The rain hadn't stopped and continued into the evening. Li Younan knew Jiang Kefan wouldn't be able to go home tonight, so she offered, "Why don't you stay tonight? The rain hasn't stopped yet!"
"Hmm, that works too." Jiang Kefan didn't refuse, after all, it was already quite late.
The two children chatted and laughed, and then Jiang Kefan slept in Li Bin's study that night. Li Younan didn't have the habit of staying up late, so after Jiang Kefan went into the study, she also turned off the light and went to bed early.
The bed in Li Bin's study was a bit hard, and the air was humid because of the rain, so Jiang Kefan didn't sleep well that night. He opened his eyes early, realized it was still early, so he turned over and planned to go back to sleep. But he heard a noise in the living room, so he got up, opened the door, and went out to see what was going on.
"Hey, you're up early!" It was Li Younan, wearing pajamas and with her hair a little messy.
Jiang Kefan was somewhat surprised to see Li Younan up so early: "You're up so early? Where's your bathroom? I need to wash up."
"No way! I'm not telling you! I'm going to shower first!" Li Younan said, as if afraid that Jiang Kefan would take it from her, and rushed into the bathroom like a gust of wind.
Jiang Kefan stood there, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Jiang Kefan waited until Li Younan finished washing before going in to wash his face and brush his teeth, and also washed his hair. When Jiang Kefan came out, his hair was wet, and water dripped from his head into his clothes.
"Didn't you dry your hair? Oh, don't drip water on my floor. Come to my room, I'll get you a new towel." Li Younan complained, but actually she was worried that Jiang Kefan would catch a cold if he didn't dry his hair after washing it.
Jiang Kefan responded and followed Li Younan to her room. He took the towel Li Younan handed him, dried his hair, and carefully examined Li Younan's room: Li Younan was indeed different from girls her age. Her room had no wind chimes or pink dolls, only a few simple pieces of furniture and a row of certificates she had received at the guzheng school on the wall.
"Huh? Is that you?" Jiang Kefan noticed a photo on his desk. He picked it up and looked at it; it was a family photo taken in front of a guzheng (a traditional Chinese zither). The little girl in the photo looked like Li Younan; she was smiling brightly.
"Yes, it's me!" Li Younan's face lit up with the same radiant smile as in the photo. She seemed very happy as she took the photo from Jiang Kefan's hand: "Isn't it beautiful? It's a pity there's only this one left, it's so precious!"
Jiang Kefan realized he had known Li Younan for a while, but this was the first time he had seen Li Younan like this. Although he was curious: there should be many family photos! My parents and I take pictures often, how come you only have one? But he knew this was Li Younan's privacy, so he didn't ask any further questions.
But perhaps because Li Younan trusted Jiang Kefan, or perhaps because she needed someone to confide in, she took the initiative to tell Jiang Kefan about her mother and also told him why she was learning the guzheng.
"Oh, is that so!" Jiang Kefan didn't expect Li Younan to tell him this on her own initiative. "Um... you must be hungry. I'll go make something to eat." He suddenly felt a little awkward and decided to get up and go to the kitchen, not wanting to continue this topic.
"Okay, sure."
Jiang Kefan turned on the stove, took a few eggs, cracked them open, and fried them in the pan. While the eggs were still uncooked, he started cooking porridge, so that the porridge would be ready by the time the eggs were done.
"Alright! Come and eat breakfast!" Jiang Kefan took the cooked eggs out of the pot, then took two bowls and served porridge for the two of them. While he was busy, he didn't forget to call Li Younan to come and eat.
"Coming!" Li Younan had smelled the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen long ago, so as soon as Jiang Kefan called her, she immediately sat down at the table: "It smells so good!"
"That's for sure!" Jiang Kefan was a little proud after being praised like that, and he raised his head with a smile.
Although it was just a simple plate of fried eggs and two bowls of porridge, it was, after all, prepared by Jiang Kefan, and was far superior to Li Younan's in terms of color, aroma, and taste. Seeing him getting carried away again, Li Younan rolled his eyes at him, then picked up a piece of fried egg with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.
"How is it? Is it delicious?" Jiang Kefan didn't touch his chopsticks himself, but looked at Li Younan expectantly and asked her.
"Delicious! Delicious!" Li Younan thought Jiang Kefan's cooking skills were really good. She nodded and praised him while picking up another piece.
"Hey! Eat slowly, I won't fight you for it... Hey! Leave some for me!" Jiang Kefan looked at Li Younan's eating habits with a helpless expression, thinking to himself: If I don't eat now, there won't be any breakfast left! So he quickly picked up his chopsticks and started eating.
The two of them devoured breakfast in no time, feeling extremely satisfied. Jiang Kefan sat for a while before going to the living room to watch TV. Soon after, the sound of running water came from the kitchen. Li Younan was washing the dishes. She knew in her heart: Jiang Kefan has been cooking for me since he's come to my house, I can't let him do everything! So she put on plastic gloves, washed the bowls and chopsticks, and put them in the kitchen cabinet.
When Li Younan finished her work and went to the living room, she found Jiang Kefan watching a sitcom and laughing to herself. She found it funny and slapped Jiang Kefan on the shoulder.
"Oh my god, you scared me!" Jiang Kefan turned around, looking at Li Younan while clutching his chest, pretending to be frightened.
"Come on, don't give me that!" Li Younan glanced at Jiang Kefan, thought for a moment, and then asked the question she had been wanting to ask Jiang Kefan at the dinner table: "Your cooking is really good. Who taught you?"
"No one taught me; I just practiced it a lot more and I got the hang of it!"
Jiang Kefan answered casually, but Li Younan immediately grasped the key point: "If my dad weren't often away from home, I wouldn't bother cooking! Many kids our age don't even touch the stove!" Jiang Kefan said he cooks more often, but why is that?
Although she wasn't sure if she should say it, driven by curiosity, she asked, "Do you often cook for yourself? Doesn't your mother cook for you?"
“No, I used to be from a single-parent family, so I was always the one who did the cooking.” Jiang Kefan told her this as he recalled the time when he didn’t have a father and had to cook on a small stool. He then shook his head.
Jiang Kefan was originally unwilling to talk about this past with others, but since Li Younan took the initiative to tell him about her situation, it was not a big deal to tell her that she had been from a single-parent family!
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