Chapter 724: Did I Starve You?
In the evening, the self-service barbecue area located at the back of the hotel filled the air with the fragrance of freshly grilled meat, mingling with the cool sea breeze.
The distant, vague fragrance caught Ji Nuan’s attention. She turned her head back to see the faint, red charcoal and the cheerful atmosphere.
Ji Nuan stood up and approached the area. It was a family of foreigners, more than ten of them, who had come to the island together for a vacation. They had booked the hotel’s only barbecue s.p.a.ce. When they saw Ji Nuan, they were warm and welcoming. They a.s.sumed that she was also another guest staying at the hotel only to be reminded by a waiter that she was the wife of the owner of this island. With admiring looks, they welcomed her with even more enthusiasm.
This family was very hospitable and Ji Nuan was also able to speak their language fluently. They were thus able to engage her without any difficulties. In the end, the more she chatted and ate with them, the more she soaked in the atmosphere. In the end, she could not resist drinking two cans of beer.
This was after all, her last night on this island, and this island could be considered the first stop of her vacation. Ji Nuan’s mood was especially good, and the moment her mood was lifted, she could no longer maintain her own restraint.
She naturally forgot that three years ago, she had promised not to drink, to drink less, and to not drink in the company of unfamiliar people.
The swimming pool downstairs was unoccupied. There was only an iPad left on the deck chair; Ji Nuan’s figure had long disappeared.
Mo Jingshen picked up the iPad and heard the noise of people eating and chatting, accompanied by the scent of barbecue in the air. He easily guessed that, as it had been a long time since Ji Nuan had grilled meat, she must have been attracted by the scent. As expected, when the waiter outside saw him looking for Ji Nuan, the waiter informed him that Ji Nuan had left for the barbecue site.
By the time he went to look for her, Ji Nuan had already downed two cans of beer. She was chatting with a man who was in his thirties and had sideburns, and their conversation was very lively. It wasn’t clear what they were saying, but the man laughed heartily and handed Ji Nuan another can of beer. Ji Nuan could not find it in herself to reject him and directly opened the can of beer with a ‘ka’ sound.
She had lifted it to her lips when she keenly felt someone’s eyes on her. She faltered in her movements and turned to glance back at the entrance. She immediately found the man standing under the cold moonlight. His gaze was emotionless as he watched her movements. Ji Nuan immediately stiffened. Earlier, she had been deeply immersed in the atmosphere and now, she abruptly returned to herself.
At the moment, she was still a self-proclaimed patient, constantly acting silly, or claiming that she was hurting here or there to bully him endlessly. It was also her excuse to keep him from retaliating.
But right now, she actually drank alcohol…
“Cough, I still have something on. I should head back now. Thank you for your hospitality,” Ji Nuan smiled and said her farewells to the family. She then nodded to them politely and informed the waiter by the side to bring them more seafood, meat, and beers. She requested for those to be billed under her and Mo Jingshen’s name, and to not charge them for anything.
Afterward, she stood up and was very self-aware as she approached Mo Jingshen. The man spoke mildly: “You took the opportunity while I wasn’t paying attention to run off here for barbecue and beer?”
Ji Nuan: “…The smell attracted me here. I wasn’t able to resist.”
Mo Jingshen glanced at her. “Didn’t you say that your stomach was hurting in the afternoon? It doesn’t hurt anymore?”
For the past few days, whenever the man pressed her on the sofa to kiss her, Mrs. Mo, who was currently acting ill, would pretend to be feeling unwell. At this moment, she rubbed her own ears unnaturally: “En… it doesn’t hurt anymore…”
“En, that’s good.” The man glanced at her and held her hand to leave.
When he showed no signs of asking further or saying more, Ji Nuan let out a soft sigh of relief. She obediently followed him back.
Thankfully, she had eaten quite some skewers of grilled meat earlier. Otherwise, the repercussions wouldn’t be worth it.
On their way back to the room, the man held her hand in the elevator and placed his other hand into his pocket. He glanced at her from the side. “Did I starve you?”
“No.”
“If I didn’t starve you, why did you run off to freeload on other people’s food?”
“That’s because they were eating barbecue…”
“If you wished to have barbecue, you could have told me. When have I ever left you unsatisfied?”
“You were still suffering from gastric problems a few days ago. We should stick to normal or light food for now. You can’t have barbecue. I only went to chat with them and had a few bites in pa.s.sing.”
Mo Jingshen glanced at her. When he saw that Ji Nuan’s gaze was extremely sincere, he did not say more and directly brought the little woman back to their room.
Ji Nuan originally thought that this was a minor episode. However, when Mo Jingshen went to prepare dinner, she stepped out of the shower to smell the fragrance of barbecue in the air.
She rubbed her hair as she came out. The moment she entered the kitchen, she found Boss Mo standing in front of a small-scale barbecue equipment he had the hotel employees deliver. On top of it were various meat, seafood, and vegetable skewers. The smell was even more fragrant than the barbeque she had earlier.
Ji Nuan’s hand immediately stiffened against her hair. She stared dumbstruck at the back view of the man who was dressed in a white s.h.i.+rt and was preparing food for her in the kitchen. She could also smell the scent of vegetable porridge from the rice cooker by the side. This meant that he intended to maintain his own light diet, but did not plan on making her suffer the same. He was specially preparing the food for her; for her to enjoy to her heart’s content.
She would be lying if she said she wasn’t moved.
Ji Nuan entered and stared at the skewers of clean and fresh ingredients. She turned toward the man. “I can’t eat so much by myself…”
The man did not turn back. He brushed the sauce onto the skewers being cooked, speaking mildly, “Eat as much as you can; until you are full, so that you won’t have to go off to freeload on someone else’s food.”
Ji Nuan’s mouth fell open as she stared at him awkwardly. She had only gone for a few bites of food; how did she manage to provoke him?
“Freeloading is one thing; a few bites of grilled meat was sufficient for you to lower your guard. You even accepted beer from people you don’t know.”
Ji Nuan: “…”
It was only then that she realised that, when Mo Jingshen came to look for her, she had been chatting with that family’s thirty plus years old son. They talked about the things he had seen and done, and the experiences he had as an exchange student in China. This was why Ji Nuan had shared a long conversation with him.
Boss Mo, this is a misunderstanding ah.
Ji Nuan held in a smile and did not explain herself. She stood by his side and stared at the vegetables that were already cooked. She asked with wide eyes. “Can I have a taste first?”
The man glanced at her and did not answer.
“Just one bite of the vegetables. I’ll taste it to see if it’s spicy.” Ji Nuan stood on her tiptoes and opened her mouth, pointing at it, indicating that it wasn’t convenient for her to use her own hands. She wanted him to feed her.