Huo Shenyan was washing a cup with hot water. He handed the freshly washed cup to Ni Jingxi, slightly lifting his eyelids: "Would you believe me if I said it was just a lucky coincidence?"
Ni Jingxi turned her head to look at the big doll sitting obediently on the chair next to her. Is it that easy to bump into?
When the hot pots were served, Ni Jingxi's was a spicy red broth, while Huo Shenyan's was a clear broth. Ni Jingxi shook her head and said, "Your soup looks too bland."
"Some things cannot be judged lightly," Huo Shenyan said calmly.
Ni Jingxi didn't take it to heart. Although she was from the South, she loved spicy food. When she and Hua Zheng went out for hot pot, they would symbolically order a clear broth base, but in the end, they would only focus on eating the spicy broth.
Huo Shenyan stared straight at her: "You have to try it yourself."
"..."
Ni Jingxi was a little stunned. She found that Huo Shenyan was acting too experienced. With just a casual remark, he had her completely captivated, like a novice who had never experienced anything before, leaving her flustered, blushing, and heart-pounding.
But who is Ni Jingxi? The thing she understands least in this life is how to admit defeat.
She felt she had been shy enough today; if she continued like this, she would ruin the reputation of Lord Ni.
This time, instead of looking down and avoiding eye contact, she looked up and asked, "How do you want to taste it?"
As she spoke, the tip of her tongue inadvertently darted out and licked her lips.
Huo Shenyan had picked up the kettle to pour water, but this ambiguous question made him pause. When he looked over, Ni Jingxi was also looking at him.
The decor of this hot pot restaurant is so sophisticated that even the overhead lights aren't the bright white kind.
Instead, it was a pale yellow with a hint of ambiguous softness, which fell on her ivory-white skin.
Beauty lies not only in the skin but also in the bones.
Ni Jingxi enjoyed the meal quite comfortably. In the past, when she ate with Huo Shenyan, she was always worried about being recognized or having photos of them taken and posted online.
Now that the two have gone public, she feels no psychological burden at all.
It even gave Ni Jingxi the illusion that she had been worried about something before.
The two finished dinner around 8:30. After Huo Shenyan called the waiter over to pay the bill, he looked at her and asked, "Is there anything else you want to do?"
Ni Jingxi thought for a moment, "What should we play?"
See a movie?
Go to karaoke? Or have a good time at a bar.
But as she looked at Huo Shenyan, only one thought remained in her mind: "I want to go home."
"Okay, let's go home." Huo Shenyan nodded, got up, picked up his clothes and put them on, then reached out and pulled Ni Jingxi.
The driver was already waiting outside in the car. After they got in, the car drove smoothly towards home. As Huo Shenyan looked down to check his emails, he suddenly felt a slight weight on his shoulder.
He turned his head very slightly and saw out of the corner of his eye that Ni Jingxi was asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.
She had been working so hard all day, and now that she was full, she couldn't resist the drowsiness in the car and fell asleep on his shoulder.
She didn't wake up even when we got to her doorstep.
After parking the car, driver Lao Xu glanced back at Huo Shenyan. Huo Shenyan didn't say anything, but instead sent a text message. A short while later, Lao Xu received the message, telling him to go home first.
You can park your car at the entrance.
Old Xu nodded and smiled at him, gently pushed open the door, got out of the car, and left.
Huo Shenyan took some time to reply to work emails in his inbox and occasionally sent messages to Tang Mian. After some time, Ni Jingxi finally opened her eyes slowly.
When she opened her eyes, it was pitch black, with only a faint light coming from beside her.
"Are you home yet?" she asked.
Huo Shenyan: "Just arrived."
Ni Jingxi rubbed her eyes, her voice still heavy with sleep: "Why didn't you wake me up?"
Huo Shenyan didn't answer the question, but instead reached out and rubbed her earlobe: "If you're tired, go home and rest."
So the two got out of the car. Huo Shenyan had walked around the front of the car to get to the driver's seat. But as soon as he opened the car door, Ni Jingxi reached out and tugged at the edge of his coat, her two delicate fingers pinching it.
Huo Shenyan turned to look at her, his eyes full of confusion.
It wasn't until Ni Jingxi whispered, "Do you think there's something missing?"
"What?"
His voice had barely rang out when his body was gently bumped, his back hitting the edge of the open car door, which was a bit hard, and his lower back was bumped.
It hurts quite a bit.
But at this moment he couldn't care less about that, because Ni Jingxi grabbed the two sides of his open coat with both hands, looked up and kissed him.
She used a bit too much force; when their lips touched, even their noses pressed together.
Huo Shenyan had already relaxed and chuckled, ready to receive her kiss, but the soft touch on his lips vanished completely the next second. When he opened his eyes, Ni Jingxi was already back in her previous position.
Under the pitch-black night sky, her eyes shone with a bright, watery light.
Seeing him looking at her, Ni Jingxi suddenly smiled at him and said, "Okay, I'm home now. You should go home too."
"..."
Is she really acting?
Ni Jingxi only realized today that they not only didn't have that kind of ordinary yet sweet date, but they had even experienced the feeling of couples reluctantly parting ways at the door.
Ni Jingxi even waved to him very earnestly: "Thank you for bringing me back. Go back now."
For a moment, Huo Shenyan was convinced by her superb acting skills and wanted to applaud her.
The next moment, he reached out and pulled her into his arms, turning her around so that Ni Jingxi was pressed against the back door of the car. Their bodies were pressed very close, and he lowered his head and leaned in to kiss the tip of her nose: "A kiss between lovers isn't like this."
Ni Jingxi was slightly startled, and then looked up, her eyelashes trembling as she lifted her eyelids.
Huo Shenyan lowered his head in that instant.
His lips pressed against hers, his tongue darting into her mouth without warning, teasing her tongue. The once cool moon overhead seemed to be shrouded in a bewitching glow amidst the ambiguous and lingering sounds of their kiss.
Ni Jingxi's hands were originally pressed against his chest, but at this moment she couldn't make any pushing motion.
He teased her tongue and lips with utmost tenderness and affection, as if the air in her mouth was being sucked away, and her brain, due to the gradual lack of oxygen, had long since ceased its instinctive thinking.
Even when Ni Jingxi's legs were too weak to support her and she tried to push him away, Huo Shenyan still pressed her tightly against the car door.
“Huo Shenyan…” Ni Jingxi finally managed to squeeze out his name from the gap in the sentence.
Hearing her soft, almost pleading voice, Huo Shenyan finally released her slightly, satisfied, and leaned close to her ear, his hot breath falling on her earlobe.
"This is how we should kiss."
*
While Ni Jingxi remained silent, Huo Shenyan patted her on the shoulder, signaling her to go inside first, and then drove the car into the yard. So Ni Jingxi went in first and walked to the steps of the house.
She didn't go upstairs but stood there waiting.
When Huo Shenyan drove the car in and got out, he saw her standing gracefully in the night.
Huo Shenyan walked over slowly and asked with a smile, "What is it now?"
"I wanted to wait for you to come in together," Ni Jingxi said with a light smile as she looked at him.
For a fleeting moment, Huo Shenyan felt a slight warmth in his heart.
Often, when two people are together, it seems that even their IQ drops by half. Things that they would never have bothered to do before, they suddenly find themselves enjoying doing.
It's like how they used to not understand why elementary school students would hold hands and go to the toilet together.
Now, Ni Jingxi is standing at the door of her home, which is only a step away, insisting on waiting for Huo Shenyan to come in together.
Perhaps this is just the naivety between two people in love.
After entering the room, Ni Jingxi was indeed tired and decided to take a shower first. Huo Shenyan, on the other hand, did not rush to wash up but went to the bathroom first, as he had something to deal with at ten o'clock that night.
When Ni Jingxi came out of the restroom, she saw many WeChat message notifications on her phone.
She opened it and found it was a voice message from Hua Zheng.
Hua Zheng: "Lord Ni, you actually went to eat hot pot today?"
Ni Jingxi was stunned by this sentence, especially since Hua Zheng added an envious emoji below it.
Ni Jingxi replied to her: "How did you know?"
A short while later, Hua Zheng sent her a link. She clicked on it and found that it was shared from Weibo. After opening it through Weibo, she saw that it was a marketing account.
Surprisingly, she and Huo Shenyan were photographed having hot pot together, and she was also seen carrying a large plush toy as she walked out of the claw machine area.
"Tell me quickly, she must have bought the doll, it couldn't have been won from a claw machine."
"As far as I know, this doll should be from a claw machine, but I don't think anyone could cut it out."
"I think they're so sweet together. Look how gentle Huo Shenyan looks at her; he's been staring at his wife the whole time."
"I'm so envious. It turns out there really are Cinderellas in this world. Of course, the prerequisite is that you have to have such top-notch beauty."
Ni Jingxi looked at the comments on Weibo. Occasionally, one or two netizens would say that they must be putting on a show, eating such an inexpensive hot pot in public and doing such childish things.
It's definitely just a show.
However, this comment was also heavily criticized, but regardless, most netizens still offered their blessings.
Huo Shenyan didn't return until after 11 o'clock. When he came back, Ni Jingxi was still browsing the web.
"What are you looking at?" he asked, seeing her engrossed.
Ni Jingxi raised the tablet to face him: "We were secretly photographed while we were shopping."
"Let me see." Huo Shenyan frowned.
He has never liked being in the media spotlight, but nowadays new media is developing so fast that anyone with a smartphone can become a whistleblower.
Huo Shenyan: "I will have Tang Mian handle it as soon as possible."
Upon hearing this, Ni Jingxi said helplessly, "Tang Mian is probably asleep right now. Forget it, you looked really handsome in the photos this time."
Huo Shenyan looked down at the photos. He stood in the bright shopping mall in a dark coat, looking particularly conspicuous.
Moreover, he is extremely tall, with a noticeable height difference between him and Ni Jingxi, who is 1.7 meters tall.
"It takes real skill to make me look bad in a photo," Huo Shenyan said calmly.