Chen Kuang’s fingers resting on the handlebar leisurely tapped, teasing: “If I were twenty centimeters shorter, you wouldn’t like me.”
Qiao Ling blinked, both cheeks bubbling up hot like the moment water boils.
!!
Her tongue almost tied itself: “Who… what like! Don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Chen Kuang flicked his brow, calmly recalling: “Don’t like? Then why did you kiss me…”
“Aiya! Don’t say, don’t say that.” She couldn’t take it anymore, face red as she clenched her fists and hit him.
Chen Kuang got punched on the arm twice by her, pretended to stumble two steps sideways, the corner of his eyes lifting a beautiful curve, laughing.
Teasing her, this matter, seemed to have an irreplaceable kind of fun.
Qiao Ling really couldn’t take his flirting, pointed to the milk tea shop not far away, “I’m going to buy a drink, you wait here.”
After speaking, she rushed toward that Dian Dian milk tea shop at the street corner without looking back.
Hiding in the milk tea shop to calm down for about eight or nine minutes, Qiao Ling finally let the heat on her body subside, holding the milk tea as she came out, and saw Chen Kuang supporting the mountain bike, really obediently standing in place waiting for her.
The originally somewhat annoyed mood toward him instantly softened, she sucked hard on the milk tea, sighed.
Forget it, don’t fuss with this quietly bad person.
Qiao Ling walked back to his side, the two continued walking forward. After walking four or five meters, she noticed she still hadn’t drunk any pearls from the milk tea. Looking closely she found she had taken a thin straw, unable to suck up the pearls.
She called Chen Kuang to stop, “The shop gave the wrong straw, help me hold my phone, I’ll go back and get a thick one.”
After speaking, she stuffed the phone into his hand, holding the milk tea and returned toward the milk tea shop’s direction.
Chen Kuang didn’t say anything, pushing the bike slowly following behind her, yet the vibration in his hand attracted his attention.
Qiao Ling’s phone had no privacy pop-up settings, the lock screen time was also quite long, WeChat messages popped up one by one, all were seen by him when he lowered his head.
【Xiaole: I’m about to die of anger, Zhao Zhao that big-mouthed donkey, she posted your thing about having a new boyfriend in the university classmates gossip group, that group Gao Ziyao is also in.】
【Xiaole: There are all kinds of people in the group, a bunch of trash people, actually laughing at your boyfriend as just some outsider from another place, no car no house, a poor wretch.】
【Xiaole: I think that Zhao Zhao is doing it on purpose, deliberately saying your boyfriend came to pick you up riding a bicycle.】
“I’m back, let’s go quickly, what do you want to eat?” Qiao Ling’s voice came from far to near.
Chen Kuang lifted his eyes just in time, one finger pressing to lock the screen, casually and calmly handed the phone back to her: “Just eat a bowl of noodles or something, I still have to go to the bar at seven thirty, it’s my shift today.”
“Your phone seems to have messages, just now it vibrated a few times.”
Qiao Ling took back her phone without hurrying to check, “Oh, okay, let’s go first.”
The two strolled toward a small noodle shop at their target location.
The noodle shop wasn’t far from the bar, after eating, Chen Kuang would ride his bike to the bar for work, and Qiao Ling would go home to rest first, not delaying each other.
After ordering food, Qiao Ling sat at the dining table staring at the messages Xiaole sent just now, falling into thought.
She didn’t care what others said, just seeing Chen Kuang being talked about like that by a bunch of messy people, still made her feel a bit uncomfortable.
After all, this bunch of frogs at the bottom of the well, even if they racked their brains, couldn’t imagine how excellent Chen Kuang was.
She wished the whole world knew how amazing he was.
Because of this, Qiao Ling suddenly remembered Xie Lisheng’s entrustment again, looked toward Chen Kuang waiting for the dishes not far away, her gaze flickering slightly.
………
Chen Kuang carried the food for both of them back, handed her chopsticks, “Didn’t you say you weren’t full? Eat a bit more.”
Qiao Ling slurped a bite of fragrant noodles, feeling: “Those fancy restaurants’ meals are all just fancy display, can’t get full at all, still home-style dishes feel more real.”
The man opposite, as always when eating together, didn’t like to talk, eating slowly and orderly, pleasing to the eye and appetite.
She scooped up fragrant noodle soup, lowered her eyes pretending to mention casually: “Chen Kuang, I heard Xie Lisheng say a lot about your university days.”
Chen Kuang puffed his cheeks chewing, “Mm,” counted as responding.
“He said you were very strong in your major before, a rare talent.” Qiao Ling was a little nervous, clutching the soup spoon, probing his attitude: “If you came to Binyang to do bartending, just to relax your mind…”
“Then in the future… do you have plans to continue working in the IT industry?”
After Chen Kuang heard this sentence, his chewing movements finally slowed down, lifting his eyes to look at her.
The two faced each other under the atmosphere of everyday life smoke and fire, each with their own probing and guessing.
The person in front of him was steamed by the hot air from the soup noodles, rosy cheeks and bright eyes, the way she looked at people was lively and beautiful.
Her gaze was always clean and pure, as if she had never encountered anything upsetting or dirty.
Didn’t know from when it started, as long as Qiao Ling looked at him like this, he would have a kind of impulse—to try all ways to protect her thoroughly.
Become the strongest, most important person in her world, letting her forever only look toward him alone would be enough.
This kind of thought was very abnormal, but he couldn’t suppress the almost twisted possessiveness inside his body.
Chen Kuang stared fixedly at Qiao Ling’s face, recalling the few WeChat messages from her friend he saw on the road.
Those messages she should have already seen.
He slowly put down his chopsticks, lowered his eyes in silence.
As expected, she would still mind.
But even if disliked, there was nothing to say.
After all, as a man now, in outsiders’ eyes, in her eyes—
Indeed he was a profession not so proper, conditions not really good “not the optimal choice.”
Chen Kuang met Qiao Ling’s focused waiting expression, turned it around and asked back: “You don’t like me doing bartending?”
“You hope I change to another profession?”
Qiao Ling didn’t expect he would ask like this, as if her opinion was very important.
Whether he changed profession or not, why would he ask her?
She shook her head, said: “Whether I hope or not isn’t the most important, right?”
Chen Kuang raised his brows in inquiry.
Even though she had agreed to Xie Lisheng persuading him to return to the IT circle, she still said: “Are you happy doing bartending? Happy or not?”
“If working at epic makes you feel at ease, then don’t casually change that state, right?”
Qiao Ling thought about his experiences, sincerely considering for him: “For almost the past ten years, you’ve had a hard time, because you prioritized others first, were forced to give up many things.”
“Now there are no more burdens already, even if you choose to live a bit easier and simpler, no one would say you’re wrong.”
She smiled like a flower blooming, “You have to put yourself first, who cares what others think or say.”
“Am I right or not?”
Chen Kuang’s gaze was deep, staring at her face, although he didn’t say anything, between his brows there was quite a bit of relaxation.
Didn’t know from when it started, he always could learn things from her, and always could have the gloom in his heart dissolved by her one light sentence.
He tapped her noodle bowl, “Eat quickly, it’s going to get cold.”
“After eating I’ll send you home.”
She was puzzled: “Didn’t you just say you were going straight to the bar from here? It’s already six thirty.”
“There’s still time. We open at seven thirty, usually only after eight do customers start coming in.” Chen Kuang spoke with confidence, then added, “I’ll send you home on the way, and park the bike back at home too. It’s going to rain tonight, I won’t ride.”
Qiao Ling was a bit thrown off by his decisions changing one after another, but didn’t say much, nodded and swept the remaining noodles into her stomach.
…………
After the meal, the two directly returned home. A man and a woman squeezed into the narrow entrance at the same time, their figures overlapping as they changed shoes in front of the shoe cabinet, crowded yet giving off an indescribable harmony.
Qiao Ling put on slippers, hung the key on the pegboard, and asked the person next to her: “National Day holiday is coming soon, do you have any plans?”
“Are you going back to your hometown?”
“No, my parents aren’t around anymore, and I’m not familiar with the other relatives, no need.” Chen Kuang opened the shoe cabinet and put his shoes in among a variety of women’s shoes. “The bar’s probably going to be packed during this week off. Xia Tian and I will be working seven days straight.”
“True, it’ll probably be the same on my side too.” Qiao Ling sighed, “Sometimes I feel those nine-to-five office jobs are also quite good, at least during holidays they can rest properly.”
She noticed the tissue box was empty, so she walked to the kitchen to get a new one from the cupboard. However, the last time they restocked from the supermarket, it was Chen Kuang who bought the household items. When he brought them home, he habitually put them up high, completely not considering the height struggles of the women in the house.
Qiao Ling tiptoed and still couldn’t reach the cupboard handle, grunting as she tried.
The next moment, warm breath wrapped around her from behind.
In her upward-looking line of sight, a hand that was a full size larger than her own appeared, easily pulling open the cupboard door.
Qiao Ling turned her head, locking eyes with the man so close at hand, her heartbeat warming up along with his approach.
Chen Kuang helped her take out a new tissue pack, yet didn’t pull away from her.
His chest pressed tightly against her back, ironing her expression with his body heat.
His arms propped up on both sides of her, behind her was his embrace; Qiao Ling couldn’t move, murmuring: “Next time don’t put things so high.”
“You—move aside a bit?”
Chen Kuang took that big pack of tissues out and placed it on the counter, but clearly didn’t intend to back off, his eyes always so deep when he lowered his gaze.
“I just remembered, you haven’t answered my question yet.”
The two were pressed so close, this posture was so ambiguous that when Qiao Ling looked up, what she saw first was his lips.
Her head was hot: “What?”
“The one I asked in the noodle shop.” Chen Kuang smelled the floral scent of her hair, feeling indescribably good, “So do you like me doing bartending?”
“You like me,” he couldn’t hold back, reached out and picked up a strand of her hair and twirled it, “doing this kind of job?”
Qiao Ling reasonably suspected he was breaking the sentence on purpose.
Ever since that day she couldn’t hold back and kissed him twice, Chen Kuang had been intentionally or unintentionally finding chances to bring up that night again.
Qiao Ling’s heart was pounding in chaos, avoiding his gaze, her eyelashes trembling lightly with nervousness.
Her tone was a little hesitant: “Mm…”
“Mm means what?” He stared straight at her.
She blurted nonsense in her fluster: “Just so-so, it’s kind of cool. Your question is really weird.”
The girl’s gentle fragrance continuously lingered, almost soaking through his skin.
Chen Kuang’s gaze was hot and heavy, the fingers propping on the kitchen counter moved slightly, then suddenly asked another topic: “Qiao Ling, what shampoo do you use?”
Qiao Ling felt inexplicable, only seeing a large shadow fall down—
She turned her eyes back and told: “Just that jasmine one in the bathroom…”
Chen Kuang suddenly bent down, sealing the words she hadn’t finished saying.
The wet and hot kiss erupted at once.