Chapter 19: 10.1

Qiao Mu’s house was very elegant. From the yard one could tell that the owner put in a lot of effort. In the same four corner courtyard, Xu Youyou’s house only planted a simple grapefruit tree and placed a bench and table beneath it. But Qiao Mu’s yard was meticulously decorated Her eyesight was filled with flowers and grass, and delicate rockery. It was as if she stepped into a Suzhou garden* which she had seen in dramas.  

White cobblestone lined a winding path from the yard’s entrance to the main house which was lit up by lanterns. Xu Youyou raised her umbrella walking infront as if the drops of rain just passed right through her body.  

Qiao Mu quickly walked through the courtyard and into the main house and closed the umbrella. When he saw the girl had walked halfway and remained frozen, he felt it was a bit weird:  “Why are you standing there?”

Xu Youyou laughed as she raised her gaze, her eyes reflected the main house’s yellow light: “I like your yard.”

“You don’t need to sand in the rain to admire it. Aren’t you cold?” Qiao Mu asked. 

If he didn’t worry about Xu Youyou’s weird sickness of fearing the cold, he would not have brought Xu Youyou back to his house. 

Xu Youyou made a “oh” sound and ran over. 

“Take off your shoes.” Qiao Mu used one hand to remove his shoes and the other to take the umbrella in Xu Youyou’s hand. He closed the umbrella and placed it in the corner of the wall with the other umbrella. 

“Mumu, who arrived?” Grandmother Qiao heard their movement and came out from the kitchen. 

“Hello Grandmother.” Xu Youyou smiled and waved at Grandmother Qiao.

“Hello. Mumu, is this your classmate?” Grandmother Qiao looked towards Xu Youyou and without recognition and a sense of unfamiliarity. 

Xu Youyou was shocked and unconsciously looked towards Qiao Mu. 

“Yes, she is my classmate. Her name is Xu Youyou.” Qiao Mu turned to look at Xu Youyou and his expression carried a bit of worry. “Classmate Xu Youyou, this is my grandmother.”

“Hello Grandmother, I’m Xu Youyou. The “You” is from grapefruit. Because it started raining, I’ve come to your house to seek shelter from the rain.” Xu Youyou did ask the thoughts running through her mind. 

“Welcome, welcome. You came just in time, I just finished cooking. Youyou, right? Why don’t you stay and eat with us?” Grandmother Qiao excitedly invited. 

“Um……” Xu Youyou looked at Qiao Mu. 

“If you don’t look down on the food…”

“No I don’t. How could I? Thank you Grandmother” Xu Youyou accepted the invitation. 

If she returned to the main road, she and Madam Li would just be having takeout. Between home cooked food and takeout, every normal person would know what to pick. 

“Good, Mumu be a good host to your classmate. I’ll go make another dish.” This was Qiao Mu’s first time bringing home a classmate and it was a pretty female classmate. Grandmother Qiao of course had to help her grandson. 

In the main room, there was only the two of them left. Although Xu Youyou thought it was weird that Grandmother Qiao did not recognize her, she did not ask about it: “Then I’ll send my mom a WeChat message and tell her I’m not coming back for dinner.”

Xu Youyou pulled out her phone and quickly wrote a text to send to Madam Li.

“My grandmother’s state is not the best. Sometimes she is a her memory gets blurred. This morning……as long as she sleeps she will recover back to normal. So she does not remember what happened this warning.” Qiao Mu explained.

“Oh” Xu Youyou did not expect that Qiao Mu would take the initiative to explain and she didn’t know how to respond. 

“So……this morning’s event, can you……”

“Don’t worry, I won’t bring it up.” Xu Youyou said. 

“Thank you.” Qiao Mu paused and then said, “Also don’t mention me playing Weiqi.”

“Did you start learning Weiqi when you were young? Why can’t we mention it?” Xu Youyou was surprised. 

Qiao Mu’s brows furrowed and an expression of not wanting to continue the conversation grew on his face. 

“Okay.” Xu Youyou responded. 

“Thanks.”

Qiao Mu brought Xu Youyou to the dining room and went to the kitchen to help Grandmother serve the dishes. Soon after the three were eating steaming hot food. It was the first time Xu Youyou ate home cooked food since she came back from abroad. . 

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Xu Youyou’s mother was only slightly better than Xu Youyou who only know how to make ramen and toast. Madam Li would stir fry some vegetables and make egg and tomato. However, the taste was only okay. Despite coming back from abroad a while ago, Xu Youyou’s three meals relied on takeout. It was good that mainland food was significantly better than food abroad, even if it was takeout. But compared to Grandmother Qiao’s cooking skills, there was a large gap. 

“Grandmother, the food is delicious. No wonder Qiao Mu is this fat. If I could eat food like this everyday, it would also be worth it to get fat.”

“……” Qiao Mu. 

“Eat slowly. Look at you, this is just typical home cooked dishes. If you really like them that much, come over more often.” Grandmother Qiao’s eyes brightened with the praise. She loved excitement, her own grandson was very filial, but his personality was too quiet. 

“Then you must have Qiao Mu invite me, otherwise I would feel bad.” Xu Youyou took advantage. 

Qiao Mu could not believe it and looked at Xu Youyou. Did people who come back from abroad not know common quest courtesy?

“Good, good, good. Qiao Mu, in the future, invite Youyou over to eat.” Grandmother Qiao said “good” three times. Ever since she started eating, the smile never left her face. 

Seeing his grandmother this happy, Qiao Mu didn’t say anything and just nodded his head with a sound of acknowledgement. 

“Here, have a bowl of soup” Grandmother Qiao held out a bowl of spare rib soup to Xu Youyou. 

“Thank you Grandmother.” Xu Youyou received it and took a sip, “Oh right, Grandmother. Did you decorate the yard?
“Yes”

“You are very impressive, this is my first time seeing such a beautiful courtyard. It is like those on TV.”

“Look at you, I just randomly decorate when I’m bored.”

“Grandmother, your clothes are also really pretty. It is very elegant.”

“What elegance? I’ve been wearing this for years.”

“Grandmother, your figure hasn’t changed one bit over the years. That’s very impressive……”

Qiao Mu looked down and pushed his food around, silently watching Xu Youyou praise his grandmother till she was laughing aloud. This meal’s laughter was more than the whole half a year combined. If those didn’t know, they would have thought he was the guest receiving food.

“You child, your mouth is so sweet and you look so pretty.” Grandmother Qiao praised. 

Sweet mouth, Xu Youyou could guess what it means, but what did you look pretty** mean?

After eating, the rain had stopped. Grandmother Qiao had Qiao Mu send Xu Youyou home. 

On the way, Xu Youyou could not help but ask: “Grandmother said I look pretty, is that a compliment saying I am good looking?”

Although she did not know the detailed meaning of the word, she could make the inference that it was a compliment. 

Qiao Mu was stunned and looked at the girl, how should he answer?

“Does it mean I am good looking?” Xu Youyou saw that Qiao Mu didn’t respond and could not help but ask again. 

“Yes” Qiao Mu couldn’t resist and gloomily made a sound of acknowledgement. Although he was just confirming what his grandmother had said, the way Xu Youyou phrased it made it seem as if he was the one praising Xu Youyou that she looked pretty. 

“I was born lucky” Xu Youyou quickly was filled with satisfaction. 

Qiao Mu glanced at her and could not resist: “Does everyone who grows up abroad have so much self confidence?”

“Is self confidence bad?” Xu Youyou responded.

“……” He overestimated Xu Youyou’s Chinese skills, it was obvious his sarcastic retort flew over her head. 

—————————Translator’s Note —————————

* Suzhou and Hangzhou are sometimes referred to heaven on Earth due to their beautiful natural scenery. 上有天堂 下有苏杭 – “Above the sky is heavem and below is Suzhou and Hangzhou”

** I’m not honestly sure why she would not know the the character “pretty” 俊. But possibly abroad she probably would have only learned 漂亮 (piào liang) “pretty” or 帅 (shuài) “handsome” which are the basic terms. 

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