The Gu family is not the kind of family that pays attention to red tape.The dining table is not big, six chairs barely around a circle, the table a few dishes are not complicated, and even some casual, what stewed beef brisket, salt and pepper ribs, fried seasonal vegetables, tomato and egg soup, are all commonplace can not be more commonplace things.
But Qi Huaizhi still sat a little stiff.
It wasn't because of fear, it was because she wasn't used to it.
Ever since she was a child, she usually only ate two kinds of rice for meals: the rice that a person casually fooled around with and the rice that she had to serve when she was a guest in someone else's house.There was no third kind.
But now she picked up her chopsticks and realized that no one was looking at her.Everyone was eating naturally and talking without restraint.
Gu Yuan's sister picked up a chopstick of beef brisket and suddenly looked at her, "This guy has been a picky eater since he was a kid, and no one is allowed to touch the kitchen except me.If you have patience, you can control him too."
After saying this, he also laughed, smiling in a particularly genuine way.
Qi Huai Zhi also smiled and returned, "I won't feed him if he doesn't listen."
Gu Yuan bit his chopsticks and raised his eyes to look at her, the bit of hostility and cynicism in the corner of his eyes all smoothed out by the light.He didn't say anything, just inclined his head and gently rubbed her shoulder.
Second Brother was chewing on his ribs, and when he heard this, he laughed so hard that he let out a poof, "Is he a dog now?And you have to feed it?"
"Yes."She looked at Gu Yuan with a determined expression, "I raised him."
The table burst into laughter.
The Gu family's elder brother put some food in her bowl and said warmly, "Eat more, Xiao Yuan said you didn't have a good stomach a while ago."
She froze for a moment, nodded, and whispered her thanks.
Later, the conversation turned to dogs, stocks, and a dress that Sister Gu had recently acquired, and the atmosphere was warm and relaxed, like an ordinary reunion dinner in anyone's home.Only Qi Huaizhi herself knew that she ate slowly, bit by bit, each bite like confirming whether such a thing as "home" really existed.
Gu's mother did not say much, just from time to time to everyone refill the soup, and without a trace to help Qi Huaizhi blocked a joke that she ate too little flirtation.
Until the last lemon tart was served.
As soon as the sour and somewhat biting aroma wafted out, Qi Huaizhi's eyes lit up.
Gu Yuan whispered, "My mom made it, don't you not like eating desserts made by others?"
"Your mom is not someone else."She replied with a smile, her eyes glowing and her voice sugary.
That night, she ate three pieces of lemon tart, and took away a wrapped piece, tucking it into her jacket pocket.
When Gu Yuan walked her out the door, the tiny piece of lemon tart stuck to her palm like fire.
It wasn't that she hadn't had the meal before.She was just, for the first time, having this kind of meal.There were jokes and jokes at the table, people pinching dishes, people remembering that she didn't eat cream and liked lemon.
She smiled and said, "I now realize that a dog can have a nest."
Gu Yuan said, "You are the nest."
She looked back at him and smiled brighter than the moon, "Gu Yuan, will you talk too much?"
He said, "Not lying."
Qi Huaizhi didn't say anything, but only took a bite of the lemon tart, biting that hard.
She smiled and said, "Then I'll have to support you for the rest of your life."
"Your home is so nice."
"Then marry me and it will be your home too."
At eleven o'clock at night, when she returned to her place, Qi Huaizhi hung up her coat and took out the piece of lemon tart from her pocket and put it on the table.
She didn't eat it.
The sweet flavor was too heavy and snoozy.
But she just couldn't throw it away.
The lemon tart lay softly on the plate, the frosting glistening in the light, like the touch of Gu Yuan as he sat next to her that night, lazily leaning over.His hair was slightly disheveled, and the corners of his eyes still held smiles that he hadn't had time to hide, the kind of spoiled, unexplained arrogance that the world owed him.
He looked at her like that, like she was really his homecoming.
Qi Huaizhi sat down at the table with a cup of tea and stared at the lemon tart for a long time.
It wasn't that she hadn't seen a "home" before - she just hadn't seen one, nor had she ever had one.
There was no bickering, no defensiveness, no purpose, no power.
The Gu family was noisy, but there was light in that noise, the warmth of ordinary days.Sister could casually ask her if she wanted anything to drink, Big Brother would remember that she had a weak stomach, and Second Brother would make jokes about her.Mama Gu didn't say much, but would add a spoonful of soup to her when she unconsciously put down her chopsticks.
It was so good, so good that it was like a dream.
So good that she knew that she shouldn't touch.