After a bowl of brown sugar black rice porridge, Xu Nianhua felt sweet and warm in her belly. She brought the bowl to the kitchen and asked, "Yicheng, have you eaten? What are you cooking in this pot?"
"Silkie chicken soup," Pei Yicheng’s voice had barely fallen when he paused and said, "You lost a lot of blood this time, so you need to recover properly. The doctor said that Silkie chicken soup is very good, and I happened to stew one. You can have it on the train at noon as a meal."
Now, putting the stewed Silkie chicken soup in a thermos would be perfect for drinking at noon.
"Yicheng, you... got up so early just to make soup for me?" Xu Nianhua looked at him incredulously. The continuous aroma of the chicken soup from the pot puzzled her.
The fragrance felt familiar.
"I couldn’t sleep, and we happened to have a Silkie chicken at home. It’s not like we could wait until next year to eat it," Pei Yicheng didn’t mention that he had specifically sought out this Silkie chicken to nourish Xu Nianhua’s body.
"You could have let Aunt Jin keep it for later. You guys can still have it when you return for the Chinese New Year; the chicken is alive." Xu Nianhua reminded him. Smelling the familiar aroma of chicken soup, she thought about the tonics she had been having every day to replenish her qi and blood, and she felt a sense of familiarity.
"Yining and I are in good health," Pei Yicheng ladled out a small bowl of chicken soup for her to taste.
Xu Nianhua deliberately had a taste. The flavor was indeed very familiar.
As she tasted, she kept looking at Pei Yicheng, feeling that something was amiss.
"Mm-hmm," Xu Nianhua nodded. She countered, "Those soups before, they weren’t all made by you, were they?"
"Yes," Pei Yicheng didn’t deny it. A faint smile was in his eyes as he asked, "Don’t you think I’m amazing? Do you want to drink it again in the future?"
Xu Nianhua gave him the affirmation he deserved, but she didn’t respond to his latter question.
"If you like it, from now on, I’ll make it for you. I’m pretty good at making soup," Pei Yicheng silently added in his heart: as long as she liked it, he was willing to make soup for her for a lifetime.
Perhaps his gaze was too intense, Xu Nianhua felt that if he kept looking at her this way, her heart might just leap out. She quickly changed the subject by asking, "Yicheng, I heard that your design for Xiyue has been approved? Does this mean that, in a few years, we will be able to see the Xiyue Hotel transformed from blueprint to reality?"
"Yes," Pei Yicheng nodded affirmatively. After next year’s final review of the blueprint and construction, the Xiyue Hotel should be visible in about three years.
Xu Nianhua looked at him admiringly and said cheerfully, "Yicheng, I knew you could do it."
"Thanks for your confidence in me."
Pei Yicheng’s lips curved slightly upwards. When he was submitting his tender, he too was uncertain. Pei Guozhong’s project for the Xiyue Hotel was something he hadn’t planned on getting involved with, but apart from this one bid, which he felt most inspired by, he wasn’t as moved by any of the others at the time.
Besides, Pei Guozhong’s open tender was focused on the blueprints, not on him as a person, right?
There were times when he felt insecure deep down, but Xu Nianhua’s words last time had given Pei Yicheng extra confidence.
"That’s because your drawings and designs are good," Xu Nianhua said as the topic shifted. With the discussion in the kitchen now on architecture and design, the atmosphere became less... overwhelming for her.
Talking about his expertise in architectural design, Pei Yicheng spoke eloquently with confidence and charm.
Xu Nianhua occasionally interjected with her insights. Having seen many future architectures, her comments provided Pei Yicheng with quite a bit of inspiration.