"I’m hungry, let’s go eat."
Ye Wanhua’s emotional roller coaster made Wang Junchen somewhat worried, but he didn’t say anything more.
He took her hand, slowly pulling her up, and headed to the restaurant with pink lilies.
The intoxicating fragrance of the flowers hit them in the face!
Ye Wanhua just glanced at them and sat down straight away, as if the pink lilies weren’t there.
"How come it’s just the two of us, where’s Yang Rui?"
"He went to wash the car."
Ye Wanhua’s lips curled up slightly as she picked up her chopsticks and started to eat.
Washing the car, didn’t he just do that yesterday?
Clearly, he just wanted to get rid of us, afraid I would lose my temper later. Hitting you is one thing, but losing face for the Wang Family is far worse.
If that’s the case, why not just leave? Why deceive ourselves?
Truly suffering for the sake of pride!
It wasn’t that Ye Wanhua was overthinking; today was indeed somewhat special.
During these days at Jinlin Garden, the three of them always had meals together—Wang Junchen cooked, Ye Wanhua washed the pots, and Yang Rui mopped the floors, like a family with a natural division of labor.
"How about it, is it tasty? Not too much salt, right?"
"It’s okay, the fish is quite tender."
"How about the tofu? And the okra..."
"Rarely coming back, aren’t you going to visit your old friends?"
Wang Junchen eagerly looked on, waiting without even blinking, just wanting a word of praise from his wife, even if it was just perfunctory.
Yet, Ye Wanhua didn’t even lift her head.
"What’s there for me to do? I don’t drink, can’t play cards, and I don’t understand what you guys talk about. Sitting there doing nothing is boring."
There was a hint of complaint in her tone.
Perhaps even Ye Wanhua hadn’t noticed that she actually cared a lot about Wang Junchen.
Okra, tofu, and cucumbers, Ye Wanhua kept picking them up with her chopsticks, as if she couldn’t get enough, while the spicy fish dish brought over by the old lady next door was only symbolically tasted.
Wang Junchen noticed it and was delighted in his heart, the slight disappointment from before vanished in an instant.
"Alright, then we won’t go. I’ll stay home with you."
"Oh, Ah Hua, how about we go to the shopping center this afternoon? Since we’re here, as a family member, I should make an appearance, right?"
"That works, let’s go in the evening then, to check out the flow of customers as well."
"Yeah, sure, we’ll go after dinner."
When the conversation turned to business, they communicated much more harmoniously.
At half-past one in the afternoon.
Tang Xiaowan, Li Zihan, and Cheng Shi came out of their small apartment one after the other, preparing to walk to school.
It was Tang Xiaowan’s suggestion, claiming it was to improve physical fitness in preparation for the upcoming autumn sports event.
However, the real reason was that Cheng Shi had said she got fat, gaining at least five pounds.
Vanity is the nature of all girls, not to mention five pounds—even half a pound was absolutely unacceptable to Tang Xiaowan, it must be shed.
"Hey, we have a car but we choose to walk!" Li Zihan complained.
"What a delicate big man!"
"Yeah, that’s right, you’re not delicate!"
"Joking, am I like you? With my unbeatable physique, competing in endurance, speed, I bet you..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Tang Xiaowan suddenly stopped in her tracks, slowly raising her right hand.
"Wow, look everyone, those figs are purple-red, so big! How come I never noticed them before? They look so tasty, definitely sweeter than the ones in the school’s small garden."
"With your short height, it would be odd if you did notice. I saw them at the start of the school year."
Cheng Shi, angered by Li Zihan’s teasing of Tang Xiaowan, huffed, "Miss is 166 cm tall, perfectly standard, not short at all."
His tone was firm and his demeanor was haughty.
Tang Xiaowan pursed her lips, then her eyes widened with excitement, "They look so sweet, I really want to try them. Can I pick a couple?"
"Of course, I’ll pick them for the miss."
"You’re going to pick? Forget it, let Young Master Zihan do it, he’s so tall and agile, he can easily reach them just by lifting his hand."
The fig tree in front of them was huge!
Some branches had already reached beyond the iron fence, and anyone slightly taller could just pull down a branch a bit to pick the fruit.
Seeing Tang Xiaowan looking at him with admiration, the proud Li Zihan gulped and lifted his chin high.
"Just two, no more than that."
"Come on, hurry up, stop beating around the bush. Be careful or someone might catch us, I’m really looking forward to this."
"Maybe we should ask, it doesn’t seem right not to."
"Oh come on, it’s just two, what’s there to ask about? Hurry up, please."
"Alright then, if you say so, I’ll pick." Follow current novels on novelFɪre.net
But no sooner had Li Zihan pulled down the branch and was about to touch the figs than Tang Xiaowan shouted out loud.
"Hey, is anyone home? Can we pick these figs?"
Immediately after, a woman’s voice responded, "Go ahead and pick, help yourselves, it’s okay."
The speaker was Ye Wanhua.
She was about to go out to the yard to gather Wang Junchen’s shirts, when she heard Tang Xiaowan’s voice from before she even stepped out onto the balcony.
"Thank you, auntie, we’ll just pick two."
"There are three of you, how will two be enough? Pick a few more, it’s fine."
"Oh, okay, thank you, auntie."
Li Zihan, standing nearby, was on the verge of collapse and full of rage, wishing he could press Tang Xiaowan to the ground and give her a good beating to vent his anger.
What a crafty trickster, are you trying to play me?
So infuriating, I just don’t get what my brother sees in you.
Willful, tricky, chameleon!
Just wait, tomorrow it’s going to be all veggies for you.
As Li Zihan schemed with satisfaction, he wickedly smiled and began picking figs, eventually harvesting six big, ripe ones.
His height advantage was on full display!
"Wow, these are so sweet, thank you, auntie!" Tang Xiaowan took a bite and hurriedly praised.
"You’re welcome, feel free to come over and pick more anytime. We have too many this year, if they aren’t picked in time, it’s a shame they’ll go to waste."
Tang Xiaowan nodded repeatedly, "Wow, that’s great, thank you, auntie. Then I’ll pick two more, they’re so sweet and delicious."
"Wait here, I’ll get you a bag."
Her radiant smile bloomed in an instant!
Seeing Tang Xiaowan being so unabashed, Li Zihan just felt embarrassingly awkward.
"Let’s go, having a taste is enough."
"But auntie just said, if they aren’t picked they’ll go bad. Let’s just wait a bit, we’ll only pick seven or eight, then later..."
"Come on, let’s go, we’re going to be late."
Tang Xiaowan, seeing the negotiation was fruitless, stuck out her tongue and quickly shouted to Ye Wanhua, "Auntie, don’t bother looking anymore, it’s time for us to go to school, goodbye, auntie!"
Ye Wanhua, holding the handbag she had just found, waved her hand and her mouth curled into a smile that had been absent for a long time.
Little did she know that Wang Junchen was right behind her.
"Why don’t we pick a few to try as well?"
Ye Wanhua turned around, still smiling, "And while we’re at it, let’s take some to the neighbor, we can’t just eat their fish without giving anything in return, it wouldn’t feel right."
"Sure, I’ll get the ladder."