That afternoon, Li Weijie received a call from Xia Weiwei, telling him not to wait for her in the study room but to go home directly for dinner.
Li Weijie habitually packed up his things on time at 5:30, left school and went home. Now he seemed to have forgotten about looking for a job, and instead immersed himself in the ocean of knowledge.
As soon as he entered the house, he heard the sound of "ping ping pong" coming from the kitchen door on the inside of the dining room. He walked over and looked inside. It turned out to be Xia Weiwei cooking. So he walked behind her, patted her shoulder lightly, and said, "Sister Weiwei! I'm back."
"Ah! You…"
Xia Weiwei dropped the wok in her hand and subconsciously jumped to the side. When she saw that it was Li Weijie, she gently stroked her chest with her left hand, then widened her eyes and shouted at him: "You want to scare me to death!"
Swinging the small cooking spatula in her right hand, Xia Weiwei chased after Li Weijie as if to hit him.
Of course, Li Weijie cleverly used the best of the Thirty-Six Strategies. When Xia Weiwei chased him to the restaurant door, he had already escaped back to the room, poked his head out from the crack in the door, and looked at the furious lioness with a smile.
Xia Weiwei was about to catch up and hit him hard, but suddenly she sniffed. A hint of burnt food reminded her of the pot and the food in it that she had just thrown on the stove. She exclaimed in surprise, "Oh! My food..."
As she said this, the beautiful cook in an apron screamed and rushed back to the kitchen.
Li Weijie returned to his room, put down his schoolbag, changed his clothes, washed his hands and face, and then went to the restaurant.
Just then, Xia Weiwei walked into the dining room from the kitchen carrying the plate of mushy food. It was easy to tell from her wide-open eyes that she was still angry.
Li Weijie was of course not stupid, he quickly lowered his attitude and said flatteringly: "Sister Weiwei, you have worked so hard! Hehe, I... I just... didn't mean to scare you, I was just joking with you..."
Xia Weiwei put the plate in her hand on the dining table, raised her hand and slapped Li Weijie on the head, and said unyieldingly: "You didn't mean it? You didn't mean it, why did you walk so quietly? You didn't mean it, you..."
The more she spoke, the angrier she became. She raised her hand again and tried to hit Li Weijie on the head. He immediately covered his head and ran away, begging for mercy: "Sister Weiwei, spare my life. Please be magnanimous and forgive me this time!"
"I can spare you..."
Xia Weiwei snorted coldly and said, "Well, come here first."
Watching Li Weijie move closer little by little, Xia Weiwei pointed at the dark dish on the table and said with a smile, "Eat up this dish, and I'll pretend that nothing happened just now."
"No problem, no problem..."
Li Weijie quickly agreed, and even gestured and drew, looking very funny.
"Weijie, you eat first, I'll bring out the soup."
Xia Weiwei said as she walked towards the kitchen.
Li Weijie was sitting at the dining table. He turned around and just happened to see Xia Weiwei busy in the kitchen through the half-open door, which made him feel warm in his heart.
Ever since Xia Weiwei came to his house, in addition to strictly requiring him to study, she did this and that for him, so naturally, without any worries, far-fetchedness or complaints. She turned this house that was supposed to be cold and deserted into a warm home.
Every morning, Xia Weiwei woke Li Weijie up, prepared breakfast and tutoring materials for him, prepared dinner and snacks for him almost every night, and even washed his clothes several times...
Xia Weiwei's care for Li Weijie in daily life can be described as meticulous, which has long exceeded the responsibilities that a classmate or even a friend should bear. She is more like a mother or a sister, or even a wife...
Li Weijie was stunned when he saw Xia Weiwei's slender back, until she walked out of the kitchen carrying a big bowl of soup.
Xia Weiwei sensed something strange in his eyes, but she didn't say anything and just quietly asked him to eat.
As they were chatting and eating, Li Weijie accidentally noticed that there was some redness and swelling on the back of Xia Weiwei's left hand as she was holding the bowl. His heart suddenly trembled, and he quickly put down the bowl and chopsticks in his hands and grabbed Xia Weiwei's left hand with both hands.
"ah!"
Xia Weiwei was frightened by Li Weijie's behavior and cried out softly.
Li Weijie grabbed Xia Weiwei's injured left hand and slowly brought it to his eyes. He saw that on the delicate and white back of the hand, there was a red and swollen area of skin about an inch in diameter, with a blister the size of a soybean protruding in the middle.
He raised his head and looked at the owner of the hand with some doubt.
"It's nothing. It doesn't hurt anymore. Just... just now..."
Xia Weiwei knew what he was going to ask, and before he could finish his question, she spoke first.
"Just now?"
When Li Weijie heard what Xia Weiwei hadn't finished saying, he suddenly thought of his own prank and all the things he had thought of while he was in a daze just now. His heart couldn't help but palpitate and his body trembled.
Xia Weiwei also felt his heartbeat, and seeing him holding her hands with both of his, she couldn't help but want to take her hands back. She gently twitched her left hand in his palm, but was blocked by his fingers.
Li Weijie looked into her eyes and murmured in a low voice: "Sister Weiwei, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Apart from the three words "I'm sorry", Li Weijie seemed unable to say anything else. It also seemed as if he had thousands of words to say but didn't know where to start.
I don't know what the two of them were thinking about, or if they were thinking about nothing at all. They just stared at each other.
Li Weijie seemed to suddenly think of something. He stood up abruptly, gently put her hand back on the table, and walked out of the restaurant quickly.
Before Xia Weiwei could react, Li Weijie had already returned quickly with a medicine box in his hand.
Li Weijie sat back in his seat, opened the medicine box, took out disinfectant, burn medicine, gauze bandages, adhesive plasters and other medical supplies, gently held her hand again, and carefully and softly applied medicine and bandage to her.
When the bandage was completed, Li Weijie held her hand as carefully as if it were a national treasure. He lowered his head and gently kissed the gauze wrapped around her hand. Then he raised his head and gazed into her clear eyes.
When Xia Weiwei saw Li Weijie kissing the back of her hand, her beautiful eyes became silently moist.
Although Xia Weiwei's face turned red the moment he held her hand and kissed it gently, she did not avoid Li Weijie's gaze this time, nor did she pull back her hand. She just looked at him silently.
Neither of them said a word, but they both knew very well what the other was going to say and what the other was thinking, as if words were redundant at this moment.
In the days that followed, neither of them mentioned what happened that day again, and their daily schedule and activities remained the same as before.
However, the way they looked at each other and the tone of their voices had completely changed. In fact, both of their hearts had changed, but it could also be said that they had not changed.
The only thing that both of them were sure of was that their hearts were close.