Chapter 39 Chapter 39 When did you fall in love with me?
Xu Jun's home was in Conghua District, a long way from school. They took several subways, Xu Jun carrying his luggage, surrounded by the bustling crowds of people and cars. Xu Jun's hand touched Tao Ning's again and again, and finally, she took Tao Ning's hand and led him home.
Tao Ning looked at him. The man had a calm expression, his face expressionless. He told him calmly, "The subway is very crowded during rush hour. You didn't bring your phone with you, so I was worried you might get lost."
"oh."
The two finally got off at a village station in the city. Xu Jun led him out of the station. As they walked out, a gentle-looking middle-aged man in home clothes waved at them, "Juan'er, son, here!"
Xu Jun walked over, holding Tao Ning's hand, and called out, "Dad." He raised his hand, shaking the boy's, and introduced him, "This is my... friend."
Xu Jun said the word "friend" slowly and carefully.
Xu Jun looked about 90% middle-aged. Tao Ning was nervous and awkward meeting her best friend's parents for the first time, but she still said politely, "Hello, uncle. I'm Xu Jun's friend. My name is Tao Ning."
Father Xu had a gentle and kind expression on his face, and his eyes narrowed with a smile. The amazing thing was that he and Xu Jun asked almost the same question, asking what the two characters "Tao Ning" were.
Tao Ning was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but turn his head to look at Xu Jun. It seemed that he had a telepathic connection. A breeze blew over, and Xu Jun also looked at him, with a faint smile in his indifferent eyes.
"Tao from clay, ning from lemon."
The young man said crisply.
Along the way, Xu's father insisted on helping them carry their luggage, and kept asking Tao Ning what she liked and disliked to eat. So one-third of the dishes he bought were light dishes, but for two-thirds of the dishes, Xu's father bought a lot of chilies, intending to make spicy and oily dishes.
Father Xu's gentle face was flushed, and his eyes were full of love: "Lingling heard that you came back these two days and finally came home to see me, an empty-nest old man. I will make more of her favorite food. Son, don't blame me for being partial."
Lingling is Xu's mother's name, and he finally bought a bouquet of roses.
Xu Jun took a bunch of sunflowers and squeezed the boy's slender fingers in his palm, his eyes calm: "No blame."
Last night, Xu Jun not only knew all of Tao Ning's information, but Tao Ning also knew Xu Jun's family situation. He was indeed born in a very ordinary family. Xu's father was an elementary school math teacher, and Xu's mother was a director of a company. The two were childhood sweethearts and were both from City C. The hot pot in City C was very famous, and Xu's mother liked it very much.
Later, they came to Haizhou together to work hard, settled down here, got married and had a child, Xu Jun.
The two followed Xu's father, turned several alleys, and finally stopped in an old community. This old community was planted with magnolia trees, and the white flowers swayed in the breeze. Under the shady trees were almost all old grandfathers playing chess and old ladies dancing, and occasionally there were a few noisy children playing on the slide.
Time passed slowly, just like Xu Jun holding Tao Ning's hand and walking slowly behind his father.
Some old ladies recognized Xu Jun and called out to him in a mixture of Cantonese and Mandarin: "Juan'er, are you back from school?"
"Um."
"Hey, who's that kid next to you? He's so pretty."
However, this time, Xu Jun did not answer, but held Tao Ning's hand even tighter.
When going upstairs, Xu Jun suddenly stopped and handed the dew-covered sunflower to Tao Ning beside him. In the dim stairwell, Tao Ning raised her head and met his gentle gaze behind the glasses. There was an undercurrent in his gaze, as if the same feelings as when Xu's father mentioned Xu's mother were taking root.
Tao Ning was stunned and took the beautiful sunflower.
"Is it for me?"
"Well, do you like it?"
"like."
Xu Jun's house had three bedrooms and a living room. It was clean and tidy, as spotless as a dormitory. The wind blew the curtains, and bright light shone on the bright floor. Xu Jun squatted down and got Tao Ning a pair of slippers. "These are the ones I wore in junior high school."
Tao Ning was a little embarrassed and said, "I have big feet!" But after she put them on, they surprisingly fit her feet. Now, the little lemon became a little red lemon.
Xu Jun looked at his blushing cheeks with a faint smile on his lips.
Meanwhile, Father Xu, already wearing an apron with a bear pattern on it, was chopping and washing vegetables in the kitchen. He also cut up a lot of fruit and called out to someone outside, "Juan'er, take the fruit out for Ningning to eat."
Xu Jun asked Tao Ning to sit on the sofa and went to the kitchen to get him a fruit platter. He then turned on the TV and tuned it to the children's channel, which was playing Ultraman. He told him, "I'm going to help my dad cook. You can eat the fruit here and watch TV. Is that okay?"
Tao Ning didn't know when the man knew that he liked Ultraman. The tone of his instructions was as if he had turned into a child, which made the man very uneasy. He was a little embarrassed: "Thank you..."
Xu Jun's lips curled slightly: "Yeah."
After he left, Tao Ning watched TV seriously. Like ordinary boys, he liked various heroic superheroes such as Ultraman, but he liked Ultraman the most because they could break through the clouds and go into space.
When he was young, the summer was hot and there was no air conditioning or even a fan at home. There were only a few worn-out palm-leaf fans. Tao Yuan would take him outside to sleep on the floor and fan him with the palm-leaf fans.
Tao Ning, only six or seven years old, rested in her sister's arms, looking up at the sky full of bright stars. She asked in a childish voice, "Sister, are there really gods in heaven? Do gods also need to feed Xiaobai? And if they do, do they feed Xiaobai with the grass from the mountain behind our house?"
Xiaobai is a big fat white pig raised at home. Tao Ning named him "Xiaobai".
Tao Yuan was so sleepy at that time that he patted the round head in his arms with a palm-leaf fan and said, "Smelly boy... there are no gods in the world... go to sleep."
"oh."
But since then, Tao Ning seemed to have some sense of something and often looked up at the starry sky. Until many years later, a system claiming to be from an advanced civilization in the universe got involved with him. Everything was so clever and coincidental.
Tao Ning stared at the TV intently. Suddenly, the sound of keys turning was heard outside the door, and the door opened. Before Tao Ning could stand up or Xu Jun could come out, Xu's father hurriedly washed his hands, picked up the roses he had bought and rushed to the door. His gentle face was red. "Lingling, the flower shop downstairs has new roses. I bought a bouquet. Do you like it?"
The woman who was presented with the rose was not tall, but her features were cool, her short hair neatly trimmed, and her smart suit and trousers gave her a strong aura. She took the rose, glanced at Xu Jun and Tao Ning beside him, and said nothing. She stood on tiptoe and placed a kiss on Xu's cheek, her voice low, "Yeah, I like it very much."
Tao Ning, standing beside Xu Jun, opened her eyes wide when she saw this scene. Her hand, which had just taken the sunflower, seemed to be burning. However, Xu Jun seemed to be used to it and called out to his mother, "Mom, I'm home."
Mother Xu's cold gaze fell on him, her tone serious, "Even when you're home, you can't slack off. Your grades this semester need to be better than last semester. Be more self-motivated." Then she slowed her voice and looked at the awkward Tao Ning, "Tao Ning, right? Xu Jun has already told me, you can stay here for the next two days and let Xu Jun know if there's anything you want to eat or do."
"Thank you, thank you, Auntie."
Tao Ning finally knew who Xu Jun inherited the serious temperament of a "headmaster" from. He looked like Xu's father, but acted like Xu's mother.
The dining table was filled with delicious dishes. The light ones were placed in front of Tao Ning and Xu Jun, while the ones with more oil and salt were all placed in front of Xu's mother. Xu's father was picking up dishes for Xu's mother the whole time, with only her in his eyes.
The dinner table was quiet. Tao Ning ate silently, occasionally finding vegetables and boiled shrimp tails from Xu Jun in her bowl—he'd carefully peeled each one with his gloves. Halfway through the meal, Xu's mother, with a distant gaze, asked about Xu Jun's recent schoolwork and then gave him some survival tips.
She said that school is a small society, and told him not to be lazy, not to take it lightly, and to learn to read people's expressions. Xu's father just stood by, picking up food and drinking soup, and never interrupted.
After dinner, Xu's father and Xu Jun both put on bear aprons and went to the kitchen to wash dishes.
Tao Ning sat on the sofa, while Xu's mother sat beside him drinking tea and handling work matters. Ultraman was still playing on TV. The room was very quiet, with only the sound of the lines on TV.
Until Xu's mother put down her work and suddenly said, "Xu Jun has been precocious and aloof since he was a child. He doesn't like making friends with people his own age. You should be his first good friend."
Without the seriousness she had at the dinner table, a faint smile finally appeared on Xu's mother's cold face: "I'm very happy to see that you have a harmonious relationship." Her eyes revealed the kindness that only belongs to a mother, and she looked at Tao Ning as if she were looking at her own child.
Mother Xu smiled faintly and said, "If he dares to bully you, remember to tell me."
Tao Ning nodded, then shook her head: "No, Auntie, he's a very nice person."
Outside the kitchen, two people were talking quietly, while inside, Father Xu was clearing away the dishes. He smiled gently and said in a low voice, "Juan'er, do you like that child?"
Xu Jun paused while wiping the cupboard, lowered his eyelids, and said "hmm".
"When did you fall in love with her?" Father Xu couldn't hide the teasing smile in his voice.
Xu Jun answered truthfully: "He said he was a lemon."
Father Xu couldn't help laughing, but didn't ask any more questions.
After cleaning, Xu's father held Xu's mother's waist tightly and asked her if she could go for a walk. Then he said a little aggrievedly, "You haven't taken a walk with me for five days." Xu's mother looked cold, but took the initiative to hold his hand and go out.
Before leaving, Xu's father turned around and winked at Xu Jun.
Xu Jun: “…”
The door slammed shut, and he tilted his head. Little Lemon was on the sofa flipping through his childhood photo album, which Father Xu had handed to Tao Ning with a smile. The boy looked at it and suddenly smiled with his eyes curved. "How old were you in this photo?"
Xu Jun stared at his bright smile for a while, then silently approached him. He saw that the young man was holding a photo of a "girl" wearing a skirt and a red mole between her eyebrows. However, this "girl" had a blank expression and looked a little reluctant. There was also a line of delicate handwriting next to it -
"Lingling thinks Jun'er is a naughty boy, so let's give him the nickname Juan'er."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
