Jian Jinci looked at the table full of delicious, aromatic dishes and gave him a thumbs-up. “Uncle Pei, impressive.”
Pei Yanzhou said, “Let’s eat.”
Jian Jinci sat down, and Pei Yanzhou served her a bowl of soup. She couldn’t help feeling strange—it was as if she were the guest here.
Looking at the bowl of soup in front of her, she raised her eyes to meet his gaze. “Thank you.”
Jian Jinci scooped a spoonful of soup and took a small sip, her brows furrowing tightly.
It wasn’t that the soup tasted bad, but the flavor…
It felt so familiar…
She asked, “Did you put mung beans in this carp soup?”
“Yes,” Pei Yanzhou replied. “Does it not taste good?”
“It’s delicious.” So delicious it made her nostalgic. She hadn’t tasted it since she was eight years old. “But why did you add mung beans?”
“It enhances the freshness,” he said, pausing briefly before adding, “Is there a problem?”
“No,” Jian Jinci lowered her head to look at the soup in her bowl. “It’s just that it’s similar to how an elder used to make it. It brings back memories.”
“Family?”
Jian Jinci shook her head. “Not family, but closer than family. An old friend of my grandfather’s.”
“She was also the owner of this villa.”
“You’ve seen her—the woman in the photo on the coffee table.”
When she was young, that family had taken great care of her. But fate was unfair. A bitter feeling welled up in her heart, and her eyes grew moist. What should have been a pleasant meal suddenly took on a somber tone.
She forced a smile and said, “When I was little, my grandfather told me to call them Grandpa and Grandma, and their son ‘Little Uncle.'”
“I wasn’t happy about it at the time because I wanted to be their daughter-in-law.”
“It wasn’t because they were good to me—it was because their son was handsome.”
“The boy in the photo.”
She had to admit, she’d been a sucker for good looks since she was young.
Grandpa and Grandma Pei had their son late in life. He was the Pei family’s only son. After Grandpa and Grandma Pei passed away, he also left this world.
Pei Yanzhou showed no expression. “What about him?”
“Him?” Jian Jinci’s eyes held an unmistakable bitterness. “He became a star.”
“The plane he took abroad crashed. There were no remains left.”
Within three months, all three members of that family met with accidents. His parents’ brakes failed, and their car plunged into the sea. Their bodies were recovered by the police and buried.
That thirteen-year-old boy didn’t even leave a body to be found after his death.
The truth was too cruel. She had never wanted to believe it. All these years, she had lied to herself, telling herself he wasn’t on that plane, that he had safely gone abroad and was living well overseas.
But so many years had passed. If he were still alive, why hadn’t he contacted her?
Before he went abroad, he had promised to call her once he arrived. Fifteen years had gone by, and that call would never come.
Jian Jinci sniffled and smiled. “Why talk about that heartless guy? He left before keeping his promise to me.”
She pretended to be lighthearted. “When I die, I’ll definitely find him and give him two hard slaps. I’ll ask him where he’s been all these years and why he didn’t come back to find me like he said he would.”
The corners of Pei Yanzhou’s lips lifted slightly. “Go easy on him then.”
Jian Jinci raised her chin. “No way. He’s the one who broke his promise. A couple extra slaps wouldn’t be too much.”
He suppressed the curve of his lips. “Forget I said anything.”
“He was really good to me.” She poked at the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks, her expression dim. “I wish he were still alive.”
Pei Yanzhou pursed his lips slightly as he looked at her, his expression inscrutable. He picked up the serving chopsticks and placed some food in her bowl. “Let’s eat.”
“Mm.” Jian Jinci looked up. “Sorry for making you listen to me talk so much.”
“It’s fine.”
Normally, she wouldn’t say this much. Yan Xi and Jian Xu knew, but they never brought it up, afraid of upsetting her.
For some reason, today she had said so much to him.
It was probably because of the rainy weather—melancholy and sentimental—and the scene had stirred up emotions. Since he happened to be there, she ended up telling him.
Pei Yanzhou used serving chopsticks to pick up a piece of fish and placed it in the dish in front of him, patiently removing the bones. Jian Jinci wanted to try the fish he had cooked and reached out with her chopsticks to take a piece.
Just then, Pei Yanzhou placed the dish in front of her. Inside was the fish with the bones already removed. “Eat.”
Looking at the fish in the dish before her, Jian Jinci suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Earlier in the kitchen, she had been teasing him, calling him gay…
Even though it was just playful banter, wasn’t it a bit too much to say he had a hidden ailment?
Wouldn’t a man be unhappy if someone said he had a hidden ailment?
And she had laughed so… wildly…
“Pei Yanzhou…” she said, “I just said you were gay… had a hidden ailment. Aren’t you angry?”
“As long as you’re happy.”
Pei Yanzhou added, “If I got angry, it would only prove I was guilty.”
Truly magnanimous. In contrast, she seemed a bit petty.
“Regardless, I owe you an apology.”
“Sorry.”
To show her sincerity, she picked up a piece of fish, placed it in a dish, and imitated him by carefully removing all the bones. She then pushed the dish toward him. “A gesture of goodwill. Eat.”
Pei Yanzhou smiled. “Feeling guilty?”
Jian Jinci ate the fish he had cleaned of bones. “Mr. Pei, could you not expose me like that? It’s embarrassing.”
“Fine.”
His cooking was truly delicious. Without realizing it, she had eaten too much. Leaning back on the sofa, she rubbed her stomach and let out a satisfied burp.
She felt uncomfortably full.
“Too full?” Pei Yanzhou stood before her, looking down at her.
Jian Jinci nodded. “It was so delicious, I overate.”
“It’s fine. You’ll digest it soon.”
She probably wouldn’t need dinner tonight either.
Jian Jinci blinked at him and asked, “Do you think I’m particularly pathetic?”
“Probably.” With that, Pei Yanzhou turned and walked away, heading out.
Was he leaving?
Well, they had eaten, and there was no reason for him to stay. That was fine—finally, she could send off this formidable presence.
“Mr. Pei, be careful on the road!”
Pei Yanzhou ignored her.
She leaned back on the sofa, drowsy from being full. Too stuffed to move, she simply lay down on the sofa, planning to take an afternoon nap.
Within a few minutes, she was deep in slumber.
She didn’t know how long she slept, but she vaguely felt someone picking her up, followed by a blanket being draped over her. She thought it was a dream until she woke up at three in the afternoon and saw digestive tablets on the bedside table, realizing it wasn’t.
On the digestive tablets was a sticky note with slender, elegant handwriting: Remember to take.
It was Pei Yanzhou. After the meal, he hadn’t left but had gone to buy digestive tablets. He was also the one who had carried her back to her room.
She, who usually woke at the slightest disturbance, had let her guard down around him. It was somewhat unbelievable.
Aside from the two closest people in her life now, she only ever let her guard down for one person, shedding her thorns and revealing her softest side. But that person was no longer here.
She shouldn’t have let her guard down so easily around Pei Yanzhou. They had only known each other for about two weeks. Yet, she had to admit, there was an inexplicable sense of security around him.
At first, she thought he was a dangerous person. But after the party, she always had a feeling that no matter how dangerous he was, he would never do anything to harm her.
With that thought, she even laughed at herself, wondering where she got such confidence.