When people are in an unfamiliar place, they become especially sensitive to gazes on their backs.
This isn’t any kind of perception of killing intent—it’s just pure biological instinct.
After all, if you think about it seriously, having someone staring at you from behind the whole time is pretty creepy.
Even though Su Ziyan knew clearly that behind him wasn’t some perverted murderer but a mourning beauty, it still made him feel awkward to be stared at directly from behind.
He originally wanted to turn and say something, but he found that Xia Zhi had already retracted back.
Thinking about her performance just now, Su Ziyan didn’t need to use his brain to guess that her social anxiety had probably flared up again.
If you’re sick, just stay in the living room and rest.
What’s the point of secretly peeking at me like this?
Doesn’t it make both of us uncomfortable?
Su Ziyan had a bit of a headache.
Just while washing vegetables, he had turned around several times because of the gaze at his back.
But surprisingly, Xia Zhi, who looked like an otaku girl who didn’t exercise much, reacted so quickly.
She dodged every time he turned around so many times.
But being stared at like this was too uncomfortable.
Su Ziyan could only turn back and said helplessly,
“Miss Xia Zhi, there’s no need to stare at me like that. I’m not going to steal your eggs.”
Yet behind him, there was still no one, quiet as if even a speck of dust hadn’t been disturbed.
Su Ziyan sighed softly, and his tone turned serious:
“Miss Xia Zhi, please don’t treat me like a fool, okay?”
There was another long silence. Then Su Ziyan saw a hand extending from around the corner, holding a phone with a scrolling text that looked like those used in concert audience seats.
“I just wanted to tell you not to cook rice. I’ve been on a diet recently and don’t want to eat too many carbs.”
‘Do you think I believe that?’
Su Ziyan didn’t need to think much to know it was an excuse she had hastily come up with.
But he didn’t call her out on it.
He just responded,
“Alright, Miss Xia Zhi, you can go back and rest for a while, watch some videos. I’ll call you when the dishes are ready.”
This time, the gaze behind him completely disappeared.
Probably knowing that if she got caught again she’d have no more excuses, she felt too embarrassed to keep sneaking peeks.
Su Ziyan finally let loose and quickly stir-fried two dishes.
Since she didn’t want rice, he specifically made both dishes lighter.
Surprisingly, the kitchen utensils and seasoning in the house were very new, yet they did show signs of use.
Some marks were so “intense” that Su Ziyan suspected someone had used them to fight a world war.
After wiping the dining table clean with paper towels, he brought the dishes over and thoughtfully set the tableware for Xia Zhi.
Even Xu Duyan didn’t get such treatment.
After all, if Su Ziyan cooked, she would be the one to bring the bowls and wash them.
But an elder sister is different from a boss.
Even if this boss was as pitiful as a little puppy.
No, he shouldn’t think that way. That would be a great disrespect to the boss.
After all, not many bosses pay so well and have such high looks that just looking at them is pleasing to the eye.
Thinking this, Su Ziyan went to the living room to call Xia Zhi for dinner.
By now, Xia Zhi was no longer blushing.
She sat on the sofa hugging her knees, playing on her phone.
That beautiful face had returned to the cold and aloof look Su Ziyan saw when they first met.
Su Ziyan couldn’t help but freeze when he saw her revert to her cold beauty form.
Even though she had been in this form more often during their short meeting, the earlier pitiful puppy form had left too deep an impression.
This strong contrast was hard for him to accept for a moment.
After all, it was hard for him to imagine that the expressionless world-weary mourning beauty in front of him had just been blushing and shrinking into a ball, not daring to speak or move, trembling every time he said something.
For a moment, Su Ziyan wanted to try teasing her to see if Xia Zhi would revert to her previous form.
But the thought only flashed by. After all, a sense of distance must be maintained between boss and worker.
Subordinates should respect the boss! You can’t smooch the boss… No, you can’t make casual jokes with the boss.
Xia Zhi, having regained her aloof form, was no longer as flustered as before.
She controlled her expression well, nodded at Su Ziyan, and then sat down at the dining table.
Actually, normally her refrigerator was full of all kinds of drinks and instant foods.
If she hadn’t decided to change herself a couple of days ago, she wouldn’t have ordered so many groceries from Meituan.
And the day before yesterday, she had tried cooking according to online tutorials.
The tutorials were indeed easy to follow.
Although the food didn’t taste good, and due to inexperience the utensils got banged up quite a bit, at least there was no fire, right?
Of course, after tasting a bite, she expressionlessly dumped the food.
That damn taste made her drink two bottles of water, filling her up, and she didn’t even order takeout afterward.
Anyway, she had decided to temporarily give up the idea of cooking herself.
She originally thought that after finding someone to take care of her, she could learn a thing or two.
But she didn’t expect it to turn out like this.
When Xia Zhi sat at the dining table and looked at the two dishes in front of her, she felt her appetite stirring.
The rate of saliva secretion in her mouth sped up.
But it shouldn’t be like this. Was she just too hungry?
After all, she had eaten all kinds of delicacies since she was a child.
Even now as an otaku girl ordering takeout, she always ordered the best and most expensive.
How could she react like this to two simple dishes?
Xia Zhi reached out to pick up the chopsticks to take some food.
But she found her hands trembling, as if from hunger.
She took a bite of potato slices and put them in her mouth.
The taste wasn’t as good as she imagined.
It was just the plain, ordinary taste of green pepper and potato slices.
But for some reason, Xia Zhi clearly felt her nose sting, and tears fell.
After a long time of irregular diet and eating takeout, when someone else cooks fresh food for you, a strange feeling of emotion rises in your heart.
The food doesn’t have to be particularly delicious.
But fresh-cooked dishes just feel different from takeout.
As for Xia Zhi, she had been eating takeout for almost two years.
In other words, no one had cooked for her by hand in two years.
It turned out she wasn’t shaking from hunger—she was just anticipating.
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