Childhood Sweetheart and Unexpected Arrival

After finishing dinner and cleaning up the mess, the day, which had flown by in the rush of travel and shopping for New Year's goods, was almost over. Hua Xin and Xia Yan, who had been on the go ever since they got off the bullet train, were both exhausted.

Of course, Xia Yan was exhausted from both shopping and cooking. If it weren't for her regular exercise and the physical fitness she developed from running around installing computers for people all day, she would have been a mule who died from overwork long ago.

But it's clear that Xia Yan doesn't want to be a mule who dies from exhaustion while cooking; she'd obviously prefer to be one who dies from exhaustion in bed...

Although he was still a novice with no experience, Xia Yan had already grown to the age where he should do what a man should do. When others were his age, they would have already used up countless small round and square packaging bags, and their experience had long been honed to level 99.

As for Hua Xin... she's already a seasoned pro who fully understands the anatomy of men and women.

Because whether she was a boy or a girl, she spent an immeasurable amount of time studying biology every day, so naturally she knew much more than Xia Yan.

Well, on the other hand...

Since Xia Yan's fatigue comes from cooking, then Hua Xin's fatigue comes from eating.

At the dinner table, Hua Xin tried her best to maintain a ladylike and well-behaved impression on her grandfather during her first visit. Even if she wasn't quite the perfect image of a rich young lady, she should at least be a decent and good girl!

We've already moved beyond face-to-face conversations; if we leave a bad impression during the meal, then all the effort we've put in all day will have been completely wasted.

However...

Because Xia Yan cooked a lot of delicious dishes tonight, he also made an extra pork rib and lotus root soup that she had never tried before. Paired with those delicious home-style dishes that were full of color, aroma and flavor, Hua Xin, who hadn't had a proper meal all day, naturally had no way to resist. The "reserve" she had secretly built up in her heart completely vanished.

You know that.

In a sense, what truly captivated Hua Xin was not Xia Yan, but rather the dishes he prepared.

So when it was time for dinner, Hua Xin couldn't control herself and ate four bowls of rice. She ate most of the sweet and sour Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs by herself. When she came to her senses, she found that Xia Yan and her grandfather were looking at her with a "you're so amazing" look. Although they didn't say anything or do anything else, Hua Xin fell silent after seeing that two-thirds of the rice bowl had been emptied.

If she could do it all over again, she would definitely choose to eat only one bowl of rice and not drink so much pork rib and lotus root soup.

"How embarrassing..."

Recalling the scene at the dinner table, Hua Xin covered her face with one hand, barely suppressing her voice as she whimpered softly, trying to hide her embarrassment and the thought of disappearing into the ground.

While washing the dishes, she tried her best to distract herself. As long as she didn't think about her gluttonous behavior at the dinner table, it meant that the matter was over.

But how could I possibly forget something so embarrassing so easily!

If it's just a trivial matter or a good thing, the memory in the brain might only last for that one moment and not remain for a long time, eventually fading away with time.

But the more awkward and stressful something is, the more it will replay in your mind, torturing you repeatedly.

Hua Xin, lying on the bed, turned over expressionlessly.

Even turning over doesn't calm you down; at best, it just turns the one arm that was being pressed down into the other.

What will Grandpa think of her...?

She can eat a lot, which means she spends a lot of money, and spending a lot of money means she's a spendthrift, and a spendthrift means she's a bad woman, and a bad woman is someone who's hard to be with Xia Yan...

Probably not.

Well, based solely on what she observed during her conversation with her grandfather, she could understand that he wasn't that kind of person. On the contrary, he might even think that being able to eat is a blessing.

Thinking of this, the girl couldn't help but smile softly.

Xia Yan's grandfather is truly wonderful. Not only were the words he said to her during their private conversation, but also the way he kept urging her to eat more at the dinner table and happily piled food on her plate. His genuine and unpretentious care and kindness perfectly matched the scenes she had always imagined.

In other words, the image of her grandfather, which Hua Xin had imagined, was exactly the same.

The same gentleness, the same wit and humor.

The series of questions she asked when she first came to visit were genuine expressions of her emotions. At that moment, Grandpa was truly pondering who she was and didn't even consider the possibility that she was Xia Yan's girlfriend.

But speaking of which...

Hua Xin slowly sat up, observing the room with some curiosity.

She is currently lying in the guest room. Her grandfather's house is not very big. Since he usually lives alone, when he returned to the north from Shanghai, he sold his mud house and farmland in the countryside and used his savings from all these years to buy a second-hand house.

Grandpa, who is proficient in all kinds of skills, did a renovation himself, so the house doesn't look old anymore. Instead, it has a unique feel to it.

There are actually many Hua Hua in the house. You can tell how much Grandpa loves these Hua Hua by how they can stay so green even in winter.

She sat down on the edge of the bed. On the table, besides a few potted plants, there were several clean photo frames that hadn't been dusted off. As she got closer, Hua Xin could see the contents of the photos.

He was a little boy who was only a few years old. His appearance gradually overlapped with the figure that had vaguely come to mind in a certain moment before. His eyes were darting around, his body was thin, and his hair was a little long above his eyes, almost covering them. He was very cute.

For little kids, "cute" is probably the only word that can describe them.

Unfortunately, the blank expression and somewhat sad mood ruined his lovely face, making him seem completely insecure and lost.

But Hua Xin felt as if she could transcend time and space to sense this emotion, that feeling of the little boy in the park when Hua Xin was a child who was "like her" at first glance.

She gently touched the boy's hair with her finger. Although it felt like cold glass, she longed to cross time and space to touch his hair and say something to him.

Even if he doesn't know me, even if the person who suddenly appears is strange, as long as there is "someone to talk to", the pain and coldness in my heart will be relieved a lot, right?

A hug, a word of encouragement.

Would this help him, now that he's grown up, to lessen the shadows of his childhood?

Hua Xin knew just how painful that feeling was. Even though Xia Yan had always been the one helping and supporting her.

Why are your eyes so sad?

Even though you're holding a cotton candy and the background is an amusement park where everyone is having fun, you don't look happy at all.

She also wanted to do something for Xia Yan.

Hua Xin's gaze gradually lowered, but then she chuckled softly, gently holding the framed photo album in her arms as if it could warm the memory of Xia Yan's childhood. She murmured to herself softly:

"Actually, we've seen each other when we were kids."

"Do you still remember me? We were childhood sweethearts, right?"

The girl seemed to realize something, her brows furrowed slightly but quickly relaxed, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes before turning into a wry smile.

"Childhood sweethearts and a sudden intrusion...?"

"How come you get all the good things?"