Extra 4: Cinema (2)
Obviously, their relationship has not reached this level yet, and Zhong Jiajing must have refused.
But the first step is to separate the two people's ambiguously intertwined hands. After all, this is really too eye-catching, and it is not suitable for the two of them who have a relationship like that of a superior and a subordinate.
Zhong Jiajing's right wrist was still tightly held by Ji Nan's dry big hand. She couldn't think of the right words to remind him to let go, so she had to take practical action herself.
She lowered her head, intending to use her free right hand to pry open Ji Nan's slender knuckles one by one, thus regaining the freedom of her left hand.
As soon as Ji Nan touched the man's index finger, he suddenly lowered his eyes to look at the girl in front of him who was concentrating on her work. Where their fingertips touched, a tiny electric current flowed through his body, a tingling sensation that was almost unbearable.
He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that he was still "entangled" with the other person, so he immediately let go.
He covered his mouth and coughed twice, and a hint of pink appeared on the tip of his ear, which was slightly hidden by his black hair. He explained in a low voice: "I forgot."
Zhong Jiajing blushed and nodded a few times. "Well, thank you very much for the generous invitation, Boss Ji. I'll be leaving now."
Xiaobai interrupted quietly, "But there's no subway at this time."
"I can take a taxi." Zhong Jiajing nodded firmly.
"The starting price for a taxi at night is 21 yuan," Xiaobai deliberately whispered in her ear, "Besides, it's the middle of the night, how can you tell if the driver is a human or a ghost?"
Zhong Jiajing: “…”
She could endure the pain of the former, but as a coward, she was really helpless in the latter.
Zhong Jiajing's posture was a little awkward, her eyes half drooped and she didn't look directly at anyone, but her murmuring voice clearly reached Ji Nan's ears.
"I'm a coward." She muttered softly, sounding a little embarrassed.
"If I'm not blind, this shouldn't be hard to see." Ji Nan responded mercilessly.
Xiaobai was trying to hold back her laughter. She raised her hand and pushed Zhong Jiajing into her boss's arms. Then she exchanged glances with the other colleagues and ran out.
"That's perfect. Tomorrow is the weekend anyway, and you two lucky guys are the only ones here who don't have to go to work. The boss might as well do a good deed that day." Xiaobai's voice came from the direction of the glass door.
Zhong Jiajing's forehead banged against Ji Nan's hard chest, and her hands subconsciously rested on his waist to maintain her balance. She was stunned, and it took a long time for her brain to calm down and return to its original position.
Blushing with shame, she staggered back three steps, muttering to herself, "I swear, I definitely didn't mean to do that, and I definitely didn't mean to tease a decent woman or man!"
Ji Nan's expression remained unchanged, his face still dull as he asked, "Is the burden on your shoulders too light?"
Zhong Jiajing didn't understand his sudden concern. She tilted her head and looked at him in confusion. "No, I'm under a lot of pressure at work. If it weren't for the national regulation that the noise level at night is 40 decibels, I would jump out of bed every night and stand by the window, yelling at my boss at the top of my lungs."
"Since the burden is already heavy, why do you still want to take the blame for Xiaobai?" Ji Nan glared at her.
That's right! She was able to take advantage of Ji Nan just now, so it should be Xiaobai, the culprit, who should be arrested immediately! What does this have to do with her, a little lamb?
Zhong Jiajing lowered her head, lost in thought. Ji Nan raised his hand to straighten the wrinkled clothes in front of him, and spoke up to explain, "Maybe this is just the last bit of your college life that's at work. Cherish it, because after two years of society's beatings, there might not be a single drop left."
It felt like she was saying: You! You have very little manners!
Ji Nan gave her shoulder a light push without much force. "If there's any grudge, we can settle it with Xiaobai at dawn. The most urgent thing is to find that coward home first."
This meant that he agreed to send her home. Although Zhong Jiajing felt a little embarrassed, she didn't have the heart to refuse. After all, she was really a coward.
Before leaving, Ji Nan asked her, "Do you still want popcorn?"
Ji Nan was afraid that the small half bucket she had just taken from Mini Lion King would be left on the field, so she conceded that she had not eaten enough.
Zhong Jiajing shook her head. "No, I just didn't have time to eat dinner. I was just craving for it. I'm already past my hunger point now."
Ji Nan glanced at her and asked, "How about some grilled sausage?"
The sausage machine next to the popcorn machine was running, and the sizzling sausages emitted a rich and tempting aroma. Most young people found it difficult to resist the temptation of sausages. Ji Nan remembered that the store clerks always couldn't walk when they saw it.
Zhong Jiajing is indeed one of them.
She stared at the sausage dancing in the soft yellow light, then swallowed and asked, "Would you like one?"
His eyes were watery, like a poor puppy who woke up from hunger in the middle of the night and begged for a snack.
Ji Nan exposed her calmly, "I don't know if I want one, but I know very well that you want to eat it."
"Looking at it this way, there's a chance I could become a worm in your stomach. It's scary to think about it."
Although he said it coldly, the man with a sharp tongue but a soft heart still turned around and bought one and handed it to her.
It is a black pepper-flavored sausage, and every inch of the firm meat exudes a charming fragrance.
Zhong Jiajing held the intestines without moving, and instead politely asked the sponsor, "Dear Boss, you really don't want to eat it?"
Ji Nan's indifferent eyes revealed his complete lack of interest. "If I want to eat, I'll buy it myself. There's no need to wait for others to ask."
"..." Zhong Jiajing glared at him resentfully. "I'm saying that all bosses have the same annoying temperament. Since I call you boss, you definitely deserve a scolding from me."
As she said this, she imagined the sausage as a vicious man and took a big bite out of it viciously.
The manufacturer was a kind man. The sausages were stuffed tightly with meat, and the casings that had not burst open were instantly bitten open by sharp teeth, splashing out a stream of oil.
Half of it splashed along her teeth and landed around Zhong Jiajing's lips, and the other half splashed onto Ji Nan's exposed forearm.
The sausages fresh out of the oven were scalding hot, and the juice wrapped inside was even hotter. Both of them couldn't help but let out a hiss through their lips.
Ji Nan saw that her originally big round eyes were now mostly filled with tears, and her lips had become red, shiny, and slightly swollen, as if they had the pouty effect of lip augmentation surgery.
He quickly took two free tissues provided at the cashier counter and wiped away the remaining oil around her lips. His movements were not gentle, but he tried his best to control the strength.
Zhong Jiajing was born fair, and after being splashed with hot oil, her skin turned red in patches, making her look pitiful.
Ji Nan took the relatively intact sausage from her hand, sighed and said, "Go to the bathroom and wash it with cold water."
In fact, it is not serious, it is just a tingling sensation at that moment. People who are anxious to eat hot sausages may have had this experience.
Zhong Jiajing nodded obediently. She stared at the red marks on his arm and asked with a frown, "What about you?"
"It's okay. As a boss, I've been scolded thousands of times, so I'm thick-skinned." He followed her words and laughed at himself.
Zhong Jiajing felt guilty and didn't say anything, but she also took out two pieces of paper to wipe off the burn stains for him.
Although the other person's hand was warm, Ji Nan inexplicably felt that the temperature of his hot skin had been effectively cooled down.
Ji Nan was waiting at the door of the women's restroom holding a grilled sausage, and soon he saw Zhong Jiajing coming out, wet.
He handed her the paper he was going to use to wrap the sausage stick to wipe her mouth, "Why don't you wipe it dry?"
Zhong Jiajing thanked him sincerely, then explained, "We've run out of paper towels in the restroom."
She wiped the water stains from her mouth hastily, turned around to take the intestines and urged Ji Nan, "You should go in and wash up too."
Ji Nan didn't refuse, nodded and went into the men's restroom next door.
When she came out, the intestines in her hand had been eaten in no time.
Zhong Jiajing held his wrist with both hands respectfully, and her gaze was extremely sincere, as if she was holding something precious.
Only after his gaze remained on that piece of skin for nearly a minute was Ji Nan allowed to go free.
She said: "It's a good thing you're okay, otherwise your beautiful face would have been tarnished by me."
Ji Nan pushed her hand away and said ruthlessly, "If I make a living by my looks, then regardless of whether I get a scar or not, you will have to pay me a large sum of money."
"You should be thankful that I don't make a living by my looks, and I'm not a calculating man."
Pushing the envelope! Shameless! Zhong Jiajing couldn't believe his generosity.
But as a grandson, she could only keep her tail between her legs and would never dare to use her mouth as a firecracker to bombard the other party directly.
She forced a grin. "I've saved some money again. I'm so lucky."
Ji Nan didn't pay attention to her sarcasm. He reached out and pressed the elevator button. His expression remained the same and he was very calm.
"Don't be too thankful. This is just a reflection of one's personal qualities. If you have it, I'll definitely understand." Ji Nan looked at her, "What you should be thinking about now is how to fall into a deep sleep before the Ghost Festival arrives."
Zhong Jiajing: “…”
Yes, unfortunately, it is now the 14th day of the seventh lunar month, which is the day before the Ghost Festival.
The elevator dinged, and we arrived at the parking lot on the underground floor.
There were quite a few people on Friday night, but it was a bit late in the morning, and only a few people were planning to drive home.
The room underground was extremely stuffy. The hot air, unable to circulate smoothly, gathered in a ball, easily forcing out the sweat hidden beneath the skin.
Ji Nan stared at the small water droplets on her forehead without saying a word. He just picked up the movie ticket stub that he had not thrown away and fanned it with his hand.
A warm breeze blew from below and was instantly swallowed up by the heat, but it was better than nothing. As the beneficiary, Zhong Jiajing was of course grateful.
"I think you are indeed quite well-mannered," she said flatteringly.
Ji Nanmo said, "Thank you, you too."
Zhong Jiajing always felt that there was something more to his words. Perhaps he was just being kind and rewarding her with a kind word because she had praised him...
While he was lost in thought, an old man jumped off his electric scooter, and the cell phone hanging on his waist made a loud beeping sound to tell the time.
"It's 2:30 Beijing time now."
The girl's electronic mechanical voice, which was enunciating word by word, resounded throughout the entire parking lot. Zhong Jiajing was startled by the sudden sound and almost threw her handbag out.
She tugged at Ji Nan's clothes and trembled as she spoke, "Do you think I can lie back in bed and sleep peacefully within an hour?"
Ji Nan said expressionlessly, "I'm sorry, the detention center probably only has a large bunk bed for you to sleep in. I don't think it would be easy for me to feel at ease in such an environment."
According to the prescribed speed range, it would take more than 40 minutes to drive from the cinema to the downstairs of her house. Speeding is an illegal act that must never be committed.
Zhong Jiajing, who had been hoping for a lucky break, instantly became dejected. Before Ji Nan could even think of any kindness, he saw her expression become resolute, and she walked towards the car as if she was ready to die.
"Forget it, monster or demon, if you want to take me away, just take me away!"
Ji Nan reminded her to fasten her seat belt. He held the steering wheel but didn't rush to drive the car out. Instead, he tilted his head and asked her, "When is your salary?"
"Number 10? Why are you asking this?" Zhong Jiajing asked puzzledly.
Ji Nan didn't look at her again, stepped on the accelerator and drove away.
Amid the rustling sound of the air conditioner, Zhong Jiajing heard him sneer almost inaudibly.
"It's already the end of August. If you round it up, you've already earned your full salary for this month, but you were captured by the Bull God and the Ghost Monster and taken to the underground before you even received your salary. You're really willing to do that."
"If only all my employees had your awareness, my dream of becoming a billionaire would be just around the corner."
His tone was very flat, and he didn't seem to be secretly happy about daydreaming at all, but Zhong Jiajing felt that his tone was really asking for a beating.
But fortunately, she is an open-minded person, and Zhong Jiajing decided not to bother with him.
But the resentful glances from time to time and the heavy breathing in the narrow space all showed that she was sulking.
The red light at night lasted for one minute and thirty seconds. The two people sat in the car in silence, as if the childhood joke that whoever spoke first would be the puppy would come true tonight.
With only ten seconds left before the red light turned red, Ji Nan gripped the steering wheel again, and the veins on the back of his hand were clearly visible in the dim light.
He cleared his throat and said, "If you really want to be taken away today, I can pay you my salary first."
Zhong Jiajing: “…”
Thank you. I have never met such a generous person in my twenty years of life.
She smirked, "Then how can I pay you back?"
"If you drank Meng Po soup and reincarnated, you can deny it even if you're beaten to death." Ji Nan said seriously, "If you didn't drink it and are still staying underground, then wait until I die and convert it into ghost money and return it to me."
I finally know the secret of how the other person got rich. He must be both shameless and stingy!
The city at night was free of the crowds during the day, and cars on the road drove smoothly. We arrived at our destination ten minutes earlier than expected.
Ji Nan watched the girl's back disappear into the darkness of the community before he withdrew his gaze. He did not drive away immediately, but opened the car window completely, leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes to rest.
The room, which was cooled down by the air conditioner, was immediately invaded by the heat flow. The wind was sometimes very strong, but it was always warm and sticky.
His thoughts tonight were as messy as those on the night of Chinese Valentine's Day. Ji Nan began to feel confused again. At this moment, he was as confused as a bystander.
The cell phone thrown aside continued to ring. The employee group of Mini Zoo was already bustling with activity, and the number of messages had already reached 99.
Ji Nan opened the chat box and glanced at it casually. He was half complaining about Mini Lion King's abominable behavior, and half gossiping about the ambiguous behavior between him and Zhong Jiajing just now.
The college students who didn’t come were still crying because they couldn’t watch the event in person, and their words of regret filled three whole pages of the screen.
Ji Nan casually typed a line of words: [Watching it live? Zhong Jiajing and I are the protagonists of the movie? Do you want to invite someone to perform it for you live?]
When disaster strikes, not only couples but also gossip-loving friends flee.
The phone became silent again. Ji Nan threw the phone onto the empty seat next to him, and a crisp collision sound was heard.
When Ji Nan took a closer look, he found that there was a furry pendant on the seat, and the screen of his mobile phone happened to hit the half-broken metal chain on the pendant.
The pendant was a palm-sized green monster that Ji Nan had seen on Zhong Jiajing's bag.
When he looked up and out of the car, he saw a familiar figure in a long skirt coming out of the community again, now walking towards the 24-hour convenience store across the street.
Ji Nan thought this was a bit strange, so he quickly locked the car door and followed.
When he arrived, Zhong Jiajing was sitting in a seat by the window, concentrating on eating a freshly heated sandwich, and she didn't notice that there was a man standing just across the window.
Ji Nan tapped the glass regularly with the second joint of his index finger. Zhong Jiajing was still chewing a piece of bacon and looking at him suspiciously with her eyes wide open.
As if asking: Do you want some too?
Ji Nan's expression did not change. He raised his right fist to the height of her eyes, then stretched it out, and a small green monster jumped out from his palm.
He put the ring on the top of the metal chain on his slender and clean middle finger. The green-haired monster, with half of the chain broken, lost its balance and hung in the air at a slight tilt.
Zhong Jiajing always felt that this scene was somewhat similar to the last level of the old version of Plants vs. Zombies that she played when she was a child. Dr. Zombie King used this posture to randomly land the hateful zombies.
While Zhong Jiajing was wandering in her imagination, Ji Nan had already opened the shop door and walked in, sitting next to her.
He stuffed the green-haired monster into her half-open bag and said, "I almost thought you were going to stuff a fourth furry child into my house."
"Can't you afford to feed it?" Zhong Jiajing tilted her head and asked him worriedly, "Does the puppy eat a lot?"
At this time, Zhong Heiya had already entered Ji Nan's home.
"It's okay, but I found that it looks exactly like you." Ji Nan looked at her.
"How is it the same?"
"He forgets to eat at mealtimes and sneaks up in the middle of the night to look for food. Sometimes I even think I'm raising a rat."
Zhong Jiajing pouted, "I just worked overtime and got to the cafeteria a little late, but all that was left were dishes I hated. There's no way I could make do with them."
Although the company's chefs are very skilled, there might be dishes that they dislike, such as premium foods like carrots and cauliflower. Zhong Jiajing would never give in to them, even if she died.
Ji Nan casually unscrewed the cap of the milk on her desk and said, "Oh, I thought you came here because you were scared."
There is indeed such a reason...
Zhong Jiajing changed the subject and asked him, "What about you? You didn't come back just to give me a pendant, did you?"
Of course, Ji Nan couldn't admit that he had never left. He stared at the dark darkness outside and said to himself, "Isn't it possible?"
"You blame me for just drinking a cup of coffee. If I take your clown monster away, you might bombard me with WeChat messages all night long."
"By then, I'll buy you all the sheep in Inner Mongolia. What if you still can't fall asleep after counting them?"
Zhong Jiajing stuck out her tongue at him. "Humph, I'm not that stingy."
She gulped down most of the milk she had opened, mumbling, "But if you don't go back soon, it will be dawn."
It was already past midnight, and the only two other customers in the store had finished selecting their items and left.
Ji Nan's thin eyelids became a little heavy, and sleepiness had already attacked his head. Normally, by this time, he would have finished his first round of dreams.
Perhaps because he was not in the right state of mind, his tone was somewhat softer, and he said, "Let's talk about it when you get back."
When Zhong Jiajing was young, her grandmother told her not to wander outside on the night of the Ghost Festival, otherwise she would run into wandering ghosts.
She was terrified at the time, but she was too young to read the calendar, so whenever her friends asked her to go out and play, she would always ask her grandmother, "Is today the Ghost Festival?"
Most of the time she was too busy playing to finish her homework, so her grandmother would lie to her and she would believe it.
Zhong Jiajing looked at the dark street and asked, recalling her childhood memories, "Is today the Ghost Festival?"
Ji Nan followed her gaze and answered, "Yes."
"But there are no homeless ghosts on the streets." Her tone was like that of a child, sounding a little naive.
Ji Nan stared at her, unable to help but smile, "Yes, isn't the one in front of me a hungry ghost who has no home to return to?"
He raised his hand and smoothed the ends of her hair. "So there's no need to be afraid. Go home early."
Zhong Jiajing couldn't help but hug him and cried, "What should I do? I think you look a bit like my grandma."
So this is the legendary milk drunkenness? Ji Nan didn't pull her hand away, letting her express her emotions through him.
He thought he might be too sleepy to have any strength left and that's why he let her do what she wanted. Anyway, he didn't resist such contact tonight and was even a little... addicted?
I took the same exact route back, but my mood was a little different.
For the first time, Ji Nan began to doubt himself. Maybe this was the feeling of love?
Seven meetings a week is unheard of. I'm like a ghost wandering the streets now. Awooo awooo~
There are still a few chapters left in the extra story, and I should be able to finish it within this month!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
