After being reborn, I raised my childhood sweetheart.

Chapter 21 We're good friends, right?

Upon hearing Xia Ke's ingenious idea, Lin Yueyao froze on the spot for several seconds, then panicked and waved her hands frantically, saying:
"No, no, that won't do!"

"Why not?"

"Because, because..."

Lin Yueyao twirled her fingers, and finally muttered, "Because Xu Yuan's father is very rich."

Xu Yuan could tell what the child was thinking at a glance. She felt that Xu Yuan's father, Xu Jingguang, looked down on her mother, so she denied the possibility herself.

In psychology, this behavior is called defensive pessimism. It involves pre-setting a worst-case scenario so that you are mentally prepared when the outcome comes out, and you don't suffer too much disappointment.

In fact, this psychological defense mechanism is a manifestation of inner inferiority. The feeling of unworthiness is too strong, so one dares not hope for a happy life.

Xu Yuan needs to help her break free from this perception:

"I don't think...it has anything to do with whether you have money or not, right?"

Xia Ke nodded, "There are fairy tales about princes and Cinderella on TV too."

"So, that's a fairy tale."

Lin Yueyao's mind was always focused on practical matters, but Xia Ke retorted, "Didn't the young master also become friends with us?"

"Because...because Xu Yuan is a good person!"

Don't give me the "friend zone" card, you brat!

"What you're saying... My dad isn't a bad person, is he...?"

Xu Yuan stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "Speaking of which, Aunt Lin Jing is a great cook and very beautiful. I'd be quite happy if she could be my mother..."

"Look, look, even the young master has approved!"

Xia Ke linked arms with Lin Yueyao, "I think it really has a chance!"

Lin Yueyao didn't know whether she should be happy or express something. Her originally tense face broke into a smile, but she quickly calmed down afterward.

"But...but Uncle has another aunt he's dating, right?"

Lin Yueyao had met He Xiaona before. He Xiaona was skilled in makeup and dressing up, and her outward appearance was indeed that of a sophisticated urban woman. "That aunt is much prettier than my mother."

If your mother dresses up properly, she's definitely not bad-looking.

"That aunt is just my dad's old classmate; they are not dating."

Xu Yuan said, "However, to be honest, my dad probably isn't thinking about finding a wife yet, so please don't bring that up in front of him."

In front of his children, Xu Yuan portrays his father, Xu Jingguang, as a devoted and affectionate man who has not found a new wife because he cannot let go of his deceased wife.

And that's actually true; it's not an exaggeration.

"Yes, after all, the young master's mother only passed away the year before last."

Xia Ke said to Lin Yueyao, "This is quite different from your father's situation. You were born without ever seeing your father."

"..."

Stop hurting my feelings, Xia Ke, you little devil!
Seeing Lin Yueyao's drooping head, Xu Yuan felt both sorry for her and amused.

Xu Yuan didn't want to interfere much in his father's love life; he believed his parents had their own happiness.

However, He Xiaona is a special case. After all, Xu Yuan has an information gap, and she is indeed a spendthrift woman, so there is no need to let her continue like this.

Besides, dating and marriage are two different things, and Xu Yuan doesn't care about dating.

But when it comes to marriage, he still needs to assess his mother's overall qualities and moral standards.

Xu Yuan led the children home, and as soon as they entered the yard, they saw wisps of smoke rising from the direction of the kitchen.

It's really heartwarming to have someone cooking for you as soon as you get back.

"Aunt Lin, I'm back!"

Lin Jing was busy washing vegetables at the moment: "Ah, Yuanyuan is back... The rice is still cooking. Your dad will be back later today. Yuanyuan, do your homework first when you get back."

"it is good."

As soon as Xu Yuan finished speaking, the two little ones peeked out from behind him:

"Mother."

Hello, Aunt Lin!

"Hey, what are you two doing here?"

Seeing Xia Ke and Lin Yueyao's helplessness, Lin Jing gently patted Lin Yueyao's head and patiently instructed, "You can't come to play with Yuanyuan every day, it will cause him trouble."

"It's okay, I'm the one who called them."

Xu Yuan put down his schoolbag. "I want to do my homework with them."

"Oh, so that's it..."

Lin Jing had previously heard Xu Jingguang say that Xu Yuan's personality had become very withdrawn because of his mother's death. He hadn't made any friends in elementary school and had always been lonely.

So now that I've made some friends, the novelty hasn't worn off yet, so of course I want to get closer to them.

fair enough……

Therefore, Lin Jing didn't think much of it, wiped the water stains off her hands, and said with a smile:
"Please have a seat, Auntie will cut some fruit for you."

Lin Jing hesitated for a moment after speaking, because this fruit was originally prepared specifically for Xu Yuan.

It's only natural to entertain guests, but since my daughter was among them, and I was pondering whether I should avoid any appearance of impropriety, Xu Yuan proactively offered to speak:
"Auntie, please cut up that watermelon. There are so many of us who need to eat it, and it will spoil if we leave it out for a while."

"Oh, okay then—"

"There's watermelon to eat! It's so nice to come home with the young master!"

Xia Ke was happily anticipating the watermelon when Lin Yueyao stood in front of her with her hands on her hips. "Xia Ke, you should focus on your homework first. Otherwise, if you go home and haven't finished your homework, your dad will scold you and won't let you come to Xu Yuan's house anymore."

"Ah... okay!"

Aside from her understanding of animation, academics is currently the only area where Lin Yueyao demonstrates strength.

It seems that although Lin Yueyao is only in the second grade of elementary school, she has already shown the qualities of an excellent student.

The three children found it inconvenient to do their homework on the sofa in the living room, so they all brought out small stools and did their homework while leaning over the coffee table.

Although the homework consisted of simple elementary arithmetic operations and writing characters, the two students' learning attitudes differed greatly.

Lin Yueyao was meticulous when doing her homework, completely immersed in the ocean of knowledge.

Xia Ke would sometimes scratch her head, sometimes start counting on her fingers, sometimes bite the end of her pencil, sometimes doodle in her notebook, and sometimes run over to check on Xu Yuan's homework. Seeing Xu Yuan's rapid-fire math problems, Xia Ke was utterly astonished.

"Young Master, did you just fill in the numbers randomly? How come you can finish the math problems so quickly?"

"It's not that simple, anyone with hands can do it."

"I don't believe it." Xia Ke shook her head, took Xu Yuan's math workbook, and handed it to Lin Yueyao who was standing next to her.
"Yueyao, look how fast he finishes his homework. Do you think he's just scribbling it down?"

Can't you understand it yourself?
Lin Yueyao took Xu Yuan's arithmetic workbook and carefully checked it over, a look of surprise on her face: "All, all correct..."

"See? I told you I didn't fill it in randomly."

"Young Master's family is so rich, how come he's also so good at studying!"

Xia Ke's face was full of shock. "I was thinking that I could help the young master with his homework when we did it together. It seems that I won't have a chance to use my skills."

Lin Yueyao rolled her eyes at Xia Ke, which was quite rare for her. She was truly speechless at Xia Ke's words. She then looked at the homework that Xu Yuan had written earlier.

"The students in the audio-visual education class are learning the courses much faster than us..."

"No, I didn't listen in class. These questions are very easy for me."

Xu Yuan finished his homework in just a few minutes, and Lin Jing just happened to bring up the watermelon.

"Time to eat watermelon!"

Xia Ke excitedly took a small piece of watermelon, but instead of putting it directly into her mouth, she respectfully handed it to Xu Yuan.

"Young Master, please eat first!"

"Thank you."

"That's great, I've helped the young master again."

Xia Ke said smugly, "Young Master will soon be inseparable from me."

"You have to brag about something as small as taking a watermelon..."

Actually, many kids are like that; they're willing to do anything except homework.

Xu Yuan once saw a video online of a chef who made a child practice flipping woks in the kitchen to show him how hard work is when the child didn't do his homework. As a result, the child became an internet celebrity.

In contrast, Lin Yueyao was completely focused, busy doing vertical calculations and writing her math problems on the draft paper.

"Yueyao, aren't you going to eat watermelon?"

Xia Ke asked, "This watermelon has no seeds, it's so sweet, it's a high-quality watermelon, it's crisp and delicious."

"I want to finish my homework before I eat..."

Xu Yuan then spoke up, "The watermelon won't taste good by the time we finish writing, let's eat the watermelon first."

"..."

"If you don't eat, I'll feed you."

Because it was Xu Yuan who was persuading her this time, and Xu Yuan even brought the watermelon to her in a very forceful tone, Lin Yueyao didn't dare to object.

"I...I'll eat..."

Lin Yueyao took the watermelon from Xu Yuan and took a small bite.

"good to eat."

Seeing that she seemed a little absent-minded while speaking, Xu Yuan asked, "Are you unhappy? Do you feel wronged?"

Lin Yueyao quickly waved her hands and shook her head, saying, "No, no, that's not true!"

Originally, her strongest area was studying, and she thought that doing homework together would help Xu Yuan. However, she found that her learning ability was far superior to Xu Yuan's, so she was a little disappointed.

In other words, the sentence Xia Ke uttered when Lin Yueyao rolled her eyes at her was exactly what Lin Yueyao was thinking.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have reacted so strongly.

Xia Ke finishes her homework quickly because there isn't much to fill in, but she doesn't do it carefully because "Let's & Go!!" will start airing at five o'clock, so she wants to finish as soon as possible.

"Alright, I'm done. Yueyao, how much more do you need to do?"

"I'm almost done. I just need to preview these new words."

"..."

Lin Yueyao glanced at Xia Ke, who was staring at her expectantly, and said, "You guys watch the cartoon first, it won't bother me."

"it is good!"

Xia Ke quickly picked up the remote control, turned on the living room TV, and switched the channel to Southeast TV.

In those days, local TV stations would broadcast a lot of dubbed cartoons to boost ratings, so children didn't have to choose only the children's/military programs on CCTV-7.

While Xia Ke was engrossed in watching TV, Xu Yuan moved closer to Lin Yueyao.

"Yueyao, your handwriting is very beautiful."

"Hmm... not bad."

Lin Yueyao's voice carried a hint of joy, "I'm the class's Chinese language study committee member."

Wow, I didn't know you were so talented... No wonder your handwriting is so beautiful!

Xu Yuan tried to use the child psychology knowledge he learned from the computer to encourage Lin Yueyao, praising her until she blushed.

"By the way, Yueyao...we're good friends, we should help each other, right?"

"Um...yes, yes."

Actually, I hope you can do me a favor.

Lin Yueyao put down her pen, looked at Xu Yuan excitedly, and nodded vigorously, "Okay!"

Hey... I didn't even say what kind of help I was going to give, aren't you afraid I'll sell you off...?

Xu Yuan tugged at his bangs. "Actually, although I'm good at math, my Chinese isn't very good. My handwriting is terrible, and I often lose points because of that."

"So, I was thinking, could you be my Chinese tutor and help me with my homework?"

He whispered in Lin Yueyao's ear, "I will definitely repay you."

　Surprise update! One chapter is being released early today! Another chapter will be released at 12 noon.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)