When the water was ready, Xia Yingying brought it over to them, casually asking a question as she did so.
"What are you two talking about, acting so suspiciously?"
"No, I didn't say anything," Lin Nian quickly denied.
How could I possibly tell her about the price they were discussing? Who discusses whether or not to pay in front of others?
"He said we'd rummage around your mine and asked if we wanted money." Chen Feng sold Lin Nian without hesitation.
"Brother!" Lin Nian lowered his voice to stop her, his head bowed deeply, too ashamed to even look at Xia Yingying.
Hearing this question, Xia Yingying couldn't help but chuckle. No wonder this kid was acting so suspiciously; he was talking about this.
"Look at you, give it if you want, don't give it if you don't want to." Xia Yingying didn't seem to care much.
"We were just joking, but you should still give it to us. After all, this is your property," Chen Feng said more seriously.
Xia Yingying may not lack this money, but this is her mine after all, and this is how she makes a living. It wouldn't be right not to give her some.
"Suit yourself." Xia Yingying left with the water bottle.
"They said it's up to you." Chen Feng, as if afraid Lin Nian hadn't heard, deliberately moved closer to Lin Nian and said loudly.
"I heard you!"
Lin Nian lowered his voice, tilted his head to look at Chen Feng, and his expression was absolutely furious.
Xia Yingying put the kettle back in the kitchen, and where they couldn't see, she couldn't help but laugh.
The rice was cooked quickly, and Chen Feng and Xia Yingying started showing it off. Xia Yingying didn't leave either; she stayed in the kitchen, exchanging a few words with Chen Feng every now and then.
"Have you had dinner tonight? What did you eat?" Chen Feng asked casually, leaning back in his chair.
"Just cook some noodles," Xia Yingying replied, folding up the dishcloth.
"I just heard that there's enough noodles, and she still ate noodles."
Lin Nian was really fed up with eating noodles. He thought Xia Yingying was so rich that she must eat very well, but he didn't expect her to still be eating noodles.
"He said he feels like throwing up whenever he hears the word 'noodles,' and asked you why you still want to eat noodles," Chen Feng shouted at Xia Yingying.
"I didn't... I didn't say that!" Lin Nian was on the verge of collapse when he saw this, and hurriedly waved his hand to explain.
"What does his vomiting have to do with me? Can't I like eating noodles?" Xia Yingying snorted.
"Did you hear that? They like to eat noodles," Chen Feng said, turning to Lin Nian.
Lin Nian slowly turned his head, his expression turning fierce for the first time in his life. For the first time in his life, he had the urge to kill Chen Feng!
He swore he would never speak again. "I was whispering to you, why do you keep telling her!"
"I'm going out for a smoke," Lin Nian said resentfully.
"Wait a minute, take the trash with you."
Chen Feng grabbed Lin Nian, who had just stood up, and said, "Are you kidding me? You think you can just hide from me?"
Lin Nian sullenly cleaned up the trash the whole time, and after he finished, he ran back to his car without looking back. He couldn't stay in this place for even a second longer.
How embarrassing!
Seeing Lin Nian leave, Xia Yingying leaned against the kitchen wall with her arms crossed and asked, "Is he your brother?"
"Even if we're not blood-related, he's still like a younger brother," Chen Feng said, glancing back at Lin Nian.
"He's a bit naive. Does he let you bully him like this every day?" Xia Yingying said, amused.
"Pretty much. Actually, he's quite pitiful. His mother seems to have left when he was four years old, and we don't know where she went."
"For so many years, his grandfather has been farming a little land while his father has been working outside to make a living."
"Actually, he rarely sees his father, maybe only for ten days or so a year."
Chen Feng subconsciously wanted to light a cigarette, but only realized he couldn't smoke there when the cigarette was almost in his mouth, so he put the lighter down.
"Go ahead and smoke. There's no rule against smoking here." Xia Yingying took an ashtray from the cabinet and handed it to him.
"I'm so sorry," Chen Feng said, pretending to decline, but actually lit a cigarette without thinking; he had been holding it in for ages.
Xia Yingying ignored his empty talk and instead looked at the child washing dishes outside.
Although calling him a child isn't quite right, Lin Nian is already twenty years old, but he always looks like a child.
"So you pity him?" Xia Yingying asked softly.
"Actually, no. When we were little, Lin Nian was bullied by several other kids because he was small, and he didn't have any friends. So I always played with him."
"Later, when I got a little older, I went to school. After graduating, I returned to the village, but no one wanted to talk to me. Of course, I wasn't a good person back then either. We were kindred spirits."
“I was always stealing chickens and dogs, so poor that I had to scrape together money to buy a pack of cigarettes. Later, I got into the gold panning business. When I got to it, I brought him along so he could earn some money too,” Chen Feng said, taking a deep drag on his cigarette.
"You don't seem like someone who steals chickens and dogs," Xia Yingying said with a smile.
At first glance, Chen Feng looks no different from a recent college graduate, with a bookish air and an honest demeanor.
Of course, it's a different story when he's fighting with that shrew.
"Hey, I've done all sorts of things. I've gone to people's fields to pick corn, lit a fire to roast it, and eaten it. I wasn't really hungry, I was just bored."
"Later, we were enjoying our meal when someone spotted us. We grabbed the corn and ran. Lin Nian even lost his shoes in the process, because we were afraid of being caught."
Chen Feng couldn't help but laugh when he thought about it. He was so stupid back then. Even if he had caught them, what could he have done? Two ears of corn weren't worth much. Why was he so scared?
Xia Yingying laughed at first when she heard this, but she quickly stopped laughing.
She remembers that when she was little, her parents would roast corn, but each time only her younger brother got a share, and she could only watch him eat while she drooled with envy.
Only after his younger brother had eaten his fill, and there were some burnt, unwanted parts left over, would his parents throw them to him.
Even with corn that was burnt, I've never had enough of it.
Every time they roasted corn for their younger brother, Xia Yingying would squat to the side, her childish heart praying that it would burn a little more this time, so she could eat more.
Even though so much time has passed, the grievances are still as vivid as if they happened yesterday. Xia Yingying's eyes reddened, and she turned her back, not wanting the tears to fall.
Chen Feng saw the tears in Xia Yingying's eyes before she turned away, and sat up slightly, unable to help but speak.
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"It's nothing, just some sand in my eyes." Xia Yingying shook her head, not wanting to show her vulnerable side to others, but this time, when roasted corn was mentioned, she suddenly couldn't help herself.
What's wrong with you?
Chen Feng stood up, took a piece of paper, and came to her, tilting his head to stare intently at her slightly reddened eyes.
"It's nothing, I told you it got in my eyes." Xia Yingying took the paper, turned her head to the side, and gently wiped her eyes, pretending nothing was wrong.
"It can't be that bad, why are you crying so sadly? I didn't steal your corn." Chen Feng said, shrugging in bewilderment.
Upon hearing this, Xia Yingying couldn't hold back her laughter and burst out laughing. Her eyes were still slightly red, and she turned to look at Chen Feng with teary eyes and a hint of crying in her voice.
"Neuropathy!"
She really wanted to say, "What kind of weird thought process do you have?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com