SM Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Doing it Right Away “I eat people. What’s the difference?”…

He carried the fatigue of working non-stop, even his usual nonchalance and rebelliousness had become weary and slightly decadent.

Zhu Shihao frowned, pulled him inside, and closed the door.

“Why do you look like this? Did you just land?”

Tan Zhi Xu let her do as she pleased. He changed his shoes, took off his coat, which she took and hung up.

He raised his hand to grab her wrist, turning her to face him, his large hand landing on her lower back, pressing her against him. He lowered his head and kissed her lips.

Zhu Shihao blinked, then closed her eyes, raised her arms to wrap around his neck, accepting the kiss and responding to him.

When she noticed the movement of his hand, she let go of one hand and, through her clothes, held the large hand that was pressed against her waist, trying to move upwards.

His eyes were clear, and apart from his voice, his tone was quite calm: “What’s wrong?”

Zhu Shihao pressed on his forearm, pushing his hand away: “Jia Jia is here with me, taking a nap.”

Tan Zhi Xu: “…”

What could he say?

Tan Zhi Xu pinched her face and let her go: “I came straight here after getting off the plane. You’re here taking care of a child?”

She wrinkled her nose and didn’t say anything.

After he washed up and took a can of cola from the refrigerator, he returned to the living room and sat beside her.

“Where are Sister Yi and Brother Min?”

“They went on a date, what else would they be doing, you know them.” Zhu Shihao shared half of her blanket with him, carefully examining him with a frown, “You look tired, get some sleep.”

He relaxed, leaning back on the sofa, reaching out to take the hand she had used to cover him with the blanket, playing with it in his palm, still looking weary: “What are you doing this afternoon?”

Zhu Shihao lowered her eyes to look at his movements, comparing the sizes of their two hands, pinching them, interlocking their fingers.

“Taking her to the park to play, then her parents will come to pick her up.”

“Will she have dinner?”

She shook her head: “Suiyi said she would take her to eat a kids’ meal.”

Tan Zhi Xu held her hand still, hiding it under the blanket. He rubbed his temples with his other hand, feeling like he couldn’t hold on any longer. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“Well, I’ll sleep for a while, I’ll go with you this afternoon.”

She softly “mm” and gently stroked his face with her free hand.

Tan Zhi Xu felt it, lifted his eyelids, and looked at her.

Zhu Shihao withdrew her hand and said softly, “Sleep.”

When he woke up, there was a soft pillow under his head. He raised his left hand and glanced at his watch, it was already 2:46.

He got up from the sofa, propping himself up on his elbow, the blanket slid down and piled around his waist. The projector was showing JOJO, which he knew Jia Jia often watched. According to Sister Yi, she had watched it countless times.

Tan Zhi Xu rubbed his forehead. Sure enough, he saw Jia Jia sitting obediently with her legs crossed, watching intently, her little mouth moving as if she was singing along.

“Turn up the sound.”

She doesn’t know the words, and it’s silent, she’s just watching the pictures.

Hearing someone speak, Jia Jia turned her head with a whoosh, looked at him, and stood up on the sofa.

She didn’t want to turn up the sound. She shouted towards the bedroom, “Auntie, Uncle Zhi Xu is awake, we can go out and play!”

Staring intently, eagerly waiting but not hearing a response, Jia Jia wrinkled her face: “Auntie—”

Tan Zhi Xu stopped her: “I’ll go call her, you watch the cartoon for a bit longer.”

Saying that, he picked up the remote control and turned up the volume for her.

Someone went to call her, which didn’t delay going out to play, and she could watch more cartoons. Of course, Jia Jia was happy to do that.

“Okay, okay, thank you, Uncle Zhi Xu.” Her smiling face was very serious, “Tell Auntie to hurry up, okay.”

Tan Zhi Xu didn’t say anything, just raised his hand to touch her head as he passed her.

The bedroom door was ajar, not closed tightly, probably because she was afraid Jia Jia wouldn’t hear her if she called.

Without the slightest hint of restraint, he opened the door without hesitation. He didn’t see anyone inside. He looked around and walked straight towards the walk-in closet.

The walk-in closet door was half-open. He saw Zhu Shihao, wearing a light blue sweater and black skinny jeans, looking in the mirror, seeming somewhat dissatisfied.

So he stood at the door, watching her take off her sweater and put on a white undershirt, his eyes falling unreservedly on her snow-white skin.

Zhu Shihao put on a light goose-yellow vest and heard a voice.

“Acceptable.”

She turned to look and saw the tall man striding in.

“Just acceptable?”

Tan Zhi Xu put his arm around her waist, and they both stood in front of the full-length mirror. The people in the mirror were very close, almost touching.

He laughed: “Beautiful.”

Remembering that ice-skinned, snow-white body, it was more than just beautiful, it was obviously alluring.

Since he said that, Zhu Shihao didn’t plan to change again. She pushed the person next to her: “Go wash your face and tidy up, it’s time to go, Jia Jia is waiting.”

Remembering the suddenly appearing little lightbulb, he chuckled, putting his arm around her waist and kissing her lips: “Has she been waiting as long as I have?”

Zhu Shihao glared at him.

It made his hands itch, and he wasn’t one to wrong himself. Thinking this, he stretched out his hand and pinched the soft flesh on her face, adding a little bit of strength, but not enough to hurt her.

“Alright, Miss Sun is the priority.”

Hearing this address made her laugh. She raised her hand and gently punched his chest, her voice soft and smiling: “Go quickly.”

Seeing her smile, Tan Zhi Xu’s mouth also twitched. He didn’t say anything else and turned to her bedroom’s bathroom.

Facts proved that no matter how well-behaved a child is, adults are often unable to keep up with their energy. Anyway, after running around with her for two or three hours, Zhu Shihao sincerely felt tired, not only physically but also because she was afraid of losing the child in the crowd.

Finally, she waited for her parents to pick her up.

Zhu Suiyi took her daughter who pounced over, saw Tan Zhi Xu standing next to her sister: “Oh, Zhi Xu is here too.”

A little surprised, but not much.

Tan Zhi Xu nodded to the couple: “Sister Yi, Brother Min.”

Yu Jianmin took his twenty-seven or eight-pound daughter to save his wife from being tired: “Where are you going? Want to come with us?”

Tan Zhi Xu politely refused: “No, we’re not very interested in kids’ meals.”

To Zhu Suiyi, he wasn’t much different from her younger brother. Hearing this, she laughed: “You’ll be there sooner or later, no parent can escape the kids’ meal.”

Tan Zhi Xu shrugged indifferently.

Zhu Shihao then chimed in: “Okay, hurry up and leave.”

Then she pinched Jia Jia’s chubby face, and said with a serious expression, stirring up discord: “Your mom and dad went to eat a lot of delicious food today, and had fun playing, but they didn’t take you. Remember to bargain with your mom tonight.”

After speaking, she grabbed Tan Zhi Xu and ran.

She told her daughter that she and her father were going to work overtime to earn money for her to eat kids’ meals. Now that she was being reported, Zhu Suiyi looked at her daughter with a pout and drooping eyebrows and turned to yell, “Zhu Shihao, are you crazy!”

The sound clearly reached their ears.

Tan Zhi Xu looked down at the person pulling on his sleeve. She had been scolded, but the smile on her face was even brighter. Compared to her usual gentle and quiet appearance, she had a bit more of a rare mischievousness and slyness.

Rare?

Perhaps not to him.

From childhood to adulthood, he had seen all of Zhu Shihao’s appearances long ago.

After running for about a hundred meters, she stopped, a little out of breath, but the person she was dragging had steady breathing.

The corners of his lips lifted slightly: “Happy to be a little mischievous?”

Zhu Shihao, still with her eyebrows curved, turned to look at him, feigning surprise: “This is called give and take.”

She was just repaying Zhu Suiyi, wasn’t she?

Still able to not know them, Tan Zhi Xu pulled at her scarf to keep it from covering her mouth, and said in a light tone: “Yes, your sisterly fun.”

These two sisters, calling each other by their names, the older sister lively and loving to cause trouble, the younger sister gentle and quiet, but when the two got together, they could both stir things up, having a great time hitting each other up.

Even he couldn’t escape this kind of liveliness. He was always forced to join in because of Zhu Shihao.

The two slowly walked towards the parking lot, close to each other, their clothes brushing against each other as their arms swung.

But even so, their arms still hung down, each interaction and then going their separate ways, just like the relationship between them, close yet distant.

Zhu Shihao withdrew her gaze, somewhat distracted.

Suddenly, a large hand tightly gripped her wrist, pulling her.

Caught off guard, she almost fell into his arms, her eyes met with his clear jawline, and she looked up in a daze.

“Zhu Shihao, can’t you watch where you’re going?”

A car drove past, accompanied by the sound of a horn.

She lowered her head and looked at his hand still holding hers, then looked up with a bright smile: “Zhi Xu, what are we having for dinner tonight?”

Tan Zhi Xu was dazed for a moment by her smile. It was only a fleeting thing.

He came back to his senses, originally wanting to say a few more words to her, but somehow couldn’t bring himself to say them. He let go of her, then raised his hand and ran it through his hair, feeling helpless.

What to eat? He wanted to eat her braised ribs, sweet and sour fish, and so much more.

His face didn’t betray anything, just giving her a light glance: “You ran around all afternoon and still want to cook? Let’s just order from a private chef.”

Zhu Shihao nodded: “Okay, let’s go home then.”

Tan Zhi Xu hadn’t driven when he came to her house, and Zhu Shihao had driven when they went out in the afternoon.

After fastening her seatbelt, she tilted her head and asked the person who was lazily sprawled in the passenger seat: “Go back to where?”

“Whatever, go back to wherever you want.” His tone was light, not caring about the question.

Tapping her fingers on the steering wheel, she pondered for a moment and asked him: “Are you only planning to eat, or do you want to eat other things?”

The latter sentence, in their current relationship, was naturally not simple.

Turning his head to look at her, Tan Zhi Xu smiled noncommittally: “I eat people. What’s the difference?”

Because of this phrase “eat people,” some vivid and lively images automatically appeared in her mind. Her face burned, but she still explained in a serious tone: “Then we can only go to your place. I suddenly remembered, Suiyi and the others know my password.”

So when she opened her eyes in the morning, there was an alarm clock standing in front of her.

Hearing this, he just wanted to ridicule her, asking if she was hiding something she couldn’t let people see, but in the next second, he quickly realized that, to her, it might indeed be something that couldn’t be seen.

After pausing for two seconds, he gave a nonchalant chuckle, slowly withdrawing his gaze, his tone even and a little nonchalant.

“Then let’s go to my place. It’s just as well, I don’t even have to change the delivery address, just change the size.”

Zhu Shihao: “…”

Silently starting the car, she drove towards Deep Serenity.

After a long while, her soft voice appeared in the quiet car.

“Tan Zhi Xu, you’re really annoying.”

He looked out the window, not turning his head, but a smile appeared at the corner of his lips.