"Mom."
"Mhm, how was the first day of school?"
Liu Mei asked with concern as she changed her shoes and hung up her bag, looking at Liu Xing, who was sitting on the sofa watching TV.
She was supposed to go with him, but unfortunately, her department had been too busy lately and she couldn't take time off, so she had no choice but to let the boy go by himself.
She wasn't too worried about her eldest son, but she did regret not being able to accompany him to school on the first day of his freshman year in high school.
What worried her most was her younger son. After all, Liu Xing had always been mischievous and a constant source of anxiety.
"Same as always. I've been at that school for a few years now, I know it inside and out. Besides, my homeroom teacher is the same one I had in the fifth grade, so you don't even need to ask a new teacher for their phone number."
Liu Xing replied to his mother without even raising his head.
"Well, that's good. Since she's already taught you for a year, she definitely knows you well, and you won't have to waste time getting acquainted."
"You can just behave yourself and stop stirring up trouble."
After reprimanding her son, Liu Mei turned and walked toward the stove, bent down to pull open a drawer, found the apron inside, tied it on, and began bustling about to make dinner.
Every time she came home from work, it was past six o'clock; she would put down her bag and immediately start preparing dinner. As she peeled garlic, Liu Mei couldn't help sighing inwardly that she really was destined for a busy life.
"Mom, what's for dinner? I've been starving for ages."
"Whatever I make is what we're eating. There's fruit on the table, go pad your stomach with that."
Liu Mei said without raising her head.
"Oh, fruit doesn't fill you up. I want to eat something good."
Seeing his mother like that, Liu Xing didn't dare talk back again and could only mutter under his breath.
After about half an hour, dinner was almost ready.
Liu Mei looked up at the hour hand on the clock and was just about to ask why Xia Donghai still wasn't home when she heard the sound of keys turning in the lock.
"Well, you picked just the right time to come back, didn't you? Walk right in and sit down to dinner without having to lift a finger."
"Oh, my truly hardworking and capable Meimei."
Before he even had a chance to put down his bag, Xia Donghai hurried over to flatter her.
"Hmph, I can only blame our newspaper office for being so busy, and I am deeply ashamed."
"Get along with you. Go wash your hands quickly and get ready to eat."
Liu Mei reached out to push the man's approaching head away, laughed, and spat playfully.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Xia Donghai placed his leather bag on the rack and then briskly headed to the bathroom.
"Kids, come on out and eat!"
"Coming!"
Hearing his mother's call, Liu Xing scurried out of his room like a flash. He had waited so long, and he was starving.
Stir-fried cabbage, garlic bolts with pork, potato slices, and pork meatball soup—looking at the table full of dishes, Liu Xing let out a disappointed sigh. "How come there's no braised spare ribs?"
"Eat if you want it, leave it if you don't. What? Your mother works hard all day, comes home, makes all these dishes, and here you are being picky and choosing."
"Spare ribs every day, big prawns—no family has enough money to feed you like that."
Hearing Liu Xing's complaint, Liu Mei fired back without missing a beat.
Faced with such a high-firepower mother, Liu Xing had no choice but to wisely shut his mouth at once and obediently start serving rice for the whole family.
Seeing Liu Xing instantly quiet down, Liu Mei gave a proud inner chuckle. *I couldn't handle you? You little brat.*
"Come on, eat, eat."
As if trying to curry favor, Xia Donghai placed a bowl piled high with rice in front of Liu Mei, his face beaming with an exceptionally ingratiating smile.
"Here, have some of this tomato meatball soup. It tastes really good."
Liu Mei scooped a bowl of meatball soup for each of them and handed it over.
This was a soup Hu Fan had been particularly fond of for a period of time before; she had basically had to make it every single meal. After drinking it for several days in a row, she finally grew less obsessed with it.
"There, Xiaoyu, let's drink slowly, watch out for the heat."
"Xiaoxue, you try it too, see if you like it."
Meeting Liu Mei's caring and expectant gaze, Xia Xue inexplicably felt her heart soften, and she replied rather dryly, "Mhm."
Under that warm gaze, she lifted the soup bowl with some stiffness and took a small, careful sip.
The hot soup flowed down her digestive tract, warm and very comforting.
It was delicious; she liked it.
Seeing Xia Xue's relaxed brow, Liu Mei also smiled happily. Their family was getting better and better.
The next day.
Liu Mei woke up early to prepare breakfast for the family. She took the noodles and minced meat she had prepared the night before out of the refrigerator, intending to make noodles with meat sauce.
"Morning, Mom."
"Mhm, sit down quickly. We're having noodles with meat sauce today, they'll be ready in a minute."
Hu Fan gave a groggy greeting, casually tossed his backpack onto the sofa, and pulled out a chair by the dining table to sit down and get ready for breakfast.
Seeing the water in the pot begin to bubble and boil, Liu Mei picked up the stretched noodles from the cutting board and dropped them in. Before long, the fine, white noodles floated to the top.
She used a mesh strainer to scoop out the cooked noodles into a bowl, then ladled a large spoonful of fragrant meat sauce over them. A steaming bowl of noodles with meat sauce was ready.
"Here, dig in."
Liu Mei placed a large bowl of noodles in front of Hu Fan, then went over to fetch the freshly blended soybean milk.
"Here, is half a cup enough?"
"Mhm, that's enough."
"Alright, your thermos is still in your schoolbag, right?"
Hu Fan was slurping his noodles with his head down. Hearing his mother's words, he gave a casual hum of assent.
Liu Mei walked over, took the thermos out of his backpack, and filled it to the brim with soybean milk.
"Mom, I'm heading out."
"Alright, take your time on the road."
Hu Fan finished the last bite of noodles, pulled out a tissue to wipe the corner of his mouth, picked up his schoolbag, and went out the door.
At a little past seven in the morning, the campus, which had been quiet all night, grew lively once again.
At the gates of Chunfeng High School, crowds surged, packed full of cars, blocking taxis from driving right up to the school entrance.
With no other choice, Hu Fan had to get out of the car a bit early and walk a few extra steps.
"Hey, what a coincidence! I was worried you'd be late today, but you're actually pretty early."
Wang Hao spotted his buddy's back from afar, quickened his pace with a few brisk strides to catch up, and threw an arm around Hu Fan's shoulders.
"Yesterday was an accident, alright?"
Hu Fan gave him an elbow, speechless.
"Hah, as expected of Class 1—starting to grind on the very first day of school."
As Wang Hao walked all the way over, every classroom had been noisy and rowdy, but as soon as he reached their own class, it instantly quieted down. Almost everyone was sitting in their seats reading.
"All right, take your arm off me."
Hearing the muttering of the person beside him, Hu Fan felt a deep sense of agreement.
Environment really does influence people. Although the two of them didn't follow the crowd in working themselves to death, they at least went with the flow and took out their Chinese textbooks for the first class.
Before long, the class bell rang.
Li Meng walked in carrying her Chinese teaching materials. Seeing that the students in the class were all earnestly reading and previewing, she nodded with satisfaction.
"Alright, let's begin our first class today. It's the first lesson of the semester, and I hope everyone will watch attentively."
Enduring their homeroom teacher's searchlight-like gaze, Hu Fan felt it was terribly boring, but he still lifted his head and opened his eyes—he just left his brain behind.