FIO CH24

Chapter 24: He’s Definitely Angry

Zhou Zheng got up and eagerly approached Lu Fangchi, circling around him like a dog: “What do you want to eat? I’ll make it.”

“I’ll take care of it myself,” Lu Fangchi replied coldly, not even sparing him a glance as he walked past the alpha and headed outside.

Zhou Zheng: !

Alarm bells rang loudly, clanging and clattering!

Zhou Zheng followed behind, peering around and cautiously inquiring, “What’s wrong?”

Lu Fangchi ignored him, walked straight through the living room to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, took out two eggs and placed them on the egg steamer, then reached for a mug, rinsed it under the faucet, dried it, and placed it on the island to make a cup of hot milk.

The usual routine.

But ever since Zhou Zheng had come, he had rarely eaten like this. Eggs were dry and hard to swallow, and milk tasted a bit off, but they were convenient for filling his stomach.

Seeing Lu Fangchi’s actions, Zhou Zheng frowned and spoke up, “This doesn’t taste good. What do you want to eat? I’ll cook it for you.”

Lu Fangchi glanced at him sideways, scanning him up and down, making Zhou Zheng feel uneasy, before finally averting his gaze and condescendingly saying, “No need.”

This reaction was too unusual; Lu Fangchi was definitely angry. Zhou Zheng scratched his temple, feeling almost tearful, as he genuinely couldn’t recall what he had done last night to upset him.

Lu Fangchi didn’t wait in the kitchen any longer and walked out with his cup of milk.

This time, Zhou Zheng didn’t follow him out but stayed in the kitchen to start cooking. He rolled up his sleeves, opened the refrigerator, and scanned the contents… there was almost nothing usable.

A tray of eggs, countless bottles of mineral water and beer, and a handful of wilted, yellow-green scallions, that was it.

Zhou Zheng glanced at the timer on the egg steamer, which read eight minutes.

The nearest supermarket was a five-minute run away, a ten-minute round trip, plus five minutes for shopping, which would take at least a quarter of an hour, not to mention the cooking time. It would definitely take longer than the egg steamer’s completion time.

Zhou Zheng looked up at Lu Fangchi’s round nape as he sat on the sofa, occasionally raising his milk cup to take a few sips. Given today’s situation, he couldn’t bring himself to ask the young man to wait a bit, because there was a high probability that he would smile and politely say no.

No choice, he had to make something with the available ingredients. Zhou Zheng quickly boiled a pot of water, took out four eggs, beat them in a bowl, and stirred them with salt and chicken essence.

While waiting for the water to boil to cook the noodles, he took out a small square frying pan and started making an omelette. He poured a layer in, spread it into shape, rolled it up, and repeated the process.

He made a savory version of thick-cut tamagoyaki, as he had observed that Lu Fangchi didn’t particularly like sweet food.

Halfway through making the tamagoyaki, Zhou Zheng turned off the heat, fished out the cooked noodles, and set them aside with a bit of cooking oil.

He occasionally glanced at the remaining time on the egg steamer, juggling two dishes at once, and a thin layer of sweat formed on his nose.

As the egg steamer ticked down to zero and “ding-dong” sounded, Zhou Zheng’s scallion oil was ready. He poured it over the noodles, releasing a fragrant aroma, and only needed to mix it up.

Footsteps approached from behind, and Zhou Zheng looked up to see Lu Fangchi walk in. He opened the egg steamer, used a spoon to scoop the hot eggs into a bowl, and then filled another bowl with cold water from the tap and walked away.

Zhou Zheng quickly mixed the scallion oil noodles, carried the tamagoyaki, and followed Lu Fangchi, placing the dishes one after another on the dining table.

Compared to the golden, visually appealing tamagoyaki and the fragrant scallion oil noodles, the boiled eggs in front of Lu Fangchi looked very unappealing.

Lu Fangchi, who hadn’t slept well and had little appetite to begin with, had only cooked the eggs because of Zhou Zheng’s inquiries. Now, with the stark contrast, he had even less desire to eat.

Lu Fangchi’s eyes wandered, staring blankly at the two eggs in his bowl.

Seeing this, Zhou Zheng pushed the plate along, slowly moving the scallion oil noodles and tamagoyaki towards the young man, bit by bit, until he was in front of him, then quickly moved the bowl of eggs to his own side, cracked and peeled the eggs, and popped them into his mouth.

He ate too quickly and got choked, and it took Zhou Zheng a while to swallow, his voice hoarse as he said, “Let’s switch. I want to eat the eggs.”

Lu Fangchi silently stared at Zhou Zheng for a few seconds before picking up his chopsticks and picking up a piece of tamagoyaki and putting it in his mouth.

Lu Fangchi still didn’t speak much, but the frequency of his chopsticks picking up food increased, indicating that he was quite satisfied.

After swallowing the last piece of tamagoyaki and finishing two-thirds of the scallion oil noodles, Lu Fangchi put down his chopsticks, picked up the mug, and took two sips of milk. A pure music tone came from the bedroom, signaling an incoming call.

Lu Fangchi got up and walked towards the bedroom, saying, “Leave the dishes, I’ll wash them later.”

It was unclear what was said on the other end, but Lu Fangchi remained very quiet, only responding with “Mm” and “I know” throughout the brief conversation.

When he came out, Zhou Zheng had already washed the dishes and was drying them. The alpha smiled at Lu Fangchi and said, “There were only three bowls, so I washed them while I was at it.”

Lu Fangchi nodded, picked up his phone, and sat on the sofa.

Zhou Zheng, having dried the dishes, immediately went to the living room to find Lu Fangchi, intending to say something but stopped because of the low-pressure aura around Lu Fangchi.

Unlike before when there was at least some emotional leakage, his words and actions conveyed a clear “don’t bother me if I’m upset,” now his face was expressionless, eyes lowered at the phone, yet his entire being exuded a gloomy atmosphere.

What happened? What was that phone call about?

Zhou Zheng didn’t dare to ask, instead, he quietly moved to sit beside Lu Fangchi on the sofa, like a wronged wife, clutching a square cushion to his chest and idly tracing the leather grain with his index finger.

As Zhou Zheng was contemplating what to say, Lu Fangchi suddenly looked up at him and asked, “Are you going home today?”

Huh? Oh, today is New Year’s Eve.

Zhou Zheng shook his head, “No, Xiao Liu told you, right? I don’t have a good relationship with my family.” The alpha licked his lips.

“Mm,” Lu Fangchi nodded in agreement, his gaze returning to the phone screen, his fingers tapping on it, “Then you stay here. I won’t be around these few days.”

Ah? Another separation. Zhou Zheng frowned, his face showing urgency, “Are you going home? Can I go with you?”

This question made Lu Fangchi pause, and he looked up at the alpha.

The atmosphere became a bit silent, with awkwardness spreading.

Zhou Zheng realized his words were too abrupt, “Oh, oh,” he chuckled dryly, explaining, “I was just speaking without thinking.”

Lu Fangchi nodded, following the lead, “I have relatives, it’s not very convenient.”

Suppressing the slight disappointment in his heart, Zhou Zheng changed the subject, “So when are you leaving?”

“Later,” Lu Fangchi casually replied.

“Do you need to buy New Year’s goods to take back? I can go with you,” Zhou Zheng asked again.

There was no need, but seeing Zhou Zheng’s forced energetic expression, Lu Fangchi swallowed the words and instead lifted his chin, “Alright, let’s go for a walk.”

Ten minutes later, Zhou Zheng and Lu Fangchi left the house together.

There was a supermarket within a five-hundred-meter radius, easily reachable on foot, so they chose to walk.

“How many relatives are you visiting? Let me calculate how many gifts to buy,” Zhou Zheng said, exhaling white breath and counting on his fingers.

Unlike Zhou Zheng’s meticulous and serious attitude, Lu Fangchi seemed uninterested, his whole body languid, hands in his pockets, half his face tucked into his scarf, only revealing a pair of clear eyes, and he responded with a nonchalant “We’ll see when the time comes.”

That’s what he said, but once they got to the supermarket, Lu Fangchi didn’t step into the gift section at all, heading straight for the snack area.

Spotting three long rows of spicy strips, Lu Fangchi stopped in front of a brand of Prince Spicy Strips that Zhou Zheng often bought, and looked back at him, “Do you eat spicy strips?”

Zhou Zheng nodded, and the next second saw the young man directly take ten bags of slightly numbing and slightly spicy ones and throw them into the shopping cart.

He then pointed to a brand of Taro Delight with an orange package, “How about this one?”

“Sure,” Zhou Zheng was a bit surprised that the flavors Lu Fangchi pointed to were all ones he usually liked.

The young man grabbed ten packs again and threw them into the shopping cart, then continued walking to the potato chip section. This time he didn’t ask and directly picked up five packs each of cucumber and original flavors and threw them into the shopping cart.

In just a few minutes, the shopping cart was piled up like a small mountain.

It was true that they were all his favorite snacks, but too much of anything was not good. Especially since he had a bit of a bad habit; once he bought them, he couldn’t resist eating them all at once, and then he would feel bad afterward, so he usually only bought one or two packs to satisfy his craving.

Moreover, Lu Fangchi’s manner seemed like he was buying in bulk. Seeing him throw twenty packs of Tiger Skin Chicken Feet into the shopping cart, Zhou Zheng quickly pulled the cart back and said, “That’s enough, that’s too much.”

Lu Fangchi stopped his actions, a bit absent-mindedly murmuring “Alright,” then walked towards the produce section.

Another round of random picking ensued, a box of oranges, a box of apples, and three boxes of kiwis!

Kiwis should be ripe one by one, and they were particularly prone to spoilage. Zhou Zheng wanted to say something about taking fewer, but in the end, he swallowed his words and said nothing.

A strange situation ensued; the young man walked ahead of the shopping cart, grabbing things indiscriminately, while the alpha silently followed behind, appropriately putting some things back or reducing the quantity based on the actual situation.

At this point, even if Zhou Zheng was a bit slow, he could tell something was off with Lu Fangchi. It seemed like ever since he took that phone call, he had become a bit irritable, even anxious.

When it came to checkout, Lu Fangchi didn’t notice that a large portion of the items were missing and paid the bill without hesitation—3,156.66 yuan.

Lu Fangchi took two bags, leaving the other two for Zhou Zheng. The two of them each carried four large bags out of the supermarket, without mentioning the original purpose of coming to the supermarket.

Back home, Zhou Zheng began to sort and put away the items, while Lu Fangchi retreated to the study.

Zhou Zheng felt that something was wrong with Lu Fangchi and kept finding excuses to go in and check on him, bringing water, fruit, or asking where something was.

Lu Fangchi wasn’t doing much, just playing games, clicking the black-axis keyboard noisily, with a cigarette burning between his index and middle fingers, leaving a pile of half-smoked butts in the ashtray by his side each time.

Lu Fangchi spent the entire afternoon in the study until the sky outside the window gradually darkened and his phone began to “buzz” incessantly.

The young man reached out and silenced the phone without answering, shut down the computer, got up, and went to the closet to change clothes.

Lu Fangchi’s outfit for the day was similar to usual, a sweater and suit pants with a coat over it. He bent down and sat on the chair in the entrance hall to change into a pair of Martin boots.

He stood up, adjusted the shoe tips, and prepared to leave.

Zhou Zheng leaned against the entrance, watching the young man’s lowered eyelids, wanting to say something but holding back. As he was about to leave, he said, “I’ll wait for you at home.”