The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Chapter 212 Fried Eggs and Dolls

The following morning, Shang Yibo planned to take an early flight to Huizhou, accompanied by Ding Jiajia and acting teacher Sai Linli. Zhang Xiaoguang, on the other hand, would travel in a minivan with a driver, as the trip would last about two months and they would need a lot of supplies. Having a car in Huizhou would also make travel more convenient.

The alarm clock rang precisely at five in the morning, and at the same time, Zhou Yanruo called. Shang Yibo turned off the alarm clock and answered the phone casually, saying in a daze, "Um, I'm already awake."

"Then come out and have breakfast quickly, I'll cook some wontons," Zhou Yanruo said.

Upon hearing this, Shang Yibo immediately perked up, jumped out of bed, rushed to the bathroom to look in the mirror, and then shuffled out of the bedroom in his slippers.

"Why are you up so early? You don't have to catch a flight." Shang Yibo rubbed his sleepy eyes and saw Zhou Yanruo busy setting the table at the dining table.

"Go wash up first, I'll just fry an egg," Zhou Yanruo instructed without looking up.

Shang Yibo obediently turned around and went back to the bathroom, where he quickly washed up. When he came out of the bathroom again, steaming hot wontons were already on the table, along with a fried egg.

Shang Yibo sat down, only to find a small bowl of wontons on the table. He couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going to eat?"

Zhou Yanruo sat down opposite Shang Yibo and said with a smile, "I'll just have two fried eggs."

Shang Yibo picked up the plate, examined the fried egg carefully, and laughed, "You fried three eggs and only managed to get one right."

That's right, Zhou Yanruo did fry three eggs. The first egg was slightly burnt on the edges because the heat wasn't controlled well; the second egg wasn't burnt, but it was overcooked and didn't look good; while the third egg was fried just right, neither overcooked nor burnt, and its shape was perfect.

"I'll eat these two ugly fried eggs, don't waste them." Zhou Yanruo said, picking up a poorly shaped fried egg. "You're a bit fussy, you can have the nice one."

"It's clearly your poor cooking skills that's causing the trouble, yet you accuse me of being pretentious. It's obvious who's being more pretentious," Shang Yibo teased with a smile.

"Stop teasing me, hurry up and eat. Ding Jiajia and the others will be here soon."

While eating his wontons, Shang Yibo asked, "Can you go next week? Will you be able to finish Ru Shang's business?"

Zhou Yanruo put the last small piece of fried egg into her mouth, then looked at Shang Yibo seriously and said, "There's definitely more work to be done. Once I've made arrangements, it doesn't matter where I work, it won't be a problem. Don't worry, I'll definitely go to Huizhou next week and try to stay on set for a few more days."

Just then, Zhou Yanruo's phone rang. It was Ding Jiajia calling. She swiped to answer, "Hello, Jiajia, have you arrived yet?"

Ding Jiajia said on the other end of the phone, "Sister Yanruo, I've arrived, so I won't come upstairs. If you're ready, just come downstairs, and I'll wait for you in the garage."

"We're coming downstairs now." Zhou Yanruo had just hung up the phone when she saw Zhou Zihang come out of the study.

"Zihang, why are you up so early too?" Zhou Yanruo asked in surprise.

Zhou Zihang smiled helplessly: "You guys were cooking, chatting, and making phone calls all the time. I was woken up a long time ago."

Zhou Yanruo quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I woke you up."

Shang Yibo didn't say anything, got up and walked towards the bedroom.

Zhou Zihang watched Shang Yibo's retreating figure and said, "I was just complaining casually, I didn't really blame you, why are you angry?" Then, he turned to Zhou Yanruo and said with a hint of loneliness, "With him gone, the house has become quiet again."

Zhou Yanruo looked at Zhou Zihang with a smile, knowing in her heart that his complaints were actually his reluctance to see Shang Yibo leave.

Although Zhou Zihang enjoys reading and seems to expect to enjoy quiet, he actually craves excitement.

Shang Yibo had stayed here for more than a week, bringing a lot of joy and laughter to the family. Now that he was leaving, Zhou Zihang naturally felt a little sad, so he said those things in a fit of pique.

A moment later, Shang Yibo came out with an exquisite box in his hand and handed it directly to Zhou Zihang, saying, "Here you go. Sorry for bothering me these past few days, thanks."

Zhou Zihang hurriedly caught the box, muttering curiously, "What is this?"

"See for yourself." Shang Yibo raised an eyebrow, a wicked smile playing on his lips, then returned to the dining table and continued drinking his wonton soup.

Zhou Zihang gently placed the box on the dining table, quickly lifted the lid, glanced at it briefly, and hurriedly closed it again. He turned to look at Shang Yibo, looking somewhat flustered: "What is this? Why did you give me this?"

Shang Yibo said with a hint of mockery, "Isn't this what you like? What, did I not hit the nail on the head?"

Zhou Yanruo, who was watching from the side, was completely confused and asked curiously, "What is it? Let me see."

Zhou Zihang shielded the box with half of his body, afraid that Zhou Yanruo would snatch it away: "Don't look, that kid is just teasing me."

Shang Yibo said nonchalantly, "It's okay for you to show it to her. You're all grown up, why are you still embarrassed?"

"You, you, you're simply repaying kindness with enmity!" Zhou Zihang pointed at Shang Yibo, so angry that he was incoherent.

Taking advantage of the moment, Zhou Yanruo shoved Zhou Zihang aside, quickly opened the box, and burst into laughter: "What? It's a doll! And a blonde, blue-eyed, curvaceous, sexy doll at that!"

Shang Yibo calmly replied, "Ask him himself; this is his preferred style."

"You're talking nonsense! When did I ever say I liked this style?" Zhou Zihang hurriedly retorted.

Shang Yibo said in a serious tone, "Last week, your iPad wasn't locked, and I saw it by accident. You were asking customer service about this doll, and they said it was a limited edition and out of stock. Do you really like it? If you don't, why did you ask customer service?"

Zhou Yanruo picked up the doll and examined it carefully: "I must say, it's quite exquisite, but the figure is a bit too exaggerated. Who could grow up to be like that?"

Zhou Zihang nervously instructed, "Don't touch it with your hands. Your hands are oily, and you won't get the doll dirty."

Zhou Yanruo laughed and said, "You're taking such good care of this, and you still say you don't like it. Zihang, I didn't expect you to be interested in this kind of doll."

Shang Yibo continued, "I only found out after asking around with pictures that this doll is a star product of Modou Company, named Xixi, and is a very famous figurine. I specially asked Secretary Chen for help to find it. I thought I had bothered the big doctor these days, so I chose a special gift to give him, but he didn't appreciate it."

Zhou Zihang argued, "Even if I like it, you all said it's a figurine, so don't get any wild ideas."

Shang Yibo and Zhou Yanruo said almost simultaneously, "We weren't thinking anything." Then they looked at each other and laughed.

Zhou Yanruo scoffed, "Zihang, you once told me that viruses under a microscope are the most beautiful, and that you like them the most. It turns out you were just teasing me."

“A beautiful woman is the object of a gentleman’s affections. What’s so strange about liking beautiful things?” Zhou Zihang retorted.

"Not surprising at all, it would be strange if they were trying to hide it, okay?" Shang Yibo joked.

At this time, the doorbell suddenly rang.

Zhou Yanruo got up to open the door, and Ding Jiajia was standing there. "Aren't you ready yet? It'll be too late if we don't leave soon."

Shang Yibo stood up. "We can set off now."

Zhou Zihang clutched the figurine box tightly in his hands, laughing as he urged, "You guys should hurry up and leave, it's so annoying."