A month and a half ago, Xia Zhi left Y City for a group show. He had never expected that the originally scheduled half-month trip would be extended to two months. If it weren't for the upcoming start of U University, perhaps the deadline for leaving would be extended indefinitely.
Stepping back into this familiar land, Xia Zhi inexplicably felt as if he was in another world. So many things had happened in the past month and a half, and his life had undergone a drastic change.
Thanks to the show, he is now considered a semi-public figure, and he will be recognized wherever he goes. Just like just now on the plane, the young girl sitting next to him recognized him as soon as he sat down. Fortunately, the girl is not a social bully and has a relatively quiet personality. After recognizing him, she just greeted him with a little excitement, and the voice was controlled within the range that only the two of them could hear, and did not attract the attention of others.
The girl was very sensible and didn't talk to him during the whole flight, keeping a distance between strangers. Since it didn't bother him, Xia Zhi calmly ignored the girl's frequent and cautious glances at him, as well as her small actions of raising her phone to her chest to take pictures secretly, which she thought was a covert move.
When getting off the plane, Xia Zhi was recognized by several young girls. Compared with that girl, these girls were much more lively and bold. After he got off the plane, they surrounded him and asked him to take a photo with them. Xia Zhi looked at the expectation in the girls' eyes and couldn't bear to refuse. So he wasted some time at the airport and arrived home half an hour later than expected.
After returning home, Xia Zhi called Jiang Zhixia as agreed and mentioned the matter in passing.
"She was recognized by fans and stayed at the airport for 20 minutes to take photos and get autographs?" Jiang Zhixia laughed softly after hearing this. "It seems that our Xia Xia is really famous."
"I don't want this kind of blessing." Xia Zhi was not happy at all, and said with a sad face, "I am just an ordinary university teacher. Why do I need so many fans?"
"Well, just average."
"Do you still need to pick words at this time?" Xia Zhi was both angry and amused.
"Okay, I won't joke anymore." Jiang Zhixia's tone became more serious, and he comforted her with the attitude of a person who had experienced it, "Things have developed to this point, and it is obviously impossible to change them. The only thing we can do now is to adapt as quickly as possible. It will be fine after we get used to it."
Xia Zhi naturally understood these principles, but when she thought about the countless eyes following her wherever she went, she didn't want to get used to this kind of life. The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became, and she couldn't help but complain: "I regret participating. I shouldn't have agreed to it out of weakness at the time."
Jiang Zhixia was silent for a long time on the other end of the phone, and whispered: "But then we won't meet again."
Xia Zhi narrowed his eyes: "If I don't participate in the show, are you going to never see me again in your life?"
"of course not."
In fact, even without this program, Jiang Zhixia wanted to find him all the time, but she was not sure about Xia Zhi's attitude and did not dare to take action. To be honest, if there was no such opportunity, Xia Zhi would be the one who would be more likely to never see each other again. But Jiang Zhixia was not stupid enough to say such a thing.
In fact, Xia Zhi also thought of this, so after saying that, she felt a little guilty, and was also a little worried that Jiang Zhixia would put the hat on her head backwards, so she changed the subject in a few words. The topic after that was basically some boring and sweet love words between young lovers.
Jiang Zhixia has to get up at four in the morning tomorrow to film, and Xia Zhi also has to clean the house, so after talking on the phone for half an hour, Xia Zhi urged Jiang Zhixia to go to bed.
It was already 9:30 after the phone call, and Xia Zhi hadn't eaten dinner yet. After returning to Y City, no one cooked for him or delivered meals to him, so he had to go back to the days of relying on takeout to survive.
While waiting for the takeaway, Xia Zhi cleaned up the bedroom first. The house had not been occupied for nearly two months, so it was quite dirty. It was not easy to clean it thoroughly. Moreover, Xia Zhi's current physical condition could not support him to do too much physical work. He planned to call a part-time worker online to come and clean it tomorrow.
The next day, the first thing Xia Zhi did after getting up was to go online to make an appointment for a part-time worker. The part-time worker agreed to come at nine o'clock, and Xia Zhi planned to go to the supermarket first to buy some vegetables, fruits and daily necessities, and have breakfast outside.
While boiling water in the kitchen, there was a sound of someone entering a password at the door. Xia Zhi leaned towards the door and saw Sheng Yingying walking in.
When the brother and sister saw each other, they were both stunned for a few seconds.
"Huh? You're back." Sheng Yingying asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I came back last night. It was a little late so I didn't call home." Xia Zhi asked, "Why did you come so early?"
"Come and get some books. I forgot to take them home last time." Sheng Yingying explained.
"Yeah." Xia Zhi nodded and asked, "Have you had breakfast?"
"No." Sheng Yingying said, "My parents are going to the next city to attend a symposium today, and they left early in the morning."
Xia Zhi gently patted the back of her sister's head and said, "Let's go. I'll take you out to eat."
Sheng Yingying took her brother's arm and followed him out happily.
"What to eat?"
"steak!"
"I think you look like a steak. What kind of steak do you eat in the morning? Change it."
"… Hum~ Then I want to eat crab roe buns! From Xie's."
"Which one sells a bun for thirty yuan?"
“That’s right!”
“Sheng Yingying, do you want to eat breakfast or a big meal?”
"Eat them all!" Sheng Yingying walked into the elevator with her brother, smiling, "You're a big star now, a thirty-yuan bun is only worthy of your status."
"What kind of star am I?" Xia Zhi disagreed.
"Do you really not know or are you pretending not to know?" Sheng Yingying rolled her eyes at her brother. "You have no idea how popular you are now."
"It's not that exaggerated."
"It's really that exaggerated!" Sheng Yingying said, "Do you know how many new people have appeared on my WeChat list in the past few days?"
"How many?"
"One hundred people! They all came to join me because they heard that I was Xia Zhi's sister!" Sheng Yingying emphasized, "And they were all girls, fragrant, soft and beautiful."
"Why did they add you?" Xia Zhi frowned.
"To inquire about your affairs."
Xia Zhi glared at her: "Why did you join in?"
"I don't add just anyone. These girls are either friends of my friends or people I've met in real life. I know them all, they're all excellent and pretty." Sheng Yingying leaned in a little and lowered her voice, "And they're all of marriageable age."
Xia Zhi's eyes twitched uncontrollably, and he asked warily, "What do you want to do?"
"I'm going to arrange a blind date for you!" Sheng Yingying said confidently, "Although you do look young and beautiful and your age doesn't look good, it doesn't change the fact that you'll be thirty soon. You're not young anymore and it's time for you to get married and have children. You can't be single forever. You're busy with work and don't have time for blind dates, so as your sister, I can only keep an eye out for you."
"… "
"I've checked them all for you," Sheng Yingying swung her brother's arm, "These girls are really outstanding, and they're all interested in you. You'll definitely like them when you meet them. Not to mention you, even I, a straight-laced woman, want to be friends with them!"
"If you like, go by yourself, don't take me with you." Xia Zhi refused coldly.
"Why are you so resistant?" Sheng Yingying advised earnestly, "Why don't we meet first? It doesn't matter if it doesn't work out, just think of it as making friends."
"No." Xia Zhi said calmly, "Your sister-in-law will be jealous."
"Yeah." Xia Zhi nodded calmly.
Sheng Yingying was so excited that she was incoherent: "You have a sister-in-law?!"
"It's you who already has a sister-in-law." Xia Zhi corrected, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"Oh, yes, yes, it's me who has a sister-in-law and you have a wife!" Sheng Yingying circled around her brother excitedly, "I actually have a sister-in-law! Is my sister-in-law pretty?"
"nice."
"What does it look like?"
"One nose, two eyes and one mouth."
“… Don’t you dare to be perfunctory again!” Sheng Yingying was so angry that she calmed down. She stood in front of her brother with her arms folded and looked at him seriously, “You didn’t lie to me on purpose to avoid the blind date!”
"I'm not as boring as you."
"Then show me my sister-in-law's photo!"
Xia Zhi smiled slightly: "I'll let you see it later." The smile was meaningful.
On the way to Xieji, Sheng Yingying folded her hands and sulked, because no matter how much she pestered her brother, he refused to tell her the information of her future sister-in-law, not even her name! So she began to doubt whether this mysterious sister-in-law really existed.
Isn't she just a girlfriend? How can she be so secretive? She won't show me her photo, and won't reveal her name. With her brother's taste, her sister-in-law wouldn't be so bad.
"How long have you been with my sister-in-law?" Sheng Yingying began to try to ask.
"Half a month." Xia Zhi told his sister truthfully.
"Only half a month?" Sheng Yingying paused, "That's not right! Weren't you still recording a show half a month ago? How could you have time for a relationship? Could it be..."
"What?" Xia Zhi appeared calm on the surface, but he was still a little nervous inside - could it be that his stupid sister had noticed it
"Could it be that my sister-in-law is from the entertainment industry?" Sheng Yingying asked in shock.
"… Um."
"Hiss—" Sheng Yingying was shocked, "You met him when you were recording the show?"
"… Um."
Sheng Yingying pinched her chin and pondered for a long time, and finally came to a conclusion: "Is my sister-in-law a staff member of the program team?"
"… "
Well, my sister is still the stupid sister, with some intelligence, but not much.
Seeing that he was silent, Sheng Yingying became more certain of her guess: "It's really a staff member! Do other people know?"
Xia Zhi didn't want to tell her the truth yet, so he just went with the flow: "I know."
It was only then that Sheng Yingying completely believed that her brother had really found her a sister-in-law. Because it was a little sudden, she stared blankly at the windshield and didn't speak for a long time.
"Why are you silent?" Xia Zhi asked, "You still don't believe it?"
"No," Sheng Yingying said with emotion, "I was just wondering what kind of matchmaking nature your show has. How come you and I are both single on this show? I suddenly have two sisters-in-law!"
"Hey!" Xia Zhiqiang suppressed the smile on his face and comforted his sad sister with a serious face, "You also said that we are not young anymore. It's normal to have a partner. It's not like we are really going to be single for the rest of our lives."
"That's true." Sheng Yingying's emotions came and went quickly. She turned around and asked Xia Zhi with a smile, "Brother, when are you going to tell our parents about your relationship?"
"Let's talk about this later." Xia Zhi asked her sister, "Do my parents know that I'm going to record a variety show?"
"I know." Sheng Yingying said, "I won't say anything. You are very popular now. You have been on the hot search before. Even if my parents don't go online, it doesn't mean that their relatives and friends don't go online. After that, my parents talked about you to them. I saw that I couldn't hide it anymore, so I told them that you had participated in a boy band before, and that you went back to record the show to repay the company's favor."
"How will they react?" Xia Zhi was a little worried.
"No reaction, quite calm." Sheng Yingying said, "Just said I'll talk to you when you come back."
Xia Zhi had some idea in his mind: "When will they come back?"
"Tomorrow afternoon."
Xia Zhi nodded and decided, "I'll go home tomorrow night."
"Then I'll stay at your place tonight," Sheng Yingying took the opportunity to suggest, "and go back with you tomorrow."
"Okay." Xia Zhi raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
His family was in need of help, and when someone offered to do a job for him, he naturally would not refuse.
As the saying goes: If you want a horse to run fast, you have to feed it well.
So Xia Zhi generously treated her sister to the most expensive breakfast in her life, and she was also able to eat all-you-can-eat crab roe buns at 30 yuan each. Sheng Yingying came out of the restaurant with a round belly full of satisfaction. She was so happy that she almost took off. She thought happily: Men in love are generous~
Then she was dragged by her brother to the mall to shop, and when they came out, they each held a heavy shopping bag in each hand. After carrying four large bags of things home, Sheng Yingying was so tired that she stuck out her tongue and panted.
The house had been empty for over a month, so many things needed to be redistributed, so there were naturally more things to buy. Xia Zhi had a hard time carrying them, so after returning home, she drank a large glass of ice water, took a deep breath, and then used her toes to gently kick her sister, who was already lying on the table exhausted.
"Get up when you've rested enough," Xia Zhi said, "You need to take these things out and sort them out, and then clean the house. It's been dusty since no one has lived there for so long."
Sheng Yingying asked in disbelief: "Didn't you already call a part-time worker? Why do you still want me to clean?!"
"Oh, the original part-time worker had something urgent to do and couldn't come, so the order was cancelled." Xia Zhi took a sip of water and explained calmly, "The platform originally wanted to send me another person, but I refused."
"Why do you refuse?"
"Don't we have you? Why waste that money?" Xia Zhi said confidently.
Sheng Yingying was angry: "I'm your sister! Not a part-time worker!"
Xia Zhi nodded in agreement: "So you don't have to spend any money, it's more cost-effective."
Sheng Yingying: “…”
(End of this chapter)