She didn’t know if it was because the weather was too hot or she was too nervous, but her palms were sweaty from holding the two boxes of cookies. Her reaction seemed overly unsettled, while Jiang Baizhou still stood there with his dark eyes particularly indifferent, showing no intention of responding to her, adding a bit more awkwardness to the already somewhat cold atmosphere.
His clear and indifferent gaze was too sharp for her to ignore, so she had to brace herself to meet his eyes, breaking the silence: "Uh... when did you get back?"
"This morning." His deep voice was calm, yet carried a clear sense of detachment.
"So, was the business trip smooth? I heard from Aunt Hui Zi that they’re considering giving you a position there and thought you might choose to stay there for the job and not come back!" Maybe it was because they hadn’t seen each other for more than half a year that Cen Jin felt unfamiliar with Jiang Baizhou.
"I’m still holding a position at Nanda."
"Oh... alright!" His concise answer left Cen Jin suddenly unsure how to continue the conversation. Having his gaze fixed on her made her feel somewhat unnatural. Glancing at the coffee table not far away, she suddenly remembered the purpose of her visit, quickly walked over, placed the cookies on the table, waved her hand, and smiled warmly: "Um... these are from my mom for Aunt Hui Zi. You’ve just come back, must be tired. I’ll head back now and not disturb your rest."
"Won’t you stay for a cup of tea?"
Just as she was about to leave this place of trouble, Jiang Baizhou spoke again, his tone lazier than before.
Cen Jin stopped, turned to look at the expressionless Jiang Baizhou: "Tea? You want me to have tea in this hot weather?"
A trace of an unclear glint flashed in Jiang Baizhou’s eyes, as if he noticed something. His cool lips pressed into a straight line as he took a few steps to her side, bent over to pick up the remote control from the coffee table, turned on the air conditioner in the living room, and then went to the kitchen. He took a bottle of iced soda from the fridge, came back to her, and handed it to her.
Seeing her stand there, unmoved, Jiang Baizhou slightly raised his eyebrows, brushed the cold soda against her cheek, and shoved it into her hand.
The soda, just taken from the fridge, felt cold yet comfortable in her warm palms, and it also erased the sweat from her hands. Cen Jin gave him a soft smile: "Thank you."
As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of the door opening and footsteps came from the doorway. Cen Jin looked up to see a well-maintained middle-aged woman in a dress walk in. Cen Jin immediately smiled and called out: "Aunt Hui Zi, you’re back."
"Cen Jin is here." The woman beamed with a happy smile upon seeing Cen Jin. She carried her things over to her, glanced at Jiang Baizhou standing not far away, and asked Cen Jin with a smile: "How come you have time to visit today? Speaking of which, I haven’t seen you for more than a week."
"I’ve been working overtime recently, just got a day off today. My mom made some cookies and sent me over to bring them to you."
"Xuesu is just something else. You’re so busy with the studio, and rare to get a day off, and she still sent you over with cookies. She could’ve just sent a WeChat and had Bai Zhou pick them up." Yu Hui took Cen Jin’s hand, handed the bag in her other hand to Jiang Baizhou, and after he took it, she pulled Cen Jin to the living room to sit: "You came at the perfect time. I just went to the supermarket and bought some groceries. Stay for dinner tonight. I’ll call Xuesu over later. It’s rare for you to have a day off, and Bai Zhou is back from his business trip. It’s been so long since we had a family gathering."