Defeated By Love

Translated by Fairy_Dust

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Shu Nian opened the cabinet door and looked at the row of plates inside. She hesitated and said: “It’s not here.” 

“My housekeeper must have put it somewhere else. You’ll need to find it.” 

After that Shu Nian didn’t think too deeply about it. She opened all the other cabinets and soon found the noodle pot. 

She filled it with some water and put the noodle pot on the electric stove. After finishing those series of actions, Shu Nian opened the refrigerator and took out a packet of dried noodles from the side. She asked him: “How about cooking this?” 

Xie Ruhe looked at her. The curves of his facial features were gently highlighted by the light. 

“Okay.” 

Shu Nian struggled to phrase her sentence: “Will Assistant Fang eat with us?” 

Xie Ruhe frowned: “He won’t.” 

“Oh, he won’t come back?” 

“No.” 

She didn’t ask anymore and instead thought about how much two servings were. She looked at the seasonings on the side and felt distressed: “I usually buy ready-made seasoning packets and put them in. I’ve never made the soup base myself.” 

“…” 

“They’re similar to the ones found in instant noodles.” Shu Nian explained it to him. “You can buy those separately.” 

Xie Ruhe thought about it. “There should be some instant noodles.” 

“But we can’t just use the ones in the instant noodle packs.” Shu Nian paused for a bit and felt that the situation was a little bit amusing. “There would be no seasoning packet the next time you cook it, how will you eat it then?” 

“It doesn’t matter.” Xie Ruhe didn’t care much. “I don’t eat instant noodles., that’s all Fang Wencheng.” 

“…” 

In the end, she still didn’t do as he suggested. She searched on the internet and carefully made the soup base according to what other people had posted. 

Shu Nian made shredded pork and mushroom noodles with the ingredients in the refrigerator. In Xie Ruhe’s bowl, she added an egg. She was unsure whether or not it would taste good and felt extremely nervous. 

When they sat down at the dining table, Fang Wencheng just so happened to come back. 

He carried a white plastic bag in his hand and detected the fragrance in the air. He looked over to them: “You guys are eating noodles?” 

Fang Wencheng swallowed the saliva in his mouth and patted his empty stomach. Just when he wanted to ask if he could have some, Xie Ruhe opened his mouth and calmly told him: “You’ve eaten.” 

“…” Fang Wencheng couldn’t react for a moment. “When did I eat…?” 

Soon, Fang Wencheng understood and paused. He suppressed the impulse to cover his face and cry out loud in bitterness. He followed the flow of Xie Ruhe’s words and said: “…Yes, I’ve eaten.” 

Shu Nian didn’t notice the exchange between them and took a bite of the noodles. It tasted better than she expected. She relaxed and ate the bowl of noodles in small mouthfuls. However, before she was even half done with hers, she noticed that Xie Ruhe, who was sitting next to her was already finished. 

Shu Nian glanced at him and questioned: “Are you still hungry?” 

Xie Ruhe licked his lips: “Uh-huh.” 

“Oh.” Shu Nian said: “Wait a bit more and we can eat the cake.” 

“…” 

After Shu Nian finished, Fang Wencheng helped to take out the cake from the refrigerator and put candles on it. He was a little unaccustomed to such a scene. Xie Ruhe was never interested in cakes before, let alone blowing out candles. 

His birthdays were no different from any other day. He would just quietly wait for the arrival of midnight alone in the house. 

Shu Nian instructed Xie Ruhe. “Make a wish.” 

“A wish?” 

“Yes, blow out the candle after making the wish.” 

Xie Ruhe looked down at the candles on the cake and in a low and clear voice: “I hope it will still be like this the next year.” 

Shu Nian huffed: “It won’t come true if you say it out.” 

Hearing those words, Xie Ruhe looked up. The light that was in his eyes instantly vanished.  

“Will it work if I don’t say it?” 

Fang Wancheng responded: “It’s better than just saying it aloud.” 

Xie Ruhe bowed his head and became thoughtful. He stayed like that for more than ten seconds before blowing out the candles. 

After eating the cake, the two sat around for a while. 

When the doctor came over, the food Xie Ruhe ate had almost completely digested. 

Shu Nian accompanied Xie Ruhe as he did his rehabilitation exercises. 

Xie Ruhe lived on the 16th floor, it was one house per floor but Shu Nian found out then that the 17th floor also belonged to Xie Ruhe. He would rehabilitate on the upper floor. 

The doctor made Xie Ruhe exercise according to the stage of his recovery process. 

Shu Nian didn’t know what they were going to do so she just watched them. 

There was something similar to a bed in the room. The doctor asked Xie Ruhe to lie down on it with a blue belt strapped on his lower limbs to keep them in place. If certain buttons were pressed, the bed would move in a vertical direction. 

“You should be able to do some 90 degree standing exercises today.” The doctor told him. 

The standing exercises were gradual. He began at 30 degrees and then kept rising 10 degrees every few weeks until he was completely vertical. What Xie Ruhe did that today was a standing exercise. 

After Xie Ruhe was steady and standing. 

Shu Nian realised that it was the first time she saw him stand up completely after their reunion. She walked over feeling that it was a little unreal: “When I saw you sitting down before, I thought you were already quite tall. Are you…” She thought for a moment and then took a guess: “180cm?” 

The bed was designed to have wheels on the bottom. It was probably 10cm off from the ground. 

Xie Ruhe had to look down to see Shu Nian. 

Xie Ruhe calmly spoke: “I’m 185.” 

“When I met you, you seemed to only be 150cm. Back then you were only a head taller than me.” Shu Nian tried recalling: “You would have been 170cm at that time.” 

Xie Ruhe replied: “En, almost.” 

“You grew 15cm.” Speaking of that, Shu Nian placed her hand on the top of her head and did an estimate. She said in a serious manner: “I have grown about 10cm and now I am 159cm…” 

Shu Nian took a pause there and changed her words: “I’m 160cm.” 

Xie Ruhe glanced her up and down without saying anything after hearing those words. 

Shu Nian couldn’t understand the meaning in his eyes. She was a little guilty and was afraid of being exposed of her lie but she felt that it was impossible for him to find out that she was indeed less than 160cm through visual inspection. 

Shu Nian forcibly calmed down her heart. 

After thinking about it, Xie Ruhe shook his head and spoke in a relaxed voice. 

“No, you’re not.” 

Shu Nian stilled: “What?” 

Xie Ruhe said: “You’re not 160cm.” 

“…” 

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