Jiang Rong’s ear tips gradually turned pink.
She told the little girl, “Big sister and big brother are good friends.”
The little girl smiled with curved eyes, “Mommy says pretty people play with pretty people.”
Jiang Rong smiled and gently ruffled her head.
The little girl ran off with pattering steps to find her playmates.
Jiang Rong placed the snowball she had shaped on top of the body and asked Xu Si, “What should we do about the eyes?”
Xu Si pulled two black buttons from his pocket and placed them in her palm. “Use these.”
“Why do you have these with you?”
“I promised to build a snowman with my little teacher, so of course I came prepared.”
Soon, Jiang Rong added arms and facial features to it.
Seeing her smiling, Xu Si couldn’t help but smile too.
She looked so sweet when she smiles.
“It’s finished, Xu Si.”
Xu Si looked at her snowman. “It’s beautiful.”
Xu Si took out his phone to take a photo. Jiang Rong’s hand came into frame making a peace sign, and Yuan Yuan’s big head also made it into the shot.
Looking at the photo, Xu Si changed his WeChat profile picture.
At the entrance of Xu Si’s building.
Jiang Rong placed the small snowman at the entrance and asked Xu Si, “Have they arrived?”
Just as she finished speaking, Xu Si’s phone rang.
“Si-ge, Si-ge, we’re here! Are you home? If not, we’ll walk around and wait for you and Student Jiang.”
“I’m downstairs, haven’t gone up yet.”
“Okay, Si-ge, wait for us.”
A few minutes later, Yang Shikun and Hao Ming arrived carrying many bags.
Yang Shikun grinned at them, “Student Jiang, Si-ge, we’re here!”
Jiang Rong smiled at him.
“Alright, let’s go upstairs.”
Xu Si opened the door and took out several pairs of new cotton slippers from the cabinet in the entryway.
He looked at Jiang Rong, then at the slippers in his hand: “No one’s visited before, so I don’t have any women’s slippers.”
Jiang Rong shook her head: “It’s fine.”
She went in wearing slippers that were far too big for her.
Xu Si couldn’t help wanting to laugh seeing her in those oversized slippers.
This was an old residential building. The rooms and living room had been cleaned thoroughly by Xu Si. Maybe because only he lived there, it felt somewhat empty.
Like something was missing.
Jiang Rong wanted to help in the kitchen but Xu Si made her sit on the couch. He handed her some warm water: “Just sit and wait, I’ll check on things in the kitchen.”
He turned on the TV and put the remote in Jiang Rong’s hand: “Watch whatever you want.”
Jiang Rong sat holding the cat, watching the boys busy in the kitchen.
“Ah!”
“Yang Shikun, what are you yelling about?”
“Damn, I almost cut my finger off,” Yang Shikun said, looking at his finger in lingering fear.
“Get out of here, go play somewhere else, I’ll cut the vegetables.”
Jiang Rong poked her head out: “Let me help too.”
Xu Si looked up at her: “Come help pick through the vegetables then.”
Jiang Rong picked vegetables while Xu Si washed them beside her.
Yang Shikun watched Hao Ming cutting vegetables.
“Big Head, you’re clearly experienced, your knife skills are really good.”
“Get lost.” Hao Ming almost cut himself after the compliment.
Yang Shikun: “You guys keep working, I’ll prepare the hotpot base.”
All the ingredients were set on the table and the hotpot was boiling.
Outside it started snowing lightly again, but inside was warm and lively.
Yang Shikun excitedly said: “Let’s eat!”
Then he added: “Wait!”
Hao Ming: “What now?”
“I forgot, I bought cola too.” He grabbed the bottles of cola from the table.
“It’s too cold, don’t let her drink that.” Before Jiang Rong could speak, Xu Si had already commented.
Xu Si stood up: “I’ll heat up some milk for her.”
Jiang Rong felt like he was treating her like a child.
Xu Si put the heated milk in her hands, then opened his cola.
Seeing Jiang Rong looking at his cola, Xu Si told her: “It’s too cold, you can’t drink it.”
Jiang Rong shook her head: “I won’t drink it.”
Outside the biting cold wind blew, while the four of them sat around the table eating hotpot.
Yang Shikun opened his phone to take a photo when he saw a message in the class group chat.
[Fang Zixin]: @everyone The grades are out.
[Wu Wei]: Teacher Fang, I’m still eating (ó?ò).
[Li Jingjing]: The exciting moment has arrived.
[Wang Lin]: rubbing hands Looking forward to it~
[Zeng Qi]: Can you two get lost? I don’t want to see it, don’t want to know, this ruins my New Year.
The chat was buzzing with activity.
Fang Zixin quickly shared the grade sheet in the group.
Yang Shikun: “They posted grades in the group, want to look?”
All three stopped eating to look at him.
Yang Shikun had just opened the grade sheet when he saw Jiang Rong at the very top.
He excitedly announced: “Student Jiang, you’re first again!” Then he added: “Let me check the school ranking…”
Before he finished speaking, Xu Si cut in: “Second.” Then he softly told Jiang Rong: “Congratulations, little deskmate.”
Jiang Rong smiled at him with curved almond eyes.
She’s so damn sweet.
“Holy crap, Student Jiang is amazing, second in the whole school! If I got that rank it would go straight into my family history book.”
Hao Ming glanced at him: “Maybe in your next life.”
“Screw you!” Yang Shikun said, then nervously continued scrolling down.
Halfway through, Yang Shikun’s hands were sweating from nerves as he still hadn’t found his name.
Seeing Yang Shikun muttering to himself, Hao Ming asked: “What are you mumbling about?”
If you listened carefully, you could hear Yang Shikun saying: “Great-grandma, please bless me, bless me not to be in the bottom ten, otherwise it’ll be mixed doubles beating time, please bless me great-grandma.”
Before Yang Shikun could find his ranking, Hao Ming spoke first: “Fiftieth place, stop scrolling.”
“You son of…” Yang Shikun hadn’t finished cursing when he excitedly exclaimed: “What did you say?! Fiftieth place, haha, amazing, my bottom is saved!”
“What do you mean your bottom is saved?” Hao Ming felt something odd about that statement.
“I won’t have to eat belt-fried meat strips when I get home. Last time my mom chased me for three blocks with a clothes hanger, I think it was because I got zero on my physics test. She was so angry she said stepping on the answer sheet would’ve scored higher than me.”
Hao Ming: “Well, that’s true.”
Jiang Rong couldn’t help but laugh.
She leaned over to look at Xu Si’s phone.
Xu Si froze a bit when her head suddenly appeared close to him. Her small face was fair and pink, a strand of hair hung by her ear, showing her delicate earlobe. She looked just like an exquisite doll, soft and sweet-smelling.
He really wanted to pinch her cheeks.
“Wow wow wow, I just saw Si-ge got forty-ninth place! Student Jiang is too amazing, I want her to tutor me too!”
Just as Yang Shikun finished speaking, he felt a cold glare fall on him.
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