Airs of Wei: Elder Brother

With her hands-off husband's approval, Zhou Shuling decided to go to the restaurant today and add her mother's homemade meat buns to the menu.

To demonstrate her thoughtful consideration and business acumen, Zhou Shuling decided to officially name the product "Zhou Mama's Big Meat Buns".

Originally, she wanted to name it Zhou Shuling's Meat Bun or Zhou Shuling's Big Meat Bun, but Zhou Shuling suddenly felt that her choice of name was inappropriate while taking a shower.

The name "Zhou Mama" conveys a sense of middle-aged or elderly woman-like simplicity, making it less likely for lewd people to make unfounded associations.

She then informed Liu Chang'an of her official name, and Liu Chang'an had no objections or inquiries about the story behind it.

After finishing breakfast, Zhou Shuling went to the restaurant. She also realized that the new product needed to be promoted before its official launch, and she hoped that it would become a hit like the restaurant's signature Hong Soup Spicy Rooster noodles and Dongdong Brand Chicken Leg.

With her own invention, Liu Chang'an's invention, and Zhou Dongdong's invention, each of the three people had a popular dish, which Zhou Shuling thought was the best way.

Zhou Mama's big meat bun costs ten yuan each. Zhou Shuling's idea is to make it bigger than the ones at home, and to increase the amount of lobster meat from one shrimp to two. A girl can usually fill her stomach with one big meat bun and a cup of soy milk.

As for men, they usually order two large meat buns, which are priced similarly to Hong Soup Spicy Rooster noodles. This prevents the sales of large meat buns from squeezing out the market share of rice noodles.

Zhou Shuling went to the restaurant, while Liu Chang'an, Shangguan Dandan, and Zhou Dongdong stayed at home.

Liu Chang'an didn't go downstairs; instead, he stayed at Zhou Dongdong's house watching TV, constantly changing channels.

Shangguan Dandan had seen Liu Chang'an's small television in the storage room, but it wasn't particularly novel to her. She remained focused on playing with building blocks with Zhou Dongdong.

Zhou Dongdong stacks building blocks haphazardly, but Shangguan Dandan prefers to study the structure by looking at the example diagrams that come with the blocks before arranging them.

"Sister Egg, you've built a huge house!"

"No, this is my grave. I want to make a little paper effigy to put inside."

"What are graves for?"

"That's where I'll lie after I die."

"That centipede will bite you!"

"I... I'm in a grave that centipedes would be afraid of," Shangguan Dandan said after thinking for a moment.

"The centipede is only afraid of Brother Chang'an, because Brother Chang'an ate all the centipedes here."

"Then I'll make a small grave and bury him next to me."

"Okay! Can I be buried in the middle?" Zhou Dongdong tried to participate actively.

Okay, I'll make one for you too.

Liu Chang'an calmly watched Shangguan Dandan and Zhou Dongdong, who were trying to bury him and then bury him too.

"Zhou Dongdong, have you finished your homework?" Liu Chang'an asked.

"I have homework!" Zhou Dongdong said, puzzled.

What do you think?

Zhou Dongdong thought for a moment, then continued playing with her building blocks without reacting, unaware that Liu Chang'an was reminding her to do her homework.

When are you going to do your homework?

"I don't know how to do it."

"You can't do it, so you're not going to do it?"

Zhou Dongdong nodded. "Of course I won't do it if I don't know how! If I don't know how to do it, how am I supposed to do it? Adults always ask silly questions."

"Is there any homework you can do?" Liu Chang'an looked at Zhou Dongdong suspiciously.

"If I can do all my homework, then why would I need to go to school?" Zhou Dongdong said matter-of-factly.

"When your mother comes back, talk to her like this again." Liu Chang'an nodded to express his agreement with Zhou Dongdong. He would never beat Zhou Dongdong, but he liked to see Zhou Dongdong cry when he was beaten by Zhou Shuling.

Zhou Dongdong hesitated for a moment, then decided to wait until her mother came back before explaining the reasoning to her. Perhaps her mother would agree and then stop hitting her so easily.

"I'll teach you how to do your homework," Shangguan Dandan said to Zhou Dongdong after piling up three graves.

Zhou Dongdong got up and went to get her homework.

Shangguan Dandan glanced around, then looked up and found Liu Chang'an looking at her.

"Hmm... hmm... you teach her." Shangguan Dandan handed the homework to Liu Chang'an, stood up, and walked slowly towards the door. "I'm sleepy, I'm going to rest."

Liu Chang'an shook his head. It wasn't that the first-grade homework was difficult, but Shangguan Dandan had never received modern basic education, so the modern expressions and formats of some of the questions were difficult for her to understand.

For example, a problem might involve filling in different numbers in the carriages of a small train to keep it balanced. Shangguan Dandan would find this type of problem difficult to understand.

"No homework today. I only did it on the last night of the holiday," Liu Chang'an called out to Shangguan Dandan. "Let's go out and play."

"I don't think I'm that sleepy anymore," Shangguan Dandan said hesitantly.

Zhou Dongdong immediately stood up and jumped around. What Brother Chang'an said always made a lot of sense, and the things they were going to do were all things Zhou Dongdong liked.

So Liu Chang'an took the two children out to play.

The National Day holiday passed quickly. In the middle of the holiday, Liu Chang'an and Gao Dewei went to the Affiliated High School again to visit several teachers and school leaders and participate in an event.

The main issue was the interaction between Gao Dewei and the Affiliated High School. After all, he was a top graduate of the Affiliated High School Gao Dewei and was admitted to a top-tier university that could bring honor to the Affiliated High School. Unlike Liu Chang'an, who was disappointing, despite having a score in the top 50 in the province, he was admitted to an ordinary key university that was not even in the same league as Gao Dewei's school.

This time, Bai Hui and Miao Yingying didn't join in the fun. They were quite self-aware; for the Affiliated High School, they were just ordinary students... In the eyes of many teachers, Liu Chang'an's college entrance examination score was terrible. If he were honest, his Chinese score couldn't have been so low.

On the last day of the National Day holiday, Bai Hui came to Baolong Center to attend the Lolita fashion gathering. Even Zhu Juntang attended, ensuring a high-end event. Bai Hui also brought Liu Chang'an the Lolita dress she had promised to lend him. Liu Chang'an also promised to go to his dormitory to get the camera and return it to Bai Hui after class.

An Nuan and her family returned from their trip that evening, their flight delayed by two hours.

An Nuan's grandfather drove An Nuan and Liu Yuewang back to the Juyuan residential area and then left.

Liu Chang'an had already drunk several bottles of orange juice at the door before he saw An Nuan Liu Yuewang pushing their suitcases over.

Liu Chang'an walked over, took the suitcase, and pushed it, also taking the large travel bag that Liu Yuewang was carrying.

"What are you doing here?" An Nuan looked at Liu Chang'an in surprise. Because of the flight delay, she felt that it was already very late when she got home, so An Nuan thought that Liu Chang'an would wait until he had class the next day to meet her.

"The day I first formally confessed my feelings to you, I told you that I would feel thirty years is a short time, but three days without you would feel very long, let alone a week." Liu Chang'an, carrying a large travel bag in one hand, still held An Nuan in his arms. "I miss you, I can't wait even a second longer."

An Nuan glanced at her mother, her cheeks flushed, and closed her eyes in a blissful intoxication. Leaning against Liu Chang'an's shoulder, she took a deep, contented breath of air filled with his scent. She raised her hands and hugged his back tightly. What Liu Chang'an said reflected her feelings. In fact, she had secretly planned how to ask Liu Chang'an to climb through the window like last time.

"I really... I really... I'm getting goosebumps all over!" Liu Yuewang touched her arm, somewhat incredulously admiring Liu Chang'an. "Liu Chang'an, your behavior is just like a male lead in an idol drama. Girls fall for this kind of oblivious, sweet talk, right?"

"Go back first!" An Nuan secretly opened her eyes a little and whispered to her mother, but she did not let go of Liu Chang'an.

"It's just a few steps from home!" Liu Yuewang rolled her eyes at An Nuan. This young lady is in love now, she's so lovey-dovey, she's lost all sense of shame.

Liu Yuewang stomped upstairs in her high heels, leaving her luggage behind. She opened the door and went inside, wanting to avoid seeing or being bothered by the sight of the luggage.

Once she held on, she didn't want to let go. An Nuan smiled, pursing her lips, and asked softly, "Don't you want to let go either?"

No, not at all.

After Liu Chang'an finished speaking, seeing An Nuan's confused and angry expression, he cupped her cheeks and kissed her moist lips.

An Nuan let out a soft moan, her back and waist went limp, and her body involuntarily pressed against his chest, her arms naturally wrapping around his neck.

It seems that only in this way can the sweetness of love be made up for during these days of separation.

"Come inside!" Liu Yuewang opened the door again and shouted.

An Nuan can hug and cuddle with her boyfriend like Siamese twins, but she still can't ignore her mother and continue kissing Liu Chang'an.

"Once others see this, they'll start gossiping again." This kind of community, mainly inhabited by the school's faculty and staff, has a lot more human touch than commercial communities, but the speed and enthusiasm at which gossip spreads are incomparable. Liu Yuewang doesn't want to hear any kind of idle talk.

Liu Chang'an bit An Nuan's lips before letting go. He calmly gave Liu Yuewang An Nuan apologetic smile, picked up the large travel bag and suitcase Liu Yuewang had left behind, and went upstairs.

An Nuan was also pushing a suitcase, her backpack tightly fastened to it, inside which was her precious property certificate.

"Did you have a good time?" After changing his shoes inside, Liu Chang'an asked Liu Yuewang.

"It's possible, but the main attractions are quite crowded, and the duty-free shops are also packed. We'll be spending most of our time in the hotel," Liu Yuewang said, quite habitually, though she seemed a little dissatisfied. However, this was all expected and wouldn't really affect her mood.

"Most of them are families with young children out for fun, but there are also many couples out for fun." An Nuan said with a hint of implication.

Liu Yuewang looked at An Nuan with a half-smile. She and An Nuan had discussed this topic before, but for girls who hadn't had sex yet, traveling together as a couple was basically a trip where they lost their virginity.

This is also reality. When most boys find out that a girl is still a virgin and doesn't know how to move to the next stage or make significant progress, they often plan a trip together.

Many people also think that if a girl is already experienced, then of course she doesn't need this treatment; everyone knows the ropes, so wouldn't it be enough for them to just cooperate?

"Look, the next long holiday is winter break, but it coincides with the Spring Festival travel rush, so it's not a good time to go out and have fun," Liu Yuewang said.

"You don't necessarily have to have a holiday to go out and have fun," Liu Chang'an said casually.

"Liu Chang'an, I knew you'd skip class every few days." Liu Yuewang's tone was slightly threatening; she had once set academic requirements for Liu Chang'an, such as publishing papers.

"He was like that in high school too, and it didn't affect his grades," An Nuan quickly said in Liu Chang'an's defense.

Liu Yuewang snorted. She was just saying it casually and didn't really care about the issue. She wasn't the kind of traditional parent who insisted on her juniors following the rules.

"You guys take a rest. You probably didn't eat well tonight, but you can't skip it. I'll make you some porridge." After saying that, Liu Chang'an went to the kitchen to busy himself.

Watching Liu Chang'an's figure disappear into the kitchen, Liu Yuewang said to An Nuan with a slight hint of doubt, "He doesn't seem to be deliberately putting on an act at all."

"Of course not." An Nuan said with certainty. In high school, she could sense that Liu Chang'an cared about her when Liu Chang'an asked her if she had eaten, or when they went out to eat together, he always liked to make requests about what she wanted to eat.

"Generally speaking, prospective sons-in-law like to show off when they visit their daughter's family, but those kinds of contrived displays are too obvious." Liu Yuewang nodded. "He doesn't have that affected quality; he seems to treat you like this all the time."

"Of course," An Nuan said smugly.

Why should I?

"What?"

"I think you're just an ordinary person, annoying and pretentious, with a whole host of flaws. Why is he so good to you?" Liu Yuewang said, puzzled. "My family doesn't have any mines or a throne for you to inherit."

"My dear mother, my dear mother." An Nuan glared at Liu Yuewang in annoyance and ran to the kitchen to watch Liu Chang'an busy at work.

"I miss you again." An Nuan ran over and stood behind Liu Chang'an. They had only met for a short while before parting again, so of course she would miss him.

Go pack your suitcase.

"Wait, I'm being a bit clingy right now."

"You're not just clingy, you're extremely clingy." Liu Chang'an was at a loss for what to do because An Nuan hugged him from behind.

"Whee..."

Porridge is an ordinary food, but making it exquisite is not easy. To make truly excellent porridge, the selection of rice varieties is an art. It must be the newest rice harvested only once a year, washed until it is free of dust and impurities, and the water should not be cloudy at all. Soak it overnight, drain it, then add peanut oil and stir. Simmer it in boiling water until the rice and water are perfectly blended, resulting in a smooth and creamy porridge.

As for adding meat, fruit, or other miscellaneous ingredients, these are merely for seasoning and making the porridge easier to eat, and they diminish the original flavor of the porridge.

Liu Chang'an wouldn't expect Liu Yuewang and An Nuan to have the same taste as him. This kind of congee is actually very comforting to eat, but not everyone likes it, and besides, there's no time to make it slowly right now.

He only knew that Liu Yuewang's family had plenty of convenient food. He had seen a whole box of vegetarian porridge when he cooked here before; it could be made quickly by simply soaking it in water and cooking it.

Liu Chang'an added a few eggs to it; he was also going to eat some.

They brought out three bowls of porridge, but instead of putting them on the table, they sat on the sofa and ate one bowl each.

"I have a really long strip of meat here, I want to give it to Liu Chang'an." An Nuan took a spoon and rummaged around, found a two-centimeter-long strip of meat, and quickly gave it to Liu Chang'an.

"Did you add sugar?" Liu Yuewang asked Liu Chang'an.

"No, this isn't sweet porridge, is it?" Liu Chang'an shook his head.

"Does it taste sweet to you?"

"Sweet." Liu Chang'an laughed.

A little embarrassed, An Nuan touched her cheek and began to drink the porridge.

"It tastes sour, really sour... But, Chang'an, I'm not saying your cooking is bad." Liu Yuewang sighed. "I think you two should get married after graduation, and then move out yourselves. It'll save me from seeing her like this, feeling nauseous and having stomach problems every day."

"Mom, I've noticed you've been having so many opinions about me ever since I started dating Liu Chang'an... You weren't this sharp-tongued before!" An Nuan blushed with anger. After all, her mother had brought up the topic of "marriage," which was a bit embarrassing and nerve-wracking for a young girl. But anger was also inevitable; why was her mother always so critical?

On one hand, she expressed her admiration for Liu Chang'an and her support for An Nuan and Liu Chang'an being together, but on the other hand, she endlessly mocked him. What was her mentality? An Nuan couldn't help but wonder, could it be that her mother really saw how sweet An Nuan and Liu Chang'an were and was also yearning for a relationship but unable to find one, which was why she was acting this way?

"I was just saying, just pretend you didn't hear me." Liu Yuewang continued drinking her porridge.

An Nuan could only roll her eyes at her.

After finishing the hot porridge, An Nuan and Liu Yuewang felt warm all over. They were both quite tired. While pressing down on Liu Chang'an and insisting that the cooks shouldn't have to clean up the table again, they didn't want to move.

An Nuan pulled Liu Chang'an to sit beside her, leaning against his shoulder.

Liu Chang'an noticed that the mother and daughter's sitting posture and figures were quite similar in most ways. When they relaxed, their legs were almost exactly the same length, straight and stretched out under the coffee table. However, An Nuan was wearing black athletic shorts, and her legs were slender and well-proportioned like a young girl's, with her thighs being more rounded than her calves, and only her hips appearing full.

Liu Yuewang, however, was a mature woman with a unique charm, and her legs were fuller than An Nuan's.

Liu Chang'an couldn't help but think of the women in the Book of Songs. Whether it was An Nuan or Liu Yuewang, they were more like the women in the Book of Songs.

The Book of Songs of Songs is the youth of poetry. The women in it are lively, innocent, healthy, unrestrained, passionate, and dare to love and hate. Even the resentful women in it have their own personalities and tempers, full of vitality, and can both complain and reflect on themselves.

But most girls nowadays are not like that. They have become like the women in later generations of literati, always exuding a worldly air, always tired and languid, lacking that girlish courage and vitality.

Those women who are too lazy to get up and draw their eyebrows, who take their time to do their makeup and dressing, are beautiful in their delicate and melancholic manner, but like the continuous spring rain in Jiangnan, they are sometimes touching, but after a while they become tiresome and annoying.

"What are you looking at?" An Nuan noticed in time that Liu Chang'an's gaze was directed at her and her mother's legs, making it impossible to tell whether he was focusing on her or her mother. She quickly cupped Liu Chang'an's face and turned him fifteen degrees so that he could only see her legs.

"Seeing you reminds me of the poem 'Bo Xi' from the Book of Songs," Liu Chang'an said with a smile.

An Nuan frowned and thought for a moment. Of course, she would read the Book of Book of Songs from time to time. Many of the classics were required to be memorized, and her mother would make her recite them whenever she had the chance. But she didn't seem to have memorized this one. She only had a vague impression of it. What was it again?

"It's quite fitting... The female character in this story is just like you, thinking her man is amazing, and she herself is very carefree and overflowing with enthusiasm... She's probably actually just as clingy as you, wanting to wave a flag in one hand and beat a drum in the other, following behind her husband and cheering him on, proudly showing off her husband, and once they're apart, she misses him so much she'd roll on the ground." Liu Yuewang's skill was beyond the reach of ordinary high school students, and she casually and simply explained Liu Chang'an's subtle poetic meaning.

"I didn't mean to roll around on the floor because I miss you so much. It's just that sometimes when I think of you at night, the more I think about you, the more I miss you, and I can't sleep, so I just roll around on the bed... I don't blame you, do I?" An Nuan hummed, burying her cheek in Liu Chang'an's chest, shyly hugging his neck and refusing to let go.

Liu Yuewang raised her hand and pressed it against her temple, feeling annoyed and then experiencing a headache... This girl had no self-respect at all; how could she act like a persistent leech? She wasn't like this herself; where did she learn this coquettish, nagging manner from Zhu Shuzhen?

Fortunately, she was luckier than Zhu Shuzhen. The men she met were far superior to those Zhu Shuzhen had encountered in her life in terms of ability, temperament, and magnanimity.

"I'm going to take a shower." Liu Yuewang stood up, lifting her skirt. Anyway, Liu Chang'an wasn't really a guest anymore, so she had to keep him company.

She said she was going to take a shower, but Liu Yuewang pulled her suitcase over and prepared to unpack the spoils she had brought back from the duty-free shop.

An Nuan tilted her head, because she had just noticed with some caution that the way her mother lifted her skirt was incredibly alluring, and even the lace edge of her safety shorts was showing a bit. How sexy that lace edge was! Why didn't she pay attention?

Why do some of her mother's little gestures always seem so beautiful? An Nuan felt this was the biggest difference between herself and her mother.

While young girls certainly possess beauty and cuteness, they are more adept at acting cute and charming. This is quite different from mature women like Liu Yuewang, whose every gesture and expression exudes a captivating allure.

Generally speaking, young girls and mature women admire each other.

An Nuan had just observed carefully that her mother gently pinched the pleats of her skirt with two fingers, lifting it slightly to reveal more of her fair thigh skin. With her fingers pressing the skirt against her skin, she gently lifted her right leg and took a step. At the same time, her shoulder moved first, followed by a twist of her waist and a lift of her hips, creating a swaying, curvaceous figure that was truly beautiful.

Just after finishing her analysis, An Nuan looked up at her boyfriend, whom she was hugging, and found him looking at her with an expression that seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.

"I'll hit you!" An Nuan didn't say anything to him, casually slapping her boyfriend who she had just been so protective of, then ran to sort through her spoils with Liu Yuewang, saying, "I brought you a gift! I also bought matching pajamas for you, you should wear them at home from now on."

"Liu Chang'an, I suggest you don't wear it. It's hideous, black and white stripes. You'll look like a prisoner in it," Liu Yuewang kindly said to Liu Chang'an. "She initially wanted to buy me one, saying it would be a matching set for the two of us. But her grandparents refused, saying it would make us look like a family of prisoners."

An Nuan raised her head, glared at me, bit her lip, and revealed two teeth; she looked fierce.

"None of you are wearing them... then I have to wear them. Even if she makes me run around naked, I'll still run around. What's wrong with wearing prison clothes?" Liu Chang'an was always so witty and clear in his stance, firmly supporting An Nuan.

"You wouldn't run!" An Nuan said, shaking her head smugly.

Liu Yuewang recalled an article about male-female relationships that she had recently seen on her WeChat Moments by "Tu Li Tu Ji Kou Mi Meng". The article said that when a man is completely obedient to a woman, he actually hopes that the woman will be obedient to him in some other way as well, which is just a transaction.

An Nuan is such a fool. Liu Chang'an is so accommodating and indulgent towards her. When he wants to do whatever he wants to her, I'm afraid she won't be able to refuse.

Liu Yuewang thought for a moment, wondering if she should give An Nuan another safety lecture.

Well, all my plans for the summer vacation failed. These measures could only prevent Liu Chang'an from intervening, not An Nuan from taking the initiative herself.

An Nuan brought Liu Chang'an a photo taken while he was diving as a gift. She also bought a seashell frame for Liu Chang'an to put at home.

As for the couple's pajamas, they really do have a black and white striped look that resembles prison uniforms, yet Liu Chang'an accepted them without hesitation. An Nuan even washed them, but it's unclear whether she can wear them tonight.

Liu Yuewang separated her and An Nuan's belongings, dragged her suitcase and travel bag back to her room to take a shower, and didn't ask Liu Chang'an to come home early.

He has to be self-aware; if he isn't, Liu Yuewang will definitely come to remind him. But she needs to take a shower first.

An Nuan also pulled her own suitcase, asking Liu Chang'an to help her carry the things she had taken out of her mother's suitcase to her room.

Liu Chang'an closed the door and locked it.

This action brought a slightly shy smile to An Nuan, and she whispered, "Why did you lock the door?"

Have you been practicing the Zhenwei Technique as I instructed these past few days?

An Nuan nodded almost imperceptibly, letting out a soft "hmm" like a mosquito's hum.

"Then I need to check it out."

"Ugh! Dream on." An Nuan blushed and quickly sat on the bed, pulling a large, funny-looking pillow over to cover her chest.

"I'll go grab some late-night snacks first, and then I'll climb through the window after your mom's asleep," Liu Chang'an decided on his own plan.

"No, you're going back now. My mom's specifically targeting you." An Nuan snorted in refusal.

"She's messing with me, does she even want her face cream anymore?" Liu Chang'an said arrogantly.

"You go and say that to her." An Nuan exposed his bluster.

Liu Chang'an smiled, opened the door, and walked out. An Nuan watched as he seemed genuinely intending to do so, and her heart pounded. Was tonight the night to clear up the misunderstanding and truly clear her name?