CH 27

Jiang Xiao had always been able to bend and stretch, and he wouldn’t wait on things that could be easily solved. Anyway, it would be solved after Lin Chengyu left.

Hot cocoa wasn’t difficult to make, Jiang Xiao could do it himself. His usual recipe was cocoa powder, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and some milk. If he was into something sweeter, he could add some marshmallows on top. When he took a sip in winter, the rich sweetness would make people happy.

But after many experiments, only a few specific brands would taste good. Let alone in Houlin, even in Liujiang, it was difficult for him to find these brands in department stors. Lin Chengyu didn’t know how to make them, but it tasted very similar.

But now, he didn’t even want a cup of hot cocoa, no matter how much it suits his taste, he really couldn’t drink it.

During self-study in the afternoon, Jiang Xiao brought the ginger cakes he had made earlier as a snack. Ye Yingying also felt that it was not good to eat other people’s food all the time, so he brought Jiang Xiao a chocolate cake.

It happened to be chocolate again, Jiang Xiao’s winter had an indissoluble bond with chocolate.

Lin Heyuan stared at him for a while. Jiang Xiao ate the cake while doing his exercise papers, took a bit of the crunchy biscuit and chewed it, his cheeks puffed up, like a hamster again.

He seemed too often saw Jiang Xiao ate chocolate, and he stuffed himself on them before, so he probably really liked it.

“What are you looking at me for?” Jiang Xiao felt Lin Heyuan’s gaze and looked up at him suspiciously, “Aren’t you going to do the exercise questions?”

“… I’m going to do it.”

After the self-study, Lin Heyuan returned home. His parents’ guests, the Guang family, often brought some gifts over and they were here today. The guests should have just left and the nanny was cleaning up the living room. There were two children in the Lin family, so the other party would also give things in pairs. Lin Heyuan didn’t care much about these things, especially snacks, so if his share wasn’t boy-related stuffs, it was usually given directly to his younger sister.

Lin Qingyu just happened to pass by, holding the snacks she received today in his arms. Seeing him back from school, she naturally greeted him.

Lin Heyuan seemed to see something, “Wait.”

“Gege, what’s wrong?”

Then she saw her brother, who never ate snacks, rummaging through the two bags of presents she was holding, and took one of his share of gifts from it. It was a bar of chocolate.

‘That’s not enough.’ Lin Heyuan also asked her seriously, “I remember someone sent two boxes of imported chocolates over last week, where did you put them?”

“… in the cabinet,” Lin Qingyu looked at him blankly, then tentatively asked, “Do you want to eat them?”

Lin Heyuan, a person who didn’t like sweet, purposely rummaged through the box and took away his share of chocolates, was a first for Lin Qingyu.

“It’s for someone else.” Lin Heyuan went to the cabinet and took out the previous chocolate, then glanced at her, “Aren’t you afraid of getting fat? Eat less.”

Lin Qingyu was puzzled, ‘?’

If she’s afraid of getting fat, she could eat them slowly! You can’t just take them away!

In the evening, Lin Qingyu angrily wrote down her diary, ‘It’s over, my brother doesn’t love me anymore. Lin Heyuan is a big villain’, but after thinking for a while, she added another sentence at the end.

—He wants to send chocolate? Maybe he’s in puppy love.

But she didn’t find any girl who was very close to him recently.

After this weekend, the final exam would be next week. Jiang Xiao had no time to think about other things. He was prepared in doing these exams and after he finished, he finally put down his pen, feeling relieved. It wasn’t easy.

Time flew so fast. After the final exam, it was winter vacation. When he walked out of the classroom, the students next to him looked very happy. Some were answering questions and some others had already started discussing plans for the vacation. Lin Heyuan and Ye Yingying were already waiting for him downstairs.

It didn’t snow today, but it was still cold.

“Xiao gege!” Ye Yingying didn’t feel ashamed for calling him out, feeling proud of finishing the exam successfully for the first time, “I will definitely pass this time!”

“That’s awesome.” Jiang Xiao said it sincerely. He himself like to read and now his friend mainly study painting. It was the result of hard work to get a pass in the exam at this time. Needless to say, Lin Heyuan appeared as if unfazed, after all he always came first in their school.

“Let’s go, let me treat you guys to eat, just as a thank you for giving me tutoring lessons during this time.” Ye Yingying pulled him over, “Let’s go, it’s freezing to death, too cold to not eat something hot. No, I’ll treat you the most delicious malatang!”

After Ye Yingying finished bragging, Lin Heyuan asked Jiang Xiao as he walked, “How did you do in the exam?”

“Not bad,” Jiang Xiao had already talked to Lin Heyuan before. He had successfully tackled several difficult questions on the exam. He smiled at him, “You can wait for me to be your deskmate next semester.”

Lin Heyuan was completely relieved when he said this. After talking about the exam, Lin Heyuan stuffed something in his hand again. It was a thermos cup.

What’s the meaning? Does Lin Heyuan also want him to drink more hot water?

He was just a little thirsty, thanked him, opened the bottle cap and took a sip. There was the taste of chocolate in his mouth.

Oh, it’s hot cocoa.

To be honest, it’s not as good as the recipe Jiang Xiao was used to, but it was not bad. The chocolate taste was very strong and mellow, with a little milky fragrance.

“Where did you get it?”

Lin Heyuan had given him several large boxes of chocolates before the exam, saying that they were left at home and no one would eat them, so he gave them away. Even Jiang Xiao hadn’t finished it yet.

The hot cocoa was found by Lin Heyuan yesterday from the small cabinet where his sister stored snacks. It was a jar of imported cocoa powder. Lin Heyuan had read the English description on it, saying that it could be used to make hot drinks. He tried to make it himself according to the instruction label and gave his sister a taste, the other party responded that it was not bad.

So he took it all away, made a cup of hot cocoa according to the recipe at noon. It was boiling hot, so the thermos cup worked well. After the exam in the afternoon, he gave it to Jiang Xiao and it was just enough to warm the stomach.

“It’s fine if you like it, I’ll bring it back for you next time,” Lin Heyuan rubbed him, “Let’s go get food.”

Jiang Xiao happily finished drinking the hot cocoa and went out with the two of them again.

He went home a little late today. But after he opened the door, he actually felt warm on his body, maybe because he was in a good mood?

He took a closer look, something was wrong, the warmth was not that kind of warm.

Was there air conditioner installed at home?

These days, air conditioners were not cheap, and only a few people installed them at their house. In the past, when it was cold during winter, the warmth felt similar as if there was an air conditioner on. But now he lives in an ordinary house, why was his mother suddenly willing to install one?

Xia Wanwan was also very happy to see him back, and called Jiang Xiao to eat some fruit. “You have finished the exam; you have worked hard. Come here, mom will peel an orange for you to eat.”

Jiang Xiao sat down beside her and sure enough, he saw an air conditioner in the living room. Several doors were opened and after opening them for a long time, the house would be warmed to every corner.

Xia Wanwan followed his line of sight and slapped her head, “Oh, I was going to tell you about the air conditioner. Our family is very lucky recently, everything good happens!”

According to her, she went to the supermarket today. After shopping and paying the bill, the supermarket said that she could drew a lottery with a ticket. So she randomly picked one, and they said she won the first prize, an air conditioner.

The colleague who went shopping with her won a pack of tissue paper. Seeing how lucky she was, the colleague suggested her to sell the air conditioner, which worth several thousands yuan. It would cost more to the electricity bills if she installed it at home. Who was Xia Wanwan? She needs to save money.

However after giving it some thought, she decided to keep it for her own use. Now that the weather was getting colder and colder, her son’s hands and feet were always freezing when doing chores at home. It was a waste to buy an air conditioner, but it was okay to pay a higher electricity bill to make him more comfortable.

She was a frugal person, and the family still had some savings. Jiang Xiao had relieved some of her heart troubles. She knew that she should live at the present to make her son and herself more comfortable.

The people from supermarket was also nimble, they brought the air conditioner directly to her home to install it on the spot. Jiang Xiao came back just in time after it was finished.

Jiang Xiao was also happy for her when he heard it, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that something was amiss. He was always a little wary of such things that fell from the sky.

Lin Chengyu hadn’t come for several days since last time. Could it be related to him?

But it was much better if the house was warmer, neither Xia Wanwan nor him were going to get cold when washing the dishes. His mother was so happy that he couldn’t bring himself to say anything, for fear that she would feel uncomfortable. He also didn’t have any evidence on Lin Chengyu and the supermarket.

… forget it, let’s just leave it for now.

To think about it, he still didn’t have much money at hands. He had earned 20,000 yuan in the past six months, which was not a small amount, but this was for their basic fund. Jiang Xiao didn’t dare to spend it casually. If there was enough money, it wouldn’t be Lin Chengyu’s turn to buy his mother an air conditioner.

After the final exam, I must go to Liujiang to buy goods sooner.

At this time, Lin Chengyu had just sent the tutor away. The other party praised him a few words, which made grandpa very happy.

In their family, after all, everyone was being compared. The two children of the Lin family, both him and Lin Rongjia, were equally valued and they learn everything together. However, no matter in the previous life or in this life, Lin Rongjia was indeed inferior to Lin Chengyu. Moreover, he was born again this time. He had gained a huge advantage, performed very well in every class, and also fulfilled the demanding goals set by the family perfectly.

Because of his good performance, Grandpa turned a blind eye to him going to Houlin to find someone from time to time, as well as other small tricks. No one could explain why he cared do much about Jiang Xiao, but when it comes to Lin Chengyu, this kind of behavior seemed to be acceptable compared to other adolescent ‘demon kings’ his age.

Lin Rongjia knew about this, but she didn’t dare to ask questions. She still had a complicated attitude towards Lin Chengyu. She usually didn’t see him much when they couldn’t see each other and currently she was young and very playful, rarely at home. This time, their class was about basic management and she didn’t understand most of it. It was past nine, almost ten. She’s very tired and sleepy, but also had to be scolded by the teacher, so irritating.

She also couldn’t figure out why Lin Chengyu was so energetic. She was still sitting in the study after class, not knowing what to write in that brick-like book. She didn’t dare to leave if he hadn’t. Her parents also had high expectations on her. Every time they see her not on par with Lin Chengyu, they hated that an iron couldn’t become a steel, so don’t even think about going back peacefully, it’s better to wait here for a while.

As a result, Lin Chengyu didn’t even raise his head until after ten o’clock, and finally said to himself, “I’m hungry.”

Lin Rongjia was also very hungry. Seeing that the other party finally stopped studying, she happily left the study to ask the housekeeper aunt to prepare small desserts for her. While she was eating, Lin Chengyu rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen by himself.

The housekeeping aunt hurriedly pulled him out, asking what he wanted to eat and she could do it, but Lin Chengyu shook his head, saying that he could cook it himself.

“Aunt Wang, don’t worry about him,” Lin Ronjia said angrily, “He just likes to mess with himself.”

They didn’t have housekeeper when they need it the most, so they have to do everything by themselves. Like making fried rice with eggs, but it’s so unpalatable.