Chapter 23 Can I have a free meal? ...
Before I knew it, it was getting dark.
Xu Ji was lying on the sofa with his head resting on his arm and one leg propped up.
In fact, he didn't know at first that he was renting Tao Siyun's brother's house, and he didn't expect that Tao Siyun lived across the street.
After being transferred back from Beijing, his uncle has been busy with the renting of a house. He only got Tao Qian's contact information after signing the contract through an agent a few days ago.
Last night, Tao Siyun celebrated her brother's birthday and posted a message on WeChat Moments. Within a few minutes, Tao Qian liked it.
After seeing the interaction between the two in the comments, he realized that his landlord was actually Tao Siyun's brother.
How should I put it? I never expected it to be such a coincidence.
The phone vibrated in the dark, and Xu Ji clicked on the short video Jiang Zhen sent him.
In the picture, the Alaskan dog lies on the ground with its ears drooping, taking the scolding obediently, occasionally making a "howl" sound of grievance from its mouth.
As the camera turned, the scene that caught my eye could only be described as a mess.
Jiang Zhen couldn't stand it any longer and said, "Damn it! Can I beat it? I'm serious! My desire to beat the dog has reached its peak!"
Xu Ji kindly reminded him: [Not recommended. If you want to get a rabies vaccine, just ignore what I said.]
The next second, the phone rang.
Xu Ji picked up the phone slowly, "Hello, I'm not free tonight, no appointment."
"Don't be so self-indulgent. Who wants to ask you out?"
Xu Ji raised his eyebrows in surprise, stood up and said, "Then I'll hang up?"
"Wait a minute," Jiang Zhen's tone was as weathered as an old dog's. It was humble yet sincere, and there was even a hint of flattery in his words. "Brother, your family has moved, so when do you plan to reunite with your son and his father? Tell me a time, or I'll look at the almanac and choose an auspicious day to personally deliver it to you. I'll also provide him with three months' worth of dog food... no, six months' worth. Is that okay with you?"
"Probably not."
"One year."
"You misunderstood me. This is not about money."
“???”
Xu Ji stood up and groped his way to turn on the living room light. "I almost forgot to tell you, the landlord doesn't allow pets."
Silence for a few seconds.
Jiang Zhen: "Are you fucking kidding me?"
Xu Ji: "Do I look like I'm joking?"
"Grandpa, sir, brother—can't you move to a house where you can keep a dog?!" Jiang Zhen's wailing voice came from the receiver of the phone: "I want to live in a world of two!"
"Isn't it now?"
"Damn it, I said 'two people's world', not 'two people and a dog' world."
Xu Ji opened the sliding door to the living room, walked slowly to the balcony, lit a cigarette, then sat down in the rocking chair, crossed his legs, and said lightly, "What's the difference?"
"What do you think?" Jiang Zhen was almost laughing out of anger. "Do you need me to remind you why you rented this house in the first place? To raise your dog! And now, you're going off to have a good time and leaving your illegitimate child to me. What's going on?"
"Speak nicely and speak human language."
"I'm not going to talk to you nicely. What's our relationship? Did I marry you and you plan to let me raise your child without any title or status? You, on the other hand, just pretend to be a father and come to see your son once a week with some canned dog food or something, and at the same time, take a look at me who has grown old prematurely because of taking care of your son, right? What about your responsibilities as a guardian? What about your obligations?"
Xu Ji: "...Can you stop being such a nagging woman?"
"I beg you, seriously, raising a dog won't prevent you from having a romantic relationship!"
Xu Ji glanced at the darkened balcony next door and said slowly, "Since it won't delay you, then I'll continue to keep her at your place. I'll give you child support every month."
"You fucking—"
“Beep, beep…”
“Is this still a human being?!”
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Zhen walked towards the living room. A man and a dog were watching TV happily. Jiang Zhen kicked the Alaskan dog lying on the ground with an expressionless face and said coldly, "Hey, your father doesn't want you anymore."
Alaska sticks out its tongue: "Woof woof woof~"
Ji Yao was stunned. He turned around with the half watermelon he was eating in his arms and spat out the watermelon seeds in his mouth: "...Huh?"
Jiang Zhen plopped down on the sofa. "That shameless bastard Xu Ji, he even rented a house across from Tao Siyun by mistake. I even suspected he did it on purpose. Now, he's only focused on his own relationship and even abandoned his own son whom he once treated like his own flesh and blood."
Ji Yao's eyes lit up, and he suddenly said happily: "Really? If he doesn't want to raise it, then it's just right that I will."
"Haha, you're dreaming." Jiang Zhen rubbed the dog's head. "Forget Xu Ji himself, ask the dog if it agrees."
***
After lying in bed for a while, Tao Siyun gradually accepted this reality and went to the kitchen to prepare some instant noodles.
I boiled water in the pot and just added the seasoning packet when the doorbell rang.
When he opened the door, he didn't expect it to be Xu Ji. Tao Siyun was stunned and stood at the door with a confused look on his face and asked, "Are you okay?"
She was wearing a home dress that was much shorter than an apron; her waist-length hair was loosely tied behind her head with a shark clip. When she looked up at him, her expression was exactly the same as the cartoon character printed on her clothes.
Xu Ji looked her up and down for two seconds and said, "Can I use the WiFi?"
"..." Tao Siyun blinked distractedly, "Okay."
Her hands were wet, and instead of directly reaching for Xu Ji's phone to enter the password, she first muttered something, then raised her head and began to read out the numbers: "3|332|176|7171|22..."
"How do I know?" Xu Ji raised his lips and smiled at her, "Your password is quite difficult."
"It's okay, I just set a random password." Tao Siyun, holding a spoon in his hand, suddenly asked out of the blue, "Have you had dinner?"
Xu Ji: “Hmm?”
Tao Siyun almost wanted to bite his tongue and commit suicide on the spot.
What was she talking about? Could it be that Xu Ji was thinking that she wanted to invite him to dinner?
Tao Siyun bit her lip and glanced at him secretly.
Sure enough, the next second——
"not yet."
"……oh."
Xu Ji seemed a little surprised by her reaction, so he simply said, "Can I have a free meal?"
“…”
Since she had said that, she naturally felt embarrassed to refuse. Although she had just blurted out the polite words without thinking at all, she was the one who asked the other person first after all.
Tao Siyun nodded, let him in, and turned to go to the kitchen.
Normally, when she cooked instant noodles, she would put all the seasoning packets in first, and then add the pancakes. When she had opened half of the second seasoning packet, she suddenly thought of a question -
People in western Shanghai generally prefer light taste, and I don’t know if he can handle such spicy food.
"Um..." Tao Siyun stood at the kitchen door, hesitantly shaking the instant noodle bag in his hand, and said to Xu Ji, "This is the only one I have, spicy. Can you handle it?"
There was a dead silence in the living room.
Xu Ji stared at her without saying a word. Tao Siyun didn't know if it was her illusion, but she felt that Xu Ji looked at her in a strange way.
After a while, Xu Ji said meaningfully, "I can do it."
He especially emphasized the word "OK".
Tao Siyun finally realized what was happening, his ears turned red, and he slammed the kitchen door shut.
Although she rarely reads dirty jokes, she is not an ignorant girl...
What's more, she is already 24 years old. Under the influence of that guy Bian Chengzi, she has long since transitioned from "knowing nothing" to "knowing a little bit of everything".
At that moment, the catchphrase that my best friend used to say every day flashed through my mind: Never say "You can't" to any man, because men are born stubborn and childish. They will feel inferior because of your occasional questioning, and in the end, they will even do everything possible to save their face and prove to you countless times that they are "good" in a certain aspect.
“…”
Tao Siyun felt that he must have taken the wrong medicine today. How could he think of everything in the wrong way?
She took the dough out of the bag and threw it into the pot, then poured in the broken dough crumbs. Finally, she leaned against the counter as if exhausted, covering her face in embarrassment at the gurgling sound of boiling water.
***
Since the ingredients were really limited, Tao Siyun cooked two packets of instant noodles. There were two vegetable leaves left in the refrigerator. She cut them in half with a knife, blanched them, and put two into each bowl. In short, it was a very simple dinner.
The two sat facing each other, each eating noodles from their bowls.
Tao Siyun held the bowl and felt a little bland.
Normally, when she eats alone at home, she would play her favorite TV series on her iPad and watch while eating without feeling bored. But now that there is one more person, she feels a little uncomfortable.
Seeing that she was absent-minded even while eating, counting the noodles one by one, Xu Ji couldn't help but knock on the table.
"Um, what?"
"Tao Siyun," Xu Ji frowned and said, "Are you born in the year of the cat?"
Tao Siyun lowered his eyes and answered seriously, "I was born in the Year of the Rat."
“…”
She picked up a piece of noodles with her chopsticks, blew on it, and muttered softly, "Aren't you also born in the Year of the Rat?"
"What did you say?"
"...I said your home is in Shanghai West, why do you still want to rent a house?"
Xu Ji paused in his action of picking up the noodles, his chopsticks pausing mid-air. He raised his eyes, glanced at her lightly, and began to talk nonsense seriously: "Because my dad thinks I'm affecting his and my mom's world of two."
This reason is simply unheard of and is quite well-made.
Tao Siyun said "Oh" and said from the bottom of her heart: "Your parents have a good relationship." Suddenly she thought of something and asked: "By the way, my brother, how much rent does he charge you per month?"
"8k, what's wrong?"
I have to say that Tao Qian is a very conscientious landlord. A large flat of more than 200 square meters in the center of western Shanghai is only 8,000 yuan, which is more than half cheaper than others.
No wonder he said he is not short of money. What’s the difference between this and doing charity?
Tao Siyun, holding noodles in his mouth, mumbled, "Then you are really lucky."
Xu Ji stared at her for a few seconds, then slowly curled the corners of his lips and smiled subtly, "It's quite good."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
