Both were quite surprised to see Lin Haodong again after so many years.
Lin Haodong was wearing a faded old T-shirt and pants covered in mud and dust. His hair was messy, his temples were graying, and his face was haggard. He looked like a construction worker, not yet thirty, but fifty.
Ji Xia is pregnant, more than five months along. Her belly is protruding, and her slender waist is no longer visible, but her skin is fair and tender, her features are delicate, and her eyes and brows are filled with happiness.
Wearing a comfortable and breathable silk maternity dress, her dark hair was shiny and smooth as silk, exuding an air of refinement from head to toe, like a young girl who is innocent and well protected by her family.
If it weren't for her pregnant belly, people would have mistaken her for a young girl, which shows how well she takes care of herself.
In the summer of the previous century, she stood before him like a poor, destitute old woman, while he was still a dashing young man.
These two people's present and past lives are exactly reversed.
Ji Xia was surprised to see Lin Haodong for a while, but finally just nodded calmly and turned to Chen Jing in a coquettish voice, "I want to drink herbal tea, I feel a fire in my chest."
"How can you drink herbal tea while you're pregnant? Go back to the car and sit down. I'll turn the air conditioning up a bit, and I'll buy you a cool drink later, okay?"
"Sweet soup doesn't help with internal heat, I don't want it!"
"Please, ancestors, can't you just bear with it? You're pregnant and still drinking herbal tea. What if the baby doesn't grow well and blames us later?"
Chen Jing coaxed her softly, helping her back to the car, and eventually drove away.
Looking at Ji Xia's beautiful appearance and then at Chen Jing's well-dressed shirt and casual pants, and the car he casually drove, Lin Haodong knew that the two of them were living very well.
If he hadn't been captivated by Liu Pianran and hadn't broken off his engagement with her, and had instead smoothly completed his university studies, what would things have been like?
Just as he was in a daze, a middle-aged woman with a vulgar demeanor returned carrying a load of empty baskets. She saw her son stuffing something into his mouth, while Lin Haodong stood by the roadside in a daze, and she was furious.
"Lin Haodong, are you trying to kill yourself? You don't care what your son eats? What if he has another attack if you let him eat random things again?"
Lin Haodong was jolted back to his senses by the thunderous roar. Looking at his son beside him, who was clutching candy and drooling, he couldn't help but feel a wave of despair.
He slapped his son across the face and yelled at the child, "Stop eating! Do you hear me? Stop eating!"
"Are you crazy? He's so young, why are you hitting him?"
"That's enough. My son has suffered enough. I've said it before: get rid of him and have a healthy new one."
The whole family was thrown into chaos, but the neighbors just shook their heads, unfazed, and went about their own business.
We've seen this kind of thing so many times that the people around us have long since become immune to it.
Chen Jing drove Ji Xia to the main road leading back to their hometown and stopped the car in front of a dessert shop.
After parking the car, he carefully helped Ji Xia out of the car and into a cozy dessert shop.
The dessert shop is only 30 to 40 square meters, not very big, with only seven or eight tables, and the interior design is mainly light green.
Ice basins were placed in several corners of the shop, and a large ceiling fan was blowing overhead. Stepping into the shop for a while, you could feel the refreshing coolness, as if it were a completely different world from the heat outside.
The shop mainly sells desserts and sweet soups. There is also a glass cabinet displaying some exquisitely made pastries. Several young couples are sitting around the glass table, which looks very cozy.
Ji Xia glanced around casually: "Is this my second sister's dessert shop? It looks really good."
As they were talking, Chen Yi peeked out from behind the counter. She was about to say "Welcome" when she saw Chen Jing and Ji Xia. Her face lit up with surprise and delight.
"Ah Jing, Ah Xia, you're back? That's wonderful."
Chen Yi greeted her with a happy expression, but when she saw the sweat on Ji Xia's face, she couldn't help but feel sorry for her and repeatedly asked her to sit down.
"Quick, sit down and rest for a while, enjoy the fan, and have something to drink?"
She quickly led the two to a table next to the ice basin in the corner and ordered the waitress to bring them two bowls of coconut sago pudding and two small cakes.
Ji Xia patted the chair next to her, gesturing for her to sit down, and looked around.
"This shop is quite well-run. How many people have you hired?"
"We only hired one person. School hasn't started its holiday yet, so we don't need to hire too many. One person is enough. Once school starts its holiday, Cuihua and your brother-in-law will be free, so they can send someone over to help."
Chen Yi smiled slightly and sat down next to the two of them, asking with concern about the recent situation of her brother and sister-in-law.
When Ji Xia was in her first year of college, she left her husband's family home and, with Chen Jing's help, opened a breakfast shop.
The couple were not very ambitious, and Chen Yi's husband, Yang Lin, was disabled.
Over the years, all they did was expand the breakfast shop outside the school gate, buy the land next door, rebuild a three-story building, and open a shop on the ground floor.
As for the dessert shop, it was Chen Jing who suggested it. After all, restaurants outside the school are restricted by winter and summer vacations, and there are always a few months of the year when business is not good.
Two years ago, when Chen Jing returned, he happened to see a shop for sale here. The price wasn't high, so on Chen Jing's advice, he spent two or three thousand yuan to buy the mud house. He then added two floors, turning the first floor into a dessert shop and the second floor into their residence.
Dessert shops are still a relatively new thing in small towns, but thanks to the recipes Chen Jing got for her from elsewhere, she's doing quite well in her hometown.
Although they couldn't do as well as Chen Zhang and Xu Yufen, Chen Yi and Yang Lin were both satisfied.
With two shops and two houses, what more could they ask for in just a few years?
You know, when they first arrived, they couldn't even get enough to eat!
Ji Xia drank half a cup of sago pudding, and the heat in her heart subsided a bit. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Second Sister, do you still remember Lin Haodong? What happened to him?"
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