Lin Qing had a long sleep and woke up at about ten.
Hearing a noise outside the door, she opened the door to check it out.
She didn"t expect Mu Li was at the door and it was too late to stop…
Her head struck Mu Li on his chest, making a dull thump.
"Ouch!"
Lin Qing buried her head in her hands painfully, a step back.
Mu Li looked at her with his arms folded. She was wearing creamy-white pajamas embellished with two rabbit ears. Her long hair was spreading over her shoulders and covering half of her face, which made her sleepy face particularly charming and cute.
The cute woman, however, held an impa.s.sive expression.
"Happy newlywed."
Mu Li said with a teasing tone, pointing to her right shoulder.
Lin Qing moved her eyes along his direction but didn"t get it.
"Your strap is loose."
Mu Li reminded her, looking away politely.
"Ah?"
Lin Qing looked down hurriedly and then turned around in a second to tidy up.
She turned back with a slight flush on her cheeks.
Mu Li beheld her with full appreciation.
"Well, why do you come to me so early in the morning?"
Lin Qing asked with concern.
...Early in the morning?
Besides, couldn"t he come to her without any reason?
"Lin Qing, would you please look at the time?"
Mu Li pointed at the clock hanging on the wall at the end of the corridor.
Lin Qing looked at it rigidly.
Mu Li smiled.
He"d like to see if she could still be muddle-headed like this in future.
Being silent for two or three seconds, Lin Qing turned to Mu Li and said calmly, "I will be late for work."
It was Monday and she was supposed to be working in her office for hours now.
Lin Qing directly went back to her room to change clothes.
And Mu Li?
He was ignored again.
Mu Li was nowhere to be found when Lin Qing got her clothes changed and went out of her room.
Lin Qing couldn"t find him in his bedroom and thus went to the kitchen for something to eat.
A few minutes later, when Lin Qing made a fried egg, Mu Li appeared, leaning against the door frame.
"I thought you were late. Why are you still frying eggs here?"
She moved the egg to a white plate deftly.
It was not bad to have someone wash clothes and cook for him in the future.
Mu Li contemplated.
Lin Qing laid the plat on the table and sought the fridge for milk. "I am already late. Can"t be worse for a few more minutes."
Mu Li admired her extraordinary composure.
She looked not that worldly even when she was busy cooking in the kitchen.
Perhaps this was the reason why he wanted to know more about her.
"Would you like some?"
Lin Qing suddenly asked him while heating up the milk. Mu Li caught her cordial sight.
"Yes please."
Actually he had had breakfast, but he didn"t want to refuse her.
Lin Qing"s eyes lit up. She liked cooking very much, which gave her much pleasure.
Soon after, the black-and-white marble table was settled with two gold-rimmed plates, two gla.s.ses of milk, and two hand-made sandwiches.
For the first time, tableware appeared in pairs on his table.
"Lin Qing, finally you did something pleasant."
Mu Li took it as a praise.
Lin Qing was confused, "Did I do anything unpleasant before?"
Mu Li didn"t want to answer her question.
Lin Qing was indeed good at cooking, which could be told from her fried eggs.
Mu Li thought he would have tasty food from now on.
He looked at Lin Qing several times but only to find that she was engrossed in her breakfast.
It looked like this was a complete process that couldn"t be interrupted.
However, Mu Li interrupted her in the middle.
"Here."
He signed to alert Lin Qing of her mouth corner smeared with milk.
Lin Qing put down the milk gla.s.s and beheld his gesture for a while but failed to understand him.
Then, she seemed to get it and looked relieved, and then took out a tissue from the box at hand.
She stood up and helped Mu Li wipe his mouth across the table.
"I don"t think you"ve got anything on it."
Lin Qing stopped and checked his mouth carefully, with uncertainties.
She was the only woman who ever did such thing to him.
Mu Li was disappointed at her amiable sight, as if she was taking after some little baby. He grabbed her wrist and asked, "Do you treat someone else like this?"
"Someone else?"
Lin Qing didn"t quite understand him and shook her head. "I don"t know anyone like you."
Although she meant no hard, but sounded...
kind of weird anyway.
Mu Li got up and kissed her on the lips.
The kiss tasted of the flavor of milk.
"How...could you suddenly…" Lin Qing couldn"t react until he finished the kiss and sat back to his seat. She looked silly with her big eyes blinking.
"There was milk on your lips."
Mu Li explained slowly, "That"s what I was trying to tell you just now."
Recalling her silly behavior moments ago, Lin Qing wished she had disappeared in the air.
"Now it was on yours."
Still holding the tissue in hand, Lin Qing wiped his mouth for another time.
Why could she remain so calm?
Mu Li could not think of another person who could wipe his mouth with a calm face under such circ.u.mstances.
After breakfast.
After cleaning up tableware, Lin Qing moved from the kitchen to the living room and sat beside Mu Li to watch TV together. Mu Li felt surprised.
"Lin Qing, won"t you go to work?"
"Oh," said Lin Qing, engaged in the TV show. She then took a glance at her watch.
"The morning shift was over. I have to go shopping later."
She continued to watch TV.
Mu Li doubted why she didn"t lose her job.
But...
"It should be "we" not "I"."
Mu Li picked up the remote control and turned off the TV.
Lin Qing was too absorbed in the TV show to catch Mu Li"s words. The last scene was still lingering in her mind.
She confirmed after a second, "What did you say?"
Mu Li was really defeated by her.
A large supermarket was located not far from their house, with a full range of goods.
Mu Li brought Lin Qing there to buy ingredients for lunch.
Supermarket was always the place where she had absolute confidence and control.
On the contrary, Mu Li rarely came to the supermarket and followed Lin Qing with nothing to do but looking around.
Lin Qing stopped at the Fresh Division. She aimed at a target among the numerous categories.
"Last time I said I"d make you a steamed ba.s.s."
Lin Qing pointed at a fish and said to the salesman, "This ba.s.s please."
The ba.s.s packed in a plastic bag with a price tag was thrown into their cart before Mu Li could give any opinion.
He found the cart was already full.
"Lin Qing—" Did she plan to buy the entire supermarket?
"What else do you want to eat? I can cook for you."
Her face was still impa.s.sive.
Mu Li pulled the cart and held Lin Qing into his arms. "I want to eat you, may I?"
She got nervous and her heart thumped hard at once. She lowered her head and whispered, "Could...you please not do this in public..."
Mu Li raised his eyebrows, "Do you mean we can do it in private?"
"Well, that"s not what I meant."
Lin Qing explained at once.
Their intimate conduct in public attracted much attention, and some even watched them with admiration.
This made Lin Qing a little bit uncomfortable.
"All right, let"s go back."
She spoke lightly and pushed the cart to leave.
"All right, let"s be right back."
Mu Li knew she was also back to her old self.
Hardly had his voice faded away he heard a crash of something heavy running into a person.
It was their cart, hitting someone pa.s.sing by. Probably Lin Qing didn"t control the direction well.
"Sorry! Sorry!"
She apologized hurriedly and went up to check the consequence.
"What"s the matter with you? Don"t you know to watch out when you push such a big cart!"
The pa.s.ser-by was tall and strong, blaming Lin Qing for her mistake.
Lin Qing, like a poor kitten, was too startled to speak.
She put her clenched fists aside and held her chin up.
Mu Li immediately moved to her side and held her in his arms.
"I"m her husband. What"s the matter?"
His voice was low and cold.
"Your wife hit me. What do you say?"
The pa.s.ser-by threatened them.
Mu Li froze his expression and said tepidly, "If so, I apologize to you for her. But in fact I saw you b.u.mping into the cart on your own."
"What do you mean? Am I insane to b.u.mp into your cart?"
The pa.s.ser-by was irritated and said rudely.
"I mean," Mu Li declared eventually, "I"m giving you a chance to leave. If you walk away now, I"ll let it go."
His cold and imposing voice made the pa.s.ser-by hesitate.
But he decided not to give up.
"It was her fault. I won"t give up!"
"Then let"s check the CCTV of the supermarket right now."
Mu Li smiled grimly.
The onlookers began to speak against the pa.s.ser-by.
Lin Qing didn"t utter a sound until the occasion finished.
On the way home, Lin Qing seemed not to recover from the incident. Actually she nearly left their stuff on the counter when checking out at the supermarket.
"Is there anything wrong?"
Mu Li took over her load in front of their house.
"No...nothing."
Lin Qing paused.
She was a poor liar.
Lin Qing made a steamed ba.s.s for Mu Li at lunch. When she served the dish, Mu Li suddenly stopped her, "Who else likes this dish?"
"Many people like this dish," replied Lin Qing.
Mu Li didn"t say anything more.
Lin Qing went to work in the afternoon. Never had they discussed about the steamed ba.s.s anymore.
However, Mu Li knew he was right at an instance. There was someone else that liked her steamed ba.s.s, Chen Qudong.
He was depressed by this idea.