Jiang Tang whipped her head around, brows furrowed together, obvious displeasure written across her face—and what she saw was a clean-cut, upright man.
The man wore a white shirt and black trousers, carrying an air of refinement about him. He looked like a fresh college graduate, especially with the books still in his hands.
This person’s temperament was vaguely similar to that scumbag Lin Pingchuan.
If it were the original owner seeing this man, he’d be the perfect “white moonlight”—a man who fit her aesthetic preferences to a T. But unfortunately, Jiang Tang had already seen too many of these refined, handsome types. In her opinion, a real man should have hard, solid muscles, broad shoulders and long legs, radiating heroic spirit—the kind that gave you an infinite sense of security.
Like that soldier brother she’d met in the train restroom yesterday.
Jiang Tang shook her head. Why was she thinking about that man again?
The refined man before her noticed the displeasure in Jiang Tang’s eyes and spoke up apologetically.
“Sorry to disturb you all. My name is Song Yuanyang. I’m sitting across from you.” Song Yuanyang gave Jiang Tang a polite smile.
Song Yuanyang hadn’t meant to laugh out loud—it was just that when Chaochao had been speaking so seriously earlier, the little one’s earnestness at such a young age formed a striking contrast with his old-soul temperament. He was quite an adorable child.
Of course, the most important thing was that Jiang Tang had raised her children very well.
Song Yuanyang held his train ticket in his hand and deliberately showed it to Jiang Tang.
Jiang Tang paid no mind to the earlier little incident. After watching Song Yuanyang sit down, she took out a red string and turned around to play cat’s cradle with Yueyue.
Song Yuanyang was very quiet after sitting down. He stored his luggage and took out the books and materials he’d brought along, reading them carefully.
During this time, Chaochao, curious about Song Yuanyang’s densely-packed books, craned his neck to take a look. Jiang Tang shook her head at him and pulled the little one back.
It was in this motion that Jiang Tang caught a glimpse of the books in front of Song Yuanyang—an English original text, along with a series of translation materials.
In this era, being able to read English? So he really was a college student after all.
As Song Yuanyang read, his brows furrowed tightly, as if there was something he couldn’t figure out. His pen tip kept circling the same spot, unable to work it through.
After watching for a few moments, Jiang Tang reminded him, “This sentence is translated wrong. A double negative should mean something affirmative.”
A casual remark, and the confusion was resolved.
Song Yuanyang suddenly looked up, staring at Jiang Tang with confusion and shock, unable to believe that this girl—who looked dirty and so young—could actually understand such complex English.
Jiang Tang had said it so casually, her face calm and natural, with no desire to take credit. After all, she was a top student of the new era—she’d fought through the single-plank bridge with thousands of troops, scored first in the province to get into a key university. So what if she knew a bit of English?
Nothing to make a fuss about.
But before Jiang Tang could even withdraw her gaze, a sharp voice suddenly came from the side.
“What would a country bumpkin like you know? Do you even know what kind of writing this is? This is English! You probably never even finished elementary school—do you even know what English is? And besides, this translation material was done by a teacher at Jing University. How could it possibly have mistakes! I think you saw Senior Song alone and deliberately said those things to seduce him! Never mind that you already have two kids, and you still can’t behave yourself!”
Jiang Tang looked up and saw two young women wearing beautiful floral dresses. They looked like college students too.
They were dressed presentably enough, but their mouths were full of filth.
“Heh.” Jiang Tang let out a cold laugh. “Just because you see a woman talking to a man, you jump to ‘seduction’? Comrade, your imagination is pretty impressive. Are you letting slip what’s really on your mind? Then you walking over here on purpose—is that to seduce a man?”
The female student speaking was clearly interested in Song Yuanyang. The way she looked at him was practically dripping with longing. Having her thoughts exposed by Jiang Tang, she was both angry and embarrassed, her face turning quite ugly.
“Lin Xiu’er, don’t get angry. We have important business to attend to.” The young woman who had come with Lin Xiu’er glanced at Jiang Tang, furrowing her brow. Her eyes carried the same disdain for Jiang Tang, but she hid it deeper than Lin Xiu’er did, not showing it at all as she patiently urged Lin Xiu’er on.
Only then did Lin Xiu’er suppress her temper. Turning to face Song Yuanyang, her tone completely changed.
“Senior Song, come over with us. We’re in the next carriage. We’ll find someone to switch seats. Since we’re all from the capital, of course we should sit together—so that no shady characters can bother you.”
Oh, wonderful. The label of “shady character” had been slapped right back onto Jiang Tang.
Song Yuanyang frowned and refused. “No need to switch seats. I’m fine sitting here.”
Lin Xiu’er wouldn’t let it go. “Senior Song, how can that be? If you sit with us, we can look out for each other…”
Lin Xiu’er and her companions stood in the aisle, chattering endlessly as they pestered Song Yuanyang. Even though Song Yuanyang had already refused several times, she still acted as if she couldn’t understand, going on and on with “Senior” this and “Senior” that, stubbornly trying to drag Song Yuanyang over to sit with them.
Jiang Tang couldn’t be bothered to listen to this clichéd, desperate drama. She lowered her head to take care of the two children.
Chaochao was very clever. The moment Lin Xiu’er appeared with her aggressive, contemptuous tone, he immediately picked up on the fact that this person was mocking his mother—just like Jiang Qinghuan back home.
Anyone who bullies Mommy is a bad person!
Chaochao’s eyes flickered, and he suddenly said to his sister, “Yueyue, let’s sing a song.”
“Brother, what song?” Yueyue looked adorably clueless, sitting between Chaochao and Jiang Tang, especially delighted.
Chaochao said, “Let’s sing the one from the gramophone. I’ll keep the beat for you.”
With that, Chaochao began clapping his little hands, keeping a steady rhythm.
Yueyue swayed her head left, then right, as if in the prelude of the song. Being twins, they didn’t even need to speak—they were perfectly in sync.
Lin Xiu’er was still pestering Song Yuanyang when she suddenly heard the clapping. Irritated, she frowned and whipped her head around to glare at Jiang Tang and her three children, about to lash out—
Just then, Yueyue began to sing.
“Oh~ Jingle bells, jingle bells~ Jingle all the way~”
With her little face still dirty, Yueyue opened her mouth, and what came out in that soft, tender voice was actually English!
English!
The original owner had loved this song and often played the record on the gramophone at home. Chaochao and Yueyue had never learned any English, let alone singing. But seeing how much their mother loved it, the two poor little things had hidden in a corner and slowly taught themselves the entire song bit by bit.
After all, they were genius twins—even without knowing English, they could perfectly mimic the melody and pronunciation.
Once Yueyue started singing, Lin Xiu’er’s face turned uglier than ugly. She had just viciously mocked Jiang Tang as a country bumpkin who pretended to understand English she didn’t know.
Yet now, even a dirty little child could sing an English song with perfect pronunciation and a soft, adorable voice.
If that wasn’t a slap right in her face, what was?
Yueyue swayed her head as she finished the entire song, then looked up at Jiang Tang with her big eyes. “Mommy, did Yueyue sing well?”
This song had been learned specifically to make her mother happy, so she wanted nothing more than her mother’s praise.
Jiang Tang smiled so wide she couldn’t close her mouth. She rubbed Yueyue’s little cheek and said, “So well! My Yueyue sings the best! Sweetheart, you’re amazing!”
It seemed her son wasn’t the only brilliant one—her little girl was just as impressive.
Jiang Tang was overjoyed. She planted a kiss on Yueyue’s cheek, and the mother and daughter hugged each other tightly~