...
Near noon, because the grandfather suddenly wanted to eat dumplings, Song Qiao, along with Aunt Zhang and one or two servants in the villa, were making dumplings in the living room, while Mu Shinian and Lu Yulin were playing chess with the old man on a couch by the floor-to-ceiling window not far away.
Song Qiao could also play a good game of chess, all taught by Elder Mu a few years ago. Although it was easy to be completely defeated when playing against him, if it were someone else, she could last half an hour even against a master.
Mu Shinian could also play chess, and although he started learning late, he was smart and picked up things quickly, and now he could play against Elder Mu for tens of minutes.
From the moment Lu Yulin saw Song Qiao, he looked like he wanted to talk to her, hesitating for most of the day until they were halfway through making the dumplings before he finally decided to stand by Song Qiao’s side and asked, "Can I help with anything?"
Aunt Zhang was just rolling out dumpling skins, and when she saw him coming over, she quickly laughed and said, "Oh, Young Master Lu, there’s nothing for you to do here. You don’t need to come over; it’ll be bad if you get your face all covered in flour."
Lu Yulin pressed his lips together and didn’t respond to Aunt Zhang; instead, his eyes were fixed steadily on Song Qiao, as if waiting for her words.
Regarding Lu Jingchen’s little nephew, Song Qiao initially only knew that he had a good relationship with Shinian, and she didn’t expect him to be Lu An’an’s biological older brother, Lu Jingchen’s cousin’s son.
Perhaps... this is what they call fate.
Pulling at the corners of her mouth to reveal a gentle smile, Song Qiao asked, "Can you make dumplings?"
Lu Yulin thought for a moment, then shook his head, "No, but I’ve seen my grandmother and them make them."
"So, do you want to learn how to make dumplings?" Song Qiao immediately noticed the gleam in his eyes and smiled even more.
Not far away, Mu Shinian was playing chess with Elder Mu, and probably didn’t have time to play with young Lu Yulin, which is why he came over to find something to do.
Lu Yulin’s eyes lit up, but he awkwardly asked, "Is it really okay?"
"You can stand next to me and help make some. I’ll teach you, and the more help we have, the sooner the dumplings can go into the pot." Song Qiao smiled nonchalantly and moved over to give him space.
Teaching how to make dumplings hand-in-hand was quite simple, and besides, Lu Yulin was smart, so he learned quickly and made them beautifully, even receiving praise from Aunt Zhang and the others.
Originally, as this suddenly appeared second aunt, Lu Yulin didn’t think too highly of Song Qiao, but because of his good relationship with Mu Shinian, even if he didn’t view her highly, there was still a bit of fondness.
Now, feeling the warmth and kindness from Song Qiao, for the first time, he was very pleased to feel that having an aunt wasn’t bad.
Because Lu Yulin took the first step himself, Song Qiao had a good day with this little guy, and at lunch, Lu Yulin even personally picked a large, thin-skinned, meat-filled dumpling for himself.
After Elder Mu was discharged from the hospital, his health was gradually recovering, and he developed the habit of taking naps. After lunch, after chatting with everyone for a while, Aunt Zhang pushed him back to the bedroom for a nap, while Lu Yulin and Mu Shinian, perhaps because they were having too much fun, excitedly took the husky out to the yard to romp and play.
During lunch, they had called Ning Wan, intending to invite her over, but surprisingly, no one answered the phone.
Though somewhat worried, Song Qiao thought that with Ning Wan’s personality, not just anyone could bully her, so she assumed something must have come up.
Sitting in the living room with a bag of chips, she began crunching away, while the TV was showing a rather melodramatic Korean drama. She wasn’t particularly fond of Korean dramas and usually preferred those American and European films.
In the past, when she and Ning Wan rented an apartment together, they would look for those American horror movies to watch together. Even if they were scared, they’d sit close and watch till the end, and if it got too scary, they’d use a pillow to cover their eyes.
Thinking of the scenes from when she and Ning Wan were together back then, Song Qiao couldn’t help but sigh at how fast time had passed. In the blink of an eye, so many things had happened: she’d married Lu Jingchen, Ning Wan got pregnant with Xi Mohan’s child, but then had a miscarriage after a car accident.
The only thing that hasn’t changed is the relationship between the two of them.