Chen Shi'an ate neither at Lin Meng Qiu's home nor at Wen Zhixia's. He chose to go home for dinner.
"Sister Wanyin."
"Shi'an, you're back?"
"Yeah. You're starting the rice so early, Sister Wanyin?"
"Yep. Once you've eaten, you need to go to evening study, and I need to head out with my stall."
In the kitchen, Li Wanyin had just washed the rice. She took a cloth, wiped the water off the outside of the rice cooker's inner pot, put it into the cooker, and pressed the cook button.
When she came out to look, Chen Shi'an had returned carrying two big bags of things.
"Didn't you go to Meng Qiu's? How come you brought back so much stuff?"
"I did. This bag is local specialties Class Monitor bought in the South China Sea, and this one's local specialties Little Cicada bought on her road trip. They should last us a while-"
"How lovely!"
"Have some too, Sister Wanyin. Otherwise we won't finish them before they go bad."
"Then I'll make a few cups of milk tea later. Shi'an, take some over to Zhi Xia and Meng Qiu for me too."
"Sure."
Chen Shi'an nodded. He had pretty much figured it out: hardly any girls disliked milk tea.
It was still early, and with the rice only just on, there was no hurry to stir-fry anything. Li Wanyin helped Chen Shi'an sort through the two big bags of local specialties and gifts, taking out whatever needed eating first and putting anything that wouldn't keep into the fridge-
"Have Jia Yun and the others gone home?"
"Yep. It's already the fifth today, and they have work tomorrow. They went back after lunch."
"Then Sister Wanyin gets more time off. You don't start work until the eighth?"
"Mm-hmm!"
To be honest,