"He had more suitors in Ningbei than I could count on both hands," Pei Yining said with a sour tone.
Xu Nianhua snapped back to reality and instantly sensed the gloominess and loss in Pei Yining’s eyes.
Xu Nianhua glanced again at Cheng Hao. Suave and debonair as he was, one could easily be deceived by his appearance.
Young girls experiencing their first flush of love could indeed be easily smitten by him.
"Yining, I’m going to go home to read and do some test papers this afternoon, so I won’t be able to hang out with you," Xu Nianhua changed the subject, thinking that a girl’s love comes swiftly and leaves just as quickly. If she could focus her attention elsewhere, by the time the exams were over and six months had passed, after entering university, perhaps this hazy affection would be put aside.
Even if it wasn’t, by then she’d surely have matured and thought more comprehensively.
"Can I go to your house?" Pei Yining looked at her with hopeful eyes. She heard from her brother that her grades were especially good.
"Of course, you can, it’s just that my home is a bit simple," Xu Nianhua glanced at her clothes. Her home was modest, and she feared Pei Yining might not fit in.
Pei Yining said nonchalantly, "If you can live there, Nianhua, so can I."
Only after arriving at the Xu family home did Pei Yining realize that Xu Nianhua hadn’t exaggerated at all.
She thought the little flat where her grandfather lived was quite rundown, but compared with Xu Nianhua’s place, it was almost luxurious!
"Why don’t you come over to my place for dinner, and later my brother can drive you home?"
Before Xu Nianhua could finish speaking, Pei Yining quickly shook her head and said, "Nianhua, a house that can shield us from wind and rain is perfectly fine to live in."
"Happy New Year, Uncle and Auntie. I’m Pei Yicheng’s sister, Pei Yining." Pei Yining looked like a young girl but was very polite. She even brought quite a few gifts with her, including local specialties from Ningbei and some she bought in the county.
"Happy New Year, you really are Yicheng’s sister. You’re very pretty, like a girl out of a painting," Ji Ying was utterly surprised since she hadn’t expected Xu Nianhua to bring Pei Yining home, causing quite a shock.
"Thank you for the compliment, Auntie," said Pei Yining with a blush on her face, feeling sweet inside from Ji Ying’s straightforward praise.
After Xu Nianhua introduced Pei Yining to the family, they went into her room.
Despite the dilapidated exterior, Xu Nianhua’s room was very cozy. She had covered the wooden plank walls with white paper, making the room look very clean, and the red quilt with big flowers on the bed added a novel and festive touch to Pei Yining’s eyes.
Next to the bed was a table made by Xu Qinghe himself. The table was spacious and the natural wood color added an attractive, neat appeal with books arranged orderly on it. Beside it was a small mirror with clam oil and elegant cream below.
At the foot of the bed was a wardrobe that, although old, was very clean.
"Your room is quite... different," Pei Yining said, visiting such a place for the first time and finding it an unexpected surprise.
"This quilt is quite festive," she said genuinely, maybe because it was spread so neatly, but it felt comfortable and substantial.
"My mom made it especially for me. There are only these kinds of flowers, but the cotton inside is all new," Xu Nianhua explained, and now that her family had some money, Ji Ying naturally wouldn’t shortchange them.
The old quilts had been made into mattress pads, and the new ones, newly filled with cotton, were soft, warm, and comfy.
"Very soft," Pei Yining reached out to touch, feeling its softness, which was especially comfortable in hand.