Chapter 42 My Socks Are Not...
In the evening, Tao Siyun was going to cook some wontons simply as a meal, but just as he had filled the pot with water and before he had even started the fire, Xu Ji arrived.
He carried the supermarket shopping bag and, with one free hand, pulled a box of painkillers from his coat pocket and gave it to her, instructing her, "Don't take them if you can."
Tao Siyun said "thank you" and then quietly put the medicine away, planning to take it before going to bed, so that he wouldn't say anything if he saw it later.
After filling the refrigerator, Xu Ji took out a box of mango yogurt and handed it to her.
"What are you having for dinner?"
"My brother left some rations for me."
The dumplings and wontons Tao Qian made were frozen in the refrigerator, and she hadn't eaten any of them yet.
"I bought ribs, beef, shrimp, corn, and broccoli. If I don't eat them today, they won't be fresh tomorrow."
Who told you to buy so much at once?
"...Then you do it." Tao Siyun leaned on the soft sofa and said to him in a nonchalant tone.
Xu Ji raised his eyebrows and looked at her: "I'll make it for you, and you just wait to eat it ready, is that what you mean?"
What else could I do? I'm a patient. Do you expect a half-crippled person like me to stand there and help you? How could you do this? Do you have any humanity?
Tao Siyun licked the corner of his mouth, ate the last bite of yogurt, and muttered softly: "I was planning to just cook a small bowl of wontons, I've already got the water..."
If you don’t believe me, go to the kitchen and take a look.
"Okay, I'll make it and you eat it." Xu Ji narrowed his eyes, staring at her bare feet, and whispered, "Put on your socks."
Tao Siyun was stunned for a moment, her toes curled slightly, and she looked at him with a particularly innocent look, and said in a mosquito-like voice: "...Aren't my socks with you?"
After saying that, he stared at Xu Ji's coat pocket very unnaturally, his gaze fixed for a few seconds, and then looked at him again, as if to remind him: It's in your right pocket.
“…”
The two looked at each other quietly for a moment. The atmosphere was subtle and there was a faint ambiguous feeling in the air.
Finally, Xu Ji seemed to have just remembered and uttered a few words nonchalantly: "Oh, I washed it."
The sock is now hanging alone on his balcony and should be dry soon.
???
Tao Siyun didn't know what expression and mentality she should use to accept the fact that Xu Ji washed her socks, and why Xu Ji would wash her socks when he had nothing to do...
She tilted her head slightly, staring at him with an indescribable, very puzzled look, her eyes full of questions.
What do you mean, washed?
You, washed my socks?
…
This is quite embarrassing.
On the night of Mengmeng's birthday, Ji Yao, who had long hated secondhand smoke, rejected her application for indoor smoking and angrily drove all three men to the balcony.
Cao Wenzheng, who only had fat on his body, urged tremblingly: "Old Xu, can you please hurry up!"
He and Jiang Zhen didn't even have time to put on their coats. They were freezing to death. They thought about going back to the house as soon as they finished smoking. They waited for Xu Ji to take out the lighter with a cigarette in their hand.
As a result, Xu Ji touched a "foreign object".
He was still wondering when something soft appeared in his pocket. Before he could react, he pulled out a wrinkled, cream-colored, thin cotton sock from his coat pocket in front of Jiang Zhen and Cao Wenzheng...
Jiang Zhen: “…”
Cao Wenzheng: “…”
After seeing what it was, the three men fell silent.
Xu Ji held the Tom and Jerry sock for two seconds, then pretended to be calm and put it back in his pocket, saying calmly, "I took the wrong one."
"Fuck?" Cao Wenzheng's eyes widened in disbelief, his voice trembling slightly in the cold wind. "Lao Xu, are you sick?"
What kind of messed up habits...
Jiang Zhen crumpled the cigarette he had been holding for a long time and threw it to the ground. He turned around and said to Cao Wenzheng, "Let's go in first. He's a pervert."
***
After waiting for nearly two hours, Xu Ji finally prepared the meal.
Tao Siyun turned off the TV and walked over slowly to see that there were four steaming dishes and a soup on the table.
The two of them probably couldn't eat so much. She usually only had enough space for a small bowl of wontons at night.
Tao Siyun picked at the rice in his bowl and asked for conversation, "When did you learn to cook?"
"After work."
"oh."
Tao Siyun held the bowl, scooped a spoonful of pork rib soup, and blew it gently.
It tastes good.
Xu Ji took another bowl, took out all the ribs from it, and put it aside for her to cool.
"Eat more, it replenishes everything you eat."
“…”
Looking at the ribs piled up like a small mountain, Tao Siyun felt that his words were not appropriate at all.
It was clearly her foot that was injured, not her ribs. Is it useful to eat so many ribs?
Tao Siyun put down his spoon, stretched out a finger and silently pushed back the bowl full of ribs, proving with practical actions that his appetite was really limited.
“I can’t finish this much…”
Xu Ji stared at her for a few seconds, then finally picked up his chopsticks, picked up two pieces and put them in his bowl. "Is this okay?"
Tao Siyun didn't say anything.
Xu Ji picked up a few more pieces.
Tao Siyun still didn't say anything.
After a few times, Xu Ji was too lazy to ask anymore. When he had almost picked up half of it, Tao Siyun nodded with satisfaction and said, "Well, that's it."
…
She's like a little kid, bargaining for food. I don't know how her family coaxed her to eat when she was a child. It was so difficult.
After eating a few pieces of pork ribs, the phone on the table suddenly rang, and Qin Shu called her on WeChat video.
Tao Siyun put down his chopsticks, extended his index finger and made a "hush" gesture, signaling Xu Ji to be quiet, and picked up the phone -
"Hello, Mom."
Qin Shu's gentle voice came over: "An An, have you eaten?"
"Eating."
This was the first time Xu Ji heard her nickname, and he couldn't help but look at her with the same curious eyes as when he first heard the name "Dorothy".
"What's for dinner?"
Tao Siyun laid his phone flat, flipped the camera, and showed Qin Ru the dishes on the table. "Beef brisket with tomatoes, steamed eggs with shrimp, pork ribs and lotus root soup, stir-fried broccoli, and corn with pine nuts..."
Qin Shu subconsciously thought that all this was done by Tao Qian, so he asked with a smile: "Is my brother here? Where is he?"
Hearing this, Xu Ji raised his eyebrows and looked at her with interest.
"No." Tao Siyun glanced at Xu Ji secretly, picked up the half-eaten broccoli in the bowl with chopsticks, stuffed it into his mouth, and continued eating, "My brother said he only comes over every weekend..."
"oh."
…
Xu Ji looked at Tao Siyun silently.
He had noticed it a few times before. She seemed to like repeating words when calling Tao Qian. Occasionally she would call him "brother", but the word "brother" would be dragged out for a long time.
Generally speaking, boys will not call others "Mom and Dad" or "Brother and Sister" in a affectionate way when they are in their teens. Girls at this age will rarely be so affectionate with their family members.
He was wondering, it turned out to be hereditary.
No wonder she always called Tao Qian "Brother" and "Brother". It seems that when she was a child, her parents must have called Tao Qian from her perspective.
Tao Siyun and Qin Shu chatted for a while.
"Mom, didn't my brother say a while ago that he hadn't adjusted yet and didn't want to work for the time being? He also didn't want to go to Uncle Nie's company and was planning to take a long vacation. How come he suddenly came to his senses now?"
"Well, who knows? Your father has talked to him a few times, and it might have had some effect. He's already such a grown man." Qin Shu sighed and complained, "You said your brother should not work for the time being, so why did he have to rent out such a good house? The family was still short of money. Now the house is rented out, and after all the trouble, he has to rent a house in Shanghai West. I don't know what he does all day long... It's really worrying."
The corners of Xu Ji's mouth rose slightly. Although he was trying to hold back his laughter, he couldn't help but let out a slight sound.
Tao Siyun was afraid that Qin Shu would hear any noise, so he quickly covered his mouth.
Xu Ji's breathing was very regular, and his warm breath sprayed on the palm of his hand, as if his every breath was under his control.
After a brief moment of daze, the teasing and ridicule in the man's eyes turned into a meaningful look as he stared at her.
Tao Siyun's hands began to feel hot, and he was about to find an excuse to hang up when Qin Shu suddenly said, "An An, Dad is back."
The next second, the camera flipped and focused on Tao Daiming who was changing shoes at the door.
Tao Siyun called out "Dad" and clearly felt the breathing in his palm pause.
Xu Ji half-closed his eyes and looked at her with a smile.
Tao Siyun quickly let go of his hand and turned away.
Tao Daiming came close to the camera and said a few words to her, asking her to eat well and have a good rest.
The family of three chatted for a while, and Qin Shu got up and walked to the kitchen. "Then Mom will hang up first. Your dad hasn't eaten yet. I'll go make him something to eat."
"Yeah, okay, bye."
…
"An An?"
Tao Siyun's back stiffened and he suddenly raised his head.
It was the first time that a member of the opposite sex other than her family called her by her nickname, and the tone of voice gave her goosebumps all over her body.
Even Tao Qian rarely called her like this, and Tao Qi was used to adding her surname in front when he called her!
Xu Jike, on the other hand, listened to her video chat with her parents for a while and parroted them so quickly...
Xu Ji asked curiously, "Your parents call you 'An An'. What's the meaning of this nickname?"
Tao Siyun lowered his eyelashes and stammered, "It doesn't have any special meaning. Before I was born, my family always thought I was a boy. Because my mother's reactions throughout the pregnancy were exactly the same as when she was pregnant with my brother, they gave me the name 'Tao An' early on. Later, after I was born, my father saw that I was a girl and renamed me. However, they had already called me 'An An' for several months during prenatal education. My parents were used to it and couldn't change it all at once, so it became my nickname."
Except for Tao Siyun, all the children in this generation of the Tao family are boys. The names of the three grandsons were given by their grandfather: Tao Qian, Tao Yu, and Tao Qi.
Because Tao Siyun's gender was misjudged before she was born, the name her grandfather gave her was used as a nickname by the whole family.
Xu Ji curled the corners of his mouth and started smiling again.
Tao Siyun didn't quite understand what was so funny about this, "What are you laughing at?"
"You're quite good at disguising yourself. You fooled everyone except the doctor."
"...Our family doesn't favor boys over girls, so why would we need to pretend?" Tao Siyun suddenly thought of something. "Ji Yao still calls you 'Xu Yuqi'? What's your nickname?"
"No, actually, it's not just her. When they were little, Cao Wenzheng and Jiang Zhen also liked to call her that. Because no one knew the character 'Ji' at that time, the kids liked to split it up and read the parts they knew half and half. Later, they probably felt that this made them look uneducated, so one by one they all returned to calling her that normally, except for Ji Yao, who had already gotten used to calling her that."
Tao Siyun repeated it twice in his mind and found that the three words "Xu Yuqi" were easier to pronounce than "Xu Ji".
After dinner, Xu Ji was about to clean up when Tao Siyun said, "I don't want you to wash the dishes today."
"If I don't wash you will?"
Tao Siyun pointed to the kitchen and said, "There's a dishwasher. Just put it in there."
***
While spraying the pesticide, Tao Siyun kept moving around.
“Hiss… mmm… it hurts! Be gentle!!”
If you didn't know the sound, you would think he had done something to her.
Xu Ji frowned and tsk- ...
"...Then don't press it with your hands!" Tao Siyun was in so much pain that tears were about to burst out. He hugged the pillow tightly in his arms, his vision blurred, and he complained with tears in his eyes: "They say it takes a hundred days for a broken bone to heal. How can anyone recover that quickly? It's still too early!"
"Today is only the fourth day, and there are still ninety-six days?" Xu Ji glanced at her and reminded her slowly: "Hey, your socks are on inside out."
Tao Siyun: "..."
You don't need to say it.
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