Growing Fond of You, Mr Nian

The people sitting on the couch fixed their eyes on Luosang. She shyly walked to the tea table, picked up a large grapefruit, and carefully peeled it to expose the translucent, plump fruit. Then, she removed the seeds and prepared to feed the fruit to Nian Junting. But, he raised a hand to take the fruit and ate it on his own.

Luosang paused, while Nian Xi said in surprise, “Brother, you can eat on your own now?”

“Umm well this morning after getting up, I found that I’ve recovered a little more,” Nian Junting responded while chewing the juicy and sweet grapefruit. “Peel more for me,” he then said to Luosang.

Luosang figured that the physical therapy he had yesterday at the hospital had started working. She was worrying that he might not recover before her school term began, but judging by his current condition he should be able to walk on his own in twenty days at most.

Nian Qingyun couldn’t bear to watch his son be so lazy, so he snapped at Nian Junting, “She’s not your servant. You shouldn’t ask her to peel your fruit if you can do it on your own. You’re a man, how could you do that?”

“I’ve paid her, so I ask her to peel my grapefruit for me. What’s wrong with that?” Nian Junting raised his brows and retorted.

Nian Junting’s second uncle said, “Can you two please not argue every time you’re together,” while waving them over to the mahjong table, “Tingting come over here to play mahjong.”

“Alright,” he responded. He then turned to Luosang and said, “Wheel me over.”

…

Since the beginning of the mahjong game, Luosang had been by Nian Junting’s right side, peeling grapefruits for him. Her fingers began to ache, yet Nian Junting was still eating fast and endlessly.

“Nian Heng, can you play faster? It’s not as difficult as giving birth. And Luosang, can you peel faster? Isn’t peeling fruit easy work? And get me another glass of water, I’m thirsty,” said Nian Junting.

Luosang sighed silently. Peeling grapefruits used to be the most troublesome thing in the world to her, so she chose not to eat them.

Finally, Nian Junting finished half a grapefruit. She thought that was the end of her peeling job, but Nian Junting asked her to take a new grapefruit and peel for him.

She couldn’t understand why he loved grapefruit so much. After Nian Junting finished two whole grapefruits, Luosang felt her fingers burning. Nian Junting’s second uncle realized how tired she was, so he said to Nian Junting, “Tingting, don’t eat that much fruit, we’ll have lunch soon. Your aunt has prepared a lot of delicious food.”

“Alright, I’ll leave some for the afternoon then,” said Nian Junting. He just drew two mahjong tiles and discarded them while his cousin who sat in front of him won.

“Sorry Ting, you lost again,” said his cousin.

Nian Junting wore an unhappy look and said, “I’m so unlucky. I haven’t even won once.”

“Haha, you’re holding a poor hand indeed. What about asking the lady beside you to draw tiles for you?” his cousin laughed and said.

Nian Junting turned to glance at Luosang.

Luosang hurriedly shook her head and said, “I never have great luck.”

She was worried that if she made him lose money, he would take the amount lost from her salary.

“You look like an unlucky person indeed, but I’ve lost quite a lot already. I intend to make every possible effort. Go ahead, draw tiles for me,” said Nian Junting while proudly raising his chin.

Hearing him, Luosang reached out to draw a series of mahjong tiles for him. All the tiles she drew were bamboos, followed by a Kong.

Nian Junting raised one brow, said to her, “Continue.”

Luosang didn’t think that she would hold a good hand. She moved her chair closer to the table, and continued drawing tiles for Nian Jutning. Every time she reached out to draw a tile and leaned her body forward, her chest would brush against Nian Junting’s arm.

Every time Luosang leaned over, he smelled a refreshing aroma of grapefruit from. Even by this noisy mahjong table, she actually made him go into a trance.

He didn’t know what was happening until he hard a very deep yet sweet voice sounding pleasantly surprised and unconfident saying, “This… have I just won by my own draws?”

Nian Junting came back to his senses, saw his tiles then paused. Indeed, she had won by her own draws. There was even a Kong, so she won double.

“Em,” he snorted. Nian Junting didn’t expect her to be so lucky.

“Great,” Luosang then stopped worrying.