Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“I think,” You Minmin scoffed, “the man she fancies is after another woman, so she’s weirdly stifled because of it.”
“However, I do agree that the young man is being quite insufferable.” Big Sister Zhou added.
Big Sister Zhou could be regarded as the most experienced person amongst them in terms of life and experiences as she had a daughter that was already in the sixth grade.
“If he had taken an interest in her, then he should’ve chased after her openly. To go after Moyan only after he had inquired about her circumstances and conditions is quite egoistic of him. It means that he’d probably give up if a person’s background isn’t great, even if she’s a good person overall. You can’t really last long with such a person. If something were to happen, he’d probably be the first to run off.” Big Sister Zhou said as she scooped out a spoonful of curry rice to eat.
You Minmin nodded. “That’s right. Even though society nowadays values the other party’s conditions before deciding whether or not to date, that man’s behavior is still very offensive. Even if his conditions are really good, it’s just unacceptable.”
Xu Moyan could actually hardly remember who that young man was. Perhaps because all her attention was focused on Wei Zilin alone, causing other men to leave no impression on her.
As such, Tao Tingshan’s hostility toward her was completely unexpected.
Moreover, after listening to Big Sister Zhou’s words, she was also quite disgusted by that man’s actions and had no intention of getting to know him whatsoever.
As for Tao Tingshan’s behavior, Xu Moyan did not plan to take it to heart. She was not to blame anyway, so Xu Moyan would just wait for everything to blow over.
Meanwhile, the thought of Wei Zilin coming over to pick her up at night was making her a little nervous. Xu Moyan really had to force herself to concentrate during work that afternoon.
According to Wei Zilin’s actions thus far, it was apparent that he had no intention to hide the fact that he was dating her and was not at all afraid of making the news public.
Wei Zilin was so open-minded that there was no need for her to cover up the truth about their relationship. It was not really inappropriate for her to be dating him anyway.
Although she had already made a decision in mind, she still could not help but feel nervous. She had no clue about how she should approach the matter later and was worried about the rumors that would be spread by her colleagues if they saw the pair together.
After all, Wei Zilin was not ordinary at all.
In the afternoon, Tao Tingshan did not bother Xu Moyan, not that she would dare to anyway. Xu Moyan tried to never offend others at work, and she would usually endure any slight digs at her. Still, this did not mean that Tao Tingshan would dare to challenge Xu Moyan, as she was still the younger one.
In the evening, one minute before it was time to get off work, Xu Moyan went to look out the window and saw a black Cayenne slowly pulling over to the roadside next to her office.
She took a deep breath. There was a sense of nervousness in her as if she was meeting his parents for the first time. Then, she quickly returned to her seat to pack up her things and left the office the second work was over.
No one went to the supermarket downstairs today, and no one saw Wei Zilin. Only two male colleagues stayed to work overtime whilst the others got off work on time.
Colleagues that were married were rushing to get home, and the female colleagues were rushing back to cook. Everyone was anxious to leave the building, so no one was willing to stay in the office longer than they needed to.
Consequently, there were a lot of people waiting in front of the elevator. Two elevators were not sufficient for the whole office, especially since there were workers upstairs that took the elevator down as well.
Sure enough, when the elevator arrived, a lot of people were already inside. It was estimated that it could only take another three or four passengers.
Xu Moyan was not standing at the front of the group so she could not squeeze herself in and decided to wait for the next elevator.
Many other colleagues from her office were waiting for the next one as well as they had also decided not to overcrowd the previous one.
However, knowing that Wei Zilin was outside waiting, Xu Moyan felt anxious as she stood in front of the elevator. She did not want him to wait too long.
She could not help but stare fixedly at the electrical digits above the elevator out of worry.
Finally, the elevator reached the first floor before the digits slowly ascended back to the top level. Then, it descended once more and stopped for a few minutes on each floor before finally reaching their floor.
Fortunately, there were not many people inside this time around. So, Xu Moyan proceeded to walk right into the elevator.
Xu Moyan was still looking up at the electronic screen in the upper right corner of the elevator, even though she was packed within a crowd of people. Only when the elevator stopped on the ground floor did Xu Moyan finally heave a sigh of relief, simultaneously allowing her stiff expression to finally loosen up as well.
She was initially nervous, but now that it was finally happening, she felt calm.
She followed the crowd out of the elevator. Her colleagues, Big Sister Zhou, You Minmin, Sun Huijie, and Tao Tingshan were in the same elevator as well.
Tao Tingshan must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed today since her hostility toward Xu Moyan was still noticeable at this hour.
“Big Sister Xu, why do you look so anxious today? You don’t have a date anyway, so there’s no need for you to be in such a hurry.” Tao Tingshan said, throwing jabs at her.
Xu Moyan wanted to roll her eyes at her and thought to herself, ‘So, do you have a date? It has nothing to do with you if I’m in a hurry anyway.’
Nevertheless, she did not really want to respond to her. As she was thinking about how to deal with this wench, she suddenly realized that their surroundings had gone quiet. Big Sister Zhou and the others were no longer talking, and they were all looking in another direction with a startled expression on their faces. Tao Tingshan appeared to be stunned as well, her face a mixture of shock and shyness; one could see that her eyes were filled with thoughts of love during springtime, as if she were wholly mesmerized by something.
At the moment, it was as if Xu Moyan could actually hear her heartbeat.
Upon seeing their reactions, Xu Moyan immediately thought of a specific person. She looked over and saw Wei Zilin, who had initially been standing by his car, walking over with his long legs. He was turning a blind eye toward everyone’s gaze as he strode toward Xu Moyan.
The days were shorter, and nights would be longer during the winter season. However, night would only fall a little later than during spring. Because of this, the color of the sky was quite dark now. Only the dim sunset glow remained, and it was the kind of glimmer that made everyone feel relaxed and at ease. It was as if everyone’s mind were finally powering down for the day, dimming in tandem with the ball of golden light setting over the horizon.
Xu Moyan used to dislike these hours since the sky was neither dark nor bright. However, as she watched Wei Zilin come over, it seemed as though he was carrying a ray of light with him, brightening up her whole heart.
Seeing Xu Moyan’s smile, Wei Zilin’s mood got better as well as he smiled along with her. His smile made his facial features really shine; it was filled with an affection and gentleness that made it hard for people to turn away.
Wei Zilin did not notice the stares, or he did but was just too lazy to care about it. He only stopped walking once he was directly in front of Xu Moyan. After this, he took the bag that was in her hand, casually; He did this so naturally, as if he had done it many times before.
However, Xu Moyan knew that he had never carried a female bag in all his life.
It was more like he had never gotten the chance to do so.
On the day before yesterday, which was Valentine’s Day, she was not carrying a bag. Yesterday she had only been carrying the ingredients for the cake, so she did not bring a bag with her. For Wei Zilin’s movements to be so proficient, he would have to have gotten used to the movements after taking the ingredients off her hands yesterday.
It was quite unsettling to see such an elegant man carrying a lady’s handbag, but he completely disregarded this.
He was acting as if carrying such a small bag would tire her out.
“Mo… Moyan…” Big Sister Zhou stuttered as she still had not recovered from the shock. At the same time, no one could care less about Tao Tingshan whose face was bubbling with jealousy.
“You… you and President Wei…” Big Sister Zhou’s mouth was gaping in bewilderment. It seemed impossible for her to form a complete sentence. Her whole brain had gone haywire after witnessing the event.
Xu Moyan blushed, yet she said in a poised manner. “This is my boyfriend.”
Then, she introduced Wei Zilin to them, “They’re all colleagues of mine from the same department.”
Wei Zilin politely greeted them. Xu Moyan realized that once she had publicly declared the matter, the distressed feeling in her heart seemed to dissapear.
Her relationship with Wei Zilin was undoubtedly out in the open now.
“We’re leaving now.” Xu Moyan said, feeling more relaxed.
Big Sister Zhou and the others were still in a daze – they were so astonished that they had become unresponsive. Therefore, Xu Moyan had no other choice but to allow Wei Zilin to lead her away.
Wei Zilin was holding on to Xu Moyan’s bag in one hand and opened the car door for her with the other. Then, he used his hand to protect her head as she entered the car.
Xu Moyan felt that he was being considerate, but his actions were a bit too exaggerated. It made her feel slightly embarrassed.
Wei Zilin leaned forward toward the car door with a satisfied smile on his face. “I’ve always wanted to do this. Last time I was here to pick you up, I wanted to show up openly in front of everyone as your boyfriend before opening the car door for you to allow you to enter the car.”
Due to the noise of their surroundings, he had all but attached himself to her ear. His low magnetic voice made her feel all warm on the inside, and even though the car door was open, she did not feel cold at all.
Xu Moyan saw that he was inches away from her, and if she were to move slightly, she would probably bump into him. His face was so near that she could visibly make out the pores on his face as well as take clear whiffs of his fragrance.
Xu Moyan moved forward and kissed his cheek once. “That’s your reward for your thoughtfulness.”
Wei Zilin chuckled in surprise. He would have never imagined that she would kiss him publicly. The only regret he had was that her target was his cheek.
He speedily pecked her on the lips and did not wait for Xu Moyan to respond. He quickly smiled and straightened his back before closing the door for her. After this, he went around his car to get into the other side and started the car to leave.
Big Sister Zhou and the others saw the whole thing and were in disbelief.
Only once the Cayenne was no longer in sight did You Minmin finally let out a small chuckle. Then, she said to Tao Tingshan, “There’s no need for you to worry about your Big Sister Xu’s relationship anymore, she already has a boyfriend. Moyan would never be interested in that Mr. Zhao.”
The so-called Mr. Zhao was the person Tao Tingshan had set her eyes on. This was the same guy that Xu Moyan had zero interest in.
Big Sister Zhou grinned as she looked at Tao Tingshan’s expression that seemed to be deeply disturbed. Even though she did not torment her further, she did not plan to say words of comfort toward her. Then, she walked away along with You Minmin and Sun Huijie.
…
In the car, Wei Zilin’s mood was incredibly good as he had shown himself in front of Xu Moyan’s colleagues. It was as if Xu Moyan had finally declared his status as her boyfriend today. He said in a smooth voice, “What do you want to have for dinner today?”
“Are we eating out?” Xu Moyan asked before immediately smiling. “I thought you’d want to eat something that I made.”
“Can I?” Wei Zilin turned his head to look at her. “I just thought that you’d be tired after working the whole day, and I didn’t want to trouble you.”
“It’s nothing. Normally when I’m not working overtime, I’d go home and cook for myself anyway.” Xu Moyan said. Moreover, she was more than willing to cook for Wei Zilin.
“That’s great. There are lots of ingredients at home. If you need something that the house doesn’t have, we’ll stop by to buy them later.” Wei Zilin said.
After talking for just a little while, the sky turned completely dark. She felt completely at ease to be sitting in such a tight space with Wei Zilin and listening to his light chuckles and faint voice as they chatted without worry.
“We’ll just use the things at home,” Xu Moyan said.
This would be her second time going over to Wei Zilin’s house. Her state of mind this time was different, as there was already a sense of familiarity between the pair.
To her surprise, the helper was not at home today.
Wei Zilin chuckled briefly, as he felt a little embarrassed. This reaction was even more surprising for Xu Moyan.
Then, she listened to his explanation. “I guessed that I’d be bringing you over often, and that you’d feel awkward if there’s another person in the house. I told the aunty that I’ll switch her to the hourly system, so now, she only needs to make breakfast in the morning, clean up, do the usual tasks, and just go home after she prepares for dinner. There is no need for her to stay over anymore. I was planning to eat out with you today, so I didn’t tell her to prepare the ingredients.”
Xu Moyan was moved by his thoughtfulness as she was indeed uncomfortable if some other stranger was around. Not to mention, he was someone that would touch her intimately from time to time.
“It’s fine. It’s not going to take long to prepare everything.” Xu Moyan smiled as she put her bag down. Then, she hung up her outerwear and scarf before heading into the kitchen.
Wei Zilin walked in with her. “I’ll help you out.”
Xu Moyan smiled and nodded. “Okay.”
Wei Zilin took over all the troublesome chores, so all Xu Moyan had to do was cook the meal. This was way easier than preparing the ingredients.
Because of this, Xu Moyan speedily whipped up four dishes and a soup. Wei Zilin’s house did not have any ready-made bone broth, so Xu Moyan made a regular beef tomato soup.
“Do you usually drink soup?” Xu Moyan asked as she was placing the dishes on the table.
“Aunty will usually make them, and I’ll drink some. But, she doesn’t prepare bone broth all the time like at your place.” Wei Zilin said, “I miss the bone broth that you stewed,”
“It’s good to drink bone broth when it’s cold. Add some Chinese medicinal herbs and it’ll be good for your health. If you’re not working overtime tomorrow, let’s go get some ingredients when we’re on our way back.” Xu Moyan said.
