Chapter 5.2 - Let go, my husband is calling!
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She sat in a chair on the side playing with her cell phone as she watched Wu Lichen stir-fry the vegetables. In between, she had asked several times if he needed help to which Wu Lichen had been especially polite.
Xu Senni had sent another message, still those same few words.
{Open a gallery?}
{Let’s open a gallery together?}
{There’ll be a steady profit with no chance of loss.}
{I guarantee it’ll be a success.}
On the one side, the chime of WeChat notifications kept coming in; meanwhile, on the other, was the scratching sound as Wu Lichen used the spatula to stir-fry. In between the two, Cen Simiao was growing a bit drowsy when suddenly the sound of the spatula slipping and hitting the bottom of the pan exploded in her ears.
She immediately sobered up and looked over. "Need help?"
Wu Lichen: "Yea."
And so Cen Simiao's fingers immediately froze, hovering above the just opened Weibo interface.
Wu Lichen continued to turn over the vegetables in the pan in a quick manner while he turned his head to look at the Cen Simiao beside him. His voice was very soft: "Help me with the apron."
He wasn’t able to stop to do it himself. He was especially close to the stove, so Cen Simiao wanted to tie it for him from the side, but as soon as she got close, he pushed her away with his other hand.
"What would I do if you get burned?"
Cen Simiao opened her mouth preparing to argue, only to see him frown as he continued to cook after saying that one sentence. She pursed her lips and turned around to walk behind him.
With her chest pressing against him, her chin against his back, she reached in front of him to fumble around.
The hand that Wu Lichen had the spatula paused in its movements.
The chin gradually turned into the side of her face. Pasted against his back separated by a layer of fabric, that warm contact was particularly obvious. Suddenly, the source of the warmth disappeared, leaving only some residual temperature.
With her eyes curved, she looked at the knot. "It's tied."
Wu Lichen's throat bobbed and murmured an assent, he then glanced at the salt jar. "What were you playing just now?"
Cen Simiao froze for a moment. "Someone found me to partner with them to open a gallery."
"What do you think?"
Wu Lichen lightly chuckled and picked up a plate to transfer the vegetables. "You’re more suitable for charity."
He gave her a pointed glance.
After lunch, Cen Simiao nestled in on the sofa with her legs folded up to knead her feet. The heels of her shoes today were just too tall, now her feet were hurting from all the walking around. Wu Lichen came over after he finished washing the dishes. He gave her feet a glance then rubbed his two hands to heat them up.
Kneeling down against the foot of the sofa, just as he touched her hand, Cen Simiao immediately drew backward. Wu Lichen maintained his focus, appearing as if he hadn’t noticed at all her unwillingness as he stared at her feet and began to gently massage.
Having her ankle held, Cen Simao had no way to pull her foot back, and could only bear the itchiness on her sole from his actions. But the soreness was indeed feeling a bit better.
She opened her mouth to rebuke the other, but the voice itself had a hint of coquettishness. "You, let go."
Wu Lichen raised his eyes that seemed to hold peach blossoms within[1]. "Not letting."
With an expression of anger and jaws taut, Cen Simiao glared at him, but it just gave people a sense of softness - not at all imposing. The itchiness from her feet led to a numbness that spread all the way to her heart, causing her to grit her teeth.
Wu Lichen continued with his head bowed.
The room was immensely quiet, but then a cell phone abruptly rang.
Cen Simiao was startled and he could feel the warmth in his hand trembling. When he looked up, he saw her face had paled, her expression especially unsightly as she stared fixedly at her cell phone.
She answered the phone and pretended to be calm. "Yinli."
She secretly took a peek at Wu Lichen from the corner of her eyes. It was as if he hadn’t heard anything, no reaction at all.
The other side of the phone: "Where are you? I haven’t been back home in a while, how have you been?"
"I, I'm outside shopping. Yinli, I miss you so much." Her voice trembled with an almost imperceptible hint of a guilty heart, but the latter sentence carried a sincerity that could be picked up by any listener.
The tone of the other side very obviously softened: "I'll be back in a few days. You take care of yourself, okay? If you see anything you like, then just buy it. Okay?"
"En. Then you… earlier-"
She quickly clenched her teeth, enduring the sense of touch from her toes.
She looked at Wu Lichen. Though he seemed to be smiling from his brows, the raffishness by his lips could already no longer be hidden. However, from his eyes, one could read a hint of emotions that were difficult to put into words.
From the phone: "What's the matter? Did something happen?"
Cen Simiao: "No, nothing. Just that I miss you too much."
The other side of the phone continued to say some more things, but she had already lost her interest to continue listening and simply dealt with it rather perfunctory before quickly hanging up the call. Instantly, she sighed in relief, but then the anger in her eyes suddenly flared and she struggled to take back her foot.
She sternly berated, "You let go of me!"
Wu Lichen let go, and Cen Simiao, due to having used too much force in the struggle, all of a sudden fell back completely onto the sofa. Taking advantage of it, he pressed down on her but didn’t continue to move again after and just stared into her angry-filled eyes.
His lips quirked up and opened to ask, "How long do you plan to continue doing charity?"
His expression right now was just like the one from the other day on the set as if he wanted to tear apart Cen Simiao's entire skeleton, with eyes dyed with a heavy layer of possessiveness.
"Hm, Cen-jie?"
The author has something to say:
Cen Simiao: Whose fault is it that I can’t eat meat?! You tell me, whose fault?
Wu Lichen, with head lowered: Aggrieved.
[1] Essentially saying his eyes held an amorous taste.
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