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For lunch, they had instant noodles. A few opened seasoning packets lay on the counter.
Jiang Xi came out of the kitchen with two paper bowls of noodles. She put one in front of Lu Nandu.
“I cooked it for too long. The noodles are probably too soft.”
Lu Nandu was leaning against the back of his chair, lost in thought. He came back to his senses and looked at her. “My teeth aren’t good. I like them soft.”
He was clearly lying.
Jiang Xi sat down opposite him, looked up and glanced at him, and said calmly, “Eat your noodles.”
“Alright,” he said, picking up his chopsticks and taking a big slurp.
“They really are soft.”
Jiang Xi couldn’t be bothered with him and slowly fed a mouthful of noodles into her mouth.
Lu Nandu swallowed his noodles and asked, “Do you still remember that I like soft noodles?”
Lu Nandu’s habit was different from most people’s. He liked his noodles soft. They had often cooked them this way when they lived together.
Jiang Xi looked up at him. “Didn’t you say your teeth weren’t good?”
“Damn it,” Lu Nandu said. “You’re really holding a grudge.”
Jiang Xi lowered her eyes and smiled. She hummed. “So you should bother me less.”
“I won’t bother you anymore,” Lu Nandu propped his chin with one hand and looked at her. “I’ll be obedient. Don’t hold a grudge against me.”
Jiang Xi’s gaze once again fell on his face.
He was looking at her.
Jiang Xi lowered her eyes. “Okay, let’s eat.”
“It’s eating noodles.”
Jiang Xi was amused. “Lu Nandu, aren’t you annoying?”
“How am I annoying? I’m listening to you and eating my noodles,” he shoved a mouthful of noodles into his mouth and smiled.
The man’s eating speed was much faster than the woman’s. In just a few chopsticks, Lu Nandu’s bowl was empty.
Jiang Xi had cooked him two bowls, double the amount of hers, but Jiang Xi still had almost half a bowl left.
Lu Nandu didn’t leave after he finished. He sat opposite her and watched her, but he didn’t disturb her.
Jiang Xi wasn’t uncomfortable being watched and continued to eat.
A few minutes later, Jiang Xi put down her chopsticks. There was still a little left in her bowl.
Lu Nandu glanced at her bowl, then looked back at her face. “Are you eating cat food? You only ate so little?”
He said, “Can you make a sound?”
Jiang Xi wiped her hands with a tissue and looked up at him.
Lu Nandu looked at her with an innocent expression, as if she was the one with the dirty mind.
Jiang Xi threw the tissue aside. “Lu Nandu.”
“Hmm?” Lu Nandu didn’t understand.
“Nothing,” Jiang Xi looked at him, imitating his innocent expression. “Didn’t you ask me if I could make a sound?”
She said, “I did.”
Lu Nandu laughed. “Damn it.”
The woman in front of him had too much arousing power over him. Not even the slightest thought was allowed.
Jiang Xi pretended not to know and stood up.
“Clean up the table. I’m going to take a nap. Thanks.”
After saying that, she turned and went upstairs.
Lu Nandu watched her back until she disappeared around the corner of the stairs before he looked away.
He looked down at a certain place and laughed in a muffled voice. “Damn it, she really does hold a grudge.”
She was also a real tormentor.
But they weren’t in that kind of relationship yet, so Lu Nandu didn’t dare to let her take care of him.
After sitting for a while, he pushed the table. The chair leg scraped backward. He got up, kicked the chair aside, and went into the bathroom.
It was an hour later by the time he finished cleaning up the table.
Lu Nandu casually threw the instant noodle boxes into the trash can and went upstairs.
Jiang Xi was in the same room as last night. When Lu Nandu pushed the door open, Jiang Xi was already asleep.
She was lying on her side on the bed, with half of her face buried in the pillow.
Her sleeping habits were exactly the same as before. Her posture hadn’t changed at all.
Jiang Xi was probably tired from last night’s ordeal and was in a deep sleep. The lines of her body under the covers rose and fell rhythmically.
Lu Nandu leaned against the door and watched for a while. “She’s really asleep.”
She didn’t care about the fire she had started.
He straightened up his shoulders and walked into the room.
Jiang Xi was facing the door. Lu Nandu sat on the edge of the bed.
He leaned against the bedside table, with one leg stretched out and the other long leg stretched out carelessly in front.
Sunlight came in from the window. Her back was to the window, and only her ears were covered with a fine layer of down.
They were fair and delicate.
Lu Nandu stared at her ears for a few seconds.
Jiang Xi was completely unaware and slept very soundly.
Lu Nandu’s gaze returned to her face. Her skin was fair, as if there was only a thin layer of milk on her skin, and her long eyelashes were resting quietly.
Her nose was small and straight, and her lips were thin and red.
A few birds chirped outside the window, and the air was cool and light.
After a while, Lu Nandu raised his hand and wiped her lips with his thumb.
Jiang Xi was a light sleeper. Even though his movements weren’t heavy, she still moved her eyelids. She glanced at him and then closed her eyes again.
Half of Lu Nandu’s palm was still on the side of her face.
The woman’s face was only the size of a palm. Lu Nandu rubbed her lips again with his thumb, his movements neither light nor heavy.
Jiang Xi was disturbed by him again. This time, she didn’t look up. She just turned over and pulled the covers over her head.
“You’re so annoying. Don’t bother me.” Her voice was rarely tinged with a hint of tiredness and a softness.
Lu Nandu smiled.
He reached out and ruffled her hair through the covers.
“Big sister.”
Jiang Xi didn’t answer.
“I’m going to the study. Remember to come find me when you wake up.”
Jiang Xi probably couldn’t be bothered with him.
Lu Nandu didn’t know if she heard him. He didn’t bother her anymore and got up to leave the bedroom.
When Jiang Xi woke up, she picked up her phone next to her and looked at it.
She had slept for two hours, which was rare.
She threw her phone aside and got out of bed.
Lu Nandu probably hadn’t expected Jiang Xi to sleep for so long. He thought she had woken up early but just didn’t want to come over. So when he saw Jiang Xi push open the study door and come in, his expression was a little surprised.
Lu Nandu had his work notebook on his lap. He looked up a little and saw her coming in from the doorway. “I thought you weren’t going to come see me.”
Jiang Xi didn’t reply. Her long hair was fluffy from just waking up.
Lu Nandu asked, “Did you just wake up?”
Jiang Xi hummed with a bit of a nasal sound.
Lu Nandu looked at her. “So I was the first thing you thought of when you opened your eyes.”
Jiang Xi knew he wasn’t going to say anything serious. She lazily replied to him, “Lu Nandu, have you no shame?”
“You’re the one who gives me my face,” he said. “Since you came to find me so quickly, I have a lot of face.”
Jiang Xi couldn’t help but smile. “You’re so childish.”
After saying that, she walked over and sat on the sofa behind him. “What are you busy with?”
Lu Nandu tapped on the keyboard. “Dealing with some work.”
Jiang Xi was a little surprised. There were some obscure technical terms on the screen.
She asked, “Are you still managing work recently?”
Treating an illness was a mentally and physically draining process. Jiang Xi hadn’t expected him to have to divide his attention to manage the company.
“Yeah,” Lu Nandu didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. “I have to manage it. Otherwise, the company will fall apart in a few days.”
A company was led and guided by its senior management. Without order, it would be like a headless chicken.
Jiang Xi rarely saw Lu Nandu in a work setting.
Lu Nandu seemed to have finished most of his work. Jiang Xi guessed that he hadn’t moved since she came in. He stretched, leaned back, and looked up at Jiang Xi.
“Wait for me for a bit. I’ll be done soon.”
Jiang Xi didn’t want to disturb him and was about to get up. “You can get back to your work.”
But Lu Nandu reached out and grabbed her hand. He didn’t let her get up. “Big sister, I’ve been sitting here all afternoon. Are you not even willing to stay with me for a little while?”
Jiang Xi met his gaze for a few seconds and didn’t shake off his hand. “Hurry up and finish.”
Lu Nandu knew she had agreed. He smiled at her. “Then I’ll be obedient now. I’m really going back to work.”
Jiang Xi was still looking at his eyes.
For a moment, her heart skipped a beat.
She lifted her chin towards his computer screen. “Hurry up.”
Jiang Xi knew that Lu Nandu would definitely notice her heartbeat.
But he didn’t say anything. He just smiled and turned his head back to his work obediently.
He held her hand with one hand and didn’t let go. Jiang Xi also let him hold her hand.
The room was exceptionally quiet, with only the sound of Lu Nandu typing on the keyboard from time to time.
In the next few days, Lu Nandu’s condition noticeably improved.
The frequency of his nightmares went from every night to once every few nights, and he no longer mistook Jiang Xi for someone else.
Xu Qingzhou said it was probably because he had gotten used to her being around.
But whether it was because he genuinely didn’t mistake her, or because his subconscious knew she was there, it was still progress.
After all, Lu Nandu hadn’t been in the same room with someone at night when he was sleeping for nearly a decade.
When he was drinking with Shen Zexiao and the others all night, he was also extremely alert and usually didn’t fall asleep.
Time flew by, and it was already the tenth day of the first lunar month. Jiang Xi received a call from Tong Yun just as she came out of the bathroom.
She called while drying her hair and walking to the window.
Tong Yun asked her, “What have you been busy with recently? Have you rested enough?”
Jiang Xi: “It’s been okay.”
Tong Yun: “You’ve rested for a long time. It’s time to get ready to go back to work.”
Jiang Xi usually rested because she didn’t have any work. If she had work, she naturally wouldn’t refuse.
Outside the window, there was only a dim streetlamp in the alley. She looked away and hummed.
Tong Yun said, “Xu Guosheng has a new film and is currently casting. I took a look at the script for you, and the female lead role is one you can challenge. I’ve already contacted them. You can go for an audition in a few days.”
Jiang Xi: “Okay.”
Tong Yun probably had other things to do and hung up the phone quickly after notifying her.
Jiang Xi returned to the bed. It was already late, and Lu Nandu was still in the study.
Even though Lu Nandu hadn’t said anything, Jiang Xi could tell from his state that something must have happened at Huahong recently.
She lay on the bed, bored, and fell asleep at some point.
When she woke up, the lights in the room were still on. Lu Nandu hadn’t returned to the bedroom.
Jiang Xi picked up her phone and looked at it. It was two in the morning.
Feeling a little thirsty, she got out of bed.
Jiang Xi went downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
Lu Nandu in the study heard her movements and followed her to the kitchen.
Jiang Xi had just finished getting the water when Lu Nandu hugged her from behind.
She asked, “Are you not done with work yet?”
Lu Nandu rested his chin on her shoulder, his eyes a little tired. He hummed. “I’m tired.”
Jiang Xi took a small sip of the water in her cup. “Go to bed early. You can get up early tomorrow.”
Lu Nandu: “Then can you let me sleep with you?”
Jiang Xi looked sideways at him. “Are you a child?”
After saying that, she nudged him. “Go back and sleep on the sofa.”
Lu Nandu suddenly grabbed her hand, his voice by her ear. “I’m not a child.”
Jiang Xi was stunned by his serious tone.
She could sense Lu Nandu’s recent agitation, which was direct and open.
Before she could answer, Lu Nandu held her hand and pressed the hand with the water glass against the counter.
He was behind her. He held her chin with one hand, making her meet his gaze.
“I’m your boyfriend.”
His tone was domineering and unreasonable. After saying that, he tilted his head and pressed his lips against hers.