74: Gulnazar's cooking skills!

The June midday sun filtered through the gaps in the leaves, splashing into Naza's small apartment.

Naza stood in front of the window, wearing a simple white T-shirt and denim shorts; her fair, slender, long legs were particularly eye-catching.

She was currently wearing an apron, busily working away in the kitchen.

Her figure was light and elegant, and her movements—washing, picking, chopping, and stir-frying vegetables—were very skillful.

Today, she was going to cook a sumptuous lunch for the person she loved.

Chen Le walked in from the living room, and seeing Naza's busy back, a gentle smile couldn't help but appear on the corners of his mouth.

He had only just arrived; Naza had called him in the morning to invite him over for a meal.

Naturally, he wouldn't refuse such a request.

At this moment, Naza was stir-frying. He walked quietly behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, buried his head in her hair, and took a deep breath.

"It smells so good. Naza, are you cooking?" he said softly.

Naza was startled by his sudden hug, but she soon started laughing, a look of pleasant surprise appearing on her face.

"Brother Le, how did you get here so fast?" Naza said with some surprise.

"You said you were treating me to a meal, so of course I had to come early. Besides, I didn't have anything to do this morning anyway," Chen Le said with a smile.

"Hmph, Brother Le, you really gave me a big scare just now. I didn't even hear the sound of you opening the door or walking," Naza said, suddenly pouting.

"Wasn't I just trying to give you a surprise?" Chen Le said with a smile on his face.

Naza had given him a key to the apartment before; he could come here whenever he wanted.

"Hmph, it was indeed a surprise, but there was a scare too," Naza said while stir-frying.

"Mhm, I see your food is about to burn. I'd better stop bothering you while you cook." Seeing that Naza's mind was no longer on the cooking, Chen Le let go.

Feeling Chen Le let go, Naza felt a bit reluctant.

She had just finished filming and finally had a long period of rest; she only wanted to stick by Brother Le's side every day.

Chen Le went back to sit on the sofa and rubbed his nose; the lingering scent from Naza's body remained on his hand.

Soon, Naza finished preparing the meal.

At lunchtime, the two sat around the dining table, which was covered with dishes Naza had meticulously prepared.

There was a colorful vegetable salad, fragrant pilaf, and specialty mutton skewers from Naza's hometown.

With every dish Chen Le tasted, he couldn't help but praise it, his eyes sparkling with surprise.

He didn't expect Naza to have such skills.

"Naza, I didn't expect your cooking to be so good! It has the perfect color, aroma, and taste. It looks like I'm in for a treat from now on," Chen Le said with a smile as he ate.

He had thought that for an arts student like Naza, whose family background wasn't bad, someone would surely cook for her.

She could have completely avoided any manual labor.

Chen Le looked at the dishes on the table; there were quite a few meat dishes, but no pork.

However, remembering that Naza was from an ethnic minority and that they didn't eat pork in her hometown, he understood.

Although he quite liked eating pork, he respected Naza.

Hearing Chen Le's praise, Naza felt delighted, her face beaming with a satisfied smile. "As long as you like it. I was worried you wouldn't be used to the taste."

The two chatted while eating, and the topic soon turned to the new film that had just wrapped up.

"Brother Le, is the post-production work for your new movie done?" Naza asked.

"Mhm, it was finished a few days ago. I just sent it for review today; now we're just waiting for it to pass," Chen Le nodded.

"So you won't have much to do after this?" Naza asked curiously.

"That's right. It's only mid-June. Once it passes review, there won't be much to be busy with. We'll just need to promote it and prepare for the release."

"That's great! We can relax together for a while then." Hearing Chen Le's words, Naza clapped her hands excitedly.

She was very happy and looked forward to the thought of being able to stick by Brother Le's side every day.

Hearing Naza's words, Chen Le's mind subconsciously drifted to something else.

But seeing that Naza's expression was perfectly normal, as if she meant it literally, Chen Le felt a bit ashamed and secretly scolded himself for having impure thoughts.

"Brother Le, can you tell me about filming in Thailand? I've never been there, so I'm a bit curious." Naza looked at Chen Le with longing, blinking her eyes.

Seeing Naza's pleading gaze, Chen Le couldn't refuse at all.

He could only nod and say, "Alright, I'll tell you about our filming in Thailand. That place is quite beautiful..."

While Chen Le talked, Naza sat beside him, feeding him with her chopsticks.

"Are there really ladyboys there?"

Naza asked in great surprise.

"Yeah, I saw quite a few. They're more open over there," Chen Le nodded with a smile.

"It really is quite open." Naza nodded. If there were ladyboys, wasn't it open?

"Brother Le, did you take any photos when you went to have fun in Thailand?" Naza suddenly remembered something and asked.

"I did. They're all stored on my phone." As Chen Le spoke, he took out his phone and opened the photos.

Naza took the phone and began looking through them one by one.

"Hey, Brother Le, is this a ladyboy?" Naza looked at Chen Le, pointing her finger at a photo on the phone.

"Yeah, that's one." Chen Le leaned in to look and nodded.

At this moment, the distance between the two was very close; they could both hear each other's breathing.

The atmosphere between them suddenly became ambiguous... On the other side, Wang Baoqiang had returned to Yanjing.

He hadn't been back in his hometown for many days; he had only gone back to see how his parents were doing and to spend a few days with them.

This time, he brought back many local specialties again, specifically for Chen Le and Zhang Songwen.

Last time, both of them said the local specialties Baoqiang brought were very good, so he brought some more from home.

At this moment, Wang Baoqiang returned to his own home.

This home was a house the company rented for him; the same was true for Zhang Songwen.

Moreover, their apartments weren't far apart—one was upstairs, and the other was downstairs.

After putting his luggage away, Baoqiang took the local specialties upstairs to visit Zhang Songwen.

He knocked on the door, and after a short while, Zhang Songwen came to open it.

Seeing Baoqiang, he was quite surprised. "Baoqiang, you're back in Yanjing so soon?"

Hearing this, Wang Baoqiang said with a smile, "Yes, Teacher Songwen. I also brought back many local specialties from home. Didn't you say you liked them last time? So I brought some for you. They're all homemade by my family, so please don't look down on them."

Hearing this, Zhang Songwen laughed and said, "Haha, Baoqiang, how could I look down on them? I can't wait to have some! Come in quickly, let me host you properly."

Afterward, Zhang Songwen invited Wang Baoqiang inside.

The two sat on the sofa with tea brewing beside them.