"Let’s dig in." She said.
He was taken aback, a little unsure what she was asking him to do.
Growing up, there were many rules at ho about eating politely, so he understood what "digging in" ant, but hearing it unexpectedly made him montarily unsure what it was all about.
He didn’t respond, so Shi Nian could only sigh, then feel around to place the lunch box and disposable chopsticks back into his hands.
Their hands inevitably touched each other. She felt a warmth in her cheeks, but this wasn’t the ti to feel embarrassed. She needed to first help him sort out the eating situation.
No matter how difficult the situation, one must eat and drink enough to survive, then one can have the possibility to escape.
She supported his hand, lifting it along with the lunch box, then released one hand to find his jaw.
Her fingertips finally found his jaw, and he instinctively retreated slightly.
She sighed softly, "Don’t be nervous, I just need to determine the position of your mouth first."
After all, they were a man and a woman alone together, so she couldn’t directly seek his lips; it was safer to start with finding his jaw.
He exhaled lightly, sitting still and letting her hand find its way.
Her fingertips slid across the line of his jaw, and in the darkness, she couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows.
A very refined jawline, unlike most n’s which are either too square or have no definition. He had the masculine firm contours, but the transitions of the lines were smooth and detailed. Clearly, he had a very attractive face shape.
She was also slightly nervous, so after sending his hand and the lunch box up to the side of his jaw, she quickly withdrew her hand and said as calmly as possible, "Just shovel the food into your mouth without worrying about what it is, slurp it all in, got it?"
He sighed inwardly, putting the lunch box down again in the darkness.
Eating that way really wasn’t sothing he was used to.
In the darkness, even though he couldn’t see, the sense of sll beca exceptionally sensitive. So when he put down the lunch box, the scent direction changed, and she slled it.
She tilted her head and thought about what was happening.
They were definitely not kids anymore. In the darkness when she had her first al under similar conditions, having to shovel food, she felt a bit sad and uncomfortable.
Now with two strangers together, he must feel that eating like that was quite rude, right?
So she quietly smiled in the darkness, bringing her lunch box up. Although she could more or less tell where the rice was and where the vegetables were, she still brought them close to her mouth, slurping everything in.
Slurp, yes, deliberately loud slurping.
She also knew that she was a girl, and that making such commotion would completely ruin her image in her companion’s eyes, but it didn’t matter.
While deliberately increasing the volu of her slurping, she couldn’t help but recall the scene of eating noodles with Dad.
Not far from her ho was an old ran shop that’s been around for decades. The shop wasn’t big, but the ran tasted superb. Dad, busy with work for years, didn’t have much ti to take her out for als. Sotis, to show affection, he would bring her to that ran shop for a bowl of noodles.
As a child it didn’t feel like much, but growing up going to eat ran beca sowhat awkward. Not only couldn’t she bite a clove of garlic while eating noodles on a cold winter’s day, she didn’t dare to add chili oil to the noodles freely, nor did she feel comfortable slurping loudly while eating.
But when it ca to noodles, if you didn’t slurp them out loud, they really didn’t taste as good.
Every ti she awkwardly picked two strands of noodles with the tip of her chopsticks and put them in her mouth without making a sound, Dad would mysteriously smile and pick up the big bowl, slurping loudly. Then he would furtively tell her, "Girl, go ahead and slurp. Anyway, everyone will just think it’s only Dad making the noise."
In the darkness, she slurped loudly on her food, smiling.
As she continued smiling, her eyes began to moisten.
She really missed Dad, Mom, and ho.
.
In the darkness, at the sudden sound of her slurping, he jumped a little.
At least beside him, he hadn’t encountered a girl who eats with such loud noise.
After a second of bewildernt, he ca to realize she was actually helping him, resolving his embarrassnt.
He smiled, finally starting to eat.
She underestimated him; she didn’t know that despite being suddenly plunged into darkness affecting his sense of place and judgnt, he was still quite able to figure out what was in the lunch box.
He accurately extended his chopsticks to find the at, pushing the green peppers aside, then placed the at on the rice, elegantly sending them both into his mouth.
He didn’t like green peppers, disliked them a lot.
Slowly chewing, listening to her exuberant noise on the other side, he couldn’t help but begin to smile.
Although he hadn’t expected it to be in darkness, much less so in such a casual manner, but... he and she were already eating together.
He initially went to great lengths searching online for Yun City’s famous spots, thinking of where to take her for a al when they t. He searched around, but his perfectionist tendencies kicked in, making him feel nowhere was good enough, none t his imagined standards.
Unexpectedly, they ended up eating together like this.
But it’s still very nice. Although the al was quite ordinary, with so undercooked rice, the at a bit too soy-flavored, and so parts overcooked, he could still taste the original fragrance of the food bite by bite.
Actually, as long as he was eating with her, it didn’t matter where they ate or what they ate.
At that mont, he suddenly heard her spirited movents halt, followed by the restrained sound of her sniffing.
He could no longer continue eating. The numbing sensation on his tongue and mouth from the mild poisoning of Banxia returned, replacing the lingering flavor of the food in his mouth, making it impossible for him to swallow.
He couldn’t find the words to ask her what was wrong.
But he knew that sothing was troubling her.
He hesitated for a mont, then reached out his hand to touch her arm, gently patting it as a natural follow-through gesture.
Was she, crying?
.
This was the first ti this stranger had proactively expressed himself after coming here.
Shi Nian felt the gentle, respectful touch on her arm and imdiately held her breath.
She thought that the change in her breathing rate had betrayed her emotions.
So she tried hard to smile and explained, "It’s nothing. The bell peppers made spicy. Are you okay? Did the bell peppers make you spicy as well? Haha, today’s bell peppers are really spicy."
He shook his head helplessly.
She regarded him as a stranger, so she hid her emotions from him.
Moreover, knowing it was spicy, she stubbornly assud it was bell peppers, not realizing it was chili peppers... Ugh, are bell peppers that spicy? She should have realized it was chili peppers right away.
She didn’t know what he was thinking, only aware that he seed pensive and forgot to withdraw his hand from her arm.
She then asked again, "Are you, okay?"
He instinctively tapped his two fingers on her arm.
It was unconscious on his part, yet she scread, "Ah? Is the person outside the door, you?!"
He was stunned, then realized what he had just done.
He couldn’t help but smile.
Heavens, he finally found a way to communicate with her.
And this thod was taught to him by her before.
In the midst of it all, it seed like it was destined to be.
He smiled and tapped her arm with another finger.
Shi Nian cheered again, couldn’t help but put down the lunch box, and went forward to give him a light hug.
It was gentle and quickly retracted, yet it left him stunned, unable to return to his senses for a while.
Then he heard her small sobs, "It’s so good, truly so good. Earlier you were silent, I knew you were taken away by them. I was very worried that sothing happened to you. I felt so guilty, I stayed by the door listening to the sounds outside. But this room is soundproof, I couldn’t hear anything..."
Her description was very restrained, but his heart couldn’t help but tremble.
He understood that she had been standing by the door listening all along...
From the ti he was taken away, until he successfully negotiated with Gu Yong, and brought back here, several hours had passed...
Several hours, and she stood by the door the whole ti.
His heart was uncontrollably overwheld, and the gestures of "yes" and "no" represented by one or two fingers were no longer enough to express his feelings. He behaved a little recklessly and gently squeezed her arm.
He wanted to comfort her and reassure her.
Clever as she was, she understood his body language. She smiled through tears and wiped her eyes with her hand, "I’m so happy, I have to thank heaven. You’re okay, and you can still co in to accompany , I’m truly so blessed."
He closed his eyes in sorrow.
This silly girl, despite being dragged into this situation by him, she was still grateful for his presence and called herself happy...
He was deeply indebted.
She genuinely beca cheerful again, sat beside him, and chattered away, "No wonder you didn’t talk to when you ca in, you didn’t speak outside either. So were you deliberately not talking to , or do you just not talk by nature?"
He thought about it and decided not to let her know that, in order to be able to enter this room, he had to accept Gu Yong’s conditions and thus consud what Gu Yong gave him.
He reached out and tapped her arm with two fingers.
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