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Chen Yuncheng hesitated for a moment but did not get out of the car. He stretched out his hand and pressed the back of Ning Junyan’s hand holding the steering wheel, and said, “Wait a moment,” then turned to look at Guan Anlin, “What else do you need?”
Guan Anlin looked at Ning Junyan, but said to Chen Yuncheng, “Get out of the car.”
Chen Yuncheng looked at Ning Junyan again.
Ning Junyan didn’t say anything. He just suddenly turned off the car and then reached out to pull the door, looking like he wanted to get out of the car.
Chen Yuncheng’s heart jumped heavily. As he ignored the injury in his palm, he pulled Ning Junyan hard, and said, “Don’t go.”
Ning Junyan looked back at him.
Chen Yuncheng’s tone became heavier, “You are not allowed to go!”
Ning Junyan looked coldly at Guan Anlin outside the car window.
Chen Yuncheng looked down at his hand and said, “I wonder if the wound is bleeding again.”
Ning Junyan frowned, grabbed Chen Yuncheng’s wrist to make him release his hand, turned over to look at the gauze in his palm, then let go of his hand and said, “Go on your own, then.”
Chen Yuncheng breathed a sigh of relief. He said, “I’ll be quick.” He then pulled open the car door and got out.
He didn’t go far, just stood beside the car door and asked Guan Anlin, “What else do you need?”
Guan Anlin asked, “Who is he?”
Chen Yuncheng said, “My friend.”
Guan Anlin looked at Ning Junyan’s car parked on the side of the road and said, “When did you get a friend who drives a Land Rover?”
Chen Yuncheng didn’t answer and only said, “That’s all you’re asking for?”
Guan Anlin looked back, looked at Chen Yuncheng, and asked him, “Where are you going?”
Chen Yuncheng said: “I can’t live in my kiosk for the time being, so I’m staying at a friend’s house.”
Guan Anlin looked a little irritable, “That’s not what I’m asking, what are you going to do now your kiosk is closed?”
Chen Yuncheng was silent for a while before answering him, “I haven’t thought about it, but I definitely won’t do anything illegal.”
“That’s what kind of person I am in your eyes, isn’t it?” Guan Anlin suddenly shouted at him.
Chen Yuncheng looked at him with mixed feelings and finally said, “I want to go do something else to earn money to pay off my debt. I said I still consider you a brother if you’re willing to treat me as a brother too. Stay away from Zhang Wenyong. Let’s do this together. You’re still young and time is still on our side.”
After speaking, Chen Yuncheng turned around and opened the car door to get in the car. This time Guan Anlin did not stop him but stood on the roadside in a daze.
Ning Junyan didn’t say a word and waited until Chen Yuncheng said, “Let’s go,” before he started the car again and left.
The place where Chen Yuncheng and Guan Anlin were talking just now was not far from the car, and their voice was not too low. He felt that Ning Junyan must have heard it, and couldn’t help turning his head to look at Ning Junyan’s expression.
However, Ning Junyan had always been expressionless, and Chen Yuncheng couldn’t quite guess what he was thinking.
Several minutes passed before Ning Junyan took the initiative to speak and asked Chen Yuncheng, “Have you finished packing up your things in the kiosk?”
Chen Yuncheng nodded, “Yes, I’ve sorted out the goods that are still in good condition. I called the supplier, they’re willing to recycle some of it, and the rest should be dealt with at a low price.”
“And then what do you plan to do?” Ning Junyan continued to ask.
Chen Yuncheng didn’t answer directly. He didn’t tell Ning Junyan about his ambitious aspirations of being a truck driver, and just said, “I haven’t thought about it.”
Ning Junyan said, “There’s no rush, take your time to think about it.”
Chen Yuncheng felt that the topic was running in a dangerous direction, so he shut his mouth and did not continue.
Ning Junyan did not drive directly home or take Chen Yuncheng to dinner. He parked his car in the parking lot of a large-scale member-only supermarket near the neighbourhood.
“You want to buy something?” Chen Yuncheng asked him when he got off the bus.
Ning Junyan replied, “I’m buying ingredients to cook for you after we got back.”
Chen Yuncheng closed the door quietly.
His feet were still limping, but not serious enough to affect walking. His hands were wrapped in gauze, and Ning Junyan didn’t let him push the shopping cart, so he could only follow Ning Junyan to go into the supermarket together.
Ning Junyan really had nothing at home. When he wanted to cook, not only he had to buy vegetables and rice, but also seasonings, and even some kitchen utensils had to be temporarily arranged.
As Chen Yuncheng saw that his shopping cart was full, and now Ning Junyan was picking beef again, he couldn’t help but said, “Let’s forget about cooking tonight. Let’s eat whatever we want.”
Ning Junyan asked him, “Don’t want to eat beef?”
Chen Yuncheng said, “Let’s just eat whatever you want. I just don’t want to go to that much trouble.”
Ning Junyan said, “I’ll do it, I don’t feel it’s troublesome.”
Chen Yuncheng glanced at the time. It was almost seven o’clock now, and when they went back to cook and get the food ready, there was no telling when they would be able to eat dinner.
He had to say to Ning Junyan, “It’s too late and you’ll be hungry. Why don’t I cook noodles for you tonight? I can’t cook other complicated dishes, but it’s still okay to cook noodles.”
Ning Junyan looked at him, “Are you going to cook for me?”
Chen Yuncheng smiled and nodded.
Ning Junyan said, “Okay.”
However, he still bought some meat and vegetables, intending to go back and freeze them in the refrigerator and leave the supermarket with three big bags full.
Back at home, Ning Junyan first took apart the gauze on Chen Yuncheng’s hand to see how the wound on his palm was recovering, and then gave him a new, clean gauze.
Chen Yuncheng went to the kitchen to cook noodles, and first sorted out the seasonings that Ning Junyan had bought and put them in the cupboard.
Ning Junyan cleaned the pots, tableware and spoons that were barely used, and picked and cleaned the vegetables bought today.
Chen Yuncheng looked at him from the side and found that Ning Junyan was indeed more skilled than him in these tasks in the kitchen.
When the noodles were boiled, Ning Junyan never left the kitchen, but stood by and looked at him.
Chen Yuncheng was a little nervous, his forehead sweating slightly from the hot water boiling in the pot. He turned to look at Ning Junyan, and said, “Why don’t you go out and wait?”
Ning Junyan leaned against the door, folded his arms in front of his chest, and said in a flat tone, “I want to watch you.”
Chen Yuncheng turned his head to stare at the pot, and stirred it unconsciously with chopsticks, feeling the heat smoulder into his face, so much so that his face began to get hot.
There was no disagreeable taste, so Chen Yuncheng only added green vegetables and beat two eggs in the noodles he cooked.
As he sat face to face with Ning Junyan in the living room eating the noodles, Chen Yuncheng tasted the noodles himself and found them unpalatable, so he raised his eyes to look at Ning Junyan opposite him.
Ning Junyan seemed to eat deliciously.
“Doesn’t it taste bad?” Chen Yuncheng asked.
Ning Junyan said, “It’s okay, I can eat it.”
Chen Yuncheng was a little embarrassed, “So it’s not too good?”
Ning Junyan said to him, “If that’s the case you can cook for me alone, don’t cook for others.”
Chen Yuncheng lowered his head, poked the bowl twice with his chopsticks, and continued eating noodles in silence.
Later, Ning Junyan went to wash the dishes. Chen Yuncheng kept thinking about the blatant words that Ning Junyan said this morning. He felt like a tortoise with a shrunken head, and then Ning Junyan kept teasing outside his shell with a chopstick. And whenever he couldn’t resist sticking his head out to bite the chopstick, Ning Junyan would chop him off with a slash to the head.
He was so scared that he couldn’t figure out what he was afraid of Ning Junyan. From their childhood to now, Ning Junyan was probably the best person in the world to him. Ning Junyan would choke Guan Anlin’s neck and beat the foster father with a stick, and if he was injured a little, Ning Junyan could squat down for him to rub his feet. Ning Junyan will not hurt him, what is he afraid of?
It would do no one any good to remain silent in such a vague manner.
Chen Yuncheng was already lying in bed at night trying to sleep when he suddenly figured something out. He got up from bed and decided to go and talk to Ning Junyan.