Chapter 210: You Are So Beautiful ③
Nie Qiu did not have the habit of using a handkerchief. This handkerchief was bought by Nie Aifang, and it was actually meant for making silk flowers. This was because an auntie who also sold things at the vegetable market had a good chat with Nie Aifang and told her that a silk flower made from her down jacket would look good as a brooch.
Perhaps it was because she had leisure time from doing this work, or perhaps women in love tend to care more about their appearance. Nie Aifang asked Nie Qiu to buy her a handkerchief from a small vendor outside the vegetable market to make a silk flower. She didn’t have any tissues with her, so she used this handkerchief to wipe Li Kai’s hand.
Because the small wound had already congealed, Nie Qiu wiped away the congealed blood. The surface of the wound peeled open, and blood seeped from all four fingernail marks. Seeing this, she stuck out her tongue and licked the wound. She remembered a nanny doing this to her once. Although she couldn’t remember which nanny it was, she was the best nanny to her. After she fell and scraped her knee, bleeding, that nanny had licked it with her tongue, and the wound really didn’t hurt as much afterward.
The faint taste of blood on her tongue made Nie Qiu frown. The blood was gone from Nie Qiu’s licking.
Li Kai only felt a tickle on his palm, his palm was wet, and Nie Qiu was sticking out her tongue, seriously licking his palm. As a healthy adolescent, he suddenly felt uncomfortable all over. Curiosity about the opposite sex and the restlessness of adolescence made him fidgety. He immediately blushed, and the redness on his face slowly spread to the roots of his ears. The thin tips of his ears turned purple, as if they were about to bleed. He uncomfortably retracted his hand and stammered, “It… it… it’s fine, Nie… Nie Qiu, I don’t hurt anymore, really, not at all.”
After hearing Li Kai say this, Nie Qiu carefully looked at the wound on Li Kai’s palm. Seeing that the blood had stopped flowing, Nie Qiu let go of his hand, looked up at Li Kai, and was surprised, then couldn’t help but laugh, “Haha… hehe… hahaha…”
Li Kai’s face was bright red, almost transparently red, his ears were so red they looked like they would bleed, and he looked nervous and uncomfortable. When Nie Qiu looked up, this was what she saw. Thinking about how Li Kai had stammered earlier, she couldn’t help but find it funny.
Hearing Nie Qiu’s laughter, Li Kai’s face turned even redder. He said helplessly, “Nie Qiu, stop laughing.”
Nie Qiu smiled as she looked at Li Kai, feigning ignorance, “Li Kai, what’s wrong? Why is your face so red?”
“N-nothing…” Li Kai’s face, which had just cooled down, turned red again when he heard Nie Qiu ask him this question and thought about the scene just now. He even cautiously squeezed his legs together.
“Hey, why is your face red again?” Nie Qiu asked with a smile.
“You’re still asking, it’s all… it’s all because of you.” Li Kai felt like crying but had no tears. He held Nie Qiu’s hand tightly, straightened his back, and said sternly, “Don’t move, don’t talk! Don’t move, and don’t talk!” He didn’t realize that the two sentences he said conveyed the same message.
Upon hearing this, Nie Qiu quickly lowered her head and covered her mouth, laughing. However, she accidentally saw that Li Kai’s pants were slightly bulging as he sat. She was a little surprised, but also understood. Her face turned red, then white, then red again. In the end, she still listened to Li Kai and didn’t move or speak anymore.
Nie Qiu didn’t move or speak anymore. Li Kai breathed a sigh of relief. He stared straight ahead, not daring to look at Nie Qiu.
When they arrived at the rented residential area where Nie Qiu lived, Nie Qiu got out of the car. Li Kai paid the fare and also got out. Nie Qiu didn’t expect Li Kai to get out too and was stunned when she saw him. The driver gave them a meaningful look and drove away.
Seeing the car drive away, Nie Qiu quickly shouted, “Hey, taxi!” Li Kai hadn’t gone back yet! It wasn’t as convenient to get a taxi in their residential area as it was outside People’s Park.
But the car’s engine was a bit loud, and the driver inside couldn’t hear Nie Qiu’s voice.
Li Kai coughed, “Nie Qiu, aren’t you going to cook for Auntie? Let’s go! I’ll help you.”
“You… it’s already late, aren’t you going back?” Nie Qiu asked.
Li Kai didn’t expect Nie Qiu to still not understand after his hints. He quickly said, “I’ll cook with you. After we finish cooking, we’ll go to the vegetable market together. Don’t worry, I won’t go into the vegetable market. I’ll just hail a taxi on the road outside the vegetable market.”
Nie Qiu didn’t expect Li Kai to still not understand after her hints. Helplessly, she said, “Alright!” With that, she led Li Kai upstairs.
This was Li Kai’s first time visiting Nie Qiu’s new home. He followed Nie Qiu with the excitement of being able to peek into the private life of the girl he liked.
Nie Qiu took out her key from her purse and opened the door. Nie Aifang mopped the floor every day. She bought a few pairs of disposable slippers for hotel use at the supermarket. They usually wore slippers at home. Nie Qiu placed a new pair in front of Li Kai and smiled, saying, “Slippers.”
Li Kai understood, of course. They also wore slippers when entering their house. Every time he didn’t wear slippers, his Mom Li would scold him severely. He also knew that mopping was not easy, and keeping things clean was not easy either. He took off his shoes, put on the thin, slightly awkward disposable slippers, and walked into Nie Qiu’s home.
The living room, about twenty to thirty square meters, had a television, a sofa, and a coffee table, looking quite presentable. Past the living room was the room, and next to the room was the kitchen. Nie Qiu went into the kitchen as soon as she entered the room, and Li Kai followed behind her.
What surprised Li Kai was that the kitchen was completely different from the living room. Although it was decorated, what was placed on the board, which was about the height of a foot, was it? If he wasn’t mistaken, it should be a honeycomb briquette stove commonly seen at night market snack stalls. Next to the honeycomb briquette stove was a gas cylinder about calf-high, connected to a gas stove on a marble table half a person’s height. The entire kitchen was so simple and impoverished.
Nie Qiu picked up a small box from the rice bucket placed by the kitchen cabinet, scooped two boxes of rice into a small basin, then turned on the faucet, poured water into the small basin, and began to gently rub the rice in the small basin. After doing this twice, she refilled it with water and placed the small basin aside. She would soak the washed rice for one or two minutes before cooking, which would make the rice expand and become fluffier.
Seeing that Nie Qiu seemed to have finished one task, Li Kai cautiously asked, “Nie Qiu, is there anything I can help with?”
Nie Qiu thought for a moment, took out a piece of ginger and a bunch of scallions from the kitchen cabinet, and handed them to Li Kai. “Please scrape the skin off the old ginger and trim the scallions. After you’ve prepared both, wash them under the faucet.”
