Chapter 37: Picking Up the Kids, Hard to Decline Dinner Invitation

Oh—Song Yeqing suddenly remembered that she had never mentioned her space contained weapons. In that case, his concern was quite reasonable.

She visibly hesitated, then quickly explained, “Sorry. I have weapons in my space. There won’t be any problems.”

“Eh… it’s fine. It’s not that big of a deal to warrant an apology. I… never mind. Since you’ve got weapons, just be careful when you go out.”

He Yanxin wanted to suggest going with her, but in the end, didn’t say it. He felt a bit deflated.

After all, they had only known each other for a day. At this point, they were just temporarily teaming up. He didn’t really have the right to tell her where she could or couldn’t go.

“Don’t worry, I can protect myself.”

As Song Yeqing finished speaking, she pulled out the entire weapons rack from her space to prove she was telling the truth.

She didn’t include the gun, though—that was stored separately in a box inside the drawer of her desk. She couldn’t expose her trump card just yet.

He Yanxin: …You can do more than protect yourself. You could string someone up like meat on a skewer.

His worry instantly vanished. Staring at the swords and blades, he asked, “Can I hold one?”

After Song Yeqing nodded, he picked up a Miao knife and examined it carefully in his hands.

He didn’t know much about cold weapons, but even he could tell—it was a fine blade.

“You know how to use all of these?” he asked, putting the knife back and picking up a sword.

“I do.” As soon as the topic turned to weapons, Song Yeqing’s entire demeanor lit up. She casually picked up a flexible sword and demonstrated a few forms, looking exceptionally cool and sharp.

He Yanxin clapped with genuine admiration. “Then… can I learn?”

Use magic to defeat magic. Fighting people barehanded with taekwondo was dumb—better to learn something useful.

“Sure.”

She was planning to start with the basics tomorrow anyway. They could train together and improve as a team.

After she put everything back into the space, Song Yeqing suddenly felt like something was missing at home.

“Where are He Chengze and Song Chengsi?”

He Yanxin smacked his forehead—he had nearly forgotten.

“I was about to go look for you when you didn’t return, so I sent them next door. I’ll go pick them up now,” he said as he headed out.

“Wait a sec, take this with you and give it to Aunt Ge,” she handed him the shepherd’s purse from earlier and a bundle of sweet potato vermicelli she took from her space.

She hadn’t forgotten how Aunt Ge had given them bird eggs and wild vegetables before.

It wasn’t that she was stingy and only giving this little in return—just that He Yanxin had just given them rice and meat yesterday. If they brought too much over now, it would seem suspicious.

What, did your family strike it rich overnight or something? Giving away so much?

Plus, with Aunt Ge’s personality, she probably wouldn’t accept it if it were too much.

“Alright.” He Yanxin took the items and went next door.

“Auntie, I’m here to pick up the kids!” he called out, then pushed open the door and entered the Wu household.

Aunt Ge, Madam Chen, and the younger Madam Wu were bustling in the kitchen, while the He brothers were playing with some of the Wu family’s children in a corner of the courtyard.

Madam Li hadn’t returned from her family’s house yet. No one knew whether she was scared or just embarrassed. When they dropped the kids off earlier, Wu Erlang was still home. He had mumbled a greeting to them and gone back to his room—he hadn’t come out since.

Old Master Wu was still doing carpentry work at the entrance to the main hall. When he saw He Yanxin come in, he stood up and handed him a stool.

“Sit. Has Qīngniáng come back?”

“She has. I’m just here to take the boys back, so I won’t sit. You go ahead.”

“Yanxin, stay for dinner tonight—and bring Qīngniáng too,” Aunt Ge said, wiping her hands on the apron at her waist as she came out of the kitchen.

She truly felt bad about taking so much from He Yanxin for so little money.

Her eldest daughter-in-law had brought back some kudzu root from her mother’s home, so she had saved a piece of meat to make kudzu root meat soup. She had also pulled a few cabbages from the garden.

Though they only had coarse grains left at home, she had still decided to invite the neighbors over for dinner tonight. The food wasn’t the important part—it was the sentiment that mattered.

She didn’t have anything else to offer, but her cooking skills were something she could take pride in.

He Yanxin handed her the items Song Yeqing had given him.

“We’re already cooking at home, so we won’t stay here to eat. Dàbǎo, Xiǎobǎo, come on—say goodbye to Grandpa, Grandma, and your brothers.”

The two boys each grabbed one of his pant legs, then obediently waved to everyone.

“What’s this? No, no, take it back,” Aunt Ge protested as soon as she saw the bundle of grayish-brown stuff she didn’t recognize. But when she saw the shepherd’s purse, she immediately tried to hand everything back.

So the two of them started a tug-of-war right there at the kitchen door.

He Yanxin started sweating from the back-and-forth and finally said, “Auntie, if you don’t take it, we’re not staying for dinner!”

“You’ll eat here and take the stuff back too.” Aunt Ge turned her head defiantly, pretending to scold him.

“That’s from Song—Qīngniáng. You’ll have to talk to her,” he said, trying to pick up the kids and make a run for it—only to find that Old Master Wu had, at some point, scooped the boys into his lap. He was now happily playing with them.

Looks like this dinner was unavoidable.

Madam Chen told her daughter to watch the stove and came to the kitchen door.

“Yanxin, just stay for dinner,” she said. But she wasn’t great with words, and after saying that, she didn’t know what else to add.

“Alright then, I’ll go get her.” Fine. Dinner it was—at least that meant Song Yeqing wouldn’t have to cook tonight.

“No need to go back. Just shout for her from here,” Aunt Ge said, afraid he might disappear if he went home, and she raised her voice toward the He house.

“Hey!”

Song Yeqing was rinsing rice by the well when she heard the yelling.

“Qīngniáng, don’t cook—come eat at our place tonight!” Aunt Ge called again.

Eat at their place? Wasn’t He Yanxin just going to pick up the kids? How did that turn into dinner next door?

“Where are the kids?” she called out, taking a few steps toward the courtyard wall.

“They’re all here. Just come over!” Aunt Ge yelled back, then stopped shouting.

Song Yeqing looked at the rice in the pot. Well, fine. She’d go.

Aside from the rice, everything He Yanxin had bought had already been stored in her space, so she wasn’t worried about spoilage.

Just before heading out, she suddenly remembered—according to her memory, there hadn’t been sweet potatoes in this area before, let alone sweet potato vermicelli. Aunt Ge probably wouldn’t know how to cook it.

So she took out a packet of spicy hotpot base from her space, cut open the packet, poured about one-third into a bowl, and brought it with her next door.

As soon as she entered the Wu household, He Chengze and Song Chengsi cried, “Mama!” and ran over to hug her.

The two boys hadn’t seen her all afternoon. Especially the younger one—he immediately started whining in grievance.

He Yanxin was fully engrossed in watching Old Master Wu work on his carpentry, clearly very interested. When he heard the commotion, he turned and looked at her.

Song Yeqing gave him a look that asked, What’s going on? How did this turn into dinner at the neighbors’?

He Yanxin gave her a helpless smile—he didn’t have a choice either. The invitation was just too enthusiastic to refuse.

Song Yeqing greeted Old Master Wu and said hello to the Wu family kids. Then she crouched down to touch her sons’ faces—uh, a handful of dirt. How long had they been playing in the mud?

She felt utterly defeated. It was going to be a pain to clean them up tonight—and she’d have to do laundry tomorrow too.

The two boys, completely oblivious to their mother’s distress, were giggling and having the time of their lives. She told them to go on playing while she dusted off her hands and walked into the kitchen.

(End of Chapter)