"By the way, why did you agree to go with my grandfather tomorrow morning?"
On the way home on his electric scooter, Song Yunshen asked Xia Jinshu, who was sitting on the back.
"Why?" Xia Jinshu feigned confusion. "I agreed when I had time. Do you have something else important to do?"
"No, not really—" Song Yunshen forced a smile and said something he didn't mean.
He just hadn't expected that Xia Jinshu's behavior when she agreed to go to the fishpond with him was still a little reluctant.
Surprisingly, they agreed quite readily today.
According to Song Yunshen's understanding of Xia Jinshu, shouldn't she have declined three times before reluctantly agreeing?
Why did she agree so readily when her grandfather mentioned it?
Song Yunshen inwardly scoffed, while Xia Jinshu Shu, sitting sideways in the back seat, smiled slightly, already somewhat anticipating Xiao Nuo's expression upon hearing the news.
Should I test her a little tonight?
However, Song Yunshen might not tell her the real reason. At most, he would say that he had something to do tomorrow and therefore couldn't accompany her to class.
As Xia Jinshu thought to herself, and then remembered that tomorrow was her birthday, she began to look forward to what she could do after going to the fishpond.
What can you do at a fishpond? Catch fish?
After the electric scooter arrived at the community's bike shed, Xia Jinshu got off and followed behind Song Yunshen, asking curiously.
"We have to wait until winter to catch fish," Song Yunshen said. "Every winter, Grandpa would drain the fishpond, and then we would go into the water to catch fish, taking all the big ones and leaving the small ones behind."
"During summer vacation, I'll probably just go fishing."
"If you really want to go into the water, you can try to find some snails or something by the water's edge; that's quite fun."
Xia Jinshu nodded gently, not asking any more questions. She felt a little hopeful, then composed herself and went upstairs with Song Yunshen to his house, where they went into the kitchen to prepare the food.
Song Yunshen glanced at Xia Jinshu's retreating figure, then instead of going to the study, he returned to his bedroom, took a beautifully packaged rectangular box from the bookshelf, weighed it in his hand, and stuffed it into his schoolbag.
After confirming that everything was in place, he returned to his study and began reciting vocabulary words as if nothing had happened.
After Xia Jinshu finished preparing the dishes and came over, the two began to quiz each other on English vocabulary, and then the class officially started.
After about two weeks of tutoring, Song Yunshen's English foundation has become much more solid.
Many questions that I could only guess on before, I can now gradually understand and figure out.
In particular, the increase in his vocabulary enabled him to understand more sentences. Holding an English test paper, he no longer felt like he was reading gibberish, as before.
In fact, when Song Yunshen Shen did cloze tests and reading comprehension exercises in English before, he never understood what the articles were about at all.
Teachers rarely translate the entire text in class; instead, they focus on explaining key sentences.
But with Xia Jinshu's help, he gradually became able to understand some simple short articles and discovered that some English articles were quite interesting.
Some of the articles were quite bizarre.
Song Yunshen didn't know was that these were materials that Xia Jinshu had specially found for him.
It not only matches his current vocabulary level, but also ensures that the content of the short articles is interesting, so that he can have a stronger interest in reading them.
In this way, Song Yunshen's desire to explore English can be gradually stimulated, instead of always having someone forcing him to memorize a few words.
In Xia Jinshu's view, learning without self-motivation is ineffective learning. Once the thing that used to force him is gone, he will immediately collapse and revert to his old ways.
It's the same principle as Song Yunshen liking to do math problems.
The evening English class has ended.
Xia Jinshu got up to cook, and Song Yunshen followed to help her.
As they cooked together more often, Song Yunshen gradually figured out some of Xia Jinshu's cooking habits.
Especially when cooking dishes he had made before, Song Yunshen had almost memorized the corresponding steps. As soon as Xia Jinshu Xia Jinshu her hand, he immediately handed her what she needed.
As a result, Xia Jinshu would subconsciously think that she was cooking at home.
After all, she only gets this kind of treatment—being able to reach out and get things—when her younger sister is helping her out.
Unexpectedly, in less than half a month, Song Yunshen had already become quite adept at it.
Seeing him expertly hand her the soy sauce next to him, Xia Jinshu reached out after using it, but Song Yunshen immediately took it back and put it away. She couldn't help but ask, "Have you memorized how to cook all these dishes?"
"More or less." Song Yunshen smelled the aroma of the food and peeked at her stirring. "You've seen it so many times, you should remember it by now."
"Would you like to try it yourself next time?" Xia Jinshu asked. "I'll help you."
Upon hearing Song Yunshen raised his eyebrows. "Is Teacher Xia tired from cooking?"
"I'm sorry, that's not what I meant." Xia Jinshu thought he had misunderstood, her expression changed slightly, and she pursed her lips as she explained, "I just—"
"..." Upon hearing her say that, Song Yunshen felt a headache coming on and quickly pressed down on her shoulder, saying, "I was just joking with you, don't be so tense."
"What did I tell you before? Don't always apologize to me."
"Sorry won't do; try to say it less often in the future, it gives me a headache."
Xia Jinshu was silent for a moment, then subconsciously said, "----I'm sorry."
"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" Song Yunshen said, both amused and exasperated. "Isn't 'sorry' the same thing?"
Xia Jinshu:
--"
She had finally found such a good job, and she didn't want to lose it because she accidentally offended Song Yunshen.
Although she felt that Song Yunshen's personality was indeed easy to get along with, that didn't mean she could take advantage of him.
Even though this guy likes to call himself "Mom" in his diary----
She's gotten used to apologizing to others in her daily life.
In many situations, if you take the initiative to apologize first, you can at least prevent things from developing in the worst possible way.
That's just how her personality has always been.
Reserved, gentle, tolerant, caring----
She would be happy to sacrifice herself if it could bring happiness to her mother and sister.
But Song Yunshen clearly doesn't share this view.
"We're going to my grandpa's fishpond tomorrow, can you teach me how to cook?" Song Yunshen said. "I'd like to try it out myself, what do you say, Teacher Xia?"
"Okay." Xia Jinshu nodded in agreement, relieved to find he wasn't really angry. "So, what do you want to do?"
"What are you doing—" Song Yunshen stroked his chin thoughtfully, then chuckled softly, "I won't tell you yet."
"?"
Dinner is ready.
Song Yunshen and Xia Jinshu took their seats.
"Dinner's ready!"
Xia Jinshu said softly and naturally, and then started eating with Song Yunshen.
Song Yunshen was eating his meal and wanted to chat with Xia Jinshu for a bit when his phone vibrated.
He thought it was a message from Xia Yunuo or Xia Kening.
When he took out his phone, he found it was Xu Zhuoyue, that bastard.
Could it be that you're asking him to play games tonight?
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: What did you do today?
[ Song Yunshen ]: Are you blind? Can't you see my WeChat Moments?
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Are you taking Yingying to the children's amusement park?
[ Song Yunshen ]: What else?
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Hehe.
What a load of rubbish!
This kid's attitude is off.
Song Yunshen frowned, realizing that things were not so simple, and instantly thought of a certain idiot.
[ Song Yunshen ]: Did Brother Tao send you a message?
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Wow, someone's pretty clever.
[ Song Yunshen ]: How dare he say that to me? Isn't he dating Chen Yue himself? They even went to see a movie.
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Oh, what a great "oh," you're really something!
[ Song Yunshen ]: Stop nagging and begging; get to the point.
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: It's nothing, just remarking that you're eating really well, brother. Sigh... it's a pity I couldn't get you to play basketball with me during the summer vacation, you got hooked up with a woman instead.
[ Song Yunshen ]: You don't know anything. This is an outdoor lesson for my Yingying.
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: How dare you say such a thing? I can only say you're awesome.
[ Song Yunshen ]: That's right. Xia Yunuo is Yingying's preschool teacher. Why would I lie to you?
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Huh? What's going on now?
[ Song Yunshen ]: That's the situation. I was just accompanying Yingying to her outdoor class as her caregiver.
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Do you think I'm stupid? Brother Tao said you had lunch alone with her at Wanda at noon, but Yingying wasn't there at the time.
[ Song Yunshen ]: Well, we'll go check out the classroom location first, and also treat Teacher Xia to a meal.
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: 666, you really know how to play, I can't argue with you.
[ Song Yunshen ]: If you're envious, just say so. I won't laugh at you.
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Get out! Get as far away as you can!
[ Song Yunshen ]: Look, you're in a hurry again.
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Tell me the truth, what's going on between you and Xia Yunuo?
[ Song Yunshen ]: Good friend.
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Does she know you two are just good friends?
[ Song Yunshen ]: Why don't you go ask them?
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: You're awesome, okay? I'm not going to argue with you. Let's play PUBG tonight!
[ Song Yunshen ]: I'll ask my cousin later.
[ Xu Zhuoyue ]: Okay, let me know when you come.
After finishing their conversation, Song Yunshen put away his phone and continued eating, only to find an extra chicken wing in his bowl, which startled him.
After a moment's recollection, he remembered that when he was chatting with Xu Zhuoyue earlier, Xia Jinshu seemed to have put a chicken wing on his plate.
Song Yunshen's expression was strange, and he couldn't help but look at Xia Jinshu opposite him.
Xia Jinshu remained calm and ate her meal as usual, though she felt a little nervous and embarrassed inside.
She didn't do it on purpose; it's just become a habit.
When she's at home, if she sees Xia Kening eating or playing on her phone, she'll proactively add more food for her younger sister so she can eat faster.
I just did it on a whim, and only realized it after I finished.
Song Yunshen had no idea about this. He thought to himself that since Mama Xia had taken the initiative to serve him food, it would be impolite not to reciprocate.
So, halfway through the meal, while Xia Jinshu was drinking her beverage, Song Yunshen also took the initiative to put a piece of his chopsticks on her plate.
The room fell even more silent.
Xia Jinshu didn't react much, she just silently ate the food he put on her plate.
After finishing their meal, while the two were clearing the table, Xia Jinshu asked, "Are we leaving at nine o'clock tomorrow, or do we need to be at the fishpond by nine o'clock?"
"Let's leave at nine o'clock." Song Yunshen and decided it would be better to let Xia Kening play games a little longer as compensation.
"Okay, let's meet at the entrance of the complex. I'll take you there on my bike."
"Okay." Xia Jinshu nodded in agreement, and after packing up, she took her leave.
As Xia Jinshu took the elevator downstairs, she casually scrolled through her phone and saw Song Yunshen's WeChat Moments post from around 3 PM.
Huh?
The little girl in the photo must be Song Yunshen's cousin, right?
This time----
It was sent around 3 PM, which was exactly when Xiao Nuo finished class.
Xiao Nuo even liked it?
So, does that mean Xiao Nuo didn't teach his cousin in the afternoon, but instead went out to play with the two of them?
this----
Xia Jinshu's expression was strange, wondering if this counted as a date, a class, or taking care of a child.
However, on a whim— Xia Jinshu suddenly remembered that Xiao Nuo seemed to have left home very early this morning.
I said I had arranged to go to the library with my classmates.
Xia Jinshu squinted and hurried home.
When she got home, she saw a group of people who had just finished eating. Xia Yunuo and Xia Kening were getting up to clear the table when Xia Jinshu's gaze immediately fell on Xia Yunuo.
A naval-style short-sleeved shirt with a preppy collar, and a light blue floral long skirt—sure enough, dressed so beautifully, she must be going on a date!
Xia Yunuo was unaware that she had been exposed.
On the contrary, she felt that she was the one who was hiding the truth the most.
On one hand, she already knew the biggest secret between her sister and Song Yunshen.
On the other hand, she also learned that her sister was tutoring Song Yunshen.
She even knew that her sister was secretly making dinner for Song Yunshen every day.
Her older and younger sisters knew nothing about her.
Well, they weren't completely ignorant, but all they knew was that Song Yunshen was her classmate, Ningning at most knew that she would often go to play with Song Yunshen.
But no one knew that she was actually working as a preschool teacher for Song Yunshen's cousin, earning money on the side.
Little did they know that she had gone to Wanda Plaza with Song Yunshen today!
They also ate Feizi Steak together.
Neither the older sister nor the younger sister had ever eaten with Song Yunshen!
Thinking of this, Xia Yunuo, who was carrying bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen, couldn't help but puff out her chest proudly as she passed by Xia Jinshu.
Xia Jinshu had no idea that her younger sister had such a rich inner world. After confirming her guess, she returned to her bedroom, somewhat curious about her sister's feelings after learning that she wouldn't be able to see Song Yunshen the next day.
Xia Kening was unaware of the confrontation her two older sisters had just gone through; all she wanted to do was go find Song Yunshen as soon as possible.
After quickly washing the dishes for my second sister, I couldn't wait to go out for a jog to exercise.
As they ran, they arrived at Song Yunshen's house.
With practiced ease, Xia Kening entered the password to open the door, changed into her orange slippers, and ran to the kitchen to grab a bottle of yogurt. Then she took two bags of snacks from the living room before heading into the study.
Sipping her yogurt, Xia Kening sat down in a chair and couldn't help but hum as she thought about how Song Yunshen had stood her up that morning.
As it turned out, Song Yunshen was wearing headphones and didn't hear her humming at all.
So Xia Kening reached out and took off his headphones, then sat back down.
Hmph!
She finished humming and then stopped talking, opening Genshin Impact on her own.
Song Yunshen turned to look at her, bewildered, then chuckled, "What are you doing? Stuffy nose? There are tissues on the table, don't blow your snot onto my computer."
"Ugh, you're disgusting!" Xia Kening said with a look of disgust. "Can't you be normal for once?"
"Then what were you whining about just now?"
"Hmph!" Xia Kening didn't say anything, just kept humming and ignored him again.
Song Yunshen knew exactly what she meant; she was just throwing a tantrum because she couldn't come this morning.
Song Yunshen took a bag of potato chips from the table, opened it, moved his chair to Xia Kening's side, and handed her a potato chip.
Xia Kening blinked, opened her mouth, and took a bite.
Feed again.
Bite again.
After finishing half a bag of potato chips, Song Yunshen handed over the yogurt. Xia Kening took a couple of sips and let out a comfortable sigh.
"Are you satisfied with the service? Could you please give me a five-star review?"
"It'll be alright, I guess." Xia Kening's lips curled up high, but she still said it reluctantly.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself quite a bit."
"What kind of attitude is this?" Xia Kening raised her chin. "With this kind of service attitude, you expect a five-star review?"
"I'm so sorry, sir. I'll compensate you with a massage package. Is that alright?" Song Yunshen stood up and walked behind Xia Kening.
Xia Kening gave a reluctant "hmm," and then felt Song Yunshen's two large hands pressing on her shoulders.
"Guest, is the pressure okay?"
"A little lighter."
How about this?
"Mmm, that feels good." Xia Kening closed her eyes comfortably, enjoying the massage. Song Yunshen only stopped after a while.
Why did it stop?
"Want to play games again? Lao Xu just asked us to play PUBG together."
"Okay, let's play then." Xia Kening temporarily forgave Song Yunshen, feeling that playing games was more important.
After finishing the game, it was 8 PM. Xia Kening stretched, shut down her computer, stood up, patted Song Yunshen's shoulder, and said expectantly, "I'll wake you up tomorrow morning."
"Oh, this—" Upon hearing this, Song Yunshen's eyes darted around. After a moment's thought, he hesitated, looking somewhat troubled. "I'm afraid that won't work."
"What?!" Xia Kening immediately bristled, angrily saying, "Why not again? Are you even capable of it?!"
"Don't be angry, there's a reason for this," Song Yunshen said. "My grandparents said they haven't seen me in a long time and invited me to visit them tomorrow. I had no choice."
"What time are you going?" Xia Kening asked, pouting.
"We agreed to be there at seven o'clock," Song Yunshen said. "The old folks don't sleep much, so they get up very early and called me to come over soon."
Hearing that he was going to see an elder, Xia Kening immediately suppressed her initial outburst, but said with a slightly aggrieved expression, "That's the second time now, you have to make it up to me."
How will you compensate me?
"How should I know?" Xia Kening said with a hint of grievance and coquettishness, "Anyway, you have to make it up to me."
"Alright, alright, I'll make it up to you." Song Yunshen reached out and ruffled her hair. "How about this, I'll discuss it with my grandfather again, and we can go again at nine o'clock tomorrow morning?"
"Is it okay?" Xia Kening's eyes lit up again, with a hint of surprise, but also some hesitation. "Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"
"It's nothing," Song Yunshen waved his hand. "They dote on me. I just told them I stay up late and can't get up this early, so I'll go two hours later."
"Well, you said it yourself," Xia Kening muttered softly. "I didn't ask you to do it; you said it on your own initiative."
"Yes, yes, I offered to." Song Yunshen chuckled and pinched her cheek. "Is this alright now? You can still wake me up as usual, but you can only play until nine o'clock."
"Hmm----" Xia Kening nodded obediently, feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
After seeing her out of her house and successfully coaxing her home, Song Yunshen watched the elevator doors gradually close, smugly rubbed his nose, and chuckled, "Little brat, you think I can't handle you?"
Easy peasy.
But this matter is not over yet.
After seeing Xia Kening off, Song Yunshen took out his phone and opened Xia Yunuo's chat page.
After some deliberation, he sent a message.
[ Song Yunshen ]: What are you doing?
[ Xia Yunuo ]: Doing homework.
[ Song Yunshen ]: I have something to tell you.
[ Xia Yunuo ]: Huh? What?
[ Song Yunshen ]: It's not convenient to talk on WeChat. Where do you live? I'll come find you.
Xia Yunuo, who was doing her homework, was stunned when she saw this sentence.
Suddenly, a possibility occurred to her, and her mind went blank for a moment, her cheeks instantly turning bright red.
This, this, this------
Could it be?!
No way?
Impossible! Impossible!
But—what if?
No, no, I can't let my imagination run wild!
They're just good friends!
[ Xia Yunuo ]: Can't we say this on WeChat?
[ Song Yunshen ]: No.
[ Xia Yunuo ]: Then I'll come find you, okay?
[ Song Yunshen ]: Huh?
Xia Yunuo knew that Song Yunshen and her sister had swapped souls, so Song Yunshen already knew where Xia Kening lived.
If we let Song Yunshen come over, it would be troublesome if he noticed anything amiss.
That's why Xia Yunuo said that.
But after seeing this sentence, Song Yunshen had a new idea, and his eyes started to dart around.
[ Song Yunshen ]: That's fine too. Why don't you just come to my house?
[ Xia Yunuo ]: Hmm.
Xia Yunuo's heart was pounding.
After receiving the reply, Song Yunshen Shen went to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, glanced at it, and then nodded slightly.