Chapter 1028: 1008. Call
Xixi
Qiaoqiao was bent over laughing by Yang Zhengxi, but the next mont, he hesitated: “Do you really want to be my brother?”
“My sister says my brother Yanping is a bit lazy, and Brother Leilei is a bit dumb…”
“Then what about you?” His pure, curious gaze landed on him: “Are you especially greedy?”
Yang Zhengxi: …
He slowly withdrew his arm, his face tense at the mont: “Between us, brotherly bonds transcend re titles—just call
Xiaoyang.”
“And if your family has anything you’d like to sell , then you can be my Brother Qiaoqiao!”
After so thought, he added: “Or, you can just call
Xixi like my mom does.”
If Qiaoqiao had read more, he might recognize the phrase “bend yet not break,” but for now, his reaction was enough to leave him wide-eyed and speechless.
After pondering a mont, he nodded obediently: “Alright, Xixi.”
Over in the exhibit area, two little kids, already feeling a bit dejected, brightened up the mont they saw Qiaoqiao. Excitedly, they rushed over:
“Teacher Qiaoqiao, you look so good!”
“Yeah, yeah! Miss, you’re also really pretty.”
They were quick to follow up: “Can we take a photo later? Will you give us an autograph? Can we post on Weibo, or share on Monts?”
Qiaoqiao thought about it: “Eh, I’m not as good-looking as the handso brother. My sister isn’t either.”
“But sure, you can take photos.”
“No autographs though. Teacher Xin said I shouldn’t casually sign things—they might be used for bad stuff.”
“Posting on Weibo and sharing on Monts is totally fine.”
Aweso! Up-close interaction with Qiaoqiao brought out his innocent charm even more, and the kids couldn’t help but beco increasingly genuine in their admiration. If it weren’t for their lingering anticipation of waterlon, they might circle around him all day.
Fortunately, Song Tan had gotten used to preparing food for others today. She swiftly took the waterlon, picked up a knife, and sliced it into pieces in no ti.
The refreshing aroma of waterlon filled the air, bringing a touch of joy to the sweltering exhibition hall.
The two young fans imdiately ditched Qiaoqiao: “Oh my gosh, it’s waterlon! Fifty bucks a pound waterlon!”
“Sixty, sixty!” Song Tan corrected them. “Here, eat up. Once we finish this waterlon, we’re leaving.”
“What about the other three?” Qiaoqiao asked, nibbling on a slice of waterlon curiously. “There were six in the box, and I gave two to Xixi.”
“Who’s Xixi?” Song Tan asked, turning to see Yang Zhengxi with a mouthful of waterlon, pointing at himself.
Song Tan: …
Her expression was complicated. “I had planned to share them between you two anyway; you didn’t have to go to such lengths…”
Turning to Qiaoqiao, she sighed helplessly: “Didn’t you break the waterlon your brother gave you? Now that we’re leaving tonight, we can’t very well take these back ho, can we?”
Qiaoqiao nodded quickly, then lifted his foot: “Sis, ask the handso brother where I can buy these shoes in Imperial City—they’re so much prettier than my old shoes.”
Before Song Tan could speak, the two fans curiously glanced at the shoes. The clean white sneakers had a prominent logo on the side. Startled, they exclaid: “Wait, aren’t those…”
“Aren’t those the hard-to-get sneakers you can only find in the Imperial City?” Song Tan cut them off and sincerely sighed at Qiaoqiao:
“The mall selling those shoes is too far away. Maybe next ti you’re in Imperial City… next ti for sure!”
Qiaoqiao seed a little disappointed: “Alright.”
Yang Zhengxi was curious though: “Which handso brother are you talking about? Just because he’s good-looking, he gets an extra waterlon?”
Qiaoqiao nodded earnestly: “Not only is he handso, but he also gave
these nice shoes.”
Yang Zhengxi paused, then solemnly said: “Brother Qiaoqiao, what size do you wear? I can give you shoes too—how about trading for another crate of strawberries?”
As soon as he said this, the fans who were happily enjoying waterlon stopped mid-bite and looked up: “Teacher Qiaoqiao, you’re still selling strawberries?! Didn’t you say there weren’t enough to sell?”
The two of them gasped: “Qiaobao, do you secretly have another greenhouse?”
Qiaoqiao panicked: “No, no, there’s only one greenhouse! And there really aren’t enough strawberries—I barely ate any of the ripe ones this ti.”
Looking at Yang Zhengxi, he shook his head seriously: “No way. There aren’t enough strawberries, and I don’t want to trade like that.”
Yang Zhengxi opened his mouth to speak but then sighed: “Alright, alright, I shouldn’t have said that. But how about adding
as a friend? If I have ti during winter break, I’ll visit you.”
That would work!
Qiaoqiao pursed his lips, then couldn’t help but smile: “Then you’d really be my good friend! I’ll take you to see Da Wang, Daxiong, Dabao, Datian, Big White…”
But he hesitated a bit: “My sister said the pig feast gets really crowded and might be too much to handle. So, I won’t invite you this ti, okay? Maybe next year.”
Although he couldn’t fully understand, Yang Zhengxi could sense the lively excitent and looked forward to it: “Your family really likes naming things with ‘Big,’ huh…”
He waved dismissively: “Alright, I’ve already made plans with the teachers to hang out for the next few days. Even if you invited , I wouldn’t be able to make it. Otherwise, I’d take you to Qin City for so real fun.”
As they talked, an unexpected sense of reluctant farewell erged.
Song Tan cut through the atmosphere: “Alright, there are three slices left—you each get one, and Qiaoqiao, you’ll skip it.”
Yang Zhengxi snapped back to reality—brotherly talk could wait; the waterlon couldn’t be missed!
…
anwhile, Master Li was still sitting in the car, sighing to himself—so many people got to eat, why not him? He was still thinking about the taste of last night’s sweet potato cake.
He cursed his own foolishness. Since he couldn’t buy radishes, why hadn’t he asked about the sweet potatoes instead?
Deep in regret, Song Tan’s call ca in:
“Master Li, are you free now? Where are you? We’re planning to go to Wanhe Garden in a bit.”
Master Li perked up: “All good, no problem! I’m right here in the parking lot waiting! Do you have more stuff you need
to move?”
Then, recalling the things in the trunk, he added quickly: “By the way, I bought the West Area B18 and B23 types of flour you wanted—twenty bags. They’re in the trunk.”
Song Tan acknowledged him, then rembered that they’d taken quite a bit from those exhibition stalls today, from mantou to rolled cakes. Buying flour felt like a fair trade after all.
She glanced at Qiaoqiao, who was busy taking photos and saying goodbyes to fans, then at Yang Zhengxi carrying plastic bags with mutual reluctance. Finally, Song Tan let out a sigh of relief.
She wasn’t nervous about the polls, but the tight schedule and heavy tasks made things far from easy.
At last, they could head ho!
She thought for a mont, then took out her phone and sent a ssage:
“Are you ho? I’ll drop off a few more waterlons in about two hours.”
Currently squeezing waterlon juice, Lun Chuan: ???
More waterlons? He looked at the giant jug of waterlon juice in front of him and at the stack of frozen waterlon popsicles in the freezer. He could only respond:
“Will you eat waterlon popsicles too?”
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