Xie Jiaran did not forget to lock the door of the room this time.
Zhou Wenyue went to the back garden to water the flowers. Lu Shang was the only one in the living room. He held the paintbrush he had snatched and stared at Xie Jiaran as he left. Xie Jiaran didn't even spare him a glance when he passed by.
The late summer rain evaporated the heat from the ground, and the air was moist, with the smell of grass mixed with soil, clean and cool.
When Xie Jiaran walked out of the house, he felt the tip of his nose hit by raindrops. Then he remembered that he had been in such a hurry that he even forgot to bring an umbrella.
"I'll go back and get an umbrella," he said.
He wanted to turn around but Liang Sunian approached him first and pulled him under his umbrella.
"Two is too much trouble, and it's hard to talk from too far away. Don't worry, this one is big enough to cover both of us."
Liang Sunian said, handing over an unopened ice cream in his hand: "Here, I bought this when I passed by a supermarket on my way in. Consider it a greeting gift for my first visit to your house."
Xie Jiaran looked at the ice cream in front of him, not knowing what he was thinking about. His long eyelashes blinked twice, but he didn't take it.
"Don't you like the taste?" Liang Sunian asked.
"No." Xie Jiaran denied subconsciously, as if he had just realized what he said, and frowned: "But you didn't even go in."
"So my gift is very small." Liang Sunian urged him with a smile: "Eat it quickly, or it will melt in a while."
Xie Jiaran wanted to take the ice cream, but his attention was attracted by Liang Sunian's hand.
Unconsciously, she turned her wrist, curled her fingers and gently touched his with the back of her fingers.
Like a little animal that cautiously acts coquettishly towards people.
Liang Sunian understood it almost immediately, and smiled softly with his eyes curved: "Don't be anxious."
She tore off the seal of the ice cream and stuffed it into the palm of his right hand. She lowered her head and rolled up her shirt sleeves to her elbows. She pulled his left hand through the bottom and around her arm, so that their palms were touching.
"I can't hold your hand if I want to hold the umbrella." He waved the umbrella to indicate, expressing his helplessness: "This is the only way, will you just make do with it?"
Xie Jiaran lowered her head and took a bite of the ice cream, silently holding him tighter.
Due to the weather, the return journey took longer than the return trip yesterday.
The rain in Miancheng did not fall in Jincheng. When Xie Jiaran was almost at school, he received a message from Zhou Wenyue and asked him why he left and what to do with Shang Shang's test paper.
Xie Jiaran lowered his head and replied: I have something to do at school, so I’ll go back first. If Lu Shang really has problems with his studies, please find him a tutor. I don’t have time.
Without even looking out the window, he got off the car when Liang Sunian did.
After sending the message, he looked up and realized that he had not arrived at the school yet. Liang Sunian took him to a shopping plaza near the school.
"What are we doing here?" he asked. "Aren't we going back to school?"
"Let's go back." Liang Sunian looked around, chose a direction, turned back to look at Xie Jiaran and said with a smile: "But we have to eat first."
"I've kidnapped someone from my home, but I can't just ignore their food, right?"
"... ..."
He always had a lot of weird reasons, which made it impossible for Xiao Xie, who was not good at speaking, to refute.
The place was chosen by Liang Sunian. There were not many people in the restaurant, but the food tasted very good. The quiet environment allowed Xie Jiaran to have a very comfortable meal.
At least it's more comfortable than at home.
He thought he would go back to school directly after eating, so he went downstairs to the square and Liang Sunian took him for a leisurely walk around the area, and finally stopped in front of a small stall selling cotton candy next to the central fountain.
"Would you like to try this?" Liang Sunian asked him.
Xie Jiaran was about to shake his head and say no, but Liang Sunian seemed to have discovered something new and was very interested: "Now you can choose the flavor and shape? Xie Jiaran, do you want a mint-flavored bunny or a strawberry-flavored kitten?"
Xie Jiaran: “…”
Liang Sunian: "How's the kitten?"
Xie Jiaran: "...Okay."
The stall owner was very skilled at his job. Halfway through his first order, he attracted many children to stand by and stare at him.
By the time Xie Jiaran got his cotton candy kitten, the stall was already surrounded by parents who had dragged their children over.
"That's awesome, Teacher Xie."
Liang Su Nian smiled and gave him a thumbs up, putting all the credit on him alone: "You are a living signboard, it would be unreasonable not to give you some advertising fees."
Xie Jiaran looked at the marshmallows and finally decided to start from the cat ears. The candy threads melted in his mouth and the faint strawberry flavor filled his mouth.
"How does it taste?" Liang Sunian asked.
The taste of ordinary candy is not outstanding except for its appearance. Xie Jiaran thought about it for two seconds and gave a fair evaluation: "Sweet."
After saying that, he paused for half a second and added, "It tastes sweet like strawberry."
Liang Sunian let out a long "oh" and said in a slightly exaggerated tone: "Wow, that's great, the stall owner didn't mistake the strawberry candy for mint—"
He stopped talking halfway.
He was quick-witted and quick-handed, and when Xie Jiahou stepped back and tripped over the edge of the pool, losing his balance and almost falling into the fountain pool nearby, he pulled him back.
The person managed to hold on to the marshmallow, but it accidentally fell into the pool. The sugar threads melted at a speed visible to the naked eye, and only a bamboo stick slowly sank to the bottom.
"Are you okay?"
Xie Jiaran was still in shock and held his hand tightly: "It's okay..."
Liang Sunian breathed a sigh of relief, turned to the side and looked at the little boy who had bumped into someone, raised his eyebrows and said, "Little boy, it's bad enough that you don't know how to be careful when you walk, but you don't even know how to apologize after bumping into someone?"
"Who asked you to block the way?"
The little boy rolled his eyes, feeling guilty but still stubborn: "There are so many spacious places to go, but you have to stand here."
Liang Sunian raised his eyebrows: "So it's us who are at fault?"
The little boy stuck out his tongue at him and turned around to run away, but Liang Su grabbed his head easily and said, "You want to run away without apologizing? Is that what your teacher taught you?"
"Let me go! Our teacher taught us not to bully the weak!"
"Oh, that's what your teacher taught you, not me. What does it have to do with me?"
Liang Sunian used his height advantage to easily suppress his struggle and said leisurely, "Apologize. You can't leave unless you apologize."
There were many young people around watching the fun. The little boy couldn't break free but was too proud to save face. He realized that even though he threatened to sue the parents and the teacher, it didn't work, and his eyes soon turned red.
In the end, tears and snot were flowing together. While howling, Liang Sunian turned his head to Xie Jiaran and said sorry.
Xie Jiaran: “…”
Knowing that it is rare to find an adult who is not afraid of a child crying and acting like a spoiled brat, and being accustomed to his family's favoritism towards Lu Shang, Liang Sunian once again refreshed his perception of him with his strength.
sharp.
Liang Sunian was satisfied. He let go of her hand and raised the corner of his mouth to say something, but the little boy's grandmother finally hurried over.
He pulled the person into his arms and coaxed him like a darling, but when he looked at Liang Sunian and Xie Jiaran, his expression immediately turned ferocious.
"This is the quality of today's college students? They argued with a little kid and made him cry. All those books they read were wasted, right?!"
Liang Sunian: "You're still protecting your grandson who almost knocked someone into the pond and didn't apologize. Can I understand that you've been living like a dog for so many years?"
As a first-class and polite university student from a prestigious university, Xiao Liang still remembers to use honorifics humbly at this time.
The old lady was furious: "Is this how you talk to your elders? My grandson is so young, and you are a generation older than him. How shameless of you to bully the young?"
The noise made by parents quarreling is much louder than when you are bullied.
The little boy knew that he was in the wrong and was afraid of being embarrassed, so he sobbed and pulled at his grandmother's clothes desperately to make her leave quickly, but his intention was misunderstood.
"Oh, okay, okay, baby, you don't feel wronged anymore. Grandma will definitely ask them to apologize to you. Don't cry, dear baby."
"Why are you apologizing, grandma?"
Liang Sunian also stood in front of Xie Jiaran in a protective manner. Hearing this, he raised the corner of his mouth and smiled sarcastically: "Why is it that your baby will feel wronged, but my baby won't?"
"Hey you little bastard—"
"Let's go, grandma! Let's go!" The little boy couldn't bear it anymore and dragged the old lady's hand out: "Let's go back soon!"
The old lady was still angry and wanted to complain, but the young people around her who had watched the whole thing started laughing and joining in:
"Grandma, please don't be so unreasonable in public by taking advantage of your age."
"It's only natural for your grandson to apologize when he did something wrong. Why should others apologize to your grandson?"
"That's right, grandma. Don't be a typical example of the poor quality of the elderly."
“Isn’t this already the case? Hahahaha.”
"Old people nowadays, tut tut tut, are afraid..."
The old lady was outnumbered and felt so ashamed that she muttered to herself for a long time before her grandson, who was crying and pulling her away by force, pulled her away.
The crowd around also dispersed.
Liang Sunian turned around, picked up the bamboo stick from the pool and threw it into the trash can beside him. After thinking for a while, he turned to Xie Jiaran and said, "Wait for me here for a while. I'll be back soon."
Xie Jiaran watched him turn around and walk towards the stall again. When he came back, he naturally had a pink cat-head marshmallow in his hand.
"Come on, I got you a new one."
Xie Jiaran raised his hand to take it, stared at the cat's fluffy ears for a while, looked up into his eyes, and said softly: "Why?"
Why did you come all the way to my house to pick him up
Why bring him to the square
Why do you have to protect him like this even for such a small matter
Also, why buy him marshmallows that only children would like
He wanted to ask too many questions, but the three condensed words were too concise. He thought Liang Sunian would not understand what he meant, but the other party touched his head skillfully.
"Because I'm coaxing you." He said with a smile.
Now it was Xie Jiaran who didn't understand: "What?"
"You're in a bad mood." Liang Sunian said, "When you called me this morning, you sounded like you were about to cry."
... ... Is there
Xie Jiaran tried hard to recall his tone at that time, and after a long silence, he firmly and stubbornly retorted: "I'm not going to cry, you heard it wrong."
"Oh, I must have heard it wrong."
Liang Sunian didn't even say a word of stubbornness, and readily followed the face-conscious little classmate's meaning and changed his words: "That's to trick you into getting bumped by a little brat, and getting yelled at by his grandmother."
He placed his palm on the top of his head, bent down slightly to look him in the eye, with a big smile in his eyes, and recited the old lady's original words:
"Baby, don't feel wronged, okay?"