Chapter 224: How's the Taste?

In the spacious hall, bright lights illuminated the pale-colored sofa, casting a soft and tranquil atmosphere. As Yang Chen approached slowly, he carefully observed and immediately froze in place.

He saw Lin Ruoxi, dressed in a cotton pajama, curled up on the sofa like a little kitten, facing towards the door, with strands of hair cascading down the side of her face. Although the room was heated by automatic temperature control, once someone fell asleep, the temperature wasn't sufficient.

Lin Ruoxi, feeling cold in her sleep, hugged herself tightly, her lips slightly pale from the cold, a sight that evoked pity.

Yang Chen's heart warmed, feeling both amused and annoyed. Despite her resolute demeanor during the day, she was now waiting for him in the living room in the middle of the night. The thoughts of this woman were truly inscrutable.

Quietly approaching the sofa, Yang Chen pondered whether to carry her upstairs to sleep or find a blanket for her. Just then, he heard a slight sound, and Lin Ruoxi, with sleepy eyes, opened her eyes drowsily. Her disoriented state made her already delicate features appear even more soft and beautiful.

Lin Ruoxi silently looked at Yang Chen standing in front of her, as if confirming whether she was dreaming.

"Did I wake you up?" Yang Chen asked apologetically with a smile.

After a long silence, Lin Ruoxi sat up quietly, glanced at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was two in the morning.

"I fell asleep while watching TV. I'll go upstairs to sleep," Lin Ruoxi said indifferently after stealing a glance at Yang Chen, seeing that he was unharmed. She got up to go upstairs.

However, due to staying curled up for a long time, one of her legs felt numb from being pressed, and as she tried to stand up, her whole leg went limp.

"Oops!"

Feeling dizzy, her leg weakened, and Lin Ruoxi was about to fall forward and hit the coffee table in front of the sofa.

Yang Chen quickly reached out to hold one of Lin Ruoxi's arms, pulling her towards his chest to prevent her from falling.

"What's the rush? If you want to sleep on the sofa, at least cover yourself with a blanket. Don't you know you'll catch a cold like this?" Yang Chen said with a smile.

Leaning against Yang Chen's chest, Lin Ruoxi smelled a masculine scent, feeling a slight tingling in her heart as her face turned crimson.

However, she immediately sensed a woman's perfume scent on Yang Chen's body.

Having spent a long time in Rose's room and sitting in the car with her for a while, there had naturally been quite a bit of physical contact. Yang Chen didn't pay much attention to the lingering scent on him, but as a woman, Lin Ruoxi immediately noticed something unusual.

The slight sweetness she had felt just now vanished instantly, replaced by a bitter taste in her heart. Biting her lower lip, her eyes became misty.

This guy, waiting up late at night alone worrying about him, and he's out there having fun with other women!

"Let go of me, I don't need you to worry!" Lin Ruoxi said coldly.

Yang Chen didn't understand what he had done wrong again. How could the heartwarming scene just now, which made him feel so warm, suddenly make this woman angry again? Her words were as icy as the heart of winter.

Yang Chen had no choice but to release Lin Ruoxi's soft body emitting a strong, fresh fragrance and watched her walk step by step towards the stairs with a frozen smile.

"If I come back this late in the future, don't wait for me. I'll be fine. You're too tired like this," Yang Chen said, feeling a little sorry.

Lin Ruoxi gripped the railing of the stairs and didn't look back. "Don't flatter yourself. I told you, I fell asleep watching TV. No one was waiting for you."

"You fell asleep watching TV, but do you even remember to turn it off?" Yang Chen smiled bitterly. This excuse was too lame. What was there to be embarrassed about? Lin Ruoxi paused her steps, turned around, and her eyes were a little red. She sneered and hummed self-mockingly, "That's right! I'm stupid! I can't even lie to you! What am I? What is this place? You have plenty of women outside, and in your eyes, I'm nothing! You have places of tenderness, people who let you stay overnight! You can come back whenever you want, leave whenever you want, even spend the night outside without saying a word! Not even making a phone call! Why would I wait for you? I'm stupid, knowing that I mean nothing in your eyes, nothing at all, and still do such stupid things. Don't worry, I won't lie to you again. Because I won't be foolishly waiting for you here like tonight!"

With that, Lin Ruoxi resolutely turned around and walked upstairs with difficulty.

Yang Chen stood still, dumbfounded by Lin Ruoxi's words. Want to come back, come back. Want to leave, leave.

Watching her exhausted figure ascend the stairs, Yang Chen suddenly felt a strong sense of unease and fear, as if Lin Ruoxi wasn't going up to the second floor of the villa, but walking towards parallel lines that would never intersect!

"Wait! Lin Ruoxi, stop!" Yang Chen shouted.

Lin Ruoxi paused, but didn't turn around, just stopped midway and remained silent.

Since they got married, this was the first time Yang Chen had called her by her full name in such a serious tone.

Taking a deep breath, Yang Chen spoke earnestly, "Lin Ruoxi, if I come back late next time, I'll definitely call. Although it's not something I'm used to having someone wait for me at home, and explaining why I need to call to avoid making someone wait for me is difficult for me, because in my more than twenty years of life, I've never had such a habit, so I neglected it. I hope you can understand. But in the future, if I'm late, I'll call and explain why."

"Me, this home, and you mean nothing to me. Absolutely nothing—" Lin Ruoxi tilted her head slightly and then silently hurried up the stairs, returning to her own bedroom and closing the door.

Yang Chen sighed deeply, his lips curling into a bitter smile. He turned and looked around the downstairs hall for a while before finally turning off the lights and heading upstairs to rest.

The next morning, Yang Chen's fully charged phone vibrated early on the bedside table. Yang Chen grabbed it and answered, holding it to his ear.

"Good morning, honey. Did I wake you up?" Rose's timid voice came from the other end.

Yang Chen closed his eyes and smiled. "You're asking knowingly. How's the situation?"

"With the cooperation of Secretary Fang and Director Cai, Dongxing has lost many important leaders again. The attack last night was actually meaningless. Zhou Guangnian didn't even have time to resist, but when we arrived at his house, things were a bit strange."

"What's strange about it?" Yang Chen asked lazily.

"We went there together with Director Cai, and we saw that Zhou Guangnian had been killed before we arrived, with a bullet to his head, and the way he died was very strange, kneeling on the ground."

"What about other aspects?" Yang Chen didn't pay much attention.

"Zhou Dongcheng and some of his close associates fled, so it's difficult to catch them, especially since the military blockade only lasted until this morning," Rose said regretfully.

"It's okay, he's not an ambitious person. There's no need to trouble him specially. Just make some precautions," Yang Chen said.

"I also think so, so I've ordered the people below to clean up the mess, and we won't bother with him anymore," Rose said lightly. "Honey, you go back to sleep, I'll go busy myself."

"Don't overwork yourself. You can delegate some tasks to Xiao Zhao and Rong Rong. Once your elite agents are back, they should also get some benefits. After all, being a spy isn't easy."

After hanging up the phone, Yang Chen didn't feel like sleeping anymore. It happened to be the weekend, so Yang Chen planned to have breakfast and then go directly to the hospital to visit Yuan Ye. After all, that was currently the most important thing.

When he arrived downstairs, Wang Mama had already placed a steaming breakfast on the western-style table. They were having rice for breakfast today, accompanied by a variety of cold and hot dishes on the table.

Seeing that Lin Ruoxi hadn't come downstairs yet, Yang Chen murmured to himself that the girl might still be angry and unwilling to see him. But there was nothing he could do about it. If he intruded into her bedroom without permission, she wouldn't like it.

"Master, you're down. You came back late last night. Thankfully, you're safe. Miss and I were very worried about you," Wang Mama comforted with a smile.

"Mrs. Wang, what do you mean?" Yang Chen asked, puzzled.

"Yesterday, Miss Cai's second miss called during dinner and asked Miss not to go out, saying that it wasn't safe in Zhonghai last night. But you didn't come home, and your phone was unreachable. We were very worried that something might have happened to you," Mrs. Wang explained.

Yang Chen's thoughts churned for a moment. He recalled Lin Ruoxi curled up on the sofa last night, feeling a wave of guilt. She had indeed been waiting for him and had worried for him, hadn't she?

"Master, look at the dishes on this table. You didn't eat much last night, and I reheated most of them this morning. You should eat more," Mrs. Wang said enthusiastically, serving Yang Chen a full bowl of rice. "Originally, last night was a welcome dinner for you, after all, you had just returned home. Miss specially made a dish for the first time, but she said it didn't look appetizing at all and didn't touch it."

Yang Chen doubted if he had misheard. "Ruoxi cooked?"

"Yes, it's this plate of lettuce," Mrs. Wang pointed to the plate of yellowish cold lettuce salad at the edge, which had stuck together a bit due to sesame oil overnight. "Master, do you want to try it?"

Yang Chen smiled and nodded, imagining Lin Ruoxi's clumsy movements in the kitchen. He couldn't help but want to laugh.

He picked up a large mouthful with his chopsticks, not caring about the taste, and just ate it while smiling.

"Master, how does it taste? Does Miss have potential in cooking?" Mrs. Wang asked with a beaming smile.

Yang Chen was too busy eating and didn't feel like talking. He just nodded vigorously. After a while, with two large bowls of rice in his stomach, Yang Chen was almost full. Seeing that Lin Ruoxi still hadn't come downstairs, Yang Chen told Mrs. Wang that he was going to the hospital to visit a patient and then left.

Once Yang Chen left, Lin Ruoxi quietly descended from the second floor. She walked to the dining table and looked at the plate, which had been swept clean by Yang Chen, with a somewhat absent-minded expression.

Mrs. Wang smiled meaningfully. "Miss, it seems that the master is very satisfied with the food you made. He only ate what you made."

Lin Ruoxi's face blushed slightly unnaturally. Curiously, she picked up her chopsticks and picked up a piece of lettuce, carefully putting it into her mouth.

"Mm! Bleh, bleh, bleh..."

Lin Ruoxi wrinkled her brows and stomped her foot forcefully, looking annoyed. "It's so salty! Was that heartless guy raised on salt?!"

Seeing Lin Ruoxi looking both angry and adorable, Mrs. Wang couldn't help but chuckle quietly.