Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Smile, smile, just know this...
Although Shen Zhuo was sitting on the sofa, his eyes followed Shao Chengzhang and the mop moving back and forth. When Shao Chengzhang went into the bathroom to rinse the mop, Shen Zhuo immediately followed him in.
"Sorry, sorry, I really didn't expect today to be like this." Shen Zhuo clasped his hands together and apologized to Shao Chengzhang very embarrassedly.
"It's okay, I said this is what I should do." Shao Chengzhang shook the dirt into the trash can, then turned on the faucet and started rinsing the mop.
"Hey, stop doing it. My mother doesn't know what happened today." Shen Zhuo lowered his head and kept looking at Shao Chengzhang's hand.
The water rushed to the back of his hand and spread along the veins. After rubbing the mop several times in his broad hands, it became clean again.
"It's really nothing." Shao Chengzhang smiled, looking up at her in the mirror with an expression that said, "It's nothing." He pressed the pump of hand sanitizer again and washed his hands again. It was the brand she usually used.
Hearing him say that, she felt even more embarrassed. The air was filled with the familiar scent of grapefruit, mixed with a subtle, yet real, throbbing sensation.
"Chen Zhuo?"
"Um?"
Shao Chengzhang suddenly called her, and Shen Zhuo turned to look at him. His wet palm flicked towards her without warning, and a few drops of water fell directly on her face, forehead, nose tip, and chin, catching her off guard.
Before she could react, she heard his low laugh, "How could you be so easily fooled?"
Shao Chengzhang picked up the mop and went out with a smile. Shen Zhuo raised the back of his hand to wipe his face. The apologetic mood he had just had disappeared. Instead, he wanted to rush out and kick him from behind.
There were still small water droplets on his face that had not been wiped off. Chen Zhuo took a tissue and leaned over to the mirror, pressing the water droplets clean bit by bit, and the corners of his mouth curled up little by little.
Childish, he is so childish!
Ms. Chi was very patient and waited until Shao Chengzhang finished mopping the floor before she got up and went to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Shen Zhuo followed in to help. Shao Chengzhang said he wanted to help too, but Shen Zhuo stopped him in time. She was embarrassed to let him work anymore.
Ms. Chi was making stir-fried potato shreds, so the job of peeling and grating the potatoes fell to Chen Zhuo. She held a potato and grated it into thin strips on the grater, but the potato became smaller and smaller. She was a little distracted today and didn't pay attention to the distance, so her fingertips slipped and rubbed against the sharp blade of the grater.
Fortunately, her nail blocked the wound, so it wasn't deep, but it still bled. She didn't react for a few seconds, but when the pain reached her brain, she hissed.
"Ouch! How could you be so careless? Let me see!" Ms. Chi saw that Shen Zhuo's fingertips were bleeding, and immediately put down the knife and moved closer to check her wound.
Shao Chengzhang, who was in the living room, heard the noise and immediately stood up and went into the kitchen. "What's wrong?" He saw her pinching her fingers, with blood oozing from her fingertips. He frowned and strode over to her. "Are you hurt?"
In comparison, Chen Zhuo was calmer. There was a lot of blood flowing, so she simply held the injured side in her mouth and sucked hard. Immediately, her mouth was filled with the taste of blood.
"I wiped my hands. It's okay, it's okay." She said vaguely.
The kitchen wasn't very big to begin with, and with two people standing next to each other, it suddenly felt crowded. She checked her finger again and saw that the bleeding had temporarily stopped.
Shao Chengzhang asked anxiously, "Do you have iodine and Band-Aids at home?"
"Yes, yes, yes. I'll go look for it." Ms. Chi said, and went out to find iodine.
"Let me see." Shao Chengzhang's eyes were full of concern.
"It's really okay." As he spoke, blood began to ooze out from the thin wound again.
Shao Chengzhang didn't respond to her. He just pressed her index finger to stop the bleeding, then took her to the sink and turned on the faucet to rinse it.
"Found it, found it." Ms. Chi took out a box of Band-Aids and a bottle of iodine cotton balls from the drawer of the coffee table.
"Auntie, give it to me, I'll do it." Shao Chengzhang took her to the living room and asked her to sit on the sofa. He squatted down and half-knelt in front of her, asked her to press her fingers, and poured out a cotton ball.
Chen Zhuo lowered her head and watched him pick up a cotton ball and carefully wipe it around the wound to disinfect it, blowing gently as he wiped. When the cotton ball touched the wound, she took a deep breath.
"Bear with it." His tone was gentle, but his movements were quick. After disinfecting, he carefully peeled off the Band-Aid and put it on her.
"Don't go into the kitchen. You'll get infected if you touch the water," said Shao Chengzhang.
"Oh my god," Chen Zhuo muttered, "I'm not that delicate."
Shao Chengzhang didn't argue with her anymore, but walked straight into the kitchen and took over the work in Shen Zhuo's hands.
"Hey, Shao Chengzhang, come here." Her voice came from the door.
When he turned around, he saw Shen Zhuo leaning against the kitchen door, waving an apron in his hand, "I'll put it on you."
The faucet at home had been broken for a long time, and Ms. Chi always forgot to fix it. When she turned it on, it would spray a lot of water, always splashing everywhere. Just now, when Shao Chengzhang was washing her, his shirt was slightly wet around his lower abdomen.
Upon hearing this, Shao Chengzhang walked over and stood in front of her.
"Lower your head." He was very tall and she couldn't reach him.
Shao Chengzhang obediently bent down slightly, and Chen Zhuo tiptoed to put the apron around his neck, then asked him to turn around and tie a knot behind his back.
Ms. Chi was preparing food when the "da da da" sound of cutting vegetables suddenly stopped. She looked up and glanced at the young couple standing at the kitchen door without saying anything. Then the "da da da" sound rang out continuously again.
Seeing Shao Chengzhang's skillful movements, Ms. Chi knew at a glance that he was a frequent cook with great skills, so she reserved two dishes for him. Unexpectedly, the taste was surprisingly good.
At the dinner table, Ms. Chi didn't say anything else, just exchanged pleasantries and asked him questions like whether he was busy at work. She took the initiative to ask him to take more dishes and eat more, and Shao Chengzhang smiled and agreed.
After dinner, Shao Chengzhang helped clean up the dishes, and Ms. Chi asked Chen Zhuo to go downstairs to the supermarket to buy a bottle of detergent.
Obviously, he wanted to get rid of her. Shen Zhuo subconsciously turned and looked at Shao Chengzhang. She raised her eyebrows slightly and asked with her eyes if he could handle it. Shao Chengzhang smiled and nodded to her.
With Shen Zhuo's understanding of Ms. Chi, she could probably guess what she was going to ask, which was nothing more than a guarantee.
When she passed by him, she grabbed his wrist and led him to the door. She lowered her voice and warned him, "If my mother says anything unpleasant, don't take it to heart. Just put it all on me. Don't agree to anything she asks. Got it?"
Shen Zhuo didn't wait for a response, she looked up at him, only to see him looking at her with a smile on his face.
Smile, smile, smile. He only knows how to smile at her like that. Is he a vixen?
Chen Zhuo was still holding his wrist. Shao Chengzhang's wrist bones were thick, so she could only hold half of it with one hand. She glared at him and squeezed his wrist hard, "Did you hear that?!"
Shao Chengzhang nodded obediently and replied, "I heard it."
There was a small supermarket in the neighborhood, just a few buildings away from Ms. Chi's house, not too far away. Shen Zhuo went downstairs and came back to find that the situation was no worse than before. Shao Chengzhang had even brewed white tea. Ms. Chi didn't usually drink tea, but now she had a cup in front of her. However, she felt that Ms. Chi's attitude towards Shao Chengzhang had softened since the meal.
Chen Zhuo also ordered a cup of white tea, aged Baihao Yinzhen, which she had to taste.
Just after finishing a drink, a call came in. It was Li Yaqi, asking if Guan Siyu had time recently. The director happened to be back in City A, and wanted to meet up with the lead actor first. Chen Zhuo said that if he had time, he could just set a time and place and let her know.
After hanging up the phone, Ms. Chi glanced at them and said, "You are busy with work, so go back first."
Chen Zhuo heaved a sigh of relief. He felt like he had gotten through the day. The two of them sat for a while longer, drank their tea, and prepared to go home.
"What did my mother say to you when I was away just now?" Shen Zhuo couldn't help asking him after walking out of the elevator.
"We can discuss this when we get home."
"No--"
"Sakiko?!"
Before she could finish her words, her steps suddenly stopped.
The door had just opened, and Chen Zhuo, turning back to talk, stepped out without noticing the person coming up the stairs. It was only when she heard a familiar voice that she suddenly looked up.
Jiang Jun froze on the steps, a look of surprise on her face. She asked in astonishment, "When did you come back?"
"I..." Chen Zhuo's mind went blank, and he didn't know how he met Jiang Jun here.
Jiang Jun had just received a box of honey—a gift from a previous rural project she'd forged with the village chief's family. Even after the project concluded, the village chief still sent the crew some local specialties. She couldn't finish all six bottles of honey, so she went home in the morning to get two, and in the afternoon she gave two to Ms. Chi, chatting with her for a bit.
Jiang Jun glanced at the man behind Shen Zhuo. His features were three-dimensional and deep, and he was tall and straight. He was very handsome and eye-catching. She felt a sense of déjà vu. Almost instantly, she remembered that this was the man on Shen Zhuo's marriage certificate. She had forgotten his name... But what did she just hear?
He said go home?!
What home? Whose home? Wasn't Chen Zhuo on a business trip? Wasn't he not coming back for May Day? Didn't she say she had no contact with her husband?
Jiang Jun's astonished expression instantly turned into confusion. Her gaze moved from Chen Zhuo to Shao Chengzhang, and then back to Shen Zhuo. The answer was about to come out.
Chen Zhuo stood there in a daze, mumbling her name, "Jiang Jun..."
Shao Chengzhang was also a little puzzled. He felt that the emotions of both of them seemed a little off. He asked tentatively, "Is he your friend?"
Jiang Jun frowned and glanced at Shao Chengzhang, then suddenly laughed, a cold laugh that came from extreme anger. "Okay, I get it. Actually, you didn't have to lie to me about being on a business trip." After saying that, she turned around and strode away.
"No, no!" Chen Zhuo hurriedly explained. She took two steps down the stairs and hurriedly chased after him, "Jiang Jun, it's not like that!"
Shao Chengzhang stood at the stairs, looking at Chen Zhuo's back as he chased out, his brows slightly furrowed. What was going on now?
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