Winter Melon

However, Chen Qin didn't say how she planned to confess, she just shyly pushed him out of the room, saying she needed to change clothes.

"Do you need to kick me out to change clothes?" Ye Shuang stood at the door, seeming a bit helpless. Couldn't she just use the bathroom?

"Ah Qin."

After a moment, Ye Shuang knocked on the door.

"You go downstairs first." A muffled voice came from inside.

Ye Shuang was taken aback. Unbeknownst to him, on the other side of the door, Chen Qin was hugging a pillow, rolling around on the bed with a flushed face, seemingly overwhelmed with shame from her earlier boldness.

"Go down first?" Ye Shuang instinctively looked at his own palm.

The sensation of dribbling the ball seemed to linger on it.

"..."

Ye Shuang stood at the door, unable to figure out what exactly was going through Chen Qin's mind. Just then, he turned his head and noticed a golden retriever standing beside him, wagging its tail and looking up.

"Oh, Xian Dan, what are you doing?"

"Woof!"

"Then I'll go down first?" Ye Shuang didn't forget to ask the person on the other side.

"Mhm!"

Ye Shuang: "..."

Is this some newfangled way of confessing?

Whatever, I'll go down first.

Ye Shuang headed towards the elevator. Xian Dan wagged its tail and followed, even reaching out a paw to press the button for the first floor, then looked up as if seeking praise.

"Thanks." Ye Shuang rubbed Xian Dan's head. Even though this golden retriever was over ten years old, its intelligence was still quite high.

At the very least, learning to use an elevator was easy.

He had seen news before about a dog in Korea that took the bus every day to see its girlfriend several kilometers away.

So he didn't even dare to imagine what Tang Duoduo's family's big yellow dog might have been thinking before it was about to be slaughtered at the dog meat restaurant.

Thinking too deeply about many things is just cruelty to oneself.

After arriving on the first floor, Ye Shuang noticed that Chen's Father was no longer in the living room. He had most likely gone to tinker with his antiques—to be honest, Ye Shuang was also curious if Chen's Father would acquire any new items, especially since the system's functionality had been upgraded. Although it couldn't verify origins and such, distinguishing good from bad was still quite easy.

"Woof!"

Xian Dan barked and then started circling around Ye Shuang.

"What's wrong?" Ye Shuang asked.

"Woof!" Xian Dan shook its head, gesturing towards the door.

"Go out?"

"Woof!"

"Alright then, let's go out and take a look." Ye Shuang led Xian Dan outside, treating it as a short walk. Generally, walking a dog requires a leash, no matter how gentle the dog's temperament might be.

Ultimately, leashing a dog is to protect oneself. If the dog gets too excited and bites someone, regardless of compensation or anything else, the one who ends up being troubled is still the owner.

But Xian Dan didn't need one.

The entire vast estate belonged to the family. It could run around freely without any issues, and there were no outsiders.

Ye Shuang couldn't help but sigh. It just goes to show, there are differences even among dogs.

The big yellow dog at Tang Duoduo's house could be happy for half a day just from eating an ice cream.

"Let's go see Auntie." Remembering that Chen Qin said the vegetable garden was behind the house, Ye Shuang noticed a small path and walked over with Xian Dan.

Soon, he spotted a vegetable garden—also quite large, about half an acre. After all, the land behind the estate belonged to the homeowner, so they could do whatever they wanted with it. However, he didn't see a flower garden, probably not in this area.

"Hmm?"

Ye Shuang quickly spotted Bai Yuyou's figure. The girl was wearing a white dress and a straw hat, exuding a summery aura even in autumn.

She was walking unsteadily while holding a melon. Ye Shuang took a look and saw it was a winter melon.

"Ye Shuang..." Bai Yuyou's head peeked out from behind the winter melon.

"Where did you carry that winter melon from? Where's Auntie?"

"Behind." The straw hat Bai Yuyou wore was a bit crooked. She blinked, "We eat winter melon tonight."

"Hey hey, Rou Nü, be careful, don't hurt your waist." Just then, Chen's Mother emerged from the melon trellis, "Be careful."

"It's fine, I'm strong." Bai Yuyou said, but her body swayed unsteadily. The sight startled Ye Shuang, who quickly reached out to steady her.

"Let me."

Ye Shuang took the winter melon from Bai Yuyou's hands and gave it a slight heft, finding it weighed nearly thirty pounds.

"I'm surprised you could carry it." Ye Shuang remarked. With Bai Yuyou's slender arms and legs, she might not have been able to hold it steady.

"Winter melon, watermelon, pumpkin... north melon." Bai Yuyou stood beside Ye Shuang, counting on her fingers, but suddenly felt that 'north melon' sounded unfamiliar and fell into a daze.

"Ye Shuang, what is a north melon?" Bai Yuyou asked curiously.

Ye Shuang, holding the winter melon, smiled, "North melon? There's no north melon."

"Why?"

"Well, that... involves some historical reasons." Ye Shuang said, "Yuyou, do you know where the political and economic centers were mostly located in the past?"

"The Central Plains." Bai Yuyou's history was decent, so she answered.

"Right, leaning towards the north." Ye Shuang said, "So when situated in the north, melons from other regions would be referred to using east, west, and south. Since they themselves were located in the north, naturally they wouldn't use 'north' to refer to local melons.

"However, some say north melon refers to that green, elongated kind of melon, but I've never eaten it." Ye Shuang laughed.

Bai Yuyou nodded. So that's why there's no north melon.

Ye Shuang could always answer the things she didn't understand.

"Can winter melon be eaten directly?" Bai Yuyou reached out to touch the melon.

"Well." Ye Shuang couldn't help but smile, "It's better in soup. Let's make a winter melon soup."

"Xiao Shuang, how did you know we're having winter melon soup tonight?" Chen's Mother smiled from the side.

"It looks like it. Add some dried scallops, some dried shrimp, some other dried goods... delicious." Ye Shuang also said.

"You know your stuff. I'll make it for you all tonight."

After bringing Bai Yuyou and Chen's Mother back inside, Ye Shuang placed the winter melon in the kitchen. Besides the winter melon, there were quite a few other ingredients inside. There were even two refrigerators and a small cold storage room specifically for ingredients. A chef would come later to prepare everything.

Bai Yuyou also stood curiously watching the kitchen. After all, she could cook now and was quite curious about some of the unfamiliar kitchen tools here.

But as she got closer to Ye Shuang, she seemed to sense something. "Ye Shuang, where's Sister Chen Qin?"

"Upstairs changing clothes. Why?"

"Ye Shuang has Sister Chen Qin's very fragrant scent on him." Bai Yuyou said.

Hearing this, Ye Shuang pinched the girl's cheek. "What's so strange about that?"

"Did you hug just now?" Bai Yuyou asked.

Ye Shuang: "..."

We also dribbled and... handled the ball.

"Mhm." Ye Shuang didn't hide it from this child.

Bai Yuyou nodded and didn't say anything more.