Whoosh, a ladleful of water cascaded down, and Qi Taiguo shook the water from his hair, taking the towel from nearby to wipe his face.
"Are you hungry? I’ll cook you a bowl of noodles," she offered.
That sentence from Cheng Su echoed in his mind again, and his heart thudded as if it had been struck.
Qi Taiguo felt a peculiar sensation in his chest.
It wasn’t his first mission, and when had he ever not returned to solitude, taking care of himself on his own? But this time, upon entering, someone was waiting for him, her face alight with joy.
Yes, joy—if he wasn’t mistaken, the expression on Cheng Su’s face just now was indeed joyful, right?
"I’ll cook you a bowl of noodles..."
He had headed straight home after completing the mission, and by the time he got home, it was already this late; where would he find anything to eat? But he was used to it—only now, what?
Gurgle, gurgle, Qi Taiguo’s stomach cried out, and his nose picked up a faint but enticing aroma.
He rubbed his belly, dressed in an army green tank top and boxer shorts, with a towel over his shoulder, and left the bathroom.
Cheng Su stood with a large bowl in hand, walking over to the table. Hearing the noise, she turned and said, "All done washing? Come and sit down to eat, or it’ll get burned."
Qi Taiguo was surprised; had she really made a bowl of noodles?
He walked over. In the large bowl before him was a soup noodle dish topped with two pan-fried golden eggs, sprinkled with a handful of sliced scallion, making the white noodles look very appealing.
Gurgle, gurgle, the aroma made Qi Taiguo’s hunger intensify, and he sat down instinctively.
"The days you weren’t home, I didn’t buy much food, and with the weather heating up, our home doesn’t have a fridge, making it hard to keep things like meat, so I could only fry a couple of eggs for you. Make do for now, and tomorrow I’ll cook something tastier, okay?" Cheng Su explained. "What would you like to eat? How about braised meat? You’ve lost a lot of weight."
Qi Taiguo picked up the chopsticks, glanced at her, and said, "Anything’s fine," as he began to eat earnestly.
Cheng Su, on the other hand, was quite pleased. Good communication was a great start.
As she passed on his left, she bent down slightly and saw blood on his arm, gasping, "My goodness, you’re injured?"
Qi Taiguo frowned and looked over. It was the wound grazed by a bullet, which had reopened during the shower because the bandage came off, and now it was bleeding again.
"It’s nothing," he said reflexively, pulling the towel from his shoulder to press against it.
"Don’t move!" Cheng Su held his hand, saying, "It needs to be disinfected. That towel was for your bath; you can’t press it on a wound. You could get an infection. Stay still, I’ll get the medicine box and help you with it!"
Lucky for him, she remembered their home didn’t have a first-aid kit, so on her way back today, she bought some common medicines from a health station and brought them back in a small box.
Qi Taiguo was quite taken aback, watching her walk to the cabinet and return with a box, finding it all the more strange.
What had happened during these days he was away from home?
"You eat, don’t worry about me, or the noodles will turn into paste," Cheng Su instructed, opening the box. "I’m going to disinfect it now, brace yourself for the sting."
How much could disinfecting hurt? Qi Taiguo was somewhat skeptical, slurping up the noodles, but when Cheng Su dabbed the wound with a cotton swab soaked in disinfectant, the sharp pain made him flinch involuntarily.
"Does it hurt a lot?" Cheng Su noticed and looked up to ask.
Qi Taiguo looked at her, her eyes dewy and filled with a mix of pity and concern. He felt a softness in his heart and, a bit awkwardly, looked down and said, "It doesn’t hurt."
Damn it, for a moment, he actually thought Cheng Su looked beautiful!