Wen Xinya pouted and whined that Si Yiyan didn’t care about her. Under the dim lighting, her coquettish manner made her look even more enchanting, like a begonia flower in full bloom. It was a truly lovely sight to behold.
Si Yiyan’s heart gave an involuntary lurch. He tried to suppress his churning emotions but wasn’t entirely successful and suddenly lifted her up into a princess carry.
“What are you doing!” Wen Xinya glared at him saucily.
However, due to all that wine they drank earlier, her stare was somewhat hazy and not the least bit threatening. Instead, her anger added a bit of sparkle to her eyes.
Si Yiyan set her down on the sofa. “Are your feet aching?”
When dancing the waltz on tiptoes, she could only place her weight on one foot to pirouette around and around. It was a bit like ballet, but even more passionate and fervent.
It was inevitable that her feet would ache.
Seizing the opportunity, Wen Xinya rolled her eyes pitifully and whimpered. “My feet ache, my thighs also ache!”
With that, she self-righteously propped her legs onto Si Yiyan’s thighs. Her intentions were clear.
Si Yiyan couldn’t help finding her adorable little face somewhat humorous. She was indeed a little girl utterly spoiled by him. Nevertheless, he was more than willing to pamper her, so he immediately held her feet and said, “I will give you a massage!”
Wen Xinya immediately beamed and acknowledged she had played to her advantage.
She was not that weak but had pretty good stamina and strength. Although she had danced for two straight hours and was indeed rather tired with aching legs, she was still far from breaching her physical limits. It was just that there was a lot of spinning in the waltz, plus the added challenge of twirling on tiptoe—as a result, she was a bit dizzy and weary from all those rotations.
If she had the will, it was actually no problem at all for her to dance another two hours with Si Yiyan.
Under the warm, cozy lights, Si Yiyan meticulously kneaded her feet with his long, slender and fair fingers. No one would ever imagine that Ninth Young Master—the head of Xiasi Group, the great Rex of the almighty Lucifer, the big boss behind Jiayuan—would one day cast aside his noble status and dotingly take care of a woman, to massage her feet!
Just the thought of it made Wen Xinya feel extremely sheepish.
As a result, she couldn’t help asking with a smile, “Say, if Gu Yuexi and gang saw you now, what would they think?”
She was really very curious!
Si Yiyan didn’t even look up but continued to focus on massaging her feet. “They would poke their own eyes out!”
He spoke as a matter-of-fact, pretending to be serious.
Wen Xinya giggled. “Why?”
“They would have seen something they shouldn’t have. If their eyes are so disobedient, what use are they?” His mild voice sounded like he was just narrating a pure fact.
Wen Xinya was full of mirth.
As expected, Si Yiyan did care about his image in front of his subordinates. She felt like she had stumbled upon a great secret.
Si Yiyan felt she looked extremely cute, the way she was smiling like she was a kitten who had stolen a fish.
Xinya suddenly felt hungry. She glanced at the table, still laden with half-eaten food, before staring reproachfully at Si Yiyan. “It’s all your fault that we didn’t finish eating my carefully-prepared candlelight dinner.”
Si Yiyan looked at the exquisite fare spread out on the table. She had spent a lot of effort to prepare all that, and it was truly a pity to let it all go to waste. “I will go warm the food up!”
A person used to eating Chinese cuisine would always feel that Western food was not filling enough. This was the case for Si Siyan. Western fare might taste very refined, but it lagged far behind Chinese cuisine in terms of fullness of flavor.
One would find Western dishes extremely delectable only if eaten now and then.
So he was similar to Xinya in that they both didn’t particularly enjoy Western fare. Even breakfast was usually a mesh of Chinese and Western dishes. Chinese food made up the bulk of their meals.
“I think not. Western food doesn’t taste as good after being reheated. I will cook a bowl of longevity noodles for you.” With that, Wen Xinya took her feet off Si Yiyan’s legs and shoved them into a pair of soft, furry bedroom slippers with rabbit ears.
Western fare was usually served in small portions. Although she had prepared a full table’s worth of dishes, they didn’t actually consume that much food. Si Yiyan definitely didn’t eat his fill.
Si Yiyan didn’t stop her. He just continued gazing at her wifely manner. She put on that little apron and turned to enter the kitchen.
Si Yiyan sat on the sofa in eager anticipation.
About 15 minutes later, Wen Xinya came out bearing a bowl of noodles.
She placed a simple bowl of egg and tomato noodles in front of Si Yiyan. “I didn’t have much time, so just make do with this!”
There were other more intricate and complex ways to prepare longevity noodles, but it was already 11:30 PM. His birthday would be over soon and the longevity noodles had to be eaten before that.
Si Yiyan couldn’t help smiling. “This already looks very appetizing.”
Xinya’s culinary skills were pretty good. He had no doubt that she would be able to bring out the best flavors from this ordinary bowl of egg and tomato noodles.
Wen Xinya urged. “Quickly eat or it will turn cold soon.”
Si Siyan took up the bowl and started eating. He had no idea how the noodles were made, but they had a refreshing and bouncy texture and tasted extremely delicious.
An ordinary bowl of noodles dredged up some hazy memories that had been hidden deep inside Si Yiyan’s heart.
His mother had been a woman of traditions. When he was a young child, she would personally cook a bowl of longevity noodles for him every year on his birthday. Long, thin noodles, clear soup, and fresh vegetables, topped with a lovely oval poached egg. It looked exactly the same as the bowl of noodles before him now. It tasted as wonderful as it did at that time.
“Yan, Happy Birthday. This is longevity noodles. You will live a long, healthy and happy life after eating this!” His mother’s gentle voice echoed in his ears as if they had just been spoken yesterday.
It was as if he was once again looking at his mother, wearing that lovely flowered apron and sitting on the sofa, gazing at him with a warm and loving smile.
Wen Xinya was watching him with sparkling eyes. “How is it? Is it good?”
Actually, she had wanted to bake a birthday cake from scratch for Si Yiyan. But on the one hand, she didn’t have enough time, and on the other hand, Si Yiyan didn’t really like to eat sweet things. In the end, she scrapped the idea.
It was a pretty good idea to replace the birthday cake with a bowl of longevity noodles.
Si Yiyan snapped out of his trance and smiled. “The noodles are delicious!”
They tasted exactly the same as those made by his mother in his memories.
He thought that he would never get the chance to taste such love and warmth again. He never expected that one day, there would be a woman who would personally make this dish for him, and allow him to revisit that unforgettable flavor.