Finance channel
After dinner, Sun Miao didn’t let Su Ruixi clean up alone this time. Since Su Ruixi had also pitched in today, helping wash vegetables and boil water, the two of them cleared the dining table together, dealt with the plates, and put them in the dishwasher. Finally, they cleaned the kitchen once more.
Sun Miao was afraid she might have missed something in the garage, so she went to check again. Only after confirming there were no issues did she return with peace of mind.
It wasn’t that Sun Miao was being overly cautious. Su Ruixi had spent a fortune on the renovations, and even the garage had been meticulously tidied up. If she splattered blood or left a smell, wouldn’t that be a major offense? After finishing these tasks, Sun Miao returned to the kitchen, her eyes fixed on the chicken soup.
Around this time, Su Ruixi should be watching the financial news. For a rare moment, she felt lazy and snuggled up beside Sun Miao, unwilling to leave. When Sun Miao asked why she wasn’t watching TV today, Su Ruixi leisurely went to the living room, turned on the television, and started watching.
Actually, she often knew some related information about many news items in advance. But only when these were reported in specific news segments or journals could she confirm their authenticity and validity. Su Ruixi never missed these programs, a habit instilled in her by her parents.
These news programs might seem dull and uninteresting, but to a keen observer, they were full of useful information. Although this habit was a bit old-fashioned1, Su Ruixi genuinely found it very useful.
Sun Miao watched for a while, then, for reasons unknown—perhaps the system suddenly decided to show great mercy—it said: 【Go ahead if you want to. I’ll watch it for you.】
“You’re being this nice?”
【Are you going or not? If you don’t go, I’ll stop watching.】
“I’ll go.” How could Sun Miao miss out on free labor? Hearing the system say this, she quickly abandoned the system and the large pot and headed for the living room. Seeing Sun Miao approach, Su Ruixi was somewhat surprised. “Not watching your chicken soup anymore?”
“I can check on it again in a bit.”
Su Ruixi shifted to the side, and Sun Miao walked over and sat down. She actually quite wanted to watch with Su Ruixi, hoping to cultivate some common hobbies and interests. Otherwise, she’d be the only one talking about daily trifles, while she couldn’t keep up with anything Su Ruixi said.
But she wasn’t cut out for it during her school days, and it was the same now. The finance channel’s programs were a bit too formal. The barrage of related information made her head spin, strongly reminding her of being in English or Math class back in school—it made her want to sleep.
While Sun Miao struggled to keep her eyelids open, Su Ruixi felt much more relaxed. Having someone by her side, especially someone she liked, made even watching the program feel much more interesting. Su Ruixi did enjoy watching this news, as it was closely related to her company and plans, but she couldn’t lie and say the program was incredibly fascinating.
It was only by concentrating that she could watch these things and even jot down key information on her tablet.
But with Sun Miao beside her, Su Ruixi also relaxed a bit, feeling it wasn’t so boring after all.
When she had watched most of it and wanted to ask Sun Miao what program she wanted to see, she turned her head only to find Sun Miao leaning her head against the other side of the sofa, having quietly fallen asleep at some unknown point.
She wasn’t sleeping deeply, just couldn’t stay awake any longer. Su Ruixi believed that if she just called her name softly, Sun Miao would immediately open her eyes and wake up. But at this moment, Su Ruixi felt a little reluctant. Sleeping Sun Miao looked so well-behaved and soft.
To be honest2, Sun Miao was definitely not a great beauty.
She was pretty and charming, with a fresh and pleasant look, but she didn’t wear makeup, always presenting a bare face to the world3. No matter how good her natural features were, they couldn’t withstand such neglect. Constant exposure to wind and sun had made her skin look a bit rough, and she was even two shades darker than Su Ruixi.
Yet, Su Ruixi just felt that she was truly beautiful. Temperament can change one’s appearance; that saying wasn’t just empty words. Even when asleep, the corners of Sun Miao’s mouth were slightly upturned, as if she were having a sweet dream. The way she looked so relaxed and comfortable on her sofa made Su Ruixi feel from the bottom of her heart that these were peaceful and beautiful times.
She was just leaning her head there, her soft hair, still slightly damp, spread out on the sofa. Some strands, pressed slightly curly, framed her cheeks, making her entire person appear even softer. Her eyelashes rested on her cheeks, and because she was lightly asleep, they would occasionally tremble, looking particularly endearing.
She wore the plainest clothes, yet they matched her genuine leather sofa exceptionally well.
Su Ruixi felt it wasn’t just a case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder4; Sun Miao was just that good-looking and likable. As if bewitched, Su Ruixi gently raised her hand, slowly moving closer to Sun Miao. Her fingertips landed on a strand of hair beside Sun Miao’s cheek, nudging it aside slightly so she could see Sun Miao’s face better.
Before this, Su Ruixi would have found it hard to imagine that one day, just by seeing someone asleep on her sofa, she would feel as if her whole body was immersed in warm water, feeling toasty all over.
At this very moment, she also wanted to sleep with Sun Miao, and even more, she wanted to see what sweet dream Sun Miao was having that made even the corners of her eyes crinkle with contentment.
Would she be in the dream? Would it be in her home? Would they be doing trivial yet heartwarming things together? Su Ruixi’s mind was filled with these questions, leaving no room for anything else.
Su Ruixi wanted to gaze at Sun Miao’s sleeping face a little longer, but Sun Miao suddenly woke up on her own. She looked a bit dazed, as if she hadn’t quite registered her surroundings, but she quickly became clear-headed. She opened her eyes, looked at Su Ruixi, and smiled faintly.
After a short while, Sun Miao yawned. “Did I fall asleep?”
“Mhm, you slept for a while.” Actually, Su Ruixi didn’t know when Sun Miao had fallen asleep, but she guessed it must have been for a fair amount of time, because she herself had been watching the program for quite long.
Only then did Sun Miao stand up. “I need to check on the chicken soup. I think it’s almost ready.” Sun Miao hurried towards the kitchen, but Su Ruixi felt a little dejected—that darn chicken soup! If it weren’t for it, she could have looked at Sun Miao’s sleeping face a bit longer.
Su Ruixi didn’t yet know that Sun Miao had been woken up by the system. Otherwise, sooner or later, she and the system would become irreconcilably opposed.
The system woke her up at just the right time. One look told Sun Miao the chicken soup was almost done. She skimmed off the rendered fat, removed the chicken meat and bones, then added more water to simmer again. This time it wouldn’t take long; in half an hour, it could be taken out directly.
This batch of soup looked even clearer than yesterday’s. Looking at it, Sun Miao felt it was about seventy to eighty percent as good as what she could make in her system space. She picked up a large ladle, scooped out a bowlful, and looked at Su Ruixi, who had followed her into the kitchen. “Susu-jie, want some noodles with this?”
They had both deliberately avoided staple foods during dinner, precisely for this moment. Su Ruixi nodded, naturally agreeing, “Okay.”
Sun Miao worked quickly. She took out some dried noodles5 from Su Ruixi’s pantry. While she put a pot on to boil the chicken soup for the noodles, she didn’t forget to use another frying pan to fry two eggs. Sun Miao also added some bok choy seedlings6, bought from the supermarket, to the clear chicken soup noodles. Finally, she ladled it out, added a pinch of salt, a dash of sesame oil, and placed the fried eggs on top. It was the simplest vegetable and egg noodle soup.
Neither Su Ruixi nor Sun Miao took their bowls out of the kitchen. Since they had already eaten dinner, Sun Miao hadn’t made much; a few chopsticks’ worth would finish it. The main purpose was to have a sip of the soup and taste it.
They stood by the central island counter. Sun Miao picked up some noodles with her chopsticks, blew on them gently, and then started eating. Su Ruixi followed suit. Before eating, she even tidied her hair a little. When the noodles entered her mouth, Su Ruixi fell silent.
—It was truly delicious. They were still the same noodles from her house, and the housekeeper had previously used the soup she brought back to make her vegetable noodles, but this was completely different from before.
Back then, she felt the noodles had tainted her soup. But now, the noodles and chicken soup complemented each other perfectly. Only by chewing carefully could one discern that the chicken soup was a cut above, yet even so, the noodles were elevated by this soup to a level they didn’t originally belong to.
The ingredients were the same, and even the cooking method seemed no different, but the taste was worlds apart.
Moreover, the seasoning was very light, which further enhanced the clear fragrance of the chicken soup. This chicken soup was even better than yesterday’s. It was indeed worthy of the free-range chicken Sun Miao had specially bought; its freshness was on another level. At this moment, Su Ruixi finally understood the sentiment with which ancient people wrote verses like, “The chicken soup’s clear fragrance is sweet to the taste; a full jar warms the body and dispels the cold.”
It was just that delicious. One sip, and her whole body felt warm, as if sunshine had landed on her. If it felt this warming to drink it on a day like this, then in winter, a bowl of chicken soup would surely dispel even the severe cold.
Besides that, the side ingredients were incredibly tasty too. The bok choy seedlings, after absorbing the chicken soup, became even crisper. The little green tips, adorned with drops of pale yellow chicken soup, looked just like morning dew on leaves and branches.
Upon tasting, the freshness of the bok choy seedlings and the savory deliciousness of the chicken soup hit the palate simultaneously, further invigorating one’s spirits. Needless to say, the fried eggs were perfect; Sun Miao’s fried eggs had never gone wrong. She had never eaten fried eggs made by anyone else that tasted better than Sun Miao’s.
After finishing a bowl of chicken noodle soup, Sun Miao casually remarked, “Noodles are easier to digest, so it’s okay to eat a little at night, just not too much.”
“Mhm.”
Both of them finished their small bowls of noodles. Firstly, there weren’t many noodles to begin with, just a few chopsticks’ worth. Secondly, Sun Miao’s cooking was delicious; Su Ruixi could finish however much was served. Together, they tidied up the kitchen. Before bed, they each drank a glass of milk, and thus, the day ended.
The next morning, one had to go to work, and the other had to set up her stall, so naturally, they had to sleep early.
But Su Ruixi thought again, if they parted just like this, it would be a real pity. When they reached the second floor and said goodnight, about to head to their respective rooms, Su Ruixi’s body reacted before her mind did. She reached out and tugged on Sun Miao’s clothes.
Sun Miao turned back. At this moment, Su Ruixi couldn’t find the words. She wanted to say she didn’t want to part, but her awkwardness prevented her from saying more. However, it seemed she didn’t need to say more, because Sun Miao felt the same way.
Neither wanted to separate, yet the time they had spent together was too short. Living in the same house like this was a challenge for both of them.
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