betrayal
Ye Jia decided to treat inviting Gu Anzhou to dinner as a serious matter.
But the question is, how can it look more natural?
Besides, where should they eat? They couldn't exactly invite Gu Anzhou to her house for a meal.
Gu Anzhou didn't have the time either; he was sleeping at noon and had to work in the afternoon.
Wait a minute, so how does he eat? We know he goes to a seafood restaurant around 2 PM, and since the restaurant opens at 6 PM, he doesn't eat dinner there. We only see him occasionally eating snacks.
After closing time, he went to exercise. So, did he go back to eat after his run?
Okay, okay, stop it. Ye Jia doesn't even know why she's curious about all this nonsense.
She plans to make a larger batch tomorrow, put it in a food storage container, and bring it to Gu Anzhou when she goes to the bar.
The next morning, Ye Jia got up early as usual and went for a run.
I watched the sunrise while running; today is a very hopeful day.
Ye Jia met Sister Chun at the market.
Seeing that she was carrying a lot of groceries, Sister Chun greeted her warmly as usual, "Why did you buy so much, Xiao Ye?"
"Oh, I'll make enough for three people today... or four?" Ye Jia wasn't sure. Looking at Gu Anzhou's muscles, she felt that he must have a big appetite, so it would be safer to make more.
"Why?" Chunjie asked curiously. "Did you have friends visiting the island?"
Ye Jia shook her head: "I want to make this for Boss Gu. He treated me to wine made with spices from my hometown last time, and I'd like to invite him back. Sister Chun, have you ever tried Litsea cubeba? Should I bring some for you to try?"
Instead of answering her question, Sister Chun's expression turned somewhat grim, just like when she heard "Boss Gu" from her last time.
"Xiao Ye." Her tone was serious, lacking her usual warmth. Chun Jie looked at her. "Didn't I tell you not to get too close to Xiao Gu?"
"Yes." Perfect timing! Ye Jia had been wanting to ask, but since then she'd been cooking for herself and hadn't gone to Sister Chun's shop. Now that she had the chance, she asked, "Why?"
Upon hearing this, Sister Chun took a deep breath, glanced at the island residents coming and going to buy groceries on both sides, and pulled Ye Jia toward the sea.
Arriving at the deserted beach, only the sea breeze could hear what they were saying.
"Xiao Ye, have you ever wondered what Xiao Gu did before opening the bar?"
Ye Jia had certainly thought about it, but couldn't come up with a solution.
“He’s been on our island for a year, which is both short and long. You’ve only been here for a little over a month, and I already know quite a bit about you, but I know nothing about him.”
So it turns out Sister Chun didn't know either.
Seeing how nervous she was, Ye Jia thought she really knew some unspeakable secret about Gu Anzhou.
Ye Jia nodded and asked, "So?"
Seeing that she didn't understand the seriousness of the matter, Sister Chun cleared her throat and said, "When he first came, he had a buzz cut." She paused, then continued, "What kind of person do you think would have a buzz cut?"
Ye Jia fell silent.
Sister Chun's guiding words and tone made it hard for people not to think of something terrible.
"Besides, his temperament is so unique, he's obviously not an ordinary person. You didn't notice, did you?"
Ye Jia asked, "Then why did you recommend that I go to his shop for drinks, Sister Chun?"
"Because he's handsome!" Sister Chun slapped her thigh. "I only told you to go drink some nice wine and look at handsome guys, not to get that close to him!"
"You also said he was very thoughtful, and proactively changed the menu for you."
“That’s true!” Sister Chun said anxiously. “Let me tell you, this past year he’s been on our island. He not only helped me come up with a new menu, but he also helped the police station repair its gate and spayed stray cats. I believe he has turned over a new leaf.”
Ye Jia asked in surprise, "He can even spay/neuter cats?"
Sister Chun was speechless for a moment: "The fact that he paid for the hospital visit... is that the point? The point is, even if he did these good deeds, even if he has reformed, you, a good girl, cannot get too involved with someone with that kind of past, do you understand?"
Ye Jia paused for a moment to process what Sister Chun had said.
She thought of the middle-aged man she had met that day. If she was not mistaken, he really was a policeman, and a policeman at the level of a bureau chief. Would he have taken such good care of Gu Anzhou?
Ye Jia nodded: "I understand."
"It's good that you understand. I know you're very smart." Sister Chun breathed a sigh of relief, then gently placed her hand on Ye Jia's hand. "If you want to find a boyfriend, you can look at my nephew. He's a civil servant, a bailiff, working at the provincial court, and he happens to be single!"
"What?" Ye Jia hurriedly pulled her hand away and waved it. "I don't want to find a boyfriend."
Don't you want to find a boyfriend?
"Yes, as I said, I was just returning a favor to my boss."
Sister Chun frowned: "Isn't this relationship between a man and a woman built up from these favors and interactions? If you don't break it off with him sooner or later, and you continue to go to the bar for drinks, you'll eventually get trapped and won't be able to get out."
Ye Jia's heart tightened. It seemed that Sister Chun was right. Hadn't she been paying too much attention to him lately?
"Even if it has nothing to do with the past, I still think that someone as cold as him is not suitable for dating. If you date him, you will definitely give more."
Ye Jia forced a slightly bitter smile: "I didn't want to date him, Sister Chun, really."
Sister Chun seemed not to believe her, shaking her head twice, but said nothing more: "Alright, let's go. By the way, that Litsea cubeba you mentioned, I've never tried it before. Let me make some for you to try, and see what our Xiao Ye's hometown dish tastes like!"
Chun Jie's tone became lighter again, and Ye Jia nodded: "Definitely!"
They went ashore to say goodbye, but they both saw a figure that shouldn't be there running towards them from a distance.
They were talking about the same person.
Doesn't he close his shop very late and sleep until the afternoon?
"Hey, Xiao Gu!" Sister Chun greeted him warmly, "Why are you up so early?"
Gu Anzhou was wearing a soccer jersey, but it didn't belong to any club. It looked like it was made by some non-governmental organization, but the group's name wasn't written on it. The blue and white color looked refreshing. He was wearing loose, quick-drying pants that reached his knees. His whole outfit indicated that he was out exercising.
"Yeah, I get really tired after drinking at night, so I'm changing my sleep schedule."
Sister Chun exclaimed, "Oh dear! Your bar doesn't close until after midnight. By the time you tidy up and go to bed, it should be past one o'clock. Getting up so early like this must be tiring!"
Ye Jia, who was standing to the side, was also a little confused. The last time she ran into him at night, didn't he say that running after drinking was no problem? Oh, no, he didn't admit it himself at the time; he just showed her his watch.
So even though his heart rate was normal, he was actually very tired?
At this moment, Gu Anzhou only said, "It's alright."
Then he looked at Ye Jia, who was also wearing sportswear, and asked, "Are you here to run too?"
"Yes, I always run in the morning." Ye Jia picked up the groceries in her hand. "I've already finished my run and bought all the groceries."
"Buying so much?"
“Yes, I…” Ye Jia wanted to say, “I also prepared one for you,” but paused.
She glanced at Sister Chun, and felt that Sister Chun's eyes were saying, "You still don't understand!"
Gu Anzhou asked, "What?"
"I want to make a little more, some dishes from my hometown, to share with you and Sister Chun," Ye Jia said, reiterating that she was only sharing some food as a token of gratitude.
Moreover, what Sister Chun said was just her guess; no one knows the truth.
"Me?" Gu Anzhou rarely showed such an unusual expression; he seemed somewhat surprised.
“Yes,” Ye Jia said, “You should run faster, your heart rate should be coming down.”
"Okay." Gu Anzhou continued running in the direction he had been, raised his wrist to check, and found that his heart rate had not only not decreased, but had actually increased slightly.
This is Gu Anzhou's third consecutive day of morning runs, getting earlier each day.
So Ye Jia got up so early.
Then he can come a little earlier tomorrow.
-
At noon, Chu Nian went to Ye Jia's house for lunch as usual. As soon as she entered, she gave Ye Jia a big bow, but tripped on the carpet and fell to the ground.
Ye Jia rushed over to help her up: "Are you alright?"
"No, I'm fine." Chu Nian swayed as she entered the room. "I'm just a little dizzy."
"You didn't hit your head."
"I'm so tired. I stayed up until 5 a.m. reading comics yesterday. Why do these people draw so well? They're risking their lives!" Chu Nian threw herself onto the sofa, looking like she wanted to eat and sleep at the same time.
Ye Jia admired, "You're terrifying. By the way, your late-night, late-morning ally has betrayed you."
"Huh?" Chu Nian was a little confused. "Who?"
"Boss Gu."
"Huh? A bar owner can betray you?"
"Yes, I ran into him this morning when I went out for a run."
Chu Nian was dumbfounded, regaining some of her senses but also becoming even more bewildered: "...How did you do that?"
Ye Jia was also very curious about how Gu Anzhou managed to do it. She got up early on top of going to bed early, but Gu Anzhou's job didn't allow him to go to bed early. Was it really okay for him to only get a little sleep?
Chu Nian sighed as she looked at the ceiling: "I suddenly feel that you two are quite amazing. One of you who runs every morning suddenly starts running at midnight, and the other of you who owns a bar suddenly starts running in the morning. You just have to torture yourselves."
After hearing what she said, Ye Jia really felt something was off.
Ye Jia didn't think much of it and advised her, "Staying up so late for so long without exercising is just torturing yourself."
"Ahhh—" Chu Nian covered her ears.
"Listen to your throat, it's so dry and hoarse."
"Ahhh—cough cough!"
Ye Jia packed the portions she wanted to bring for the two of them into a food storage container. She planned to leave at four o'clock in the afternoon to avoid the peak hours when the two opened their shop, and also to leave some time to chat.
Sister Chun doesn't really like Litsea cubeba either, but her husband loves it and even praised Ye Jia's cooking as delicious and professional.
Ye Jia was very pleased and said modestly, "These are the only dishes I can cook."
"Having just one signature dish is enough to be a master chef!" Brother-in-law Chun gave her a thumbs up. "You have several more!"
Ye Jia was in an excellent mood on her way to the Fog Sea Lighthouse, carrying another bag, but she became a little uneasy as soon as she arrived at the entrance.
Having learned her lesson, she knocked on the door several times before cautiously pushing it open.
Fortunately, Gu Anzhou was dressed neatly and preparing ingredients behind the bar.
There was none of the complex smells of people, perfume, and alcohol that you get in bars after they open; there was only the same simple citrus scent as last time.
Ye Jia walked to the bar and handed over the bag: "I just brought this over to Sister Chun, this is for you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
