Chapter Fourteen

  She calmly opened the door, stepped into the entrance hall first. While changing shoes, she took out the only pair of men's slippers from the shoe cabinet and placed them on the white sheepskin rug, then looked up at him: "Then you sit for a while, I'll go wash my face."

  Wen Jingfan grunted a response, casting her a glance with his deep, ink-like eyes, "Don't worry about me, you go ahead and take care of yourself first."

  Anran casually responded with her mouth, but what she was thinking in her heart was: Who dares not to take care of you...

  She hastily tidied herself up, thought for a moment, and still went back to the bedroom to change into comfortable home clothes. These things that used to take at least twenty minutes were all taken care of by her in just over ten minutes.

  When she came out, she saw Wen Jingfan standing on one side of the sofa, sitting lazily on the armrest with his body slightly leaning forward, intently watching the few goldfish blowing bubbles in the transparent fish tank in front of him.

  "Wasn't it here last time?" he asked.

  "Ah, just bought it recently." She said as she walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to take a look around, "Is this okay?"

  After asking, however, there was no answer for a long time.

  She waited for a while in confusion, then picked up the ingredients and walked towards the living room. When she reached the intersection of the kitchen and the living room, she was slightly stunned by what she saw in front of her.

  He probably didn't hear it, at this moment he took the fish feed she put aside and was feeding them seriously with his eyes down.

  After being hungry for so many days, seeing something edible, those few goldfish swallowed it in a flurry of competition.

  The sunlight was just right, casting a warm glow on him from the side, rendering his entire person somewhat languid and noble.

  He didn't know what he was thinking of, but a smile curled up on his lips. His finger fell and tapped the black fish's head lightly, "Eat slowly."

  The tone was gentle, with a hint of a smile that wasn't quite clear, and also carried a bit of pampering.

  After finishing all this, he suddenly found that Su Anran was standing not far away, looking at him with a complex and confused expression. He lowered his hand and put down the fish feed in his hand, asking: "What's wrong?"

  Su Anran finally came back to her senses and waved the noodles in her hand, "Want some?"

  "You take charge then." His voice was clear and still carried a hint of lingering smile, making An Ran's ears burn as she hastily responded with a "yes" and turned to walk away to where he couldn't see her, touching her chest and taking a deep breath...

  Does he know that his voice has the ability to murder people's ears?

  She was usually alone, and with her busy work schedule, she didn't have a regular time to eat. The ingredients she had stored were not many. She looked around and felt a slight headache, only to find one bag of eggs, two tomatoes, two sausages, and a small bowl of shrimp.

  She cracked two eggs and scrambled them, then heated the pan with oil. She thought he was sitting outside, her mind wandering... It never occurred to An Ran that one day they could get along like this.

  Like friends, but always one step short. Can't move forward, can't back down either.

  The oil temperature was a bit high, "sizzling" sound, she came back to her senses, lightly pinched the middle of her eyebrows, used the knife edge to scoop up the cut tomatoes and put them in the pot.

  Wen Jingfan walked over, smelling the fragrance. She was holding a spatula and stir-frying something. Seeing him come in, she casually pointed to the dining room: "You sit down for a bit, it'll be ready once the noodles are cooked, at most ten minutes."

  Wen Jingfan didn't move, slightly leaning his body against the door frame and staring at her like that. "Today's a rest day, when are you going back to work?"

  "Tomorrow morning." She murmured, added some seasoning, stir-fried it again, and when it was almost done, she ladled out the water, covered the pot with a lid and brought it to a boil.

  "Sunday..." He paused for a moment, seemingly choosing his words carefully. As she tucked the stray hair behind her ear, revealing her elegant and slender neck, his eyes deepened slightly. When he spoke again, even his voice was lower: "Wen Ge invited me to go hiking with him on Sunday, are you free?"

  Su Anran finally turned around, raised her hand and carefully counted her shifts.

  "The top of the mountain is Jingu Temple, where the vegetarian meal is very famous. If you go, we'll have a meal at the top of the mountain that day." Looking up at her gaze, Wen Jingfan smiled slightly and said seriously: "Xiang Ge needs to relax, you need to relieve stress. You're a girl, with a career, you must pay attention to work-life balance."

  But mountain climbing... is such a physically demanding thing really a combination of work and rest?

  She was lost in thought when she saw Wen Jingfan standing up and walking towards her, pausing slightly as he passed by her side.

  Su An looked at him with some embarrassment, somewhat unsure of what he was going to do.

  Wen Jingfan simply took a step to the side, walked to the stove, lifted the lid and took a look - the water had already boiled, bubbling away.

  Su Anran let out a soft "ah" and was about to go downstairs, but he had already taken the lead in putting the noodles on the chopping board into the pot. He slowly and elegantly picked up his chopsticks and stirred them, then looked at her sideways amidst the steaming hot air: "You still haven't answered me."

  His eyes were bright, and he just looked at her like that, making it impossible for her to refuse... Her fingers unconsciously fiddled with the hem of her clothes, originally... she hadn't planned on refusing anyway.

  "Is it just the three of us?"

  Wen Jingfan seemed to smile slightly and looked at her again: "There should be my brother too."

  Su Anran: "......" Isn't her big brother also her boss? With the big BOSS along, can they still have a happy hike...

  "It's settled then." Seeing her silence, he slapped his palm on the table.

  After being slightly depressed for a while, he suddenly realized that under his warm and jade-like appearance... there was actually another side to him.

  Wen Jingfan picked up the pot, and An Ran originally planned to take over. As soon as his hand stretched out, he spoke out to stop him: "The pot is heavy, I'll do it."

  It was unclear whether it was the warm sunshine that afternoon or the person in front of her who had been on her mind for many years, but when he said those words, her heart and mouth felt slightly sour.

  When he's not around, she does everything by herself. How heavy is a pot? No one to share it with.

  But he didn't realize that this casual remark had touched the softness in her heart, turning it into water, rippling with tiny waves that couldn't calm down for a long time.

  Two days later, it was An Ran's turn to work the night shift. She had just started her shift when she received a check-in from an important client. After settling the guest in and instructing the team leader on some matters, she found out that Wen Ge had been waiting for her in the lobby for a while.

  She arrived downstairs, Wen Ge was sitting at the front desk teasing Zhang Mi, saw her coming over, and then stood up, carrying a box of snacks and milk tea he brought for her, and went upstairs with her.

  "How did you get here?"

  "Here's some supper for you. It can be eaten even when it's cold, so if your stomach growls later, you can fill up on this."

  He calmly pulled over a chair for her to sit down and talk, seeing that she didn't have the slightest hint of dejection on her face. He raised his hand to pinch her chin, staring at her for a while before letting go.

  Wen Ge touched her own small face, put on a shy expression, and blinked a few times: "You're looking at me like that, have you started to take a liking to me? I'm not selling myself."

  She smiled lightly and pinched her smooth face, "Nothing's wrong?"

  "What's wrong?" Wen Ge sat up straight, pouting slightly: "Now you know to care about me, why didn't you even call before?"

  Su An replied calmly and flatly: "If Wen Jingfan can come and take you away, what else would I worry about?"

  Wen Ge immediately clicked his tongue twice, "Looks like you're getting along pretty well with Jing Fan Shu... now you're speaking up for him."

  Su Anran calmly raised her eyes and glanced at her, with no ripples on her face. "Since Wen Jingfan has agreed to come over and take you back, he will definitely not let you suffer a loss. Moreover, I have always been speaking for him, and it's not the first day you've known this."

  Wen Ge was suddenly choked and couldn't speak...

  After a long time, seeing that she still had no reaction, Wen Ge scratched his hair and asked: "Do you have any free time on Sunday?"

  She was calmly and seriously scrolling through Weibo when she heard the words, her eyes flashed, and she suddenly burst out laughing. Only then did she turn around seriously and look at her, "Want to invite me to go hiking?"

  "......Damn it, how did you know?"

  Su Anran deliberately sold a pass and then said: "Because Wen Jingfan... has already made an appointment with me."

  "......" This world is changing so fast!

  However, on An Ran's side, after refreshing her Weibo with a crisp sound, she saw Shi Yu's latest post.

  When I got home the other day after having lunch at a friend's place, Fan Xi rubbed against my coat for a long time. Ever since then, every time I open the door and come in, it always looks around behind me... What does this mean?

  The fingers that had landed gently on the phone screen froze slowly——

  A few days ago I had lunch at a friend's place... was it her?

  Sunday.

  The curtains in the bedroom were tightly closed, and not a single ray of light could penetrate through. The room was pitch black and quiet. Only the ticking sound of the alarm clock's second hand could be heard clearly.

  The mobile phone on the bedside table rang at the same time as the alarm clock.

  Reaching out from the quilt with one hand, fumbling to pick up the phone and pressing the answer button before putting it to her ear.

  Just after a "hmm", a cheerful voice came from the other end: "An Ran, are you up?"

  "Nothing..."

  "I won't go to your place, I'll have breakfast with Xiao Shu on the way. The task of picking you up has been handed over to Jing Fan Uncle, he's already set off, hurry up and welcome him."

  "...originally still drowsy and could fall asleep at any time, Su An suddenly became completely awake."

  An Ran turned over and sat up with a blanket, looked at the time, estimated the time, and got up in a hurry to wash and change clothes.

  When Wen Jingfan arrived, she had just tidied herself up.

  Wen Jingfan held his breakfast and stood at the door, raised his eyes to see her standing inside, with a few remaining sleepy expressions. The cuffs were folded up to his elbows, revealing his white arms, and he was combing his black hair. When he saw him, he let go of his hands, and his long hair fell down like fine silk, soft and flowing.

  She is beautiful, with delicate and elegant features, having the water-like beauty and gentle elegance of a Jiangnan girl. Her eyes are like dots of lacquer, black as ink, and when she blinks, they sparkle with a faint luster, bright and clear.

  He stood at the door, looking at her, and felt that the morning air was as fresh and elegant as she made him feel at this moment.

  She took a step back, smiled at him, and was illuminated by the first ray of morning sunlight, lighting up the entire room.

  "You're here."