Jiaochen

Her expression seemed quite indifferent and somewhat drifting. He just stared blankly at her and didn’t say a word.

Then, after about a minute, Ji Qingying suddenly came back to her senses, “How come the design of this department store still remains the same?”

“How so?” Fu Yanzhi rarely answers.

“Hmm.” Ji Qingying dragged herself out of reverie. “That room, I saw something exact in Jiangcheng a long time ago, and it seems to me that it hasn’t changed at all.”

“Uh…” he said, “It is pretty.”

Ji Qingying: “…”

She pursed her lips and spoke in a low voice. “It’s common. Now, let’s go buy the lamps.”

Fu Yanzhi was kind of stunned when he heard her words, but he just agreed saying, “Okay.”

JiQingying didn’t buy much, and after about an hour or so, she was all done.

The department store was so bustling with life, yet it didn’t suit her. Without spending a moment more than necessary, they left.

After settling down and getting inside the car, neither of them spoke.

Fu Yanzhi, himself didn’t bother to talk much, while Ji Qingying on the other hand still seemed preoccupied with her thoughts hence he didn’t want to disturb her.

Silence engulfed them throughout the ride. And after Fu Yanzhi parked the car into the parking space, he gave JiQingying a sideways glance.

It was only then that Ji Qingying returned to her senses. “Have we arrived?”

“Yes.”

Ji Qingying followed Fu Yanzhi out of the car and they started to unload the things they bought. Although the trunk wasn’t filled with all the stuff, it was still quite a lot to carry.

As soon as she reached out her hands to get the shopping bags, she was rejected by him.

“There’s no need.” Fu Yanzhi looked at her eyes while saying, "Call for the elevator.”

Ji Qingying was startled at his refusal as she looked at his indifferent eyes. “It’s too many. I’ll just take the two light ones.”

Fu Yanzhi only paused his actions for a second but he didn’t stop her. They carried the things and entered the elevator together.

After arriving home, they put down the stuff. Ji Qingying went into the kitchen and poured a glass of water for the doctor.

Fu Yanzhi didn’t reject her kind offer and took a sip.

Ji Qingying inadvertently shot him a glance and noticed the slight movements of his Adam’s apple as he drank the glass of water. Just staring at it for two seconds, she suddenly felt thirsty.

“Doctor Fu, let me treat you to lunch.” Ji Qingying suddenly proposed. “It’s been much trouble for you today.”

Fu Yanzhi looked at her and asked, “Will you buy takeout for lunch?”

“…”

Ji Qingying almost choked out at his question. “You don’t need to be so dissatisfied with takeouts.” She whispered.

Shooting a fleeting glance at her, Fu Yanzhi said, “There’s no need for that.”

“Oh.” Ji Qingying uttered, momentarily glum at his response. “Okay, then next time pl——”

However, even before she could finish her word, ‘please’, Fu Yanzhi beat her to it and said, “Let’s go eat outside.”

Ji Qingying’s eyes immediately lit up, no longer dejected.

Before she could say anything he lightly added: “This is just right since I’ve troubled you previously with Ye Zhenzhen’s matter.”

“…”

*****

Although this was because she helped Ye Zhenzhen before, Fu Yanzhi still agreed to have lunch with her. However, Ji Qingying simply didn’t care much for his reason. To her, the end result was the most important anyway.

After lunch, the two of them returned to their own respective homes.

Ji Qingying had no regret towards how things had panned out. She remembered what Ye Zhenzhen said about Fu Yanzhi’s work yesterday. Considering how busy the doctor was, she was quite satisfied with the outcome.

Also, she’d never expected that today would be busier than she thought it would be. So during this rare break, she let Fu Yanzhi rest for half a day.

Probably because of the thought that she shared a meal with the person she liked, Ji Qingying was like someone who was injected with some kind of chicken blood in her veins. And throughout the afternoon, her work was way more efficient than ever.

[e/n: ‘injected with chicken blood’ = a Chinese idiom pertaining to a person who’s having an adrenaline rush.]

When evening came, Rong Xue came over and gave her a helping hand. Chen Xinyu also ran over to her workplace on the pretext of helping out when in actuality, she was only there to hear some gossip.

The three people decided to order takeout for dinner. They waited for it to arrive as they busied themselves with their work.

Chen Xinyu had the same major as Ji Qingying and after graduation, she joined a famous designing company. She had to work overtime today as she was badly ordered around by her boss.

As soon as she entered the room, she lazily collapsed on the sofa and motioned to watch the TV as she casually took the remote control.

She browsed through the channels for a while but still found nothing to her liking. In the end, she simply took out her phone and swiped something on her screen. Soon after, she started watching some shows on it.

While listening to the background music from the show, Rong Xue hurriedly ran out from the room saying, “Sister Xinyu, what show are you watching?”

Chen Xinyu raised her chin and answered. “Oh, I’m watching last year’s fashion show, spring and summer collection. Perhaps I can find some inspiration from it.”

Her reply robbed Rong Xue of her interest. “Oh, I’ve watched that show many times before with Sister Qingying.”

Chen Xinyu was startled and looked at her with surprise.

“Qingying really watched this show?”

“Yes, she watched it before,” Rong Xue said, adding lightly, “And many times now.”

Chen Xinyu became silent. Her eyes flickered, and just as she was about to say something, Ji Qingying came out from the room.

She immediately closed the app on her phone.

JiQingying didn’t notice the little situation in the living room, instead, she directly went into the kitchen and poured out a glass of water, then went back to her own studio.

Rong Xue was kind of confused by Chen Xinyu’s action. She looked at her in curiosity. “Sister Xinyu, why did you turn it off?”

Chen Xinyu: “… it was by mistake.”