Font Size:
“It was Sister Qingqing who invited me,”
Xu Ye’s brows furrowed deeply into a crease. He hadn’t expected Chen Qingqing to invite a stranger to her home. From their previous encounters, she was someone extremely guarded. The first time they held hands at the bank, her entire palm was sweaty. The first time he called her Qingqing, she was so flustered she even accidentally stepped on herself. From these signs, she hadn’t yet lowered her defenses around him. So how could it be now…
“Xu Ye Gege? Xu Ye Gege.”
“What is it?”
“Do you like Sister Qingqing?” Wang Yuxin began to gossip.
Xu Ye, feeling a bit guilty, pushed her away and said loudly, “Matters between adults, kids stay out of it.”
“Tch~”
Xu Ye poured himself a glass of water and was about to drink when he suddenly turned and asked, “Have you been chatting with her these past few days?”
“Yes, during the day no one is home, and I’m so bored all alone.”
“Let me see what you’ve been chatting about.”
“No!”
“Give it to me!”
“No!”
Xu Ye ran over and tried to snatch the phone, but Wang Yuxin quickly flopped onto the sofa, pressing the phone beneath her.
Xu Ye: “Did you say bad things about me?”
Wang Yuxin: “I didn’t.”
Xu Ye: “Let me see.”
Wang Yuxin: “No.”
Xu Ye: “Get up for me!”
Xu Ye had just lifted Wang Yuxin completely off the sofa when the security door was opened from outside. Lao Xu and Zhang Hong stood at the doorway, stunned to see Xu Ye holding Wang Yuxin, who was wriggling like an eel.
Wang Yuxin quickly played the victim and complained, “Auntie, Xu Ye Gege snatched my phone!”
“You shameless thing. Your cousin has hardly been home for a while, and you dare to bully her?” Zhang Hong grabbed a broom nearby by instinct.
“Mom! Mom! Mom! Let’s talk it out, no need to fight!”
That night.
On WeChat.
Xu Ye: “You want me and Yuxin to go to your home?”
Chen Qingqing: “I only invited Wang Yuxin.”
Chen Qingqing: “She said she’s staying at your place now and must have someone to accompany her if she goes out.”
Xu Ye laughed.
This was definitely an excuse Wang Yuxin made up, aiming to get him to come over too.
The little girl actually has a bit of conscience.
Xu Ye followed her words and replied, “Yes, yes, I’m not willing to go anyway. I work nights and have to take the driving test during the day—I’m busy.”
Chen Qingqing said, “Then you can get off halfway. In the evening, I’ll have Aunt Wang send Yuxin directly to the bottom of your building.”
Xu Ye: “Get off halfway? Where would I go?”
Chen Qingqing: “I don’t care where you go.”
Xu Ye: “Can you be a little kinder to your only friend?”
Chen Qingqing: “You’re not my only friend anymore.”
Chen Qingqing: “Wang Yuxin is one too.”
Xu Ye: “She’s still a child.”
Chen Qingqing smiled and typed back, “I like children.”
Xu Ye: “If you like children, we can have one someday.”
One minute later.
Xu Ye: “Where are you?”
Five minutes later.
Xu Ye: “I’m joking, you know.”
Twenty minutes later.
Xu Ye: “If you’re not going to reply, forget it. I’m going to sleep now. Good night.”
…
The next day was still bright and sunny.
The first thing Xu Ye did upon waking was to reach under his pillow and check his phone to see if Chen Qingqing had replied.
Luckily,
Chen Qingqing had replied,
Still late at night, just after midnight.
Chen Qingqing: “If you keep acting like this, I won’t talk to you anymore!”
What was that?
A scolding? Yet somehow it sounded a little like a coquettish complaint.
Xu Ye smiled, got up to wash up, but to his surprise, Wang Yuxin was seriously doing her summer homework in the living room.
“Xu Ye Gege, you’re awake?”
“Mm.”
“Xu Ye Gege, there’s a math problem I don’t understand. Can you help me?”
“I don’t know how.”
Wang Yuxin pouted, speechless. “This is a sixth-grade problem!”
Xu Ye shrugged. “These days, just seeing math problems gives me a headache. Use your phone to look it up on Baidu yourself.”
Wang Yuxin stuck out her bottom lip. “You just don’t want to teach me.”
“That’s really not it.”
After graduating, Xu Ye had spent several years struggling in society; he wasn’t so sure he could still solve sixth-grade math problems.
He explained, “After the college entrance exam, my brain stopped working well. I definitely can’t teach you math, but maybe I can teach you something else.”
“What can you teach me then?”
“How the world works.”
“Tch~”
“Or maybe I can teach you how to tell if a man is good or bad.”
Wang Yuxin tilted her head, curious. “How do you tell?”
Xu Ye pointed his sword-like finger under her nose. “Just like this — put your finger under his nose. If he can still breathe, then he’s no good. Of course, that doesn’t apply to me.”
Wang Yuxin opened her mouth and made a playful biting motion. Xu Ye quickly pulled his finger back.
Xu Ye spent the morning checking stock market news, while Wang Yuxin was busy doing her summer homework. Around noon, Xu Ye went to the kitchen to cook some rice and stir-fried two dishes.
“It smells so good. Xu Ye Gege, when did you learn to cook?”
“As long as you want to learn, you’ll naturally know how to cook. Those people who are old but still can’t cook either have someone to serve them or are just lazy.”
Wang Yuxin eagerly served herself a large bowl of rice. After the brother and sister had eaten their fill, they both stretched out on the sofa to rest.
At two thirty in the afternoon, Wang Yuxin suddenly pulled Xu Ye, who was about to fall asleep, roughly off the sofa.
“Xu Ye Gege, get up quickly. Sister Qingqing has already asked Aunt Wang to come pick us up.”
“So soon?”
Xu Ye immediately sat up from the sofa, ran to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face, grabbed the house keys, slipped his phone into his pocket, and soon left with Wang Yuxin.
At the entrance of the residential complex.
Wang Ruxue picked up the two siblings, and they headed toward Hongye Villa.
On the way here just now, Wang Ruxue had already told Jiang Meilin about Chen Qingqing inviting them to her home. After a brief hesitation, Jiang Meilin agreed as well.
Wang Ruxue didn’t say much during the whole ride.
The business van entered Hongye Villa. When passing through the community gate, two security guards stood at attention and saluted the people in the vehicle. Along the wide asphalt road on both sides grew rows of lush green maple trees. After autumn arrived, these maple leaves would turn red—hence the name Hongye Villa.
Wang Yuxin blinked and exclaimed, “This is so beautiful! The community feels like a park.”
Although Xu Ye had anticipated this, actually arriving at such a wealthy neighborhood still stirred a bit of emotion inside him.
—Being rich really is wonderful.
The business van finally pulled into the villa’s Courtyard. Although there was no swimming pool inside the Courtyard itself, the community actually had a huge pool exclusively for the owners, open every Tuesday. The Courtyard was filled with various flowers and plants, and gardeners would come by regularly to tend to them. After getting out of the car, Wang Yuxin looked around curiously, while Xu Ye raised his hand to greet Chen Qingqing standing at the door.
“Come on in.”
Watching Xu Ye step into the living room, Wang Ruxue felt very certain that from this moment on, the two could no longer be just ordinary friends.
…