Jiang Yumo also came to the kitchen. Duan Ye was bending over, cleaning the mud off the watermelon. When Mother Jiang saw her daughter come in, she said irritably, “What are you doing here? You’ll just cause trouble!”
Duan Ye wanted to turn around and look at Jiang Yumo, but he held back and continued to focus on washing the mud off the watermelon.
“I just came in to take a look…” Jiang Yumo peeked and pretended, “Is there anything I can do?”
On this matter, Mother Jiang had something to say, “What can you do? Yesterday, I asked you to cut a watermelon, and you almost cut your finger. Your Dad scolded me for asking you to do things!”
Duan Ye couldn’t help it and turned to look at Jiang Yumo, staring at her hand.
Worried that he might be concerned, Jiang Yumo quickly stretched out her hand for him to see. “My Mom exaggerated it, I didn’t actually cut myself… and besides, yesterday, the watermelon was just too big! It wasn’t my fault!”
Duan Ye felt relieved for the moment.
Under Mother Jiang’s watchful eyes, he didn’t dare to be lazy. After moving the cleaned watermelon onto the cutting board, he asked in a low voice, “Aunt, which knife should I use to cut the watermelon?”
Mother Jiang smiled and opened the cupboard, taking out a fruit knife and handing it to him. “Use this one, Xiao Duan, you’re quite strong. This watermelon weighs more than twenty catties.”
Duan Ye took the fruit knife and humbly replied, “It’s okay, not too heavy.”
Mother Jiang didn’t show any courtesy to Duan Ye at all.
Today, she is in charge of cooking, and serving so many young students, the workload is bound to be enormous. She’s so busy that she hasn’t even had time to rest her feet. At the beginning, when she asked Duan Ye to do something, she was still a bit polite, but later on, she started giving orders directly. Jiang Yumo was beside her, peeling garlic and beating eggs, while Duan Ye bent over the sink, cleaning the lobsters. The stove was lit, and the temperature in the kitchen kept rising. Duan Ye couldn’t stand the heat, and after a while, the back of his clothes was soaked in sweat.
The other three guys occasionally came over to take a look.
Zhou Ji had the most courage; he even took out his phone and recorded the scene of Duan Ye working.
While Duan Ye and Jiang Yumo were too busy to check their phones, he daringly posted the photo in the group and laughed out loud : [@Duan_Ye Lao Duan, oh, Lao Duan, what can I say about you? While others are making a living for love, you are washing lobsters for love.]
Zhao Zheng and Guo Shichao remained silent.
Zhou Ji was the only one amusing himself in the group.
Ning Zhiyu suddenly spoke up for the first time in the group : [(Image attachement)]
She had just bought the phone not long ago, and it was through Zhao Zheng’s connections that she got it. Zhao Zheng knew quite a few people, including a second-hand phone store. When a nearly new phone arrived, he asked if anyone wanted it, and Ning Zhiyu bought it at a relatively cheap price.
Ning Zhiyu posted a photo.
In the photo, Zhou Ji was wearing a white shirt and black pants, with a big straw hat on his head, working in the field, and he looked quite comical.
Zhao Zheng : [Hahaha!! I saved it, thanks! Whenever I feel unhappy in the army, I’ll look at this photo and get an extra bowl of rice!]
Guo Shichao : [Surely, Boss Zhou! Our Brother Duan’s washing lobsters for love is nothing compared to you; you’re out there farming for love.]
Yan Qing : […Let me think hard if there’s any novel where the male lead farms.]
Sun Mengting : [No wonder you got so tanned.]
Zhou Ji : [.]
They were chatting happily in the group. In the kitchen, with Duan Ye’s efforts, a pot of small lobsters were all cleaned up spotlessly. He finally completed the task, but, of course, his dark gray short-sleeved shirt was all sweaty, as well as his hair. Duan Ye felt a bit awkward. Jiang Yumo came over, and he wanted to step back, afraid that he might have an unpleasant smell on him. But the kitchen was small…
After sprinkling some chopped green onions into the dishes, Mother Jiang said to her daughter, “Momo, there’s a shirt in your Dad’s wardrobe that was too big for him. Give it to Xiao Duan to change into. Xiao Duan, go take a shower; it’s uncomfortable to be all sweaty like that.”
“Okay!” Jiang Yumo readily agreed, and she gestured to Duan Ye to follow her out of the kitchen.
Once outside, Duan Ye didn’t go into the master bedroom with Jiang Yumo but waited outside.
In a moment, Jiang Yumo came out holding a short-sleeved shirt, comparing it to her own size, and mumbled, “Indeed, it’s way too big.”
Taking advantage of the others not paying attention, Jiang Yumao sneakily pushed Duan Ye into the bathroom, and she closed the door behind her, fearing that he might not be familiar with her bathroom. She opened the drawer of the sink and took out a new towel, tossing it to him. Duan Ye deftly caught it and, upon closer inspection, noticed that it was a water-red1 towel…
“Showerheads should all be the same… right?” Jiang Yumo pulled him and said with distress, “But I don’t know how long it takes for the water heater to have hot water at this time.”
Duan Ye paused for a moment and replied, “I shower with cold water.”
Jiang Yumo looked up at him in surprise, “Shower with cold water?”
Duan Ye smiled, “Yes, it’s hot in summer, so I prefer cold showers.”
Jiang Yumo gave him a thumbs-up, “Impressive, impressive!”
“Alright, then I won’t worry,” Jiang Yumo pointed to the bottles and jars on the table, “This soap is used by my Dad, you’d better not use it. You can use my shower gel instead. My Mom’s shower gel is too expensive, she said it has excellent whitening effects, but whenever I secretly use it, she always finds out. Mine is much cheaper, but I think it smells really good.”
As she spoke, she sighed, “Though I’m not at the bottom of my family’s food chain, I’m not at the top either…”
Duan Ye chuckled, “Alright.”
“Okay, you go ahead and shower, I’ll go out.”
“Sure.”
When Jiang Yumo closed the door, she accidentally glanced inside. Duan Ye had lifted the hem of his short sleeves, revealing his lean abdomen, as he felt too hot.
She widened her eyes in surprise, feeling silly. She quickly closed the door, leaned against the wall, and patted her chest.
She heard the sound of water coming from inside and stiffened, feeling as if there was an evil spirit here. She quickly moved away.
She didn’t understand why she reacted this way…
Even in the manga that Yan Qing lent her, the male lead was shown shirtless, and she enjoyed looking at it. She even got bored enough to count how many abs he had. The same goes for TV dramas; she admired the male actors in Korean dramas who looked slim in clothes but had well-built bodies when shirtless. She used to discuss with Yan Qing and others which male celebrity had a better physique… So why was she feeling like this now?
She thought about discussing it with Yan Qing and others, but the idea was immediately dismissed when she imagined Yan Qing’s eyes lighting up, bombarding her with questions about how many abs Duan Ye had.
Yes! She couldn’t tell anyone about this, especially her good friends!
They shouldn’t expect to hear anything about Duan Ye’s abs from her!
Duan Ye wasn’t much better than Jiang Yumo.
Especially when standing under the shower, his mind couldn’t help but think of one thing: Jiang Yumo standing on these same tiles, taking a shower. He reached up and touched his short hair, and the water flowed down his brow. He didn’t dare to speculate or imagine anything about this bathroom, and he rinsed himself with cold water again and again until he was sure all the scent on him was gone. Then, he turned off the shower, dried his body, and put on Father Jiang oversized clothes.
- a shade of pink that is pale, soft, and somewhat translucent, like the color of watered-down red ↩︎