apron
Gu Anzhou said "thank you" and accepted it. He was about to invite her to sit down and offer her a drink when he saw that she had already sat down.
"Would you mind if I had a drink before you opened your shop?" Ye Jia asked.
"Of course. What would you like to drink?"
"You can make two glasses of Litsea cubeba at once, or you can drink it with your food."
Gu Anzhou thought the suggestion was good, so he heated up the dishes she gave him and started mixing drinks.
Ye Jia thought of Chun Jie's warning words to her that morning, looked at Gu Anzhou, and tried to see his past in his present, but how could she do that?
If she were good at judging people, she wouldn't have waited until Han Lanchuan looked at her with the same eyes as everyone else in the room, as if expecting her to sit on someone's lap, before realizing what kind of person he was.
But surprisingly, when Ye Jia looks at him now, she doesn't feel the same fear she had at the beginning.
However, when Gu Anzhou looked over, Ye Jia quickly looked away.
She looked away, but started a conversation: "Do you have a cat?"
"No."
"Really? I saw you on the roof that day hugging something white, wasn't it a cat?"
Gu Anzhou stopped what he was doing and looked at her: "You saw me on the roof?"
"Uh...yes, I saw it on the ship. It was by chance, not on purpose. I have very good eyesight, and it just so happened that someone I know was there, so I took a second look. I didn't mean to invade your privacy."
That's a bit of an explanation.
Gu Anzhou chuckled: "Your eyesight is excellent. Yes, it is a cat, but it's not mine. It's a stray cat from the neighborhood that often comes to play in my upstairs yard. There are several other cats as well."
Have you spayed or neutered them?
"I didn't know how to do it, so I took them to the hospital and had them do it."
Ye Jia was taken aback; he realized that Ye Jia had the same reaction to this question.
Gu Anzhou continued, "But some of them were very uncooperative; I couldn't catch them, and they even scratched my hand."
Ye Jia quickly looked at his hand. It had healed very well, and there was no trace visible to the naked eye. It seemed that he was not prone to scarring. Then how serious must the injury have caused that long and deep scar on his body?
“It’s not deep, I dodged quickly,” Gu Anzhou added, following her gaze.
Ye Jia nodded: "People who exercise regularly have quick physical reactions, and you run very professionally. Have you received any training?"
She naturally steered the conversation to this topic; yes, no matter what Sister Chun said, she was still curious.
Gu Anzhou: "Mm."
"Um"?
What kind of answer is this? First, it confirms her guess: yes, he was trained. And then?
He answered other questions normally and even added information she hadn't asked, so this reaction is very strange.
Gu Anzhou had already prepared two glasses of wine and handed one of them to Ye Jia.
He turned to get the heated food, the aroma of which had replaced the citrus scent and filled the entire space.
Ye Jia said, "Oh no, the smell is a bit too strong. The guests will probably find it strange when they come."
"It's okay, I'll turn on the ventilation after I finish eating, and the smell will be gone soon."
At this point, the response was normal again, as if the topic about training had never existed.
Ye Jia didn't ask any more questions. Regardless of the situation, what she knew was that Gu Anzhou didn't want to talk about it.
"How is it? Is it delicious?" Ye Jia looked at him expectantly.
Seeing that Gu Anzhou nodded unconsciously after taking a bite, Ye Jia thought he must be quite satisfied.
Sure enough, Gu Anzhou also said it was delicious.
Ye Jia was quite happy: "After my brother-in-law Chun tasted it, he said it was at a professional level."
Gu Anzhou ate one bite after another. The sour, savory, salty, and spicy flavors were delicious. Ye Jia had even thoughtfully brought rice, which he quickly finished.
Ye Jia glanced at it and thought to himself that it was indeed not enough.
After finishing his meal, Gu Anzhou washed the food container and returned it to her, saying, "Thank you. It's very authentic, just like what I had in Qianzhou."
"Of course, I bought the seasonings specifically for this purpose, and they took a long time to arrive."
"I miss it."
Gu Anzhou added this sentence intentionally.
Just now, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Ye Jia inquired about his affairs, and Gu Anzhou subconsciously ended the topic and closed it off.
Judging from her reaction just now, she seemed a little disappointed.
As Gu Anzhou ate the dishes she had made, he thought that he would be willing to tell her if she was curious.
But after he said "I miss it," Ye Jia didn't steer the conversation back to asking questions like, "Why do you miss it? So what were you doing in Qianzhou before?"
So it seems that perhaps she wasn't that curious about him.
Ye Jia had finished delivering the food, and she put aside her task of finding out about his past. She had nothing left to do, but she didn't. She sipped her drink slowly, feeling the smell of the food being taken away, and the space was once again filled with the aroma of citrus.
After Gu Anzhou finished preparing the materials, his clothes were a bit dirty, so he went to the storage room to change.
Ye Jia was a little embarrassed, because it turned out that she had just happened to come in at this exact moment last time.
Seeing him come out, Ye Jia asked, "I saw you had an apron hanging on your back, but why aren't you wearing it?"
"I'm not used to it."
"Then why buy it?"
"When I was preparing to open the store, I bought all of these together, thinking I might be able to use them."
Ye Jia nodded, a hint of regret she herself didn't realize showing in her expression. A scene Chu Nian had shown her flashed through her mind, and suddenly an idea struck her: he must look rather... awkward in an apron.
During this time, she spent time with Chu Nian. Sometimes, when Chu Nian got engrossed in reading comics and came across a particularly exciting scene, she would show it to Chu Nian and ask her to appreciate it together.
One of the photos left a particularly deep impression on her; it showed a muscular man wearing a pink and white apron, and he was naked.
Although it's impossible to see Gu Anzhou wearing an apron naked, just putting it over his T-shirt would probably look pretty good.
Unfortunately, his apron was navy blue, so the contrast in color probably didn't create much of an impact, but his physique was just as impressive as the muscular man in the comics.
Gu Anzhou noticed her regret.
I wonder what she's regretting. Does she feel that buying an apron and not using it is a waste of its value?
But Gu Anzhou still said, "I'll try it on again tonight."
"Huh?" Ye Jia was stunned, but she quickly realized what was going on and nodded, saying, "Okay!"
Her voice rose again, and she became excited.
Then she realized something was wrong; she had to teach her students that evening.
Ye Jia looked at Gu Anzhou. She had already said what she wanted to say, so she couldn't very well tell him not to wear it and to wait until she came tomorrow night.
But she couldn't tell the students she was no longer able to communicate, and since she was using a non-smartphone, she couldn't talk to anyone.
We'll just have to let others feast their eyes first.
Gu Anzhou finally put all the stools down on the table, ready to open for business, when Ye Jia got up and said she was leaving.
So fast?
"Take care," Gu Anzhou simply said.
He went back behind the bar, put on some music, stood in front of the apron for a while and hesitated, thinking that she wouldn't be able to see it anyway, so he decided against it.
Today was another busy day, with a constant stream of customers.
After closing the shop, Gu Anzhou went upstairs to take a shower, set an alarm, lay down and quickly fell asleep, and didn't wake up once all night.
During his morning run, Gu Anzhou encountered Ye Jia.
It was just as the sun was slowly rising.
Ye Jia slowed down to a pace of almost 12 minutes per kilometer, just to enjoy this moment of newfound hope.
"Good morning," Gu Anzhou said as he ran to her side.
Ye Jia turned her head and looked at him with some surprise: "Good morning."
They didn't say anything more, watched the sunrise together, and then Gu Anzhou ran away at his usual pace.
After returning home, Ye Jia threw herself into her work. At noon, Chu Nian came to her house for lunch.
"How was Boss Gu last night?" Ye Jia asked Chu Nian while eating.
"How is it? What do you mean, how is it? You're still handsome."
"Really? Nothing special?"
"He's incredibly handsome."
"..."
Chu Nian was curious: "What do you want to ask? Is there anything special about him? Did you discover any secrets about this handsome guy? He didn't change his hairstyle, and he's dressed the same as usual."
Ye Jia felt that if Gu Anzhou was wearing an apron, Chu Nian would definitely react strongly, which meant that he wasn't wearing one. Why?
"Say something! You piqued my interest but then stopped talking! What are you thinking about!" Chu Nian shook Ye Jia's shoulders frantically, almost shaking her head off.
"It's nothing!" Ye Jia suppressed Chu Nian's voice, "I don't have class tonight, let's go together."
"snort."
But of course we'll go together.
Chu Nian also suggested that Ye Jia ride on the back of her electric scooter, as she was already quite skilled at it and could carry people.
Ye Jia was a little scared, but luckily Chu Nian had two helmets, so she decided to sit down. After all, even if she fell, nothing would happen.
The ride was incredibly bumpy. Chu Nian was skilled at riding alone, but carrying someone required even more balance, which she clearly hadn't fully mastered yet.
"But thankfully, we didn't die!" Chu Nian celebrated happily, even clinging to Ye Jia.
Ye Jia was not used to such close contact and shouted, "Okay, okay!", pushing her away and telling her to stay away.
The last time she was this close to someone was in elementary school with a classmate's older sister; she hasn't had such a close friendship since starting junior high.
As the two walked in, they saw Gu Anzhou tying an apron behind the bar.
Chu Nian's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she saw it. The first time she came, she wondered when he was going to wear that apron. He didn't wear it when mixing drinks or cooking; what was the point of just leaving it there? Was he just keeping these greedy girls hanging on?
However, it was very successful; she was indeed seduced.
But today, he actually wore it!
He seemed a bit clumsy, which made people anxious and want to help him tie it.
Chu Nian pulled Ye Jia to sit down at the bar.
The apron softened Gu Anzhou's coldness and fierceness, and Chu Nian felt that other people would probably come to sit at the bar today; it was definitely a sought-after spot.
Ye Jia sat down and was still a little confused when she saw that Gu Anzhou was dressed.
He wasn't wearing it last night, so why is he wearing it today? And it wasn't that he was wearing it the whole time; it's like he only started wearing it after hearing their voices.
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