Chapter 3

Unlike Huo Youcheng, who looks like a funny and elegant man, Huo Youqiao looks very difficult to approach, has beautiful features, but rarely smiles. He always wears a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, aggravating his coldness and making people afraid to look at him with confidence.

It has been more than a month since the young master returned with his young daughter to the family home, and Ye Zhi had not even dared to look at him.

So when Huo Ran invited him to get into the car, Ye Zhi refused, "I'll walk back, it's not far."

Compared to the seemingly indifferent and cold Huo Youqiao, Huo Ran is beautiful like a little doll, and her temperament is also very bright and colorful: "But I want to hurry and get home to play with Zhi Zhi. We haven't finished yesterday's puzzle."

Ye Zhi gently persuaded her, "I'll walk faster, and I won't waste time on the way, okay?" His voice was not very clear, and had no magnetism, but sounded very soft, as if he was afraid of disturbing people with his voice.

The man who had been immersed in his work ended the call on his communicator with a "Fix it," and then turned away from his busy schedule, raising his head and turning to look at the person talking to his daughter. Her eyes landed squarely on Ye Zhi for the first time.

Although she did not dare to look at him in the same way, Huo Youqiao's gaze was too oppressive. The moment she looked at him, Ye Zhi instantly became very nervous and wanted to run away as fast as possible.

It wasn't that he had any guilty conscience or anything like that, it was just that he was cowardly and used to being afraid of the strong.

However, in the end, he couldn't lose his manners.

So he made an effort to look at the other man, smiled slightly and greeted him, "Hello, big brother."

It was the second time he called him "big brother", the first time was when Huo Youqiao moved back to the family mansion and everyone came down to greet him, at that time Huo Youcheng had also returned and when he heard this appellation he laughed without trying to hide it making a sneer, as if he was making fun of him for being a cheeky fellow who wants to climb up the ranks just by climbing on top of the young master.

Later, although Huo Youqiao was already living in the family house, he would go out early and come back late, so the time was not enough to meet Ye Zhi, likewise Ye Zhi also deliberately avoided him, so they did not see each other directly again until now.

Children can't read the atmosphere, and they are very direct about what they want and what they don't want. Especially Hou Ran, who is very hard to cajole into changing his mind, so he kept saying, "Ye Zhi Zhi, let's go home together!"

Ye Zhi was in a bit of a dilemma, when he was at a loss as to what to do, Huo Youqiao spoke, "Come up."

Both his tone and expression had a majestic authority that was hard to resist, and Ye Zhi's heart clenched with fear, so he couldn't refuse any longer and went up.

The mayor's car is naturally provided by the government, and it is not incorrect to say that it is a new model that has not been released. The back seat was occupied by the father and daughter, and the passenger seat was also occupied by Huo Youqiao's secretary, so Ye Zhi was in a bit of a predicament. However, Huo Ran quickly said, "Zhi Zhi can sit next to me." Moving between them, he left the seat next to him empty.

The indifferent man merely said a word of invitation, then lowered his eyes again to read a document.

Compared to Ye Zhi's nervousness, Huo Ran was very calm and happy. She grabbed Ye Zhi's hand and showed him an intimate smile, " The rice omelet that Zhi Zhi helped me make in the morning was delicious, I have never eaten such a nice omelet. And the little bun also tasted very tasty, can I eat it again tomorrow?"

                                  

          

                

The little girl's eyes sparkled, full of anticipation.

Ye Zhi smiled and said, "If you liked it so much, I can cook for you tomorrow, what else does Ran Ran like to eat?"

Huo Ran immediately said, "I like to eat Xiao Long Bao!"

"Okay, I'll cook it for you tomorrow."

His volume was a little lower than ordinary people and his voice was very soft, not in a pretentious way as if he was feigning kindness, but as if he was used to speaking like this. At first, Huo Youqiao was able to concentrate on his work no matter what time it was, even when he picked up his daughter, he did not linger to read a copy of the urgent documents sent, but for some reason, when Ye Zhi spoke, he easily attracted her attention, and his eyes swept the text instead of understanding the words and retaining them in his mind.

The distance was not very great, even if the driver did not drive fast, it would take less than five minutes to reach the front of the Huo family's house. The driver parked the car in the courtyard, and Secretary Lin Xiuming quickly walked over to open the door for Huo Youqiao. When Huo Youqiao was about to pick up her daughter to carry her in her arms, the little girl had already jumped out the other side.

The school bag was also held by Ye Zhi's hand.

People who can differentiate themselves in alpha attributes are stronger than beta people in all aspects, whether under hard or soft conditions. An alpha is relatively taller than the others, whether they are men or women, and both brothers as well as the Huo family were no exception, they were up to 1.85 meters tall.

Ye Zhi, who barely grew to 1.72 meters tall, felt even more ordinary in front of them.

Entering the house and despite being busy, Huo Youqiao asked, "Ran Ran, do you need daddy to play with you?"

Huo Ran pouted: "You don't have time dad, even in the car Uncle Lin said you had a meeting." She was obviously smarter than her classmates and kept saying, "Don't worry, I have Zhi Zhi to play with me."

Looking at the thin man, Huo Youqiao added: "Don't be rude, you have to call him uncle."

"I won't, I want to call him Zhi Zhi, Zhi Zhi and I are good friends!"

Huo Youqiao evidently did not want to struggle with this problem and rushed to his office.

Playing with children was a bit strange for Ye Zhi, or maybe it made him nervous to play with anyone, but relatively speaking, being with Huo Ran could relax him and bring down his walls.

She was a very good girl.

Good and educated.

Seeing her, Ye Zhi's smile turned from wary to genuine. She not only played with the puzzles, but she also tutored Huo Ran to help her do her homework left by her kindergarten teacher, she wrote pages of Chinese characters and cut out some clippings of paper.

She saw that the requirement of the task was that parents should complete it with her children and couldn't help but worry a little, "Is it okay if Ran Ran doesn't ask her father to do it with her?"

"Do not have time". Huo Ran pouted again: "Aunt nanny used to get up with me to do homework." He quickly smiled again: "But the aunt is not as good as Zhi Zhi, Zhi Zhi is very amazing!"

It was the first time that Ye Zhi was praised for being "amazing", and he was stunned for a while. When he reacted, he couldn't help but smile slightly, saying somewhat awkwardly, "So, if there's more homework in the future, I can do it with you."

        

          

                

"Really?"

"Yes".

"Wow! He's great." The girl was so active that she liked to run when she was happy and while she was running she smiled and made Ye Zhi laugh. Aunt Nanny was about to serve dinner so she came over to call them to dinner, adding, "I wonder if young master would like to have dinner?"

Huo Ran immediately said, "I'll go find dad."

Ye Zhi cleaned up the things that were scattered on the study table, and before Huo Ran arrived, he said to the aunt: "I'm going to take a bath first, I don't have to stay for dinner, I'll eat my food later." .

Auntie was not surprised by this behavior of hers and she just nodded softly.

Back in the bedroom, the tension in Ye Zhi's body relaxed a bit.

He and Huo Youcheng's newlywed house was originally on the second floor, but once when Huo Youcheng came back after drinking too much and locked him out, he moved rooms and used the guest room as a bedroom. Although it was a guest room, it was not too small and had his own bathroom. The window faced the courtyard and he could see the flowers when the curtains were drawn, which made him very happy.

It had been three years since he moved in, and in all that time, Huo Youcheng had never asked him to come back to the room to sleep.

It was like a matter of course that they didn't get along and lived apart.

Although Huo Youcheng probably wanted him to leave either of his houses more than he wanted to live apart.

Ye Zhi took a shower and dried his hair very slowly, as he expected, no one knocked on the door in the middle of his process.

The Huo family had been brought up in such a way that once they entered their bedroom, it meant they didn't want to be disturbed, and if they didn't have something important to say, they didn't knock on the door, much less intrude on each other's personal space.

He guessed they were done eating, so he waited a little longer before gently opening the door.

Sure enough, the living room was empty. Huo Ran had to go to dance classes at night, and he left after dinner, while Huo Youqiao was always busy with social engagements out, and even when he returned, he would stay in his study reading documents. Even the nanny aunt left after cooking.

Ye Zhi entered the kitchen, turned on a small pot and started cooking for himself. He has lived here for five years. During the first two years, Huo Youcheng's parents still lived in this house. He is naturally self-conscious, he was almost always depressed, and his sense of existence is extremely weak, so in those two years he went unnoticed. After a while Hou Youcheng's parents moved to another city and he lived alone in the house for three years. Those three years were relatively uneventful for him.

Since Huo Youcheng was often away from home, he was allowed to take care of her, although he didn't really dare to do much. He just planted some flowers in the backyard, which gave him a quiet breathing space.

It was not until Huo Youqiao returned to his daughter that the house seemed to be full of life again, so full of charm that he seemed out of place.

As if he was going to be kicked out at any moment.

Huo Youcheng is a great professional for him, a man like Huo Youqiao can only look up and be admired. Therefore, Ye Zhi lessened his presence and even tried to avoid eating at the table.

However, as long as Huo Youqiao did not come back, he would still accompany Huo Ran to eat.

With the water in the pot bubbling, Ye Zhi put in the instant noodles, and watched them parboil until they slowly spread into wavy noodles, then put in half a seasoning packet, washed the green vegetables, and tossed in the leaves.

He has always been good at cooking, even if it is just a pot of instant noodles, he will gradually spread a rich aroma that will make people salivate.

Ye Zhi turned off the fire and served the noodles, he was washing the pot when footsteps sounded outside.

Ye Zhi jumped up and turned around hastily, staring at the male figure entering.

It was Huo Youqiao.

He was always dressed in a neat black suit, even his tie was meticulously knotted, whether you saw him in real life or on TV, he was always dressed very properly and formally. But right now he was no longer wearing his coat, revealing a white shirt with no tie, the top two buttons undone, the sleeves had been rolled up to the elbows, and he wasn't wearing his usual glasses.

Huo Youqiao didn't look so cold without the glasses, and because his easy features were more exposed, his usual amazing appearance went up a few more steps.

It was at this moment that Ye Zhi felt that the two brothers were really similar. However, Huo Youcheng always had a careless or mocking smile, while Huo Youqiao was much more serious, his lips were always emotionless, and it seemed that he rarely smiled.

Ye Zhi panicked like a mouse at the sight of a cat, trying to control himself but unable to calm down, his mouth helplessly opened, unable to even say hello.

Instead, Huo Youqiao walked closer step by step and saw the bowl of instant noodles still steaming in his hands and giving off a rich aroma.

..........

Xia Long Bao or Xialongbao. It is a typical culinary specialty of Shanghai, and other areas of Eastern China. They are buns similar to "Baozi", but without using yeast, steamed in bamboo baskets made with dough, leaving a soft and translucent texture.