Chapter 366 Shen Yan's praises were too frequent and too poignant...
Song Yanzhi deliberately emphasized the words "I don't know," his tone revealing no trace of sarcasm.
Nan Xia was indeed not very interested in shrimp paste. Song Yanzhi remembered all her dietary preferences, while Lu Qinghe had been pursuing her for six years but had never noticed such a small thing.
Lu Qinghe's hand froze in mid-air, his face turning pale and then red. He had indeed forgotten about it. He had only wanted to show how much he cared about Nanxia in front of everyone, but he hadn't expected to end up shooting himself in the foot.
"I... just thought shrimp paste was nutritious, I forgot you don't like it."
He tried to salvage the situation by withdrawing his hand, but he was still unwilling to give up. He picked up a spoon and ladled a bowl of clear soup for Nanxia. "Have some soup to warm your stomach. This clear soup base looks very fresh."
"No need." Nan Xia gently pushed the bowl away, her tone flat. "I don't want soup right now."
Seeing this, a smile flickered in Song Yanzhi's eyes. He picked up his chopsticks, took a piece of baby bok choy that Nan Xia liked, carefully cooked it, and put it in her bowl.
"Honey, eat more vegetables to cut through the greasiness."
This time, Nanxia did not refute his address, but simply picked up the baby bok choy and ate it silently.
Looking at the harmonious scene at the dining table, Lu Qinghe felt like an outsider, filled with anger and anxiety. Suddenly, his phone vibrated; it was a message from Duan Xue:
[President Lu, Shen Shaohui has agreed.]
Upon seeing her message, a glint of malice flashed in Lu Qinghe's eyes. He quickly replied: [Okay, tell him to act quickly and leave no trace.]
After sending the message, he put away his phone, looked up at Song Yanzhi, and his eyes held a barely perceptible hatred.
Song Yanzhi keenly noticed the hatred in Lu Qinghe's eyes, and his brows furrowed slightly. He had long felt that something was wrong with Lu Qinghe.
Earlier in the living room, he had noticed that Lu Qinghe looked flustered when he answered the phone, and now he was showing hatred towards him with a daring look in his eyes. He was definitely up to something bad.
We need to keep a close eye on this man.
On the other side of the table, Shen Yan observed Lu Qinghe discreetly. He figured Song Yanzhi could handle it, so he didn't need to worry about it. He kept busy, placing a piece of tripe, Nan Weiwei's favorite, on his plate.
"It's a perfect time to eat now, after all the ups and downs."
Nan Weiwei turned her head to look at him, then kicked his leg under the table, signaling him not to worry about her here; she didn't want her older sister to find out.
Shen Yan also turned to look at her, thinking she was seducing him. He raised an eyebrow slightly and secretly rubbed one foot against her calf...
"Cough cough!" Nan was slightly stunned. She had kicked him, but he was now teasing her? She had kicked him, not flirted with him!
Could he have misunderstood?
A tingling sensation suddenly ran through her bare calves, causing her body to stiffen. She glared at the man beside her, both angry and embarrassed, and instinctively tried to pull her ankle back, only to have it gently hooked by his other foot.
The edge of the man's leather shoes brushed against her delicate skin, a deliberately flirtatious touch that made her heart skip a beat.
"The tripe is getting cold." Shen Yan looked down at her reddened earlobes, his voice low and tinged with a barely perceptible smile. "Aren't you going to eat?"
Nan Wei bit her lower lip and suddenly kicked him again. Afraid that her older sister would notice something was wrong, she silently picked up the tripe in the bowl and stuffed it into her mouth... The crisp and tender texture exploded on her tongue, but her mind was completely on the restless foot under the table, and even her chewing movements were a little stiff.
Looking at her sister's embarrassed expression and then at Chen Yan, Nan Xia frowned even more. What were those two doing?
She cleared her throat and deliberately asked, "Weiwei, when did you become so close to him? He even knows you love tripe."
Nan Wei almost choked on a mouthful of tripe, her face showing panic: "He just helped me take care of the kids a few times before, and we've only eaten together occasionally."
"Oh?" Nan Xia raised an eyebrow, her gaze sweeping over Shen Yan. "Mr. Shen, you're so busy with work, yet you still have time to babysit other people's children?"
Shen Yan put down his chopsticks, met her gaze frankly, and spoke sincerely:
“It’s not easy for Weiwei to take care of the child alone. I happen to have some free time, so it’s only right that I lend a hand.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Xiao Yan beside him. The little girl immediately understood, put down the meatball in her hand, and said, "Yes, Auntie, my mommy is sometimes quite busy with work, so Uncle Chen came to take care of me."
Seeing that Xiao Yan was speaking up for him, Nan Xia was even more puzzled. What tricks did this man use to make Xiao Yan side with him like this?
After dinner, Nanxia called her younger sister into her room and asked her, "Are you dating Shen Yan?"
Nan Weiwei sat on the edge of the bed, looked up at her older sister, and coughed lightly, feeling a little guilty. "No, how could I possibly date him? I would never forgive him."
As she spoke, she unconsciously avoided her older sister's eyes, looking out at the dark night, while fragments of the past few days uncontrollably flashed through her mind—
Shen Yan remembered that she didn't eat cilantro, so he would carefully pick out the cilantro every time he cooked; he knew that she liked coffee, so he would add a little sugar and personally brew a cup for her even at the company; he would also often give her her favorite red roses.
"Then why do I feel like you and him are being ambiguous?" she asked her sister, arms crossed.
“He’s been taking better care of me and my son lately. Maybe he’s repenting for what happened six years ago. Don’t worry, sister, I won’t be with him,” she said earnestly to her older sister.
During this time, Shen Yan treated her very well, listened to everything she said, was very gentle with her, and even gave her many clothes and jewelry. The only thing he wasn't gentle about was in bed—
Every night he was like a hungry wolf, driven by a desire he had suppressed for six years, exhausting her, yet afterwards he would carefully cover her with a blanket, kiss her forehead and say "I'm sorry".
Nan Weiwei kept reminding herself that this was all a transaction, and that she only wanted to get the ledger to avenge her father. She must not fall into his trap of tenderness.
“I am indeed angry about what he did six years ago. If you like him and want to be with him, that’s your own business. But from now on, let’s have less contact,” Nanxia said to her.
My older sister means that if I get together with Shen Yan, she will cut off all ties with me.
A wave of grievance and bitterness welled up in Nan Weiwei's heart. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, she made a firm statement: "Sister, I really won't be with him."
She spoke resolutely, but her mind was a complete mess.
Shen Yan's kindness was so intense and touching that she would sometimes feel lost and wonder if things would have turned out differently if what happened six years ago hadn't happened.
But whenever she thinks of her father's tragic death, his cold indifference towards her six years ago, and the injuries her older sister sustained while protecting her, those moments of daze instantly vanish.
She cannot forget her roots, and she cannot let her older sister down.
Looking at her sister's determined eyes, Nanxia felt a little relieved, but her gaze was also filled with a complex mix of emotions: "The things he did six years ago, the kind of harm that can't be erased with just a word of 'repentance'."
At that moment, outside the bedroom door, Shen Yan was holding a glass of warm water that he had poured for Nan Weiwei. He was about to knock on the door when he unexpectedly heard Nan Xia's words and stopped abruptly.
"Let's just keep to ourselves from now on."
These words were like a cold knife, piercing his heart.
He leaned against the cold wall, his fingers gripping the water glass so tightly that his knuckles turned white, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, his brows furrowed, and a complex mix of emotions swirling in his eyes—
I felt distressed, resentful, and a little desperate.
He thought that his efforts during this period would eventually show Nan Weiwei his sincerity and gradually melt the ice in her heart.
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