So in the evening, not only did he call Duan Xin, but he also called Ruan Hao, who arranged for them to have dinner at Aunt Tangâs place.
At noon, seeing Jiaojiao eating happily made him happy too.
But how could he have known that Aunt Tang actually had a son the same age as Jiaojiao!
Remembering the scene he saw when he returned with the hot water bottle, he felt unusually uncomfortable inside.
He really wanted to say they wouldnât eat at Aunt Tangâs anymore, but seeing Jiaojiao rave about how delicious Aunt Tangâs food was and how satisfied she looked, he couldnât bring himself to say anything.
"Brother Xi, whatâs wrong?" Seeing that sheâd been chatting away, but Duan Xi hadnât responded even once, Jiaojiao looked at him curiously and asked with some concern, "Is the training too exhausting? You donât have to get hot water for me anymore, I can go myself. Do you need to go back to the dorm to lie down for a bit?"
"Itâs nothing." Duan Xi shook his head, gently ruffling her hair: "You go up and take a shower first, Iâll wait for you downstairs."
"Hmm? Why wait for me? Arenât you going to shower?" Jiaojiao asked, puzzled.
"You didnât wash your clothes from yesterday, right? Take them down after you shower today. Iâll take them back and wash them all together. I canât go upstairs, and you canât carry a pail full of water, so youâll have to go three or four times." Duan Xi said softly.
"I can wash my own clothes. I practiced during the summer, just stomping on them works fine." Jiaojiaoâs constitution was already weak, and after the previous incident, she was a bit more prone to muscle weakness. If the clothes were slightly heavy, she couldnât scrub them.
So during the summer, she tried using her feet to stomp on the clothes and found that it was actually quite effective.
However, her clothes were always light and thin, the summer fabrics were easy to wash and werenât dirty, so stomping on them worked fine, but itâs different with military training clothes, which are thick and heavy. During the day, they sit on the ground, getting the pants very dirty, and they must be scrubbed to get clean.
"Military training clothes canât be washed clean by stomping, theyâre too heavy. Hurry up, Iâll wait for you here; otherwise, we wonât have enough time." Duan Xi urged.
Seeing that he insisted, Jiaojiao could only turn and head upstairs first.
When Jiaojiao returned, the dorm was empty. She borrowed Li Queâs bucket and made three trips to the water room at the end to fill her own bucket with water, mixing in hot water to take a shower.
As she came out of the shower, holding her clothes that needed cleaning, she happened to see Li Que coming in from outside, and quickly said, "Sister Que, I just borrowed your bucket to fetch some water."
"Huh? Feel free to use it, itâs no problem." Li Que said indifferently, her expression somewhat glum.
Seeing that she seemed unhappy, Jiaojiao cautiously asked while holding her clothes: "Sister Que, whatâs wrong?"
Li Queâs personality is rather jumpy and hot-tempered, the type to explode at the slightest provocation. Hearing Jiaojiaoâs question, she immediately grabbed her hand angrily and started venting.
It turns out Li Que has a childhood friend who also got into Qing University, but this friend has a completely opposite personality to hers, being very gentle.
This friend liked a boy in high school and had been showing him affection. The boy was good-looking and quite popular among girls, and he never rejected her friendâs advances but also never clarified his feelings, passively accepting them.
This time, the boy didnât get into Qing University but enrolled in a college near Qing University.