Rejected by the Campus Belle, I Find My True Love-Chapter 410 - 408: Mom, I Don’t Want to Eat the Egg Yolk
Upon hearing Lin Xi’s words, Zhong Hailan didn’t find anything amiss. Instead, she comforted her, "It’s alright. Once it’s cooked, eat it if you like it. If you don’t, there’s no need to force yourself. Just treat this place as your own home; you don’t have to go out of your way to suit our tastes."
"Okay, thank you, Auntie."
Zhong Hailan gave her a mock-reproachful look. "Why are you still thanking me?"
After finishing the last bite of his cucumber, Xue Yang sidled up to his mother and whined playfully, "Mom, I don’t want to eat the egg yolk tomorrow morning."
He had disliked egg yolks since he was a child, but to avoid waste, Mrs. Zhong always found a way to make him finish them. He would suggest they skip boiling eggs altogether, but Mrs. Zhong insisted that they were nutritious and he had to eat them. Besides, knowing his mother, he was sure there would be hard-boiled eggs for breakfast tomorrow.
And so, Xue Yang seized the opportunity to see if he could negotiate a little perk for himself. The result was completely unsurprising; not eating the egg yolk was simply out of the question.
"You little rascal! If I hadn’t saved every egg I could for you when you were little, do you think you’d be this tall now?"
Zhong Hailan grabbed a carrying pole as if to hit him, but then she remembered Lin Xi was watching. She put the pole down and started pummeling him with her fists instead. However, Xue Yang was simply too tall. At only about 155 cm, hitting him was quite a strain for Zhong Hailan.
After just a couple of swings, she was already panting. Seeing this, Xue Yang subtly bent down, making it easier for Mrs. Zhong to land her blows.
Watching the mother and son playfully bicker, Lin Xi couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy. As far as she could remember, she had never once joked around with her own mother like this. She tried her best to recall, but she couldn’t even conjure up an image of her mother’s smile. All she could remember was a stern expression. Every time her mother saw her, the first thing she would ask was whether she had finished her homework, how well she had done, and if she had been slacking off. Then, she would pile on even more schoolwork. It was as if, in her mother’s eyes, she was nothing more than a studying machine. That was precisely why she had always been so resistant to learning. Her grades weren’t bad, but no matter how good they were, anyone would grow sick of it if they were constantly being forced.
"Mom, let’s pick some eggplants to take back."
"The eggplants aren’t even as big as your thumb. How can we eat them?"
"Mom, they’re not for me. Xiao Xi likes fish-flavored eggplant."
Hearing that Xiao Xi liked it, Zhong Hailan found a few of the larger eggplants and picked them. She added cucumbers, bitter melons, and a few other vegetables, and in no time, the bucket was more than half full.
"That’s enough for now. We can pick more when we feel like eating them; otherwise, they won’t be fresh. Since we grow them ourselves, it’s best to eat them fresh. By the way, Xiao Yang, take Xiao Xi to our orchard. The longans are ripe."
"Oh, right! I almost forgot we have longan trees. Come on, I’ll take you to pick some," Xue Yang said, suddenly remembering. He had come to the vegetable garden to find Lin Xi and also to pick some longans.
"Xiao Xi, remember to put on plenty of mosquito repellent; there are a lot of them out here," Zhong Hailan reminded her.
"I will, Auntie."
Xue Yang led Lin Xi out of the vegetable garden, and they walked further down the road. Their family’s orchard was just a short distance away. It was only then that Lin Xi noticed the fruits hanging heavy on the branches along the road were longans. She had been so busy looking at everything else on the way there that she hadn’t seen them.
"This place is so lovely," she exclaimed. "The scenery is beautiful, the water is clear, and the air is so fresh. Since coming here, I’ve felt more at ease than ever before."
Lin Xi took a deep breath. Living here forever wouldn’t be so bad, would it?
"When I was a kid, there weren’t any cars on this road. My friends and I used to play here all the time, and we’d even go up the mountain to raid birds’ nests."
"Raiding birds’ nests?" Lin Xi’s eyes sparkled. That must have been so much fun.
"But as time went on, there were fewer and fewer nests. We grew up and eventually stopped doing it."
"What a shame. But birds are so cute! What did you do with them after you took them from the nests?"
"We’d raise them, of course. I raised several mynas. Once they were grown, I’d let them fly back into the wild. Of course, some of them died... I cried for a long time over those."
Thinking back, Xue Yang found it amusing. He’d squatted by his front door and cried for half the day over a dead myna. Passersby had no idea what was wrong with him until they saw the bird in his hands. Later, he even made a little grave for it and would visit after class to talk to it. These were things Xue Yang had no intention of telling Lin Xi, lest she tease him about them.
"But wouldn’t they be sad, being taken away from their parents?"
"When you’re a kid, you don’t think about things like that. You just think it’s fun."
"That’s true."
"See that little stream over there? I used to catch fish in it all the time when I was little."
Lin Xi asked in surprise, "Are there really fish in there?"
"Of course! I don’t have any gear with me today; otherwise, I’d show you something that would really surprise you."
"HAHAHA..." Lin Xi burst out laughing, thoroughly amused.
"I’m actually quite curious how you’d plan to surprise me."
Xue Yang glanced at the sky. The sun had already set, and it would be dark by the time they finished picking longans. "I’ll bring you back some other day. It’s getting a bit late."
"Alright."
Lin Xi was eager with anticipation; she really wanted to see how Xue Yang planned to catch fish.
"We’re here. Those are our family’s longan trees," Xue Yang said, tightening his grip on Lin Xi’s hand. "The path is a bit rough, so stay close to me."
"Okay."
Lin Xi followed behind him. It felt as though no matter how difficult the path ahead was, it didn’t really matter, because the man in front of her would keep her safe.
After crossing a small path overgrown with weeds, Xue Yang stopped in front of several longan trees laden with fruit. The trees weren’t very tall; some were even shorter than Lin Xi, so the fruit could be picked easily.
"Are all these yours?"
"Some are, some aren’t. This one, that one, and the other one over there with the bigger fruit—those are ours. Besides these, our family also has a hill, farmland, and other plots of land. It’s okay if you can’t remember it all now. You’ll learn it all eventually."
A light blush crept onto Lin Xi’s cheeks. It felt a bit like Xue Yang was listing his family’s assets for her. In a rural village, land and fruit trees were basically their most valuable possessions.
"Around here, our family’s situation is nothing to sneeze at," Xue Yang said smugly.
"I know, I know. I’ll be in your care from now on, Mr. Xue."
Picking longans wasn’t difficult. People usually ate them right off the branch, so a few bunches were more than enough.
"Is this enough?" Lin Xi asked, accepting a bunch from him.
"Plenty. We can always come back for more."
"Okay."
Just as Xue Yang finished, Zhong Hailan arrived.
"Xiao Xi, it’s getting dark! Time to head home!"
"Mom, why didn’t you call for me to come home?" Xue Yang complained.
Mrs. Zhong rolled her eyes at him. "If a grown man like you still doesn’t know the way home, then maybe you shouldn’t come back at all."
