Compatibility - Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Before tonight, Song Nanyin could never have imagined a slovenly Liu Zhaoran. Even knowing that this woman loved scheming and was deeply calculating, Song Nanyin had to admit that Liu Zhaoran really did have that so-called "goddess" vibe.

It wasn't that she was deifying Liu Zhaoran, but rather that Song Nanyin felt that, compared to herself, Liu Zhaoran was terrifyingly self-disciplined in many ways. For instance, she rarely ordered takeout, almost never touched junk food, and worked out on a regular basis, something Song Nanyin could never manage no matter what.

When she herself lay around eating snacks, Liu Zhaoran was handling work. When she sprawled on the sofa binge-watching shows and munching snacks, Liu Zhaoran was working out. When she was full and satisfied and ready for bed, Liu Zhaoran was eating a vegetable salad.

Yet this very person, on New Year's Eve, was curled up alone in a blanket eating instant noodles. However you looked at it, the scene was surreal, especially Liu Zhaoran's dazed expression right now, which had a rare, adorably silly quality.

"Why are you eating this?" Song Nanyin lingered at the door for a long time before she moved. She asked as she changed her shoes, and by then Liu Zhaoran had wiped her mouth with a tissue, set the noodle cup aside, and was looking glum.

"Why is Team Leader Song back? Didn't you go have fun with your bestie?" Her tone was far from friendly. Oh, look at that sourness, like she was jealous. Song Nanyin wasn't sure; she'd have to observe a bit more.

"She has a boyfriend to spend the New Year with. What would I be going over there for? More to the point, why didn't you go home? Why didn't you find someone to go out with?" Song Nanyin sat on the edge of the sofa, chin propped in her hands, watching Liu Zhaoran's every move and every little shift in her expression.

In her view, Liu Zhaoran was definitely the type who never lacked for invitations during holidays. And not going home for the New Year... could her family situation be complicated too?

"I didn't find it interesting, so I turned them all down." Liu Zhaoran was telling the truth. She really did have plenty of invitations, yesterday, today, and across the entire holiday break; almost every day someone had messaged her.

In the past, Liu Zhaoran would probably have gone to see them for all sorts of reasons, maintaining relationships on the surface. But this year, she suddenly felt lazy, and she also wanted to give herself a real vacation over the New Year.

She'd originally been thinking of spending it with Song Nanyin, but it turned out she wasn't part of the other's pre-arranged plans. Since that was the case, Liu Zhaoran wouldn't force it. It was just that seeing the other's Moments had left her feeling somewhat irritated.

It had taken away her mood to cook as well, and, as if taking revenge, she'd childishly eaten Song Nanyin's favorite instant noodles. That flavor, the last cup, had been eaten by her.

"So you turned down all those invitations, holed yourself up at home, and during the New Year, of all things, ate this?" Song Nanyin pointed at the instant noodles, once again lamenting that Liu Zhaoran hadn't even added a ham sausage. Eating instant noodles for the New Year was already miserable enough; the missing ham sausage only made it worse.

"I'm the only one at home. I couldn't be bothered to make anything to eat." This time Liu Zhaoran didn't hide her dejection at all, completely dropping the act. She also felt that what she'd done was childish, and that she had no real standing to be angry.

But there was no denying that hearing she wasn't in Song Nanyin's New Year plans had genuinely upset her, so much so that she couldn't even be bothered to deal with those gatherings anymore.

Song Nanyin watched Liu Zhaoran glance at her again after speaking, her lipstick-coated lips pressed tightly together. She couldn't help snickering inwardly. She thought Liu Zhaoran was so cute like this.

"Well, you're not alone anymore. I'm back, and I haven't eaten yet either. You did say before that you'd cover my three meals a day, and the New Year's Eve dinner even more so, it can't be thrown together carelessly."

Song Nanyin perked right up, and Liu Zhaoran naturally had no mood left to eat the instant noodles she hadn't wanted in the first place.

"Fine, then you come help me. There are newly bought ingredients in the kitchen." Liu Zhaoran beckoned Song Nanyin over to help and brought out the fish, shrimp, crab, along with the beef and vegetables from the kitchen, clearly planning to make a real feast.

The two of them put on their aprons, one prepping, one cooking. In no hurry to eat, they worked for two hours before finally laying their lavish New Year's Eve dinner on the table. For a certain sense of ceremony, they'd even changed clothes, and Liu Zhaoran had opened a bottle of wine that was clearly not cheap.

"Team Leader Song, happy New Year. This is our first time spending the New Year together." By now, Liu Zhaoran was in a somewhat better mood. She'd never been one to throw tantrums; when a problem came up, you solved it and moved on. Letting the atmosphere turn stiff wasn't her style.

Looking at the table full of dishes, Song Nanyin was dazed for a moment, then raised her head to look at Liu Zhaoran. The dining room wasn't lit by any especially bright lights; the whole atmosphere was a warm, dim yellow. The light fell on Liu Zhaoran's fair face, making her look incredibly gentle.

Song Nanyin couldn't control the pounding of her heart, even though she'd decided to rein in her feelings. But ah, facing the person she liked, knowing full well they'd never be together, her heartbeat just wasn't that easy to control.

"Yeah, I really never imagined I'd spend the New Year with you. Black-Hearted Lotus, you'd better bully me less in the new year." As she said this, Song Nanyin mentally filed them both under the age of 29.

She was someone who liked to reckon in whole numbers. Many people treated their birthday as the proof of turning a year older, but Song Nanyin preferred to take the New Year as the end of the year, and the boundary where the rings of age grew.

That way, she and Liu Zhaoran would step into a new age together today. The idea sounded rather romantic.

"What are you saying, Team Leader Song? You make it sound like I love bullying you."

"Oh? As if you haven't bullied me plenty? And you're still calling me 'Team Leader Song,' even now. What's that about?"

Song Nanyin mumbled the second half of her sentence under her breath. She actually rather liked it when Liu Zhaoran called her Team Leader Song, especially at certain special moments.

But wasn't that title a little too distant? She herself usually called Liu Zhaoran directly by her full name, or else called her Black-Hearted Lotus. If she were to call her Director Liu, that bad woman Liu Zhaoran would probably have been unhappy about it long ago.

"So what would Team Leader Song like me to call you? Yinyin? Or Ayin? Or Nanyin?" Liu Zhaoran's hearing was excellent. Even though Song Nanyin had muttered under her breath, she'd caught her complaint loud and clear.

She studied Song Nanyin's expression as she asked. Seeing her ears twitch and flush faintly red, she knew which form of address she liked.

A chair scraped across the floor with a faint sound. Song Nanyin snapped back to awareness and found that Liu Zhaoran had actually carried her chair over and was sitting right beside her.

What was this? Suddenly so clingy?

"Why aren't you eating the crab?" Liu Zhaoran asked. Song Nanyin tapped the crab shell. She was actually fine with seafood; she was just a bit lazy. As if reading her thoughts, Liu Zhaoran picked up the gloves, put them on, and started shelling the crab for Song Nanyin.

Watching her pick the crab roe out separately into a small dish, and pick the meat from the crab legs and set it in front of her, Song Nanyin ate, and suddenly a feeling welled up in her.

When someone else shelled the crab for you, crab was actually pretty delicious...

After the main meal, the two of them had no plans to rest; instead, they decided to wrap New Year's Eve dumplings together. These days, no one watched the boring Spring Festival Gala anymore, so Song Nanyin simply turned on the American drama Liu Zhaoran had said she was interested in before, and the two of them watched it together.

"This show is a bit mind-bending at the start. If you don't understand, I can explain it to you." Song Nanyin bit her straw and noisily slurped up the pearls inside. The milk tea had been made by Liu Zhaoran herself. Mm, it was pretty good.

"Team Leader Song, what filling do you want for the dumplings?"

"Mm, shrimp and corn."

"Okay."

With that, Liu Zhaoran turned to get ingredients from the fridge, while Song Nanyin pressed pause, intending to wait for Liu Zhaoran to come back so they could watch together. It was a subtle ritual: when the two of them were watching a show, if one of them went off to do something else, the show absolutely had to be paused.

They watched together, shared the same topics, and when one of them paused mid-way, the other went still along with her.

With the filling prepared, Song Nanyin and Liu Zhaoran stood in front of the small counter.

"I've never wrapped dumplings. Is there anything I need to be careful about?"

"Then Team Leader Song can just add the filling. I'll do the wrapping."

"Oh, I can probably handle that."

Song Nanyin glanced at the dumpling filling in the bowl and nodded. Liu Zhaoran was kneading dough, and Song Nanyin narrated the plot by her ear, with the two of them occasionally exchanging a few remarks about the female lead's looks.

Suddenly, Liu Zhaoran's movements stopped, and she shot a glance at Song Nanyin.

"Nanyin, my sleeve slipped down. Help me roll it up." The name rolled off Liu Zhaoran's tongue with complete ease, and Song Nanyin felt a sweetness spread through her heart at the sound. She gave an "okay" and immediately raised her hand to fold Liu Zhaoran's cuff up.

Liu Zhaoran's skin was very pale, that kind of cool white with neither red nor yellow mixed in. Her pores were tiny, and she didn't have much body hair. Fine, dense fuzz covered her arms, and probably because it was too warm, a thin film of sweat lay over it. It was pretty, so pretty.

Song Nanyin's thoughts began to drift as she watched. Once the sleeve was fixed, Liu Zhaoran leaned in again.

"An eyelash fell into my eye. Team Leader Song, blow it for me." By now, the two of them were very close, and having long been in negative-distance contact, Song Nanyin was actually used to it. It was just that... this bad woman really did have long eyelashes. No wonder they were always falling into her eyes.

"Don't move. Let me see where it is." Song Nanyin hadn't touched the dough yet, so her hands were clean. She gently opened Liu Zhaoran's eye, looked at the eyelash that was about to fall but hadn't yet, and blew on it softly.

A faint orange scent drifted over as Song Nanyin drew close. Liu Zhaoran pressed her body toward her, her gaze resting on Song Nanyin's jade-green eyes.

It felt wonderful, like walking beneath a clear sky with a gentle breeze blowing, and suddenly wanting to smile.

This New Year's Eve was more comfortable than the grand gatherings of the past. Probably because the person spending it with her was different.

"There. It doesn't hurt anymore, does it?" Knowing how awful an eyelash in the eye could feel, Song Nanyin looked at Liu Zhaoran as she blinked.

"Much better. As thanks, I'll teach you how to wrap dumplings." Liu Zhaoran placed her own hand over Song Nanyin's, handing her a ball of dough that was almost kneaded. Just like that, both of them wound up with dough-covered hands.

The two of them kneaded the dough and rolled out the wrappers; then Song Nanyin added the fillings, and Liu Zhaoran was in charge of wrapping them up.

"Nanyin, this one has too much filling. It'll fall apart."

"This one has too little. It won't taste good."

"This one forgot to add the shrimp."

"Little Lion, so clumsy."

Liu Zhaoran watched Song Nanyin's technique, guiding and ribbing her at the same time. When she finished, Song Nanyin glared at her, irritated.

"What 'Little Lion'? Are you talking about me? Calling me clumsy?" Frowning at the few substandard dumplings, Song Nanyin thought that if Liu Zhaoran dared to say yes, she would make her eat every one of those dumplings.

And what the heck was 'Little Lion'? Was this Black-Hearted Lotus giving her a nickname?

"No, no. Team Leader Song must have misheard. I really like these dumplings. Team Leader Song personally added the filling, so I'll eat them all."

Liu Zhaoran gave a small smile, setting Song Nanyin's dumplings aside on their own. Later, when they were boiling the dumplings, seeing that she really did eat those crooked, lopsided ones she herself had made, Song Nanyin curved the corners of her lips and smiled, lowering her head.

Neither of them had any thoughts of staying up late; besides, Song Nanyin had had too much fun yesterday, so after the dumplings tonight, they planned to go to bed. Lying on the soft bed, Song Nanyin held Liu Zhaoran and entered her slowly, as if both of them wanted a bit of tenderness on this night.

They fell asleep in each other's arms, holding one another like lovers.

This New Year was so warm.

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