As Qiao Anchen's figure disappeared from sight, she stood there, recalling the first time she met him.
For the teenage girl, the world collapsed the moment her father lay in a pool of blood.
Qiao Anchen, dressed in a neat uniform, walked in from outside, brought a cup of hot water, placed it in front of her, and said gently, "Don't be afraid, drink some water first."
In that instant, a sliver of light seemed to seep into the persistent darkness before them.
Her carefully maintained courage and strength crumbled into pieces. With trembling hands, she picked up the cup, lowered her head, and drank water, swallowing the sob in her throat and the tears welling in her eyes.
Time seemed to overlap.
Her vision was finally blurred by tears, and she silently reminded herself.
Bai Lan, stop being so greedy.
Someone like you will never be good enough for him.
They're not even worthy to speak to him.
Qiao Anchen got off work quite early today. When he opened the door, Chu Yi had just finished cooking.
He coughed deliberately, his throat clearly sounding off.
"You caught a cold?" Chu Yi looked up at him, and Qiao Anchen nodded and quickly reported to her.
"Hmm, my throat hurts a little."
"I haven't finished my medicine from last time. It's in the first-aid kit. Remember to take it later." She said this casually, without any concern on her face. Qiao Anchen touched his nose awkwardly and pulled out a chair to sit down.
During the meal, Qiao Anchen received a phone call and talked for a while. After he finished, he put down his phone and solemnly said to Chu Yi, "It was a female forensic doctor who told me the test results."
Chu Yi paused in her chopsticks-holding motion, looking at him with a puzzled expression: "I didn't ask you."
"Oh..." Qiao Anchen took a couple of bites of rice, then looked up and said softly, "I just wanted to tell you something."
Chu Yi ignored him.
"Oh, right." Qiao Anchen cleared his throat and added, "I saw Bai Lan when I got off work."
At the dining table, Chu Yi, who had been expressionless just moments before, immediately looked over, her gaze fixed on his face, waiting for him to continue.
Qiao Anchen was inexplicably nervous, and his speech was not very fluent.
“I’ve made it clear to her that she probably won’t contact me again if she needs anything.”
"Have you explained it clearly?" Chu Yi looked thoughtful and asked softly. Qiao Anchen pursed his lips and told her about the previous scene in detail.
Chu Yi sneered inwardly.
Sure enough, she wasn't wrong that day; that look in her eyes was clearly one of infatuation.
Chu Yi glared at Qiao Anchen, who looked completely innocent, and snorted coldly. She put down her chopsticks, having completely lost her appetite.
Watching her angrily get up and go back to her room, Qiao Anchen's heart sank to the bottom. He stared at her back, mouth agape, not understanding why Chu Yi was even angrier now that he had nothing to hide.
Qiao Anchen sat there with a gloomy face, feeling that his life was shrouded in darkness.
After eating a few bites hastily, cleaning up the dishes and washing them, Qiao Anchen mopped the floor and spent most of the night cleaning the house until it was spotless. Finally, he grabbed his keys, changed his shoes, and went out.
Qiao Anchen carried back two boxes of fruit, sweating profusely from the heat. He sorted them out and put them in the refrigerator before taking a shower.
When Chu Yi came out to get a drink of water, she opened the refrigerator door and saw a lot of cherries and strawberries in front of her. She snorted and closed the door again.
It's the same old trick again. This time it's a matter of principle, so we can't forgive him like this.
When Qiao Anchen works overtime at night, he now takes the initiative to report to her, and even attaches a picture to show where he is.
Even when the department goes out for a meal, he has to take pictures of all his colleagues and then send them to her.
Chu Yi looked at the photo that suddenly popped up on her phone. It was a bunch of big men with oily faces under the light, and the pixelation and angle were just terrible.
She had just switched from a beautiful and refreshing idol drama, and when she saw this, she inexplicably found it a bit cringeworthy.
"..." Chu Yi replied with a string of ellipses. A moment later, Qiao Anchen sent a voice message with a noisy background.
"I'm eating, and I'll go home right away."
"Oh," Chu Yi replied indifferently.
Sometimes when it's too late and Qiao Anchen hasn't returned yet, Chu Yi will still call or text him to ask. He usually says he's busy or has something to do, and occasionally he'll mention it briefly.
Now, when Chu Yi asked him, he explained the location, the event, and even the people involved in everything in detail, leaving her overwhelmed.
Overcorrection is very suitable for their current situation.
Actually, Chu Yi thought about it later and realized that Qiao Anchen's behavior in many things was just a matter of personal habit. Probably because of his work, he was used to resolving and handling things quickly. Many times, it wasn't that he was hiding or being perfunctory; he just felt that those things were irrelevant to her, so he would directly say that he was busy with something.
For example, sometimes when she does her own thing and chats with Xiao Gaochengli about topics that belong to them, she won't explain everything in detail to Qiao Anchen when he asks.
However, Qiao Anchen overlooked Bai Lan's feelings for him. What might have been a trivial matter to him was a bombshell to Chu Yi.
Differences in perspective and thinking, when combined, inevitably lead to contradictions.
This seems to be a common occurrence in relationships between men and women.
I once saw a quote that said the high divorce rate is simply because when something breaks, people's first reaction is to replace it, whereas people in the past preferred to fix it.
She wasn't married at the time and didn't quite understand the meaning behind it. Now she thinks she can try to do it slowly and fix Qiao Anchen's blockhead.
However, despite all that, and understanding the reasoning, Chu Yi couldn't help but recall the scene of holding the umbrella whenever she saw Qiao Anchen, and her anger would rise up.
Qiao Anchen is now living a cautious and conscientious life at home, and his heart trembles instinctively whenever Chu Yi shows unhappiness.
If he could turn back time, he thought he would definitely refuse Bai Lan's offer to hold an umbrella for him and go back in the rain.
No, we should have refused to eat from the start and nipped it in the bud!
Author's Note: Aside from the sweet everyday moments, all the other major plot points are included in the outline, including later content.
Thank you to everyone who sent me the nutrient solution these past two days, it's been a real treat! The list of names for the nutrient solution is too long to include here, but thank you all!
Pei Bai threw a landmine, Ye threw a landmine, the cake seller threw a landmine, Mo Jiange threw a landmine, Xiao Jiang's sweet and sour pork threw a landmine, Jiujiu threw a landmine, Guangguang threw a landmine, the cake seller threw a landmine, and... threw a landmine. Pei Bai threw a grenade.
And thank you to all the friends who threw grenades before! Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution! Thank you to the little angel who threw a [grenade]: Pei Bai (1); thank you to the little angels who threw [landmines]: Mai Gao De, En, guangguang (1 each); thank you to the little angels who watered my plants with [nutrient solution]:
Hmm. 24 bottles; 30718112, heart 20 bottles; Peibai 18 bottles; 33514825 11 bottles; Ananqi, Xiazi, pinching a rabbit's ears, Cheng'o, Samsara, heartbreaking fairy, fish that loves to eat cats 10 bottles; Longlonglong 6 bottles; Qianqing, Miao 5 bottles; really want to miss you, tracy 3 bottles; Munian 2 bottles; Winnie the Pooh, summer sleep, Yimi'er, is 00la, Zhuang Zhou fairy, Feixiangyu 1 bottle; Thank you all so much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
72. Chapter 72
When Chu Yi met Cheng Li, he poured out all his recent troubles to her, and she stirred the milk tea in her cup, unable to suppress a smile.
"That's true, but at least he's a good person at heart." Seeing Chu Yi's indignant look, Cheng Li couldn't help but speak up for Qiao Anchen.
"But I think with your husband's moral compass, he definitely wouldn't do anything to betray you, so you can rest assured!"
"I know," Chu Yi said, equally frustrated.
"I'm just angry at him; he's so slow to understand."
“When we first met, I went home with him. I heard that there was a girl next door who had a crush on him for many years. Qiao Anchen didn’t realize it at all. The girl was heartbroken. At the time, I thought it was great.”
"I never expected that the downsides would emerge now."
"You know, that woman's eyes looked off, and he was being so intimate with her!"
"It's alright," Cheng Li said slowly, frowning.
"I just held up an umbrella for a moment."
"If a guy you know offers you an umbrella when it's raining, would you refuse and prefer to get soaked?"
"But it's nothing on its own, but when you put them all together, it gets a bit annoying." Seeing Chu Yi's increasingly angry expression, Cheng Li immediately changed her tune, pinching her cheek and laughing.
"That's so unfair! They've made our little Chu Yi so sad!"
"Hmph." Chu Yi pushed her hand away and listlessly propped his cheek on his hand.
"Actually, I was just jealous. You don't know how I almost fainted when I saw that scene."
"That means you love him deeply." Cheng Li nodded, speaking with the air of someone who's been there, trying to sound mysterious.
"Right?" Chu Yi sighed softly.
"Actually, after Qiao Anchen explained to me that it was a misunderstanding, I really felt so weak that I just wanted to hug him and have a good cry."
"At the time, all I wanted was for him to forgive me as long as he didn't do anything to betray me."
"As long as we can still be together, we'll be fine."
"Then what are you angry about now?" Cheng Li rolled her eyes at her.
"Hasn't he come to his senses now?" Chu Yi gritted his teeth and said unwillingly, "If we don't teach him a lesson, he'll do it again next time."
Qiao Anchen was working overtime again that night. After describing to her for the umpteenth time where he was, what he was doing, and who he was with, Chu Yi couldn't help but speak up.
"Why are you telling me so much? I'm not interested in any of this."
"...It's not like you said I couldn't keep it from you anymore."
"Don't try to change the subject!" Chu Yi scolded.
"I'm referring to the necessary, special circumstances, the things I asked about!"
"I'm not asking you to report everything to me all the time."
"Oh..." Qiao Anchen responded sullenly on the other end, it was unclear whether he understood or not.
Chu Yi took a deep breath and patiently explained, giving him an example.
"For example, if I ask you whose phone number you have, who you are texting, or other social engagements you have after work that are unrelated to work, like going to Bai Lan's house for dinner, you should tell me first."
"I understand," Qiao Anchen cleared his throat and replied solemnly.
On the weekend, Qiao Anchen didn't have to work overtime, so he took the initiative to ask Chu Yi to go to the movies. He glanced at the movie title and saw that it was a very popular youth film recently.
Chu Yi pretended to be coy and hesitant for a while, but finally reluctantly agreed.
"All right."
The movie theater wasn't far from home, about a ten-minute drive or two subway stops away. Qiao Anchen's car was in for maintenance, so the two of them could only travel by subway.
The weekend was unexpectedly crowded. There were long queues, and the train was packed with people. There was barely any room to stand.
Neither of them had ever experienced such a situation, since one rarely went out and the other drove himself.