After school, Jiang Chen received a call from He Qianmin.
He said with a little disappointment that something happened at home and he couldn't come to No. 1 Middle School to find him today. The dissatisfaction in his tone was obvious, and he was obviously not happy that things at home had delayed his original plans.
Jiang Chen didn't ask him what happened. He just comforted him with a few words. After he calmed down his temper, he made another appointment before hanging up the phone while he was still grumbling.
Huo Bo walked beside him, and after seeing the smile in his eyes, he turned to look at Shen Xu and asked silently: "Who is this?"
Shen Xu answered directly: "His brother."
"Yang Shengmao?" Huo Bo blurted out. As far as he could remember, Jiang Chen had only this one younger brother, but he also remembered that Jiang Chen didn't like this younger brother very much.
"No." Chen Xu said: "He is just a kid, he has nothing to do with Jiang Zi, he always calls him brother."
Seeing that Jiang Chen had hung up the phone, Huo Bo asked, "When did you get a younger brother?"
Jiang Chen smiled and said, "It's been a long time since I've had one. When he comes to No. 1 Middle School, I'll let you meet him."
Hearing this, Huo Bo's eyes were filled with more surprise. Jiang Chen seemed distant but was actually very easy to talk to. However, being easy to talk to did not mean being approachable. He knew Jiang Chen very well. If Jiang Chen did not really regard him as his brother, he would never have acquiesced to Shen Xu's explanation of the identity of the person on the other end of the phone. Jiang Chen had a set of old-fashioned and serious logic in his mind. For example, the way he addressed someone might be just a casual address to others, but to Jiang Chen, any address he recognized represented a kind of responsibility.
Huo Bo was surprised and curious about why Jiang Chen had a younger brother after he had been away for half a year, but he did not ask much and waited until he met the person.
However, Huo Bo did not expect that he would see someone after school the next day.
Under the big tree at the gate of Yanyi Middle School, He Qianmin, wearing the school uniform of Chenghua Junior High School, was talking to a boy wearing the school uniform of Yanyi Middle School with a stern face. It was unknown what they talked about, but the two suddenly became hostile and seemed ready to fight.
Chen Xu glanced over there and recognized He Qianmin at a glance. He grabbed Jiang Chen and said, "Jiang Zi, that's your brother, right?"
Jiang Chen was talking to Huo Bo. When he heard this, he looked up and saw He Qianmin. He Qianmin stopped when he heard Shen Xu's voice. The boy next to him also looked over here, then turned and left.
"Brother." He Qianmin took two steps at a time and walked to Jiang Chen. After nodding to Shen Xu, he glanced at Huo Bo on the side.
"This is Huo Bo." Jiang Chen hooked his arm around Huo Bo's neck and introduced him to He Qianmin: "He's my friend who grew up with me. You can just call him brother."
He Qianmin curled his lips, obviously unwilling, but being watched by Jiang Chen, he still called out reluctantly: "Brother Huo."
Chen Xu was also reluctant: "When I met He Xiaomin before, why didn't you let him call me brother! Why did you only let him call Huo Bo brother!"
He Qianmin rolled his eyes at him and said nothing, but the words "dream" were clearly written on his face.
Chen Xu chuckled, pointed at He Qianmin and said, "Jiang Zi, look at your brother. He actually despises me!"
Jiang Chen had a smile on his face, as if he didn't hear what Shen Xu said, he walked to He Qianmin and said, "You guys go back first, I'll take him to dinner."
He Qianmin raised an eyebrow at Chen Xu proudly.
Chen Xu got in between the two of them, raised his eyebrows at the glare from He Qianmin, and said with a grin, "I want to go wherever you guys are going to eat, and since Huo Bo is meeting He Xiaodi for the first time after returning, it's not too much to have a meal together."
He Qianmin was dissatisfied: "Stop giving me nicknames all the time."
"Unhappy? He Xiaomin? Minmin?" Chen Xu amused himself by shouting, holding his stomach and laughing: "Minmin, how cute! From now on, brother will call you Minmin."
He Qianmin's face was tense, and his eyes were cold. Chen Xu hid behind Jiang Chen and said fearlessly: "If you call me brother, I won't call you Minmin anymore. Come on, call me brother."
"That's enough." Seeing He Qianmin's increasingly dark complexion, Jiang Chen grabbed Shen Xu and nudged him lightly with his elbow: "Don't bully him."
"How did I bully him!" Chen Xu felt extremely wronged and complained, "He has always been the one bullying me, okay? Jiang Zi, I'm not saying that you have been biased to the extreme since you had a younger brother! Fortunately, He Xiaomin is not a girl. If he became your sister, I can't imagine it!"
Huo Bo withdrew his secretly scrutinizing gaze and said casually, "Why is it so hard to imagine?"
"My brother is like this, my sister must be spoiled to the sky." Chen Xu said with a chuckle, "But if she is Jiang Zi's sister, then I can't do anything about it, who told me I don't have a sister? Jiang Zi's sister is my sister, so I have to spoil my own sister more."
Huo Bo's mouth twitched, and he turned to Jiang Chen and said, "If you have something to do, go first. Shen Xu and I will go back by ourselves."
Jiang Chen pondered for a moment and asked He Qianmin for his opinion: "How about the four of us having dinner together?"
He Qianmin looked at Huo Bo, then glanced at Chen Xu, and nodded: "I want to eat hot pot."
"It's so hot—" Chen Xu met He Qianmin's eyes and changed the subject: "It's just right for hot pot."
The four of them entered the hot pot restaurant they went to last time. This was the place Jiang Chen and the other two had often eaten at since junior high school. They were very familiar with ordering food and getting water. Before, when it was just Chen Xu and Jiang Chen, He Qianmin couldn't quite feel this kind of tacit understanding that seemed to be born in the same magnetic field without much explanation. Now, when he saw the three of them ordering food, their words and actions were obviously very ordinary, but they seemed to have an aura that excluded others.
He Qianmin swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth. He pursed his lips slightly, lowered his eyelashes, and suppressed the sudden loss in his heart.
For some reason, he always felt that he should be the one who had the closest and best understanding with Jiang Chen. However, the reality was that no one here excluded him. He was just invisibly excluded from the tacit understanding that had been formed over many years of getting along.
Chen Xu was the first to notice He Qianmin's abnormality. He paused while swiping through the menu and called Jiang Chen in a low voice.
Jiang Chen was talking in a low voice with Huo Bo. Usually, it was Shen Xu who ordered the dishes. He was very familiar with his and Huo Bo's tastes. Occasionally, when he encountered a new dish and was undecided whether he wanted to eat it, he would ask them anxiously. So when he heard his voice, Jiang Chen subconsciously thought that he was hesitant about which new dish again, and Huo Bo was the same.
The two of them spoke almost at the same time:
"point."
"Order if you want to eat."
Shen Xu clicked his tongue and tilted his chin slightly to one side, motioning him to look at He Qianmin.
Jiang Chen turned his head in confusion. He Qianmin hung his head, not knowing what he was thinking. He was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that he was just talking to Huo Bo and didn't have time to ask him what he wanted to eat: "Qianmin, what do you want to eat?"
He Qianmin raised his eyes, glanced at him, then lowered them again, and said casually, "It's all right."
Jiang Chen didn't think much about it. He retracted his gaze and said to Shen Xu, "Order more beef. Let's see if there is any sweet and sour crispy pork today. Order that as well."
"Okay." Chen Xu waved to the waiter. After ordering the crispy meat, he saw Jiang Chen continuing to talk to Huo Bo. He sighed in his heart, stood up and handed the menu to He Qianmin: "Take a look, what else do you want to eat besides these."
He Qianmin glanced casually and was somewhat surprised to find that all the dishes he liked had been ordered, so he handed the menu back: "That's enough."
Chen Xu nodded and handed the menu to the waiter. He turned around and saw that He Qianmin was still unhappy. He made small talk: "Well... you are in the third year of junior high school, right? You will take the high school entrance examination soon. Are you under a lot of pressure?"
Faced with such an official and polite topic, He Qianmin did not react much, and only said lightly: "It's OK."
Chen Xu laughed dryly, "Hahaha, that's true. You are seventh in the grade, and you can be promoted directly in Chenghua, so there is really no pressure."
He Qianmin was silent for a few seconds before he said in a slightly lower voice: "I don't plan to read Chenghua."
"Not going to Chenghua?" Chen Xu was a little surprised, "Then where did you go to high school?"
He Qianmin glanced at Jiang Chen who was still talking, pursed his lips and said, "I haven't thought about it yet."
Chen Xu became interested and said enthusiastically: "I heard from Li Xiao before that your family doesn't allow you to go abroad. It seems that there is really no point in studying at Chenghua if you don't go abroad. You have been in a private school. You can try a public school. Our Yan No. 1 Middle School is not bad. You can also go to the same school as your brother. How about it?"
Jiang Chen happened to hear Shen Xu's words when he finished talking to Huo Bo. He thought for a moment, looked at He Qianmin, and said seriously: "Shen Xu is right. If you don't want to continue in Chenghua, come to Yan No. 1 Middle School for high school."
He Qianmin didn't say anything. Chen Xu said, "Come to No. 1 Middle School. The brothers will protect you. With your brother Jiang Chen, you don't have to worry about studying. There are also me and your brother Huo. I will take you out to eat and play, and your brother Huo will let you walk around freely in No. 1 Middle School."
He Qianmin glanced at Jiang Chen quietly, who was looking at him, then looked away and said, "Do you want me to come to No. 1 Middle School?"
Jiang Chen: “Hope.”
The corners of He Qianmin's mouth rose slightly, but he quickly suppressed it, raised his chin slightly and said, "Then I'll come to Yan No. 1 Middle School."
"Okay, then the brothers will take you to play, and..." Halfway through, the waiter brought the bottom of the pot up, and Shen Xu stood up and said, "I'll go make the sauce. What do you want to put in it? I'll help you make it."
“Cilantro, mashed garlic, sesame oil, and hot sauce.”
Chen Xu glanced at Jiang Chen, then looked at He Qianmin, stroking his chin and said, "As expected of you, you call me Brother Jiangzi. The sauces are all the same. Okay, I'll go--"
"Change one." Jiang Chen interrupted him: "Your wound hasn't healed yet."
He Qianmin was stunned for a moment, and Chen Xu just remembered that he still had gauze on his hand. He was afraid that the child would be greedy and refuse, so he said without waiting for him to speak: "Then I'll make you a non-spicy one. I believe in my brother's level of sauce making, I guarantee you will enjoy it."
He Qianmin pursed her lips: "I want to eat spicy food."
Hearing this, Jiang Chen noticed that He Qianmin was in a bad mood. He glanced at his left hand that was gently grasping his injured right hand and guessed, "What's wrong? Is your hand still uncomfortable? Or are you unhappy about something?"
He Qianmin's eyelashes trembled slightly, and he suppressed the corners of his mouth that wanted to rise, and shook his head: "No."
Jiang Chen: "Because of what happened at your home yesterday?"
He Qianmin curled his lips: "No, it's none of my business, why should I be unhappy?"
Chen Xu brought over a light sauce dish and happened to hear this, and asked curiously: "What are you unhappy about?"
The corners of He Qianmin's mouth twitched. He looked at Jiang Chen and then at the bowl in front of him. After a long while, he said, "Nothing."
Jiang Chen seemed to be thinking about something. Huo Bo glanced at He Qianmin and said to Jiang Chen while serving the dishes, "You have extra classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights, and you have to help me with extra classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Will it be too much for you?"
"No." Jiang Chen retracted his gaze and looked at Huo Bo: "Helping you with extra lessons is also review, and..."
"Brother." He Qianmin suddenly interrupted their conversation. When Jiang Chen looked over, he said, "He Qianjian's right hand was broken."
His words were out of context and could be said to be sudden, but Jiang Chen was not surprised at all. He calmly asked, "What do you think?"
He Qianmin curled up his left hand that was resting on his right hand, pinched the bandage that was stretched out, and said with lowered eyes: "If I say it is retribution, would you think that I lack sympathy and gloat over other people's misfortunes?"
Before Jiang Chen could say anything, Huo Bo suddenly asked, "Did he hurt your hand?"
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