Under meals

Jing Ci didn't speak for a long time.

Tao Mingzhuo didn't know how long they had been silently confronting each other like this, but felt that every second of waiting seemed to be infinitely stretched, long and tormented.

At the same time, he finally recalled what he had done slowly.

When watching Jing Ci walk out of the door just now, Tao Mingzhuo suddenly had a premonition. He felt that if he didn't say anything before Jing Ci walked out of the door, then this non-existent misunderstanding would come to an end. If they are silently settled by themselves, many things between them will be irreparable.

Because he was in a hurry, he spoke incoherently, and felt as if Jing Ci couldn't listen to what he said, so he decided to go up and kiss before talking.

As for the words that he said in a panic after the kiss, Tao Mingzhuo didn't dare to think about it now at all. He belongs to the type of person who gets up quickly but also loves quickly.

He couldn't understand at all why he was able to say such ugly and hot words as "Your mouth is soft" and "I'm actually very happy".

Just when white smoke was about to rise slowly above Tao Mingzhuo's head, he heard Jing Ci say to himself: "Okay."

Because the two were silent for too long, Tao Mingzhuo didn't react at first. He stared at Jingci blankly, not realizing what the word meant.

Jing Ci's voice is warm and moist, as clear and clean as melted snow, and she speaks neatly, so Tao Mingzhuo can hear it very clearly.

Ah, Tao Mingzhuo thought blankly, Jing Ci just said "yes" to me.

What broke the silence was a hasty knock on the door, and it was Liang Jingjing who suddenly pushed the door open.

With a look of embarrassment on her face, she made an apologetic gesture to Jing Ci, then pointed to her mobile phone, and said quickly: "Mr. Is it convenient now?"

Liang Jingjing was busy dealing with the person on the other end of the phone, so she didn't notice the subtle atmosphere in the office and the two people in the room who were holding hands.

Tao Mingzhuo had a feeling of waking up from a big dream, he let go of Jing Ci's hand.

Jing Ci frowned slightly, raised her eyes to look at him, and seemed to want to say something else, but Tao Mingzhuo pursed his lips as if he had made a decision, and said to Jing Ci, "You do your work first."

He stared straight at Jing Ci's face for a while, as if he had made up his mind, he took a deep breath.

"Tonight... I may come home later." He took a step back and whispered to Jing Ci, "So you don't have to wait for me to eat."

Jing Ci was startled: "...what?"

But Tao Mingzhuo didn't say anything, just nodded to Jingci, then turned around and walked out the door with big strides.

After Tao Mingzhuo took a taxi to Tao Xue's nail salon, he realized belatedly that his behavior in the afternoon was like a coward who was so scared after confessing that he turned around and ran away after frightening himself.

But now Tao Mingzhuo has no time to think about anything, because he just wants to give the painting to Jing Ci immediately.

The nail salon and Jing Ci's residence are in two far apart districts, and there was a traffic jam during the evening rush hour, so when Tao Mingzhuo returned to Jing Ci's home with the painting, it was already around eight o'clock in the evening up.

After opening the door, Tao Mingzhuo found that the lights in the living room were not turned on, only a faint light was on in the kitchen.

Jing Ci stood in the kitchen with his head down, his hands seemed to be busy with something, his profile looked calm and beautiful, like an oil painting with clean strokes and low saturated colors.

And because the light was dim, most of Jing Ci's face was covered by shadows, so Tao Mingzhuo couldn't see his expression clearly.

But at the moment when she heard the sound coming from the door, Jing Ci raised her head almost instantly, and turned to look at Tao Mingzhuo who was standing at the door.

Their eyes met silently, although there was no basis for it, but at that moment, Tao Mingzhuo felt that Jing Ci had been waiting for him.

Jing Ci's expression did not change.

But Tao Mingzhuo noticed that when he saw himself, his shoulders seemed to relax slightly, as if he breathed a sigh of relief.

Tao Mingzhuo hesitated for a while, holding the painting, walked up to Jing Ci, and asked, "Have you not eaten yet? Didn't I tell you not to wait for me?"

Jing Ci was quiet for a moment, then replied, "I'm not very hungry."

Tao Mingzhuo paused, and asked, "What's in the pot?"

Jing Ci said: "I cooked the sweet potatoes we bought in the supermarket before, and if we don't eat them, they will go bad."

Tao Mingzhuo thought for a while, and said "oh": "That's right, I took that bag of sweet potatoes, because it was stored in a relatively deep place in the refrigerator at the time, and I kept forgetting to eat it."

They talked about sweet potatoes, but no one's mind was really on the pot with sweet potatoes.

The kitchen was very quiet, only the sound of the water boiling in the pot could be heard. After a while, Jing Ci raised her head, looked into Tao Mingzhuo's eyes, and said, "In the afternoon, you walked very fast."

He was calmly stating a fact to Tao Mingzhuo.

But at the moment when he met Jing Ci's eyes, Tao Mingzhuo felt guilty for no reason, he cleared his throat: "Because I... I want to get this painting for you."

Tao Mingzhuo handed the painting to Jing Ci.

"Yes... I painted it with the box of paint you gave me. When I was painting, I always wanted to paint something that meant something special to me, but I couldn't choose anything." Tao Mingzhuo scratched his head. , said embarrassedly, "By the time I realized it, you had already appeared on the canvas."

"Although it seems a bit late, I still want to wish you a happy birthday." He said.

Jing Ci stared at herself in the painting without speaking.

After a while, he raised his hand, touched the bumps formed on the canvas after the paint solidified with his fingertips, and said to Tao Mingzhuo, "It's very beautiful."

"This is the first time someone gave me three precious gifts on my birthday." Tao Mingzhuo heard Jing Ci say, "Thank you."

Tao Mingzhuo was stunned for a moment when he heard "three gifts".

The first gift refers to the kiss from last night, the second gift refers to this painting, and the third gift refers to...

Tao Mingzhuo looked at Jing Ci blankly, and found that Jing Ci was also watching him. The corners of his lips were slightly raised, and his smile was gentle and serene.

He realized that the last gift that Jingci spoke of should be referring to himself.

At this moment, Tao Mingzhuo couldn't hear such words at all.

His heart rate soared instantly, and he felt that his hands and feet had nowhere to rest, his cheeks were burning to the extreme, he lowered his head after a while, and took a deep breath in a panic.

Although he knew that it might be embarrassing for him to say this, Tao Mingzhuo was so itchy in his heart that he finally reminded Jing Ci again: "You, you said 'yes' at noon today."

Jing Ci looked at him in a daze, and asked, "What?"

Tao Mingzhuo immediately showed an expression of disbelief: "I asked you at noon if we could be together, and you said 'yes', I heard it very clearly, you, how can you go back on your word now..."

Jing Ci watched the sudden change of expression on Tao Mingzhuo's face, and after a while, she lowered her eyes as if she couldn't help it, and burst out laughing.

"Well, I said 'yes'." Jing Ci said.

He raised his head, looked into Tao Mingzhuo's eyes, and added: "I won't go back on my word, and I won't go back on my word."

Only then did Tao Mingzhuo realize that Jing Ci was deliberately teasing himself just now.

He was a little annoyed, but he couldn't help being happy because of what Jing Ci just said.

He held back for a while, and finally couldn't help but confirm in a low voice: "Then we, are we a couple now?"

Jing Ci said, "That's right."

Tao Mingzhuo let out a soft "Oh".

He lowered his head again and didn't say anything more. He looked very calm on his face. After staying for a while, he opened the drawer and began to prepare the tableware for a while.

But the moment he just raised his hand, Tao Mingzhuo's arm trembled slightly, and just touched the spoon that was just at hand.

The spoon fell on the ground, and Tao Mingzhuo squatted down to pick it up in a panic, but when he got up, he waved his arm and knocked over the cutting board on the side.

Tao Mingzhuo: "..."

All the ingredients on the chopping board fell to the ground with a clang. The more things were dropped, the more Tao Mingzhuo panicked, and the more panicked he was, the more things he touched, just like a scene in real life. "Tom and Jerry".

Ten minutes passed, and after picking up everything clumsily, Tao Mingzhuo was completely speechless.

Jing Ci knew that if she continued to stay beside Tao Mingzhuo, the temperature of his whole body would soon surpass those sweet potatoes in the pot.

"I'll go to the living room to deal with work first." Jingci said warmly, "The sweet potatoes should be almost cooked, you can help me watch for another 5 minutes, and then put them on the plate, is that okay?"

Tao Mingzhuo looked at him blankly: "Okay."

Jing Ci nodded, took off her apron, then raised her hand in front of Tao Mingzhuo.

It took Tao Mingzhuo a while to realize that Jing Ci meant to help him tie the apron.

In fact, he was just staring at the sweet potatoes in the pot, there was no need to wear an apron at all, but Tao Mingzhuo still pursed his lips and lowered his head obediently.

Jing Ci put the apron around Tao Mingzhuo's neck.

Then he walked behind Tao Mingzhuo and helped him fasten his apron.

Neither of them spoke. Tao Mingzhuo couldn't see Jing Ci's face, but he could feel the movement of the other's hand on his lower back, and he felt his breathing became a little short again.

After a while, Jing Ci walked in front of Tao Mingzhuo again.

He raised his hand, stroked Tao Mingzhuo's hair gently, and said, "Good boy."

The water in the pot began to boil, and the bubbles burst one after another, thick water mist formed on the lid of the pot, and the air was very quiet.

Jing Ci put down her hand, smiled at Tao Mingzhuo, then turned and left the kitchen.

Tao Mingzhuo was stunned for a moment, raised his hand, and stroked his hair.

The boiling water in the pot made a gurgling sound, Doctor Wen ran to Tao Mingzhuo curiously, and looked into the pot with his tail wagging.

Then Tao Mingzhuo suddenly smiled "hehe".

He lowered his head, as if he was speaking to Doctor Wen, and as if he was imitating Jing Ci's way of talking to himself just now, and murmured: "... Be good."

I... am with Jing Ci.

Today is May No.20. Although Tao Mingzhuo has always sneered at such a crooked festival, if it is on himself, then he will be very double-standard and think that this is the arrangement of fate, the fate destined by heaven.

Apart from being happy, Tao Mingzhuo felt a little distressed.

Compared with his clumsy and tongue-twisting state, where his excitement was revealed in every move, Tao Mingzhuo felt that Jing Ci seemed to be able to remain calm and composed forever.

He obviously likes himself so much, and has liked him for so long, why he never shows any flaws when facing himself, and can always be so calm?

Just like when he was taking pictures at the comic exhibition before, Tao Mingzhuo inexplicably had this sour, unreasonable desire to win.

After a while, he came back to his senses, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

Tao Mingzhuo felt that he seemed a little too naive. Since he and Jing Ci were already in a state of mutual affection, why did he need to distinguish who won and who lost, and compare carefully who cared more about whom?

Tao Mingzhuo let out a breath, and then remembered that there were still sweet potatoes in the pot. He looked at the time on his phone, and felt that 5 minutes had passed.

However, when Tao Mingzhuo turned down the heat, lifted the lid of the pot, and took a look into the pot, he was startled suddenly: "This is..."

He froze for a moment, turned his head subconsciously, and looked at Jing Ci who was sitting on the sofa in the living room.

Tao Mingzhuo turned his head around after a while, he didn't make a sound, but the corners of his mouth began to rise uncontrollably.

He turned off the fire, and couldn't help grinning and laughing, while using a spoon to fish out a whole bag of sweet potatoes that hadn't been unwrapped.

The author says:

The flustered stupid couple, hehe