Chapter 4 Am I very old?
The following day was Sunday.
Lin Zaoyi woke up once at seven o'clock, saw a message on her mother's phone saying that they had gone to the Tan family's old house and went back to sleep. When she opened her eyes again, it was already bright daylight.
She turned on the screen; it was 9:33.
It's so nice not having to wake me up.
Downstairs, the cleaning lady stopped what she was doing when she saw her. "Zaoyi, what would you like to eat?"
It's not my own home, so I feel embarrassed to bother others, even if it's a housekeeper I've hired.
"Go ahead and do your thing, I can handle it myself."
Auntie: "Making breakfast is no trouble at all."
Lin Zaoyi took a few steps closer and grabbed the aunt, "It's not that I'm being polite, I just suddenly wanted to eat something I made myself today."
The aunt smiled and said, "Okay, just call me if you need anything."
With all the kitchen ingredients ready, Lin Zaoyi planned to cook herself egg noodles. During the years her father was sick, egg noodles were what she made most often—they were convenient, nutritious, and didn't seem like a shoddy job.
I heard footsteps behind me and thought my aunt was worried.
Turning his head, he saw Tan Zhaojing.
Didn't he go to the old house?
The suddenness of the event startled her, causing her to lose her grip on all ten fingers. The noodles in her hand scattered into the pot. She tried to salvage the situation, but her right hand was still holding a spatula. Instinctively, she placed the spatula on the edge of the bowl. Whether the bowl was too light or the spatula was too heavy, it couldn't support her, and the spatula fell due to gravity. To make matters worse, the bowl rolled down with it.
Snap—
box--
The double blast of sound made me involuntarily close my eyes.
Lin Zaoyi had never been so flustered in her life. The air froze for two seconds as she forced a polite smile, "Zao..."
Without waiting for a response, he quickly squatted down to pick up the broken porcelain shards.
"Don't move." I heard him say, stopping me.
"It's alright, it's alright."
She didn't want to trouble her aunt, but little did she know that this young master would actually bend down and pick it up himself. How could she let him do it?
Despite his desire to stop it, things took an unexpected turn, and before he knew it, the shard in his hand made intimate contact with his fingers.
"..."
A moment's pause, disregarding her fear, she quickly grabbed a tissue to press against her skin, swallowing several times to calm her nerves. "Sorry..."
She had the worst day ever.
He was even more unlucky, because of her recklessness he got a bloody scratch.
Tan Zhaojing said nonchalantly, "It's nothing serious, just a little scratch."
But she was still nervous and scared, and instinctively tried to remedy the situation by lowering her head and blowing air into the wound.
As if possessed, Tan Zhaojing did not pull his hand away. His eyelashes were half-fallen, and his gaze fell unobstructed on her face, his eyes deepening in color.
Lin Zaoyi didn't realize it at first, until she accidentally met his gaze and realized that their actions were too intimate. She awkwardly let go and took half a meter back.
"I'm sorry, let's talk..."
Thinking back to what he said last night, "No need to be so formal," he suppressed the title that was about to come to his lips, trying to cover it up, and said, "I don't mind if you call me by my name."
That won't do.
Just like before, "Brother Zhaojing".
Tan Zhaojing gave a curt "hmm," casually wiping the excess blood from his hands with a tissue, and glanced into the pot. "Can you finish this?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Zaoyi turned around and turned off the stove. She used a slotted spoon to scoop up the noodles and put them into a large plate. There were so many noodles that she could barely manage to eat half of them in three meals a day.
Just as I was in a dilemma, I heard him politely ask, "Would it be convenient for you to cook me a bowl?"
"...Oh, okay."
A phone call came in, and Tan Zhaojing left the kitchen, walked around to the housekeeper's side, gestured to her assistant to wait a moment, and said to the housekeeper, "The bowl is broken, could you please clean it up?"
The auntie replied, "I'll go right away."
In the kitchen, Lin Zaoyi apologized for her carelessness, and the aunt waved her hand with a smile, "It's alright, it's alright."
This young lady doesn't seem to be at home at all; she's being far too polite. Seeing her serve two bowls, I instinctively asked, "Whose bowls are these?"
Lin Zaoyi replied, "Brother Zhaojing."
Aunt:?
Didn't Zhaojing eat breakfast this morning?
Tan Zhaojing's phone call was short, only two minutes. His gaze fell on the figure in the kitchen, and after a few seconds of contemplation, he sent a message to his friend. Only after sending the message did he move into the kitchen.
Lin Zaoyi added some vinegar to her bowl. Most people wouldn't eat clear soup noodles with vinegar, and she knew it was odd.
But I just like it.
A soft voice whispered from above, "This tastes so good."
She replied, "Mainly because I'm prone to jealousy."
He immediately added, "The vinegar in edible vinegar."
He chuckled emotionlessly in my ear, “I didn’t misunderstand jealousy between men and women.”
"..."
This person is not suited for conversation; you'll definitely mess with them if you try.
He handed him the bowl, saying, "Brother Zhaojing, here you go."
Tan Zhaojing's gaze involuntarily drifted to her hands. The girl's fingers were slender and fair, and her nails were neatly trimmed. Unlike Jia Ni, there were no fancy manicures; they were all a healthy pink.
He took it and thanked him.
"Need not."
Lin Zaoyi did not go to the dining room with them, but stayed in front of the coffee table in the living room.
Less than a minute after I sat down, my aunt came over to tell me, "Zaoyi, Zhaojing wants you to have lunch at the restaurant."
It seems that this action was against the rules in his eyes.
Holding their bowls, the two men sat back down in the restaurant, naturally not sitting next to each other, but several seats apart. Even so, there was still a strong sense of oppression.
Therefore, she ate absentmindedly, occasionally glancing at his hand. It was no longer bleeding, but the bloodstains were still glaring.
My phone, which was on the table, suddenly vibrated.
Tan Zhaojing glanced at the incoming call and answered it.
The person on the other end of the phone asked, "Why would you suddenly ask me to check the club's security footage?"
"Of course it's useful."
Duan Lin wanted to kick him; his attitude was so bad when he asked someone to do something.
I don't understand. "Wouldn't it be more convenient for you to let He Nian investigate? It's his territory."
“Alright,” Tan Zhaojing glanced at the girl a meter away from her, seemingly casually, and repeated her friend’s words, “Then let Meng Henian investigate.”
Lin Zaoyi's nerves were on edge. She recognized Meng Henian, whom Tan Zhaojing had mentioned, as her older brother Xixi...
What are you checking?
Surveillance footage of Yulan Club?
If that's the case, there's nothing to be nervous about. Relying on my relationship with Xixi, I found the manager as soon as I regained consciousness and decisively deleted the surveillance footage from that time period.
Feeling a gaze upon her, she looked up and had a premonition of meeting the person's eyes. Although she wasn't too nervous, she still felt that there was a deeper meaning in his gaze.
She was confused and a little scared. Before she was completely cleared of suspicion, her nerves felt like they were tied to a thin wire that wasn't very secure, and they would twitch from time to time, causing her distress.
The phone rang; this time it was her mother calling.
"Zaoyi, come to the old house with your brother Zhaojing later. Grandpa Tan just mentioned you."
With Tan Zhaojing present, she couldn't be too direct, so she said tactfully, "That's just polite talk."
Mingxian didn't think as much as her daughter. "Come on, let's just treat it as a walk."
Lin Zaoyi puffed out her cheeks and said, "Oh."
The phone call had barely ended when Tan Zhaojing stood up. "Finished eating?"
She hummed in agreement.
"Let's go then."
It's likely that Uncle Tan sent him a message, asking him to give her a ride.
Even without that initial suspicion, I still felt a sense of apprehension towards him.
"No need, you go first—"
"Am I old?" he suddenly interrupted her.
She gasped in surprise, then after a half-second, she realized, "Not old..."
"Then why add 'you' to every sentence?"
Isn't that just being polite?
Lin Zaoyi carefully chose her words, "Because of respect."
He was six years older than her, and aside from that, he also had more experience. He was a decision-maker in the Tan Group, while she was just a fresh graduate.
"Respect?"
Tan Zhaojing pondered these two words, "There's absolutely no need for that."
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