"Shuishui, which supermarket do you want to go to?" Ziyu was not sure if Shuishui wanted to buy anything.
"Let's go straight home. I went to the supermarket yesterday. I already have enough ingredients. Zilin seems to be bringing his girlfriend too, so I'll just make more. It's just a normal meal, anyway. I don't think they'll be picky." Shuishui felt that it did not matter. "But I don't know if his girlfriend will be okay with the foods."
"Zilin said that his girlfriend is not picky about anything. What's her name again?" Mu Ziyu suddenly forgot the girl's name.
Shuishui thought for a moment and said, "I think it was Wen Huijing?"
"Maybe." Mu Ziyu shrugged, indicating that he didn't really remember the girl's name and hadn't seen much of her.
"I just remembered her name. You can't even remember the name of your younger brother's girlfriend. You're an incompetent elder brother," Shuishui said, teasing Ziyu.
Ziyu smiled. "I aim to be a competent husband. I don't need to be a competent elder brother." He wasn't very familiar with Zilin's girlfriend, so there was indeed no need to treat her too well. Moreover, if she would marry into the Mu family in the future, she would become his sister-in-law.
Shuishui did not speak directly. She noticed that Ziyu was becoming more straightforward.
When they arrived home, Shuishui went to the kitchen to prepare.
Not long after, Jiang Li and Qian Anzhi returned. Shuishui thought that they went out to eat, and she did not expect that they would be home. "So early today?"
Qian Anzhi popped his head out of the kitchen door. "Sister, are you cooking? Is there enough food? If not, we can go and order food."
Shuishui looked at Qian Anzhi's head. "I just started cooking now. This should be enough. You guys wait outside. The kitchen is very smoky."
"Okay."
Shuishui was ready to make some home-cooked dishes.
Mu Zilin brought his girlfriend over. When Wen Huijing walked in, she was surprised. She didn't expect Qian Shuishui to live in such a good place. "Zilin, this is your friend's house? What about her parents?"
"It's hers. We can't talk about such things in other people's house. You don't have to ask too much. Those are private matters." Mu Zilin wasn't willing to talk about Shuishui's personal and private affairs.
Wen Huijing was a little unhappy with Zilin's response. She was offended because she felt like he didn't trust her with such information even though she was his girlfriend.
She kept quiet instead. She had always been reasonable, so she couldn't cause any trouble.
Shuishui finished cooking. She walked out and asked Qian Anzhi to clean up in the kitchen. After finalizing the dishes, she quickly went upstairs to take a shower.
Wen Huijing turned to Mu Ziyu. "Brother Ziyu, do you want to go to a concert? I have two tickets here. It's a small concert. Zilin and I have already seen it."
He took out the tickets and handed them to Mu Ziyu. Deep down, she wanted to please Mu Ziyu.
Mu Ziyu shook his head and rejected her. "No, thank you. Shuishui prefers to go to concerts and listen to traditional music. Her teacher often gives out tickets. You and Zilin can go and watch it again."
"Is that so? Anyway, Sister Qian is already in university. She will have plenty of time in the future. We can go out together some other time and go on a double date." Wen Huijing wanted to show off to her friends.
Shuishui washed up and changed into a clean set of clothes. She then went downstairs.
Shuishui smiled when she saw them. "You are now in your third year of high school. Do you still have time to go out and play? You should study harder." Shuishui felt that it would be very difficult for Mu Zilin to improve if he continued to be carefree.
Wen Huijing laughed dryly. "You should relax once in a while."
"But now, we should still focus on studying. Zilin, don't lag too far behind. It would be embarrassing if you retake third year of high school," Shuishui said in jest. Every time she saw Zilin, she could not help but tease or ridicule him. Zilin did not really care too much about the college entrance examination. His parents had high expectations of him simply because of how he did in the high school entrance examinations.
Mu Zilin shook his head. "I don't think I'm going to have to retake third year. If that happens, I'll have to deal with it."
Shuishui laughed mockingly and said, "Let's eat."
Jiang Li helped Qian Anzhi. "We have so many delicious dishes today. There's a super big bowl of boiled beef, chili stir-fried meat, and stir-fried cabbage. What's that white dish?"
"I think it's fish head tofu soup. My sister also cooked a pumpkin fish head. It looks pretty good. I'm so happy she occasionally cooks new dishes. Before, she only cooked fans. I was so fed up with it that I felt like I would vomit every time I saw fans. Things have improved when we moved here." Qian Anzhi recalled when he and Shuishui were still living in the apartment and all Shuishui prepared was fans.
Jiang Li felt that Qian Anzhi was exaggerating. He laughed and said, "Are you serious?"
Qian Anzhi tried his best to explain it to Jiang Li. "Why don't you try eating fans every day? You can mix up the dish and come up with new recipes, but you'll always use fans as the main ingredient. You're definitely going to get fed up with it. I initially thought I would be able to handle eating it so often, but I later realized that anyone can get really sick with just eating one type of food for a long period of time."
They sat down and waited for the others to take their seats.
Wen Huijing was feeling very awkward because she didn't really know the others, and she noticed that Qian Shuishui wouldn't deliberately talk to her or change the topic to make her feel welcome.
They soon talked about cosmetics, and she wanted to say something, but she decided to stay quiet whenever Shuishui spoke or said something.
Jiang Li and Qian Anzhi talked about how a lot of people those days wore heavy makeup. Shuishui said, "Why are you talking about these things with such passion? Are you planning to buy makeup for yourself?"
"No, Sister, you're a woman and you're in university now. Shouldn't you be wearing makeup?" Qian Anzhi asked Shuishui. He felt that his sister looked pretty good in makeup.
Shuishui shook her head, "I don't really like makeup, and I have no interest in famous makeup brands. I'd rather use my money to buy something useful."
"Is that so?" Qian Anzhi didn't know what else to say. His sister clearly didn't like makeup. She had very good skin, so there was no need to use makeup to conceal any imperfections.
"Sister Qian, you might need to use a bit of makeup occasionally. What brand would you choose if you do decide to buy makeup? I heard from other girls that they would prefer Korean brands," Jiang Li said.
Shuishui thought about it and shook her head. "I don't really know. Anyway, let's not talk about this. I don't understand why we're so invested in this topic."
Jiang Li and Anzhi scoffed.
They changed the topic and started talking about some movies.
Shuishui was more interested in movies than in makeup. "Wasn't there a new detective movie released recently? Do you want to watch it?"
Qian Anzhi nodded. "Let's watch it. Let's go!"
Jiang Li also nodded. "Let's go. Tomorrow is a school day, but we can have some fun today."
Shuishui looked at Mu Zilin.
Mu Zilin looked at Wen Huijing. "I'm all right with the idea. Do you want to go?"
"Sure." She couldn't refuse, even though she wanted to watch a romantic movie.
Shuishui saw that they were all willing, so she booked their tickets online. "All right. I booked six tickets and bought a six-person beverage and popcorn combo."
"Shuishui, what time is the movie?" Zilin asked Qian Shuishui.
Shuishui turned on her phone again and saw that it was still early. It was only four in the afternoon.
"Huijing wants to change her clothes. She sweated a lot this morning. After she changes her clothes, we'll go to the movie theater and look for you guys. What do you say?" Zilin wanted to send his girlfriend home first.
"Up to you," Shuishui said casually.
The others didn't care either. Since Mu Zilin already had a girlfriend, it was expected of him to take care of her. Wen Huijing continued to eat the dishes quietly. "Shuishui is so amazing. She can cook so many dishes. I probably wouldn't be able to cook any of them," she said to Zilin.
Although she came from a good family, she did not cook much. It was her mother who often cooked. Wen Huijing could only cook fried rice or noodles.
Mu Ziyu smiled and stroked Shuishui's head. "In the future, you can cook while I wash the dishes."
Shuishui laughed and said, "Wash the dishes? Actually, it's an easy chore because you can just put everything in the dishwasher." Shuishui always wore gloves when doing the dishes because the dishwashing detergent would make her skin crack and peel. She preferred to use the dishwasher because she could just turn on the switch and do other chores.
"That's true. Technology makes everything so convenient now," Mu Ziyu said.
Everyone continued to talk as they finished the dishes.
Qian Anzhi and Jiang Li looked at each other and realized how miserable they were because they were single. However, they didn't really care. They started to talk about games and school.
Suddenly, the two dogs went downstairs. Wen Huijing turned and saw them. "Wow. What a cute dog. It's a husky!"
"I remember you saying that you like dogs," Mu Zilin said to Wen Huijing.
"Yes, but we're not allowed to have dogs at home. Not even puppies. Shuishui, can I touch it?" Wen Huijing asked Shuishui, trying to show her courtesy.
Shuishui nodded. "Yes, but don't touch the other one. It doesn't like strangers, so I'm not sure how it's going to react."
"Okay."
She reached out to touch the husky's head. She had given the husky a bit of meat. Qian Anzhi quickly stopped her, but the husky was already chewing on it. He said in a loud voice, "Don't give it anything! Xiao Ha's stomach hasn't been good these days, so it can't eat such food." He reached out to grab the husky.
He pinched the husky's mouth and forcefully pulled the meat away from its teeth. "You'd better go eat your dog food," Anzhi said to the husky.
The husky cried out in despair because it lost the small piece of meat.
Wen Huijing was a little embarrassed. "Sorry. I didn't know it was on a strict diet."
Mu Zilin pulled his girlfriend over. "You shouldn't have fed it. Anzhi didn't scold you just now. He was just anxious and raised his voice out of concern."
"No, I know." Wen Huijing was shocked that Anzhi spoke too loudly. She felt like he had scolded her. She felt a bit scared. She felt embarrassed because the others had witnessed the whole scene.
They had no idea that Wen Huijing was very thin-skinned, and she simply was pretending to be fine.
Shuishui looked at the two dogs. It was clear that they had already eaten. They were probably just bored and decided to go downstairs.
That afternoon, they all went to the cinema. They already had their tickets and were waiting for Zilin and Wen Huijing. The movie was about to start, and they hadn't arrived yet. Shuishui called Zilin. "Where are you?"
"Shuishui, I'm sorry. Huijing suddenly felt sick. She said her stomach is painful. She no longer wants to go. What do you think we should do?" Zilin had no choice. When Wen Huijing returned home, she changed into different clothes and told Zilin that her stomach was painful and that she didn't want to go to the movie theater.
Zilin felt really helpless when Wen Huijing suddenly told him that she wanted to go to the zoo instead.