.
"You don't seem to be wearing the pick necklace I gave you for Christmas." Zhuang Yu'an suddenly said, "Do you think it doesn't go well with your clothes?"
Zuo Xiao shook his head and said, "The main reason is that I can't see it in winter, and also... I'm allergic to romance."
Zhuang Yu'an couldn't help laughing and said, "You are implying that I am pretentious."
Zuo Xiao cleared his throat and said, "Hanging the pick around your neck is already strange enough, and even inlaying a British sixpence on it is a bit contrived, don't you think?... If someone asks me, I have to explain why I wear this thing around my neck. It's too much trouble... But I didn't throw it away. I've kept it well."
"It's okay." Zhuang Yu'an kissed her on the head. "If I give you something, it's yours. You can do whatever you want with it."
"Then why are you asking?" Zuo Xiao snorted and laughed, "You obviously care a lot, but you're being stubborn!"
Zhuang Yu'an was not upset when he was exposed, but laughed foolishly a few times. After a while, he asked again: "Do you know why it is six pence?"
"Didn't you say that the other day? Sixpence at Christmas represents good luck and can bless my performance to go smoothly." She smiled, "Please, I can't drink that badly."
Zhuang Yu'an was silent for a while, and then said, "Actually, there is another meaning." After that, he sat up, leaned against the head of the bed, and looked at her intently.
Zuo Xiao thought for a moment and said, "The moon and sixpence. Sixpence symbolizes material pursuits. Perhaps you want to wish me success in my career and prosperity while pursuing my dreams?" She smiled. "That's why I'm allergic to romance. Prefabricated romance always forces things, attaching stories and metaphors to objective things, like coating the cake with layers of cloying icing... But thankfully, you didn't say that much that night."
Zhuang Yu'an was silent for a moment, then said, "On the day I decided to prepare such a gift for you, I found a lawyer and started to design a plan."
Her intuition told her that his next words were important. She couldn't help but sit up, hold her breath, and listen attentively.
Zhuang Yu'an's breathing became a little chaotic, and it took him a moment to regain his composure. He spoke slowly and calmly in his usual calm tone:
"At that time, I already knew that you and Luffy had broken up. I felt that my life had entered the most critical window of opportunity. The opportunity was fleeting. If I missed it, I would live in regret forever. So I had to do my best."
"Later, as you can see, I seized every opportunity to get close to you. But that wasn't enough. I said to myself: I must be fully prepared, use all my chips, and show you my sincerity and determination when necessary. So, I decided to customize a gift for you, a sixpence that represents material things."
"I've asked a lawyer to draft a legal protection plan for you around our marriage. The plan has two key points. First, we must sign a written agreement and have it notarized before marriage, legally converting all my pre-marital assets into joint marital property. Second, considering the possibility of my investments failing after marriage and my ability to legally transfer assets, to provide you with minimal protection, we have agreed that in the first, fifth, and tenth years of marriage, RMB 100 million, 200 million, and 300 million in cash held in our family's name will be converted into your personal property. We also agree that I will be solely responsible for all debts after marriage. Just before the New Year, I completed an inventory of all my assets and drafted a prenuptial agreement. We can sign it at any time, and it will take effect the moment we receive our marriage certificate."
The more Zuo Xiao listened, the more outrageous it seemed. She was stunned and speechless. Zhuang Yu'an had obviously anticipated her doubts and took the initiative to explain, "This proposal is not a bargaining chip, but to demonstrate my sincerity and determination. I am ready to marry you at any time. You can completely refuse, but my sincerity will always be there. I just want you to know that I am serious about you. Even if you may doubt human nature and the unpredictability of feelings, at least you can believe in the law... Of course, I have also thought about whether there are other better ways to express my sincerity, not so clichéd and full of the smell of money. But those sweet vows or expensive gifts, it seems that they are not as solid and powerful as a contract."
Zuo Xiao felt his mind was a mess, with so many things to complain about that he didn't know which one to complain about first.
She pondered for a long time under Zhuang Yu'an's nervous and trembling eyes, and said:
"I don't doubt your sincerity..." She scratched her head, "but I find it illogical that you're so obsessed with me."
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