Pei Yicheng said, "Orange soda?"
Xu Nianhua burst into laughter upon hearing his words; she thought something was lacking in soul, and hearing ’orange soda’ suddenly, it struck her funny.
"Funny?" Pei Yicheng raised his eyebrow, not understanding where the humor lay.
Xu Nianhua composed herself and explained, "Yicheng, I meant to say that eating only the seed kernels without cracking the shells doesn’t feel like truly eating seeds; it feels like something’s missing."
"So you’re not going to eat these?" Pei Yicheng pushed the half plate of seed kernels towards her.
Xu Nianhua was thoroughly shocked, pointing unbelievably at her own nose, and asked, "You peeled these for me?"
"If you don’t like them, never mind then." Pei Yicheng pretended to take them back.
Protective like a mother hen, Xu Nianhua quickly gathered the seed kernels into her hands, saying, "Yicheng peeled them for me, how could I not like them? I like them, really like them."
"Thank you, Yicheng."
Xu Nianhua looked at the half plate of seed kernels, piled up like a small mountain, realizing that peeling so many wasn’t a quick task.
Xu Nianhua picked up a small handful and stuffed them into her mouth; the flavorful seed kernels, unlike the one-by-one peeling usual, where each provided just a little nibble—this handful was a dozen, even dozens of seed kernels, giving a satisfying fullness when eaten.
Xu Nianhua held out the plate to him, saying, "Yicheng, you’ve worked hard!"
With a radiant smile, she looked at him, holding the plate with both hands, her eyes sparkling like stars, even brighter than the stars in the night sky.
Pei Yicheng glanced at the diminishing mound of seed kernels and said nothing.
Moving closer, Xu Nianhua blinked in confusion and said, "You wouldn’t happen to be disgusted because I just ate from them, would you?"
"Look, I picked them up with my hands, it’s not dirty." Xu Nianhua picked up another small bunch.
Suddenly, Pei Yicheng moved closer and ate from the hand she held in front of him.
Xu Nianhua hadn’t reacted at all; the seed kernels her fingers had been pinching vanished.
"Delicious, so good!"
Pei Yicheng lay back in his chair, gazing at the starry sky, a look of enjoyment on his face.
Xu Nianhua stared at Pei Yicheng incredulously and then at her empty fingers; her face, visibly blushing, then, feigning nonchalance, she said, "It does taste quite good."
Calmly, Xu Nianhua ate the remaining seeds, thinking to herself that she’d been alive longer than him by now!
She couldn’t be so easily embarrassed by a mere touch of his fingers; after all, more intimate things would come in the future.
With that thought, Xu Nianhua surreptitiously glanced at Pei Yicheng, then quickly looked away, thinking: To have found such a handsome guy, she was definitely not at a loss, right?
In comparing him to future celebrities, she really couldn’t recall anyone more handsome than Pei Yicheng.
Could this be the so-called ’beauty is in the eye of the beholder’?
As Xu Nianhua munched on the seed kernels, her mind wandered beyond the heavens, completely unaware of Pei Yicheng’s gaze which, though fixed on the starry sky, was actually always observing her face, her expressions, fearing she might get angry. Seeing her sneak peeks at him, his face remained impassive, but inside he was bursting with joy.
He wanted Nianhua to get used to this kind of intimacy, used to his scent.
"Tomorrow, are you going to Taozhuang?" Pei Yicheng suddenly asked.