"Yanting, I just bought some things. I'll cook you a nice meal tonight. What would you like to eat?" Xu Jingyan asked gently, placing the things she was carrying on the table with a warm smile.
Lu Yanting raised his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly said, "Jingyan, don't do this. You can hire someone to do these trivial things. There's no need for you to do them yourself."
Xu Jingyan gently walked to Lu Yanting's side and sat down, looking at him intently with a sincere and earnest tone: "Yanting, you promised me that you would try your best to satisfy whatever I want. Now, I just want to take care of you."
After saying that, she smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, I'm not that delicate. It's just cooking a meal, it won't tire me out."
Lu Yanting lowered his head slightly, raised his hand to rub his sore temples, and sighed helplessly. Oh well, let her be.
Then, Xu Jingyan turned on the TV, but neither of them was interested in watching it. She quickly cut a plate of fruit, sat down next to Lu Yanting, and looked at him with emotion, saying, "Yanting, it's been so long since we've chatted like this."
Lu Yanting glanced at the plate on the table. It was colorful and contained all kinds of fruits, but he deliberately avoided mangoes, which showed that Xu Jingyan was very attentive to them.
He turned to look at Xu Jingyan and asked in a low voice, "What are you talking about?"
Xu Jingyan forked a piece of kiwi and put it in her mouth. Her gaze drifted into the distance as she reminisced: "I remember when we were in school, the three of us—you, me, and Hua Xiao—we used to play together all the time. Hua Xiao was full of mischievous ideas and would always sneak out to play without telling his family. He always made sure you came along, saying it was no fun playing alone."
Lu Yanting also looked into the distance, seemingly lost in memories.
At this point, Xu Jingyan's tone became heavy: "When you were ten years old, you sneaked off to an internet cafe and ran into some delinquents. They saw that you were dressed in expensive clothes and got malicious intent. They tried to rob you and even pulled out knives to scare you."
But you two were young and fearless, planning to fight them bare-handed. Although the thugs were intimidated by your intimidation, they still fought back to save face. I was terrified. With no one around, I could only tremble as I took out my phone to call the police.
Later, when the Lu and Hua families found out about the fight, you two were both beaten and forced to kneel all night as punishment. She finished speaking and chuckled softly.
Lu Yanting turned to look at her, his eyes showing some emotion: "Yes, back then we blamed you for calling the police and getting us punished, but later we realized you were right. At ten years old, we only knew how to play wildly, but you already knew how to protect everyone."
Xu Jingyan smiled and said softly, "So Yanting, I could protect you when you were little, and I can do it now that you're grown up. No one understands you better than me. From now on, let me protect you."
Lu Yanting was taken aback. These words sounded like a confession. Although he was straightforward, he understood the sentiment behind them.
He picked up his fork, ate a piece of apple, and hesitated before speaking, "Jingyan, I've said before that I'll try my best to fulfill your requests, but I'm not sure..."
Xu Jingyan immediately saw through his thoughts and quickly interrupted, "Yanting, don't say it out loud."
She knew in her heart that Lu Yanting might be able to meet all her material needs, but his heart was not with her at the moment.
She couldn't let Lu Yanting refuse her outright; as long as he didn't say it, she still had a chance.
Lu Yanting paused, silently put down his fork, and ultimately said nothing more.
Around 3 PM, Lu Yanting felt a little sleepy, so he went back to his room and lay down. When he woke up, it was already 6 PM. He got up and went to the living room, where he saw the kitchen light was on.
A slender girl was busy in the kitchen. Her long hair was tied up, and she wore an apron around her waist as she stirred the vegetables in the pan with a spatula.
Lu Yanting stared at her retreating figure, somewhat dazed, as if the girl would walk towards him with a steaming bowl of noodles in the next second.
He walked into the kitchen. Xu Jingyan heard the noise, turned around, and asked with a smile, "You're awake?"
Lu Yanting snapped out of his daze and realized that the girl in front of him wasn't Qiu Mang. He casually asked, "What dish are you making?"
Xu Jingyan chuckled and pointed to the frying pan next to her, saying playfully, "I'm frying steak, isn't that obvious?"
Before long, the steak was served. Looking at the exquisite tableware in front of him and the steak that was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, Lu Yanting had no appetite at all.
He looked at the steak in front of him, but the scene of the first time he ate steak with Qiu Mang suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Aren't you going to eat, Yan Ting?" Xu Jingyan couldn't help but ask when she saw that he hadn't moved for a while.
His thoughts were interrupted, and Lu Yanting accidentally dropped the knife and fork in his hand with a clatter.
Seeing this, Xu Jingyan quickly bent down to pick it up, but Lu Yanting stopped her. She looked at him in confusion, and Lu Yanting asked inexplicably, "What do you think about eating steak with disposable gloves?"
Xu Jingyan was taken aback, then laughed and said, "Yanting, your idea is really strange. How can you eat steak with disposable gloves? It's so inelegant."
Upon hearing this, Lu Yanting shook his head, thinking to himself: Yes, I really am a bit obsessed. How could I have asked such a question?
Xu Jingyan brought Lu Yanting new tableware, and the two began to eat.
After dinner, the lights in the house were dimmed, and the two sat side by side on the sofa to watch a movie.
The light and shadow on the screen flickered and swayed, and the light, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, swept across their faces.
Xu Jingyan's fingers unconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes. She turned her head slightly to look at Lu Yanting beside her. After a moment, she took a deep breath and mustered her courage, "Yanting, tonight I..."
Before he could finish speaking, the doorbell rang suddenly, its crisp sound echoing in the quiet space.
The courage that had been so hard to muster in my heart vanished without a trace, like a balloon punctured by the sudden ringing of the bell.
Xu Jingyan slowly stood up, walked to the door with slightly heavy steps, and opened the door.
Yan Kai stood tall and straight outside the door, his face bearing his usual respectful expression.
“Miss Xu, it’s getting late. Mr. Lu instructed me to come and take you home.” Yan Kai bowed slightly, his tone calm and polite.
Xu Jingyan subconsciously pursed her lips. She turned back again and looked at Lu Yanting with lingering affection, her eyes clearly showing some reluctance and unwillingness.
But reason told her that she absolutely couldn't rush things at this point, or all her previous efforts might be in vain. So, she suppressed her emotions and silently followed Yan Kai out of the room.
After Xu Jingyan left, the room fell silent. Lu Yanting sat alone on the sofa, remaining silent for a long time before slowly taking out his phone and swiping his long fingers across the screen.
All day long, that woman hasn't made a single phone call or sent a single message!
Lu Yanting frowned slightly, feeling somewhat annoyed. After thinking for a moment, he finally dialed Qiu Mang's number, which rang for a long time before being answered.
Qiu Mang's languid voice came through the phone. She seemed to have just woken up from a dream, yawning widely and asking with a heavy nasal tone, "Hello? Who is this?"
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