33

The potatoes were peeled and cut into small pieces and boiled, then picked up and cooled, mashed with a spoon and divided into two; one was strained out with a strainer for the cold soup. The cold soup was originally meant to have milk in it, but she changed the recipe by adding the tomato stew and slowly stirring it in. The flavor smelled fine, she licked the seasoning spoon, well, it seemed a little sour, just make do. The other portion of mashed potatoes was made into patties with flour, shredded carrots, and chopped onions, and she sprinkled a pinch of minced garlic in before frying.

“That’s all for today,” she said as she divided the main meal and soup into smaller portions and set them out, “the delivery company called and said the delivery guy broke his leg on the way here and couldn’t make it. There’s only potatoes and a few odds and ends left in the fridge, so we’ll make do.”

“What happened to your face?” He looked at her, “Burned?”

She lifted her eyelids and flung him a blank stare, “You hit it, remember?”

A rare look of surprise appeared on his face, “Nonsense.”

She snapped her chopsticks down on the tabletop with a snap, furious, “Get your ass in the shower again if you haven’t sobered up yet.”

He gave her a thoughtful look and said slowly, “I’m not drunk.”

Her breath clogged in her throat, up and down, and it took her a long half day before she said with trembling lips, “Yes, yes, you’re not drunk, you’re not drunk in the granddaddy of them all.”

“Yang Ya Xiao!”

“What for!” She was now no different from a lit cannonball, stomping over to him and bending down, “You lift your hands up.”

He frowned, his fingers clasped tightly, “What for?”

“Matching palm prints!” She was on fire, “I thought you didn’t believe me? It’s much more intuitive when you compare them, right?”

“Poor taste in alcohol, don’t drink, drunk should obediently go to bed and rest, rest restless not to say but also hit people. Hit on hit it, I’m not so petty and a drunken not sober people. But you hit and still don’t admit it, is this okay?” She rarely spoke to him so loudly except for a few earlier times when she had clashed with him, and this time she was clearly pissed off, “You’ve got a character problem! Seriously!”

After she had emphasized his character problem by yelling, there was a short period of silence between the two. She watched as his expression slowly shifted from initial shock to calmness, and even softened towards the end. She was beginning to expect to see even the slightest hint of guilt or apology in his eyes, but –

“I’m sorry.” He said, “I’m sorry for losing my temper yesterday.”

Unexpectedly, he apologized so crisply, and she froze for a while before digesting his sorry. Alas, it was good to know that one could know how to pick up after losing one’s character.

“Do you want to put a compress on your face?”

“No …… don’t need it,” she saw his rare sincere attitude, feeling a little deficient, but her brain is still turning fast, “instead, why don’t you compensate me in a different way?”

“Want some meat.” He pierced her little mind with a single word, “Now?”

She wanted to eat it now, the problem was that she didn’t have the ingredients. Seeing his expression as if he would agree, she gathered her courage, “How about tonight? I’ll go out and do some shopping this afternoon, just to the neighborhood supermarket.”

He nodded, “Make up for a meal.”

She originally wanted to say argue on two or three meals, but seeing that he agreed so dryly is not good to get an inch. After eating with joy, she packed up her things and prepared to go out for shopping, not realizing that the man actually stuck behind her and followed her to put on his shoes.

“Hey hey, what are you doing?”

“Going to the supermarket.”

Of course she will not be happy for him to follow, “I go alone on the line, will not buy too much ……” TNND, do not let him follow also do not need to use this kind of cannibalistic eyes to look at her right. She obediently closed her mouth, angrily set shoes, the heart secretly curse him walking twisted feet.

The supermarket was not far from his residence, and the last time she had come to buy something she had walked, but that time she had been pressed for time, so she had almost jogged. This time, with him following her, there was certainly more time, and she deliberately slowed down to enjoy the rare afternoon. Of course, it would have been perfect if he hadn’t followed her.

The sky was a bit gray, probably because of the rain that had fallen in the morning. It was pretty cold for this time of year, and she was wearing a sweatshirt she’d brought from home, her hair tied back in a ponytail. It had been a few months since she had been to the hairdresser, and now, except for the ends of her hair, which were still a little curly, she couldn’t tell that it had been permed at all.

He walked in front of her, pulling away from her a bit. From behind his figure was straight, his pace firm, and he had an indescribable elegance. She felt that this man seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, no matter how fast or slow she walked, he could always accurately maintain a distance of about two steps from her.

Surely this man came out with her because he was afraid she would run away, right?

Her face more than a few trace of gloom, the corners of her mouth also floated slightly self-deprecating smile, unconsciously stopped her footsteps, stood fixedly, not moving. He did turn to look at her, his gaze questioning. She twisted her head, her eyes fixed on the road without a word. The eerie distance and inexplicable pause between the two didn’t last long, and as she mentally counted the cars that drove past on the road just as they reached double digits, he reached back toward her.

Her fingers unconsciously ticked the moment he reached over. People say that human action is faster than thought because people are animals of the senses, the central nervous system and the nerve endings throughout the body in the moment of crisis will be based on instinct to make the conditioned counter-evasion shot, do not need the brain’s command. At that moment her hand was trying to lift up to meet the upper, this she knew very well, but her reasoning was backward, so her arm ended up swinging just very lightly.

The movement was like an evasion.

In response to her evasion, he was unchanged in his face, and didn’t even move an eyebrow. Instead, he took a step back to her side and calmly took her hand. Surprised, she actually forgot to react and allowed him to pull her hand forward. His hand was much warmer than his face, broad and thick . The concave part of his palm was a little rough, not a trace of moisture, very dry.

At this point she was still intact on the outside, and even looked a little impassive, but on the inside she had long since been shaken to pieces and in pieces.

It happened to be a weekend, and the supermarket happened to be having an event, so it was very crowded. Looking at the dark sea of people, she felt a little breathless. She looked up to see the festive signs hanging in the supermarket and couldn’t help but realize, “I said, Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon.”

“This one’s crowded,” he frowned, “It’s noisy.”

“Please, the weekend plus the festival ah which supermarket is not many people ah,” she was afraid that he backtracked, the guest dragged him to the crowd, “hurry to buy and go.”

He still frowned, but did not shake her off, let her drag himself into the crowded shopping army to go.

Her goal was clear, the fresh food counter with the seasonal fruit counter. The store was large, with many varieties, well-stocked and fresh, and even though there were so many people today that the cash registers were almost bursting, there was still an endless supply of fresh food. She quickly picked out the food she wanted and bought some more vegetables and fruits. The whole time he just stood on the side watching her picking and choosing movements, did not speak or take the initiative to help her take things.

His expression from entering the supermarket began to become cold, and even some of the widowed and thin look. She thought that he might hate the crowded place, it is possible that he is a person who is accustomed to living alone less out to move around, so for the lively crowd and unfamiliar faces more than a rejection. When she thought about it, her current life did have the flavor of living in isolation.

She saw him scrutinizing the fruit cupboard for a long time before picking up a box of reddish fruits, so she consciously came up to him, “Do you want to buy this?”

He gave her a look, “You like it?”

“Love it, these little pot persimmons are so sweet and delicious.” She liked the neatly arranged and full fruits, they looked extra refreshing and would whet one’s appetite, “Have a box?” Seeing that he did not clearly express his opinion, she took him as a default, anyway, it is a fruit that he can also eat.

When shopping at the supermarket when there are many people, there is always a fixed problem to overcome, that is, the bill. In the buy almost when she is very directly asked him to help line up, “I still have some condiments to buy, you go first to line up, and so on to line up I directly over to buy a single, can save time.”

Obviously he wasn’t willing to be a queuing machine, “There’s plenty of time.”

“You can’t just waste any more time you have,” she was a little angry, “Since two people are out there you have to allocate the combined advantages to be utilized wisely and efficiently! Look at it this way, either you go get the condiments and I’ll get in line, or I’ll get the condiments and you’ll get in line.”

“Get it together, get in line together.”

She rolled her eyes as a wave of frustration hit her.

The asshole was still afraid she’d run off baring mouthfuls of hooch!

Despite buying the condiments out as fast as she could, Ya Xiao felt drained just by glancing towards the cashier, the line was knotted. She glared at the man with resentment, if he had been in line earlier, he would have moved up a dozen or two places. But things have already come to this, complaining about God’s horse is no longer useful, she tilted her head to look at the man, “ay, let’s separate the queue, No. 3 and No. 5 people look about the same, let’s line up on one side, whoever lines up first will call the other side, okay?”

This time he didn’t object, she took the opportunity to stuff a box of packaged cucumbers into his hand, and when she saw a hint of confusion show in his eyes, she naturally said, “Don’t go empty-handed, or else people will poke you to death with an eye-knife.”

Shan Yanxiu eyeballed the No. 3 aisle he was lined up in, and there were twenty-seven people in front of him, while the No. 5 aisle had twenty-four people in it. But the people in aisle 5 were mostly pushing carts, and there were a lot of things in them, as the checkout would take a long time. In contrast, the people in aisle 3 were mostly carrying handbaskets, and accordingly had much less stuff, so he guessed he’d get there ahead of her. Just as he was calculating how many minutes it would take for him to get into the first ten places, there were a few small mutterings from behind him, “Tch, this is the first time I’ve seen someone come to the supermarket to buy only a box of cucumbers, or a miniature one.” “Hey, lining up for so long for a box of cucumbers is really enough time.” “Does his family only lack cucumbers? Or is it lacking money?”

Shan Yanxiu glanced back, behind them was a very young couple pushing a cart of miscellaneous snacks and drinks. The two young people seem to be the kind of people who can do a little something even if they have nothing to do, and are now taking advantage of the queue to have the time to look around and find something to do to get over their addiction. It should be said that this kind of people in life is not uncommon, they say is mostly boring gossip, ordinary people listen to it. But for Shan Yanxiu, he really felt unhappy. He had rarely appeared in the bustling place, even participate in the queue this kind of mass group organized and disciplined behavior is the first time, so precious first experience but met such a mouth idle and no morals of the people, if the woman to comment on the words about she will say it is because of his bad character it.

But he was not happy, but he did not show on his face, not to mention the implementation of a lethal eye knife. He merely shrugged his shoulders, shaking the uneducated backhanded gossip right to the ground like a bug that was disgusting to see.

Sure enough, the cashier in aisle 3 was much faster than in 5, and while there were still four people lined up in front of him, there were still a dozen or so in aisle 5 next door. He looked back and saw her head down counting the items in the cart, her long ponytail hanging softly on one side to hide most of her face, only to see her lips open and close and recite words.

He was about to open his mouth to call her, cold behind someone pushed his shoulder, “friend, can not let us buy the order first, we are in a hurry hey.”

He didn’t even bother to respond.

The person behind him was still not dead, “Big deal, your cucumber and us together with the bill, we pay for it. Please, we are really in a hurry …….”

“Who isn’t in a hurry in this world? Who’s in a hurry?” Her voice came along with the cart, “But if you guys pay for this together, I’ll consider letting you add a plug.”

The young couple glanced at the full cart, no longer daring to speak under the first blush.

She naturally raised her arm to arch over him, utilizing her body to block the gazes of the people behind her, and whispered, “Aye, this half is yours, and this half is mine. I won’t take advantage of you, separate the check.”

A very faint smile floated on his face, “There’s no need.”

Meaning that this meal tonight was his treat?

She was rejoicing in her heart, when coldly he raised his hand to lift over her ponytail, she subconsciously avoided it, but her person was already brought over by him. His hand over her waist on the handle of the cart to encircle her, this position is very intimate, quite some exclusive meaning. Her hands and feet stiffened because of his sudden move, and her walking posture was a bit off.

She was even more uncomfortable with the whispers coming from behind her, but wouldn’t it be more eye-catching if she struggled? She was embarrassed when the corner of her eye suddenly swept to the cash register placed on the side of a few rows of colorfully wrapped candies, so deliberately said aloud, “Hey, I’ll go get a little something.” He said, taking advantage of the situation to twist his body to get out of his clutches, and without looking closely, grabbed a few boxes from the shelf and pinched them in his hand, not forgetting to turn his head and ask him, “Do you want it?” Shan Yanxiu’s gaze swept back and forth between her face and the boxes she held in her hands no less than three times before asking, “You like strawberry flavor?”

“Yeah, what flavor do you like?” She smoothly tossed the candy into the cart. His paused for a moment before answering slowly, “All of them.”

All of them? When did this picky man become so easy-going? She looked at him suspiciously, and felt even more strange when she saw him move away rather uncomfortably after his gaze collided with her own. But when it came time to check out, she quickly realized what mistake she had made. What she had just thrown into the cart was not candy, it was clearly an imported plastic umbrella of pure blood!

A big mistake has been made and there is no way to recover from it.

She watched the cashier scanning the barcode, one box, two boxes, three boxes ……TMD her hand how so cheap, actually took so many boxes of five! The flavors are uniformly strawberry and they are all value-priced economy packs. （The flavors are uniformly strawberry and they are all in the economy pack.)

No, it’s not about the flavors, it’s about how long do we have to use this much? No, it’s not about that either! The big question is who’s going to use it! No, it’s not. It’s not for anyone!

The cashier was fast, and the checkout sheet was a long one. She looked at the man who was swiping the card to check out in a cold sweat, and saw that he was pinching the pen to sign with one hand and pinching the strawberry flavor with the other, reading the instructions in a very serious manner.

TT mouth TT

Waterfall Tears ……