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Published at 9th of November 2022 05:15:33 AM


Chapter 45

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Today’s dinner was cooked by Xu Xinghe himself. He made a delicious whole fish feast.

Grape fish is sweet and sour, the crucian carp soup is smooth and tender, and the cuttlefish cake is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside…

Chef Xu looked at the fruits of his labor with satisfaction, raised his hand to take a few photos, and then asked a servant to call Ling Changfeng downstairs to eat.

Ling Changfeng quickly appeared in the dining room.

At this time, Xu Xinghe had just come out of the kitchen, he undid the apron tied around his waist, and handed it to the servant beside him.

As a result, a large hand with well-defined knuckles and five slender fingers cut it off halfway.

Xu Xinghe was stunned for a while. He turned his head to see that Ling Changfeng had come over at some point to take the apron from him, and then handed it over to the servant in person.

Xu Xinghe: “…” Why bother with this?

He straightened his clothes and asked casually, “Do you have a lot of work on weekends?”

“It’s okay, I’m finished.” Ling Changfeng replied as he sat down. “I’ll accompany you at night.”

Xu Xinghe: “…” That’s not what it meant.

He just wanted to reply “It’s not necessary”, but when he looked up, he saw that Ling Changfeng had already taken a seat, so he took the words back and decided to sit down and eat first.

After all, he can’t waste delicious food.

The two sat at both ends of the long table and started today’s dinner.

Xu Xinghe felt that tonight’s Ling Changfeng was a bit strange.

During the meal, he always looked up at himself from time to time, as if he was hesitant to say something.

He rarely saw such an expression on Ling Changfeng’s face.

This man with dual-colored pupils has always been straightforward and has no taboos.

What is it today?

Finally, Xu Xinghe couldn’t help but speak when Ling Changfeng cast an unidentified look for the nth time: “Why do you keep looking at me?”

Ling Changfeng was speechless.

The divorce agreement in his hand was burnt, but what about his little spouse who signed the agreement?

At this moment, he didn’t know whether to bring the old thing up again.

If he didn’t mention it, it would be a hidden danger that stuck in his throat.

But if he mentioned it…

He was not sure whether he could get his ideal answer.

If the response is positive, that’s fine. But if not, it will be difficult to whitewash and forget once such a problem is exposed early.

Frankly speaking, Ling Changfeng didn’t really want to break the hard-won harmonious atmosphere. He was silent for a moment, and decided not to press the topic directly, but asked in a roundabout manner: “When you sign contracts, do you usually keep a copy?”

“Ah?” Xu Xinghe was stunned, a little surprised at why Ling Changfeng would suddenly ask this kind of question. But he still answered seriously: “If there is a contract between the two parties, there will be. Two identical contracts are signed and sealed, and Party A and Party B will each keep one copy.”

Ling Changfeng forcefully took a bite of the cuttlefish cake. His tone was so flat as if the other party was a colleague, “What if one party goes reneges?”

Xu Xinghe looked at him with a puzzled face: “How can you unilaterally go back on the contract between the two parties? Wanting to break the contract written in black and white, that’s impossible.”

Ling Changfeng lowered his eyes: “En.”

“But take a step back— Xu Xinghe thought for a while, then continued his answer: “Contracts are dead, people are alive, and any problem can be resolved through negotiation. If one party compromises, it doesn’t have to go to the stage of a lawsuit… Asking this all of a sudden, what are you trying to do?”

Ling Changfeng said in a low voice, “It’s nothing.”

Xu Xinghe: “?”

He intuited that there was something in Ling Changfeng’s heart, but he didn’t intend to go into it. Taking a sip of the crucian carp soup, he said leisurely: “What? Could it be that you’ve signed some unequal agreement and want to unilaterally break the contract? You don’t have to worry, I don’t think anyone will dare sue you.”

Ling Changfeng: “…”

He realized he was an idiot after hearing Xu Xinghe’s words.

He had been tangled for a long time because of this kind of problem, but he ignored a very important detail-

It doesn’t matter if Xu Xinghe has another divorce agreement in his hand, he1LCF never signed it at all!

Without his signature, it’s basically a dud.

As for a year from now…

Who wants to get a divorce after a year?

Marshal Ling suddenly became enlightened.

The subtle burrs in the heart were suddenly smoothed out, and his whole person suddenly felt comfortable.

After dinner, Xu Xinghe got up, went to the kitchen to get Xiaoqi’s exclusive fish cake, and then walked towards the cat house on the third floor.

Unexpectedly, Ling Changfeng also followed.

Follow him to get up, go to the kitchen together, and go to the third floor together…

Xu Xinghe asked him: “Why are you following me?”

Ling Changfeng: “Accompany you.”

Xu Xinghe: “…” Don’t follow and accompany have the same meaning?

He said without changing his face: “Don’t accompany me, I’ll go feed the cat.”

Ling Changfeng said slowly, “I’m going to feed the cat too.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

Only then did he remember that at this time, the two cats should be stuck together… really annoying!

Pushing open the door of the cat house, the situation was as expected by Xu Xinghe –

“What are you doing?!”

Inside the house, Aaron took Xiaoqi’s paw in his arms and was licking it very diligently.

And Xiaoqi also seemed to enjoy this service very much.

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He took a deep breath and looked away without looking away, and still stepped forward to put down the small bowl full of cat cakes.

Seeing this, Xiaoqi rolled over flexibly, ran over, and started eating.

Finding nothing in his embrace, Aaron wasn’t in a hurry. He got up naturally and walked to Xiaoqi’s side, quietly guarding her.

Ling Changfeng looked at the two cats seriously, and asked, “Why are they progressing so fast?”

Xu Xinghe said angrily, “Aaron is always doing his best to tempt Xiaoqi with dried fish. Xiaoqi clearly likes this, and thinks anyone who feeds her is good. Now these two are always together when they have something to do, how can the progress not be fast!”

Ling Changfeng nodded: “So it’s due to doing what they want, plus perseverance?”

Xu Xinghe looked at Xiaoqi’s happy appearance with her tail wagging, and felt his blood pressure soar. He didn’t have the heart to listen to Ling Changfeng’s summary, and said sadly: “I should consider whether to spay Xiaoqi… Otherwise, at this rate, there maybe be a kitten one day.”

Ling Changfeng’s eyebrows were stained with a faint smile, and he asked in a low voice: “Isn’t that good? After you retire, don’t open a small restaurant, but open a cat cafe.”

Xu Xinghe was stunned when he heard the words, and turned to ask Ling Changfeng, “I told you that I want to open a restaurant after I retire?”

In his impression, he didn’t even tell his colleagues about his plan after retirement.

Ling Changfeng nodded: “You said it last night.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

Team Leader Xu swallowed and asked a little uneasily, “What did I say last night?” He was a little worried that he might’ve said more private things.

Seeing his nervous little appearance, Ling Changfeng deliberately slowed down his tone and dragged his words casually: “You said a lot, from childhood to adulthood.”

Xu Xinghe’s scalp tightened: “For example…?”

“For example, the incident where your candy was robbed and you cried as a kid in kindergarten, and when you were in middle school, you watched a horror movie for the first time, and was so scared that you couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night…”

Xu Xinghe said numbly: “Okay, don’t say anymore.”

Shit! How can he say such things when drunk?

Ling Changfeng asked: “Do you like watching movies?”

Xu Xinghe said perfunctorily: “It’s okay, I liked it when I was in college.”

He even dared say such things from long ago, imagine how many embarrassing things he exposed last night.

So he simply got up to escape reality: “It’s getting late, I’m going to bed. Good night.”

Ling Changfeng: “…”

He glanced down at the time, it was 7:20 in the evening.

He followed Xu Xinghe with his hands unhurriedly, and an interesting glint appeared in his eyes: “En, good night.”

——

Xinghe happily returned to the Ark and went to work.

But he forgot to bring food.

He struggled for a few seconds at his desk, and finally decided not to bother the people from the Marshal’s mansion to deliver a meal; after all, it’s not good to be too ostentatious.

So when it was time for lunch, Team Leader Xu put away his things and set off for the convenience store outside the north gate of the Ark.

This time he bought pork chop rice with tomato sauce. After warming it up and pouring tomato sauce over the rice, before he could move his chopsticks, he heard a voice behind him: “Team Leader Xu, long time no see.”

Hearing the voice of an acquaintance, Xu Xinghe looked back to see Gu Nai, who was wearing a black and white plaid shirt, walk towards him with a freshly heated bento in his hand.

Gu Nai stopped in front of Xu Xinghe, pushed his glasses, and asked with a smile, “Does Team Leader Xu mind if I sit here?”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He actually prefers being alone quietly, but the other party was already in front of him, so he couldn’t refuse directly, “Sit down, why did you come over to eat?”

Gu Nai sat down opposite him, and replied casually, “Today’s cafeteria food doesn’t really appeal to me.”

Xu Xinghe nodded: “En, I forgot to bring my lunch.”

He looked at the black pepper beef rice ordered by Gu Nai and said, “Didn’t you say last time that you can’t eat spicy food? This is a bit spicy.”

Gu Nai smiled. “I know, I heard people say that eating spicy food is like drinking alcohol. Eight points depend on talent, and two points depend on training, so I’ve been training myself lately.”

Xu Xinghe was taken aback at his words. His chopsticks paused for a bit, and then he resumed picking up the food as if nothing had happened.

Gu Naiyu asked mildly, “How was Team Leader Xu’s week?”

“Uh, it’s okay…” Thinking of what happened this past weekend, Xu Xinghe couldn’t help reaching out and rubbing his temples. “Lots of troubling things, but also many things to be happy about.”

Gu Nai carefully observed his face, and smiled. “It seems like it went well.”

Xu Xinghe lowered his head and mixed the rice.

“By the way—” Gu Nai suddenly spoke, dragged the end, and asked with a smile, “Are you free tonight?”

Xu Xinghe raised his head: “Huh? What’s the matter?”

As soon as his words were uttered, there was a sudden “ding” sound.

He raised his hand to see that it was an email from Ling Changfeng.

From the point of view of security, Ling Changfeng never used Feixun, LINK, or other social communication tools to send messages to him, and only communicated in the form of email.

So these days, his mailbox has almost become the software he uses the most.

[Are you free tonight? ]

Ling Changfeng asked almost the same question as Gu Nai in the email.

Xu Xinghe simply replied: [Yes. ]

Then he raised his head and said to Gu Nai, “I’m sorry, I have an appointment tonight.”

Gu Nai nodded, but there was no other emotion on his face except a smile.

His mailbox rang again.

Ling Changfeng: [I’ll pick you up tonight. ]

Xu Xinghe: [Okay, then I’ll send you an email before I get off work]

Then he asked: [What for?]

After a while, Ling Changfengshen replied mysteriously: [You will know when we get there]

Where do you think he’s inviting him?

Also, this title shares a chapter title in English to a previous chapter, but the Chinese subtlety is slightly different which is why one is “Accompanying you” and this is “Accompany you”.

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