After saying goodbye to Li Chunhua, Shen Mianmian stood at the crossroads pondering for a while. She didn’t go home, but instead headed towards the outside of the village.
Li Chunhua had said that Big Brother He had left not long ago, and even though the car drove off quickly, she didn’t know why, but she always felt that He Nan hadn’t gone far.
Outside the village, there was a small grove. In the summer, the leaves were lush, but in winter, only the trunks remained. She vaguely made out that at the bend in the road ahead, there seemed to be a car parked.
Her heart leaped with joy, and she ran over. As the distance closed, she saw He Nan sitting in the driver’s seat reading a newspaper. Seeming to hear a noise, he turned his head to look, then opened the car door and got out.
Shen Mianmian was a bit out of breath from running, her cheeks flushed, but her eyes were especially bright.
"Big Brother He, you really didn’t leave!"
"I was about to leave in a bit," He Nan said with a flicker of amusement in his eyes. He had only hoped to try his luck, never expecting that this little girl would actually chase after him.
As clever as a little fox, indeed.
Did he know she would come out? What kind of intelligence was this!
Amidst her shock, Shen Mianmian didn’t forget the matter at hand, "Thank you for the clothes and shoes you gave me."
He Nan gave a nonchalant ’hmm’, his gaze falling on her feet, "Why aren’t you wearing the new shoes?"
This time, she was wearing cotton shoes that were so old the edges were frayed, which looked far from warm. However, the little girl was very clean; her shoe edges were white, unlike other children’s which were filthy.
He was quite pleased with that.
Shen Mianmian’s face turned red, and she smiled with her eyes slightly squinted, a bit embarrassed, "I’ll wear them tomorrow for the first day of the new year."
She didn’t know how He Nan would feel about her behavior, but it was her most genuine thought.
Perhaps because her body was still that of a teenager, her mind harbored some longing to wear new clothes for the New Year.
The corners of He Nan’s mouth lifted slightly; she was still a child after all.
"Have you read the English book? Is there anything you don’t understand?"
After talking about clothes and shoes, he was talking about studies. Was He Nan raising her like a daughter?
She was treating Lu Siyuan like a son, and now the karma came so swiftly; He Nan was treating her like a daughter.
She sighed silently but dared not act grown-up in front of He Nan, so she tried to make her troubles sound lighter.
"There are some parts that I do not quite understand."
"Go get the book," he said, pausing before adding, "and bring your backpack too."
Shen Mianmian was slightly stunned; to get the book and the backpack too, was he going to teach her English?
She always thought that Big Brother He was only saying so casually.
After thinking it over, she declined tactfully, "Big Brother He, there are just a few things I don’t know, not too many. Please go on with your business! You can teach me when you have time."
"What’s there to be busy with on New Year’s Eve?" He Nan raised an eyebrow slightly.
Feeling the immense pressure from He Nan’s gaze, she obediently went back home and brought her English book and backpack over.
Fortunately, the villagers were all at Zhang Changfa’s house watching TV, so nobody noticed her.
When she looked at her English book, she had already marked the spots where she didn’t understand, intending to ask the English teacher when school started. Now that He Nan was truly willing to teach her, she didn’t hold back and opened the book to show him which words she couldn’t recognize and which pronunciations she didn’t understand.
After looking through the English book for a while, He Nan’s eyes narrowed slightly; he had thought Shen Mianmian wouldn’t understand at least seventy percent of it, but in reality, it was quite the opposite. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝙣𝙚𝙩