Zero messages.
That was what greeted Shen Jin's eyes. After she had sent that message this afternoon, Yun Xiaoran had actually managed to go four whole hours without replying.
How dare he?
Holding her phone, Shen Jin widened her almond-shaped eyes. Furious, she called him, only for the call to disconnect automatically after a long stretch of ringing.
His phone wasn't off, and he hadn't run out of credit. Yun Xiaoran simply didn't want to answer her call.
At a loss, Shen Jin checked the time. It was already six in the evening. She hurried down to the underground parking garage, ready to go home.
I'm not trying to find out where Yun Xiaoran is. I just want to check on the cat. As for him, he can go wherever he likes! I don't care.
Shen Jin drove her Audi straight home.
As she opened the door, Shen Jin still held out hope that Yun Xiaoran had missed her call because he was cooking. But everything before her now told her that he was still at his friend's place.
In the spacious house, only Fu Bao remained, lounging on the sofa in the warm afternoon sunlight and licking its fur. Looking thoroughly bored, the cat watched its human.
What's gotten into Mommy today? Why is she home so early? How strange.
Shen Jin was deeply irritated now. She hadn't expected to find Yun Xiaoran still absent even at six in the evening.
Usually, when she came home in the afternoon, Yun Xiaoran was either cooking in the kitchen, where the smell of food and the apron he wore made for a comforting sight, or he hadn't started dinner yet and was in his room, clacking away at the keyboard as he wrote.
It was never so quiet that she felt she might suffocate.
Shen Jin recalled what Sister Hua had said over lunch that day.
Don't get angry. What do I have to be angry about? What matters right now is getting rid of this dependence on him as soon as possible.
Besides, I used to live alone. Why should a quiet house suddenly feel so wrong?
Yun Xiaoran was recording a song at Zhou Zeyu's place. "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion" demanded considerable vocal skill, and though he had some musical talent, he still couldn't quite meet the required standard.
As a result, Yun Xiaoran had spent the entire day at Zhou Zeyu's place, constantly adjusting the equipment and recording.
Zhou Zeyu stayed beside him, monitoring everything throughout.
He had left his phone outside the recording studio. Recording required extremely clean audio, and a single sound from his phone could render four minutes of work worthless.
Yun Xiaoran checked the clock and realized it was already six in the evening. By this time, he should have been home cooking, waiting for his ice queen wife to return.
"Zhou, I'll head out now. I need to get home. Someone's waiting for me to make dinner. As for the takes we recorded this afternoon, I'll listen to them carefully when I get back and use whichever one sounds best."
Yun Xiaoran looked up thoughtfully as he spoke to Zhou Zeyu.
"All right, Yun. Take care."
Zhou Zeyu was already used to Yun Xiaoran refusing a ride in his car, so he simply didn't offer anymore. Even if Yun Xiaoran did ask for a ride,
Zhou Zeyu would agree without a moment's hesitation.
He checked his phone.
"Huh, my ice queen wife actually called me back." Looking at the missed call, Yun Xiaoran didn't know whether to feel happy or worried. After hesitating for quite a while, he finally tapped the call button.
Shen Jin was sitting on the sofa, sulking. By now, she had given in, curling up barefoot on the sofa with her pink feet tucked beneath her, eating chips and watching a TV drama as she tried her hardest to push Yun Xiaoran out of her mind.
Her phone rang.
Shen Jin hadn't wanted to answer, but when she instinctively glanced over, she saw that it was Yun Xiaoran calling.
Suppressing her eagerness to take the call, she answered in an impatient tone. "What is it? Do you need something?"
"Yeah. Are you at the office right now?" To Shen Jin's surprise, Yun Xiaoran's first concern was her location.
That immediately put Shen Jin on guard.
Could Yun Xiaoran be planning to sneak a woman home while I'm at work? Jealousy welled up inside her at the thought.
Still sounding indifferent over the phone, she said, "How could I possibly be home? I'm at the office. Do you need something?"
"Oh, good. You're at the office." Yun Xiaoran breathed a sigh of relief, which annoyed Shen Jin immensely. It looked like he really was sneaking women over every day while she was home!
"Could you stop by the supermarket and buy some thirteen-spice seasoning? We've run out."
Shen Jin: "..."
After all that, he had only been asking questions because they had run out of thirteen-spice seasoning...
Relieved, Shen Jin softened her tone. "Is that all?"
"Of course. What else were you expecting?" Yun Xiaoran chuckled, and the phone's microphone carried the sound clearly to her.
Hearing that chuckle, Shen Jin curled her lips into a faint smile, her mood improving considerably. No longer sulking alone, she began stroking Fu Bao beside her, smoothing down the cat's fur. "All right, then. It'll probably be quite a while before I get home. I'm still at the office."
"Okay. I'll wait for you at home."
After hanging up, Shen Jin found that all her afternoon frustration had been swept away by that little chuckle from Yun Xiaoran. Still smiling, she grumbled, "You should've said so sooner. All you wanted was a packet of thirteen-spice seasoning."
Yun Xiaoran first stopped at a supermarket along the way, since it was the closest one to where he lived.
He had originally wanted to ask Shen Jin to buy chicken drumsticks, but he wasn't sure whether she knew how to pick good ones, so he had to do it himself.
"Thirteen-spice seasoning, thirteen-spice seasoning..."
Shen Jin wandered slowly through the supermarket, picking up a few necessities. Tall, beautiful, and elegant, she lent a distinctive charm to the scene as she selected items on her own.
"Excuse me, miss. Could I get past?" Just as Shen Jin stopped to send Yun Xiaoran a message, she heard a familiar voice.
Why does that sound so familiar?
Puzzled, Shen Jin glanced back, her lovely eyes settling on the man's back before her. He looked rather familiar.
While she was still wondering, Yun Xiaoran turned around with a bottle of cola in his hand. He stared at his ice queen wife before him and froze.
Didn't you say you were at the office? Why am I running into you at the supermarket?
Before you continue