039 A Taste

Li Ziyan swore to himself that he was definitely not someone with a foot fetish.

Regarding such behavior,

he felt profound contempt in his heart as well!

However, Aunt Lai had been diagnosed with cancer.

Amidst his deep sorrow, Li Ziyan felt that he should make a little sacrifice.

"Xiaoyan, can you...?"

"Well, would it be okay if I wear black silk stockings?"

"Mm..."

Li Ziyan lowered his head and gently kissed Lai Feifei's black-silk-clad delicate foot.

At that moment, Lai Feifei seemed to have reached the absolute limit of her exhaustion,

and she fell into a deep sleep.

Holding Lai Feifei's delicate foot in both hands, Li Ziyan felt a pang of heartache.

Could Lai Feifei really have been struck by a terminal illness just like that?

Around four-something in the afternoon, the ringing of Lai Feifei's phone woke her up.

"Hello, Director Shen."

Still half-asleep, Lai Feifei picked up the phone and spoke to Shen Hui.

"Come to my office for a moment."

"Director Shen, is my illness very serious?"

"Very serious!"

The tone on the other end was extremely stern, making Lai Feifei's limbs turn weak. Fortunately, she was lying on the sofa at the moment; otherwise, she definitely would have collapsed on the spot.

"I'll be right over."

After hanging up the phone, Lai Feifei could not hold back her tears, which fell once again.

"When Auntie is gone, that Maybach will be yours."

With those words, she pulled Li Ziyan along as she walked outside.

"Stop talking nonsense, Auntie. You are our lucky star, and illnesses nowadays are all curable. You're going to be fine!"

Along the way, Lai Feifei's tears never stopped, and her eyes were red from crying.

Upon arriving at Shen Hui's office,

Li Ziyan asked worriedly, "Director Shen, is my aunt's illness really that serious? Can it be cured?"

"With medical science as advanced as it is today, it should be treatable, right?"

Shen Hui tapped the desk and said, "There is indeed an illness. Little Lai, perhaps I should book you an appointment in the psychiatry department."

"It's over, my mental health has broken down too."

Sinking limply into the chair, Lai Feifei cried even harder.

In her heart, she felt a profound sense of despair.

"Mental health? What on earth is wrong with Aunt Lai?"

Li Ziyan sensed that something was amiss.

"Young man, your aunt is not sick at all. Her heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—all her medical indicators are completely normal. There are no shadows on her scans, absolutely nothing wrong with her!"

"But didn't she say the toilet bowl was full of blood?"

"She ate too many dragon fruits."

Li Ziyan: "..."

Behind him, Lai Feifei stopped crying. Her face flushed visibly—so red that not even when she was kissing Li Ziyan had she ever blushed this intensely.

"But didn't Aunt Lai also say her stomach felt like it was being pierced with knives?"

"She scared herself."

Lai Feifei stood up, covered her face with her hands, and said, "I have some matters to attend to at home. Director Shen, Xiaoyan, I'll be leaving first."

Lai Feifei fled in utter embarrassment, feeling as though she had lost enough face today to last straight through to the year 2025.

When Li Ziyan walked out of the hospital, it still felt like he was living in a dream.

Today, Aunt Lai had taught him how to kiss just like that...

And all of this was simply because Aunt Lai had eaten too many dragon fruits!

"What a boozy lightweight."

At this moment, an overwhelming wave of exhilaration washed over Li Ziyan. Aunt Lai was truly adorable.

However, the sensation of holding Aunt Lai's feet in his hands had been genuinely wonderful.

Moreover, the experience Lai Feifei had imparted to him left him lingering with sweet aftertastes. Aunt Lai's style differed slightly from Aunt Shen's,

yet fundamentally they were much the same, both leaving Li Ziyan completely intoxicated in spirit.

"Living a good life with the three of us together matters more than anything else!"

...

The next few days passed quite peacefully, though Lai Feifei had not sent him any WeChat messages throughout this time.

He could easily sense Lai Feifei's awkwardness. Originally, she had merely intended to tease him as if he were a little boy,

but during the "dragon fruit incident," she had truly crossed many boundaries and even let him taste her black-silk-clad feet. That was indeed extremely embarrassing.

Giving her some time to cool down was actually quite a good thing,

because time heals all awkwardness...

Meanwhile, over the past few days, Zhao Shumin had continued to cook breakfast for Li Ziyan. Through this period of daily interaction, the distance between the two of them had unknowingly closed quite a bit.

In the afternoon, after clocking out at the company, Li Ziyan made a quick trip to the restroom.

As he rounded a corner,

he happened to overhear the voices of Liu Jinxin and Liu Yichen.

"Mom!"

"That Li Ziyan didn't show me any respect at all. I told him to replace the water jug and he refused! You must help me put him in his place!"

The foreign manager Catherine was wearing high heels, and a trace of anger flashed across her delicate European mature-woman face.

"That's right, President. This Li Ziyan is no good at all; you simply must teach him a lesson!"

"Alright, tomorrow I will have him exclusively take care of cleaning the sales department and changing the water coolers."

Hearing the words of this mother and son along with Liu Jinxin, Li Ziyan clenched his fists tightly and took a detour to leave.

There was no way he was going to do that kind of menial labor anyway.

And as for this Catherine, she was truly an indiscriminate foreign bitch!

...

That evening, after returning home, Li Ziyan's mood gradually calmed down.

He might play along on the surface, but he certainly wouldn't swallow this injustice lying down. After all, with Aunt Lai backing him up, he didn't need to be overly afraid of anything.

As soon as he got home, Li Ziyan, who was just about to order takeout, noticed that Zhao Shumin was stir-frying vegetables in the kitchen.

As Zhao Shumin tossed the wok with the rhythm of her cooking, her figure moved gracefully with pronounced sway.

That sight made it hard for Li Ziyan to look away.

"Xiaoyan is back. Let's have dinner together tonight; I got off work a bit early."

Through their interactions over the past few days, their relationship had warmed up significantly, and in Zhao Shumin's heart, she had grown very fond of Li Ziyan.

Compared to her own son, he was genuinely kind-hearted and well-mannered.

However, there was one issue: the boy's psychological state regarding certain matters wasn't entirely healthy. Just thinking about it gave Zhao Shumin a massive headache.

How on earth was she supposed to correct this distorted psychology of his?

Stealing things was simply not a good habit!

"Alright, Auntie."

Li Ziyan was indeed feeling a bit hungry. After heading to the bathroom to wash his face, however, he spotted a fierce-looking tattooed man standing right at the doorway.

This gave Li Ziyan quite a start; he had to admit that this brother truly resembled a gangster straight out of the underworld.

Yet, Li Ziyan's heart didn't flinch in the slightest.

Zhao Shumin, who had just walked out, was startled as well. She grabbed a rolling pin and hurried in front of Li Ziyan to shield him.

Although Li Ziyan was a grown man, in Zhao Shumin's eyes, he was still just a child.

This was the main drawback of having a social circle consisting entirely of older aunties—they would always treat you like a kid.

The muscular man standing before them looked like anything but a good person, and Zhao Shumin's body was actually trembling slightly.

"Who are you? Get out!"

Li Ziyan clearly sensed the tattooed man's eyes dart toward Zhao Shumin's upper torso, though the man concealed it immediately.

"Big sister, little brother, my name is Zhao Hai. Please don't misunderstand, I'm the new tenant for the master bedroom."

"Here is my contract, and my girlfriend will be here shortly. I'm not a bad person."

After pulling out his phone to show them the contract, the misunderstanding was temporarily resolved.

...

Back in Li Ziyan's room, Zhao Shumin whispered, "That man looks so terrifying."

Even now, Zhao Shumin still lingeringly felt a flutter of lingering fear.

Soon, a woman's voice rang out from outside; it must have been Zhao Hai's girlfriend arriving.

While eating dinner, Zhao Shumin decided to talk to Li Ziyan about his "habit of stealing things."

"Xiaoyan..."

"Have you still been stealing other people's clothes, high heels, stockings, and things like that lately?"

Li Ziyan wore an embarrassed expression. "Aunt Zhao, I swear to you, I really haven't stolen anyone else's things."

"Still lying to Auntie. Auntie won't look down on you, because Auntie knows you're a good kid at heart."

"Auntie really wants you to do well. You should find a girlfriend instead of indulging in fantasies all day long..."

As Zhao Shumin was speaking, the voice of Zhao Hai's girlfriend drifted over from next door.

For the first time, Li Ziyan truly realized just how terribly poor the soundproofing was in these old residential buildings!

Zhao Shumin's face flushed bright red in an instant.