hint
Teacher Pan's mini-class is now open!
Pan Yue talked a lot about things like the types of eggs, the color and appearance of their shells, their roughness, and the sound they make when shaken.
Zhu Shiyi's eyes were glazed over, but he just listened intently.
Buying groceries is a skill in itself. She had never bought groceries herself before; her mother always cooked for her family.
Ms. Liu Lu also wouldn't let her into the kitchen, saying, "Can you even eat what you make? Don't ruin my food and waste resources."
After finishing picking out the eggs, Pan Yue went to buy apples.
Zhu Shiyi also wanted to buy a few to put in the fruit bowl at Yu Fan's house.
She doesn't know how to pick apples either, but she doesn't want to listen to the grocery shopping mini-lecture anymore.
Zhu Shiyi had a sudden inspiration. She bent her knees, hunched her back, and reached out her wicked hand to sneak into Pan Yue's bag of apples, transferring one apple at a time.
Pan Yue's gaze fell.
Zhu Shiyi met his gaze and grinned, revealing her big teeth.
Pan Yue was taken aback. He looked away and smiled softly.
He protected the bag: "Choose for yourself."
"I'm choosing." Zhu Shiyi shrank back, pretending to be guilty, and glanced at the man above him. His expression was relaxed and casual, and his smile was faint. He really didn't seem angry.
She then reached into the wide-open half-sack: "The quality here is the best."
After buying the fruits and vegetables, Zhu Shiyi's feet seemed to have a GPS, and she unknowingly drifted to the snack section, wanting to eat everything.
She immediately devoured several boxes of cookies and several packs of spicy strips.
Pan Yue became a bodyguard again.
Knowing that Pan Yue didn't like oily food, Zhu Shiyi picked up a bag of jelly and thoughtfully recommended it to him: "Would you like to buy some of this? It's oil-free and very delicious."
"No, thank you."
"Oh," Zhu Shiyi took a few bags for herself, then suddenly realized they were konjac jelly. "But you can't eat them all, they're made from konjac."
Pan Yue paused in his tracks: "...Isn't jelly gelatin?"
“I don’t understand,” Zhu Shiyi pointed to two uncommon characters on the packaging. “I didn’t recognize the characters ‘蒟蒻’ before, so I specifically looked them up and found out that it’s konjac.”
Pan Yue reached out and took the bag of jelly, putting it into the shopping cart.
Zhu Shiyi exclaimed in surprise, "What are you doing?"
"I've never had anything sweet before," Pan Yue said with a smile, "Let me try it."
Zhu Shiyi: ?
Lin Changren has possessed him.
No wonder these two get along so well.
Passing by the instant noodle section, Pan Yue stopped and looked at the colorful shelves.
Zhu Shiyi stopped and kindly reminded him, "Instant noodles seem to be very oily, do you eat them too?"
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had this,” Pan Yue said, glancing sideways. “Let’s buy two boxes. I’ll eat it after I finish working out next Monday.”
Zhu Shiyi: "...Are you serious?"
"Hmm." Pan Yue pretended to take two boxes.
Zhu Shiyi quickly grabbed the shopping cart and pushed it away, shouting, "I don't want to eat!"
--
Saturday afternoon.
Sunday is Christmas Eve, and the Meet Christmas event planned by Zhu Shiyi and his team is tomorrow.
Yu Fan was practicing singing and working on the details at home with his guitar, while Zhu Shiyi sat quietly playing on her phone.
There's a line in the lyrics that Yu Fan sang repeatedly.
Zhu Shiyi listened for a moment, and his mind unconsciously followed the music.
Yu Fan sighed and frowned: "Something just feels off, it doesn't sound good."
Zhu Shiyi pondered for a moment: "How about trying to add emphasis?"
Her chin trembled, and she immediately uttered a sentence.
Yu Fan's gaze focused instantly. She leaned on the chair, tilted her head slightly, and said with interest, "It has a bit of a swing rhythm feel to it."
"What swing?" Zhu Shiyi stared blankly.
"It's a jazz rhythm, removing the middle note of the triplets and emphasizing the accent on the second half of the beat." Yu Fan repeated a line, using a swing rhythm.
Zhu Shiyi stroked his chin, nodded his head and clapped along, imitating Yu Fan as he sang another line.
“Yes,” Yu Fan praised, “but you swallowed a level of the vowel.”
Zhu Shiyi sat up straight and said another sentence.
Yu Fan hissed: "That's a good line."
“I don’t think we can always emphasize the second half of the beat,” Zhu Shiyi also noticed the problem. “The first half of the first beat of the first half of the sentence has a lower pitch, so you have to use chest resonance, and the sound will naturally be heavier. If you want to emphasize the high notes later…”
“It sounds too tight,” she said, her brow furrowing slightly as she gestured. “I think the high note in the first half of the phrase should be glided on more gently.”
Zhu Shiyi sang a line as an example.
Communication on artistic aesthetics sometimes requires tacit understanding.
Yu Fan clearly got it. She imitated the song and sang along, then turned her head and clicked her tongue, saying, "Okay."
Meeting Yu Fan's gaze, Zhu Shiyi gave him a flirtatious wink in response.
"Come to the bar tomorrow night," Yu Fan invited, "to participate in one of your events."
That's exactly what I was thinking.
......
Sunday night, at the bar.
Zhu Shiyi dressed up beautifully and went to the bar, secretly hoping to run into Pan Yue, but she only saw Lin Changren instead.
"Brother Chang."
"Hey, Shiyi, you're here too."
Zhu Shiyi awkwardly replied, "Yes, I came to see Sister Fan."
"What a coincidence!" Lin Changren's eyes lit up. "Me too..."
He paused for a moment, then said, "I've come to check out the Christmas activities."
"And what about Pan Yue?" Zhu Shiyi couldn't help but ask, "Did he come?"
“No,” Lin Changren raised an eyebrow. “Why are you suddenly asking this?”
Zhu Shiyi laughed it off: "You two don't spend much time together, do you? I didn't see him today, so I was just asking."
The two sat at a shared table, each playing on their own phones.
Zhu Shiyi was afraid that Lin Changren would notice something amiss, so she didn't dare to ask any more questions, but she had her own little scheme in mind.
She spent a long time posing before posting on her WeChat Moments: "[Christmas Eve is meant to be spent with good friends!]"
She wanted Pan Yue to see it.
Although the other party may not react.
Ten minutes later, Pan Yue gave her a thumbs up.
It's not surprising that Pan Yue often gives her likes.
This time, however, was the first time he commented: "Are you meeting up?"
Zhu Shiyi secretly rejoiced: [That's right! Sister Fan invited me, and Brother Chang is here too.]
After thinking for a moment, she added, "When I saw him, I thought you would come too."
After sending the message, Zhu Shiyi silently bit her finger.
She's so daring!
Isn't this hint too obvious? What's the difference between this and saying "I miss you"?
A private message popped up in the notification bar.
Pan Yue: [I know he went.]
Zhu Shiyi didn't know why Pan Yue had sent her a private message, but it was even better. She was so worried about the weekend; if she wasn't working on the daily report, she wouldn't have had a chance to chat with Pan Yue.
Zhu Shiyi: [Why didn't you come to play?]
Pan Yue: [I'm in Yishi, on a short business trip.]
Zhu Shiyi then realized how busy Pan Yue was: [You're working so hard, are you alone?]
Pan Yue: [No.]
Zhu Shiyi: [Oh.]
Who is it? That's terrible, having to work on the weekend.
Why not give her this incredibly difficult opportunity? She reluctantly and selflessly volunteered to go on a business trip with her boss.
Pan Yue: [Xu Li from your department, he's in charge of this project.]
Zhu Shiyi knows this guy; he's a pretty funny guy in the department.
Zhu Shiyi: [Oh, Brother Xu is a really nice guy.]
Pan Yue: [Have you been drinking?]
The topic changed too abruptly.
Zhu Shiyi casually snapped a picture of the wine on the table, carefully examined it, and then felt the lighting was poor, so she changed the angle and took several more pictures carefully, even meticulously cropping out the messy edges before posting them.
Zhu Shiyi: [Of course! I ordered our signature Golden Marigold Jazz! Why come to a bar and drink water instead of alcohol?]
Pan Yue: [This drink is too strong.]
Zhu Shiyi: [Is it strong? I asked the bartender, and he told me it's a low-alcohol drink.]
The store's main wines need to meet the needs of the general public, so the alcohol content will definitely not be too high.
Pan Yue: [...Do you like the taste?]
Zhu Shiyi: [It's alright.]
She touched her flushed face: "It's a little hot, but it doesn't matter. I'm perfectly alert."
Pan Yue did not reply.
Two minutes later, the waiter approached: "Madam, your apple juice."
Zhu Shiyi was slightly taken aback. She gestured to Lin Changren across from her and said, "Brother Chang, here's the apple juice you ordered."
Lin Changren looked bewildered: "I didn't order it."
Zhu Shiyi was also confused. She turned to the waiter and said, "Did we come to the wrong table? We didn't order apple juice."
"Please wait a moment while I check," the waiter said, glancing down at the order slip on the tray. "Table 81, yes, that's your table."
The delivery guy put down the juice and left.
Zhu Shiyi scratched his face, took another picture, and subconsciously wanted to tell Pan Yue about this strange thing.
But then he suddenly stopped.
Zhu Shiyi zoomed in to examine the newly taken photos, having specifically chosen the same perfect angle as when she photographed the wine earlier.
The photo shows a brightly lit QR code on the desktop.
Bold speculations came to mind.
Zhu Shiyi sent a photo: 【Was that the apple juice you ordered?】
Pan Yue: [Hmm.]
Zhu Shiyi: ...Apple juice again!
Unsure of the situation, she tentatively asked, "Are you coming later? Is this for yourself?"
Pan Yue: [I'm still out of town, it's too late.]
Zhu Shiyi's heart skipped a beat.
Does that mean the juice was ordered for her?
What does he mean by that?
Zhu Shiyi typed: So you ordered this specifically for me?
...That's too ambiguous.
She deleted and retyped: You didn't order this for Brother Chang, did you?
...What if it isn't? What if he goes along with it and tells Lin Changren? This juice looks delicious, and she can't bear to part with it.
Pan Yue: [As you taught me, ingest some fructose to sober up.]
A smile bloomed on Zhu Shiyi's face, but she pressed her lips together.
So it was indeed ordered for her.
Zhu Shiyi typed: Are you concerned about me?
...She deleted it again: Why is it apple juice again?
Zhu Shiyi still felt it was inappropriate: 【Thank you.】
She wanted to say something more: I...
Pan Yue: [You're welcome. This is a reward for your teaching achievements.]
Zhu Shiyi deleted all the words he had typed.
You replied so quickly.
......
Is it just a reward?
She picked up the juice, took a sip, and licked her lips; the apple was sweet and sour.
She changed the subject: "So when are you going back to Jinrong?"
Pan Yue: [I'll be back tonight.]
That won't affect my workout tomorrow.
Zhu Shiyi felt like she was crazy; she was actually looking forward to Monday so much!
The Monday that Pan Yue was able to work out with was also their first Christmas since they met.
Zhu Shiyi leaned back in his chair and casually touched the small Christmas tree in the store.
She took a picture of the little flowers on the Christmas tree and sent it to Pan Yue: "The Christmas tree in the shop is so exquisite."
She added, "I picked out the style myself."
Pan Yue: [Good eye.]
Tonight, urban men and women are overjoyed, and Yu Fan is singing with great enthusiasm.
"With you under the mistletoe."
--
on Monday.
Winter nights come early, and with Christmas approaching, the atmosphere in the office today is a mix of excitement and restlessness.
Zhu Shiyi was no exception.
With half an hour left before the end of the workday, Zhu Shiyi didn't want to do anything but sneakily scroll through her phone until the end of the workday.
Yet, each day felt like an eternity.
She had never been so eager to work out.
What should we eat tonight on this wonderful holiday?
For such a romantic Western holiday, a romantic Western meal is a must.
I don't know if Pan Yue can eat this while exercising.
Zhu Shiyi let his thoughts wander, unconsciously recalling Pan Yue's fervor for the nutritional distribution of food.
Yes.
Although we couldn't find out what Pan Yue's hobbies were, it's certain that he was indeed interested in the nutritional value of food.
With this in mind, Zhu Shiyi took advantage of the brief break before leaving get off work to study nutrition.
At the stroke of midnight, Pan Yue sent a message: "[Same place as usual.]"
Zhu Shiyi had already packed his bags: "Okay, wait five minutes."
She quickly went downstairs to the convenience store to snatch up her loot before sneaking off to the garage like a thief and getting into Pan Yue's car.
"What did you buy?" Pan Yue asked, one hand on the steering wheel, the other taking her bag and putting it in the back seat.
Zhu Shiyi turned to close the door, not noticing Pan Yue's actions.
There was only one thing on her mind.
"Ta-da!" Zhu Shiyi's eyes lit up, and he made a sound effect as he quickly raised the three steamed buns hidden beside him, waving them like treasures, "Big white steamed buns!"
Pan Yue glanced down and was taken aback: "Hungry?"
“No,” Zhu Shiyi said in a drawn-out tone, “I bought it for you.”
Pan Yue's brow twitched slightly, and a smile gathered: "Give me... to buy steamed buns?"
“Yes!” Zhu Shiyi said proudly. “I checked online, and it says that steamed buns are the cleanest fast food, suitable for the stomachs of Chinese babies.”
Pan Yue looked away, a chuckle escaped his throat, and he slowly shook his head.
"What's wrong?" Zhu Shiyi felt her ears getting hot. "Is what's said online incorrect?"
She blushed, lowered the hand holding the steamed bun, covered her face and coughed lightly: "Then I'd better not eat it."
Pan Yue suddenly reached out and took the plastic bag: "Eat."
He untied the bag and took out a steamed bun: "Thank you."
“You’re welcome,” Zhu Shiyi replied shamelessly, “You eat two, and I’ll eat one.”
"good."
Zhu Shiyi held the steamed bun in both hands and ate it, his cheeks bobbing up and down.
His thoughts were also constantly shifting.
She swallowed the steamed bun and mustered her courage: "So, do you like it?"
Pan Yue glanced at him sideways: ?
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