<h4>Chapter 41</h4>


    Thank you so much Papyrus for a coffee!


    TLC: Lilies


    Editor: Mashiro


    Ning Xiaoxiao and Qi Jing set the meeting for 7 PM, at the north part of the city.


    It was because in the text message, Qi Jing wrote that they have a kitten in their ce—he was afraid that if they went out for too long, something might happen to it, so they could only settle with some nearby ce.


    Ning Xiaoxiao readily agreed. In fact, when she received that text message from Qi Jing about an hour after she hung up the call, and got to know that the Little Assistant-kun agreed to go out for dinner, she was beside herself with joy. She was so happy that her half-dried mud face mask cracked from her smiling. She’d be more than happy to pay for a taxi ride around the entire city, much less a short twenty minute bus ride.


    In addition to this, Qi Jing also made a strange requirement.


    “I chose a rtively quiet restaurant, one with a seating arrangement that guarantees privacy. The only downside is, its prices are rather high. If you mind that then dinner can be on me.” That was what Qi Jing said.


    Ning Xiaoxiao mulled over this strange requirement while applying the eyeliner before the makeup mirror.


    Of course, if Senior was willing to treat her, she would be more than happy to take advantage of that.


    The north part of the city was an old town. As city nning was not as developed back then, barely in the early stages, the streets were rather narrow, and the architecturalyout wasn’t as orderly as in the newer districts. After getting off the bus, it took Ning Xiaoxiao quite an effort to find the right ce.


    It was just past 6:45 PM.


    The days were short and the nights long inte autumn, the sun had already sunk below the horizon at this hour. The faintyer of gold around the outline of the city disappeared gradually as the cks started creeping out. The infrastructure of the old town was old, so the street lights seemed weak and feeble, barely able to illuminate the road. The neighbourhood was mainly upied by residential areas, so most of the businesses here were small shops selling daily necessities and offering small purchases at reasonable prices. There were no colourful, dazzling neons on the way.


    “So Little Assistant-kun lives in a ce like that... It’s really surprising.” With her incongruous ‘fashionabledy from big city’ style, Ning Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but mutter under her breath as her high heels click-cked against the asphalt road while she walked.


    She originally thought that the man who would be able to take care of Qi Jing must live in an expensive apartment, have a car and be rich—a true man of sess.


    Her imaginations would often be of Qi Jing meeting a real rich second generation young master. The young master would then see how heartbroken he was, he would pity him, and take an initiative to provide for him like in those TV dramas or something like that—just imagining that made her feel woozy.


    But looking at the present situation, it wasn’t the case at all...


    What’s more, up until now, whenever she met with Qi Jing, it was either near his ce or in the bustling city centre near the state TV station. She was too used to seeing skyscrapers and all kinds of fashionable modern details; now, with the sudden change of style, she felt somewhat ufortable.


    But Qi Jing clearly amodated her in that aspect, as the ce he chose wasn’t that bad.


    On the surface, the shop before her was a restaurant specializing in healthy food, but in reality it also served all kinds of famous teas, so it was usually treated as a teahouse. Just from the exterior it appeared a grade higherpared to the ordinary family restaurants she saw along the way; it was located near the main road, not at some small street or alley, and the interior looked elegant enough. Albeit a little on the in side, the first impression it gave was still very good.


    “Unexpectedly, this ce is not too bad... although it still can’t reallypare to the healthy food restaurant near my house.” Ning Xiaoxiao swept her gaze around the surrounding decorations, her grading system turning on automatically.


    When she was on the way, Qi Jing messaged her, saying that he and Little Assistant-kun had already arrived at the ce in advance and chose a good seat. He told her to just turn left and go straight inside after getting on the first floor.


    She didn’t intend to message the other party to inform him about her arrival, but simply went up by herself, following the directions Qi Jing gave her. After passing seven or eight tables, she finally saw him. It seemed that by “rather private” seating arrangement, he meant that the neighbouring tables’ seats wereid out back to back, separated by a ckcquered folding screen that could block the view of most of the people around.


    Part of Ning Xiaoxiao’s sight was also obstructed.


    Separated by a folding screen, she saw Qi Jing’s face and most of his body. He didn’t notice her at all, as his sight was focused on the seat beside him.


    Ning Xiaoxiao instinctively stopped in her tracks, standing silently in ce to watch from the side.


    From her angle, she couldn’t see the person sitting by Qi Jing’s side, so she didn’t know what he looked like, how he was dressed, or his demeanor, but just the look on Qi Jing’s face was already enough to surprise her.


    That was an entirely different expression than the one she saw during theirst meeting in the hospital.


    And it wasn’t only his expression, even his mental state had thoroughly changed.


    Ning Xiaoxiao remembered Qi Jing’s state at that time vividly&#k2014;his whole being seemed as if he became one with those ice cold, white hospital walls. He only gave a short response to every two sentences she said, as if his ability to speak had beenpletely drained, quiet to the point of being scary.


    That Qi Jing was haggard and depressed, with aplete mess of his neglected appearance—dishevelled hair and unshaved stubble—it was painful to look at.


    While this Qi Jing before her eyes at this very moment seemed to have gained a new lease of life. Decently dressed and well-groomed, he had returned to his usual, gentlemanly self. Even more so, he was brighter, livelier than usual, with his brows and eyes full of smiles. It was as if the stagnant pool of water from before had a rock dropped in it, ripples stirring on its surface, light reflecting on the waves like a reflection of stars in water.


    It was exceptionally dazzling.


    He seemed to be discussing something pleasant, listening attentively at one moment, andughing to his heart content in the next, his eyes narrowing into crescents. His expressions were dynamic and natural, radiating with brilliance. From start to finish, his eyes remained focussed at one ce, never looking away.


    She was a little too far to hear the content of their conversation, but she was sure that Qi Jing’s voice sounded very happy.


    There was one moment where he keptughing until he eventually dropped his eyelids slightly and, to her surprise, smoothly leaned his head over. His face disappeared from her sight for a moment, so he presumably rested his head on the shoulder of the person beside him.


    Ning Xiaoxiao was dumbstruck as she stared nkly at the scene yed out before her.


    She had never seen this side of Qi Jing before.


    Or perhaps she should say, she had previously seen him make a simr expression in their university days, but it was always fleeting like a picture drawn on thin paper, easily torn with a simple touch. It couldn’t evenpare to this clear, honest expression she was seeing now, solid like a carving etched in a stone.


    After a while, Qi Jing’s face has once again appeared in her field of view.


    He was stillughing, and when he naturally raised his eyes, they were suddenly met with her dazed gaze. He froze, not knowing how long she had been watching them. With his face flushed, he couldn’t help but clear his throat a little before saying: “Xiaoxiao... why didn’t you drop me a message if you’ve already arrived?”


    “Because it’s not that far from the bus stop, so I just came here straight.” She came over hurriedly.


    After moving a few steps closer, Ning Xiaoxiao finally saw the legendary Little Assistant-kun. He waspletely different from the Mr Perfect she had previously imagined—although he was indeed quite tall, but his appearance and dressing was quite simple. There was nothing particrly eye-catching about his facial features, but when put together, one could look at it for half a day without getting bored of it. In fact, the more she looked at him, the more she felt the warmth he exuded silently warming her up inside.


    Hearing the cking of her heels as she walked over, that person lifted his head and happened to meet her gaze. He got up lightly, and though he spoke rather softly, he gave a very polite “Hello.”


    Apart from that, he didn’t say any of the usual phrases people often used to start small talk.


    Seems like this person isn’t very good atmunicating with strangers, aplete opposite of Senior... Those two getting together is really interesting. Ning Xiaoxiao felt surprised in her heart. She responded with a ‘hello’, then continued to stare at him without hiding her gaze.


    Shen Yan was probably not used to being stared at like that, so he lowered his eyes slightly though he still stood there with his back straight.


    Qi Jing noticed how tense he was, and tapped on his arm with a smile, reminding him: “Don’t be nervous, Xiaoxiao and I have known each other for years, she’s an old friend. Don’t worry, it’s ok to just talk normally.”


    Ning Xiaoxiao immediately echoed: “Right, right, it’s ok to just talk normally.”


    Shen Yan responded with a nod, but still waited for Ning Xiaoxiao to sit down opposite to him and put down her handbag before sitting back on his ce.


    The second floor of this restaurant was specifically decorated to have hotpots; customers could choose the soup base and ingredients for their dishes.


    Now that everyone was present, Qi Jing gentlemanly abided to the dies first’ principle, pushing the menu towards Ning Xiaoxiao to let her choose whatever she likes. Regardless of the price or the amount, the bill was on him.


    Ning Xiaoxiao beamed as she yed the role of a finedy for a few seconds. But her foodie self was exposed as soon as she opened the menu, and ordered a pile of food in a very udy-like manner.


    Qi Jing smiled as he watched her salivating while looking at the dish pictures, calmly overturning a teacup for her. Just when he was about to reach for the teapot, Shen Yan had already grabbed it on his behalf and began to pour the tea.


    Tsk tsk. Ning Xiaoxiao’s heart stirred.


    With the menu as her cover, her eyes peeked secretly from behind it to observe the two men’s every move, like two camera lenses capturing every trace of intimacy. But to be honest, she never expected that Qi Jing would take fancy in this type of man.


    She thought that with how Qi Jing stayed in the world of media for so long, his taste would be more ‘trendy’.


    Once they were done ordering the ingredients for their hotpot, they chose a nutritious chicken mushroom broth for a soup base, and let the waiter light the fire and serve the pre-heated soup base.


    As the ingredients weren’t served yet, Ning Xiaoxiao seized this moment and took an initiative to start the conversation, showing her usualdylike smile to introduce herself: “My family name is Ning, and my name is Xiaoxiao, currently I’m working in a magazine publisher as an editor. And how should I address you, Little Assistant-kun?”


    Shen Yan answered her seriously, “My family name is Shen, my name is Yan, like ‘yan’ in ‘wild goose’. Right now I’m working in a veterinary clinic as a vet.”


    Hearing him say so, Ning Xiaoxiao suddenly gasped with an ‘ah’, then blinked nkly towards Qi Jing: “Can it possibly be the same clinic you visited for the interview thest time, Senior?”


    Qi Jing smiled, but didn’t answer.


    Memories in Ning Xiaoxiao’s head rewinded for a while with a ‘swooshing’ of cassette tape, and suddenly stopped at the phone call Qi Jing gave her that day. This time she didn’t even have time to blink her eyes, as she shouted and pointed at Qi Jing without any care for her image: “Right! Right! You have asked me about a couple of adjectives before! Something something careful, dedicated, responsible and so on, you have said that it was for describing an interviewee, can it be that it was—”


    Shen Yan was dumbfounded.


    Since he was just an ‘interviewee’ at that point, then it should be at the early stage of their interaction. So that was the impression he gave Qi Jing at that time?


    He instinctively turned his head to look at the author of those keywords. As expected, that person’s ears reddened, and under the guise of propping his head on his hand, Qi Jing covered it to prevent Shen Yan from seeing it. Then, Qi Jing uttered through clenched teeth, “To think you remember it so clearly,ss...”


    Fortunately he had a pot ced before him—once the milky white broth started boiling, the wafting cloud of steam could somewhat conceal his embarrassed expression.


    Shen Yan stared at him nkly for a while, then slowly withdrew his sight. But the warmth that welled up in his heart could not be withdrawn, filling the depths of his chest to the brim. He couldn’t tell if it was soft or firm—he just felt full.


    “It really was him?” Ning Xiaoxiao eximed in realisation and seemingly saw the reason why Shen Yan could be Mr. Boyfriend Under Probation..


    “Yes, yes, let’s start adding the ingredients already.” Just like with the broth, the waiter was quick to bring a few tes of meatballs and vegetable appetizers, giving Qi Jing a way out of this embarrassing situation. He took the lead to shove food towards his Junior, hoping that this would make her shut up and eat in peace.


    Ning Xiaoxiao reorganised her thoughts while putting the ingredients into the broth with her chopsticks. As she arranged the information in her head in a chronological order, she suddenly came to the conclusion that made her freeze on the spot—since they got to know each other because of that interview, then the mutual affections should have developed during the following month when Qi Jing was doing the follow-up.


    If that’s the case, then why didn’t this person visit Senior when he was hospitalised after the ident?


    Was Senior in such a ghastly state because this person didn’t show up? If that’s the case, wasn’t Shen Yan kinda... scummy?


    Her heart fell, and she couldn’t help but secretly start to worry.


    Actually, as a voice-con, she really liked Shen Yan’s voice, even though he barely said thirty words.


    After that, Shen Yan still didn’t take any initiative to talk with her. The current atmosphere was already quite weird to begin with. Wouldn’t the one normally be more proactive towards their boyfriend-to-be’s best friends—trying to get some extra support to earn some point? Or was it that he wasn’t actually that into her Senior?


    As someone who’s always been concerned about Qi Jing’s rtionship status, who he gave his heart to—she couldn’t help but take it upon herself to join the vetting team and seek the answers she needed.


    And so she deliberately gave Shen Yan a meaningful chuckle before bringing up the topic very naturally: “By the way, you said you got to know each other during the interview, while I got to know Senior because we did our undergraduate studies at the same college. The courses we majored in were rtively simr, and as we also were from the same province, we grew close with how often we saw each other.”


    Whenever she was talking, Shen Yan would stop moving his chopsticks and listen quietly and intently till she was done.


    Ning Xiaoxiao thought Shen Yan would say something in response, but he only listened without any sign of wanting to continue the conversation—after she stopped talking, he just nodded once. When all was said and done, she still didn’t know if he didn’t know how to continue the conversation, or was it because he wasn’t really interested and didn’t want to continue it.


    She paused for three seconds—she had no other option but to stay calm, and keep the gentle smile while proceeding with guiding the topic towards him: “So, where did you do your undergraduate studies, Dr. Shen?”


    Hearing this, Qi Jing also lifted his head.


    They hadn’t discussed this topic between them before, so he was also curious for the answer.


    Shen Yan’s expression changed slightly.


    From two different directions, two pairs of eyes looked at him through the steam, stering their gazes on his face. At the same time, the broth in the pot bursted with the sound of intense bubbling sound, boiling fiercely as if it was spurred by those two fervent gazes.


    Shen Yan’s breathing also seemed to have been spurred by them, bing slightly hurried.


    He involuntarily lowered his eyes, his lips parting slightly, but not saying anything for quite a while. The steam gushed from the pot, hitting him in the face which only caused him to feel the chill in his body even more.


    Qi Jing was the first to realise that it might have been not a good question to ask.


    So far, Shen Yan had answered every question he was asked—if he didn’t say anything for such a long time, then it meant that he didn’t want to answer it. Qi Jing was immediately rmed, and was about to hurriedly change the topic, when Shen Yan finally opened his mouth.


    “I didn’t... study as an undergraduate.” Both his voice and eyes were equally lowered. Each word stung like a needle when passing through his throat; because of the pain they caused, sentences became incoherent, “I studied for three years at a vocational school and went out to work immediately after.”


    “Eh...” Ning Xiaoxiao didn’t anticipate such an answer at all, and went dumbfounded on the spot. Fortunately, she quickly got herself back together and said somewhat hesitatingly, “Is, is that so...”


    The university she and Qi Jing studied in could be counted as one of the top universities in China, although it wasn’t as good as Tsinghua or Peking University, but it was still quite famous.


    And the man before her only had a mere professional training diploma.


    Women were naturally more sensitive and suspicious of things, especially if the other party was still ‘under probation’. She already had some doubts concerning Shen Yan, but now, those doubts were like the sand in an hourss, piling up with every passing second.


    Ning Xiaoxiao coughed once, and navigated the topic into a different direction: “Then, is Dr Shen a local? Is your family also living here?”


    “Xiaoxiao,” When Qi Jing heard the words, ‘your family’, his face grew grim, and he interrupted her in a stern voice, “that’s enough.”


    After seeing that photo album, he had an inkling that Shen Yan’s family situation might be unusual, so a question like that shouldn’t be asked directly.


    Ning Xiaoxiao didn’t know what was wrong, as this question seemed rtively normal for her,pletely devoid of anyndmines. Qi Jing’s attitude confused her.


    At that moment, Shen Yan who was silent for a long time suddenly replied in a faint voice: “I’m not a local, I was born in a vige, and only moved hereter. About my family... My grandpa passed away already, so I’m alone now.”


    Ning Xiaoxiao was someone whose mouth moved faster than her brain; the instant a thought popped up in her mind, she would blurt it right out, unable to contain herself. “If your grandpa passed away, then what about your parents?”


    More often than not, one’s family situation greatly impacted how they treated their partner. The magazine publisher she worked for would often take on real-life rted topics, discussing internal disputes of a family, emotional problems of married couples, disagreements of mothers and daughters-inw. It was a force of habit from her profession which she couldn’t get rid of—she was always particrly concerned over this aspect of things.


    Even more so when the other party was the person Qi Jing liked.


    Without thoroughly investigating his circumstances, she wouldn’t be able to tell if this person would treat Qi Jing well in the future, or would he have a change of heart.


    “Xiaoxiao!” Qi Jing immediately grew anxious, and his right hand firmly gripped on Shen Yan’s hand under the table, shaking it a little.


    He wanted to convey to Shen Yan—if you don’t want to say it, then don’t say it. But when he grasped a hold of that hand, his heart skipped a beat out of scare. The back of that person’s hand was ice-cold, his fingers curled into fists, trembling in the shadow.


    “My parents... aren’t locals,” Shen Yan had much more control over his voice than his hands, the tremble in his voice could barely be heard unless one paid close attention, “We haven’t been in touch for a long time.”


    T/N


    Luci: I know that this Ning Xiaoxiao is simply wishing the best for QJ, but gal, where is your seasoned fujoshi’s sixth sense?? This specimen (points at the fluffy goose) might not look remarkable, but I swear, he’s a top tier husband material!


    Mashiro: Totally right luci!!! 100% agreeing with you. (pst, I have chloroform, shall we silence her up secretly when QJ is not looking?)