In the evening, Aunt Li knocked on the door of Yan Yincheng's room with a thermal lunch box in hand.
It was Wei Shu who opened the door. Seeing Aunt Li, he broke into a big smile and said, "Thank you, Aunt Li. Would you like to come in and have a cup of tea?"
Aunt Li quickly replied, "No, thanks. I need to hurry home."
Although she didn't plan to go in, Aunt Li still peeked inside through Wei Shu's outstretched hand. Just then, she caught a glimpse of Yan Yincheng passing by in the front. Her eyes widened instantly. Just as she was about to take a closer look, Wei Shu closed the door.
Aunt Li was utterly shocked. She couldn't have been mistaken, could she? Why did Mr. Yan's belly seem so swollen? He hadn't had dinner yet. Could it be bloating? Or maybe abdominal dropsy could also cause a big belly!
Oh no! Could it be that he had starved himself into some illness because he hadn't been eating properly? The two young masters had just reunited with their father. Were they going to lose him so soon? No way! She had to tell the young mistress about this!
On the other side, seeing Aunt Li return, Xu Zixi raised her eyebrows and asked, "Aunt Li, why are you back?"
"Aunt Li, are you not going home tonight? Are you going to stay and accompany Xuxu?" Yuan Xiaoxu swayed her little feet and asked.
Aunt Li smiled at the two kids and waved to Xu Zixi. "Young mistress, I'd like to talk to you privately."
Xu Zixi stroked the kids' heads and told them to focus on their food. Then she got up and followed Aunt Li into the kitchen.
Aunt Li looked around to make sure there was no one else. Then she told Xu Zixi what she had seen in Yan Yincheng's room. She said nervously, "Young mistress, could Mr. Yan be seriously ill?"
Xu Zixi was speechless. They had met at the project site in the morning and had lunch together. He had been fine then. How could he suddenly develop an illness that would cause his belly to swell in just one afternoon?
Remembering the fatigue on Yan Yincheng's face and the experiment he had mentioned, Xu Zixi had a vague guess. This guess wasn't unfounded because she had said something to him at the hot - spring hotel.
If her guess was right, then he...
He was really thoughtful.
But instead of being happy, she felt a strange sourness from her teeth to her chest, so sour that her tongue went bitter. Forcing a smile, she said to Aunt Li, "Don't think too much. He's fine. I just met him during the day. He's probably just bored and trying to come up with some new tricks to deal with me."
Really? Aunt Li felt relieved. She let out a sigh of relief. "That's good. I thought he was seriously ill. After all, the two kids just got their father back. They haven't spent much time with him. If... Since he's okay, I'm relieved."
At night, while Aunt Zhang was playing with the two kids in the living room, Xu Zixi poured a glass of red wine. She went to the balcony of the bedroom, leaned against the railing, and sipped the liquid in the glass one by one, looking at the lit house across the way.
It was a bit far, and she couldn't see clearly. But she could see a figure moving back and forth in the house.
On the other side, Wei Shu noticed Xu Zixi immediately. He said to Yan Yincheng, who was taking a stroll with a "big belly", "Third Master! Miss Yuan is standing on the balcony looking this way!"
"What?" Yan Yincheng was startled. He quickly called the bodyguard to help him "unload". After finally removing the sandbags around his waist, Yan Yincheng felt instantly light. He asked Wei Shu, "Is she still there?"
Wei Shu replied, "Third Master, Miss Yuan is still there!"
Yan Yincheng walked to the big French window in the living room, took out his phone, and called Xu Zixi across the way. The phone rang only twice before it was answered.
"Hello." Her voice sounded a bit lazy and slightly aloof.
"Zixi." Whenever he said this name, Yan Yincheng couldn't help smiling. "Were you looking at me?"
Xu Zixi was about to ask if he was doing the "experiment", but when she heard what he said, her face flushed completely.
Maybe it was the effect of the wine.
"Yan Yincheng, I've wanted to say this for a long time. You're so narcissistic. Don't you know that? Can you be a bit more decent?" Her voice came through the phone. It didn't sound intimidating at all. Instead, it sounded like she was pouting.
"What's decency? Is it more important than being with you?"
"Are you so confident that I'll accept you?" she snorted. "Leaving the past aside, do you know what you look like in my eyes?"
Yan Yincheng was intrigued. "Oh? What do I look like?"
"If Tiger can get a six - point score for his looks, your looks... Well, they can only get about three points." After saying that, she even burst out laughing. "Yan Yincheng, you're so ugly. Upturned eyes, a bulbous nose, an underbite, a face full of pockmarks, bald, with a beer belly, and you're also very short. Do you think staying up all night to build muscles has really worked? In the hot - spring hotel, your figure looked terrible. And that swimming trunks of yours, who picked it for you? The taste is so bad!"
His Adam's apple bobbed. He said in a low voice, "Then aren't we a perfect match?"
"Get out of here! Who's a perfect match with you?!" she scolded.
Trying hard not to laugh, Yan Yincheng said, "Didn't you say that you have small, single - eyelid eyes, a flat nose, buck teeth, you're short, and you have O - shaped legs? Since we're both ugly, we should just stay together and not harm others."
He had a good memory and remembered every word she had said clearly.
"You're so unreasonable!" she gritted her teeth. Although she was scolding him, she didn't hang up the phone. Yan Yincheng's heart skipped a beat.
"Zixi." He called her name again. "I really want to see you with my own eyes."
There was silence on the other end of the phone. Only her breathing could be heard. After a while, she said, "Just me? What about the two kids? Don't you want to know what they look like?"
"Just you." he said. "Just you, Zixi."
The phone was hung up immediately. According to Wei Shu, she rushed into the house in a hurry. Yan Yincheng couldn't help laughing out loud. Was she so sensitive to sweet talk? She was just like a little fox whose tail had been stepped on. She was so cute.
After hanging up the phone, Xu Zixi took the wine glass and the phone back into the house. Her cheeks were flushed, like two rosy clouds. Her almond eyes were misty, filled with twinkling stars. Her heart was pounding heavily and fast, as if she had just run five kilometers.
"Mummy, why did you run so fast? Are there bugs outside?" Yuan Xiaoxuan tilted his head and looked at her. Xu Zixi put down the wine glass, walked up, took the kid's hand, and couldn't help dancing. Then she hugged the kid and kissed him loudly on the face.
"Kid, Mummy thinks her name sounds so nice!"
The sourness in her heart had already been washed away by the sweetness that seemed to come from nowhere.
At night, when Xu Zixi was sleeping with the two kids in her arms, she remembered the way he said "Aren't we a perfect match?" She couldn't help burying her face in the quilt, and her eyes curved into crescent moons.
Are all men like this? Give them a little sweetness, and they'll start to push their luck. Why didn't she notice before that he was so good with words? Did he learn it from that TV show?
What about his eyes...
An idea took shape in her mind and became clearer and clearer.
It might take many years, but what if...
Thinking about that slim possibility, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Early the next morning, Xu Zixi got up and stretched a big yawn. She felt refreshed.
She woke up the two kids. After they washed up, she happily took them downstairs for morning exercise. While doing warm - up exercises in the small garden, she couldn't help looking at the entrance of the building across the way. Realizing her little thought, she quickly pulled a straight face and pretended to be serious. Then she led the two kids and started running.
She didn't know that from the moment she appeared with the two kids, a pair of eyes had been firmly fixed on them and quietly followed them.