When Cen Jin returned home, it was already past eleven. The lights in the villa were brilliantly lit. Cen Jin changed her shoes at the entrance and walked inside, where Ms. Qin came out to greet her. Looking at her pale and thin face, she asked with concern, "Why are you back so late today?"
"I was a bit busy today, so I’m late." Cen Jin smiled and asked back, "Mom, why aren’t you resting yet?"
"How could I rest when you haven’t come back yet?" Ms. Qin looked at her and asked, "Are you hungry? Should I make you a bowl of noodles?"
"Sure, thank you, my dear Ms. Qin! You’ve worked hard!" Cen Jin, hearing this, gave a sweet smile, playfully raised her eyebrows, and gave her a slight bow.
"Stop being cheeky." Ms. Qin rolled her eyes at her good-naturedly and lightly tapped her arm, "Go wash up first! I’ll go make the noodles."
Cen Jin joyfully went upstairs, returned to her bedroom, turned on the lights, tossed her bag onto the single sofa, picked up the air conditioning remote from the table, and turned it on. As she walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window to pull the curtains, she accidentally noticed that the lights in the room across on the balcony were also on. Her heart skipped a beat, missing several beats in a row.
An unexpected kiss from four days ago inexplicably surfaced in her mind, her originally pale and pretty face immediately flushed with two obvious blushing hues. Sensing the rising temperature, Cen Jin quickly shook her head, gripped the curtains in both hands, and vigorously pulled them closed. She turned around, covered her chest, and swiftly walked to the dressing room to find her pajamas and went to the bathroom to wash up.
Meanwhile, Jiang Baizhou, who had been sitting at the computer desk, unconsciously curved his lips in a faint smile when he saw the lights turned on in the room across. He silently withdrew his gaze and glanced at his laptop, which was idle on the desktop. His long, slender fingers tapped lightly on the desk, pondering a bit. It seemed like he had been sitting there for two or three hours with nothing much to do on the computer. He slightly frowned, reached out to shut down the laptop, closed it, and got up to walk to the edge of the bed.
For the past few days, he only slept peacefully after the lights in that opposite room came on. He noticed that every time the lights were on was usually around ten thirty. However, when today passed ten thirty and the lights were still off, it threw him, usually proud of his composure, into a fluster. He picked up his phone and put it down countless times, contemplating whether to call her and inquire.
Now that he saw her return, his heart inexplicably settled down.
For her going out early and returning late these days, whether it was really due to being busy or deliberately avoiding him, Jiang Baizhou didn’t investigate deeply. But he naturally hoped it was the former, because if it was the latter, then there were many possibilities.
At least half of those possibilities weren’t what he wanted.
After Cen Jin finished her shower, she dried her hair. Going downstairs, she immediately smelled the aroma of noodles prepared by her family’s Ms. Qin with love.
"Hurry up, if you don’t come down soon the noodles will get soggy." Seeing her come down, Ms. Qin waved her over, took off her apron, placed it on the back of the chair, and sat opposite her.
Cen Jin gave a sweet smile, pulled out the chair and sat down, eating unreservedly. She then gave her a thumbs up, casting a highly appreciative look: "Mm, it has the taste of my family’s Ms. Qin, I like it."
Ms. Qin laughed and gave her a side glance, commenting, "Tomorrow’s the weekend, do you have to work?"