Opening her blurry eyes, she met a pair of beautiful, deep, and… angry eyes.
“Stop messing around!” Pu Cangxie carried her horizontally, scolding her sternly, but he didn’t ignore the shock in his own heart.
This girl’s body and her noble, pure fragrance… No! He shook his head, not allowing himself to think further, because the situation was critical.
He lived on the fourth floor of a noodle shop, with the landlord’s warehouse on the second floor, an elderly woman over fifty living on the third floor, and the landlord’s home on the fifth floor.
This was an old apartment building that was still relatively warm and comfortable. He had been living here for almost a year.
He carried her, walking up the stairs softly. She wasn’t short, but was somewhat light in weight, her body soft and pliant. If you didn’t consider her smell, she actually felt quite comfortable to hold.
Entering the room, he gently placed her, who was emitting light snoring sounds, on the old wicker sofa chair.
“You’re going to let her stay here overnight?” Kimura Hisaomi’s voice came from the door he hadn’t fully closed.
Pu Cangxie didn’t turn around. “Do you have a better idea?”
Kimura Hisaomi watched Pu Cangxie carefully arranging her body, as if afraid of hurting her, and replied: “No, it’s just…”
“Hmm?”
“You don’t actually think she proposed to you seriously, do you?”
Pu Cangxie’s body trembled slightly, and after a while, he said: “I’m not brain-damaged. I’m completely normal!”
His deep gaze softly fell on her rosy cheek. She was truly adorable! Sleeping like an angel, awake like a noble and proud princess, hungry like a little puppy, drunk like a mother lioness!
He had never seen a woman with so many facets, each one so cute. Even her rough moments were heart-stirring…
Suddenly, he discovered that tiny spark of foolishness in his heart was appearing again.
He shook his head. No! Impossible! Even if he was slightly moved by her, she could never be interested in such an ugly man, just as Kimura Hisaomi said.
Although in fact, he wasn’t really that ugly. On the contrary, if he revealed his true appearance…
He was suddenly startled. This was the first time he had an impulse to expose his real appearance. Why was this? Could it be that he…
Forget it! His departure was to pursue the true meaning of self. To achieve this goal, he must remain an ugly man!
During this year of becoming ugly, he had experienced the warmth and coldness of human relationships he never dreamed of before – there was coldness, but also genuine care from neighbors. He knew that compared to his previous self – the orthodox heir who was the center of attention in Japanese culture – he loved this more grounded lifestyle.
Chapter Four: Chirping Sparrow Sounds… So Noisy!
Golden sunlight invasion… So bright!
Who… who pulled open the room’s floor-to-ceiling curtains?
Turning over, her tightly closed eyelashes only trembled slightly. Suddenly, a strange stench entered her nostrils.
So smelly! What’s that smell? But within that stench… there seemed to be a meat fragrance! Hmm… so fragrant… so fragrant… so fragrant!
Slowly opening her eyes, she squinted, looking at the simple and crude furniture, iron windows, and the sunlight outside. “Where am I… ah! So painful… painful, painful, painful…”
She held her head, feeling like it had been run over by a train.
“Oh… what happened to me?”
She slightly raised her head, looking at her clothes. Although the noodle stains were cleaned, there was still a sour smell. Gradually, blurry memories returned to her mind.
She went to a bar last night, had a tequila, and then drank several beers bought by others…
No wonder she threw up like this.
So disgusting and smelly! She needed a bathroom… Thinking this, she looked around.
Suddenly, a soft, hoarse, yet delightful voice humming a jazz tune came through.
Ah! Someone’s here? Great! She needed clean clothes to change out of these disgusting ones.
She struggled to sit up, her steps a bit unsteady, walking towards the wall with cute tiles that was playing a pleasant song.
Turning around the wall, she then smelled an incredibly strong meat fragrance…
What a handsome and elegant man! She could hardly believe her luck.
The male figure standing at the cooking counter, wearing a black tank top, revealing strong arms, broad shoulders, narrow waist, with slightly aged jeans hugging his sexy, firm buttocks, and a butterfly-tied apron – he looked so sexy, so captivating…
For a moment, her heart beat rapidly, and this was the first time in her 23 years that she was in a state of forgetting food for almost ten seconds.
Then her keen senses began to work. The air was filled with food fragrance… the bubbling sounds of cooking on the stove… combined with his charming, low voice…
Oh God! Heaven was too good to her! This… this was even better than her dream scenario!
She was touched, her eyes sparkling like stars, and couldn’t help but blurt out the term she often used to steal food at home –
“Darling!”
The beautiful, cello-like song abruptly stopped, his handsome back slightly stiffening, slowly turning around.
When that ugly face turned, she was stunned.
“Good morning!”
His voice carried a hint of unease. Her shocked expression made him suddenly feel a bit afraid, afraid she might immediately run out the door.
Unexpectedly, before he could realize why he was afraid, the seemingly frozen air was broken by her brilliant smile –
She excitedly screamed: “Ah! It’s you!”
Pu Cangxie was stunned. What was going on? Why did she look so happy, as happy as if seeing a lover…
No! She couldn’t possibly truly like him!
It’s great! What are you cooking? Meat bone tea? Ah… this smell is so fragrant!
Shang Keqin looked excitedly at the pot of pork belly that smelled so good and looked so soft and tender.
Why did she turn a blind eye to his ugly face? He slightly raised his thick eyebrows, a hint of confusion flickering in his deep, dark eyes.
Pu Cangxie looked at her bright and lovely side profile, and suddenly felt a bit disappointed and somewhat relieved. He couldn’t quite describe the complex emotions, but he couldn’t deny that he genuinely liked her frank and unpretentious nature.
“This is for the dog downstairs to eat.”
“Ah?” Her little face instantly fell, “Dog?”
She… was less important than a dog?! No… impossible! She looked eagerly at the pot of soft, tender meat.
“Yes!” Collecting his momentary emotional fluctuations caused by her, his gaze returned to the pot of meat, carefully stirring with a spoon, “I don’t have anything good here. If you want breakfast, I’ll go buy something to cook later…”
“Woof!”
Before he could finish, a sudden sound made him pause. Did he hear that wrong?
“Woof woof!”
The corner of his mouth twitched as he turned to look at her, seeing her eyes blinking, looking more like a puppy trying to curry favor with its master than a Havanese dog.
Good heavens! This beautiful girl would actually bark like a dog just to eat?!
He tried to suppress the laughter starting to make his stomach spasm, and said seriously, “No! This isn’t meat I bought, it’s from Aunt Fang downstairs, and I was about to…”
His voice stopped in the bright, flowing water-like light of her beautiful eyes.
“Wuu…”
A soft, delicate sob escaped, and he was suddenly flustered, not expecting her tears could fall so easily…
For a moment, he had a thought he’d never had before. He actually felt a slight impulse to go against his usual principles and get some of this stew that didn’t belong to him for her to eat.
No, no!
He forced himself to look away from her pitiful, touching face.
Although he had shed his noble status and was no longer Pu Cangxie, he still needed to be a principled person!
