Home/ The Selfish Gene/ Chapter 54
Ji Chenfeng’s house is the same as when I came here before, but it’s also somewhat different.
The layout was the same, still a small and cramped house. The living room that originally used to be very messy now looked much cleaner and tidier.
The walls seemed to have been repainted, and there are fewer messy things.
“You can sleep here tonight.” Ji Chenfeng pointed to an area near the window in the living room.
That was the place where Ji Chenfeng used to sleep before. When I came here previously, there were always neatly stacked bedding placed on the floor, serving as a living room during the day and a bedroom at night. Now it’s clean and tidy. After Yan Shanhua passed away, Ji Chenfeng renovated the house and moved into the bedroom to sleep.
“Okay, I’ll just make do with it for one night.” I nodded and put the suitcase horizontally against the wall. Immediately, one-third of the living room was taken up by it.
Ji Chenfeng asked me to wash up first and then entered the bedroom, probably to get a quilt and pillow for me.
I felt very hot and thirsty. When I saw the bag from the convenience store on the low table, revealing a large bottle of oolong tea, I couldn’t help but swallow and sat over. I unscrewed the cap and lifted it up, pouring it into my mouth.
When Ji Chenfeng came out again holding the quilt and pillow, I had already drunk most of the bottle.
“Sorry, I was too thirsty.” I scratched the plastic bottle uneasily with my fingertips and put the lid back on, “I will pay for it.”
Ji Chenfeng glanced at the oolong tea in my hand and didn’t say anything. He threw the bedding over the tatami mat and lifted his chin at me, saying, “Go take a shower.”
I walked towards the bathroom with clothes in my hand, and when I opened the door, the hot and humid air instantly rushed towards me.
The entire bathroom was overcrowded, with a shower, toilet, washbasin, water heater, and washing machine. After squeezing so many things into a small space, there was no room for anything extra.
On the wall next to the shower head, there was a small ventilation window above the head, looking out at the dark sky.
Warm water poured down from above, washing away all the sweat, dust, and fatigue.
Smearing the soap all over my body, I couldn’t help but daydream at the thought of this piece of soap also wandering on Ji Chenfeng’s body, sniffing the familiar scent in my nose.
Neck, shoulders, lower back, thighs… rough surface scratched the skin, causing indelible ripples in the heart.
Pressing my forehead against the tile, I closed my eyes. My eyelashes couldn’t help but tremble, imagining Ji Chenfeng’s soothing touch. I held the piece of soap against my skin, and within a few minutes, my knees softened with excitement.
Looking down at the viscous liquid mixed with foam on the white soap, my cheeks began to burn slightly.
I haven’t vented for several months. Do you need to be so perverted? I even didn’t let go of Ji Chenfeng’s soap…
I quickly rinsed off the soap and put it back in place. After taking a shower, I opened the shower curtain and was about to get dressed before I remembered that I forgot to bring my bath towel.
I was originally planning to stay at a hotel, so I didn’t bring any toiletries.
Pushing open the door, I poked my head out and saw that Ji Chenfeng was no longer in the living room. He must have gone back to the bedroom.
“Teacher Ji, do you have new towels and toothbrushes? I forgot to bring it.” I shouted towards the bedroom.
After about a minute or so, the bedroom door was pushed open. Ji Chenfeng pursed his thin lips and came out with a towel and a new toothbrush in his hand, handing them to me.
My wet fingers accidentally touched his palm, and he frowned. He didn’t show too much disgust, but he didn’t look very comfortable either.
“Thank you.” I smiled and thanked him.
After getting dressed and walking out of the bathroom, I found that Ji Chenfeng had already made the bed for me.
The low table was tucked up against the wall, the tatami mat was padded with soft cushions, followed by a coarse cloth mat. A thin blanket was neatly stacked at the “end of the bed”, and a fluffy pillow was placed at the other end.
After lying down, I covered my face with the blanket.
It’s really soothing, it’s all Ji Chenfeng’s scent. Although the environment is harsh, I feel that this place is better than any five-star hotel.
Pulling off the blanket, I looked towards the bedroom. Through the door, I wondered if Ji Chenfeng was sleeping now, what he was doing if he wasn’t sleeping, and whether he was thinking about me.
Above my head, the old electric fan whizzed and rotated, and although the windows were open, the room was still a bit stuffy.
Perhaps it was due to the excessive physical exertion during the day, or maybe this place naturally had a magical power on my sleep. Not long after my head touched the pillow, I felt drowsy and gradually closed my eyes.
When I woke up the next day, it was already past ten in the morning, and Ji Chenfeng was nowhere to be seen in the room. It seemed like he had gone to work.
In the morning, there was some faint movement, but because I was too tired, I just turned over and continued to sleep without waking up at all.
I thought he would drive me away, but he actually left me alone at home.
I woke up unsteadily, washed up, opened the refrigerator, and found milk and eggs inside. There were also some instant noodles in the cupboard.
I threw the instant noodles and eggs all into a pot, cooked them for a while, then slurped down the noodles with the soup, finally filling my empty stomach.
Logically speaking, a night has passed, and I have already slept and eaten, so it is time for me to leave. But it was not easy to get in, and once I left, I don’t know how long it will take to come back. Just staying for one night always feels like a pity.
How did Ji Chenfeng treat me in the past?
Wake me up every day, prepare three meals for me, tidy up the room, do laundry…
Looking around, there’s only a little bit of space, and it didn’t seem like I needed to tidy up anything.
Rolling up the thin blanket and the bedding, I stuffed it into the corner, then tried to open Ji Chenfeng’s bedroom door and found that it was locked.
Are you guarding against me?
Pursuing my lips, I entered the bathroom but didn’t see Ji Chenfeng’s dirty clothes, so he must have washed it himself.
If he comes back and sees someone preparing food for him, he will be very happy, right?
At least I was happy when he treated me like this.
Should I try cooking? I have made some Western food by myself in the past and even cooked the noodles, so there is no problem.
With blind confidence, I decided to cook personally and planned to prepare a sumptuous dinner for Ji Chenfeng.
Since I didn’t have a key, I had to cover the lock tongue with a piece of paper and jam it into the main door crack from the outside. Anyway, Ji Chenfeng’s own bedroom was locked, so even if a thief came, there would be nothing to steal. Besides, what kind of thief would steal from here…
I searched for a large supermarket nearby and found that it was very far away, but there was a vegetable market within a five-minute walk.
It’s not like I wasn’t aware of the existence of such a place, but to be honest, I didn’t expect it to have such a strong impact on me for the first time. From the moment I stepped in the vegetable market, I kept repeating three words in my mind— so smelly, so dirty, so messy.
The ground was dripping with sewage water, and most of the stalls had an unpleasant smell. Rotten vegetable leaves could be seen everywhere, and even the chopping board of the fish stall has the internal organs left by the previous fish…
Covering my mouth and nose, I took a breath and bought the ingredients I needed to cook. The second I walked out of the market, I let out a sigh, and in a daze, I seemed to hear the background music of my victory after passing the level.
If there was hell on earth, it would probably look like this.
One broccoli, one stir-fried beef, one fish, two meat dishes and one vegetable dish should be enough, along with a tomato and egg soup.
I searched for a detailed tutorial on the internet and read it step by step several times, almost to the point that I felt familiar with every step in my heart. However, when I actually started cooking, I still messed up and forgot all the steps.
When frying the fish, the hot oil exploded after coming into contact with water, accidentally splashing on my hand, and it only took two minutes for the blisters to appear.
Facing the crucian carp that was stuck to the bottom of the pot, I covered my hands and my face fell, beginning to regret taking such a challenge.
If I had known earlier, I would have just ordered the takeout directly. I could just lie to Ji Chenfeng that I cooked it myself. What’s more, he probably wouldn’t eat it anyway, so I didn’t have to work so hard.
Unfortunately, I thought of it too late. After so much has been done, how could all my previous efforts be wasted?
Half an hour later, the last dish was served. All the dishes have been prepared after a hard afternoon. The burnt yellow broccoli has lost its emerald green color, the fried beef has turned mushy, and the braised fish has its skin and flesh separated. The only thing that looked normal was probably the tomato egg soup. Even rice, due to too much water, turned into a strange paste-like substance.
But perhaps because it was my first time cooking, the ability to judge objectively and rationally completely disappeared. At that moment, my heart was filled with pride and self-satisfaction, and I put a ten-level filter to the dishes on the table.
Isn’t this pretty good for me? Not much worse than takeout.
With anticipation and a little nervousness, I sat at the low table and waited for Ji Chenfeng to come home, from four o’clock to six o’clock, and then from six o’clock to eight o’clock.
The food gradually became cold, and I repeatedly put it in the microwave to heat it up. In the end, it became even more unappetizing than before.
Looking at the clock on the wall again, it was already half past eight. Did Ji Chenfeng used to wait for me like this before? It’s so unbearable.
Food can be reheated, but the “expected” shelf life is short. Letting it go cold once means it has expired, eventually losing its sweetness, leaving only bitterness and sourness.
Picking up the chopsticks, I picked up a piece of cold beef and put it into my mouth.
It was so salty and bitter that I couldn’t eat it at all. I tried to swallow it with rice, but found that the soft and rotten rice tasted even more disgusting when paired with this mushy beef. I covered my mouth and rushed to the toilet to vomit.
Just as I was rinsing my mouth desperately to get rid of the strange smell in my mouth, there was the sound of the door being unlocked.
Ji Chenfeng is back!
Wiping off the water stains on my lips, I eagerly opened the bathroom door and met Ji Chenfeng’s eyes as he walked in.
He stood at the door, maintaining the action of opening the door. When he saw me, he frowned slightly, as if he didn’t expect me to be here.
“Why haven’t you left yet?”
With a stiff smile on my lips, I closed the bathroom door and firmly pressed my back against the door panel, wishing that I could blend into the wall so that he wouldn’t notice me.
“I made dinner, would you like to eat some…”
I dare not respond to his words, fearing that his next sentence would be to tell me to get out of here.
“I’ve already eaten.” He took off his shoes and stepped into the room, glancing at the food I cooked on the low table. Maybe because he was too shocked that I could make it this way, or too disgusted that I had the nerve to feed him such food, but he looked at it for a long while.
“Ah, that’s right. It’s already past eight o’clock. A normal person would have eaten dinner long ago.” While I, the abnormal one, have been guarding a table of garbage waiting for him until now.
Bending down to pick up the plates on the low table, I turned around and dumped it all into the kitchen trash can.
Ji Chenfeng silently watched from the side, and it wasn’t until I picked up a rag and was about to start washing dishes that he spoke out from behind to stop me.
“Alright, I’ll do it.” Perhaps he didn’t like the way I was stumbling while doing the dishes. He rolled up his sleeves and pushed me away from the sink, then grabbed the cloth from my hand and started washing the dishes skillfully.
Just when I was about to comfort myself and analyze whether his behavior meant that he still had feelings for me, Ji Chenfeng slapped me hard with words and told me not to be so sentimental.
“If you think you can get back what belongs to you through me, it’s better to dispel this idea as soon as possible. I won’t take anything from the Sang family, so it’s pointless for you to work on me. I have nothing to give you.”
With my hands still dripping with water, I stood behind him and was stunned upon hearing the words: “That’s not it…”
I was eager to defend myself, but Ji Chenfeng didn’t want to hear it at all. He interrupted me and said, “I didn’t let you in because I still have feelings for you. But I promised your mother… that I would help you if you encounter difficulties, that’s all.”
I didn’t realize it at first, and it took me a while to realize who he meant by “mother”.
Yan Shanhua asked Ji Chenfeng to help me? I was filled with disbelief. What is this? To support an orphan? While thinking about correcting her mistakes and confessing her crimes, she also considered that if I couldn’t survive, at least I would still have Ji Chenfeng’s support. It’s quite thoughtful.
I should really… thank her.
“So, what do you want to say?” I said with difficulty, having a premonition that what he was going to say next is not something I wanted to hear.
“You can stay here until you find a suitable house. But don’t try to get close to me anymore.” He turned his face slightly and said the coldest words in the most ordinary tone. “My life finally got back on track, and I don’t want you to disrupt it again. After all, there’s no place for you by my side anymore.”
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