Chen Chen didn’t expect that her house would be so busy at dinner time.
She was combing Hei Zi’s hair with Tuan Zi when the doorbell rang. Hei Zi was allowed to go home for the weekend because of its good performance. The half-year-old dog had grown up as high as Tuan Zi’s thigh. Tuan Zi kept hugging Hei Zi and playing with it intimately.
“I’m going to open the door!” Tuan Zi jumped up, and Hei Zi immediately turned over to follow her. Ah Zi saw that enviously and also wanted a dog.
Seeing the woman outside the door, Tuan Zi pouted and said, “Dad, someone wants to see you!”
Hei Zi was definitely a dog that was good at watching a person’s every mood. Finding its little owner unhappy, it just stood at the door and stopped Song Meiyu from coming in, frequently baring its teeth and sounding warning barks.
“Cousin Jiang! I’m Meiyu. Great Aunt asked me to visit my sister-in-law.” She didn’t dare to enter, shouting from the doorway.
Jiang Rui placed the last dish on the table, took off his ap.r.o.n, and went up to Chen Chen. “Wash your hands before dinner,” he said to Chen Chen gently, and Chen Chen said yes then hurried off.
Song Meiyu quickly pa.s.sed the things in her hand to Jiang Rui. “Cousin Jiang, Great Aunt asked me to bring you some superior birds’ nests!”
“I don’t need them. Take them back.” Jiang Rui took Tuan Zi to wash her hands, then ordered Hei Zi to keep watch at the door when he turned around.
Hei Zi, who had planned to follow Tuan Zi, whimpered and squatted down still.
“Cousin Jiang, Great Aunt has known that Chen Chen…”
“Shut up.” Jiang Rui looked back immediately. “Come in.”
Song Meiyu thought that it was Song Chunli’s name that had worked, stepping in proudly. When she saw Ah Zi, she was shocked. “Who are you?” There was actually another woman in her cousin’s house!
As soon as Ah Zi noticed her expression, she knew that the woman was thinking about something dirty, and then gave her a mean look. “I’m Chen Chen’s friend. Do you have any complaints about me?”
“Oh, Chen Chen’s friend. I’m sorry. Nice to meet you!” Song Meiyu offered her hand and said, “I am Jiang Rui’s cousin.”
“I know. Do you have anything to say? We are going to have dinner.”
Song Meiyu was displeased at her words. “Who are you? Why do you order me?”
At the same time, Jiang Rui blocked Chen Chen’s way out of the bathroom. “Tuan Zi, go out first.”
When Tuan Zi left, he said, “Liuliu, do you remember that I told you I had whitewashed Hei Feng’s ident.i.ty, and also in order to help us, you had been shot in the head?”
“Yes, I do.” Chen Chen nodded. “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Rui slowly explained to her, “This is an internal secret that many people don’t know about. We only announced to the outside world that you had been injured by accident. Therefore, some people may ask you some strange questions, such as whether you are ill or not, whether your head still hurts, whether you can remember them, or something else.”
“So how should I answer them?” Chen Chen began to understand what he meant.
Jiang Rui smiled and said, “No matter who they are, you can say that you’re okay. If they still keep asking you, you just answer that you are not familiar with them, it has nothing to do with them.”
“But… won’t I offend them?” Chen Chen hesitated.
“There’s no one here you can’t offend!” Jiang Rui finally laid his hand on her head, and then felt Chen Chen shiver. However, she did not dodge his hand. He touched her head with satisfaction. “Remember, allow no one to bully you. No one! Do you understand?”
Chen Chen said yes, and blinked twice to show that she had remembered his words.
They entered the dining room and saw two other people.
“Boss, I happened to meet Miss Song, and she said that she had made an appointment with someone to meet at your house.” Bear stood beside Ah Zi and kept smirking.
Jiang Rui glanced at him. “When did my house become a public place that anyone could enter?”
“Chief Jiang, don’t get angry. It’s not Bear’s fault. I had planned to go see my Cousin Song. When I found out that she was with you, I troubled him to drive me here.” Song Ci seemed to feel sorry for Bear and kept nodding at him.
Bear waved his hand. “It’s my pleasure!”
Ah Zi slammed her chopsticks down. “Won’t you let me have dinner?”
“Go ahead!” Bear quickly sat beside her. “I’m going to eat.”
When Jiang Rui saw that Song Ci and Song Meiyu both sat down, his face clouded over on the spot.
“I don’t have the habit of cooking for strangers. Bear, it’s you that brought her here, so you must take her away.”
“Boss…” Bear looked pitifully at Ah Zi and also at Jiang Rui.
Jiang Rui said coldly, “Otherwise, you are never allowed to come here again.”
Bear found that Jiang Rui was really angry, so he quickly pulled Song Ci up. “Let’s go. I will take you out.”
“Okay!” Song Ci was sensible, immediately standing up and following Bear out.
Song Meiyu, who still stayed in her seat, could not read his expression at all, and even began to evaluate the dishes on the table.
“I heard that Cousin Jiang could cook shockingly delicious fish. I’m so lucky to taste it today!”
Tuan Zi dragged the fish to her own side. “Dad cooked it for me!”
“How can you be so impolite? I’m the guest!” Song Meiyu never learned a lesson, and began to look for trouble again.
When Chen Chen heard her insult Tuan Zi, she pounded the table angrily and shouted, “Guest? We didn’t invite you. Get out!”
“Liuliu is mighty!” Ah Zi applauded while holding a leg of lamb.
Jiang Rui curled the corner of the mouth and pulled Chen Chen down quietly. At that time, Song Meiyu remembered who Tuan Zi was and apologized with tears. “Cousin Jiang… I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry!”
“If you don’t leave now, I’ll ask someone to take you away. But I can’t guarantee where they will take you.” Jiang Rui drew back the chair and sat beside Chen Chen. “This will be the last time that I see you at my house.”
Song Meiyu was scared when she heard that. Last time, she was locked up for a whole day, which caused the specter of being imprisoned. She stood up and ran toward the door. Hei Zi also ran after her for a while, with some threatening barks.
When Bear returned, the atmosphere in the room had returned to normal. Both Tuan Zi and Ah Zi were trying to seize a rib. He went over and said flatteringly. “Ah Zi, eat the fish! The fish that Boss cooked is very delicious.”
“Phew, you come back so soon! Why didn’t you take her home?” Ah Zi gave him a sarcastic look.
Bear immediately shook his head when he heard that. “I don’t know her, so why should I take her home?”
What he didn’t say was that Song Ci really wanted him to take her home, but he had refused. He finally saw Ah Zi, and he couldn’t afford to squander the opportunity.
Ah Zi ignored him and ate dinner with her head down. Bear didn’t mind her indifference, peeping at the woman beside him while eating, and occasionally grabbed some food for her.
After dinner, Ah Zi proposed to play a board game. She had thought that only Chen Chen, Tuan Zi, and she would play such a childish game, but after serving a fruit tray, Jiang Rui also sat on the carpet. “I want the red gaming piece.”
“I want the black one.” Bear also went over to play the game. So finally, five people in total played the game together.
In the end, Chen Chen won everyone’s money. She happily took a photo with her mobile phone as a souvenir, and then went to the kitchen with Tuan Zi to get ice cream.
Ah Zi glanced at Jiang Rui with a grievance. “Well, it doesn’t matter if you deliberately lost the game. But why did you make us lose too?”
“In this way, Liuliu will be happy.” Jiang Rui threw the piece away. “You should leave now.”
“Dammit, you are so ungrateful.” Ah Zi stuck up her middle finger at him.
Bear dared not raise his middle finger, standing up silently and saying, “I’ll drive you back!”
Chen Chen gave a box of ice cream to Ah Zi. “Gee? Are you leaving?”
“Yes, it’s getting late.” Ah Zi rolled her eyes while changing her shoes. “Remember to see if there are especially bulky ones in the goods that will be delivered. We need to go to the store and see if we have to make a special room for them.”
Chen Chen made a gesture of OK. When Jiang Rui closed the door, he glanced at Bear and said, “Liuliu intends to introduce my younger brother to Ah Zi.”
“F*ck! Ying Cheng? He’s just a kid.” Bear glanced at Ah Zi, who had entered the elevator. “She won’t like him!”
Jiang Rui curled the corner of his mouth and said, “No, my first younger brother, Ying w.a.n.g.” After finishing the words, he closed the door.
Bear was left alone, pounding the ground.
Over the next few days, Xiao Si found him always absent-minded.
“Well, you ate only one bowl of rice again today. What’s wrong with you? Are you trying to lose weight?”
Bear pushed Xiao Si’s face away. “Mrs. Jiang wants to introduce Ah Zi to Ying w.a.n.g.”
“Dammit! Boss’s younger brother who is more beautiful than women?” Xiao Si patted him on the shoulder. “Then you’re done.”
“Get out!” Bear kicked him. “What woman is willing to marry a man who is more beautiful than herself? Ah Zi won’t like him!”
Xiao Si avoided his foot. “Tell me, what is your advantage over him? He is better-looking than you, coming from a richer family, and smarter than you. What you have is more weight and more powerful force.”
“More powerful force is enough!” Bear waved his fist. “I can protect Ah Zi.”
“Well, she can find bodyguards to protect her.” Xiao Si sighed. “I think you’re done anyway!”
When Jiang Rui was driving the two women to the shop, Bear still didn’t return to normal. Even Chen Chen noticed that.
“What’s wrong with him?” Chen Chen, who was sitting in the front pa.s.senger seat, secretly pointed at Bear behind her, and whispered.
In the back seat, Ah Zi and Bear were sitting by the windows respectively without talking to each other.
Jiang Rui looked in the rearview mirror. “He’s okay, just beginning his menopause.”
“Haha!” Chen Chen burst into laughter, and then covered her mouth. “Nonsense. He is a man.”
“Well, it’s a childish emotion.” Jiang Rui wanted to see her smile, so he amused her intentionally.
Ah Zi poked her head from behind and asked, “What are you laughing at?”
“Hahaha, Brother Xiao Rui said that Bear has begun his menopause!” Chen Chen never knew the art of speaking, just saying what she wanted to say.
She didn’t even know that Jiang Rui would feel his heart tremble every time she called him Brother Xiao Rui. It was as if someone tickled his heart with a feather, itching and addictive.
Bear looked at the roof. “I’m not a woman!”
“So Brother Xiao Rui made corrections and said that it’s your childish emotion.” She paused. “But what does childish emotion mean?”
Ah Zi chuckled. “Simply put, he’s in love.”
Bear panicked, thinking that Ah Zi knew about his love for her, and then stammered. “You… What are you talking about?”
“Me?” Ah Zi looked at him, took out two oranges from the small refrigerator, held one in each hand, and then clenched her fists. The oranges in her hands burst. Finally, she said grimly, “Crush the eggs.”
“…” Bear dared not to speak as he covered his crotch.
Chen Chen kept asking Jiang Rui beside her, “What is the meaning? What does Ah Zi mean?”
Jiang Rui stared at Ah Zi and pulled over. “Go to your shop first. I’ll tell you later!”
“Have we arrived?” Chen Chen immediately shifted her focus, unbuckled the seat belt, and was about to get out of the car.
But Jiang Rui stopped her and inhospitably looked through the window at the two people outside.