美滋滋

Ch112 - Not Afraid

Li Zhao ran away around all and arrived at his parents’ house before dark. By the time he opened the door with a key, his friends were already talking and laughing in the living room. Yan Ting was tapping on his laptop in the corner and the house was very lively.

“Zhao Zhao is back?” Lin Shen leaned out of the kitchen.” Quickly wash your hands and then chat with your friends. The mean is almost ready.” 

“It is a good fragrance. What’s so delicious?” Li Zhao greeted his friends, put on his slippers and walked to Yan Ting’s side. He kissed Yan Ting’s cheek and once Yan Ting looked over, he laughed and hid in the kitchen.

His friends saw the scene and smiled. Zhao Zhao had a lover and relatives, they could finally rest assured.

“What are you doing in the kitchen?” Lin Shen was wearing an apron while stir frying vegetables. He saw Li Zhao enter the kitchen and tried to drive him out. “The kitchen is so smokey and artists should protect their faces.”

“It doesn’t matter if I do it occasionally.” Li Zhao went to Du Yushu’s side and crouched beside her to peel garlic with her. “Mom, the mask I gave you, does it work?” 

“It works.” Du Yushu laughed. “The aunt at the door wants your help buying her a few boxes.”

The mother and son were whispering and the only person in the kitchen who was really busy was Lin Shen.

Dinner was ready and everyone sat around the table. Lin Shen picked up a drink on the table. “Come, let’s have a drink together.”

“Cheers.”

Their cups came together and made a gentle noise.

“Zhao Zhao’s grades were particularly good before. Xiaojun never completed his homework during summer vacation and Zhao Zhao had to help him. Later, the teacher praised Xiaojun, saying the homework was done really well.”

“Yes.” Zhou Ming laughed. “At that time, it was Zhao Zhao’s first day of junior high and Xiaojun was already in high school. In order to thank Zhao Zhao for his help, Xiaojun picked out a few coins and bought ice cream for Zhao Zhao.”

“That ice cream cost me five yuan and I didn’t want to eat it.” Chen Xiaojun was a bit embarrassed and scratched his head with a smile. 

He still remembered when he bought the ice cream. Zhao Zhao was so happy that he jumped up and down. He was afraid the aunt in charge of the yard would find him and hid in a corner of the fence. He only dared to go back when he finished it all.

Thinking about it now, Li Zhao still thought the ice cream was delicious.

Lin Shen and Du Yushu listened very carefully. They didn’t want to miss anything that had to do with Li Zhao.

“Brother Ming, do you remember when you and Sister Xia returned from university and took us to the restaurant for the first time to eat hotpot skewers?” Chen Xiaojun smiled. “At that time, there were two meat dishes and two vegetarian dishes. In order to save money, we didn’t want to buy any drinks so we drank the free tea provided by the restaurant.” 

At that time, they were really poor. Some meat dishes were 20 mao (one-tenth of a yuan) a skewer. As a result, they inserted two or three bamboo sticks in one chicken wing. They didn’t eat a lot and most of it was vegetables.