Chapter 74: The Love-Brain Female Lead Awakens 17

Actually, Sang Ruo could understand Yi Chen’an’s refusal too.

Sharing a key naturally carried a different meaning, and this man was careful about propriety, firmly guarding his boundaries.

But she just liked teasing him, liked seeing that helpless look on his face. Then, little by little, she would slowly nibble away at those precarious boundaries of his.

After a bout of unreasonable pestering,

she heard a helpless sigh from the man, and in a low voice, he called her name, “Ruo Ruo…”

It was soft, almost a murmur.

That one gentle call instantly froze every movement of a certain overgrown child.

This was the first time Yi Chen’an had called her without using her full name.

In that instant, Sang Ruo could clearly feel her chest tighten.

After clinging to him for so long, this man had finally spoken her nickname with a tenderness different from usual.

Sang Ruo stared fixedly at the man before her, her eyes full of hope.

Had she finally become just a little different to him?

But before she could say anything, Yi Chen’an had already reined in all his emotions, turned his gaze away, and stopped looking at her.

He took the blueberries from the table to wash them, and amid the intermittent sound of running water, his voice drifted over.

“Last time at the supermarket, didn’t you say their blueberries didn’t seem fresh? A new fruit shop opened downstairs. I thought these blueberries looked pretty good, big and plump. They weren’t sour when I tried one either. Taste them.”

He was talking a lot.

An unusual amount.

Which made it unusual.

But the atmosphere from just now had completely vanished.

Sang Ruo slowly got up and went to take the blueberries the man had washed for her. They really did look good, large and sweet.

She simply hugged the bowl and ate from it, though her mind was wandering elsewhere.

She noticed Yi Chen’an glancing over here again and again. She turned toward him, picked one up, and held it out to him.

Yi Chen’an didn’t take it, looking like he wanted to say something but stopping himself. “It’s fine. I won’t eat it.”

“Oh.” Sang Ruo popped it back into her own mouth.

Yi Chen’an kept looking over from time to time, and Sang Ruo had no idea what he meant by it.

A little while later, Yi Chen’an finally seemed unable to bear it anymore. He snatched the bowl from her hands and said, “Stop eating.”

How could he not even let her eat? That instantly made her mad.

Just as her delicate brows knit together, she heard Yi Chen’an say, “Are you still going to eat dinner later or not?”

Looking down, she saw that she had unknowingly eaten almost the entire salad bowl of blueberries to the bottom.

Only then did she realize how stuffed her stomach felt, and she hurriedly stood up. That made her feel a little better.

Sang Ruo accused the man as he took the bowl from her, “Why didn’t you remind me?”

Yi Chen’an didn’t answer. He cleaned up the bowl and the bits of damaged fruit flesh Sang Ruo had placed on a napkin, then shook his head and let out an exaggerated sigh. The meaning was obvious. He was complaining that she was hard to please.

Hmph. Very displeased, Sang Ruo declared that she was going to read.

Yi Chen’an found it amusing and didn’t stop her.

Come to think of it, it really was strange. Usually, Sang Ruo was emotionally steady and kind to others.

She was especially good at treating herself well, and normally she didn’t bother getting upset over every little thing.

Back when she was with Zhou Yan, she had felt that everything he did was good. Even just one extra smile from him could make her happy for half a day. How could she bear to nitpick some of his shortcomings?

That was also why this one-sided relationship of hers had been able to last so long.

But in the relatively short time she had spent with Yi Chen’an, her moods kept flaring up every now and then, and her spoiled young lady temper often surfaced to cause trouble.

Whenever she was unhappy or upset, she never hid it in front of him.

Clearly, they hadn’t actually spent that much time together, but whenever they were together, there was this kind of ease and sense of security that felt almost like being at home.

Only then did Sang Ruo belatedly realize that she had been acting spoiled with Yi Chen’an unconsciously. So she already liked and trusted him that much, even more than she had imagined.

The thought made her smile, and she stopped being angry with that clueless, hopelessly straight man.

Mm, although she still had to make a note of it in her little ledger and settle accounts with him later.

Her mood was wonderful, and her stomach was full.

She was able to calm down and read, so she went straight to the guest room she usually stayed in.

On such a high floor, with the door shut and the windows closed, it was wonderfully quiet.

Without realizing it, she had already memorized a thick stack of review materials.

It wasn’t until Yi Chen’an knocked on the door and called her to eat that she suddenly realized it was already nine at night. She had held the same posture for too long, and her hands and feet felt sore and numb.

Expecting Yi Chen’an to cook was unrealistic. The only things he could make were quick semi-prepared dishes that just needed heating.

He had already boiled enough noodles for the two of them in the pot, and had even, rare as that was, chopped some scallions. There was still some of the meat topping Sang Ruo had stir-fried before, and he had heated half a bowl of it and set it on the table.

Sang Ruo sat by the table waiting to eat. Watching the man in the kitchen pick up and mix the noodles with a solemn expression like he was facing a great enemy, his movements slightly flustered, she saw him holding a soy sauce bottle over the bowl of noodles in complete indecision before looking at her. “How about… you season it?”

Sang Ruo thought this man was ridiculously adorable. Maybe beauty really was in the eye of the beholder.

As for seasoning, all that really meant was adding a little soy sauce. The meat topping already had plenty of flavor in it.

She decided to rescue this poor man from the pots and pans, but then remembered that he would still have to cook noodles on his own in the future, so she took a deep ladle and explained, “If you’re eating mixed noodles with meat topping, you don’t need to add soy sauce. If you’re adding broth, then for every ladle of soup, add half a bottle cap of soy sauce. Just count it out like that next time.”

Yi Chen’an watched very seriously, looking genuinely as though he had been taught something.

This man was seriously too cute. He was going to be the death of her.

The two of them sat facing each other, eating an ordinary bowl of noodle soup with meat topping. The noodles had even been cooked too long, so the texture wasn’t very good. But in the hazy steam, looking at the man bent over his bowl eating noodles, she somehow tasted a feeling of peaceful years and a stable, tranquil life.

Even with such male beauty right in front of her, final exams were truly right around the corner, so she could only put away her wandering thoughts and focus on preparing for them.

Setting Yi Chen’an aside, this really was a great place to study. She studied until she was dizzy from memorizing, often not turning off the lights to sleep until very late at night.

But then she couldn’t get up in the morning.

With her irregular schedule of staying up late and waking up late, Yi Chen’an finally couldn’t take it anymore and asked, “Can’t you go to sleep earlier at night and move your review to the morning? Wouldn’t your condition in the morning be better than in the middle of the night?”

Sang Ruo still wasn’t fully awake. Lazily eating takeout, she looked at him pitifully and said, “I want to, too. But what am I supposed to do if I just can’t get up?”

At first, she thought she was going to get lectured all over again, but in the end, he didn’t say anything more.

Sang Ruo focused on reviewing and had no time to consolidate her standing in the Yi family’s kitchen scene. For the past two days, she could only follow a certain male host with poor cooking skills and eat takeout or noodles.

It was honestly miserable.

Still, her review efficiency was especially high, so with a bit of selfishness mixed in, she suggested that before finals, whenever they had no classes, they could come here to study.

As expected, the suggestion was rejected without mercy.

She could understand it.

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t upset.

So she jabbed at him with her words. “What, are you worried I’ll steal your stuff while you’re not home?”

The man didn’t argue with her. Even she found herself boring after saying it, and she began to suspect that Yi Chen’an simply hadn’t been installed with an argument module. Otherwise, why was he able to take all of her unreasonable fussing in stride?

So she smoothed things over on her own and said, “Then I’ll come over again this weekend.”

This time, she didn’t hear any objection from him, so she took it as his agreement.

But before the weekend even arrived, she couldn’t hold back anymore. Everywhere she looked in the library, the students studying on their own were in pairs, yet she was still pitifully single?! Lifting her head from her dull review session, which had finally come to a pause, she decided to go see her man.

Sang Ruo sent Yi Chen’an a message, using the excuse that she wanted to check on how the dried lychees were doing, but he seemed to be busy and didn’t reply.

Could that possibly stump Sang Ruo? Not at all.

The first time breeds familiarity, the second time makes it easy. Like an old horse that knows the way, she found her way to Yi Chen’an’s residential complex.

In the hallway, she ran into Xiong Zai again. The two of them could count as comrades who had waited by the door together before, so Xiong Zai was a little more familiar with her now, and they even played together for a while.

Of course, “played” was only from Sang Ruo’s side of things. In truth, Xiong Zai simply no longer bared its teeth at her.

Another day without getting to pet any fluffy fur.

She knocked on the door, but no one came to answer for a long while. Could it be he still wasn’t off work? Just as she was about to head downstairs to wait at the convenience store, the lock clicked.

“Uh…” However, Sang Ruo didn’t recognize the person who came to the door. He had a buzz cut, a pink polo shirt, and beige casual pants. She couldn’t tell whether he looked stylish or tacky. “Sorry, I think I got the wrong door.”

Could it be that Xiong Zai had led her the wrong way and onto the wrong floor?

“Oh, oh, it’s fine.” The man who had opened the door nodded politely and closed it again.

Sang Ruo turned toward the elevators, then turned back.

“That’s not right.” She hadn’t gotten the wrong door. Just as she was puzzling over it, the door opened again, and a familiar figure appeared before her.

“Why did you come?” Yi Chen’an clearly hadn’t expected it either.

“Well… I sent you a message.”

“I was too busy just now and didn’t look at my phone.” Then he stepped aside and said to the girl who liked playing with dogs, “Come in first. A few friends are here today, so the place is a little messy.”

It was quite lively inside. Several men were gathered around in the living room chatting. There were also a few bottles of alcohol and some braised snacks on the coffee table.

Very good, there wasn’t a single woman present.

But it seemed she had come at a bad time.

Yi Chen’an introduced everyone. The pink polo shirt from earlier was called Yang Ji, and he was the first to joke his apology. “I was really blind, actually shutting the guest out. But then again, who would’ve thought Old Yi would ever have a girl come over? You’re the first.”

“Ah, I wouldn’t really count as a guest.” Sang Ruo casually tossed her bag aside and sat down next to Yi Chen’an.

“Oh?” They immediately started making noise. “Not a guest, huh? Old Yi, come on, tell everyone what’s going on here.”

Sang Ruo let them tease as much as they wanted and even followed up on what had just been said. “You all said no girls ever come here. Is his luck with women really that bad?”

“As for him, what a waste of that face. What’s the point of having good luck with women when the guy doesn’t understand romance at all? We’ll be seeing each other often in the future, so let’s just get acquainted today.”

As he spoke, he picked up a cup to pour Sang Ruo a drink, but Yi Chen’an pressed his hand down. “Drop that hooligan act of yours. Sang Ruo hasn’t even graduated yet.”

“Ohohoho~” Everyone started hooting again. “Old Yi, we’ve known each other for so many years. Never thought you were this kind of person.”

Naturally, the one who said that got kicked by Yi Chen’an. “What nonsense are you spouting? If you don’t know how to talk, then shut up.”

Sang Ruo found an empty cup, poured herself some soda water, and raised it. “Getting acquainted is definitely necessary. Nice to meet you all for the first time. I’ll use water in place of wine and offer everyone a toast.”

“Straightforward.”

Someone urged Yi Chen’an to drink. “It’s fine for Student Sang to drink water, since you’re the one not allowing it. But in that case, Old Yi, shouldn’t you be the one to drink two cups for it to count?”

“You guys…” Yi Chen’an sounded helpless as he watched his old friends act like lunatics.

Still, he filled his own glass to the brim and tipped his head back to finish it.

Yi Chen’an went to the bathroom.

Taking advantage of the lively atmosphere, Sang Ruo pulled out her phone. “Now that we’ve met today, we’re all friends from now on. Come on, come on, brave heroes, let’s add each other.”

She made no effort at all to hide her ambition when it came to Yi Chen’an.