Chapter 196: Fatal contact (Please subscribe!)

Sitting in the back seat of the bicycle, her left hand gripping the edge of the seat and her right hand clutching the hem of his shirt at the waist, Mai Sui, who hadn't yet recovered from the wonderful piano piece "The Blue Danube Waltz," couldn't help but ask:

"Li Heng, when did you start learning piano?"

He couldn't hide his piano learning from those around him who were observant. Li Heng couldn't be bothered to lie and said truthfully, "Since I came to Shanghai."

Mai Sui asked, "Is piano that easy to learn? Isn't it said to be very difficult?"

Li Heng showed off a little and said loudly, "Comrade Mai Sui, people are different. Difficulty is a relative theory. It might be very difficult for ordinary people, but compared to geniuses like Beethoven, can you still say it's difficult?

To use a common metaphor, it's like you were born with the charm of Su Daji, having a unique attraction to the opposite sex; I might have been born with a bit more sensitivity to musical scores. The erhu is like that, and the piano is too."

Mai Sui stared blankly at his back, her mind filled with his words just now, and she was speechless for a moment.

The bicycle moved forward. The two first went to the Lao Fengxiang jewelry store. Li Heng strolled around inside and finally stopped at the earring section. Lowering his head to check, he said to the attendant, "Take this one out, this one, and this one, let me see them."

He asked for the three most fashionable styles in one breath: butterfly-shaped, heart-shaped, and letter 'h'-shaped.

Seeing the man was particular and the woman was beautiful, the attendant didn't question their purchasing power and took them out from the counter very readily.

Li Heng turned to Mai Sui and asked, "Do they look good?"

Mai Sui said sincerely, "They look good."

Li Heng said, "Help me try them on one by one."

Mai Sui thought he was buying them for Xiao Han. She tucked her fine hair behind her ears with her right hand, took off her own, put them aside, and began to help him try them on one by one.

The first one she tried on was the red butterfly-shaped one. As soon as it was on her earlobe, the attendant couldn't help but exclaim, "I have to say, sir, your taste is really good. These earrings are especially suitable for your girlfriend. The red enchantress matches the lady's temperament perfectly. There is an indescribable charm; it's truly too perfect."

Girlfriend again???

Damn it, this was the third time in just one week that someone had clearly misunderstood. Li Heng couldn't be bothered to waste his breath explaining.

He asked her, "Look in the mirror and see, is it pretty?"

Without waiting for instructions, the attendant had already thoughtfully held up the mirror, aiming it at Mai Sui's ear.

Mai Sui turned left and right, staring at the mirror for a long time, and later said, "It's indeed quite good."

Li Heng also thought it was quite good. The attendant had been conservative just now. Where was it an enchantress? It was simply Su Daji reincarnated, okay?

Mai Sui took off the butterfly-shaped earrings and looked up, asking, "Should I try the other two?"

Li Heng nodded, "Try them."

As a result, after trying them all on, all three styles were damnably beautiful. A beauty is a beauty; no matter what she wears, you can't pick out any flaws.

Li Heng didn't know which one to give. After thinking about it, he planned to exclude the heart-shaped one first. When he was choosing just now, he only focused on fashion and beauty and didn't pay attention to the meaning contained in the shape of the earrings.

However, he still asked symbolically, "Which one do you think is the best?"

Unexpectedly, Mai Sui's finger pointed directly at the heart-shaped earrings, "They are all good, but if it were me, I might prefer this one."

Li Heng raised his eyelids and asked casually, "Why?"

Mai Sui shook her head gently, "No reason, intuition."

The attendant chimed in at this time, "That's right, we women value intuition the most when buying jewelry. If you like it at first sight, it's true love."

Li Heng muttered to himself: *I'm the one buying! I'm the one buying! It's not you women buying! *

Damn, so meddlesome. As an attendant, why are you so unobservant? Didn't you see that my gaze has been lingering on the butterfly earrings?

Li Heng really wanted to say: Let's go to another store and take a look, compare three stores, and compare them?

But it was getting late. Besides, in this day and age, Lao Fengxiang was a brand name. For a moment, he couldn't find any other jewelry store that could compare.

Li Heng pondered for a moment and said to the attendant, "Please wrap up both the butterfly-shaped and the heart-shaped ones."

Hearing this, the attendant happily praised Li Heng to Mai Sui, "You really found a good man. I've been selling jewelry for several years, and I've never seen anyone so straightforward. Miss, you are so blessed."

Mai Sui just smiled, lowered her head to put her own earrings back on, and didn't look at Li Heng.

Count the money, pay the bill, and leave.

About 100 meters away from Lao Fengxiang, Li Heng handed over the bag containing the earrings, "Mai Sui, happy birthday. You already know what the gift is, so I'm giving it to you in advance."

"Ah?" Mai Sui was a bit dazed and murmured.

She had thought she was trying them on for Xiao Han. If she had known earlier that he was buying them for her, she wouldn't have said the heart-shaped ones were the best...

Thinking of this, she raised her head slightly and happened to meet his gaze.

For a long time, she moved her gaze away calmly and said somewhat uncomfortably, "Li Heng, this is too valuable."

"Valuable? Others might not know, but don't you know how rich I am? Are we still talking about this?" Li Heng said, pushing the bag forward again.

Hearing this, Mai Sui paused and looked at him again.

Li Heng blinked, shook the bag in his hand, directly pried open her right hand, and put it in her palm, "Alright, don't be polite with me in our relationship. If you feel bad about it, just wear them more. It'll make me happy to death."

Mai Sui smiled tenderly and accepted the gift.

Then she got on the bicycle again and asked softly, "The school is over there, where are you going?"

Li Heng told her, "Going ahead to buy an astronomical telescope to put in the attic and watch the night sky."

Hearing this, Mai Sui immediately became interested and asked, "This thing should be very expensive, right?"

Li Heng pondered, "You can't buy a bad one for this kind of thing. A good one shouldn't be cheap. Let's go take a look first."

Before coming, he had already inquired about where to sell this thing. Along the way, he almost didn't take any detours and soon killed his way to the destination.

But after strolling around, both of them were a little shocked. The cheap ones cost hundreds, and the good ones cost thousands or tens of thousands. They were all imported goods.

After picking and choosing, Li Heng finally took a fancy to a Meade astronomical telescope priced at 1400 yuan.

After some bargaining, he finally got it for 950 yuan.

He originally wanted to cut the price further, but the boss wouldn't sell it for less than this number. Even when he pretended to leave the store and go outside, the boss didn't try to keep him.

Through this probing, he almost understood that this had reached the other party's bottom line.

Returning to Bai Luyuan, Mai Sui went to the kitchen to cook dinner according to the recipes and dishes Li Heng had taught her.

Originally, he had suggested eating in the cafeteria, which was simple and convenient.

But Mai Sui wouldn't allow it. She said she happened to have time on the weekend and wanted to try cooking, and then she excitedly carried the newly bought meat and vegetables to study.

Study, huh, Li Heng didn't hold much expectation for this dinner, let's just use "study" to describe it.

After Li Heng finished showering and washing his clothes, he went back to his old profession and continued writing his book.

For him in this life, the status of a man of letters was destined to be his greatest reliance. He didn't dare to be sloppy and had to be vigilant at all times, not to float, not to be reckless, and must work hard, work hard, and work hard again, developing steadily.

In the blink of an eye, October was about to pass. He had only finished the 30th chapter of "Cultural Travel Notes." He suddenly felt a sense of urgency for no reason, wishing he could lock himself in the study every day to read and write.

According to his habit, before writing, he first flipped through books and materials for an hour, then entered a meditative state like an old monk for more than ten minutes. Only after all his thoughts were clear did he start to pick up his pen and write the three words "Cang Shu You" (Book Collection Worries) on the paper.

This chapter was relatively long. Li Heng wrote for 3 hours without stopping. If Mai Sui hadn't carefully come to the study to call him for dinner later, he wouldn't have felt tired and could have kept writing.

"Dinner?"

"Mm."

"Heavens! It's been 3 hours, and you're only calling me for dinner now?"

"I was afraid of disturbing you, so I didn't dare to come in. I only tried calling you just now when I saw you stretching."

"Oh, I see." Li Heng put down his pen, stood up, and asked, "What good food did you make? It took so long?"

Mentioning the dishes, Mai Sui's beautiful face was instantly filled with trepidation, "Twice-cooked pork, daylily and meatball soup, chives with river shrimp, and baby bok choy."

"Four dishes, so many? That wasn't easy, right?" Li Heng was surprised.

Mai Sui said with lingering fear, "It took me two hours."

Hearing that four dishes took two hours, Li Heng laughed out loud, making the girl in front of him feel embarrassed.

Going down to the first-floor restaurant, Li Heng leaned over to take a look, and then sniffed, "The color and aroma seem okay, but I don't know how the taste is?"

Mai Sui pulled out a pair of chopsticks and handed them to him, then went to the kitchen to serve rice.

Li Heng first picked up a piece of twice-cooked pork and put it in his mouth, chewing and chewing. It was okay, edible, 65 points.

Then he tried the daylily and scooped a spoonful of soup to taste. It was a bit bland; the soup was like water, 60 points, no more.

Chives with river shrimp, this dish was the most outstanding one so far. After eating a few shrimp, it could get 75 points.

Finally, the baby bok choy. After just one bite, he didn't want to eat a second.

This, this was too...!

Mai Sui appeared behind him with two bowls of rice at some point. Seeing him like this, she asked without confidence, "Is it very hard to eat?"

Li Heng turned his head and asked, "Did you taste the baby bok choy?"

Mai Sui shook her head, "I tasted the other three. I was afraid of burning this one, so I just scooped it out directly."

Li Heng handed her the chopsticks, "You taste it, this dish has the most 'level'."

Mai Sui looked at his chopsticks and didn't say a word.

"Oh, sorry! Your food is too delicious, I forgot I just ate with these chopsticks. Let me get you a new pair." Li Heng got her a new pair of chopsticks at the fastest speed.

Mai Sui remained unmoved, looking at him eagerly.

Li Heng persuaded, "It's really delicious, don't believe me, try it. You have to have confidence in your own cooking."

Mai Sui put the two bowls of rice on the table, then sat down and looked up at him, determined not to be fooled.

Li Heng's eyelids twitched. It seemed that conventional methods wouldn't work. Without further ado, he took a bowl of rice and ate the twice-cooked pork and baby bok choy in big mouthfuls.

Mai Sui was also a little hungry, so she also held her bowl and ate gently.

However, she was multitasking, eating dishes while watching his movements and expressions when eating the baby bok choy. Seeing him eating more and more deliciously, she finally couldn't help but reach out with her chopsticks and add a piece.

Just one piece. As soon as it entered her mouth, she immediately bent over and spat it into the trash can.

As soon as she spat, Li Heng immediately followed, spitting out all the baby bok choy he had stored in his mouth.

The trash can was only so big, and the two heads were close together spitting. This scene was simply...

Seeing him spit out half a bowl in one breath, Mai Sui was speechless, "It's so salty, how did you manage to eat so much?"

Li Heng put his hands together, "Amitabha! Buddha says, if I don't enter hell, who will?"

Mai Sui was angry and amused, "You just wanted to trick me into eating."

Li Heng rolled his eyes, "What do you mean I tricked you? I don't even know why you put so much salt. Is salt free?"

Talking about this, Mai Sui noticed that the two were almost touching. She froze, moved away slightly without a trace, and sighed depressedly:

"All four dishes failed. Sigh, am I very stupid?"

Li Heng comforted, "Don't be so discouraged, the chives with river shrimp are still not bad."

Mai Sui said, "Can't compare to what you make."

Li Heng said, "Then you compared the wrong object. You can't compare with me. It's not that I, Li, am bragging, but how many of the small restaurants outside have my level?"

No matter what, he was a big foodie!

In his past life, none of his three wives could cook, so he almost took over the kitchen. After decades of research, he had gained quite a bit of insight. Who didn't praise the big meals he made during festivals?

It was just that he was naturally lazy, the kind of person who would never sit if he could lie down, and would never stand if he could sit.

According to what his own mother, Tian Run'e, said when chatting with Xiao Han: "Hanhan, the meat I gave birth to is very lazy. You poke him once and he moves once. You have to poke him diligently."

Mai Sui recalled carefully, and it was indeed as he said; the craftsmanship of many small restaurants outside was indeed not as good as his.

Li Heng observed her expression, "Thinking about it this way, do you feel a little better?"

Mai Sui smiled tenderly and nodded.

Li Heng stood up and waved his big hand, "Let's continue eating."

Mai Sui wanted to stand up with him, but before her legs were straight, she saw her stumble and fall backward.

Seeing that the situation was not right, Li Heng was startled and rushed over in two or three steps, hurriedly reaching out to catch her. The place he touched was soft, and he asked with concern, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I stood in the kitchen for two hours, my legs haven't recovered, they're numb..."

Noticing something unusual, she didn't say the words after "numb." She lowered her head and glanced at the big hand across her chest, and her face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Following her gaze, Li Heng stared for two seconds and then pulled his right hand out quickly.

But with this abrupt pull, her numb feet lost their center of gravity, and she fell down again, falling into his arms. Her back hit his chest, and she was pressed against him.

Li Heng subconsciously supported her waist again.

Feeling the awkward situation, Mai Sui, who had never been so close to the opposite sex, felt her body soften instantly, and she closed her eyes in shame.

Her eyelashes were very fine and long, arranged in a very tasteful way. Smelling the faint woman's fragrance, Li Heng said, "I'll help you to the sofa to sit for a while, and I'll go stir-fry another dish."

"Okay."

"What dish do you want to eat?"

"Twice-cooked pork, I didn't make it well."

"Then should I process the one on the table?"

"No, I want to eat one you make from scratch."

"Fine."

After saying that, Li Heng set off for the kitchen.

Mai Sui bent over, reached out and rubbed her right calf, which was still a little numb, then stomped her feet gently, rubbed for a while, stomped her feet again, and only stood up to clean up the trash can when she felt it had completely recovered.

After throwing the trash into the big bin outside, she looked up at the starry night sky at the door for a long time, then returned to the house and entered the kitchen.

She went to learn how to cook.

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(End of chapter) *** **Chapter 197: 【Title Missing】**