CH 25.1

It wasn't until noon that Fu Zheng realized that something was wrong.

Auntie Xiao, who he had thought was just cracking a joke, actually showed up with a lunch box...

Was she serious?!

"Xiao Fu, come look, here's a little something I made while I was free. You went to a lot of trouble to accompany me, so you should sample some."

Auntie Xiao was well aware of how far to press. She put down the box, said no more, and smiled, pretending that she had something else to do. "Oh my, the square dance club has a meeting soon. I'll head out while you eat. I'll come back later for the box and bring you some fruit while I'm at it."

Saying so, she left the food on the table and took herself off.

When Auntie Xiao had departed, Fu Zheng stared at the box before him.

Since he wasn't saying anything, Ning Wan said it. "Is this what she calls 'a little something'? Auntie Xiao's amazing!" She clicked her tongue, circling the spectacular lunch box. "Seven layers! This lunchbox has seven layers! "

Fu Zheng bit his lip. Highly entertained, Ning Wan encouraged him. "Well go on, open it up and let's see what's in there. It's my first time ever seeing a seven-layer lunchbox!"

Seeing that he seemed to have no intention of moving, she simply started helping, laying out the layers one by one before Fu Zheng.

The first layer was abalone, the second young pigeon, the third scrambled eggs and yam, the fourth layer leek, the fifth layer mutton, the sixth layer black fungus and the last was rice...

Truth be told, Auntie Xiao was a talented craftsman. The dishes laid out before them were full of colour and flavour, and the smell alone made one's fingers twitch. Anyway, being pursued always makes people feel better about themselves.

Unfortunately, just as Fu Zheng was about to puff himself up over his own charm, he heard Ning Wan say as she poked at the dishes hungrily--

"Oh? Abalone, young pigeon, yam, leek, mutton and black fungus... aren't these all aphrodisiacs?!" Her voice was all of a sudden full of gloating. "Looks like even though Auntie Xiao won't admit it, she still feels you're a little old after all, and she's trying to make up for it."

"If she still cares about your age," Ning Wan gave Fu Zheng a sidelong glance, "Apparently your personality charm isn't strong enough to dispel Auntie Xiao's concerns?"

"..." Fu Zheng instantly deflated. When he looked at all these virility-strengthening, kidney-tonifying1 dishes and heard the blow of Ning Wan's words, even he felt like he was old...

"You should eat while it's still hot," Ning Wan heaped insult upon injury. "Modern society still considers 30 years old as young, but definitely getting up there, so you should start taking care of yourself."

Licking his lips, Fu Zheng felt like he couldn't eat this meal even if he was starving to death. He stiffened his neck and said dryly, "I'm not hungry."

"Not hungry? But it's already noon?"

"I'm not hungry," Fu Zheng insisted coldly.

How could he possibly eat this? If he did, wouldn't he be admitting that he couldn't perform?! A man could be criticized for being incompetent at work, but not for being incompetent like that!

Ning Wan looked at the ingredients with great regret. "But it would be such a waste!"

Fu Zheng gnashed his teeth. "I have no need for such nourishment. If you want to be nourished, you can eat it."

It seemed as though Ning Wan had been waiting for this sentence. The moment she heard him say this, she snatched up her chopsticks and began inhaling the food. "I'll eat it! I'll nourish myself! You may not need any aphrodisiacs, but I do, I'm so strong!"

“……”

So as not to be prejudiced against because of his age, Fu Zheng gritted his teeth and fasted, but he was an adult man who needed energy. By one o'clock, he was dying of hunger, and to take his mind off it, he gave Lu Feng a call.

Lu Feng had recently gone on a business trip, which meant they hadn't been able to follow up with him in person after speaking to Auntie Wang, so Fu Zheng simply explained the ins and outs of the matter over the phone. When Lu Feng heard that wouldn't be forced into marriage, he was extremely relieved and very reasonable about the matter. He immediately expressed his willingness to settle out of court, instead of filing the lawsuit for slander.

"But what was that you said about the house? I couldn't really hear."

Lu Feng probably was on some means of transportation, so his signal was cutting in and out a lot. Unable to explain everything over the phone, Fu Zheng made another appointment with him. "When you come back from your business trip, we'll bring Auntie Wang and have you speak face to face, so that you'll getting all the information first-hand."

Relieved to learn that Wang Liying wouldn't be pestering him and claiming that they were in love, and that he wasn't going to be forced into marriage, a relieved Lu Feng hung up the phone after thanking him repeatedly.

Lu Feng was happy, but Fu Zheng was not. Now that he had no urgent business at hand, the feeling of hunger was becoming more and more obvious...

But he had said he was not hungry, so he was not hungry. Fu Zheng attempted to stop sulking and continued sitting there, his face cold. He looked back at Ning Wan, who had eaten a huge meal for absolutely no reason, but she was in high spirits and ignoring him completely. When she saw that there were no calls to return, she left, humming to herself.

Just as Fu Zheng was mentally marking down her misdeed of playing hooky from work, Ning Wan came back, still humming, and threw a bag to him.

"What is this?" Fu Zheng asked expressionlessly.

"Crepes I just bought." Ning Wan winked as she added, "No aphrodisiacs within. All safe for you to eat."

Fu Zheng frowned. "I don't remember a store selling crepes near here?"

"I bought it at a food truck."

Upon hearing this, Fu Zheng immediately turned the crepe down. "They all use waste oil, and they don't have hygiene licenses! Who knows whether those crepe vendors washed their hands or not! What if there is E. coli or staph on this crepe? I won't eat it."

……

However, Fu Zheng had never gone hungry in his life. He hadn't expected the power of hunger to be so great.

Half an hour later, Fu Zheng bit into the crepe, resentfully feeling like he had somehow been tricked by Ning Wan. He was doing just fine until she meddled in his business, putting a hot crepe right in front of him. It smelt so good and made him even hungrier until he finally gave in...

But after eating that crepe, he really did feel much better. This feeling didn't last long, however, because Auntie Xiao appeared once again five minutes later.

This time, in addition to some after-dinner fruit, she had even brought a bouquet of perfumed lilies...

She was very pleased when she saw the gleaming, empty lunchbox. "You must have liked it very much, Xiao Fu! I'll make you more tomorrow! By the way, I bought this bouquet just now. The meaning of lilies in flower language makes me feel particularly lucky."

Auntie Xiao fluttered her eyelashes and smiled shyly. She put down the lilies and fruit, picked up the lunchbox, and was off again before Fu Zheng could refuse.

Fu Zheng felt his nose itch. He hated the smell of lilies. Frowning, he stared at the flowers. "What did she mean by the meaning in flower language?"

Ning Wan looked it up on her mobile phone. "Great love? A hundred years of happiness?"

“……”

Scrolling through her phone, Ning Wan finally looked up from the screen and got quite a shock. Right before her eyes, Fu Zheng was staring at the lilies with teary eyes. He blinked, and the glittering teardrops rolled down his face. She discovered that his nose was a little red, as if he was trying to hold something back, and then he sniffed just a little...

What the hell! Had Auntie Xiao's great love actually moved Fu Zheng to tears?!

Was she mistaken, or were they really going to end up as a happy couple???

Apparently the saying that 'a woman chasing a man is like being separated by gauze'2 hadn't been deceiving her this whole time!

Inside, Ning Wan sighed deeply, somehow feeling a little complicated. If she had known that Fu Zheng was so easy to chase, that he would cry like this just from some 'great love' flowers, she would have tried her hand at him herself. After all, Fu Zheng really was terribly handsome! Ning Wan had thought that a boy at his level of good looks wouldn't be easy, but she hadn't expected his inside to not match his outside. Goodness, wasn't it just some flowers and a couple virility-strengthening dishes???

Well, but a loss was a loss, so Ning Wan took out a tissue and handed it to Fu Zheng. "Wipe your tears and don't worry, I'll give you two my blessing."

Though Fu Zheng was obviously weeping, he ground his teeth and glared at her angrily. "What are you blessing me for? You've already made me go on an 'escort mission' for the sake of a case. Are you going to talk me into an 'arranged marriage'3 now?!?"

A little worried, Ning Wan asked, "Well, aren't you moved to tears? I thought you'd accepted Auntie Xiao..."

When he heard this, Fu Zheng looked so angry it appeared he might die right there on the spot. "I'm allergic! Allergic! It's this 'great love' that's doing it! Take these flowers away!"

As if to verify the authenticity of his words, just as he said that Fu Zheng began to sneeze like crazy...

How extraordinary Auntie Xiao's love might be, Fu Zheng didn't know. What he did know was that just a few minutes later, his nose began to itch, he felt a sneeze coming on, and his eyes began to water. As if a faucet had been turned on, he began shedding tears. It was also around this time that Fu Zheng discovered he was allergic to lilies.