"What?"
Xia Mian was startled, her eyes widening as she shook her head like a bobblehead.
"No."
Zhou Ran watched Xia Mian for a moment, then looked away: "Oh."
"Who did you hear that from?" Xia Mian asked.
Zhou Ran's gaze drifted, pausing for a few seconds before he calmly replied: "My maternal grandmother."
Xia Mian: "?" What?
She blinked: "Your maternal grandmother?"
"Yeah," Zhou Ran explained, "Zhuang Zhong posted on Moments the day you went out to sea. Xia Cheng is only this big of a place, and he has a wide social circle, so it spread quickly."
"It spread all the way to your maternal grandmother's house?" Xia Mian asked.
"Tsk."
Zhou Ran turned back, reached out to pinch Xia Mian's cheek, and gave it a light tug.
"Why are you cursing at people, little girl?"
Caught in his grip, Xia Mian's eyes widened even further: "I wasn't cursing!"
Zhou Ran's hand paused, and as he looked down, he found himself involuntarily staring into Xia Mian's eyes.
Whether it was because she had just woken up or was running a fever, Xia Mian's face was still a bit flushed, and her eyes were blinking and shimmering, especially as she looked at Zhou Ran.
They were moist and had an indescribable sense of innocence.
Zhou Ran was slightly stunned, and his hand tightened involuntarily.
"Mm—"
Xia Mian let out a muffled groan, furrowing her brows as she tapped Zhou Ran's hand twice: "I wasn't cursing, can you let go now?"
The touch of the girl's finger pads was soft and cotton-like, carrying a warmth that was almost imperceptible when they touched the back of his hand.
Zhou Ran's back stiffened, and he hurriedly let go, his retracted fingertips involuntarily rubbing together to wipe away the lingering sensation.
Soft.
Zhou Ran swallowed.
His gaze landed on Xia Mian's face; her already flushed cheeks were even redder from his pinching, with two round spots from his finger pads, looking somewhat comical.
"Yeah, it spread to my maternal grandmother's house."
"Oh," Xia Mian rubbed her face, "Zhuang Zhong and I are just friends."
Zhou Ran glanced at her: "You've only known each other for a few days and you're already friends."
"Hm?"
Xia Mian looked up, looking confused: "Didn't you welcome me as a new friend last time?"
She asked, looking at Zhou Ran.
"Aren't you and I friends?"
Zhou Ran didn't answer, just stared at her steadily for a few seconds.
Xia Mian added: "I even bought you a coconut."
...Is that something worth showing off?
"Who's friends with you?" Zhou Ran opened his mouth, "Call me Brother."
Xia Mian was very obedient: "Brother Zhou Ran."
Hearing this, it was Zhou Ran who felt uncomfortable instead.
Zhuang Zhong called him Brother, and Xia Mian called him Brother too.
Does that mean he's the only one who's old?
He thought about it, his brows furrowing again, and he turned toward the kitchen: "Lao Lu."
That's fine, at least there's someone older than him.
The summer night was already sweltering, and the steam from the hot pot rose in the room.
Pi Tao'er was sweating all over his forehead, slammed his chopsticks onto the table with a "clack," and wiped his bangs up toward his crown with his sweaty hand, sticking them right up.
Lao Lu's vision went dark as he watched: "My ancestor!"
Xia Mian let out a "pfft" of laughter.
She turned her gaze to Shui Cao beside her and discovered that Shui Cao was actually about to follow suit, preparing to wipe the sweat from her forehead and smooth back her bangs.
Zhou Ran was quick-witted and pressed down on her hand.
"You copy everything."
Shui Cao grinned and then looked at Xia Mian.
Zhou Ran followed her gaze to Xia Mian and found her still holding her bowl and giggling foolishly.
He raised one eyebrow at her.
Xia Mian covered her mouth and waved her hand: "I'm not copying."
Zhou Ran nodded: "Not bad, you're not burned stupid."
Lao Lu smiled and casually found a clip to pin up Pi Tao'er's hair.
"Every day it's like you're exchanging secret codes, one copying the other."
Zhou Ran fished a pair of chopsticks of mutton out of the pot and placed it in Shui Cao's small plastic bowl.
"Eat your food, stop giggling."
Shui Cao looked at Zhou Ran, grinned, and used her chopsticks to put the mutton into Xia Mian's bowl.
"Ah ah."
Zhou Ran raised his eyebrows at Shui Cao.
"Why didn't you put any in my bowl?" Zhou Ran laughed in anger, "You little ingrate."
Upon hearing this, Shui Cao stood up from her small stool, fished around in the pot with her chopsticks, pulled out a long string of dried tofu skin, and held it up for a long time before aiming it at Zhou Ran's bowl.
"Ah!"
Eat!
Zhou Ran looked at the tofu skin in his bowl and couldn't help but laugh.
"Your Brother Zhou Ran gives you meat, and you give your brother tofu skin?"
Zhou Ran pulled Shui Cao over and pinched her cheeks: "You've learned to be as cunning as Pi Tao'er."
Seeing this, Xia Mian hurriedly picked up the mutton in her bowl, quickly threw it into Zhou Ran's bowl, and rescued Shui Cao from Zhou Ran's hands.
"Brother Zhou Ran, you eat."
At this "Brother Zhou Ran," even Lao Lu lifted his head from his bowl.
The scene went quiet for a moment.
Zhou Ran looked at Xia Mian, suddenly wanting to slap his own mouth.
He let go of Shui Cao, his tone unnatural.
"Stop calling me that."
Xia Mian didn't understand: "Didn't you tell me to call you that?"
Lao Lu laughed.
Serves you right.
Zhou Ran furrowed his brows: "What's with all the calling, it makes me sound old."
"Not really," Xia Mian said, puzzled, "Isn't it the same as you calling me 'Attitude Sister'?"
Lao Lu let out a "pfft" of laughter, nearly choking on what was in his mouth.
Zhou Ran looked back at him impatiently: "Why didn't you choke to death?"
Lao Lu couldn't stop laughing, thinking to himself that he might as well stop hiding it and just give a sharp critique.
"Serves you right."
Zhou Ran gave him a grumpy look and casually put the mutton from his bowl back into Xia Mian's.
"Contagious."
Xia Mian was startled, then realized he was talking about her still being sick.
"Oh."
Xia Mian took a bite and still explained: "I didn't do it on purpose."
"I didn't say you did it on purpose," Zhou Ran fished out a few more chopsticks of food from the pot and put them into Xia Mian's bowl, "Eat your food."
With one chopstick after another, Xia Mian's bowl was piled into a small mountain. She looked panicked and pulled her bowl back.
"I can pick it up myself."
Zhou Ran didn't speak, just lowered his eyes to look at Xia Mian's hand, the implication being: Are you sure you can?
Xia Mian looked at her hand and whispered: "I can today, I can pick it up."
"Fine."
Zhou Ran didn't bother with her anymore and turned to put some meat into Shui Cao's bowl: "Eat meat, why are you only eating vegetables?"
He and Lao Lu were both carnivores; putting vegetables in the hot pot was purely for flavor, and whether they ate them or not was up to fate.
If they could pick up a piece while grabbing meat, they'd taste it, but if they couldn't, they'd leave it; no one would go out of their way to eat them.
Not to mention Pi Tao'er.
The little chubby boy was exactly like Lao Lu, loving meat more than his own father.
When the three of them ate hot pot, they hardly needed to buy anything other than meat and meatballs.
Only Shui Cao always picked the vegetables from the pot to eat, and she would eat them no matter how overcooked they were.
Zhou Ran tapped her chopsticks as she reached for vegetables, forcing her back.
"Don't you know how to use chopsticks? Can't you find meat to eat?"
Shui Cao just grinned, sat back on her stool, and started eating meat with her bowl, looking very obedient.
Xia Mian ate slowly along the edge of her bowl, looking at Zhou Ran, and explained in a very small voice.
"I know how to use chopsticks."
"Is that so?" Zhou Ran's tone was nonchalant, "Great job."
It was the tone used to humor a child.
Xia Mian opened her mouth but didn't say anything.
Seeing she didn't speak, Zhou Ran glanced in her direction.
The little girl was looking down, her hair covering her face, and he couldn't tell what her mood was.
Was his praise not obvious enough?
Why wasn't she talking?
Zhou Ran paused and repeated: "I said you did a great job."
Xia Mian glanced at him, feeling that the sarcasm was maxed out.
She poked her chopsticks into the plastic bowl and viciously stabbed a meatball.
"Oh!"
She emphasized her tone: "Thank you!"
Zhou Ran looked at Xia Mian, bewildered: "?"
After eating their fill, the four of them leaned back on their small stools with their bellies exposed, while Zhou Ran ate slowly by himself.
Lao Lu rubbed his stomach and burped.
"Damn, I'm stuffed," he raised his hand and patted Pi Tao'er's little belly, "Whoa, it's solid."
The door to the tattoo shop opened, and a person in a courier uniform walked in.
"Delivery, please sign for it."
Lao Lu looked up: "Why didn't you come earlier? We just finished eating in the heat; if we had this, we could have eaten a bit more."
"There are just too many deliveries, I'm overwhelmed."
Lao Lu got up to sign for it. Xia Mian took a look; it was a vertical, oversized delivery box. Standing next to it, it reached half his height.
"What is this?" Xia Mian asked.
"A new fan," Zhou Ran said suddenly.
Xia Mian glanced at him and didn't speak.
Zhou Ran paused, turned to look at Xia Mian, and remained silent for a while.
Walking out of the tattoo shop, they hadn't gone two steps before they heard something fall behind them.
As soon as Xia Mian turned her head, she saw Zhou Ran standing behind her with a trash bag in his hand. He threw it, and the bag drew a perfect parabola in the air, landing in the bin again.
She paused, debating whether to say goodbye before leaving, when Zhou Ran had already walked up to her.
"Why are you ignoring me?" he asked.
Xia Mian looked down slightly: "I'm not ignoring you."
Zhou Ran watched her for a long time without speaking.
Xia Mian kept her head down, just as she was about to find an excuse to leave, a short, sharp laugh from Zhou Ran came from above her head.
"Ingrate."
✦✦✦