Cook
Ye Jia dialed the number, hung up after it connected, and started saving the number.
Gu Anzhou looked at her phone screen, and as she manipulated her fingers, the three characters "Gu Anzhou" appeared on the screen, causing his heart to race a little.
My heart rate and breathing have been out of control lately, which has disrupted my peaceful life on Lingfeng Island.
Ye Jia put her phone in the pocket of her pajamas, looked up at the potatoes that weren't finished being chopped on the cutting board, and asked him, "Shall I help you? I love potatoes so much."
"Okay, you call it 'yangyu' (洋芋) in your hometown, right?"
"Yes, potatoes are divine!" Ye Jia was happy when she talked about her hometown dish. She washed her hands, picked up the cleaver that Gu Anzhou had almost thrown away, and continued to cut potato shreds.
She also knew that Gu Anzhou was a bit strange.
He looked fierce, like he'd been to some dangerous place. His reaction was indeed very alert; if she had posed any real threat, he would have likely slashed at her without hesitation.
But she's already so close to him. If she really had any bad intentions, she could have stabbed him in the back first.
Gu Anzhou stirred the curry in the pot, looking at Ye Jia through the reflection of the range hood.
She was wearing her own clothes, which were too big and looked out of place, but... they looked like her family.
"Is there anything else to cut?" After Ye Jia finished cutting the potatoes, she soaked them in water and looked at Gu Anzhou, who was staring blankly ahead.
Gu Anzhou shook his head: "No more."
"You like potatoes too, right?" Ye Jia smiled when she saw him nod. "I knew it! There are potatoes in curry, and you've also cut them into shreds. How are you planning to stir-fry them?"
How do you like it cooked?
"Me? Of course I'd stir-fry it with pickled chili peppers, but do you have any? If not, pickled peppers are fine too, I like it sour!"
Gu Anzhou didn't have any pickled chili peppers, but he did have some pickled peppers. He had just made some pickled vegetables a couple of days ago, but he didn't know if they were sour enough now.
After Ye Jia excitedly finished speaking, she realized something was wrong. She had only come to use the Wi-Fi and had already ordered food. She quickly said, "It depends on your taste. I'm fine with anything."
"I like it." Gu Anzhou scooped out some pickled peppers.
Ye Jia quickly helped cut the vegetables into strips, then stood quietly to the side and watched him cook.
His movements were very practiced, clearly showing he had done this many times. Ye Jia was actually a little surprised, because the bar downstairs didn't sell these; he only sold frozen snacks that only needed to be heated. He should have been more popular if he had just cooked something simple.
As Ye Jia looked around, she suddenly thought of Chu Nian and wondered how she was having dinner at home, so she went out of the kitchen and called her.
"I've stocked up on food, enough to last me one night. But you, it's still very dangerous outside, I'm afraid you won't be able to come back."
"No, I can go back in Boss Gu's car."
Chu Nian exclaimed, "Oh dear! How could you trouble Boss Gu to pick you up and drop you off like this? And does having a car mean there's no danger? What if a tree falls down and hits the car?"
"..."
"Also, don't you have class tonight? Our internet hasn't been restored yet, so you won't be able to attend class when you get back."
“It’s okay to attend class, I can tell him to cancel it.”
"Please consider the plight of your students who are bursting with thirst for knowledge!"
Ye Jia could sense with her toes that Chu Nian didn't want her to go back. It was indeed troublesome for Gu Anzhou to send her back, but wasn't it troublesome for him that she was staying here?
Gu Anzhou brought out the dishes, and Ye Jia quickly hung up the phone to help.
Soon, the dining table in the living room was set with dishes: a Masaman beef curry, a pickled pepper potato shredded dish, a cucumber salad, and a plate of cream soup.
Both dishes were perfect with rice. Ye Jiaxing excitedly opened the rice cooker and saw that it was full. It was clear that Gu Anzhou had planned to invite her to eat with him before he cooked them.
As soon as Gu Anzhou sat down, he picked up his phone and saved Ye Jia's phone number. He was somewhat incredulous to see Ye Jia's name appear in his contacts.
In the past, he would never save real names when saving phone numbers in his phone, and he usually didn't know other people's real names. But now he could confidently save her name.
Just as he finished saving, that figure came into his line of sight. He looked up and saw her beaming with joy, looking especially adorable.
He immediately looked away and saw that Bai Yu had sent him a message.
Bai Yu: [Brother Zhou! Aren't you open for business today?]
Bai Yu: [Could you please let me in? I don't drink, I just want to eat something and chat with you!]
Gu Anzhou: [No.]
Putting down his phone, Gu Anzhou said, "Bai Yu said she wants to come in."
Ye Jia was taken aback for a moment, then nodded: "Sure, you made so many dishes and so much rice, the two of us can't finish it all."
"I refused."
Ye Jia was somewhat surprised. She thought that Gu Anzhou meant to ask her if she minded. If he had already refused, there was no need to tell her. If he was going to say it, he should at least tell her the result.
Gu Anzhou didn't say anything more and started eating.
He thought Ye Jia would want to have dinner with him alone.
Are she close to Bai Yu? Probably not.
Are they very close? It doesn't seem so.
The storm raged outside, and the sea was whipped up by terrifying waves, making the entire island seem to sway.
The room felt exceptionally warm and peaceful thanks to the heat from the food and the light.
The atmosphere was tense for a moment, but it quickly eased with exclamations of "delicious!"
Ye Jia always ate very quickly, wolfing down her food—a habit she'd developed since childhood. She ate too much, too much, and all the blood rushed to her stomach, causing a slight dizziness. She stared blankly at the already dark sky outside the balcony.
"Don't worry, I'll take you back later," Gu Anzhou said.
"Hmm?" Ye Jia turned around, not worried about anything. "Oh, okay, thank you."
"It's no trouble at all."
Ye Jia pursed her lips, Chu Nian's words echoing in her mind. She said, "I'd like to use the internet downstairs again. I have a part-time job tutoring students."
“No problem.” Gu Anzhou certainly didn’t mind. “You can stay upstairs. There’s also light upstairs. The light is bad downstairs.”
"Light? Oh, we're not using video, just audio."
Gu Anzhou looked at her: "Is your home internet that bad?"
Ye Jia was a little embarrassed, as if she had made up an excuse to stay here. She emphasized in a serious tone, "It's very bad, mainly because it's unstable and keeps disconnecting."
Gu Anzhou noticed that her tone had suddenly become stiff and was taken aback.
Ye Jia noticed his expression and realized that he didn't mean it that way; he had just asked casually. It was she who was feeling guilty and overreacting.
“If your work requires a stable internet connection, you can get a new one,” Gu Anzhou said. “But you’ve had no problems before, right?”
"No."
"That doesn't seem necessary. Typhoons only happen once a year, and things should be back to normal by tomorrow or the day after. You can come back to me if you need anything."
"……good."
Ye Jia thought Gu Anzhou was a good person.
Compared to her, it seems her intentions are not pure.
After dinner, Ye Jia wanted to help wash the dishes, but Gu Anzhou insisted that she didn't need to and told her to go downstairs to prepare her lessons.
"He didn't send it to me in advance today, so I don't need to prepare a lesson."
"So, you can solve the problem just by looking at it?"
"Basically, I guess."
Gu Anzhou exclaimed, "A top student!"
"And you?" Ye Jia asked, seizing the opportunity. He wondered if Ye Jia had been a blond-haired kid back in school.
"Me? I'm stupid."
Ye Jia felt an urge to laugh when she heard him say this in such a sincere tone. Just then, she saw him start to tie his apron, his hands behind his back, looking clumsy and unable to tie it properly, so she walked up behind him and said, "Let me help you."
His back is really broad, but his waist looks like it could be wrapped around someone.
The aprons upstairs and downstairs are not the same. They are both navy blue, but the material is different. This plastic one looks like the kind you'd use to butcher fish in a supermarket.
After Ye Jia tied it for him, she wanted to laugh even more, and she could hardly suppress the smile on her face.
"Does it look bad?" Gu Anzhou asked. He didn't even notice that she had tied it a little too tightly.
Ye Jia shook her head: "No, you're handsome, you look good in anything."
He blurted it out before realizing what he had said, and awkwardly cleared his throat. It's just that easy to blurt out the truth.
Gu Anzhou didn't reply, but just squeezed a lot of dish soap onto the scouring pad.
"That's enough, that's too wasteful!" Ye Jia quickly reached out and tugged at his sleeve.
As Ye Jia went downstairs, she wondered what the logic was behind Gu Anzhou's decision to wear an apron or not. Even though she was known as a top student, she couldn't figure it out.
It was almost time, so Ye Jia went into the meeting room and called the students.
"Has the teacher had dinner yet?" The boy's voice was clear and crisp. Every time the call was connected, he would take the initiative to chat for a few minutes first.
"have eaten."
"Did you make this yourself again?"
Ye Jia hesitated for half a second before deciding what to say: "A friend made it."
"Boyfriend?" The boy noticed her brief pause and immediately asked.
"Don't talk nonsense, send the information."
The boy said with distress, "I haven't found it yet, don't worry, teacher. It's raining heavily today, so I didn't go swimming. I ordered pizza and ate a lot of slices, and now I feel a bit dizzy."
"It's pouring rain here too, a typhoon is coming."
"Really? Is the teacher in the south? I thought you were in the north."
"Why?"
"That's what your information shows, and you do have a bit of that accent."
Ye Jia was unsure whether it was more embarrassing to have people recognize her hometown accent or to have them recognize that she had picked up a Beicheng accent after living in Beicheng for several years.
But Gu Anzhou could still tell she was from the South.
"I used to work in Beicheng, and I forgot to change the information." Ye Jia said, having already corrected it, changing it to Lingfeng Island.
The person on the other end immediately noticed: "Lingfeng Island? Where is that? I've never heard of it. But the scenery must be beautiful. Teacher, can you video chat with me? I want to see it."
"It's already dark, we can't see anything." Ye Jia was getting a little annoyed. "You still haven't found it?"
"Okay, okay, I found it. Teachers can make money just like chatting, so why be so strict?"
Ye Jia was at her wit's end. But considering the generous pay and the interesting questions he gave, she could tolerate it.
Ye Jia has always been serious about her studies, while he is carefree and irresponsible, which makes her feel a little uncomfortable.
Ye Jia was praised for her intelligence from a young age. The teachers who came to teach in the village all said that she would definitely be able to go to university, and maybe even go to university in Beicheng.
But she knew that the real reason she got into Peking University was because she was hardworking enough.
Having finally received the materials, Ye Jia glanced at the questions and, combining them with his usual problem-solving approach, began the lesson.
Teaching students doesn't require that much focus, and after a while, Ye Jia noticed that Gu Anzhou had also come down.
Ye Jia didn't pay much attention when he walked to the bar, until he saw him pick up his usual whiskey glass and drink the golden liquid. Ye Jia jumped up and exclaimed, "You're drinking?!"
"..." Gu Anzhou's hand hovered in the air, stunned.
Oh no, he had promised to take her home, but as he walked over, he subconsciously poured himself a drink and started drinking.
She wouldn't think he was deliberately drinking to get her to stay, would she?
The atmosphere froze for a moment.
A somewhat gloating voice came from the computer: "Teacher, who are you talking to? Your boyfriend who cooks for you? Is he an alcoholic trying to quit drinking? Hahaha, and you're telling people not to drink?"
Ye Jia wanted to slam the laptop shut and shut him up. Oh no, would Gu Anzhou think she had just told her students, "I ate my boyfriend's cooking for dinner"?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
