His house had exactly the same layout as hers.
After buying it, Zou Zhengting hadn’t remodeled anything. He hadn’t even repainted the walls before moving in.
After taking a look around, Lin Zhaoyang returned to the kitchen. Zou Zhengting and Lin Xinhua were working quickly. The chicken was already in the wok. Since Lin Zhaoyang didn’t like clear chicken soup, Zou Zhengting was making it as a spicy braised dish.
Hearing her footsteps, Lin Xinhua turned toward the doorway and smiled.
“Sis, Brother Zou bought the kind of potatoes you like today—the soft, floury kind. Once they’re braised with the chicken, they’re going to taste amazing.”
Lin Zhaoyang looked at Zou Zhengting. Just then, he happened to raise his eyes and look at her as well.
Zou Zhengting had never been a reserved man. When he looked at Lin Zhaoyang, he made no attempt to hide it. Even after she caught him staring, his gaze remained steady.
At moments like this, he seemed overwhelmingly aggressive.
Lin Zhaoyang lasted less than three seconds before admitting defeat and looking away.
“You two keep cooking. I’m heading out for a bit.”
“Where are you going?”
The one asking wasn’t Lin Xinhua—it was Zou Zhengting.
“I’m going to the furniture factory before they get off work and ask them to deliver the furniture first thing tomorrow morning,” Lin Zhaoyang explained. “Originally, I wanted to let the freshly painted walls air out for a couple more days before having the furniture delivered. But I can’t wait anymore.”
“Why not?” Lin Xinhua asked, confused.
“He demanded five hundred yuan from Lin Ni before agreeing to divorce her.” Lin Zhaoyang pointed at Zou Zhengting.
Then she continued, “Lin Rongzong’s family isn’t going to pay that money for Lin Ni, so she’ll have to get it from Yang Wen.”
“Yang Wen barely has any money left. Even if he has the nerve to ask Teacher Yang for it, Teacher Yang won’t give it to him. If he can’t get the money from his family, he might try returning the furniture to the factory.”
Yang Wen hadn’t been working very long, and he wasn’t exactly frugal. He hadn’t managed to save much from his salary.
The Yang and Lin families had jointly paid for the house. Teacher Yang had also paid the bride price, bought the gold jewelry, and covered the wedding gifts.
The only thing Yang Wen had paid for himself was the custom-made furniture.
So in reality, Yang Wen was practically broke.
“I personally picked every furniture design and had the factory make them from scratch. Why should I give them up?” Lin Zhaoyang snorted. “I only have a problem with Yang Wen and Lin Ni—not with money.”
She genuinely needed those pieces of furniture. If Yang Wen returned them and Lin Ni benefited from it instead, she’d be furious.
Zou Zhengting wanted to tell her to return the furniture as well, take the cash instead, and let him buy her a brand-new set.
But in the end, he swallowed the words.
He knew Lin Zhaoyang would never agree.
Suppressing the discomfort he felt at the thought of her using furniture Yang Wen had paid for, he reminded himself that everything had to be taken one step at a time.
At least she wasn’t still hung up on Yang Wen.
At least she wasn’t crying or losing her mind over him.
That was enough for now.
Lin Zhaoyang refused to let either Zou Zhengting or Lin Xinhua accompany her. She went out alone, took the bus to the furniture factory, and explained that she wanted the delivery moved up.
The factory manager was delighted. Looking at his watch and seeing there was still half an hour before closing time, he immediately arranged for a delivery crew to load up the furniture and send it to her house.
She had already paid in full when placing the order.
So after one trip out, Lin Zhaoyang returned home riding behind the factory’s delivery truck, bringing all of her furniture with her.
She directed the movers where to place each piece, then took a pack of cigarettes from a drawer and handed one to each worker.
After they left, she headed next door.
“Can we eat now?” she called as she hurried inside. “It smells incredible! I could already smell it from the courtyard when I got back.”
Even the delivery workers had stopped to take several deep breaths, muttering that someone nearby must be cooking meat.
The aroma was irresistible.
Even Lin Zhaoyang couldn’t stop herself from craving it.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Lin Xinhua said happily as he carried bowls and chopsticks out of the kitchen.
“Brother Zou even bought iced soda. Sis, we’re really eating well tonight.”
Zou Zhengting walked out of the kitchen while untying his apron.
As Lin Zhaoyang turned around, her eyes instinctively drifted below his waist.
Noticing her gaze, Zou Zhengting hurriedly tied the apron back on. Reaching out, he tapped her lightly on the forehead and lowered his voice.
“Young ladies shouldn’t keep staring at a man’s… there.”
“I was just curious whether your little brother has settled down after all this time,” Lin Zhaoyang grinned mischievously.
Zou Zhengting shot her a sideways glance.
After returning to his dormitory earlier, he’d taken a cold shower… and finished in his imagination what had been interrupted at noon.
But perhaps because he’d come so close to making his dream come true today, his body still refused to calm down.
“Eat.”
He shoved a bottle of iced soda into her hands.
Back when they were dating, he’d already known she was bold.
So he wasn’t surprised she’d noticed—or that she’d teased him about it.
She had never been the shy, well-behaved type.
Lin Zhaoyang liked bold, heavily seasoned food, so every dish on the table had been prepared exactly to her taste.
The spicy braised chicken was made from a rooster less than a year old, chopped into small pieces and marinated with oil, salt, soy sauce, and cooking wine.
Hot oil was used to fry Sichuan peppercorns, ginger, garlic, shallots, and chilies until fragrant before the marinated chicken was stir-fried.
Once the chicken changed color, Zou Zhengting poured in a bottle of beer, added enough water to cover the meat, and simmered it.
When the chicken was nearly tender, he added potatoes and the remaining vegetables.
It was his signature dish.
Lin Zhaoyang immediately picked up her chopsticks and grabbed a piece of potato that had been simmered until meltingly soft.
One bite made her squint with pure satisfaction.
“Your favorite—chicken wings.”
Zou Zhengting picked both wings out of the pot and placed them into her bowl before giving a drumstick to Lin Xinhua.
“A chicken only dies a meaningful death when you cook it,” Lin Zhaoyang joked.
Back when they had been together, Zou Zhengting had often made special meals just for her.
But after Lin Ni stole him away, they had never seen each other again.
It wasn’t that the Lin family hadn’t eaten chicken during those two years.
They were a traditional southern family, and Lin Daheng and Wang Fenglan had always been extremely frugal.
To them, the best way to eat chicken was to stew it.
That way, you got both soup and meat, making every bit count.
Lin Xinhua kept hissing from the spice, but the food was so delicious that he couldn’t stop eating.
“Brother Zou’s cooking is incredible.”
Although Lin Xinhua was a boy, he often cooked at home himself.
Unfortunately, his skills were nowhere near Zou Zhengting’s.
Besides, neither Lin Daheng nor Wang Fenglan could handle spicy food, so the Lin family’s meals were usually very mild.
That night, not only did Lin Zhaoyang eat until she couldn’t put down her chopsticks, but Lin Xinhua stuffed himself until he was completely full as well.
A single table of delicious food swept away the bad mood the siblings had carried all day.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Yang Wen and Lin Ni had fallen into despair.
The two had just walked out of the furniture factory showroom.
“Lin Zhaoyang just has to take advantage of everything!” Lin Ni fumed. “How could she move so fast? She actually had the furniture delivered before the warehouse closed. Did she do it on purpose?”
After venting, Lin Ni turned to Yang Wen, hoping he could think of another way to come up with the money.