With a crisp sound, Hu Lai turned on the lighting switch in the room, and the chandelier on the ceiling lit up, spreading an orange-yellow light evenly across the room.
"This room is usually empty. Only Morikawa's agent stayed there for a while. However, all the sheets and duvet covers on the bed have been changed, and they are all clean. It fully meets the standards of check-in with a bag..."
Hu Lai took Li Qingqing into the room and introduced her.
Li Qingqing laughed behind him.
"No, what's so funny about this?" Hu Lai was helpless, feeling that Li Qingqing laughed a lot today.
"If you change into a suit, you'll be like a real estate agent." Li Qingqing smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Hey!" Hu Lai rolled his eyes at Li Qingqing and continued to introduce. "This house is also a suite with a bathroom. You can wash up directly in the house without going to the public bathroom outside. If you want to bring your own toiletries...
Is it over?"
Li Qingqing nodded: "Yes, I brought them all."
"Then you should rest early. If anything happens, just call me."
After Hu Lai finished speaking, he was about to exit.
But Li Qingqing stopped him: "Hey Hu Lai."
He stood at the door and looked back: "Ah?"
"thank you."
Hu Lai frowned: "Why do you want to say thank you?"
"Thank you for taking me in, otherwise I would have been living on the streets."
"What are you talking about? If I had known that the hotel was so cramped, why would I have bothered to go there? You should have stayed here directly from the beginning. Fortunately, I didn't leave at that time, otherwise it would be up to you to see what you would do..."
Li Qingqing asked: "Then why didn't you leave?"
"I just wanted to wait, in case you forgot to take something else..." Hu Lai made a random excuse. "You see, I really waited."
Li Qingqing chuckled and said: "Good night then, Hu Lai."
"OK, good night."
Hu Lai walked out of the room backwards and closed the door for Li Qingqing.
Then he turned to the right and entered his room. The vacant guest room was right next to his room.
So in fact there is only a wall separating the two.
He stood at the door and waited for a while. When he saw that there was no shouting from Li Qingqing, he went to the bathroom to wash up.
After Hu Lai closed the door, Li Qingqing still kept looking at the door. After a while, she opened her suitcase, took her toiletry bag and pajamas, and prepared to take a shower.
※※※
Li Qingqing, who was wearing pajamas, spread her freshly dried hair and walked towards the window.
It was almost late at night and it was pitch dark outside.
There are only a few lights in the distance, which should be the windows of the villa in the distance.
This is a villa area, and the houses are far apart. Looking from the window, the scattered lights in the darkness are like stars in the night sky falling on the earth.
As for the cars passing by on the highway, their swaying headlights are like shooting stars streaking across the sky.
The night here is not peaceful, except for the occasional roar of passing cars, the whistle of the wind blowing through the branches of the trees, and the faint gurgling sound of a creek in the distance.
However, after passing through the closed window, the volume dropped a lot and became less annoying.
On this night, it was a serenade that made people feel at ease.
※※※
Hu Lai walked out of the bathroom wearing a pair of underwear, then listened carefully at the door for a while, and indeed did not hear Li Qingqing's voice. Then he turned and walked towards the bed.
He threw off his slippers and threw himself on the bed.
But just as he turned over, he suddenly sat up and listened again.
There was no movement.
It seems that Li Qingqing has not encountered any problems that cannot be solved.
He lay down again.
The friction between his body and the sheets and cups made a rustling sound, which he mistakenly thought was Li Qingqing's shout just now...
He laughed at himself, why is he still a little nervous?
He reached out and turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness.
※※※
Li Qingqing stretched, closed the curtains, turned around and walked to the bed.
She lifted the quilt and got in. After wrapping herself tightly, feeling the warmth in the quilt, she stretched out her hand and turned off the light.
After the initial darkness, her eyes gradually adapted to the environment in the room, and she could clearly see the ceiling and the furnishings in the room.
Accompanied by a low-frequency noise of rubber tires rolling over the asphalt road, a light was reflected on the curtains and passed by in a flash.
It's like the camera in an old movie flashing and jumping.
Lying on this soft but unfamiliar bed, Li Qingqing was not sleepy at all.
She opened her eyes wide and looked at the ceiling.
The heartbeat is a little fast.
※※※
Hu Lai turned over again on the bed and made a rustling sound again.
So he kept his body still and let his ears become quiet again.
After making sure that there was nothing going on on the other side of the wall, he completed his turn.
I closed my eyes and opened them again after a while.
A car drove by on the road outside the house, yellow lights flashed on his window, and then headed to the next room.
He didn't know why, but when he thought of Li Qingqing sleeping in a room just across the wall from him, he was a little... tossing and turning.
Although I have known Li Qingqing for many years, today is still a completely new experience.
His brain is running at high speed and is very active.
※※※
Hu Lai didn't know when he finally fell asleep, but from the time he saw when he opened his eyes, he could tell that he fell asleep yesterday...no, it must have been very late this morning.
Because he actually slept in.
I didn't wake up until almost half past nine.
"Holy shit!" He jumped up from the bed, put on his clothes, finished washing briefly, and then opened the bedroom door.
Before I even walked downstairs, I heard a sound coming from downstairs. It was the sound of metal knives and forks colliding with ceramic dinner plates.
He was in a daze. Didn't Morikawa go to play away games? Why did he come back?
But he quickly came to his senses.
Ah, it's not Morikawa, it's Li Qingqing, because Li Qingqing spent the night here yesterday.
Sure enough, when he stood at the stairs on the second floor and looked down, he saw that beautiful figure.
Li Qingqing is setting dishes on the dining table.
"When did you get up?" he asked.
Li Qingqing looked up and saw Hu Lai standing upstairs, and laughed: "About eight o'clock?"
"are not you sleepy?"
"You're not sleepy." Li Qingqing shook her head, her ponytail swaying behind her head. "Have you washed up? I originally wanted to wait until I'm done with it before calling you."
Hu Lai came downstairs and said, "Wash up."
Then he looked at the rich breakfast on the table and resisted the urge to take out his mobile phone to take pictures and send them to the group: "Do you always cook by yourself in Paris?"
"Yes, otherwise?" Li Qingqing asked.
"When I'm alone, I only have breakfast at home, and lunch and dinner in the club restaurant."
"Do you want me to teach you two moves?"
Hu Lai glanced at Li Qingqing, who was wearing an apron, with one hand on his hips and waving a spatula with the other: "No, I can do it."
"You know the 'real skill' kind?"
"That was an accident!"
"Haha. Then why do you still use the restaurant?"
"Because I'm lazy."
"..." Li Qingqing was choked by Hu Lai's reason. "You are quite reasonable!"
Hu Lai sat down at the dining table: "How did you sleep last night?"
"It's okay. I felt a little uncomfortable at first. But it got better after that."
"Where do you want to play during the day?" Hu Lai asked again.
"Didn't you say there's nothing interesting in Leeds?"
"What if you have somewhere you want to go?"
"I didn't." The ponytail swung up again.
"Well..." Hu Lai said after thinking deeply, "otherwise, let's watch the game at home! Our game against Warship Port is in the afternoon, and we can go to the airport in time after watching it."
"Okay." Li Qingqing did not object.
Hu Lai asked, "Would you feel a little bored? Or go shopping?"
"If you don't go shopping, just watch football." Li Qingqing was firm, and then said: "I defrosted the upper layer of the steak when I made breakfast. I must let you taste the steak I made at noon!"
"But I want to eat Chinese food..."
“Chinese food?”
"That's right. For example, beef with potatoes and scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Everything in our team restaurant is good, but we don't have these dishes."
Li Qingqing thought for a while and found that there were indeed potatoes, tomatoes and eggs in the refrigerator.
So she agreed: "Okay, let's eat beef with potatoes and scrambled eggs with tomatoes."
※※※
After breakfast, the two of them cleared the table together and started preparing lunch.
Refreeze the steak, find beef in the freezer that is more suitable for stew, and defrost it again.
In the middle, because Li Qingqing discovered that the seasoning was wrong, he asked Hu Lai to drive alone to an Asian supermarket to buy the seasoning he needed.
When Hu Lai returned home, he found that Li Qingqing had already peeled the potatoes.
Carrying the bag, he saw Li Qingqing busy in the kitchen wearing an apron and felt a little dazed.
I almost thought he was really back home and not in a rented villa.
"Hey, why didn't you come in when you came back? Why were you standing at the door in a daze?" Li Qingqing asked curiously when she saw Hu Lai standing at the door in a daze.
The smell is even more obvious...
Hu Lai quickly shook his head to shake that thought out of his mind, walked over and took out the seasonings from the bag: "Everything you want is here."
Li Qingqing picked them up and looked at them one by one, nodding with satisfaction: "Not bad!"
※※※
When the aroma filled the room, Hu Lai could not help but look forward to eating the long-lost... Chinese food.
Not like red pepper, but more homely Chinese food.
The appearance may not be that good, but the taste will make him more familiar.
After all, when the smell wafted out of the pot, he instantly thought he had returned to Dongchuan.
Even if he is a professional player, he still has a Chinese stomach that cannot be changed...
※※※
The beef is stewed, the tomatoes and eggs are served, and the rice is cooked.
Hu Lai and Li Qingqing sat opposite each other at the dining table again, enjoying this rare "homely meal."
"You eat first!" Chef Li Qingqing made an invitation gesture, and then after Hu Lai took a bite, he leaned forward on the table, looked at him with expectant eyes and asked: "How does it taste?"
"
Hu Lai frowned and did not answer him.
"What's wrong?" Li Qingqing asked with wide eyes and confusion.
She saw Hu Lai reach out with his chopsticks and pick up a piece of beef and stuff it into his mouth, chewing it carefully, his brows still furrowed, and he murmured: "Weird..."
"What's weird?"
"It's strange... maybe it's been too long since I've eaten beef with potatoes. I feel like I need to eat a few more pieces to know how it tastes." Hu Lai said, picking up another piece of beef.
Li Qingqing suddenly realized: "Save some for me!"
"There are so many potatoes, and I'm not stopping you!"
"Who said anything about potatoes!"
Li Qingqing was not polite to Hu Lai and picked up a piece of beef. But she did not put it directly into her mouth, but put it in a bowl.
The beef soup flowed out and seeped into the rice below. She then used chopsticks to pry in from below, picked up the crystal clear rice and beef and put it into her mouth.
Then he closed his eyes and let out an intoxicated moan: "Great! The beef and potatoes I made is so delicious!"
"Wang Po sells melons..."
"Hu Lai, what did you say?"
"I said it was indeed delicious!" Hu Lai said, picking up another piece of beef for himself.
"Don't just eat beef, scrambled eggs with tomatoes are also delicious!"
The two of them were immersed in the meal. When they raised their heads again, Li Qingqing looked at Hu Lai and smiled again.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Humazi." Li Qingqing pointed at his face.
Only then did Hu Lai notice a few grains of rice stuck to his mouth.
So he pointed at Li Qingqing's face and said, "You have it too."
"Where?" Li Qingqing began to search his face.
But after searching for a while, I still found nothing.
And Hu Lai had already taken the opportunity to attack the remaining beef in the bowl. As for the rice on his face... How did the Beatles sing a song? Let it be, let it go.
"Cunning! Damn it!" Li Qingqing said anxiously, but he had no choice but to watch her. It was impossible to "fencing" with Hu Lai with chopsticks, right?
But Hu Lai didn't take back the chopsticks holding the beef. Instead, he stepped over and put the beef into Li Qingqing's bowl.
Her eyes widened and she was stunned for a moment.
Hu Lai said: "Thank you for your hard work, chef."
Li Qingqing picked up the beef separately, put it in his mouth, closed his eyes and savored it carefully.
The corners of his mouth become higher and higher.