Under meals

The troubles encountered in the cooperative project with the U country team were far more than Jingci expected.

The difference in language and time zone caused this period of time to be overwhelmed even by Jing Ci, who was used to high-intensity work.

Jing Ci and Li Yupo discussed it and decided to set up a separate studio in country U in the future, so that while the teams of the two companies can better cooperate, they can also try to develop overseas markets.

This decision was actually very sudden. Jing Ci hesitated when she proposed it to Li Yupo, because there would be many uncertain factors and more things to consider when opening a branch overseas, and such risks are not Everyone is willing to take a risk.

Unexpectedly, after hearing this proposal, Li Yupo was directly happy: "To tell you the truth, I actually had this idea a long time ago."

The thoughts of the two coincided with each other. Of course, Jing Ci couldn't handle such a big matter alone.

Li Yupo happened to be on vacation for more than half a year. After taking wedding photos with his girlfriend on the island, he was going to return to China to help Jingci check it out.

Li Yupo sighed on the other side of the phone: "You don't know, your sister-in-law has chosen ten dresses for this wedding photo, and it will take another two or three days to take pictures, so I'll have to work hard on you for a while, Xiaoci. "

Jing Ci knew that although what he said sounded like a complaint, it was actually a secret show of affection for her, so she answered "OK" with a smile on the other end of the phone.

After a busy day, Jing Ci felt extremely tired.

He knew that he might not look very good, so he adjusted his expression in the rearview mirror when he got home, and then got out of the car.

After pushing open the door, Jing Ci found that the living room was not turned on, only a small light was on in the dining room.

Jing Ci saw Tao Mingzhuo and Doctor Wen at the dining table.

Tao Mingzhuo was sitting with his back to Jingci, and Doctor Wen squatted at Tao Mingzhuo's feet, wagging his tail listlessly.

There were prepared dishes on the dining table, Tao Mingzhuo lowered his head, and Doctor Wen drooped his head. For a moment, Jing Ci felt that they both looked listless.

Jing Ci hesitated for a moment, and said to Tao Mingzhuo, "I'm back."

Physician Wen let out a "woo" when he heard the sound, and ran to his feet with slow steps.

Jing Ci felt a little strange, knelt down and patted its head, and asked Tao Mingzhuo, "Why is it listless?"

When she raised her eyes, Jing Ci found that Tao Mingzhuo had turned around at some point and was staring at herself silently.

It may be because the light in the living room is relatively dark, and Tao Mingzhuo is sitting a little far away, half of his face is covered by shadows, and Jing Ci can't see the expression on his face clearly.

After a while, he heard Tao Mingzhuo say: "...When I took it for a walk in the park just now, I was scared by someone else's Chihuahua again."

Jing Ci smiled when she heard this, raised her hand and patted Doctor Wen's head lightly, and said, "Coward."

Physician Wen seemed to understand what he said, hummed a little bit unhappy, ran to the soft cushion next to the sofa and lay down.

Jing Ci changed her shoes, walked to the dining table, and was taken aback when she saw the dishes on the table: "How did you cook so many dishes?"

Tao Mingzhuo was quiet for a while, and did not answer Jing Ci's question, but looked into his eyes and asked, "What did you have for lunch?"

Jing Ci was startled slightly.

He had been busy at the company all day, and without Tao Mingzhuo by his side, he naturally didn't have lunch at noon, so he said, "I ordered takeaway at the company."

Jing Ci originally thought that Tao Mingzhuo was just asking casually, but he didn't expect that after he gave the answer, Tao Mingzhuo still stared at him straightly, and continued to ask: "What did you order for takeaway?"

Jing Ci raised her eyes suspiciously, and found that Tao Mingzhuo had no expression on his face.

Because he didn't have lunch at all, he hesitated for a while before giving the answer: "It's...the Cantonese dim sum we ate before."

Tao Mingzhuo didn't speak for a long time.

While being watched by him, Jing Ci felt a little unspeakable uneasiness in her heart.

Tao Mingzhuo's state today is very strange, he doesn't seem to be in a good mood, Jing Ci thinks about it, and thinks something may have happened to Tao Xue.

He opened his mouth and wanted to ask something, but he saw Tao Mingzhuo nodded and said hoarsely, "...let's eat first."

Jing Ci hesitated for a moment, and decided to ask after dinner.

Tao Mingzhuo picked up a slice of meat with chopsticks, lowered his head and stuffed it into his mouth, Jing Ci followed Tao Mingzhuo's movements, and put a slice of meat with chopsticks into the bowl.

Then he heard Tao Mingzhuo say abruptly: "Jing Ci, you have lost a lot of weight."

The weather was getting hotter, the workload was heavy, and she hadn't eaten dinner for a while, so Jing Ci naturally lost a lot of weight.

When putting on the clothes two mornings ago, Jing Ci found that the waist of the clothes was indeed wider, but she also felt that it was not a big deal.

He wanted to wait until Tao Mingzhuo was busy with Tao Xue's work, and he was no longer as busy and tired as he is now, before confessing his illness to him.

At that time, everything can be restored to the previous state.

Jing Ci knew that he was concerned about herself, so she smiled gently, and replied: "It's been hot recently, so I have a bad appetite, and I ate a little less than before."

Tao Mingzhuo was quiet for a while, then suddenly asked softly: "...Did you eat less or did you not eat?"

Jing Ci didn't hear clearly, and raised her eyes blankly to look at the person opposite: "What?"

But Tao Mingzhuo didn't look at him, he just poked the rice in the bowl with his chopsticks, and said calmly after a while: "...I'm just joking."

Before Jing Ci could say anything, Tao Mingzhuo suddenly put down the chopsticks in his hand and stood up.

"I'll go upstairs." He said dryly, "I suddenly remembered that I have a drawing that I haven't passed on to Yang Keying."

Jing Ci was a little surprised.

Because Tao Mingzhuo has always been very focused and devoted when eating, he is the kind of person who doesn't even look at his mobile phone, and he never gets up to do other things while eating.

Maybe it was because this drawing was really important, Jing Ci was taken aback for a moment, but still nodded, and said to him: "Go, I'll wait for you."

Tao Mingzhuo was silent and nodded.

Jing Ci thought that he would turn around and go upstairs, but Tao Mingzhuo picked up the empty bowl in front of Jing Ci, lifted the rice pot next to him, and filled him with a bowl of rice.

"You need to eat more." Tao Mingzhuo's voice sounded calm, "I made fried pork slices that you like very much today. I remember the last time we ate together, you ate two bowls of rice."

He put the full bowl of rice back in front of Jing Ci.

"Don't wait for me." Jing Ci heard him say, "When I come down, I want to see you finish this bowl of rice, okay?"

It was obviously a question, but Tao Mingzhuo didn't give Jing Ci a chance to answer, so he turned around and went upstairs.

Jing Ci was stunned, he stared at Tao Mingzhuo's leaving back for a while, then lowered his head, looking at the full bowl of rice in front of him.

He hesitated for a moment, and felt a little at a loss for a while.

The fried pork really goes well with rice, but what made Jing Ci eat two bowls of rice in a row was not the taste of this dish, but Tao Mingzhuo who was sitting across from him with puffy cheeks.

Jing Ci picked up the chopsticks, took a tentative mouthful of food, and frowned slightly.

Sure enough, it was still hard to swallow.

It's not that it's unpalatable, but it's just that I really can't generate any appetite. Even just chewing in the mouth, before swallowing, Jing Ci feels that her stomach is full.

Jing Ci pondered for a while, staring at the bowl of rice as high as a hill in front of her, and remembering Tao Mingzhuo's advice just now, she felt a little headache for a while.

He hesitated for a moment, and first moved the fried meat from his side to Tao Mingzhuo's side with his chopsticks, exposing the bottom of the plate, pretending that he had eaten a lot.

Immediately, he poured the rice back into the rice pot, and pressed the rice hard with a rice spoon, trying to make the volume of the rice in the pot look smaller.

Ten minutes later, Tao Mingzhuo went downstairs.

Tao Mingzhuo glanced at Jing Ci, and then his eyes fell on the clean rice bowl in front of Jing Ci, without any expression on his face, and he didn't speak.

Jing Ci pursed her lips and asked, "Are you done with your work?"

After a while, Jing Ci saw Tao Mingzhuo nodded slowly.

He heard Tao Mingzhuo say, "Give me the bowl."

Jing Ci didn't react at first, but just looked at Tao Mingzhuo's face blankly.

Tao Mingzhuo took a deep breath and asked, "Do you want to have another bowl?"

In fact, even if Tao Mingzhuo didn't ask himself, Jing Ci originally planned to wait for Tao Mingzhuo to go downstairs before serving a bowl of rice, watching his face and eating with him.

If Tao Mingzhuo asked such a question, it would save trouble in a sense. Jing Ci nodded hesitantly, and handed him the bowl.

In fact, Jing Ci feels a little strange, because Tao Mingzhuo has always been very aware of his lack of appetite.

In the past two days, every time Tao Mingzhuo took the initiative to ask for more food, Tao Mingzhuo would be stunned for a moment, and while taking the rice bowl with a smile, he would also tease him a few words.

But at this moment, Tao Mingzhuo's state seems to be different.

He didn't speak, the action of serving the rice was very vigorous, and his whole body was very tense, even the blue veins on his forearms were clearly visible.

Jing Ci felt that Tao Mingzhuo seemed to be suppressing some emotions. Although there was no expression on his face, when he was digging the rice in the pot with a rice spoon, Jing Ci saw that his hands seemed to be shaking a little.

Because Tao Mingzhuo used too much force to fill the rice, when he put the rice from the spoon into the bowl, his hands were a little unsteady, causing some of the rice that had just been filled to fall into the pot again.

If it was just doubts just now, then now Jing Ci is very sure that there must be something wrong with Tao Mingzhuo's mood at the moment.

Jing Ci looked at his face and asked softly, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Tao Mingzhuo lowered his head, and slowly scraped the rice grains remaining on the rice spoon with the edge of the rice bowl.

After a long time, Jing Ci heard him say: "...It's nothing, Yang Keying's progress is a bit slow, so there is no way to advance to the next step."

Jing Ci froze for a moment, then nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry." He said, "Everyone's progress can't be exactly the same when working in a team. Girls are more careful, and slowing down is to ensure quality."

After a long time, Jing Ci heard Tao Mingzhuo's vague reply and put down the spoon.

He served Jingci a very full bowl of rice.

The moment the two eyes met, Tao Mingzhuo lowered his head, the hair on his forehead blocked his eyes, and did not give Jing Ci a chance to continue to explore his eyes.

Jing Ci noticed that the line of his jaw looked a little tight.

Tao Mingzhuo's chest rose and fell, he seemed to hesitate to speak, but in the end he just exhaled silently, and put the bowl in front of Jing Ci.

His movements were heavy, so when the rice bowl collided with the table, there was a harsh and crisp sound.

Jing Ci stared blankly at Tao Mingzhuo's face.

But Tao Mingzhuo didn't look into his eyes.

He sat down opposite Jing Ci, after a moment of silence, he picked up the chopsticks in front of him, lowered his head and said, "Eat."