Jiang Xuanxuan's dress was soaked, but Yang Yajing was half a head shorter than her, so her clothes were unwearable.
"How about I wash it for you? It'll dry in the stove for a while," Yang Yajing suggested.
Jiang Xuanxuan turned her head and looked at the stove outside the door. It was dark and gloomy. She felt that if it was left to dry like that, she would smell like coal all afternoon.
"Why don't you go take a shower first?" Yang Yajing led Jiang Xuanxuan to the bathroom.
In this tiny four-square-meter bathroom, there was a shelf in the corner with a thermos on it. The shower was connected to a two-way pipe, with one end dangling down.
"Let me pour you some hot water. If that's not enough, I'll go get another bottle," Yang Yajing asked.
"Plug...plug in hot water?" Jiang Xuanxuan didn't quite understand what this meant. "Isn't there a shower?"
"A shower?" Yang Yajing laughed. "My family runs a restaurant, not a hotel. We don't have showers here. Besides, there's no gas here yet!"
"Ah? This..." Jiang Xuanxuan took a step back, "Thank you for your kindness, sister, but I won't trouble you. I'll have the housekeeper pick me up. Could you please help me ask for leave this afternoon?"
"Oh? Is that so?" Yang Yajing didn't insist. She knew from her previous life that Jiang Xuanxuan came from a wealthy family, so she guessed she was looking down on her. "Alright then! Which class are you in, and what's your name?"
"My name is Jiang Xuanxuan, I'm in Class Two." After saying that, she asked, "Could I borrow your phone for a moment?"
"A telephone?" Yang Yajing pointed to the entrance of the alley. "There's a public telephone there."
"A public...public phone?" Jiang Xuanxuan was surprised that Yang Yajing didn't even have a phone.
"Hmm!" Yang Yajing looked at Jiang Xuanxuan. "Are you afraid of getting dirty and don't want to go out? Give me your number, I'll call for you."
Jiang Xuanxuan really didn't want to stand in line at the public phone in her wet clothes, so she gave the number to Yang Yajing.
She didn't live too far away; about ten minutes later, a middle-aged man arrived in his car to pick her up.
After seeing Jiang Xuanxuan off, Yang Yajing ran back to the school cafeteria in a few quick steps.
"Is my food still warm?" Yang Yajing asked with a smile as she ran toward Zhou Pengfei.
"Oh! The cafeteria lady is keeping it warm!" Zhou Pengfei then went to the window to retrieve Yang Yajing's food plate.
"Oh! Zhou Pengfei! You're such a thoughtful and warm-hearted man!" Yang Yajing patted Zhou Pengfei on the shoulder.
"What is a warm man?" Zhou Pengfei didn't understand.
"Uh... it means you're very good at taking care of people." Yang Yajing then realized that these terms probably hadn't appeared yet in 1990.
"Hey, she seemed to say she'd help you wash your umbrella, was she serious?" Zhou Pengfei thought of the funny thing that had just happened.
"I guess she's a rich girl, lacking common sense, doesn't she know what an umbrella is for?" Yang Yajing smiled and shrugged, pointing to the umbrella, "Plastic ones are easy to clean with a rinse!"
"You only come to the cafeteria on Fridays?" Zhou Pengfei asked Yang Yajing.
"What? Afraid you won't find a seat if I'm not here?" Yang Yajing deliberately teased. "Sigh! Considering how kind you were to warm my food, I'll come every day to help you grab a seat!"
They quickly forgot about Jiang Xuanxuan after they stopped talking about her, but only Yang Yajing knew that there was more to the story.
Since she befriended Zhou Pengfei in her previous life, she certainly wouldn't let this opportunity slip by in this life.
Probably due to the burns and the weekend, Jiang Xuanxuan missed several days of classes before finally returning to class on Wednesday.
It was lunchtime again, but Jiang Xuanxuan didn't come over immediately. Instead, she waited until they were almost finished eating before coming to their table.
"Brother and sister, Xuanxuan is here to thank you for your help." As she spoke, she took out two small gift boxes from her bag. "These are chocolates that my dad asked someone to bring back from abroad. Please have some."
"Wow! What beautiful chocolates!" Yang Yajing replied with a smile, but did not reach out to take them.
"I don't need it, I wasn't much of a help," Zhou Pengfei politely declined.
"Of course you're happy, brother, you're so modest." Jiang Xuanxuan stuffed the chocolate into Zhou Pengfei's hand. "Brother is taking care of my meals! We're good friends, so it's normal not to thank him directly. But Xuanxuan really wants to express my gratitude on your behalf!"
"Pfft! Did you hear that? She's thanking you for me! You should keep both of these boxes!" Yang Yajing grabbed the other box of chocolates from Jiang Xuanxuan's hand and slammed it in front of Zhou Pengfei.
“But…” Zhou Pengfei was about to say that he didn’t like sweets when Yang Yajing interrupted him.
"Just accept it as I told you to!"
"Uh... Sister is so fierce! Brother, you're so pitiful..." Jiang Xuanxuan blurted out, her face full of sympathy and grievance, as if she were the one being yelled at.
"Are you pitiful?" Yang Yajing rested her chin on her hands and winked mischievously at Zhou Pengfei.
“It’s not pitiful, being straightforward is a good thing.” Zhou Pengfei shook his head.
Without another word, Jiang Xuanxuan turned her attention to their food plates: "Wow! Sister actually ate all the food? Sister has such a big appetite! Xuanxuan couldn't even finish half of it!"
"This little bit? It's just enough to fill me up!" Yang Yajing laughed heartily, not forgetting to make fun of herself, comparing her height, "But even though I'm full, I don't seem to grow taller."
"Sister is so cute! Unlike Xuanxuan, who gets full after eating only half a meal and gains weight easily." Jiang Xuanxuan continued.
Yang Yajing glanced at Jiang Xuanxuan. She was clearly skin and bones, wasn't she? Where was she fat? But she had lived for 36 years before, so she knew that Jiang Xuanxuan was deliberately comparing herself to her to get people to praise her for being slim.
But Yang Yajing wouldn't follow her train of thought: "Oh! Then next time you get your food, don't forget to tell the cafeteria lady to take less. The teacher said we shouldn't develop a wasteful habit!"
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