Chapter 36

Xiao Chen didn't disappoint her this time and tentatively asked, "Should I let him go then?"

Yu Na gently murmured in agreement, trying hard to suppress the corners of her mouth turning upward. Her mood instantly improved and she voluntarily came up with, "Let me pay."

Xiao Chen: "......"

He glanced at her, scoffed, and said, "Go cool off on the side," as he walked past her to move forward. "I haven't bought enough yet."

After going around in circles, they ended up back at the snack section.

Xiao Chen was leisurely and lazily strolling. He stopped at the snack area and asked, "Didn't your dad not let you eat any snacks before?"

Yu Na: "Hmm?"

Xiao Chen: "I'll let you eat them. " He stopped there with no intention of leaving. He pointed his chin at the snack shelves and said, "Take whatever you want to eat."

"No—" Yu Na dryly pointed at the shopping cart, "Aren't there chips and yogurt?"

Xiao Chen didn't look into the shopping cart. With the speed it takes to make a small box of yogurt and a bag of chips, it would be done in a while.

He succinctly said, "Buy some more. Cherish the opportunity. I won't buy them next time."

"Really?"

Xiao Chen coldly dropped a sentence: "Long-winded."

Yu Na was secretly delighted. She didn't stand on ceremony with him and put all the snacks she wanted to eat into the shopping cart.

When she took out a box of jello from the shelf, Xiao Chen's mocking voice came from behind. "You're still eating this stuff at your age."

"...Didn't you tell me to buy it?"

He conceded with a smile: "Alright alright, you buy it."

Not forgetting to deliberately provoke her, "There's a baby milk up front, do you want it?"

Yu Na ignored his sarcasm and went along with him, "I do."

"......"

Xiao Chen really did put the baby milk into the shopping cart.

The hot pot ingredients were put into one bag, and Yu Na's snacks were put into another bag.

When they got home, Xiao Chen took out a yin-yang pot and brought it to the dining room.

Seeing the pot in the dining room, Yu Na, who was opening a beverage, said: "This pot looks so professional."

Xiao Chen ripped open the packaging, "My mom gave it to me."

"Does your mom come here often?"

"Quite often. She likes to launch sneak attacks without any notice."

"......She won't come now, right?"

Xiao Chen was focused on preparing hot pot ingredients and perfunctorily responded, "Who knows."

"What if she suddenly shows up......"

"You'll definitely be scared by her." Yu Na: ?

Xiao Chen grinned roguishly. His grin made her inexplicably uneasy for some reason.

It was as if Xiao's Mother was a terrifying person.

He washed all the ingredients and then went to cut them.

Yu Na didn't feel good just waiting around and wanted to help out a bit. She walked over and said, "Let me help you cut the vegetables."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen's body shuddered as if he had heard some horror story. His whole body recoiled: "Go, don't make a mess, drink your baby milk."

"......"

She had just stepped one foot into the kitchen and he ruthlessly shooed her out.

Yu Na could only sit on the sofa and wait.

In front of her was all the snacks they just bought, all kinds of everything.

She tore open a bag of cucumber-flavored chips.

Yu Na's diet had been strictly managed since she was young, so she didn't have the habit of snacking. Occasionally when the mood struck, she would eat some.

She got up with the chips and walked to the dining room. Through the transparent glass door, she saw Xiao Chen with several plates in front of him. Each plate held neatly cut vegetables, clean and arranged neatly around the edges of the plates.

She didn't expect a grown man to be so meticulous.

Yu Na pursed her lips. She struggled for quite a while in the dining room before slowly walking into the kitchen.

Xiao Chen was still cutting vegetables without looking at her.

Yu Na held out the bag of chips to him, "Try it?"

Xiao Chen didn't turn his head: "Don't eat it."

"......Oh."

Perhaps noticing that his refusal was too blunt, or perhaps hearing the disappointment in Yu Na's voice after being rejected.

Xiao Chen's chopping motion stopped for a moment. He slightly turned his head and saw her pouting, about to leave the kitchen from the corner of his eye.

His long eyelashes fluttered lightly as he deliberately muttered: "My hands are wet."

"Hmm?" Yu Na turned to look at him, "What did you say?"

"I said my hands are wet," Xiao Chen glanced at her. "Kid, where's your common sense?"

"Uh—" Yu Na guessed at the implied meaning in his words. After hesitating for two seconds, she took out a chip from the bag and held it up to his mouth.

That was probably what he meant...right?

Yet Xiao Chen's expression was very natural. He tilted his head slightly and ate the chip from her hand.

Very quickly he noticed Yu Na's ears taking on a light pink hue, the color gradually deepening and spreading to her cheeks.

"......" He was very nonchalant at first, but upon noticing her suspicious blush, he also started to feel a little embarrassed.

He felt his own earlobes starting to heat up slightly.

It was just a small gesture, so why was his heartbeat becoming irregular?

Xiao Chen quickly turned his head away, concentrating on cutting vegetables.

His tone also became unnatural as he said, "Go out and wait, you're in the way."

Yu Na turned her back. Her face had long since turned red. She softly said, "Okay."

She sat in the dining room, no longer in the mood to eat chips. Her mind was full of the scene of feeding him earlier.

This was the first time in her life that she had been so intimate with a male.

Although her dad had arranged for her to meet various rich and powerful heirs, she had never been physically close like this.

At most, she would eat with them black-faced, then leave black-faced, not even giving them a chance to get near her.

Yu Na took out her phone and took a picture of the chips.

Then she posted a private moment on WeChat: 【To commemorate this~】She set the privacy to only herself visible and sent it.

When preparing hot pot earlier, Yu Na didn't help at all, mainly because Xiao Chen didn't let her help either.

From preparing the ingredients to making the soup base, and even bringing the cooked food and pot to the dining room, he did it all alone.

Yu Na was only responsible for waiting and eating.

At one point she wanted to scoop out the vermicelli but kept failing to pick it up.

Seeing this, Xiao Chen brought a straining ladle from the kitchen. Then he used chopsticks to scoop the vermicelli into the ladle before placing it in her bowl.

This feeling was strange.

He didn't like taking care of others or bothering with them.

Even for his cousin whom he only provided a bedroom and food without interfering in his life otherwise.

But in front of Yu Na, he always had the mentality to take care of someone.

So he didn't let her do any housework.

Seeing her empty fridge, he would go to the supermarket and buy things for her, knowing she couldn't cook. What he bought were still relatively nutritious ready meals.

He would buy medicine when she was sick, and then purposefully go to the supermarket again to buy candy, afraid she really didn't like bitter stuff.

He would also buy her all kinds of snacks when they went grocery shopping together.

Tracing back, he would watch her cross the road; help wrap up her luxury purchases after she was done in case thieves took notice; give his friends black faces when they teased her.

None of these actions were deliberate on his part. It had been that way from the start.

It was as if there was a voice in his heart telling him that this is how he should treat her. Thus, those caring actions were unconscious as well.

After eating, the dining table remained very clean.

Xiao Chen brought all the bowls and pots to the kitchen, then wiped the table before going to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Seeing the dishwasher, Yu Na said, "Don't you have a dishwasher though?"

"It broke down. Haven't bought a new one yet."

Xiao Chen washed dishes in the kitchen while Yu Na ran to the living room. Hugging her homework, she continued grading test papers in the dining room.

From her perspective, she could only see Xiao Chen's back as he washed dishes.

He was wearing a black T-shirt and black pants. His figure looked tall and straight. His arms were muscular with veins slightly protruding, making him seem like a frequent gym-goer. Even his shoulders were her favorite broad kind.

She rarely stared at him like this, seriously and unabashedly.

If only she was a little bolder.

Even if just a little bit of her former boldness.

She would have undoubtedly run up behind him and hugged him without hesitation.

But now, she no longer had the courage she once did.

Afraid that expressing anything would make them go back to the former awkward relationship.

Yu Na leaned her elbow on the table, gazing at his back.

To hug him from behind now could only remain a fantasy it seemed.