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墨書 Inktalez
Shouya did not drive her back to the town first, but instead turned towards the vegetable market. The car stopped next to the market, Shouya turned off the engine, unbuckled his seatbelt, turned to An Xin Ya, and said, "You wait in the car for me. I'll be right back."
An Xin Ya softly replied with an "mm," and heard Brother Shouya open the car door and get out, followed by the sound of the door closing. She slightly tilted her ear to listen to the noisy sounds outside, catching a whiff of vegetables and fish, along with the voices of people bargaining... She guessed that this was indeed a vegetable market.
It was Shouya's first time at such a market. Dressed in clean and tidy clothes, with a handsome face, he attracted the attention of many aunties who were either buying or selling vegetables.
Without haggling over prices, he bought fresh vegetables and meats as he saw fit. Afterward, he returned to the car carrying a large number of items and placed them in the trunk.
"Brother Shouya, what did you buy at the market?" An Xin Ya asked curiously when Shouya sat back in the driver's seat.
"I..." Shouya turned his face to look at An Xin Ya, smiling as he said, "Just bought some vegetables. I’ll cook for you when we get back."
Hearing this made An Xin Ya momentarily stunned; she felt inexplicably touched but also embarrassed. She said, "Brother Shouya, you really don’t have to go through all that trouble. I could just grab a bowl of soup noodles from downstairs."
"Not a hassle at all! Besides, I have nothing else to do right now, so I might as well cook for you..." Shouya said while driving.
An Xin Ya didn’t know what to say. With him helping her—buying breakfast, driving her to visit her grandmother in the hospital, and now buying groceries to cook for her—she felt unsure how to repay him.
Upon returning to the town, Shouya got out of the car, walked around to the front, opened the door carefully for An Xin Ya, and then took out the groceries from the trunk.
He helped An Xin Ya up to the second floor. Just as they reached the top of the stairs, an elderly man came down from above. He had gray hair and a plump figure, wearing a white tank top. Upon seeing An Xin Ya return with a handsome boy assisting her, he paused for a moment and smiled broadly, saying, "Xinya, is this your boyfriend?!"
An Xin Ya was taken aback. Recognizing that it was Uncle Yang, who also lived on the second floor, she felt her face flush when he referred to Brother Shouya as her boyfriend. She quickly explained, "Uncle Yang, he's not my boyfriend; he's my friend."
"Oh!" Uncle Yang laughed heartily, realizing he had misunderstood. However, they did look quite compatible together. After that, he said nothing more and walked down past them.
As Shouya assisted An Xin Ya up to the second floor, she rummaged through her bag for her keys but struggled to open the door. Seeing this, Shouya said, "Let me try!" He took the key from her hand and quickly opened the door with a click.
Once inside, Shouya placed all the groceries in the kitchen and looked around. The kitchen was quite small and filled mostly with old furniture.
Suddenly, there was a sharp sound from the living room. Startled, Shouya hurried out of the kitchen and was shocked to see shards of glass on the floor while An Xin Ya bent down trying to pick up the pieces. He heard her gasp in pain as she quickly withdrew her hand after cutting herself.
"Xinya, are you okay?!" Shouya stepped forward and nervously grabbed her hand, noticing the bright red blood oozing from her fingers, then put it in his mouth to suck on it.
"How could you be so careless?" Shouya frowned and scolded.
"I just wanted to drink some water, so..." An Xinya felt a bit thirsty and reached for the kettle to pour some water, but she didn't expect it to be so scalding hot. As soon as she picked it up, it slipped from her hands.
"Why are you so foolish! If something like this happens, just call me!" Shouya helped her sit up and went back into the room to look for a band-aid. Fortunately, he found one. He took it out and carefully wrapped it around her wound.
Although there was still a slight sting, Shouya's words warmed An Xinya's heart a little. She lowered her eyelids and said, "I shouldn't keep bothering you!"
"What do you mean bothering? Aren't we good friends? Good friends help each other, right?" Shouya squatted down, looked up at her, and asked softly.
An Xinya didn't respond. Although he said that, this kind of help seemed a bit excessive for her.
They had only known each other for a few days. How much did they really understand about each other? His eagerness to help her and his attentive care made her think too much.
"Just sit tight. If you need anything, just call me," Shouya said as he got up. He first cleaned up the glass shards on the floor, then poured a cup of water for An Xinya, reminding her to be careful as it was hot. After that, he went into the kitchen to get busy.
An Xinya sat quietly, listening to the sounds of pots and pans coming from the kitchen. Suddenly, she stood up and walked to the kitchen door, saying to the busy Shouya, "Brother Shouya, is there anything I can help with?"
"No need! Just sit outside! Besides, your hand is still injured!" Shouya turned his face towards An Xinya at the door with a smile while wearing an apron.
An Xinya didn't say anything further; he was right. Her hand was injured, and given that her eyesight wasn't great either, what could she possibly help with? She might end up causing more trouble!
However, instead of returning to her seat to wait, she stood at the kitchen door silently listening to the sounds of Brother Shouya cooking...
"Alright! All done! It's time to eat!" Shouya untied his apron and set it aside. He sat down and served a steaming bowl of fragrant soup in front of An Xinya. Then he carefully handed her a spoon.
An Xinya gently said "thank you," sniffed the soup, then brought it to her lips to taste. It was a bit hot; she couldn't help but furrow her brows and exclaimed, "This is cilantro leaf pork slice tofu soup!!"
"How is it? Is it good?" Shouya looked intently at An Xin Ya's expression, as if he could tell she didn't like the soup he made.
"It's good, but..."
"But what?" He genuinely cared about An Xin Ya's opinion.
"I don't like cilantro," An Xin Ya said.
"In that case, I'll go in and make it again..." He was about to get up when An Xin Ya quickly grabbed him and shook her head, saying it wasn't necessary. It wasn't that she disliked it; she just wasn't fond of the taste of cilantro. However, she still drank two bowls of soup because she didn't want to make Brother Shouya feel awkward, always putting her first.
After finishing the meal, Shouya brought out a fruit platter and saw An Xin Ya sitting at the desk, reading a braille book with her hands.
He walked over, placed the fruit platter beside her, and asked, "What are you reading?"
"Nothing much, just an interesting story," An Xin Ya replied with a slight tilt of her face and a smile.
"Can you tell me what kind of interesting story it is?" Shouya found a chair and sat beside her, quietly watching her profile.
Before An Xin Ya could start telling the story, Shouya's phone in his pocket buzzed again. He took it out to check; it was a call from the base. He wondered what it was about.
He got up and walked to the window to answer. It was Rafas calling them back for a meeting.
After hanging up, Shouya felt quite helpless. He turned to look at An Xin Ya and walked in front of her, saying, "I have to go for a bit. You stay home and behave; don't go anywhere, okay?"
"Okay!" An Xin Ya nodded.
"If anything happens, remember to call my number." Shouya looked at her with concern, gazing at her smooth forehead. He really wanted to lean down and kiss her.
But he couldn't and shouldn't do that; it would only make her feel startled and confused.
As she was about to leave An Xin Ya's house, he reminded her once again.
The next morning, a beam of gentle sunlight shone through the small window. Lying in bed, An Xin Ya furrowed her brow slightly and then opened her eyes. The blurry figure of Shouya appeared in her mind, and she could still hear his gentle and pleasant voice ringing in her ears...
She truly did not know what Brother Shouya looked like, but from her grandmother's description, he was handsome, refined, elegant, and cultured... She wasn't sure if what her grandmother said was true; it sounded like she was praising a star, elevating him to great heights. This made her think about him constantly, wanting to see what he really looked like and whether he possessed all the qualities her grandmother spoke of.
She got out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.
After drinking the water and putting down the glass, she went to the bathroom to wash up, then proceeded to do her laundry. For these trivial tasks that were within her capability, she always did them herself.
At that moment, An Xin Ya seemed to hear some noise. She turned off the faucet, tilted her head slightly to listen; the sound was coming from the living room. Suddenly feeling nervous and scared, she stood up cautiously and carefully made her way out of the bathroom, calling out softly, "Who is it? Who's there?"
"Xinya, it's me!" came Shouya's voice from the living room.
"Brother Shouya?!" An Xin Ya thought she must have misheard something. The voice clearly came from the living room; how could he be in her house? She also heard some chaotic footsteps. With vacant eyes staring straight ahead, she groped her way into the living room.
"Take it slow, be careful! Good, move it into the kitchen over there..." Shouya stood at the door while two burly workers carefully carried a refrigerator inside, moving the old one aside and placing the new one inside. One of the workers checked the power supply and plugged it in to see if it worked... After everything was set up, they took away the old refrigerator and walked out covered in sweat.
Shouya took out his wallet from his pocket, pulled out some money to pay them, and thanked them.
"Brother Shouya, what are you doing?" An Xin Ya felt a bit flustered. She heard not only Brother Shouya but also others; it seemed they were moving something into the kitchen. Confused, she asked him.
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