Chapter 46 Looked Down Upon

On the first day of winter break, the dormitory emptied out completely as students headed home for the Spring Festival. Ze-Yu Company, however, would not close for the holiday until New Year's Eve. Rizhao had drawn up a schedule for duty during the winter break. After reviewing it, Zhao Zejun crossed out a few colleagues whose homes were far away, made a few minor adjustments, and assigned himself and a few other local colleagues to take their places.

Everyone had worked hard all year round, and they deserved to spend a peaceful and worry-free New Year at home.

The campus was desolate. The library, where he used to have to fight for a seat just to read, was now completely empty, and there were barely any people in the massive cafeteria. For the three daily meals combined, there were fewer than ten dishes on offer. The company setup was slightly better; Zeyu had a dedicated employee canteen that guaranteed three dishes and a soup at every meal. Still, eating that day in and day out grew tiresome, and since he had a puppy back at his apartment crying out to be fed, Zhao Zejun simply decided to cook in his own small place.

He had just finished cooking two dishes and preparing the dog food for Xiao Hei, and was about to eat, when someone knocked on the door.

When he opened it, Su Yun was standing there holding a plastic bag.

"Teacher Su, don't you have a key?"

Su Yun smiled. "It's better to knock." She slipped inside, took a large bag of beef jerky out of the package, and tore it open. Zhao Zejun pulled out a strip and sniffed it; it smelled delicious. Just as he was about to eat it, he saw Su Yun also take a strip and wave it at Xiao Hei. Wagging its tail, Xiao Hei rushed forward, snatched it in a single bite, devoured it in the blink of an eye, and still wanting more, wagged its tail and acted coquettishly toward Su Yun.

Zhao Zejun's mouth twitched twice as he reluctantly put the beef strip back. Damn it, the dog food smelled so good he had almost fallen into the trap.

While feeding the dog, Su Yun asked without looking back, "Aren't you going home for the New Year?"

"The website is still running normally. I've given the staff time off and I'm staying behind to watch the fort. I'll probably head back on the morning of New Year's Eve and return on the sixth day of the New Year. Oh, and I won't be taking the dog with me; I'll find a pet shop to board it."

"Where would you find an open pet shop during the New Year? I'll be staying at school, so I can just come over and take care of it every day."

"That works too."

Su Yun fed Xiao Hei two more beef strips. Despite the puppy's continued begging for more, she sealed the rest of the bag and handed it to Zhao Zejun. "These are for teething and aren't very easy to digest. Just give it a few a day."

Zhao Zejun took the beef strips, set them aside, and motioned toward the table with his chin. "Hmm. Have you eaten yet? I just cooked, why don't you join me?"

On the table were two dishes and a soup: scrambled eggs with tomatoes, braised hairtail fish, and pork rib and kelp soup. Su Yun looked somewhat surprised. "A young man like you knows how to cook?"

Zhao Zejun was hardly just some young man. Having lived alone for several years in his past life, he had mostly eaten out, but sometimes he cooked at home. He wouldn't claim his culinary skills were exceptional, but they certainly passed the basic threshold. Zhao Zejun grinned. "I know a bit, just enough to get by. Try my cooking."

Su Yun picked up a piece of hairtail with her chopsticks and tasted it, letting it dissolve on her tongue.

"How is it?" Zhao Zejun felt a modest sense of expectation. Compared to people praising him for his business acumen or calling him a godfather of web novels, if someone genuinely complimented him with "Your cooking is delicious," it would bring him a far greater sense of accomplishment.

Su Yun remained silent, pursing her lips into a faint smile. She put down her chopsticks and walked straight into the kitchen.

"Where is the apron?" she asked without looking back as she began taking ingredients out of the refrigerator.

Another critical hit. Zhao Zejun sighed, handed her the apron, and shook his head with a wry smile. "Teacher Su, is what I make really that unpalatable?"

"It's not bad. Besides, a man's worth isn't measured by his cooking. At your age, just being able to cook food until it's done is already quite good." Su Yun replied offhandedly, then turned around quite naturally. "Help me tie the strings in the back."

"Alright."

Zhao Zejun stood behind Su Yun and tied the apron strings into a loose bow. Her fair, slender neck was within arm's reach, a few wisps of dark hair straying loosely, carrying a familiar, faint, botanical fragrance.

"All right, you go out and rest."

Back in the living room, he couldn't resist tasting his own cooking again. Honestly, the flavor wasn't bad at all.

As he settled onto the sofa, Xiao Hei scampered out of its bed, stood up on its hind legs, and tried to leap onto the couch. Zhao Zejun lay flat on his back on the sofa, scooped up Xiao Hei, and placed it on his stomach. Four eyes met in a mutual stare.

The sounds of washing and chopping vegetables drifted from the kitchen. Cuddling the dog, Zhao Zejun dozed off. The sofa beneath him and the puppy upon his chest were both soft and warm, and gradually, drowsiness overtook him. His eyelids grew heavy, and he drifted off into a hazy sleep.

Zhao Zejun had a dream. In the dream, a woman was holding him and kissing him frantically, her moist lips roaming all over his cheeks. He felt deeply confused, wanting to see clearly who this person was, but her face seemed veiled in a thick mist, making her identity completely unrecognizable.

Never mind, kisses were kisses; he had nothing better to do anyway.

After a thoroughly refreshing nap, he woke up to find that the wall clock pointed to half past two in the afternoon.

He flipped over and sat up from the sofa. The apartment was empty; Su Yun had already left, and a blanket had been draped over him.

Dislodged by his movement, Xiao Hei tumbled onto the sofa, wide-eyed as it stared at Zhao Zejun and licked its nose repeatedly.

Looking at its wet nose and the little tongue still licking its lips, Zhao Zejun suddenly realized why he had dreamt that.

"What the hell!"

It seemed he needed to be more careful when sleeping in the future—keeping the door closed was definitely best. Who knew how big this little creature would grow? What if one day while he was asleep, it jumped onto the bed and mistook a sausage for something else...

Too terrifying!

There was a note on the table, bearing a concise line of handwriting: 'I've headed out first. Your meal is keeping warm in the rice cooker, and the dishes are in the fridge—just microwave them before eating. Advance Happy New Year. Su Yun.'

Inside the refrigerator, besides the dishes he had cooked himself, there was also a plate of braised pork, a plate of steamed fish, and minced pork with eggplant, all covered in plastic wrap. The portions were generous, easily enough for two or three meals.

Aside from the food, there was also a large carton of milk.

The packaging was covered in foreign text, an unfamiliar brand, featuring a picture of a foreign family of three accompanied by a large golden retriever. It was impossible to tell whether the milk was meant for humans or dogs.

He went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face, reheated the food, and placed Su Yun's dishes alongside his own to sample both.

Facts proved that there was a vast chasm between the culinary skills of a single man and a married woman.

Actually, Zhao Zejun hadn't dwelled too much on the quality of the cooking; what surprised him was that he had actually fallen asleep in the presence of someone else.

Ever since crossing over, Zhao Zejun had always harbored a lingering sense of insecurity deep inside.

He knew very well that this insecurity lacked any practical reason; it stemmed simply from the fact that being a time-traveler was the ultimate secret. Harboring this secret, he maintained a greater or lesser degree of guardedness toward everyone.

Perhaps because of this puppy, or perhaps because Su Yun had revealed a woman's gentlest side while cooking in the kitchen, that guard had lowered just a fraction.

After finishing his meal, he headed over to the company in the afternoon. Before the year-end break, Zeyu was holding a small internal celebration.