Chapter 235: Chapter 235

Ji Rui met Le Tong’s clear and beautiful eyes, and his heart uncontrollably pounded heavily against his chest.

Ji Rui paused. For someone like him, it was a bit difficult to take the initiative to express concern for others. He lowered his eyes to look at Baobao before raising them again to meet Le Tong’s beautiful eyes.

"Baobao said it’s snowing on your side, and Baobao is worried you won’t be able to handle it."

After speaking, he patted Baobao’s face, "Baobao, didn’t you chatter this morning about being worried about Sister? Why aren’t you saying anything now?"

Ji Baby stretched lazily in his arms, looked at the screen displaying Le Tong, then looked at Ji Rui, "Sister and I are telepathic. We don’t need to say it to know, right, Sister?"

Le Tong curled her lips into a smile. Looking at Baobao, her eyes were filled not only with a smile but also with full adoration.

"Right! Sister sensed Baobao’s concern early in the morning, so I found that down jacket and plan to wear it during the Spring Festival!"

Baobao poked his little face out from Ji Rui’s arms and said excitedly, "Then I’ll wear that jacket during the Spring Festival too!"

Ji Rui looked full of question marks at Le Tong, "What down jacket?"

Le Tong ignored him, so he lowered his head again to ask his dear son, "Bao, what down jacket?" Baobao also ignored him, struggled out of his arms, jumped to the ground, and ran off swiftly.

Finding himself at a loss, Ji Rui could only raise his head to look at Le Tong.

"Is it very cold over there?"

Since he had already paved the way with words, asking now didn’t seem so difficult anymore.

In the past, he also stayed in D Province for a while, and there, in winter, the temperature could drop to minus twenty or thirty degrees. At that time, he didn’t feel much discomfort, but he was a big tough guy, thick-skinned and sturdy, whereas she was a delicate woman, of course, incomparable.

Although compared to many women, Le Tong was indeed much more resilient, no matter how resilient, in Ji Rui’s eyes, she was undoubtedly a woman.

It was only up to this point that Ji Rui realized Le Tong was the only one besides his mother whom he considered a woman in his thirty years.

Other women in Ji Rui’s eyes have always been devoid of any gender meaning, and he wouldn’t treat them differently because of it.

But when it came to Le Tong, he vividly distinguished the difference between male and female.

Le Tong was stunned for a moment, apparently very surprised that he would be concerned about whether she was cold or not.

"It’s okay, there’s heating indoors. I haven’t been going out much these days, so for now, I still can bear it."

Ji Rui seized on some problems in her words, "Didn’t you say you needed to go out to buy things? This kind of weather, you’ll have to postpone it, right?" Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel⚑fire.net

Le Tong was stunned again, hesitated, and then said, "Mm, I’ll go after the Spring Festival. For now, I’m at home helping my sister-in-law prepare food and goods for the New Year."

Ji Rui fell silent. After all, he wasn’t a talkative person, and it was impossible for him to find something to say to someone actively.

Moreover, between him and Le Tong, so much had happened before, and the two of them were no longer in a superior-subordinate relationship. To put it harshly, now they were neither friends nor colleagues, only perhaps a tiny, subtle connection through Baobao.

For such a relationship, wanting to chatter endlessly seemed really unrealistic.

Ji Rui was always someone who could withstand silence, but now, he couldn’t bear this silence. He very much wanted to say something to break this embarrassing quiet, but couldn’t figure out what to say, so he glanced at Le Tong, hoping she could find some topics to talk about.

Any boring topic would do, as long as the atmosphere didn’t get cold and silent.

However, Le Tong seemed not to mind this silent atmosphere, or maybe, after working with Ji Rui for so long, she was used to this kind of silence.

Since she didn’t think there was anything unusual about it, naturally, she wouldn’t deliberately try to find a topic to break the current boredom.

When Ji Rui saw that she wasn’t speaking, and her gaze seemed to have retracted while she lowered her eyes, fiddling with something, he vaguely saw the shadow of a yarn ball.

"Are you knitting a sweater?"

Ji Rui asked uncertainly, feeling a bit delighted at finally finding at least a boring topic to break the silence.

Le Tong raised her eyelids, glanced at him, hesitated for a while, but still nodded.

"Mm, my sister-in-law is very good at knitting sweaters. With the heavy snow these days, we’re stuck at home, so I’m trying to learn a bit, just for fun."

The truth was, Le Tong was seriously learning and had already bought some wool yarn, planning to knit one or two sweaters for Baobao.

Actually, she wasn’t sure if Baobao would wear them, but she stubbornly wanted to weave her feelings for Baobao into the sweater stitch by stitch, even if she couldn’t be with him, she had her full intentions, always silently accompanying him.

Ji Rui had no concept of these things and didn’t understand them. But since he had picked the topic, he had no choice but to press on clumsily.

"Do you know how to knit a scarf?"

It was a question that came unbidden from his mouth, which made Le Tong’s face flush a little.

"Um... sort of, but it doesn’t look very nice..."

How could Ji Rui know that scarves, in universities or among young couples, could be considered sacred tokens of commitment?

If a boy asks a girl "Do you know how to knit a scarf," the subtext is, "Can you knit a scarf for me?" This subtext is a subtle hint and confession.

If the girl shyly says "I do," and then soon gives the boy the hand-knit scarf, it’s equivalent to responding to the boy’s hint, and a new romance would thus begin, with the scarf becoming akin to the red thread of the god of marriage.

"Really? When you have time, knit one for Baobao, he’ll definitely love it!"

Ji Rui didn’t know why he suddenly wanted to secure a benefit for his dear son; perhaps he also knew if he asked Le Tong to knit him a scarf, she would surely refuse.

The feeling of rejection is not pleasant, Ji Rui had tasted it enough with Le Tong to dare not easily test it again.

Le Tong looked embarrassed, maybe because she misunderstood the intention a little, feeling a bit awkward.

"Mm... I’m actually planning to knit one for Baobao, but Mr. Ji, could you help me keep it a secret? I want to surprise him."

Ji Rui’s good mood was dampened by Le Tong’s "Mr. Ji," feeling slightly displeased, but couldn’t act on it.

"I won’t say a word, don’t worry," Ji Rui promised.

Just when Le Tong thought the topic was over, the shameless man brazenly spoke again.

"By the way, knit me one too!"

[Five installments, the entire 10,000 words are posted, more tomorrow, good night, ladies!]