If someone asked Zeng Li what it felt like to kiss Ai Jingchu for the first time, the answer would definitely be three words - I don't know. At that time, her entire chin and mouth were numb and she had no feeling at all.
After a while, Wu Wanxia called, and by then Ai Jingchu had already left. He didn't eat, but just left those words and that kiss and left.
"The car was damaged." Zeng Li explained.
"Ah? Is everyone okay?" Wu Wanxia exclaimed.
"A few stitches were done on my chin," said Zeng Li.
"So do you want to take a leave? I'll ask for it for you."
Zeng Li thought for a moment and said, "We'll see when the time comes."
After taking a few bites of the food and finding it delicious, Zeng Li went to the kitchen to check the chicken soup on the stove.
As soon as the lid was opened, the aroma filled her nose. The yellow soup was very tempting. She didn't expect Ai Jingchu's cooking method to be exactly to her liking. Half a chicken was stewed in clear water, and the bones and meat were almost melted. The chicken legs fell off with a single pull.
She felt very happy immediately. She found a small bowl, filled it with soup, and blew the chicken fat on top with her mouth. After it cooled down a little, she took a sip carefully. When the soup reached her mouth, she felt something was wrong, so she swallowed it slowly. She took another sip, tasted it, picked up a piece of meat and chewed it, and finally confirmed that there was really no salt.
She just thought that Ai Jingchu forgot to tell her and didn't take it to heart.
The next day, she got up, removed the bandage from the wound and looked in the mirror, and was shocked to find that her entire chin was swollen and looked like Afanti's long, pointed chin, which was terrifying, and the stitches on the wound were also very noticeable.
She was a good person in all other aspects except that she was extremely self-conscious about anything related to her appearance. She panicked and called Wu Ying without caring whether the other person was busy or not.
Ma Yiyi and Wu Ying ran over together.
"Oh my God, what are you doing? Didn't you go on a date?" Ma Yiyi exclaimed.
Wu Ying was a doctor after all, so she was calm. "The wound was stitched very carefully. The swelling is normal. It will go away in two days." She added, "How did you get through yesterday?"
Zeng Li had nothing to hide from them and confessed everything.
"Confessed?" Wu Ying asked back.
"He kissed you?" Ma Yiyi asked excitedly.
Zeng Li nodded.
"You're so inhumane. I still have the nerve to kiss you even though you've fallen like this." Wu Ying said.
"He just... gently..." Zeng Li racked his brains to think of what to say, "Just a touch."
Ma Yiyi suddenly grasped the point, "How could he be confessing his love? He was clearly declaring war, okay?"
"Did you respond to him?" Wu Ying asked.
"I..." Zeng Li glanced in the direction of the kitchen. When she thought of yesterday's scene, her heart began to beat wildly again, as if it was out of her control.
"I... I didn't react. He touched my face and left." Zeng Li answered hesitantly.
Ma Yiyi glanced at Zeng Li and said, "Xiaoyu, you've already fallen."
Zeng Li's face flushed as she denied it, "I didn't."
Ma Yiyi said contentedly: "That's great, let him do what he wants, and make him anxious to death."
However, Ai Jingchu, who was on the other side of the city, did not seem to be in a hurry at all. He got up early as usual, ate breakfast after his morning run, checked his email, and started to revise Ge Yi's paper.
At lunch, there was a plate of crab roe tofu on the table.
Grandpa Ai had bad teeth, so Aunt Li cooked tofu and other things for him in various ways. Ai Jingchu took a bite and thought it was perfect for Zeng Li, so he asked Aunt Li, "How is this dish made?"
"If it tastes good, eat more. Tell me when you want to eat it. It's none of your business how it's cooked," said Aunt Li.
Ai Jingchu grew up with his grandparents, without his parents, and the love between the two generations was even more unbridled. When Grandma Ai was alive, she loved him like her own flesh and blood, and she cried for several days just because he wanted to study in the United States.
Fortunately, despite such pampering, the seedlings did not grow crooked.
Except for a few things that he definitely wouldn't eat, Ai Jingchu wasn't picky about food and seldom paid attention to what he ate. He had no idea how many times his family had eaten this white oil tofu, but today was the first time he had ever eaten it.
Aunt Li didn't say anything, but she was very happy in her heart. It was rare to see him so interested, so she started talking: "First, cut the tofu into pieces, boil it in boiling water for two or three minutes, and drain it. Then fry the crab roe. But your grandmother didn't eat crab before, so I used fried salted egg yolk instead. Then put in the tofu, thicken it, stir-fry it, and then boil it in water for a while." She also said, "When you take it out of the pot, use low heat, and add some salt to the tofu at the beginning. Use high heat at the end, not at the beginning."
He had a better understanding than most people since he was young. As long as he was concerned about something, he would never forget it after going through it in his mind. Although Aunt Li taught him in a confusing way, he had already understood about 80% of it.
Whenever he had some free time, he would start thinking about Zeng Li.
What did she have for lunch? He bought a lot of food yesterday and left it in the refrigerator. Did she cook it herself today? He kissed her yesterday. Was she angry or happy? Does her wound still hurt? Was she scared by herself after it swelled
So he went back to his room and called Zeng Li, but no one answered. So he changed his clothes and prepared to go out. When he went downstairs, he saw a guest at home. It was an old subordinate of Grandpa Ai. He had asked someone to bring two baskets of fresh big red pomegranates from other places, and now they were delivered.
Aunt Li and her husband have never been used to eating this, but the Ai family’s grandfather and grandson love it very much.
"Xiaochu, try what you like." Aunt Li called him.
Ai Jingchu took a look at the things, took a bag from the kitchen, picked out a dozen or so, and put them in the car.
He called Zeng Li in the car, but still no one answered.
He called several more times, until he drove to the gate of her community, but still no one answered. He parked the car and quickly walked to Zeng Li's door and knocked. He knocked for a long time, but no one answered.
Somehow, he felt a little panicked.
He couldn't find her.
Without this address and that phone number, he would have no way to find her even if she was missing. What happened to her? He shouldn't have left her alone at home last night. Did his actions scare her and make her not want to care about him anymore
She was so reckless, what if she fell again, or got hurt, or had a high fever? Or if she was sick and went to the hospital
Ai Jingchu stood at the door of her house and felt the torment in her heart.
After trying to calm himself down, he called Zhou Wen.
"Are you in school?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm in the lab."
"Please help me check the contact information of your patient, Zeng Li, which she left in her medical record."
"Oh." Zhou Wen was extremely curious. Listening to Ai Jingchu's tone, he didn't dare to say anything more and just did as he was told.
The computer in the laboratory was connected to the hospital's intranet, which contained the electronic files of all patients. She searched for it and found it.
"There is a phone number and a home address." Zhou Wen reported.
"How many?"
Ai Jingchu listened to Zhou Wen on the other end of the phone read it out on the screen. The phone number was her cell phone number, and the address was where he was standing now, but he didn't get anything.
This method didn't work, so he opened the address book on his phone and found the number of Zeng Li's boss, Director Li. After the last dinner, Director Li called him again during the May Day holiday. He wrote it down in the phone book at the time, but he didn't expect to use it at this time.
"Hello, Professor Ai!" Director Li's call was connected immediately.
For the first time, Ai Jingchu felt that he didn't know how to start talking on the phone. He remembered what he had said to Zeng Li before, "Say it when you want to, and don't say it when you don't want to." There's no need to find something to say in order to avoid a dull moment. Such words really can't be said too absolutely.
"Is the child's wound healing okay?" Ai Jingchu had no choice but to choose this topic.
"Okay, okay, okay," Director Li was flattered. "Thank you for your concern. Thanks to your good medical skills. Last time we drank with you, I was afraid that you didn't enjoy it. We were quite embarrassed. I brought some local specialties from my hometown a few days ago..."
Seeing that Director Li was about to continue talking endlessly, he wanted to ask about Zeng Li but didn't know how to start. Suddenly, he interrupted him and said, "Director Li."
"You say."
"Zeng Li had a car accident yesterday and had a few stitches on his face." He said tentatively.
"Ah? Is it serious? Which hospital are you staying in?" Director Li asked with concern.
Ai Jingchu rubbed his forehead, it seemed useless to ask him, so he said: "It's okay, I just need to rest. I may need to ask you for a few days off to rest at home."
"No problem, absolutely no problem! Let her rest assured about her work and rest and recover at home. I will report to the unit and organize comrades to visit her later." Director Li patted his chest and promised.
The phone was hung up and there was no message.
While standing at the stairs lighting a cigarette, he dialed Zeng Li's number again, but this time the phone was turned off. He didn't know whether the phone ran out of battery and turned off automatically, or for some other reason.
Ai Jingchu knocked on the cold iron security door again, feeling a little irritated and annoyed. He was annoyed that she made him so anxious, but also afraid that she really had an accident.
Finally, he thought of the cafe.
When Ai Jingchu arrived at the cafe, Dou Dou was busy as hell.
When Dou Dou looked up, she saw the handsome man with a flat head from the medical school pushing the door open. He looked around quietly at first, and after making sure that she was the only waitress at the front desk, he walked towards her.
As he got closer, Dou Dou's heart beat faster and faster.
He walked up to her and stood still.
Dou Dou didn't come back to his senses for a long time.
"Has Zeng Li been here?"
"No." Dou Dou shook his head like a rattle.
"You haven't come yet?" he asked.
"She came yesterday, but left at noon. She said she had something else to do in the afternoon and didn't come. She didn't come today either. Sister Yiyi went to her place and she said she was injured."
Ai Jingchu got the point, "Yiyi?"
"Yeah." Dou Dou nodded, trying to tell the school idol everything she knew. Although she didn't know why the man of her dreams suddenly appeared, and why he wanted to find Zeng Li as soon as he arrived, "Sister Yiyi is also the boss here."
Dou Dou noticed Ai Jingchu's anxiety and said, "If you want to find Sister Xiaoyu, call her."
"I can't get through," he said.
"Let me call Sister Yiyi for you. They must be together." After saying that, he took out his cell phone and called Ma Yiyi.
Ma Yiyi's phone was hidden in her jeans, so she noticed the incoming call as soon as it vibrated. However, the three of them were singing karaoke in the private room, making a lot of noise. She took out her phone and saw that it was Dou Dou calling. She was afraid that something had gone wrong in the cafe, so she didn't dare to be careless and went straight to a quiet place in the corridor to answer the call.
After a while, Zeng Li saw Ma Yiyi coming back with a phone in her hand, with a strange look on her face.
Wu Ying was singing loudly, and her voice and accompaniment were so loud that it was piercing. Zeng Li had no choice but to raise his voice and ask Ma Yiyi loudly: "What's wrong?"
"Your phone!" Ma Yiyi handed the phone to her and turned off the music.
Wu Ying was singing with great enthusiasm, and when the accompaniment disappeared, only her dry voice was left in the microphone.
"Hello?" Zeng Li put his ear to the receiver in confusion.
"Where's your cell phone?"
Hearing Ai Jingchu's voice, she couldn't help but think of the misleading words last night, and her face immediately turned red.
"I asked where your cell phone is?" he repeated.
"In my bag." She answered as she reached for her phone and turned it on. "Oh, it's out of battery."
Ai Jingchu asked unhappily: "Where have you been?"
"Come sing with them." Zeng Li suddenly found out that he was disfigured and was in a very bad mood, so he asked Ma Yiyi and Wu Ying for comfort. But what good ideas did they have? After dinner, they put a mask on Zeng Li's face and went to sing karaoke.
"they?"
"You don't know them, they are my two good friends." Zeng Li said.
Wu Ying, who was standing next to him, didn't know what was going on and asked, "Who is it? It's like checking the household registration."
Ma Yiyi silently mouthed three words to Wu Ying: "Ai Jingchu."
"How did you get Yiyi's phone number?" Isn't that too powerful? Zeng Li wondered.
"I went to your cafe. This call was made from that girl's cell phone," he replied.
"Are you looking for me?" Zeng Li asked.
This simple three-word question stumped the omnipotent Ai Jingchu. He was looking for her, of course, but what was he looking for her for? At first he just wanted to call her, but when the phone didn't go through, he went to her house. When he knocked on the door but no one answered, he looked for her everywhere as if he had taken the wrong medicine. But after asking so many people, mobilizing so many people, and finally finding her after so many twists and turns, what was he going to say? Ask her if she wanted to eat pomegranates
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly into the phone.
Since when did his joy and anger become completely controlled by Zeng Li
It's so unfair.
"Hello." She didn't hear a reply for a long time, thinking that the signal was bad, so she stood up and moved her feet.
"I'm here," he said.
"Is there an emergency?" she asked again.
"Nothing, I just happened to pass by your cafe and came in to ask." After saying goodbye briefly, he was about to hang up.
"Hey—" she called him.
"What?" he asked.
"Do you want to come over and sing?" Zeng Li asked.
"No, I can't."
Finally, he reminded: "Go back and rest early."
When Zeng Li returned home, she saw a bag of pomegranates hanging on the door handle as soon as she went upstairs. She looked around in confusion, not knowing who left it there, and she didn't dare to take it, so she carefully opened the door, closed it again, and left the bag of pomegranates hanging there.
She took off her mask, changed her clothes and shoes, and then charged her mobile phone.
After restarting his phone, Zeng Li saw the dozen or so missed calls from Ai Jingchu.
She was a little startled.
For dinner, Aunt Li specially made a new dish with tofu. But Ai Jingchu didn't pay attention to it this time. He didn't eat much nor think about how to cook the dish. He just buried his head and went to the study to read after dinner.
While turning the pages of the book, Ai Jingchu glanced at the washed pomegranates on the table but did not eat them.
Aunt Li saw this and said to her husband, "What's wrong with this child?"
"What's wrong?" Uncle Liu asked back.
"Who are you quarreling with?"
"I think it looks good." The slow-witted Uncle Liu still said the same thing.