cat
"Take a five-minute break, then do the last two mechanics problems first." Ye Jia forced himself to calm down, said this to the student, and then hung up the phone.
Then, an apologetic voice came from the bar: "Sorry, it's become a habit."
Ye Jia shook her head: "It's nothing." There was nothing to apologize for; she had just overreacted. Her voice had been very loud, echoing in the empty bar, as if she were yelling at him, even though she was the one asking for help.
Gu Anzhou held the Locke Cup, somewhat at a loss, his temples throbbing.
He hesitated for a moment before explaining, "But I'm not an alcoholic."
"No, no, no." Ye Jia said awkwardly, "No, it's not you. My student is a bit of a joker, and he has a boyfriend and stuff. I just said that I ate a meal cooked by a friend, and he started talking nonsense. Don't mind him."
“It’s alright.” Gu Anzhou slowly walked out of the bar with his glass in hand, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously. He stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at Ye Jia from the shadows. “Then… you can stay here tonight. There are extra rooms upstairs. I’ll go and tidy them up first.”
"Oh, okay, thank you for your help."
Ye Jia spoke in a very frank and generous tone, and even gave a polite smile.
But seeing Gu Anzhou turn and go upstairs, Ye Jia's legs went weak and she sat down in a chair, her heart pounding loudly and rapidly.
She suspected that Gu Anzhou had overheard everything.
As I calmed my breathing, the student connected on the other end of the line.
In the past, Ye Jia would call and it would take a long time for the other side to answer, but this time, he couldn't wait to call back after only five minutes.
"Teacher!" someone shouted excitedly, "So, did I help you break through the barrier?"
Ye Jia sighed, rubbing her forehead. "What are you talking about?"
"He's not your boyfriend, but you two are having an affair, right? That's when you need me to lend a hand."
"No way! What do you usually read?" Ye Jia was speechless. During her school days, she did exercises every day. Although her family didn't provide her with entertainment, she never participated in her classmates' gossip. Her world consisted only of books and exercises, and she couldn't tolerate any distractions.
"Really not?"
"No, it's not."
"Oh." The tone on the other end suddenly became much more serious. "Then I was wrong, teacher."
"Hmm, have you finished the questions?"
There was a laugh on the other end: "I didn't do it. I was thinking about the teacher the whole time, and I couldn't concentrate on doing it."
Ye Jia was speechless.
"And teacher, I really want to know what Lingfeng Island is like. Can we video chat tomorrow during the day?"
"You can find out by searching online."
"All the videos I find online have been filtered eight hundred times. I want to see the real thing."
Ye Jia felt that if she didn't agree, she wouldn't be able to attend the rest of the classes, so she had no choice but to agree.
The little boy on the other end was a bit excited: "If it's really pretty, I want to go to Lingfeng Island to visit my teacher. I hope my teacher will treat me well!"
"..." Ye Jia didn't expect it to go this way. "Okay, I'll prepare ten sets of questions for you."
Fortunately, aside from his tendency to chat, Teacher Ye didn't need to worry much about the formal lessons. He was very smart, and he grasped things very quickly when he got stuck.
Ye Jia would also offer some unconventional ideas after he solved the problem, and he could always catch up quickly.
After class, they transferred the money and scheduled another class for tomorrow night.
The day is finally over.
Ye Jia closed her laptop, looked up at the building, and felt as if the day had just begun.
Upon going upstairs, Ye Jia didn't see anyone in the living room. She called out, "Boss Gu," and Gu Anzhou poked his head out from one of the rooms.
"Finished?"
"Yes." Ye Jia noticed that his black clothes were covered in dust and walked over. "What are you doing?"
"I need to fix the air conditioner." Gu Anzhou said as he went back into the room. "I made the bed, but when I turned on the air conditioner, it wouldn't start."
"You can fix air conditioners?"
"I know a little, but I might not be able to fix it." Gu Anzhou said, walking to the air conditioner outdoor unit placed on a large plastic bag to continue repairing it. Next to him was a large toolbox, so complete that it looked like he could go straight to work at an air conditioning company.
Ye Jia wondered what he used to do, or if the place taught them this knowledge to help them find employment.
"If it can't be fixed, you can sleep in my room, and I'll change your sheets."
"Oh? And what about you?"
"I'll sleep in the living room."
Ye Jia quickly said, "No, it's okay if it can't be fixed. I can sleep without air conditioning."
"No, it'll be too stuffy without air conditioning, you'll feel terrible."
"Then I'm fine with sleeping on the living room sofa. I don't care where I sleep."
"I'm not picky."
"The best-case scenario is to fix the air conditioner." Seeing that he seemed absolutely unwilling to agree to her plan, Ye Jia squatted down. "Just let me know if there's anything I can help you with."
"You can go out."
"ah?"
"It's very dirty." And he was distracted as soon as she came in.
Gu Anzhou said, "The cats are outside. Go and feed them some food. The cat food is near the balcony."
"Cat?" Yes, what's the cat doing in such a terrible typhoon? Turns out it came to his place.
Ye Jia said "okay" but didn't get up immediately. She squatted down and looked at Gu Anzhou for a while, or rather, she looked at the air conditioner unit that Gu Anzhou was fiddling with for a while before getting up and going outside.
The room without air conditioning was indeed very stuffy, and her back was sweating after just a short while. Gu Anzhou hadn't sweated much when he went to call Chu Nian that day, but now he was covered in sweat too.
What Gu Anzhou referred to as the outside was actually the inside. That area was an enclosed balcony with a large cat-shaped wooden house. It looked handmade and a little rough, but the interior was very cozy, with soft, thick cushions.
Inside, several kittens were sleeping soundly, cuddling together. One day, she looked out from the boat at the roof and saw the little white cat, as well as the little orange tabby, the little calico, the little cow, and the little raccoon. A bunch of fluffy creatures gathered together, making them doubly adorable.
Ye Jia brought the cat food, poured it into a bowl, and didn't call them. Little Orange was the first to spring up, waking up the other kittens, who all came to eat, meowing sweetly.
Ye Jia poured water for the cats again, and watching them eat and drink was very therapeutic.
After a while, everyone had eaten and drunk their fill. Ye Jia petted each of them. Xiao Bai was the most clingy, constantly wanting to be petted. When she petted the other cats, Xiao Bai would rub against her legs, rubbing very hard.
The cats met some kind people.
While playing with the kitten, Ye Jia was deep in thought. After playing for a long time, she finally picked up the two bowls to clean them.
Just then, Gu Anzhou came out.
"It's fixed." Gu Anzhou, carrying his tool bag, didn't stop walking. After putting the tools back in the tool room, he hurriedly went to wash his hands. He was so dirty that even his fingernails were stained black.
Before Ye Jia could say a word to him, she washed the rice bowl and water bowl and put them back in their place. Seeing that Gu Anzhou had not come out yet, she went to check on the room where Gu Anzhou was going to sleep that night.
The air conditioner was on with the dehumidifier, and it was working, making it much more comfortable. The floor was quite dusty and dirty. Ye Jia was about to go out to ask where the rag was when Gu Anzhou came in with a rag and a mop.
Gu Anzhou walked past her without saying a word and began wiping the window.
Ye Jia quickly picked up the mop and started mopping the floor, saying apologetically, "Thank you so much for your help today."
"It's okay, I was the one who had been drinking and couldn't take you home."
It's as if taking her home is his duty, but in either case, it's just him trying to help out of kindness, and it would be perfectly normal for him not to help at all.
Ye Jia decided to offer some emotional support: "You're amazing! You can even fix an air conditioner."
Gu Anzhou didn't respond: "Luckily there's no thunder now. It would be troublesome if there was thunder like this afternoon."
"Was it thundering this afternoon?" Ye Jia didn't hear it at all; she was too focused on her work, and the soundproofing downstairs was quite good.
"Um."
"That's considered lucky."
After cleaning up the dust, Gu Anzhou took the mop from Ye Jia and went to the bathroom outside.
Ye Jia followed him out, feeling guilty that he had done everything and wanting to help with the washing, but Gu Anzhou showed no intention of letting her get involved.
After Gu Anzhou finished washing and drying his clothes, he looked at the other person who made the already small bathroom feel even more cramped and asked, "I'd like to take a shower first, is that alright?"
"Oh, oh, oh! Of course, of course!" Ye Jia ran out in a panic, her face almost turning red.
Honestly, why would she follow someone into such a private place? What was she trying to do?
Ye Jia sat on the sofa waiting for him to finish washing up. Without her phone to look at, time suddenly felt incredibly long. The cats were all asleep again, and she didn't want to disturb them.
Fortunately, there was a copy of "Chasing the Sun Island" on the small table next to the sofa. She hadn't opened the copy at home yet, so she could open it and read the beginning.
Ye Jia became engrossed in the look, gradually relaxing and leaning back against the sofa.
Gu Anzhou washed for a long time, and the clumps of dirt under her fingernails were hard to clean. After washing, she cleaned the bathroom again, not missing any unsanitary corners that might leave a bad impression on her.
She came out feeling uneasy, but when she saw that Ye Jia was almost lying on the sofa, her heart softened.
Ye Jia immediately sat up. He had changed into a gray pajama set that looked somewhat similar to the one she was wearing. His half-dry hair hung down over his forehead. His hair wasn't long, after all, he had a buzz cut a year ago, but the fierce look had been greatly diminished, and it even felt soft and fluffy, as if it could be as soft as a cat's.
She swallowed hard, closed the book, and explained, "I had nothing else to do, so I just glanced at it."
"You can borrow it; I've already finished reading it."
"No need, I have some at home."
"You have?"
"Yes, I saw this book on the ship last time and bought it."
Gu Anzhou was slightly taken aback: "Why? Curious?"
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm curious, because we're also on Sunshine Island... even though there's no sunshine at all today."
It turns out I was just curious about the book.
Ye Jia received another set of clean loungewear, which was surprisingly off-white; she had never seen Gu Anzhou wear light-colored clothes before.
"I just found this. I haven't worn this outfit much," Gu Anzhou said. It was bought for him by Director Li. He doesn't like wearing light colors and had forgotten about this outfit.
"Just turn left and throw the clothes you took off into the laundry basket in the laundry room. I'm going to sleep now."
"Asleep? Oh, okay, goodnight."
Ye Jia was somewhat surprised that he wanted to go to bed so early.
I took the clothes to the bathroom. The bathroom was damp from the shower, but it didn't smell at all, neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
When Ye Jia took a shower, he made a point of checking the shampoo and shower gel he was using. It must be quite difficult to find something completely unscented.
After washing up and returning to her room, she found her own clothes already washed, dried, and neatly folded beside her bed.
Ye Jia picked it up and smelled it, but there was no smell, only a faint smell of laundry detergent, so faint that it was almost undetectable.
She was so curious. Who would specifically look for unscented products no matter what they were selling? Was he allergic? It didn't seem like it. There was so much dust when the air conditioner was being repaired earlier, and she sneezed several times, but he was even closer and didn't have any allergies.
Or is it that he unconsciously retained the habit of not wanting to leave his scent at the scene?
Lying in bed, Ye Jia thought about Gu Anzhou's running posture, his reaction after being startled, his proficiency with tools, his walking with the man who looked like the bureau chief, and how carefully he always helped others, and then she thought about Sister Chun's words...
The reason for his mystery wasn't what Sister Chun guessed; rather, it seemed to be that he was a police officer.
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