"Dr. Zhao, do you have any friends?" Xu Qingzhu asked.
Zhao Xuning suddenly fell silent. She raised an eyebrow. "Do you count? Or... Liang Shi could barely count as well?"
Xu Qingzhu was so shocked her jaw almost dropped. "When did Liang Shi become your friend?"
"I think she's a very interesting person," Zhao Xuning said. "She's worth studying."
—Are the research subjects considered friends?
wrong.
—Are you also sexually indifferent to your research subjects?
Xu Qingzhu felt that she had never understood Zhao Xuning.
She couldn't help but ask again, "Dr. Zhao, have you ever been so calm that you couldn't control yourself?"
Zhao Xuning paused slightly, then very seriously reminded her, "My life isn't over yet."
“Then in the limited first half of your life,” Xu Qingzhu said.
Zhao Xuning remained silent.
She sighed softly and said in a nostalgic and tender tone, "Yes."
Once, in a room filled with roses, on a bed bathed in starlight, in a moment when breaths were amplified, when that person untied the belt of his robe, revealing a beautiful body with fabric so thin it was almost negligible.
She had been dragged down from her pedestal by that man countless times.
Her composure and indifference always vanished in her presence.
If Zhao Xuning is a well-trained army, then the appearance of Shen Hui can cause her to crumble.
//
Xu Qingzhu locked herself in her study all morning, repeatedly trying to contact Bai Weiwei, but then she hesitated.
The contact information was right there, but I didn't know what to say.
After hesitating and agonizing, I sent her a text message: "Are you feeling better?"
Bai Weiwei didn't reply until the afternoon.
At noon, Liang Shi cooked a table full of sweets to satisfy the little girl's sweet tooth.
Shredded pork with garlic sauce, Kung Pao chicken, and many pretty little cakes.
When Xu Qingzhu came out of the study, Lingdang was still complaining, "Auntie, why isn't there a strawberry cake? Don't you have any strawberries at home? I don't want to eat mangoes."
Liang Shi said, "Your aunt is allergic to strawberries."
Bell looked disappointed. "Okay."
The three of them ate lunch together. Liang Shi cooked four dishes and a soup, and his cooking skills were indeed quite good.
There's dessert after you finish eating.
Xu Qingzhu was too lazy to ask her why she had suddenly mastered dessert making skills.
Anyway, she wouldn't get any information out of him, and after chatting with Zhao Xuning, she decided to curb her curiosity.
Curiosity killed the cat.
After a cloyingly sweet lunch, Xu Qingzhu and Liang Shi took Lingdang, who was always busy, for a walk in the back garden.
Bell reached out and touched the wind, exclaiming, "What a lovely day!"
Liang Shi suddenly thought of something, "Lingdang, would you like to fly a kite?"
"Do you have any at home?" Bell asked.
Liang Shi shook his head, "No, but I can make a paper kite."
Bell asked in surprise, "You can do that?"
Liang Shi: "...You can learn it."
She said that to learn, she found a tutorial online, then went to the storage room at home and found a bunch of materials. She then sat on the living room floor with a bell on her head and began to learn step by step following the tutorial.
In the end, of course, it was all for naught... learning nothing.
The paper kites that were made were like a lump of mud—completely useless.
It can't fly at all.
Seeing the disappointment in Lingdang's eyes, Liang Shi immediately said, "Shall I take you to buy it?"
Bell's eyes lit up, "Okay!"
"Auntie, can I have a strawberry cake?" Bell asked.
Liang Shi hesitated, then glanced at Xu Qingzhu. Xu Qingzhu said, "Don't look at me, we can just eat outside."
"Okay," Liang Shi agreed.
"Then, then, then!" Bell pressed her advantage, "Can I have an ice cream? Just one scoop!"
Liang Shi: "No, your mother said we can't eat ice cream today."
Bell instantly looked dejected, pouting and feigning a sob, "Okay."
Liang Shi: "..."
Lingdang stole a glance at her, then reached out her soft little hand to tug at her clothes, her voice soft and sweet, "Auntie, is it really not allowed?"
She held up a finger with her other hand, her grape-like eyes looking pitifully at Liang Shi, "I'll just eat one ball, okay?"
Liang Shi was in a dilemma, and then looked at Xu Qingzhu.
So Lingdang changed her tactics, tugging at Xu Qingzhu's clothes with her free hand, "Aunt, please?"
Xu Qingzhu: "..."
No one can resist the adorable charm of a human baby.
Both of them gave up, but after negotiating with Lingdang, they agreed that they could only eat one.
The bell happily agreed.
As they left, Xu Qingzhu watched Liang Shi's back as he held the bell and thought to herself: This man is probably going to become a doting father to his daughter.
After thinking it over, he shook his head again.
It has nothing to do with her.
//
Sally and Cherry arrived early.
Sally also brought a bottle of good wine, saying she wanted to drink with Liang Shi again until they were completely drunk.
Xu Qingzhu and Lin Luoxi both felt that the two of them shouldn't drink alcohol.
As soon as Sally entered, she asked where Liang Shi was. Xu Qingzhu casually replied, "He took his niece to buy a kite."
"Flying kites in this weather? Are you kidding me?" Lin Luoxi said in a thick Beijing accent. "It's not spring."
"The weather is nice today," Xu Qingzhu said.
“Exactly,” Sally agreed. “You don’t understand the joy of children.”
Lin Luoxi: "..."
She said with disgust and disdain, "Yes, you think you know everything? You'd know everything even if you were eighty."
Sally: "?"
Her Chinese wasn't good enough for her to process this sarcastic remark, so she switched to English and asked Xu Qingzhu, "What does she mean?"
Lin Luoxi rolled her eyes and replied in English, "Naive and stingy, that's why you'll stay young forever, understand? Young man."
The tone was extremely sarcastic.
"Hey, you two, stop fighting!" Xu Qingzhu intervened promptly. "If you start fighting in my house, I'll have to clean up the mess."
Lin Luoxi shrugged. "Who wants to argue with her? It's beneath them."
“OMG, Cherry.” Sally launched into a long speech in English, “You seem to have lost your temper. I’m honest with myself, I haven’t done anything to you since I came back. You found a girlfriend after I left, while I’ve remained single, and you’re still bullying me like this? Are all your girlfriends not as good as me? I can understand that, but I can’t accept it. You’re so sarcastic. My heart is being attacked every day. If this continues, I’ll become depressed.”
Lin Luoxi glanced at her, unusually calm, and said, "Speak Chinese."
Sally: "Don't be angry anymore."
Xu Qingzhu: "..."
Although she was used to the ever-changing atmosphere between the two of them, she was still shocked to suddenly experience it.
Sally is so assertive when she speaks in English, but when she switches to Chinese, she becomes incredibly timid.
Is this what they call the home-field advantage of language?
Xu Qingzhu simply asked them, "What would you like to drink? Coffee, a soft drink, or tea?"
"I want coffee." Lin Luoxi sat on the sofa. "I really can't stay up any longer. Zhu Zi, I've never taken on such an intense workload before."
"Sorry," Xu Qingzhu said, "I'll make you hand-ground coffee."
"I'd like a drink," Sally said. "Do you have orange juice?"
"It's in the refrigerator," Xu Qingzhu said, grinding coffee. "Take it yourself."
Sally opened the refrigerator and found the small cake. She asked, "Is this cake fresh? Is it okay to eat?"
“Yes, I made it at noon today,” Xu Qingzhu said.
"OMG, Blanche, you can actually bake cakes!" Sally exclaimed in surprise, then started speaking fluent Chinese. "It feels like ages since we last met."
Xu Qingzhu: "..."
“That was made by Liang Shi,” Xu Qingzhu said. “Her niece wanted to eat it at noon today, so she made some. I don’t really like sweets, so there was some left over.”
"Liang Shi?!" Even Lin Luoxi was surprised and immediately said, "Give me a piece, I want to try Miss Liang's cooking."
Although Xu Qingzhu doesn't like sweets, she still gave a sincere review: "The taste is not bad."
Just as they were chatting, Liang Shi returned, holding a kite in one hand and pulling a bell in the other.
Lingdang was holding a large bucket of popcorn, and the smell of fast food filled the whole house.