Chapter Six

Winter break started early, and the two of them had nothing to do.

Cheng Xiangbei's older brother, Cheng Xiangdong, also returned, bringing gifts for both of them. The chocolates he gave Lu Nan were especially delicious; Lu Nan was beaming and doting on Cheng Xiangdong every day, while Cheng Xiangbei looked at his brother with a burning hatred.

Lu Nan's parents were both high school teachers; his father was the dean of students, and his mother taught graduating classes. The couple were so focused on their careers that they couldn't take care of their son. Eventually, they simply left him with the Cheng family to raise. Lu Nan didn't consider himself an outsider and lived a carefree life, eating and drinking at the Cheng family's house every day.

Before the New Year, as usual, a big shopping trip was planned, and the two children went with the adults. The city was small, with only one or two large shopping malls. Cheng Xiangdong and Cheng Xiangbei each pushed a stroller, leading Cheng's mother and Lu Nan through the mall. The mall was bustling and noisy. Cheng Xiangbei wanted to throw everything he saw into the stroller, and was scolded by his brother.

Lu Nan tugged at Cheng Xiangbei's sleeve, looking left and right, his eyes lighting up as he reached the toy section. A remote-controlled airplane was on a high shelf, out of reach of his short stature, and he stared longingly at it. Cheng Xiangdong smiled, lifting his leg to try and get it for him. Before he could even reach out, someone next to him exclaimed, "Brother! I was telling you about this airplane!"

Everyone turned their heads and saw Zhou Pu and Zhou Mu walking over together. Zhou Pu gestured as he spoke. Lu Nan, seeing Zhou Pu, called out loudly, "Bao Si! You're here too!"—Three seconds of silence followed as everyone stared at Zhou Pu. Bao Si? Is that her name? Cheng Xiangdong looked at Cheng Xiangbei, who was suppressing a laugh. Cheng's mother smiled kindly and said, "Oh! This is Bao, right? With Xiao Bei and the others..."

Zhou Pu looked at Cheng Ma awkwardly and quickly interrupted her. "Auntie, my surname is Zhou."

"Oh, Zhou Baozi! Your name is so cute!"

"Pfft hahaha..." Cheng Xiangbei couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter, clutching his stomach. Even Zhou Mu pointed at Zhou Pu and laughed. Zhou Pu's face turned bright red, and he mentally cursed Lu Nan for 1,800 yuan!

After the Chinese New Year, Lu Nan's parents went back to work.

Lu Nan arrived at the Cheng family home with her homework, intending to fully implement her status as an unofficial member of the Cheng family.

Cheng Xiangbei's bed was a wooden bunk bed, but Lu Nan had taken it over, kicking Cheng Xiangbei to sleep on the top bunk. The winter sun was bright, and Cheng Xiangbei set up a small Japanese-style table against the wall. The two of them sat cross-legged on the carpet doing their homework. Lu Nan's handwriting was messy, but she finished her homework quickly, humming and singing songs that no one had ever heard before.

Cheng Xiangbei was already used to his nonsensical tone and continued to bury himself in his homework. Lu Nan, having finished two days' worth of work, couldn't sit still any longer and snuggled up to Cheng Xiangbei, acting all clingy. "Tiger..."

"Hmm?" Cheng Xiangbei continued writing without looking up.

"I've finished reading the comics from last time."

"Um."

"Go and borrow two more books!"

"I'm not going!" Cheng said, turning the page as he wrote, clearly very focused on his homework.

"Why?!" Lu Nan stared wide-eyed. Why was the tiger, who was always so obedient, wagging its tail today?

"You're always hanging around your big brother, do you even remember I, Tiger, am here for you?!" someone said resentfully. Ugh! Big brother won her over with just two chocolates, while I toil away like a king, and can't even get a sweet treat! What kind of logic is that?!

Lu Nan's eyes lit up with laughter. She slapped Cheng Xiangbei on the head and said, "You're jealous because your older brother is good to me? You're so petty and narrow-minded!" Cheng Xiangbei almost bumped his forehead on the table. Hearing that Lu Nan had misunderstood him, he sulked and ignored her.

Lu Nan was already used to his occasional sarcastic remarks.

I leaned to one side and watched him do his homework. After a while, I felt hungry, so I got up and went downstairs.

"Where are you going?" asked the student who was focused on doing their homework.

"Let's find something to eat!" Lu Nan said casually.

Defeated by him, Cheng Xiangbei hurriedly pushed the slippers by the carpet over and shouted, "Put on your shoes!"

After the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, a classmate of Cheng Xiangdong came to visit. He introduced himself as Han Minglang.

Han Minglang was very handsome, the kind of handsome man with a rugged charm. Cheng Xiangbei felt that his future prospects were good, and he was a little envious. Lu Nan glanced at him but didn't remember much. Han Minglang lived comfortably at the Cheng family's house, often playing around with the two children without any regard for age. Lu Nan gradually became familiar with him and thought he was a nice person.

That day, the adults in the Cheng family all went out to visit friends, leaving the older and younger children to sleep until late morning. Lu Nan woke up the earliest, hungry. Wearing her pajamas and slippers, she shuffled downstairs to find something to eat. Cheng Xiangdong also got up and couldn't help but chuckle when he saw Lu Nan's pajamas buttoned up incorrectly and her hair sticking out in all directions.

"Brother Dongdong..." Lu Nan yawned, becoming more awake.

Cheng Xiangdong was drinking coffee when he saw Lu Nan and asked him, "Want some?"

Lu Nan shook her head and opened the refrigerator to find something to eat. The refrigerator was full of pre-prepared vegetables, but no cooked food. Lu Nan took out a carton of milk and sipped it slowly. "Brother Dongdong, what are we having for lunch?" A carton of milk wasn't enough to fill her up; her hungry stomach needed the comfort of hot food.

"What would you like to eat?" Cheng Xiangdong put down his coffee cup and was about to roll up his sleeves to cook. Just then, Han Minglang called from upstairs, so Cheng Xiangdong had no choice but to go upstairs first.

Lu Nan washed her face with warm water from the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to prepare a meal.

"Nan Nan!" Cheng Xiangbei grabbed Lu Nan's coat and ran downstairs. "Why did you run downstairs again without any clothes on?" He woke up a little later and saw that Lu Nan wasn't there, her coat tossed on the corner of the bed. He thought to himself that the girl had run around in just a shirt again. The heating in the Cheng family's house wasn't very warm, and they were afraid that the temperature would be too high and she would catch a cold outside.

Lu Nan stopped what she was doing and let Cheng Xiangbei put a big coat on him and tie on Aunt Li's apron. It was a light green plaid apron with a small piping pocket on the chest, which was very cute.

Lu Nan started learning to cook from Aunt Li when he was fifth grade, and he's quite skilled. However, thanks to his carefree nature, the kitchen he used looked like it had been through World War II—completely ravaged and a mess.

So whenever Lu Nan cooked, Cheng Xiangbei had to clean up after her. After a while, he learned how to do it by watching, and he even considered taking control of the kitchen. But Lu Nan vehemently refused! "What's wrong with me eating and cooking? You think I'm taking up your kitchen? If you keep nagging, I'll go back to my own house and cook!" Cheng Xiangbei panicked and quickly swore to the heavens his absolute loyalty to Lu Nan, saying, "Do whatever you want, use the ingredients in the fridge however you want." Although cleaning up the kitchen took almost as long as Lu Nan cooking, he was still very happy to eat Lu Nan's food.

This time, Lu Nan found Cheng Xiangbei in the way and kicked him out of the kitchen. Cheng Xiangbei leaned against the kitchen door, watching Lu Nan stir-fry the food with great care, the clatter of pots and bowls filling the air. He silently prayed that the cleaning work he would have to do would take even longer than Lu Nan's cooking time.

"Little Tiger, what are you doing?" Han Minglang finished washing up, got up refreshed, and went downstairs.

Cheng glanced at him from the north, made up his mind, and silently closed the kitchen door.

Lu Nan's cooking skills were unanimously praised at lunch.

Han Minglang, in particular, praised Lu Nan's cooking skills highly.

At the dinner table, people of all ages chatted casually. Han Minglang looked around and chuckled. Cheng Xiangdong glanced at him and said, "What are you grinning about?"

Han Minglang said, "I've noticed that all your names are directions: East, North, South... Is there any West?"

Lu Nan ate slowly and said gently, "Yes!"

"Wow, there really is someone like that! Who is it?" Han Minglang asked curiously.

“My cousin, Lu Qian.” Lu Nan picked up a piece of pork rib with her chopsticks, savoring the taste, and squinted her eyes.

Seeing that he was eating a lot of meat, Cheng Xiangbei quickly picked up some vegetables and went over to him.

Han Minglang laughed and said, "You people here are really interesting. You even name yourselves with 'East, West, South,' and 'North.' If you add another 'Zhong,' we could all play mahjong!"

"Hmm...yes!"

"What?" Han Minglang was a little confused.

“Yes, it’s in the middle!” Lu Nan looked at the green pepper with disgust and replied casually.

"Who?" Could it be my cousin or something?

"My dad!"

"Pfft—cough! cough!..." Han Minglang burst out laughing, affecting half the dishes on the table.

The remaining children stared at him with exasperated expressions. Cheng Xiangdong patted Han Minglang lightly on the back, and the two children simply put down their bowls. Cheng Xiangbei had already finished eating. Seeing that Lu Nan had almost no food left, he said to his brother, "Nan Nan cooked the meal, so you two are responsible for cleaning the table and the kitchen!" After saying that, he grabbed Lu Nan and ran off.

After lunch, the two little ones played upstairs.

Lu Nan lay on the carpet reading comics, her bare feet swinging back and forth.

"Nannan, put on your socks! Otherwise you'll catch a cold again." Cheng Xiangbei placed a pair of thick woolen socks in front of Lu Nan. Lu Nan hummed in response and continued reading. "Nannan!" Cheng Xiangbei called out. Lu Nan turned away, ignoring him. Cheng Xiangbei had no choice but to hold down her fidgeting feet and put the thick woolen socks on Lu Nan.

After a brief silence, Cheng took out a box from the north end and asked, "Nannan, do you want some candy?"

The person who was reading and giggling made an "Mmm" sound. Seeing that the other person was engrossed in the book and ignoring him, Cheng Xiangbei became frustrated, took out a chocolate, and stuffed it into his mouth. He then rudely threatened, "Nannan, this is the last chocolate!"

Lu Nan finally looked up and saw the chocolate disappear into someone's mouth. The box was empty; it seemed Tiger hadn't lied this time. Lu Nan's expression changed. She grabbed the other person's shoulders and shouted, "Give me back the chocolate!" "Ugh...no..." the person shook their head. Lu Nan got angry and continued shaking them. "Spit it out!"

Cheng Xiangbei refused to succumb to evil forces. Lu Nan watched the chocolate in Cheng Xiangbei's mouth getting smaller and smaller... On impulse, she stuck out her tongue and shoved it into Cheng Xiangbei's mouth. "Mmm... um..." Cheng Xiangbei was startled by the soft lips pressed against his lips! He was so shocked that he forgot to react until Lu Nan's tongue entered his mouth, and swallowed the shrunken chocolate ball.

"Gulp..." The sound of swallowing saliva.

Lu Nan's tongue circled Cheng Xiangbei's mouth, finding nothing but a lingering, rich chocolate flavor on the tip. "Give me back my chocolate!" Unaware of her outrageous behavior, Lu Nan was still angry that she hadn't gotten the last piece of chocolate. Cheng Xiangbei, blushing deeply, whispered, "Nan Nan..."