Chapter 107 - 100: He’s Jealous

Chapter 107: Chapter 100: He’s Jealous

’This is a great chance to get closer to him!’

"Then it’s settled. We’re watching *Pen Spirit vs. Zhenzi*!"

"Whatever you want."

After speaking, Xiao Ran turned and walked into the kitchen, planning to cook some noodles for Yan Xici. It was already noon, and the two of them still hadn’t eaten lunch.

"Let’s just have noodles for lunch," Xiao Ran said.

Seeing this, the girl enthusiastically offered, "Brother, let me do it."

’Brother Xiao Ran worked half the day, and I’ve just been lazing around at home. I should be the one to cook.’

Hearing this, Xiao Ran frowned.

’If I remember correctly, she has no idea how to make noodles. They definitely wouldn’t be as good as mine.’

Xiao Ran was very confident when it came to his cooking skills.

"My noodles are tastier!"

Looking at Xiao Ran’s insistent expression, the girl smiled. "It’s true, yours are tastier. You should do it, then."

Xiao Ran: "..."

He felt like that statement was somehow right, yet also... not quite right.

Yan Xici, however, didn’t think anything of it.

After all, the noodles Brother Xiao Ran made really were delicious, especially his egg noodles. She could always eat a huge bowl every time.

He entered the kitchen, took the noodles out of the fridge, and skillfully grabbed two eggs, a green pepper, and a tomato.

Xiao Ran started making the tomato and scrambled eggs. In truth, for egg noodles, you just had to scramble the eggs well.

Then you just had to add the cooked noodles and mix everything together. It wasn’t difficult at all.

Watching Brother Xiao Ran’s busy figure, the girl felt too embarrassed to just stand by and wait. She went over to the refrigerator, took out two eggs, tapped them on the edge of a bowl, and the liquid flowed out.

After cracking the eggs, she took a pair of chopsticks from the box in the drawer and her small, pale hands began to beat them quickly.

Xiao Ran glanced at her but said nothing.

After all, he was now completely used to the two of them working together.

Before she had done much, Yan Xici’s phone rang with a pleasant ringtone.

"It’s you, it’s you, it’s you, the silhouette behind me is all you, you are my mountains and my streams..."

Hearing her phone ring, Yan Xici quickly put down the bowl and chopsticks, stuck her small hand into her pocket, and pulled out her phone.

She looked at the two words displayed on the screen: Li Ke.

The tension on her face was instantly visible.

’Her intuition told her that Li Ke was definitely calling about the book reviews!’

’And that was a topic she didn’t want to say a single word about!’

After a moment’s hesitation, Yan Xici hurriedly pressed the hang-up button.

The look on her face was like that of a thief, terrified of being discovered.

Meanwhile, Li Ke, who had just taken a screenshot and was about to show off her glorious achievements to Yan Xici, stared at the disconnected call, utterly baffled.

’What the hell is this situation?’

’Why did she hang up on me?’

After hanging up, the girl looked troubled. She picked up the bowl and mechanically resumed beating the eggs.

Xiao Ran glanced at her curiously. "Why didn’t you answer?"

"Oh, it’s nothing. Just a wrong number!" she said, making up an excuse.

’Compared to being caught red-handed, it’s better to just keep my mouth shut.’

After all, being exposed to his face would be the most embarrassing thing imaginable.

Over on her end, Li Ke waited for a while. Not expecting the girl to not only ignore her call but hang up, she decisively hit redial.

’I worked my butt off all morning. She has to praise me, there’s no way around it!’

The girl hadn’t even had a chance to recover when her phone rang again.

At that moment, she just wanted to die.

Biting her lip, she looked both nervous and lost.

’This person... why won’t they stop? Can’t we talk about this later?’

She hurriedly pressed the hang-up button again.

This made the already curious Xiao Ran even more suspicious.

"Who is that, really?"

Refusing to answer the phone was completely out of character for her.

"It’s no one. It’s just... just a wrong number."

The moment she said that, Xiao Ran knew something was wrong. Who was she trying to fool?

’A wrong number once, maybe. But twice?’

He felt things weren’t that simple.

While he was still thinking, Yan Xici’s phone rang yet again.

Li Ke was about to die of anger. ’What’s her problem? It’s one thing not to answer, but she keeps hanging up. I call, she hangs up.’

’No way. Today, I’m going to make her answer!’

Xiao Ran looked at Yan Xici suspiciously. "Still a wrong number?"

"Uhm... it’s my classmate." The girl knew she couldn’t hide it this time. She gave an awkward smile and finally answered the phone.

"Hello..."

Before she could finish, the impatient Li Ke on the other end exploded.

"Dude, what’s your deal? Why do you keep hanging up on me?"

Li Ke, in both appearance and voice, was a bit like a boy. On top of that, she was worked up, so her voice shot up a few octaves.

Yan Xici felt like her eardrums were about to burst.

She quickly held the phone a little further away, then turned to Xiao Ran with an embarrassed look. "Brother, I’m just going to take this call."

To be honest, Xiao Ran had heard Li Ke’s voice. It was so loud it was hard not to. Plus, her voice was so deep and resonant, not at all like a girl’s.

Combined with Yan Xici’s three rejected calls, Xiao Ran’s heart instantly tightened.

’Who is this person?’

’Why are they so rude?’

He frowned. "It’s fine. I don’t mind the noise."

The subtext was: ’You’re taking that call right here!’

He wanted to hear for himself who was speaking so rudely to his little sister!

’What, does she owe him money or something?’

’I’ve never even dared to yell at her. Who gave this person the right?’

Li Ke continued on the other end of the line, "I’m talking to you, did you hear me?"

’First, you don’t answer the phone, and now you’re ignoring me!’

"I hear you, I hear you. Go on," the girl said, biting her lip. She had wanted to walk away, but now she didn’t dare move.

She had a premonition that she was done for.

’The secret’s out!’

"Hey, let me tell you, I just replied to two hundred comments in one go! Even more than you. Aren’t I freaking awesome?"

Because of Li Ke’s naturally loud voice...

...Xiao Ran heard everything with perfect clarity.

His first reaction was that they were talking about the comments on his book.

He couldn’t help but marvel internally. ’Holy cow, two hundred comments. That’s impressive!’

In an instant, Xiao Ran seemed to understand everything.

’His intuition hadn’t been wrong. It was her.’

But touched as he was, Xiao Ran still had a question: who exactly was this man?

What was his relationship with Yan Xici?

"Awesome, you’re the most awesome. I’ll treat you to a meal later!" Yan Xici replied nervously, wishing she could end the conversation and hang up immediately.

However, Li Ke on the other end had no intention of hanging up. "I’m telling you, my comments were absolutely brilliant. I just want to praise myself a little."

Today, Li Ke had used every single curse word she had learned in her twenty-odd years of life.

It was incredibly cathartic.

Seeing that she had no intention of hanging up, Yan Xici grew anxious. She tried to placate her, "Okay, okay, I get it. Um, I’ll call you back in a bit."

Honestly, Yan Xici didn’t just want to stop talking; she didn’t even want to listen anymore.

The two of them were already close, with Xiao Ran standing right behind her. At such a short distance, it was obvious he could hear every single word.

Even though her back was to Brother Xiao Ran, she could clearly feel his gaze fixed on her.

After hanging up, the girl turned around guiltily, the expression on her exquisite, pretty face like someone who’d been caught doing something wrong.

"Um, Brother, I’m sorry..."

It had to be said, when facing Xiao Ran, Yan Xici was always the quickest to admit she was wrong.

Her earnest little expression made Xiao Ran’s heart ache.

’She was clearly doing it for my own good, but now she’s so afraid I’ll be angry that she’s actually apologizing to me.’

It truly made him feel incredibly touched.

But, regarding the fact that she had hidden it from him, Xiao Ran decided to teach her a small lesson.

He raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"

Yan Xici knew there was no hiding it now.

Her watery eyes stared straight at Xiao Ran, and her tone was tense. "Um, Brother Xiao Ran, let me explain."

Xiao Ran stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the stove. "Explain."

"I just really thought the things they were saying were too nasty, and I wanted to help you explain things. As for it escalating into, uh, an argument... that, that really wasn’t on purpose."

The girl looked at Xiao Ran with a dead-serious expression, her voice growing quieter and quieter until it was almost inaudible if one wasn’t listening closely.

"So, who was that man just now?"

This was the question Xiao Ran was most concerned about right now.

?

Yan Xici froze.

’Why is Brother Xiao Ran’s focus so... weird?’