It was a holiday, so they had prepared quite a few dishes.
The seafood Lin Zhilan had sent from the island had been turned by Yan Yuan into spicy prawns and scallions-and-sea-cucumber. Along with several home-style dishes, the food filled the entire table.
Linlin’s favorite was the stir-fried spinach.
When she was little, she had hated vegetables and had needed her parents to force her to eat them. Now that she was living in the capital, where even winter offered barely a trace of green, Linlin had unexpectedly grown fond of leafy vegetables.
As soon as she sat down, all three of them began piling food into her bowl.
Before Linlin had even picked up her chopsticks, her bowl was already heaped high.
Seeing his sister staring blankly, Jiang Chengzhou laughed. “Eat up. We’ll fatten you up while you’re here, or your aunt won’t let us off easily when you go back.”
Earlier, when Linlin and Yan Yuan had blushed, Jiang Chengzhou had asked whether they had gotten into a fight. Linlin’s silence had been taken as confirmation, so Jiang Chengzhou had pretended to lecture them both and told them to get along properly.
After that little “intervention,” Linlin felt somewhat guilty and obediently lowered her head to eat.
Seeing how well-behaved she was this time, Jiang Chengzhou ladled her a bowl of soup and placed it beside her. “Drink this too. It’ll warm you up.”
“Oh.”
Linlin looked at the bowl of rice piled up like a small mountain and felt rather troubled. Was her brother trying to stuff her until she burst?
Because of the habits she had developed lately, Linlin instinctively glanced at Yan Yuan, hoping he would help her.
Yan Yuan was sitting right beside her, his eyes lowered as he ate. He didn’t even spare her a glance from the corner of his eye.
Linlin used to treat him like an older brother and was always a little polite and reserved around him. But Yan Yuan had brought this on himself. When he ignored her now, she inexplicably felt a little annoyed.
She reached over and poked him in the thigh.
The hand holding his chopsticks paused.
Linlin refused to give up and continued poking him again and again.
A flicker passed through Yan Yuan’s eyes. The next moment, someone seized Linlin’s left hand.
The warmth and sensation of his touch made the tips of Linlin’s ears turn red. To make matters worse, that man was being especially outrageous today, deliberately running the rough pads of his fingertips over the back of her hand, teasing her restlessly. Every so often, he would squeeze or pinch her…
Yan Yuan had only wanted to scare her a little.
The little girl was far too thoughtless.
She dared to touch him anywhere at all. Yan Yuan found the situation both exasperating and amusing.
He had to teach her a little “lesson,” so she would remember next time.
Linlin wasn’t about to learn any lesson. Unable to resist, she lifted her foot and kicked toward Yan Yuan.
Her small foot lightly struck his shin. Yan Yuan reacted quickly, discreetly using a clever bit of force. Before Linlin could pull her foot back, he had trapped it between his legs.
You jerk!!!!
“Is it too hot? Why is your face so red?” Jiang Chengzhou asked, unable to resist when he saw his sister’s little face burning red.
Linlin felt guilty and shook her head. “Mm, it’s a little hot. Maybe it’ll be better after I finish eating.”
Jiang Chengzhou added more food to her bowl. “The capital’s winters are so dry. I’ll hang a damp towel beside the radiator later and see if that helps. And you—drink more soup and more water.”
“Okay…”
When Linlin looked up, she immediately met Sister Manman’s sharp gaze.
Oh no…
Had Sister Manman noticed something?
Linlin gathered her courage and gave Shen Man a flattering smile.
The corner of Shen Man’s mouth twitched, but she didn’t expose Linlin at a time like this.
Seeing that Sister Manman had let her off, Linlin secretly breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then she felt someone lightly squeeze the center of her palm again.
Linlin grew irritated, and her courage swelled along with it. She tightened her grip around the pad of Yan Yuan’s finger and pinched hard.
Yan Yuan visibly trembled. Whether it was from pain or pleasure, she couldn’t tell.
Linlin sincerely hoped it was pain.
But when she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, she saw that the corners of his lips had lifted, his expression utterly content.
Linlin instantly grew flustered and wanted to scratch him.
Perhaps the resentment radiating from her had become visible to the naked eye, because Yan Yuan finally released her hand and let go of her foot as well.
Linlin quickly pulled her hands and feet back and shifted her seat farther away from him at the table.
She wasn’t going to speak to Yan Yuan anymore!
The old Brother Xiao Yuan, who had once been as pure and luminous as moonlight, had gone to meet the devil, hadn’t he?
Linlin said nothing as she listened to her brother and Sister Manman discuss work. Yan Yuan occasionally added a few words, and he seemed much more talkative than usual.
Linlin concentrated on eating. Suddenly, several peeled prawns appeared on the plate in front of her.
She secretly turned her head to look at Yan Yuan.
The man with his clean-cut, aloof features was calmly wiping his fingers with a napkin. His eyes held a faint smile, their glow bright and intense.
“If you don’t like something, give it to me. You have to finish your soup.”
Linlin immediately pushed her bowl toward him. “You can have all of this. I’ll eat the prawns.”
Yan Yuan raised an eyebrow, took the bowl, and began eating her leftovers without the slightest hesitation.
Linlin suddenly felt her face grow warm, along with an indescribable feeling in her chest.
Suppressing a smile, she curved her beautiful eyes into crescent moons and pretended to be dignified as she moved the peeled prawns in front of herself. Just as she was about to eat one, she keenly sensed Sister Manman’s heated gaze once again.
Linlin looked up miserably.
Shen Man was watching her with narrowed eyes.
Linlin quickly lowered her head, inwardly groaning.
Shen Man didn’t stare at her for long. She naturally shifted her gaze to Yan Yuan instead.
Yan Yuan showed no trace of panic at being caught in their “affair.” He calmly nodded at Shen Man.
After scrutinizing him for a moment, Shen Man naturally lowered her head and continued eating.
As for Jiang Chengzhou, Linlin’s officially recognized older brother, he hadn’t noticed the undercurrents at the table in the slightest.
After dinner, Yan Yuan and Jiang Chengzhou cleared the dishes and went into the kitchen to wash them.
Shen Man called Linlin into the small sitting room.
Linlin already felt guilty. The moment she came over, she tried to snuggle up beside Shen Man.
“Stand up straight.”
Oh no…
Linlin obediently stood up, twisting her fingers together.
Shen Man frowned. “Are you and Yan Yuan dating?”
Linlin squirmed a little. “Not yet. He’s pursuing me.”
Shen Man felt a headache coming on. Seeing the young girl’s unmistakable look of first love, she wished she could hang Yan Yuan up and beat him.
How old was Linlin?
She had only just started her first year of college!
And how old was Yan Yuan? He was taking advantage of her little sister!
That’s right—Shen Man’s parents had only ever had one child, so Linlin was practically like a younger sister to her.
Shen Man was exasperated. “What about you? Do you like him?”
Linlin shook her head. Before Shen Man could say anything, she added, “I don’t know…”
Seeing Shen Man’s attitude soften, Linlin quickly sat down beside her and wrapped her arms around her. “Sister Manman, don’t be angry. I haven’t agreed to be with him.”
“Then what was all that flirting between you two just now?”
Linlin’s face turned red. Leaning close to Shen Man’s ear, she whispered, “I think it’s really fun when we flirt.”
Shen Man took several seconds to process that…
What?
Linlin covered her mouth and giggled. “Really. I think it’s more fun than actually dating.”
Although Linlin sometimes lost her temper with Yan Yuan, she genuinely enjoyed the ambiguous tension between them.
Her mother had told her to experience romance. Linlin felt that she had never actually been in love, but she suspected this sort of thing might be even more interesting than dating.
