Chapter 81
That night, Narumi curled up in bed and had many nightmares that seemed incredibly real to him. When he woke up, he felt his chest and back were covered in cold sweat, and even the air-conditioning blanket was damp and sticky.
Cheng Shi didn't want to get out of bed; he just wanted to stay in bed and figure out what those incredibly vivid nightmares were all about. He felt his sleep had been very light all night, waking up many times. Once, he even dreamt that he was awake and could hear Huang Ruoyu pacing back and forth in the bedroom. Another time, just before dawn, he truly felt Huang Ruoyu sitting on the edge of the bed, right next to him… These nightmares had left Cheng Shi's mind a complete mess, making it impossible for him to tell whether they were dreams or reality…
"Little Fish, is that you?" Cheng Shi remembered that before dawn, his weak voice came from his burning throat, "Don't go." As he spoke, he reached out and tightly grasped Huang Ruoyu's hand, "Don't go, stay."
Huang Ruoyu's touch is very realistic, and her voice is also very realistic.
"Shh, shh, don't talk, it's alright." Huang Ruoyu said while pinching Cheng Shi's fingers, which he had chewed off. "It's alright, Brother Shitou, go back to sleep."
Huang Ruoyu's voice was so gentle, unlike her usual sharp tone; her hands were so cool, bringing Chengshi a sense of peace. He no longer cared whether it was a dream or not. This moment of tranquility was enough for Chengshi to truly sink into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Then the blinding sunlight stung Chengshi's eyes—when he opened them, he found himself lying alone on the large bed in his bedroom.
This time, he really woke up.
However, Cheng Shi couldn't tell whether he was in the right state to go to work. But then he remembered that today was a day he had to go to work because An Zheyuan was going to hold a meeting in his top-floor office.
So Narumi swayed as he sat up in bed, then stood up and went into the bathroom, forcing himself to take a cold shower and shave.
As Cheng Shi was getting dressed, an illogical thought made his heart race—wasn't that a dream before dawn? Maybe Huang Ruoyu really did come in and sit on the bed and say something like "It's okay"?
As a result, when Cheng Shi walked downstairs and into DK, his imagination came true—because the scene in DK stunned him.
DK was filled with sunlight, and two sets of tableware were neatly arranged on the dining table, wafting the aroma of coffee, fried eggs, and bacon. Huang Ruoyu, wearing a brand-new maternity dress, stood in front of the stove, flipping food in the frying pan.
Hearing Cheng Shi walk into DK, Huang Ruoyu turned her head and gave him a shy smile.
"Good morning," she said softly.
Everything felt so real it seemed unreal.
Cheng Shi desperately wanted to rush to the stove and hug Huang Ruoyu, but he ultimately restrained himself. Something told him—perhaps it was the strange shyness in Huang Ruoyu's smile—that he shouldn't act rashly; what he should do now was simply improvise and cooperate with Huang Ruoyu's performance.
So Narumi decided to pretend that nothing had happened yesterday and see how the story would unfold next.
"Good morning," Cheng Shi replied indifferently, avoiding Huang Ruoyu's gaze.
He then sat down at the dining table, but he kept having doubts in his mind, because he had never before had the atmosphere so relaxed and warm after arguing with Huang Ruoyu.
But as Cheng Shi nervously sipped his coffee, he finally understood: they had never argued as fiercely or seriously as yesterday before. So the relaxed and warm atmosphere this morning was because they had already argued about everything they could yesterday, and now things were finally looking up. However, there was another possibility: after yesterday's argument, they actually had nothing left to say to each other.
But no matter what, life has to go on!
"The weather is really nice today." In order to avoid having nothing to say and to keep going, Chengshi started making conversation.
"Yes, would you like your eggs hard-boiled or soft-boiled?"
"Anything is fine, just make it a bit older."
"Okay, then I'll fry mine a little longer too."
Soon, Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu were sitting intimately at opposite ends of the brightly lit dining table, passing each other coffee pots, bread, and jam, and speaking softly in polite language.
At first, Narumi was too shy to eat anything, just like when he first took a female classmate out to eat at a Western restaurant in high school. Back then, he felt that chewing in front of a female classmate was a very unseemly thing to do. Fortunately, just like back then, something unexpected came to Narumi's rescue: he was surprised to find that he was actually very hungry!
While chewing on eggs and bacon, Cheng Shi said to Huang Ruoyu, "This feels pretty good. I mean, the two of us are sitting here having breakfast, and there aren't any kids making noise around."
"Um."
Although Huang Ruoyu responded, Cheng Shi noticed that she hadn't actually touched her fried egg, and he also saw that her hand was trembling slightly when she reached for the coffee cup, just like someone with Parkinson's disease.
If Chengshi hadn't noticed these details about Huang Ruoyu, he would have thought her emotions were perfectly stable today. But after discovering these details, Chengshi immediately focused his attention and entered a state of readiness.
“I think you might want to have a proper breakfast today,” Huang Ruoyu said. “Today is quite important, isn’t it? I remember you have a meeting with An Zheyuan?”
"yes."
Cheng Shi was surprised that Huang Ruoyu actually remembered this! However, still in a state of readiness, he habitually used the same dismissive smirk he had given Huang Ruoyu every time they talked about Haosikai over the years to mask his true joy.
So, as usual, Cheng Shi said to Huang Ruoyu in that nonchalant tone, "Having a meeting with Lao An is probably the most important thing today."
"Hmm, I think it's a pretty big deal, at least for An Zheyuan. Do you think your work will change after that? I mean, what will you be doing before An Zheyuan sends you around the world? You haven't told me much about these things."
Why is Huang Ruoyu showing such interest in Cheng Shi's work? Is she trying to subtly criticize him?
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