Yu Ning agreed with a smile and patted Chen Chuan on the back. “Let’s go. I feel like even my socks have been baked dry.”
Hearing that, Chen Chuan subconsciously glanced at her raised foot.
On it was a beige low-cut liner sock.
He didn’t dwell on the sock for long. Retracting his gaze, he carried her up to the third floor.
Yu Ning took the keycard from her pocket. With a beep, the door opened. Chen Chuan didn’t go in; he bent down and set her steadily on the floor.
Standing on one foot, holding one shoe, she leaned lazily against the doorframe and invited him with a beaming smile, “You worked hard carrying me all the way. Want to come in for a cup of coffee? I brought coffee beans. You can try my pour-over skills.”
Chen Chuan was blunt. “I’m not used to drinking that stuff. I’m leaving.”
Yu Ning was speechless. This man really didn’t have a single romantic bone in his body.
Drinking coffee was secondary. Going in and sitting for a while was the important part, all right?
It was truly like winking at a blind man.
Her wet pants felt uncomfortable. She hopped in on one foot and closed the door.
She had already packed the two suitcases yesterday when she’d been bored out of her mind.
From the wardrobe, she took out a loose black casual shirt. Below that, she paired it with a long gray skirt dyed in a misty ink-wash style.
There was no brush in the bathroom, and she wasn’t willing to just rinse her shoes once, so she simply carried both shoes and went downstairs.
On the second floor, she ran into Sister A-Yan, who was cleaning the corridor.
“Miss Yu, what are you…”
“Sister A-Yan, don’t call me that. It sounds so distant. Just call me A-Ning, okay?”
A-Yan smiled. “All right, A-Ning. Where are you taking those shoes?”
“My shoes got wet, so I figured I might as well wash them. There’s no brush in the room,” Yu Ning said.
A-Yan understood and walked over to take the shoes from her. “Then give them to me. I’ll wash them for you, and when they’re dry, I’ll bring them up.”
Yu Ning hurriedly dodged. “How could I do that? Your homestay doesn’t have that service. I wouldn’t want your boss to say I’m acting like a diva.”
“Chuanzi said that about you?” A-Yan was taken aback.
“Not really. But if I did that, I reckon he would.”
A-Yan laughed. “Then you may have misunderstood Chuanzi. He’s not much of a talker and he’s a bit rough around the edges, but he’s actually not a bad person. He’s very attentive, too.”
“Is that so?” Yu Ning lifted her brows. “All right, sis, I got it. You go on with your work. We’ll chat when you’re free. I’ll head downstairs first to find a brush and wash my shoes.”
“The brush is in the back courtyard. Once you get down, just ask Aunt Chen or Chuanzi to get it for you.”
“Okay.”
When Yu Ning came downstairs, Tank came darting over with a ball in his mouth, dropped it in front of her, then looked at her with those damp blue eyes.
She reached out and stroked his head. “Want to play with jiejie?”
Woof!
Tank answered her.
Yu Ning crouched down in delight, letting the shoes in her hand fall aside. She rubbed his two little ears and praised him without holding back.
“Wow, baby, you’re so smart. Come on, I’ll play with you for a bit.”
She picked up the little soccer ball beside her and led Tank, whose tail was wagging so fast it was almost a propeller, into the courtyard. Then she threw the ball out with force.
The next second, Tank shot out with a whoosh, fetched the ball, and spat it back in front of her.
Yu Ning deliberately feinted, hiding the ball behind her back. Tank ran a few steps, didn’t see the ball, then ran back to her side, whining as he looked at her.
She laughed, waved the ball in her hand, and quickly ran off. Tank immediately chased after her.
One person and one dog played like that for more than ten minutes without getting tired.
The whole courtyard was filled with barking and clear, pleasant laughter.
When Chen Chuan returned from outside, this was the scene he saw.
His gaze fell directly on that beautiful face, smiling brightly and freely beneath the sunlight.
Whether it was Haohao from Chen Bin’s family or his family’s dog Tank, she was very patient. She didn’t put on airs and could always play together with them.
He had only stopped to watch for less than ten seconds when Tank spotted him. The dog stopped playing with the ball and ran over, panting, wagging his tail at him.
Seeing this, Yu Ning scrunched up her little face and cursed Tank fiercely in her heart for being so ungrateful.
Every time he saw his dad, he abandoned her without mercy.
Scumbag dog!
Chen Chuan perfunctorily patted Tank on the head, then looked up and caught Yu Ning’s lively, adorable expression.
She looked like she was cursing quite viciously.
He just didn’t know whether she was cursing a person or a dog.
Yu Ning swung the ball in her hand. She was clearly dressed with gentle elegance, and even without makeup, under the sun she looked like an otherworldly fairy unstained by mortal dust.
But the way she walked, careless and swaggering, made her look exactly like a female hooligan. Her clear, melodious voice carried a hint of laziness and ease. “Chen Chuan, where’s your brush?”
Chen Chuan said, “In the back courtyard.”
“Then lead the way. I’m washing my shoes.”
Chen Chuan strode toward the back courtyard, and Yu Ning followed behind him.
The layout in the back was even simpler than the front. There were four rooms with their doors closed and locked, as well as a laundry room.
The building had probably been newly constructed. Everything was single-story, plain and unadorned, yet for some reason it gave off the feeling of a family moving toward a comfortable life.
In the courtyard, there was also a vintage hand-operated water pump and two clotheslines, with clothes, bedsheets, and quilt covers hanging from them.
Overall, it looked very lived-in, giving people a sense of peaceful yearning.
Yu Ning stopped there for half a minute. Chen Chuan had already taken the brush and walked over to her.
She came back to herself and took the brush. “Where’s the laundry detergent?”
Chen Chuan said, “No laundry detergent. Only washing powder.”
“Washing powder works too.”
Chen Chuan didn’t answer. He went straight to the laundry room and carried out a bag of washing powder that was more than half full.
Yu Ning thanked him, then smiled as she pointed at the hand pump. “I’ve never used that before. I’ll have to trouble Boss Chen to pump it for me.”
Chen Chuan saw that she was getting more and more comfortable ordering him around. Unwilling, he turned and prepared to leave.
Yu Ning grabbed him. “Yanzi, don’t go. If you leave, how are my shoes supposed to live?”
“…”
Chen Chuan was speechless. He looked back and saw her smiling happily, her upturned fox-like eyes filled with sly mischief and teasing.
She clutched his arm, dragging out the final syllable of every sentence. “All right, hurry over and pump it. I’ll just scrub them a couple of times.”
Chen Chuan was worn down by her until he had no temper left. He walked over and pumped water out with one hand.
Yu Ning had another request. “Go a little lighter with the water. It’s splashing all over me.”
Chen Chuan frowned. Those words… why did they sound so strange?
He glanced at the person crouched on the ground seriously scrubbing her shoes, then turned his eyes away somewhat unnaturally.
Yu Ning had only worn this pair of shoes two or three times, so they weren’t dirty. She casually scrubbed them a few times and was done.
Mainly because the sun was starting to become scorching, and she really couldn’t keep squatting there anymore.
After setting the shoes out in the courtyard to dry, the two of them walked out one after the other. Just then, there were three men and four women standing at the front desk. A-Yan was helping them register, while the four girls were crouched down teasing Tank.
When A-Yan saw him, it was as if she had seen a savior. She hurriedly called out, “Chuanzi, perfect timing. Come help them check in. They’re the guests who booked two standard rooms, one single room, and one double room three days ago.”
Chen Chuan nodded, walked over, and took over A-Yan’s work.
That’s the end of today’s three updates. Mwah, mwah, mwah.