"Obedient and Adorable"

Xiang Kun was preparing ingredients in the kitchen, but his attention was naturally focused on Xia Libing and his parents. He was also quite curious about how Lao Xia would try to get information about him from his parents.

At first, Xia Libing didn't say much, because Mom Xiang talked too much. She would offer her tea, fruit, and ask about her work and life, and what her impression of Citong was.

Xia Libing answered almost every question, and her answers were honest and detailed. In no time, she had given a very clear introduction to Xia Libing's academic, work, and family situation.

Upon hearing that Xiang had two master's degrees, both of Dad Xiang's Mom Xiang subconsciously sat up straighter, showing a sense of "respect".

To be honest, judging from appearance alone, they all thought Xia Libing was at most a recent college graduate. After all, Xiang Kun had said that his "friend's sister" was several years younger than him, and she did indeed look very young.

Xiang Kun, who was cooking in the kitchen, quickly guessed Lao Xia's strategy. It was a case of "giving before taking." Lao Xia didn't ask any questions at first, but only answered and introduced herself. Her purpose was to let her parents get to know her first and establish a certain level of trust, so that it would be easier to obtain information later.

In any case, judging from the description alone, Lao Xia's resume is exactly as Yang Zhen'er described: a well-behaved girl who doesn't need her parents to worry about her, a top student, and even more impressive and perfect than Xiang Kun's resume. There's not a single problem to be found.

Of course, this process also allows her to understand parts of her Mom Xiang' Dad Xiang and habits, and find the best way to probe them with words.

These judgments were made by Xiang Kun based on Lao Xia's knowledge background, consistent way of doing things, and the cognitive model he had established.

Sure enough, when Mom Xiang asked about how Lao Xia and Xiang Kun met, Lao Xia began to take control of the conversation's pace and direction.

"My cousins often invite Xiang Kun play cards, and I join them, that's how I got to know him. There's no gambling, it's just for fun. Xiang Kun is very smart and great at poker; we almost always lose to him. Auntie, was Xiang Kun always this smart when he was little? Was he a good student in school?"

Mom Xiang chuckled and said, "He's not exactly smart, but Xiang Kun has always loved to tinker with things. He can spend half a day 'studying' anything he finds. He's also more patient and can sit still than most kids. When he was in kindergarten, playing with those big jigsaw puzzles, while other children were interested at first but gave up after a while, he could sit there for hours on end, working on them until he finished. I thought he liked jigsaw puzzles, so I bought him one for his birthday, but he wouldn't even touch it, saying he didn't like them. It's the same with studying. Even if he's not interested in the material in his textbooks, he knows it will be on the exam, so he'll patiently spend time figuring it out."

Xia Libing said, "Patience is the most valuable quality. No wonder Xiang Kun can program, carve wood, and write calligraphy. These are all things that require a lot of effort and patience."

"He's definitely good at calligraphy. When we went to Tongshi Town with Xiang Kun's dad, he had no playmates during the summer vacation, so he learned calligraphy from the old man next door. The old man praised him for his focus. As for programming, he started in middle school, maybe in the second or first year of junior high? He begged his dad to buy him a computer, saying he would never install games, he wanted to learn programming, to make programs, saying that Bill Gates became the world's richest man by coding. He really convinced his dad and me to buy him the computer. He did learn programming, and even won an award in some amateur competition. The prize was a bunch of CDs, but most of the time he just used them to play games, those tank and minifigure fighting games, or whatever they're called, 'Alert'?" Mom Xiang continued to boast about Xiang Kun. "But what about wood carving? I've never seen him do it. Every time I call him, he says he's working overtime, so busy. How could he have time to do wood carving?"

"Xiang Kun's wood carvings are so good, Auntie. Look, this is a gift he gave to a friend, and this one too."

Judging from the sound, Lao Xia was probably using his phone to show the wood carvings that Xiang Kun Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er.

After chatting about wood carving for a while, Xia Libing said, "Xiang Kun is a very good cook, especially rabbit meat. He cooks so well; he must have inherited Auntie's skills!"

"Rabbit meat? I can't cook that... The dishes he makes are completely different from mine. He just uses recipes from the internet, all fancy and complicated, but I must say, they're pretty delicious."

Xia Libing said, "Xiang Kun said he only suddenly started wanting to learn to cook a few months ago. It seems he really has a talent for cooking, probably inherited from you, Auntie."

Mom Xiang sighed, "Sigh, this kid, I don't know if it's because he shaved his head, but suddenly he's become so clever. He used to never cook; if I didn't cook, he'd either eat instant noodles or bread. But if I had a choice, I'd rather he had hair..."

"Xiang Kun's hair should still be able to grow back, right?"

"Who knows? I 'ordered' him to keep it, but it's been almost three months since he came back last time, and I haven't seen a single hair. I'm really worried that his head has gotten so used to being bald that he's forgotten how to grow hair..." Mom Xiang's tone was full of worry and sorrow, as well as a helpless self-deprecation.

Upon hearing this, Xiang Kun was in the kitchen, instinctively reached up to touch his forehead, but immediately noticed his hands, which were covered in water and minced meat, and forcibly restrained himself.

From the way Lao Xia steered the conversation, Xiang Kun learned about Lao Xia's strategy.

She was using praise for Xiang Kun to guide Mom Xiang to share her impressions of Xiang Kun's past behavior. Even if she was modest and complained about Xiang Kun, as parents, they would definitely be happy to hear others praise their child. Then, whether she continued to "brag" or was modest, it would further open up the conversation, increase the interest in talking, and bring up relevant content in the topic.

In the living room, Mom Xiang had been talking about Xiang Kun's appearance, changed the subject again. She went to her room to get the family photo album, flipped through it for Xia Libing, and said with great distress how cute and handsome Xiang Kun was when he was a child.

Xia Libing listened attentively to Mom Xiang's "introduction," occasionally chiming in with a few words. With her permission, she even took several photos of Xiang Kun during his childhood, elementary school, and middle school years with her phone.

Then Xia Libing brought up calligraphy and brush writing again, and Xiang 'Mom Xiang took her to Xiang Kun's room.

According to Mom Xiang, the room hasn't changed much since they finished decorating and moved into the house. The bed, table, and cabinets are all original pieces, so they're a bit worn now, and two of the cabinets and drawers are broken. There are several posters on the wall, with visible cross-shaped creases and the titles of magazines printed on them, all related to computer hardware or software—clearly, they're just inserts from those magazines.

Xia Libing saw the calligraphy practice pieces that Xiang Kun 'Mom Xiang showed her, including the one Xiang Kun had uploaded online during junior high school, a piece of Jia Dao's "The Swordsman," as well as many other pieces from different periods that she had never seen before.

Xia Libing did not actively reach out to Xiang Kun's room; she seemed to be "passively" following Mom Xiang and listening to her introduction.

However, she silently observed and recorded everything on Xiang Kun's bookshelf, the things on the table, and the contents of the tables or cabinets that Mom Xiang opened.

Because it was already lunchtime and time was tight, Xiang Kun didn't prepare a very lavish lunch; the dishes were limited, and the focus was on quick meals.

Led by Mom Xiang, Xia Libing had only been in Xiang Kun's room for less than ten minutes when Xiang Kun called out "Dinner's ready!"

There were six dishes and a soup on the table. Two of the dishes were adjusted to Lao Xia's taste, while the other four dishes and the soup were for the parents' taste.

Of course, the three of them don't have incompatible tastes; in fact, they are quite similar overall. When the parents try the two dishes that Lao Xia makes, or when Lao Xia tries the dishes that he makes for his parents, they all find them delicious and refreshing.

However, the "harmonious" atmosphere at the table and the polite interactions between his parents and Lao Xia made Xiang Kun want to laugh.

Xia Libing praised as she ate, "Xiang Kun's stir-fried chicken is really good."

Mom Xiang smiled and modestly said on behalf of her son, "Actually, it was overcooked; there's still room for improvement."

Dad Xiang pushed a dish of food toward Xia Libing: "Xia, eat more of these mantis shrimp. I read an article online that said girls should eat more seafood; it's good for their health and beauty."

Mom Xiang chimed in, "Yes, yes, eat more. You think this eggplant dish is good too? Then come over more often when you have time. I'll have Xiang Kun cook it for you; he's got plenty of free time."

After dinner, Xia Libing needed to go back to her rented apartment to prepare for her shift at the hospital in the afternoon, so Xiang Kun saw her off at the apartment complex to catch her ride.

At the entrance of the residential compound, Xiang Kun looked at Lao Xia, whose expression had returned to normal, and couldn't help but imitate Lao Xia's deliberately raised tone, saying in a high-pitched voice, "Xiang Kun's stir-fried chicken is really good!"

Xia Libing glanced at him, her expression unchanged, and simply shook her head. "Not skilled enough."

Xiang Kun naturally understood what she meant—she was saying that her imitation of the well-behaved and cute girl persona wasn't skillful enough. She clearly didn't mind telling Xiang Kun that she was imitating, that she was "pretending." Of course, anyone who had ever met Xia Libing in her normal state could tell that she was completely different from usual just now.

"Just be yourself, like you are with me, Zhen'er, and Nana. Although elders like well-behaved and cute children, they don't only like well-behaved and cute children. It's better to be natural." Xiang Kun said with a smile. He remembered that when he went downstairs just now, he heard his mother complaining about his father, thanks to his super-strong hearing.

"Old Xiang, don't look so sullen! Xia was so nervous when she was at our house just now, it must be because of you!"

"What do you mean? I just have a normal expression. I can't keep smiling like an idiot, can I? Don't you always complain that my smile looks bad and a bit silly?"

"I meant you look a bit silly when you grin! Smile, can't you? Turn up the corners of your mouth, yeah... Hey? What kind of expression is that? If you're going to smile, then smile, why are you glaring at me? Have you ever seen someone smile with their eyes wide open like saucers?"

"Give me a smile? Look at yourself in the mirror, isn't your smile fake? If Xia is really nervous, it's because of your fake smile that she's scared..."

"Oh? You think my smile is fake now? Who was it that said my smile was like the moon in the sky, like spring flowers? Now that I'm old and faded, you think it's fake?"

"Hey? Hold on, hold on, you've gone off-topic, I'll go wash the dishes."

Xiang Kun knew, of course, that there was no such thing as Lao Xia being nervous.

The reason Mom thought Lao Xia was nervous was because Lao Xia seemed unnatural and a bit "deliberate" to her, which she misinterpreted as nervousness.

But Xiang Kun knew that it wasn't nervousness, but rather a state somewhere between her awkward smile at the train station entrance and her normal expression and demeanor. It was a state, or rather a behavioral pattern, that she had deliberately imitated through observation.

It's very likely that Lao Xia lacks some basic emotional fluctuations, which has led to her habit of imitating other people's personas and behavioral patterns.

In her view, these behavioral patterns should be like tools, applied to various scenarios.

Previously, at the train station entrance, when dealing with people who tried to pick her up, she used that extremely strange smile—a smile that was clearly "bright" but didn't reveal any genuine joy—to scare them away. She once made the same expression to Xiang Kun and asked him, "Aren't you scared?", proving that she was well aware of how this "smile" would make people feel.

Just now at Xiang Kun's house, Xia Libing wanted to find out some information about Xiang Kun from Xiang 'Mom Xiang Dad Xiang, so she naturally chose to use this "well-behaved and cute" behavior to please the two elders.

Unfortunately, she's clearly not very good at this approach.

From Xiang Kun's own perspective, he was more used to Lao Xia's usual state. So, he would find other states and patterns strange and awkward, no matter how well Lao Xia imitated them.

Xia Libing simply nodded in acceptance of Xiang Kun's suggestion. "Okay."

After getting into the back seat of the taxi and seeing Xiang Kun wave goodbye before turning around and walking back into the residential area, Xia Libing took out her phone and pulled out a few photos from the Xiang family album that she had taken earlier.

Looking at the photo of Xiang Kun and recalling the various things Mom Xiang had told her, Xia Libing became even more certain:

What extraordinary changes must have occurred to Xiang Kun in the past year to create his current many unique abilities?

Xiang Kun's attitude towards her also became increasingly certain:

Xiang Kun had certainly discovered her findings, but he didn't seem to mind her exploration and analysis; in fact, he was somewhat encouraging and pushing her forward.

Why is that?

Xia Libing reached into her coat pocket and grabbed three one-yuan Coin, holding Coin between her four fingers.

In addition to the coin she already had, Xiang Kun had given her the two Coin he had promised her before she got into the car.

Last night, she and Xiang Kun played a Coin game, betting that whoever lost would treat everyone to dinner. She knew that Xiang Kun didn't care about the bet; judging from his past behavior, he wasn't the kind of person who cared a lot about winning or losing.

But last night, Xiang Kun guessed the Coin five times in a row, without hesitation or doubt. He was clearly not guessing, but was genuinely very certain.

She knew the Coin was unusual, but she didn't know exactly what made it so.

Xiang Kun was able to guess who had the Coin because of the Coin's unique characteristics.

But starting from the third time, Xiang Kun guessed correctly three times in a row. What was his secret?