Proposal (Twenty-six)
On this day, Ruan Qi got up earlier than usual.
These days, she's constantly worried about Wang Yue and Lin Ting going to college, often staying up late browsing university forums on her phone. She stays up late, and wakes up late. Ruan Qi doesn't get out of bed until the sun is almost setting. As a result, she doesn't know what time Xi Jiu wakes up these days.
Until today, Ruan Qi suddenly got up very early.
It's not even seven in the morning yet, and she's already awake.
Ruan Qi opened her eyes, but before she was fully awake, her hand habitually reached for the other side of the bed.
During the days he returned to the village, Xi Jiu would sneak over to sleep with her every night. The Ruan family turned a blind eye and even pretended not to see Xi Jiu sneaking into Ruan Qi's room.
Ruan Qi was used to sleeping in Xi Jiu's arms every night. Today, she woke up so early, but found that Xi Jiu was not holding her. This made Ruan Qi feel a little uncomfortable, and her hand subconsciously touched the edge of the bed.
As a result, I got nothing.
The bed was cold, and there was not even a trace of Xi Jiu.
Ruan Qi's inquiring voice came into the restaurant.
Ruan Qi: ???
Brother, why does your tone sound a little strange?
Ruan Qi was confused by the question and asked Cheng Jinyan blankly: "Shouldn't I wake up?"
Ruan Qi, full of doubts, lifted the quilt and got out of bed, changed her clothes and pushed open the bedroom door.
She sat up in bed, her eyes sweeping across the other half of the bed, then looking towards the bathroom in the bedroom.
Ruan Qi's question made Cheng Jinyan's body stiffen again.
Under normal circumstances, Ruan Qi would have noticed his abnormality. But today, she was so preoccupied with Xi Jiu, who had disappeared early in the morning, that she didn't notice Cheng Jinyan's unusual behavior.
"Xiao Qi, why are you awake?"
Cheng Jinyan, who is usually quiet, rarely speaks so much at once.
Cheng Jinyan: "..."
On the first floor of the villa, most of the Ruan family members have already gotten up.
"Brother, where is Jiujiu?"
Ruan Qi walked down the stairs and looked around the first floor, but surprisingly did not see Xi Jiu.
Cheng Jinyan, who was picking vegetables with his head down, paused, suddenly raised his head, and a look of deep surprise appeared on his handsome face.
Ruan Qi suddenly woke up from her sleepiness.
"I slept well last night and didn't stay up late, so I got up early today. Brother, have you seen Jiujiu? I didn't see him in the bedroom."
He groaned, hesitated for half a second, and then said ambiguously, "He...he went out."
Cheng Jinyan knew he had lost his composure, so he coughed quickly and calmly tried to make amends: "No. What I meant was, I didn't expect you to wake up so early. Don't you usually wake up around nine or ten? Why are you up before seven today? Didn't you sleep well last night?"
There was no sound of washing in the bathroom, so Xi Jiu should not be there.
But it wasn't even seven o'clock yet, where could Jiujiu have gone? Was he out for a morning run?
"Out?" Ruan Qi walked down the stairs, her eyebrows furrowed. "Where did you go? Did you go for a morning run?"
Nie Beilou, the two elders of the Ruan family, and Mr. Xi were practicing Tai Chi in the courtyard to music. Ruan Fengmian and Ruan Munan were cooking in the kitchen, while Yang Liu and Cheng Jinyan were sitting in the dining room picking vegetables.
Cheng Jinyan was not very good at lying and was worrying about how to answer Ruan Qi. When he heard Ruan Qi's words, he immediately nodded.
"Yes," he said, "Xijiu went for morning exercise and will be back soon. Xiaoqi, are you hungry? Breakfast isn't ready yet. Would you like some milk to fill your stomach first?"
Ruan Qi stopped worrying about Xi Jiu after learning that he was out doing morning exercises. She rubbed her flat belly, her attention drawn to breakfast.
"Okay, I'm a little hungry. I'll listen to my brother and drink a glass of milk first."
Ruan Qi said this and went to the kitchen to heat milk.
Seeing this, Cheng Jinyan immediately put down the vegetables and stood up: "I'll go and heat it up for you. There's fumes from the kitchen, it's really uncomfortable."
After saying that, he stretched out his long legs and walked into the kitchen in a few steps.
Ruan Qi was deprived of the right to enter the kitchen, and had no choice but to stand outside the kitchen door and watch his father and two brothers busy in the kitchen.
But as she looked at it, her eyebrows furrowed again.
"Brother, where's the puppy?"
In the Ruan family, men have always been the ones doing the cooking, so both the Ruan father and son and Nie Heng have good cooking skills.
On weekdays, if there were no special occasions, dinner would usually be prepared by Ruan Fengmian and Ruan Munan, while breakfast would be prepared by the two younger generations, Nie Heng and Ruan Munan.
But today, Ruan Qi didn't see Nie Heng in the kitchen, but Ruan Fengmian, who was responsible for cooking dinner, appeared in the kitchen.
Ruan Qi felt a little strange. She was worried that Nie Heng was sick, so she asked this question.
However, she didn't expect that her question would make the three men in the kitchen stiffen.
It wasn't obvious to Ruan Fengmian, who was cooking with his back to the kitchen door, but Cheng Jinyan, who was holding a cup of milk, and Ruan Munan, who was washing dishes, had their hands trembling and almost dropped the cups and plates on the ground.
"Uh..." Cheng Jinyan quickly grasped the milk cup and made up excuses in his mind at the speed of light, "Nie Heng... Nie Heng, he, he..."
"He also went for morning exercise." Ruan Munan spoke in time.
Cheng Jinyan nodded quickly: "Yes, yes. He went to morning exercise with Xi Jiu."
Ruan Qi: ???
That guy even has to be whipped to walk during martial arts practice. How could such a lazy person actually get up so early for morning exercises?
The sun rises from the west?
Ruan Qi always felt that something was not right.
Is it because she got up too early and didn’t get enough sleep?
Why do I always feel that my elder brother and the others are weird?
Ruan Qi frowned, her eyes filled with doubt. Cheng Jinyan and Ruan Munan were afraid she would continue to think about it, so one of them pushed her into the restaurant while the other stuffed her with hot milk.
"The milk is ready, drink it quickly. Breakfast will be ready soon, so eat more later."
Ruan Qi's attention was immediately drawn to the delicious breakfast.
By the time she reacted, the Ruan family had already sat down at the dinner table.
"All the dishes are here, let's eat." Ruan Munan brought the last pickled vegetable to the table, then took off her apron, pulled out a chair and sat down.
Ruan Qi, who was drinking milk from a cup, paused.
"Dinner is almost ready, why haven't Jiujiu and Xiaogouzi come back yet?" She looked up at the wall clock. "What time did they go out? Does their morning run take so long? Why don't I go look for them?"
The Ruan family members who were busy eating all froze in their chopstick hands.
"Ah... no need to look for them, no need to look for them. What could possibly happen to two grown men? They'll definitely be back soon." Old Master Xi said as he picked up a bun for Ruan Qi. "Xiao Qi, eat quickly and leave them alone."
Ruan Qi was still a little worried: "But Jiujiu and Xiaogouzi..."
It's really abnormal that he hasn't returned from morning exercise until breakfast time.
Ruan Qi was worried and wanted to go out to look for him, but before she could finish her words, the door of the villa was opened.
"I'm back!" It was Nie Heng's voice.
Ruan Qi immediately looked up. Across the dining room and living room, she saw Nie Heng standing at the doorway, changing his shoes. And standing behind Nie Heng was Xi Jiu, who had been missing since early morning.
Seeing the two people coming back, Ruan Qi's heart finally settled down.
"Why do you two take so long to do your morning exercises? I almost want to go out and look for you."
Nie Heng, who was changing his shoes, heard Ruan Qi's words and asked subconsciously without thinking: "Morning exercise? We don't have morning... umm!"
Before he could finish his words, Xi Jiu, who was standing behind him, moved as fast as lightning and covered his mouth.
Ruan Qi: ???
"Jiujiu, why are you covering Xiaogouzi's mouth? What did Xiaogouzi want to say just now? Are you guys okay?"
Nie Heng also reacted at this time, shook his head in panic, not knowing how to answer.
Xi Jiu released the hand covering his mouth, changed into slippers, and walked towards the restaurant while calmly saying, "Nothing. Nie Heng wanted to say that we didn't go for a morning run, but went to the back mountain to stretch."
Ruan Qi suddenly understood.
"So you went to the back mountain. No wonder you came back so late. But there are stretching equipment in the small square. Why did you go to the back mountain?"
"The air in the back mountain is good." Xi Jiu lied without blushing or beating his heart. He looked calm and composed, but he even held the chopsticks upside down.
Seeing Xi Jiu about to use the thick end of the chopsticks to pick up the buns, Ruan Qi quickly stopped him: "Jiujiu, you are holding the chopsticks upside down."
Xi Jiu paused, then calmly changed the direction of his chopsticks under everyone's teasing gaze.
He mechanically picked up a bun and took a bite when he heard Ruan Qi next to him ask again, "You and Xiaogouzi have been working out for so long, how come you don't sweat? You don't even smell like sweat."
“…” Xi Jiu’s heart, which had just calmed down, started beating wildly again.
He tried to keep his expression steady and pretended to be calm as he said, "I passed by a river and took advantage of the fact that no one was around to jump in and take a bath. All the sweat was washed off."
Ruan Qi: ???
Two grown men jumped into the river to take a bath naked in broad daylight?
Aren’t you afraid that passers-by will see you?
She couldn't imagine how someone as cold-hearted as Xi Jiu could take off all his clothes and go to the river to take a bath.
How much sweat must have been shed? Are you really that impatient?
Ruan Qi didn't understand, but was greatly shocked.
The other members of the Ruan family were also shocked by Xi Jiu's words.
Ruan Munan, who was sitting on Xi Jiu's right, tried to hold back again and again, and finally pinched his thigh hard before he could barely suppress the urge to burst out laughing.
It took Ruan Qi a long time to recover from the shock of Xi Jiu taking a bath in the river for most of the day.
She gathered herself, coughed, and gently advised, "Although few people go to the back mountain, it's not a good idea to bathe in the river in broad daylight. Next time you and Xiaogouzi do your morning exercise, you should go home and bathe."
Xi Jiu stiffened his body, nodded, and said "hmm" expressionlessly.
Seeing that he agreed, Ruan Qi felt relieved.
She lowered her head again and was about to eat when Xi Jiu suddenly said, "Baby, are you free tonight?"
"Hmm?" Ruan Qi took a bite of the bun and looked up in confusion. "Tonight? I have time. What's wrong? Is there something?"
Xi Jiu hummed, his voice filled with subtle nervousness. "There's a movie showing in the small square tonight. I've never seen an open-air movie in the village, and I'd like to go and see it. Baby, can you come with me?"
There were often open-air movies in the village, and Ruan Qi had been watching them since he was a child.
So when she heard Xi Jiu say that, she didn't get suspicious, but instead looked up in surprise: "There's an outdoor movie tonight? Okay, I'll go with you. Mom and Dad, do you want to come with us?"
Coming
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