Fight the Landlord, Fall in Love

Chapter 12 - Go Look at Your Recipe

On their way back to the office, Yu Liang didn’t dare stand by Wang Geng’s side so he walked one step behind him. He glanced up at the other’s back over and over again, but didn’t dare speak to him the entire time.

He returned to the assistant’s office with a drooping head, then ran into Gu Yao, Sun Zinan’s main assistant, carrying a bag as she went out the door. Yu Liang falteringly greeted her with a ‘Gu Yao jie.’ This was returned with a stern look. “I’m running an errand. Don’t run around and leave Director Sun without any staff to call for.”

Yu Liang nodded dazedly and sat down at his workstation. His mind was in a state of turmoil—he wasn’t sure if he should report Liu Cheng to Sun Zinan.

Although Liu Cheng’s actions had been very suspicious, he was still one of Sun Zinan’s highly-regarded employees. If he carelessly went and made a false report, Yu Liang would definitely lose his job.

But if he didn’t say anything, he would still feel uncomfortable.

And Wang Geng, how much did he hear? What side did that person stand on?

In the evening, while the employees were packing up to go home, Sun Zinan sat in front of the window under the light of the setting sun. He wondered if he should invite Tang Kai for dinner and ask him for advice about the situation. But before he had even figured out how to ask, the phone on his desk began vibrating.

Speaking of the devil, Tang Kai’s voice rang out clearly. “Not off work yet?”

Sun Zinan automatically interpreted this question as Tang Kai asking if he was still at the company or not. He replied, “Not yet. What’s up?”

Tang Kai responded brusquely, “Your company’s receptionists are already off work.”

Sun Zinan blanked for a few seconds before realizing something. He sprang up unstably from his chair. “Are you downstairs? Wait there, don’t move, I’ll come down right now.”

“Don’t rush.” There seemed to be a low laugh from the other end of the phone. “Take your time.”

A black BMW was parked in front of the building. Sun Zinan recognized the license plate and pulled the door open with a familiar ease. He sat down and asked in a good mood, “How did you find the time to come over today?”

“There’s nothing to do at the lab and I’m not that busy over summer vacation anyways.” Tang Kai motioned for him to buckle his seat belt and lightly stepped on the gas pedal. “I remembered we haven’t eaten the meal from last time, so I came to collect my debts.”

“Let’s eat out today.” Sun Zinan thought events had turned out perfectly. He said casually, “I don’t have any groceries at home.”

Tang Kai’s mood visibly dropped, sulking so blatantly it was difficult to ignore. His beautiful side profile became strained, and his eyes stared straight ahead. His entire body exuded an aura of complaints, as if he was saying ‘you lying big pig trotter.’

Sun Zinan became quite afraid of this and coaxed hurriedly, “Isn’t it because I’m afraid you’ll be hungry. Then let’s stop by the supermarket on the way. It’ll take two hours if we ask for grocery delivery.”

Tang Kai drove the car somberly, pretending he was very sensible and understanding. “I don’t want to be a bother. You can just cook whatever.”

Sun Zinan thought to himself, pei.

“Who was the one who unashamedly told me &#k2018;even instant noodles are okay as long as it’s with the person I like,’ hm? What about now?”

“I can’t even take you out to eat, and you want me to cook for you in person.” Sun Zinan mercilessly dug up an old grudge and smirked. “Ah, men.”

Tang Kai, “...”

He struggled for a bit before saying, “This isn’t contradictory. I can definitely eat instant noodles with you...but would you be okay with it?”

“I’m fine with it, what’s not okay about that?” Sun Zinan resisted the urge to laugh and said, “Haven’t all you scientists suffered this hardship?”

Tang Kai, “Mere sweet talk. You just don’t love me anymore. Ah, men.”

Sun Zinan, “You’re pestering me too much, so childish.”

Tang Kai, “You’re childish.”

Sun Zinan, “Reverse card.”

Tang Kai, “Reverse card not valid.”

The sound of the car faded away.

It was just around dinnertime and there were still many people at the supermarket. Most of the customers were from the neighborhood, including parents bringing their children who had just gotten off school. There were also couples on their way home from work. The atmosphere was noisy and exciting. The two of them mingled in with the crowd; although they were both eye-catching, they didn’t stand out too much.

In the past two months, even though Sun Zinan had not kept his promise to Professor Tang to make a full week’s worth of meals for him, the two of them hadn’t broken off contact and met up twice a week. Usually, whoever wasn’t busy would go and pick the other up from work. They would eat out occasionally, but Sun Zinan cooked most of the time.

In these two months, they had learned to recognize each other’s license plates. Sun Zinan had eaten at Tianhai University’s cafeteria, while Tang Kai had tasted the roast duck shop downstairs at Sun Zinan’s company. After compiling the fragmented number of meals together, they had already long fulfilled Tang Kai’s request. Both of them knew this, but neither took the initiative to mention it. The goal was to first develop feelings through eating meals together, then quietly make more and more room for the other person in their lives.

“Do you eat gourd?” Sun Zinan was picking out vegetables in the produce section. “Should we add some garlic minced meat and rice noodles, or make it into a soup?”

Tang Kai asked, “Will it still be flavorful if it’s in a soup?”

“Should be fine.” Sun Zinan wrapped the gourds in plastic and put them in the shopping cart. “Let’s buy three. We can steam it today and make soup next time. You can taste-test to see if you like it or not.”

One thing Sun Zinan really appreciated about Tang Kai was that he wasn’t proactive about deciding things on his behalf. He never forced others to agree with him. Although he didn’t seem like it, Sun Zinan was the type of person who willingly let others make choices for him. Once someone surpassed the walls of defense he had put up and became ‘one of us,’ his tolerance of the other person would reach nearly unconditional indulgence.

It was said that what’s easily obtained is often not treasured, but feelings are fragile, priceless goods that cannot be squandered nor sold as consumable products. It was precisely because Sun Zinan had given him his full respect and freedom to do whatever that Tang Kai needed to keep to his boundaries even more.

Tang Kai didn’t even need any personal experience to understand that if Sun Zinan’s patience was ever exhausted someday, he would immediately take away those privileges. He would probably never find someone like him again.

As they passed by the dazzling arrays of products, Sun Zinan threw a handful of fresh spring onions and cilantro into the cart. He turned towards the meat and seafood section. “Do you want to eat fish or chicken? Or should we buy some ribs and roast them?”

Tang Kai looked at the carelessly standing silhouette that still retained a touch of focus. He spoke from the depths of his heart, “Let’s eat fish today, chicken tomorrow, then ribs the day after.”

Sun Zinan couldn’t help but say, “Keep dreaming.”

As he spoke, he caught a glimpse of the counter. As if he had discovered the New World, he exclaimed, “Yi, there are fresh ducks! Why don’t we buy some drumsticks and make some beer braised duck tonight?”

Tang Kai was full of blind faith towards Sun Zinan’s abilities; every question asked received his answer of okay okay okay, en en en. But the second after Sun Zinan asked the butcher to weigh the duck, he reached for his phone. “Let me find a recipe and see what else we need.”

Professor Tang’s jaw almost dropped to the floor. “You’re looking for a recipe now?”

“Of course.” Sun Zinan flipped through a website without raising his head. “You asked for this, so if it’s burnt you still have to eat it all.”

After a moment of silence, Tang Kai said cautiously, “As a precaution, why don’t we go grab two bags of instant noodles.”

Sun Zinan was so amused by his expression he couldn’t stop chuckling for a while. He ordered Tang Kai to grab beer while he himself picked up a few ingredients from the spice aisle. He bought packets of star anise, fennel, cinnamon, etc. then picked up a bag of dried seaweed to use in a soup when they got back. Finally, when he passed by the instant foods aisle, he actually bought a five-pack of instant noodles.

A moment later, Tang Kai walked over to him and noticed the instant noodles in the cart. The expression on his face was full of unspeakable emotions.

Sun Zinan was addicted to teasing him, smiling mischievously as he ridiculed, “Is that really necessary, Professor Tang? Your face is almost the same color as the gourd. Let me see what you got...en, four jin of cherries, you’re still thrifty with running a household.”

Tang Kai was accustomed to his sarcasm and retorted calmly, “Go look at your recipe.”

“How could you talk to me like this, you’re looking down on me aren’t you?” Sun Zinan smirked. “Looks like you haven’t been beaten up by a genius cook yet.”

Tang Kai couldn’t bear it anymore. He reached over and squeezed Sun Zinan’s mouth shut.

The clean-freak Virgo Sun Zinan finally lost his mind and grabbed at Professor Tang’s cheeks as he roared angrily, “You just touched potatoes with those hands! And rubbed them on my face!”

The two of them scuffled with each other the entire way. They acted so childishly even preschoolers would have been ashamed. As he passed by the daily necessities aisle, Sun Zinan abruptly stopped and turned his head back to ask Tang Kai, “I just remembered you’re on vacation. If you don’t have work tomorrow, want to stay over tonight? We can just buy some toiletries here.”

He asked straightforwardly and naturally, without any wariness, but his words had a subtle hidden meaning when they fell upon Tang Kai’s ears. It took him a while to calm down. He leaned down slightly and murmured lowly into Sun Zinan’s ear, “Director Sun, are you inviting me over?”

The proper and pure Sun Zinan was stunned for a second before returning to his senses. He grasped angrily at his shirt collar out of embarrassment. “Scram, you can sleep on the street!”

A low, breathy laugh escaped from Tang Kai’s throat. Like a smooth stream of water, Professor Tang seemed to have broken through some kind of restraint due to shame. Not only did he not move aside, but he even carelessly reached a hand out to clasp Sun Zinan firmly backwards against his chest.

Sun Zinan appeared as calm as an old dog, but in reality he was in a panic, his heart soaring to 120 beats per minute.

He was surrounded by the warmth of the embrace. Like an insect trapped by amber, unable to escape no matter how he struggled, his entire body stiffened.

It was some time before he managed to tremblingly raise his hand with great care and jab lightly at Tang Kai’s forearm. “Uh...ahem, we’re in public, pay attention to our image.”

There wasn’t actually anyone around, but he suddenly felt like all his thoughts had been exposed in broad daylight.

“I don’t care.” Tang Kai hugged him even more tightly, being the scoundrel he was, and softly, contentedly sighed, “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”

He had simulated this action a million times in his head, but once he held the actual person, he realized thoughts could never compare to reality.

Sun Zinan was very thin, but the type of thin that hadn’t benefited from any exercise. His waist was very soft and his shoulders dug a little into Tang Kai like a hard shell. However, Tang Kai knew that a lively, generous, and kind heart was wrapped under that hard shell.

He had hesitated, wondered, been undecided, doubted. But now, he wanted to be the only person who could enter that heart.

He traced a fingertip over Sun Zinan’s beating heart, then asked again, “Are you inviting me over?”

Their heights were similar, although Tang Kai was a little taller. He lowered his head slightly to brush against the other’s earlobe. Sun Zinan was about to die from embarrassment, but also felt like his heart was about to melt from sweetness. He told himself to be patient before finally grasping Tang Kai’s hand and saying quietly, “If you dally any longer, we’ll end up home in time for a late-night snack. Be obedient, stop fussing.”

When Tang Kai heard that his tone was one of coaxing a child, he felt like Sun Zinan had misunderstood something.

But in order to maintain his ‘obedient’ attitude, Tang Kai changed his methods. “I’ll take your silence as approval. Starting today, half the food in your pots is mine.”

Sun Zinan, “...”

Half of whatever is yours—did this fool really take him for a daycare?