Gu Jing focused her attentions on her mum’s explanation why her mum’s visit was delayed, it gave Gu Jing a headache. Gu Jing was too suspicious that the phone was broken so she didn’t notice Zhen Lang who stood at the door and he was staring mischievously at her.
‘Hey, my little girl. Your dad strained his wrist, I’ll come visit you in another two days,’ Mrs Gu said.
‘Is it serious? Does dad need to go to the hospital?’ Gu Jing asked.
‘It’s nothing. Yesterday your dad was playing mahjong (a Chinese tile-based game, tiles similar size to dominoes) with a few people for too long and your dad strained his wrist,’ Mrs Gu said.
Gu Jing bit into a peach she grabbed from Zhen Lang’s coffee table, and she choked – who strained their wrist from playing mahjong for too long… her dad. She coughed for a while before she threw up the peach flesh that choked her.
Gu Jing stood, she took a death breath but it didn’t soothe her anger. ‘If dad strained his wrist from playing mahjong for too long then why do you need to delay your visit for two days?’
‘Because tomorrow it’s your dad’s turn to host mahjong at our home. I’m going to play in his place and he’ll look on. This is a rare opportunity for me to play, how can I let the opportunity go?’ Mrs Gu said.
Gu Jing heard commotions from her mum’s end, which suspiciously sounded like tile clanking sounds.
‘Five thousand Yuan… ok, long distance calls are expensive… wait, my tiles-’ Mrs Gu said and she hung up the phone.
Gu Jing glared at the phone and she wanted to cry but no tears came out.
Gu Jing was passed the age she could freely sulk to her mum for her mum to visit her, but she couldn’t accept in her mum’s eyes, she couldn’t compete with a game of mahjong – she accepted her mum found her from a rubbish bin. What sort of parents loved playing mahjong more than they loved their daughter who they haven’t seen for half a year… unless they found their daughter from a rubbish bin.
Gu Jing stood in a beautiful pose and she tossed the peach accurately into the bin in front of her.
Gu Jing thought Zhen Lang lived a luxurious life, even the peaches he bought tasted more delicious than the peaches she bought. She scoffed and she grabbed another peach from his coffee table. Suddenly she noticed a tall shadow and she kicked in the direction of the owner’s shadow. ‘Who is it?’
Zhen Lang was used to Gu Jing’s reflexes. He quickly took two steps back and he narrowly escaped the force of her kick.
After Gu Jing’s foot brushed passed Zhen Lang’s nose, she put down her guard. ‘If you’re home, why didn’t you knock on the door?’
Gu Jing was relaxed, but Zhen Lang was on high alert. ‘If I’m back at my own home, why do I need to knock?’
Gu Jing realised she wasn’t at her home but she was at Zhen Lang’s home. She scrunched her nose and she felt there was still a glimmer of hope she wouldn’t lose the battle of words against Zhen Lang. ‘Ah… then why were you standing behind me? Were you planning an ambush attack?’
Zhen Lang ignored the intimidating white foot in front of his face. He casually put his suitcase down then he glanced at Gu Jing’s toes and he laughed mischievously. ‘You dare to bruise my face and let me greet your mum with a bruised face?’
Gu Jing used her strength to take two deep breaths and she retrieved her angry foot. She sat on the sofa, she imagined the peach she held in her hand was Zhen Lang’s flesh and she bit into the peach.
Zhen Lang smiled brightly for a while at the sight of Gu Jing forcing herself to focus on the TV, she was doing her best to restrain her desire to attack his face. Then he walked to the bathroom.
After Gu Jing heard the sound of water running from the bathroom, she rested her back against the sofa and she thought about the consequences of her mum’s phone call.
It was hard for Gu Jing to deal with her mum’s two day delay, because before she left home she requested her landlord to fix pipes in her bathroom. So it was inconvenient for her to go home and come back and she couldn’t shower in her home for at least two days.
Gu Jing didn’t have a choice except to tolerate. At least she wouldn’t see Zhen Lang’s face in the morning and at night she and Zhen Lang would stay out of each other’s way so two days would pass by quickly.
But Gu Jing didn’t know why just the thought of living in the same place as Zhen Lang made her feel like a restless monkey, and she couldn’t stand or sit peacefully to the point she wanted to hit her head and pull out her hair.
Recently when Gu Jing stopped a trio of thieves from stealing a young girl’s money, she fought fearlessly against the trio who held knives. But when she was faced with Zhen Lang’s smile, she was like a barrel of dynamite and she was ready to explode at the slightest provocation from him. It was a dangerous situation to put herself in! Especially when he squinted his eyes and he stared straight at her, it was like he was looking for her weak spots and he was ready to defend her attacks. It made her arms and legs itchier to attack him.
Gu Jing was determined, she wasn’t used to retreating then she needed to bravely face her enemy. But her master taught her not to use strong force to against a weaker enemy. She sighed, she reminded herself Zhen Lang was an ordinary citizen and she needed to refrain from using force against him. If she couldn’t attack him with her arms and legs then she’d attack him with her mouth.
Gu Jing spat out the peach seed from her mouth. She stretched her hand out onto the coffee table and she fumbled for another peach but it was mostly a cold empty plate, there was only one peach left.
Half the TV light was obstructed and it was dark in front of Gu Jing. She only saw Zhen Lang’s tall body in front of her. He hunched over the coffee table and his target was the last peach on the plate.
The TV light reflected off Zhen Lang’s handsome face and the water drops on his hair looked like drops of crystals. The water drops from his head slowly dripped onto Gu Jing’s hand.
The body wash scent on Zhen Lang’s body was the same scent on Gu Jing’s body and it made her uncomfortable pointlessly because they both just showered using the same body wash.
Zhen Lang wore a loose robe with a v-neck collar, his chiseled chest was visible under his robe collar and the way his chest moved in sync with his breathing was mesmerising.
The moment Gu Jing realised what she was thinking, she immediately retrieved her hand. Her fingers gripped protectively around the last peach and she laughed triumphantly.
Gu Jing scoffed, there was nothing about Zhen Lang she hadn’t seen. His toy was just bigger than the past when he cried loudly just because she held it a bit. If he wanted to distract her, there wasn’t even a gap through a door for her to be distracted by his half state of undress.
Zhen Lang didn’t say anything and he sat on the sofa at the furthest distance from Gu Jing. He spoke in a soothing voice like gentle rainfall. ‘You like this kind of fruit?’
Gu Jing stared a while at the empty plate as a result of her appetite. But she didn’t want to admit the truth in front of the man who didn’t like eating junk food and also the man who she imagined substituted the peach flesh whilst she chewed the peaches. She spoke stiffly. ‘It didn’t taste bad.’
Zhen Lang took off his glasses. His stern eyes clearly looked relaxed at night more than they did during the day. ‘It’s good you like it.’
Gu Jing felt since she defeated Zhen Lang to capture the last peach, she should at least be gracious a bit. ‘Where did you buy it? Tomorrow I’ll go buy it.’
Gu Jing rubbed the peach for a while and she was about to put it in her mouth when Zhen Lang gave an unexpected reply.
‘It was a gift,’ Zhen Lang said and he leaned his back against the sofa.
Gu Jing bounced the peach on her palm. ‘Being a doctor is actually a good thing, you get to receive gifts daily. You don’t dare to accept red packets but accepting other kinds of gifts isn’t bad.’
‘It wasn’t a gift given to me,’ Zhen Lang said. He flipped through a book in his hand and he didn’t lift his head. ‘Recently there was a patient with lung cancer. The patient’s visitors came to visit the patient with many gifts. But the patient had died before the visitors came. The patient’s family couldn’t carry all of the gifts home so they left some it behind and I took the peaches home.’
Gu Jing’s held the peach in mid-air in front of her mouth, her body tensed and she threw the peach in Zhen Lang’s direction. ‘How can you be such an opportunist? You don’t discriminate even against a dead person’s belongings and bring it home with you?’
Zhen Lang happily caught the peach and he bit loudly into the peach ‘Ah, I remembered wrongly. It seems I bought this at the supermarkets yesterday.’
‘You!’ Gu Jing called. She shot up and stood on the sofa. Her foot like the wind swept passed Zhen Lang’s face. ‘You forgot on purpose.’
‘Don’t kick my face, your mum will see,’ Zhen Lang said calmly.
Gu Jing’s foot was two centimetres in front of Zhen Lang’s nose before she retreated her foot. She gritted her teeth and she glared at his happy face. ‘You did forget on purpose. Only monsters will believe you.’
Zhen Lang put the peach seed down onto the plate. The juice from the peach made his beautiful lips that were smiling shiny. ‘Don’t lower your self-worth. Compared to monsters, you’re scarier. But at least monsters can distinguish a male monster from a female monster. Can you distinguish the difference between a male human from a female human?’
Zhen Lang swept his eyes from the top to the bottom of Gu Jing’s body. ‘From a distance the mountain looks like it’s curved. At a close distance the mountain is flat.’
Gu Jing was speechless. Gu Jing fisted her hands tightly to the point the crack sounds from her knuckles were loud and clear.
Gu Jing reasoned her mum didn’t arrive yet, she could hit Zhen Lang first and later she could hide from her mum.
The moment Gu Jing was about to explode and attack Zhen Lang, he stood abruptly. ‘I forgot to confirm, the two underwear in the bathroom belong to you, right? Go tidy the bathroom.’
Gu Jing was still hot headed but she replied honestly. ‘I just received a call, I forgot to…’
Gu Jing felt there was something wrong… what did Zhen Lang say? Two underwear? One dirty underwear, one clean underwear… one plus one was two so two underwear was correct… wrong!
A cool wind swept through the opened window, and passed through Gu Jing’s loose robe and through the middle of her legs… she felt a cold sensation. She lowered her head and she looked down through her robe. When she lifted her head, Zhen Lang wasn’t within her reach, he was walking toward his room.
The moment Zhen Lang closed his bedroom door, Gu Jing cried out angrily in the living room. ‘Zhen Lang, I want to turn you into mincemeat! You sly dog!’
***
End of Chapter Five
Gu Jing focused her attentions on her mum’s explanation why her mum’s visit was delayed, it gave Gu Jing a headache. Gu Jing was too suspicious that the phone was broken so she didn’t notice Zhen Lang who stood at the door and he was staring mischievously at her.
‘Hey, my little girl. Your dad strained his wrist, I’ll come visit you in another two days,’ Mrs Gu said.
‘Is it serious? Does dad need to go to the hospital?’ Gu Jing asked.
‘It’s nothing. Yesterday your dad was playing mahjong (a Chinese tile-based game, tiles similar size to dominoes) with a few people for too long and your dad strained his wrist,’ Mrs Gu said.
Gu Jing bit into a peach she grabbed from Zhen Lang’s coffee table, and she choked – who strained their wrist from playing mahjong for too long… her dad. She coughed for a while before she threw up the peach flesh that choked her.
Gu Jing stood, she took a death breath but it didn’t soothe her anger. ‘If dad strained his wrist from playing mahjong for too long then why do you need to delay your visit for two days?’
‘Because tomorrow it’s your dad’s turn to host mahjong at our home. I’m going to play in his place and he’ll look on. This is a rare opportunity for me to play, how can I let the opportunity go?’ Mrs Gu said.
Gu Jing heard commotions from her mum’s end, which suspiciously sounded like tile clanking sounds.
‘Five thousand Yuan… ok, long distance calls are expensive… wait, my tiles-’ Mrs Gu said and she hung up the phone.
Gu Jing glared at the phone and she wanted to cry but no tears came out.
Gu Jing was passed the age she could freely sulk to her mum for her mum to visit her, but she couldn’t accept in her mum’s eyes, she couldn’t compete with a game of mahjong – she accepted her mum found her from a rubbish bin. What sort of parents loved playing mahjong more than they loved their daughter who they haven’t seen for half a year… unless they found their daughter from a rubbish bin.
Gu Jing stood in a beautiful pose and she tossed the peach accurately into the bin in front of her.
Gu Jing thought Zhen Lang lived a luxurious life, even the peaches he bought tasted more delicious than the peaches she bought. She scoffed and she grabbed another peach from his coffee table. Suddenly she noticed a tall shadow and she kicked in the direction of the owner’s shadow. ‘Who is it?’
Zhen Lang was used to Gu Jing’s reflexes. He quickly took two steps back and he narrowly escaped the force of her kick.
After Gu Jing’s foot brushed passed Zhen Lang’s nose, she put down her guard. ‘If you’re home, why didn’t you knock on the door?’
Gu Jing was relaxed, but Zhen Lang was on high alert. ‘If I’m back at my own home, why do I need to knock?’
Gu Jing realised she wasn’t at her home but she was at Zhen Lang’s home. She scrunched her nose and she felt there was still a glimmer of hope she wouldn’t lose the battle of words against Zhen Lang. ‘Ah… then why were you standing behind me? Were you planning an ambush attack?’
Zhen Lang ignored the intimidating white foot in front of his face. He casually put his suitcase down then he glanced at Gu Jing’s toes and he laughed mischievously. ‘You dare to bruise my face and let me greet your mum with a bruised face?’
Gu Jing used her strength to take two deep breaths and she retrieved her angry foot. She sat on the sofa, she imagined the peach she held in her hand was Zhen Lang’s flesh and she bit into the peach.
Zhen Lang smiled brightly for a while at the sight of Gu Jing forcing herself to focus on the TV, she was doing her best to restrain her desire to attack his face. Then he walked to the bathroom.
After Gu Jing heard the sound of water running from the bathroom, she rested her back against the sofa and she thought about the consequences of her mum’s phone call.
It was hard for Gu Jing to deal with her mum’s two day delay, because before she left home she requested her landlord to fix pipes in her bathroom. So it was inconvenient for her to go home and come back and she couldn’t shower in her home for at least two days.
Gu Jing didn’t have a choice except to tolerate. At least she wouldn’t see Zhen Lang’s face in the morning and at night she and Zhen Lang would stay out of each other’s way so two days would pass by quickly.
But Gu Jing didn’t know why just the thought of living in the same place as Zhen Lang made her feel like a restless monkey, and she couldn’t stand or sit peacefully to the point she wanted to hit her head and pull out her hair.
Recently when Gu Jing stopped a trio of thieves from stealing a young girl’s money, she fought fearlessly against the trio who held knives. But when she was faced with Zhen Lang’s smile, she was like a barrel of dynamite and she was ready to explode at the slightest provocation from him. It was a dangerous situation to put herself in! Especially when he squinted his eyes and he stared straight at her, it was like he was looking for her weak spots and he was ready to defend her attacks. It made her arms and legs itchier to attack him.
Gu Jing was determined, she wasn’t used to retreating then she needed to bravely face her enemy. But her master taught her not to use strong force to against a weaker enemy. She sighed, she reminded herself Zhen Lang was an ordinary citizen and she needed to refrain from using force against him. If she couldn’t attack him with her arms and legs then she’d attack him with her mouth.
Gu Jing spat out the peach seed from her mouth. She stretched her hand out onto the coffee table and she fumbled for another peach but it was mostly a cold empty plate, there was only one peach left.
Half the TV light was obstructed and it was dark in front of Gu Jing. She only saw Zhen Lang’s tall body in front of her. He hunched over the coffee table and his target was the last peach on the plate.
The TV light reflected off Zhen Lang’s handsome face and the water drops on his hair looked like drops of crystals. The water drops from his head slowly dripped onto Gu Jing’s hand.
The body wash scent on Zhen Lang’s body was the same scent on Gu Jing’s body and it made her uncomfortable pointlessly because they both just showered using the same body wash.
Zhen Lang wore a loose robe with a v-neck collar, his chiseled chest was visible under his robe collar and the way his chest moved in sync with his breathing was mesmerising.
The moment Gu Jing realised what she was thinking, she immediately retrieved her hand. Her fingers gripped protectively around the last peach and she laughed triumphantly.
Gu Jing scoffed, there was nothing about Zhen Lang she hadn’t seen. His toy was just bigger than the past when he cried loudly just because she held it a bit. If he wanted to distract her, there wasn’t even a gap through a door for her to be distracted by his half state of undress.
Zhen Lang didn’t say anything and he sat on the sofa at the furthest distance from Gu Jing. He spoke in a soothing voice like gentle rainfall. ‘You like this kind of fruit?’
Gu Jing stared a while at the empty plate as a result of her appetite. But she didn’t want to admit the truth in front of the man who didn’t like eating junk food and also the man who she imagined substituted the peach flesh whilst she chewed the peaches. She spoke stiffly. ‘It didn’t taste bad.’
Zhen Lang took off his glasses. His stern eyes clearly looked relaxed at night more than they did during the day. ‘It’s good you like it.’
Gu Jing felt since she defeated Zhen Lang to capture the last peach, she should at least be gracious a bit. ‘Where did you buy it? Tomorrow I’ll go buy it.’
Gu Jing rubbed the peach for a while and she was about to put it in her mouth when Zhen Lang gave an unexpected reply.
‘It was a gift,’ Zhen Lang said and he leaned his back against the sofa.
Gu Jing bounced the peach on her palm. ‘Being a doctor is actually a good thing, you get to receive gifts daily. You don’t dare to accept red packets but accepting other kinds of gifts isn’t bad.’
‘It wasn’t a gift given to me,’ Zhen Lang said. He flipped through a book in his hand and he didn’t lift his head. ‘Recently there was a patient with lung cancer. The patient’s visitors came to visit the patient with many gifts. But the patient had died before the visitors came. The patient’s family couldn’t carry all of the gifts home so they left some it behind and I took the peaches home.’
Gu Jing’s held the peach in mid-air in front of her mouth, her body tensed and she threw the peach in Zhen Lang’s direction. ‘How can you be such an opportunist? You don’t discriminate even against a dead person’s belongings and bring it home with you?’
Zhen Lang happily caught the peach and he bit loudly into the peach ‘Ah, I remembered wrongly. It seems I bought this at the supermarkets yesterday.’
‘You!’ Gu Jing called. She shot up and stood on the sofa. Her foot like the wind swept passed Zhen Lang’s face. ‘You forgot on purpose.’
‘Don’t kick my face, your mum will see,’ Zhen Lang said calmly.
Gu Jing’s foot was two centimetres in front of Zhen Lang’s nose before she retreated her foot. She gritted her teeth and she glared at his happy face. ‘You did forget on purpose. Only monsters will believe you.’
Zhen Lang put the peach seed down onto the plate. The juice from the peach made his beautiful lips that were smiling shiny. ‘Don’t lower your self-worth. Compared to monsters, you’re scarier. But at least monsters can distinguish a male monster from a female monster. Can you distinguish the difference between a male human from a female human?’
Zhen Lang swept his eyes from the top to the bottom of Gu Jing’s body. ‘From a distance the mountain looks like it’s curved. At a close distance the mountain is flat.’
Gu Jing was speechless. Gu Jing fisted her hands tightly to the point the crack sounds from her knuckles were loud and clear.
Gu Jing reasoned her mum didn’t arrive yet, she could hit Zhen Lang first and later she could hide from her mum.
The moment Gu Jing was about to explode and attack Zhen Lang, he stood abruptly. ‘I forgot to confirm, the two underwear in the bathroom belong to you, right? Go tidy the bathroom.’
Gu Jing was still hot headed but she replied honestly. ‘I just received a call, I forgot to…’
Gu Jing felt there was something wrong… what did Zhen Lang say? Two underwear? One dirty underwear, one clean underwear… one plus one was two so two underwear was correct… wrong!
A cool wind swept through the opened window, and passed through Gu Jing’s loose robe and through the middle of her legs… she felt a cold sensation. She lowered her head and she looked down through her robe. When she lifted her head, Zhen Lang wasn’t within her reach, he was walking toward his room.
The moment Zhen Lang closed his bedroom door, Gu Jing cried out angrily in the living room. ‘Zhen Lang, I want to turn you into mincemeat! You sly dog!’
***
End of Chapter Five
