Chapter 89 A Meal

  Xuanyuan came over with a sincere face and said: "What's wrong, little girl? Why is your face so red, are you too hot or do you have a fever?"

  As his hand was about to touch my forehead, I tilted my head away and said: "No... nothing, it's just... it's too hot, this weather is terrible. Let's keep watching cartoons, if you don't like it, we can change the channel and see if there's anything good on TV."

  Xuanyuan Xiu smiled and didn't say anything, but in fact Xuanyuan Xiu knew exactly what Nan Xiuxiu was thinking. He wanted this effect, a indirect kiss first, the first kiss and all that, slowly cultivate it, he's really a little black-bellied kid.

  Grandma walked out of the kitchen, holding a bowl of sour plum soup and said: "Xuanyuan, this is Grandma's homemade sour plum soup. I don't know if it suits your taste, but our family's servant girl and Zhanfeng both like to drink it. Never mind, saying more would make me sound like a vendor praising his own goods."

  "How could I not? Grandma, I originally liked drinking sour plum soup very much. This bowl, I will definitely finish it all."

  "That's not necessary, you try the flavor and in an hour it will be 5:30, I need to hurry up and cook. By the way, Xuan Yuan doesn't know what dishes you like to eat, so I'll just make a few of those dishes that Lao Tuo and others said are good, hope you like them."

  "Grandma, I'm not picky about food, just do as you see fit. By the way, do you want us to help you choose some vegetables? I saw you bought some bok choy or something."

  I also quickly said: "Yes, grandma, we'll help you choose, anyway we're idle too, and it's better to take care of ourselves." Grandma said: "You silly girl, don't know how to take care of your classmates at all."

  "Grandma, you're not letting me call you Grandma, so don't be so polite." The grandma laughed even more happily. I didn't expect Xuan Yuan Ruo to be quite good at making old people happy too.

  Grandma brought out the dishes and baskets from the kitchen, letting us choose our own vegetables. I was going to teach Xuan Yuan how to choose vegetables in front of everyone, but it turns out he's actually quite skilled at it! I thought he was just a spoiled rich kid who had never even touched a vegetable before (laughs). You forgot that Xuan Yuan has cooked for you before! Just because you can't cook doesn't mean others can't either. And if someone knows how to cook, of course they know how to choose vegetables too! Okay, fine... I admit I have a bad memory. Xuan Yuan did cook for me once before, after all. It was at that private restaurant with all the fancy equipment.

  Xuan Yuan and I quickly finished ordering all the dishes, it wasn't even five o'clock yet when Lu Zhanfeng returned with a loud voice. Before seeing him, we already heard his shouting "I'm thirsty to death" voice, truly "heard his voice before seeing his person".

  He walked in and saw me and Xuan Yuan watching TV, looked me up and down, saw that I didn't have any bandages or anything wrong with me, and said with a big sweat: "Cousin, are you okay? And Xuan Yuan, you're here too. Cousin, I'm so thirsty and tired, this military training is finally over. Hurry up, cousin, you're occupying the whole sofa by yourself, put your feet up and let me rest for a while."

  As he spoke, he was about to come over here, and before I could even speak, Xuan Yuan Ruo stood up and pulled Lu Zhanfeng, saying: "Little girl, she hurt her knee, it's better to lie flat like this, you just sit on the side sofa and rest."

  "Brother, calm down," he said, then reached for the Sprite that I had drunk from and Xuan Yuan had also drunk from earlier. Xuan Yuan quickly snatched it away. Lu Zhanfeng looked at him in confusion and asked, "What's wrong again?" Xuan Yuan replied slowly, "Zhanfeng, aren't you feeling hot? Why don't you take a break when you get back and drink some purified water or sour plum soup instead? Drinking Sprite will only make you thirstier and it's not good for your body either."

  At this time, Grandma's voice came from the kitchen, saying: "Zhan Feng, you're back, there's sour plum soup in the kitchen, come and pour a bowl to drink."

  Lu Zhanfeng was delighted to hear that there was sour plum soup, and immediately exclaimed: "Grandma, why didn't you say so earlier? You've made my favorite summer treat, sour plum soup! I'm coming right away!"

  It was already 5:20, and my mom and uncle came back one after another. My dad won't be back until next week because of a business trip. My mom smelled the food and said, "Mom, you cooked! I thought we agreed to wait for me to come back and cook? But today is special since your classmate is coming over."

  In the summer, we usually have dinner after 6 o'clock. Today, because Xuan Yuanrui is here, we had dinner at 5:30. Before dinner, my mom found out that I was injured and that Xuan Yuanrui took me to the hospital. She kept thanking him and praising him, which made Xuan Yuanrui a bit embarrassed. He humbly said, "Auntie Nan, don't be so polite. Xiaoyu and I are close classmates and good friends. My grandfather also likes Xiaoyu very much. Taking her to the hospital was no big deal..."

  "Ah, Xuan Yuan, our dear is really lucky to have a good friend like you. You're welcome to come over and play at our place anytime! By the way, let's eat, eat! This braised pork with dried mustard greens is my mother-in-law's specialty dish, it's different from others, not greasy at all, so don't worry about eating too much of it. And this red-braised flat fish is also quite good."

  His mother and grandmother kept putting food in Xuan Yuan's bowl, originally afraid that he wouldn't eat enough as a guest. But in the end, his bowl was piled high with dishes, and he didn't refuse any of them. After he finished eating, just as he was about to say something with a smile, he suddenly started hiccuping, and it wasn't just one or two hiccups, but continuous ones. Even Xuan Yuan, who was normally calm, turned bright red in the face. Lu Jieqiong quickly said: "Xuan Yuan, Grandma's cooking is really delicious, look at you hiccuping after eating so much! It seems that our family's Thanksgiving dinner today was a great success! You must come again next time..." His grandmother continued: "Xuan Yuan, I'm truly happy, you ate so much, and I was worried that if we didn't cook for a long time, the dishes wouldn't be sold..."

  Suddenly, Lu Huqing slapped Xuan Yuanrui's back, and although Xuan Yuanrui was startled, he immediately stopped hiccuping. I laughed and said: "How is it? Better now? Eating too much and getting hiccups can be cured by being scared once, my dad often does this to me, but he's not home today, so Uncle's scare just fixed everything, this trick never fails."

  Xuanyuan Chong smiled and said, "I've learned a lot." Then he listened to his cousin talk about the military training report performance today. All he heard was his cousin boasting, saying: "Cousin, Xuanyuan, you don't know, but the military training report performance was very successful! Everyone seemed to be like Popeye after eating spinach, their movements were much better than usual! And the slogans they shouted were also very loud. Of course, your class's slogan was the most creative, not as cheesy as ours. But it didn't affect anything. And that male and female military boxing, it was amazing! Unfortunately, they were assigned to teach our class. Xuanyuan, you should teach me sometime too, I saw you standing in the front leading everyone, right? They did a great job, but I'm sure you would do even better. If I became your apprentice, wouldn't I be able to do it even better than them?"

  Xuanyuan smiled and said: "There's no such thing as whether to apprentice or not, if you want to learn I'll teach you, it's just that today is late, next time during the day when there's time I'll teach you."

  Lu Zhanfeng excitedly said: "That's settled then, okay, Xuan Yuan, send a message to Grandma, Auntie, Dad and Cousin for me, let them take a look. Except for me, they all don't know how handsome Military Boxing is."

  "Xianfeng, you've just finished dinner and now you're asking Xuan Yuan to practice his fist for your entertainment? He's a guest and he helped your cousin today..."

  Lu Zhanfeng touched his head and said, "Grandma, Xuan Yuan and I are good buddies now, didn't notice it, I wasn't too eager to let you know how cool the boxing moves I'm going to practice are, huh?"

  Xuanyuan said: "Auntie, actually it's not a big deal, I'll show you a set of military boxing moves to help with digestion, but you have to applaud for me."

  Lu Zhanfeng was the first to applaud, and we followed suit. Xuan Yuan Ruo started with a two-fisted waist-collecting motion, then launched into that set of military boxing punches, with a style that was both strong and gentle, unadorned yet practical for actual combat; his footwork was agile and nimble, advancing and retreating with ease; his hand techniques were flexible and adaptable, curving without being overly so, straight without being stiff, entering and exiting smoothly; his movements flowed like the wind, stood firm as a pine tree, sat steady as a clock.

  Lu Zhanfeng kept shouting "good" and I also clapped my hands to cheer, Grandma and Mom were also clapping their hands saying: "Xuanyuan is really good at fighting!"

  After finishing, it was Uncle who said: "Xuanyuan, you should have practiced martial arts before, this looks like two moves."

  Xuanyuan Xian humbly said, "Uncle, I've practiced martial arts for a few years, but not too deeply. They're just some fancy moves for exercise."

  Lu Huqing smiled and nodded, this kid is not flashy, quite introverted, not bad. Xuan Yuanrui, you're too modest, Uncle and the others don't know, how could I not know? You're a descendant of Chen-style Taiji, and your uncle was also from a military background, so you must have learned something, these add up to more than just fancy moves, even learning a few tricks from you is enough for self-defense.

  As the sky turned dark, Xuan Yuan said to us: "Today's meal was really enjoyable, thank you Grandma, Nai Nai, and Shu Shu for the treat. I'll say goodbye and head home now." Mom had originally planned to send him off, but didn't know when he made the call, and Driver Zhang was already waiting for him outside our house.