I'm in Delingha tonight

Outside the door, Chi Nian met the radiant middle-aged woman, and first looked down at her own attire.

When Xi Shan was shopping for pajamas, he forced him to make a single choice of Pikachu fleece home clothes and the same style of fluffy cotton slippers. He just got off work and hasn't recovered yet. He is not unkempt but also has a bad complexion.

Seeing him, Bai Xiaowan was also startled.The two were relatively silent for a while, and Bai Xiaowan spoke first, "Excuse me, is this Xi Shan's family?"

"Yes, yes! You are right!"

Chi Nian quickly stepped aside, caught a glimpse of the two big bags behind Bai Xiaowan, and picked them up before the other party said anything.He had been reminded by Xi Shan just now that the duvet was not very heavy, so he took it to Xi Shan's bedroom and put it next to the bed, and when he went to the living room, Bai Xiaowan had already sat down with a nervous expression.

Sprite hadn't seen her much, and thought that a stranger had invaded her territory, screaming and jumping.Chi Nian scolded, it calmed down, and walked back to the kennel unconvinced, still observing vigilantly.

Bai Xiaowan smiled gratefully at Chi Nian.

Chi Nian cleared his throat, and after three rounds of self-introduction, he finally had the courage to say a word to Bai Xiaowan: "Hi Aunt Bai, I heard Brother Xi said about you, I am..."

"Mom, here we come."

The self-introduction was interrupted unexpectedly, Chi Nian turned his head in hatred, and Xi Shan came out of the kitchen at some point.He took the rag and threw it at the dining table. After wiping the table, he nodded to Bai Xiaowan without much explanation, and pointed to Chi Nian: "This is Xiaochi, he lives here now."

"Hello." Bai Xiaowan stood up, as if she wanted to salute Chi Nian.

Chi Nian almost knelt down for her: "Don't, auntie, you can do whatever you want. I just can't find a place to live, so I'm here to disturb Brother Xi...I..."

"Anyway, we won't move out now." After Xi Shan added, he went back to the kitchen with a dishcloth in his hand, "Niannian came over to serve the dishes."

Chi Nian: "..."

He looked at Bai Xiaowan, then at Xi Shan in the kitchen, and felt that some of the rhetoric that a certain person was imagining might be intentional—no matter how rounded it was, it was too blunt, and a few words were enough for the other party to misunderstand.

Regardless of how other people ridicule her, Bai Xiaowan is Xi Shan's real mother.

Can this be said? !

He couldn't stay in the living room for long, and it happened that Xi Shan also called him.Chi Nian bowed to Bai Xiaowan apologetically, and then rushed into the kitchen at a brisk pace.Xi Shan was placing the cumin beef on a plate, when he heard Chi Nian's footsteps, he touched the edge of the plate with a shovel, and said "Mmm", motioning him to take it out first.

Gritting his teeth, Chi Nian picked up the plate, avoiding staying in the kitchen for too long to avoid deepening misunderstandings, and raced against time to get angry at Xi Shan: "It turns out that you rarely cook because your aunt is coming."

"No." Xi Shan said very naturally, "Don't be nervous, she will know you sooner or later."

"Can it be the same? I'm not prepared at all!"

"How do you prepare? Do you want to put on makeup?"

"What..." Chi Nian was stunned for a moment, speechless, and angrily stretched out his foot from the slippers, stepped on Xi Shan's instep, and vented his dissatisfaction.

"Don't forget to take your chopsticks," Xi Shan reminded.

Maybe Tao Zi is right. In Chongqing, the proportion of men who can work in the kitchen may really be higher than in other regions, and the average level is also very impressive.

I don't know who taught Xi Shan's cooking skills. Chi Nian usually only ate his cooked noodles and quick-frozen dumplings.

Even though Chi Nian was a little bit on pins and needles with Xi Shan's mother next to the three dishes and one soup with all kinds of coloring and fragrance, but in all fairness, delicious food can still make people temporarily let go of their inner anxiety.

The main ingredients of the spicy hot pot are short ribs and palm bao, stir-fried with lotus root slices, mushrooms and lettuce, the pork is firm, the palm bao is crispy, and the vegetables are full of barbecue aroma; , the meat is fresh and tender just right; dried shrimps are added to the seaweed and egg drop soup without salt to bring out the umami taste;

Chi Nian covered his mouth and silently swallowed an impolite belch.

Just as Xi Shan said, Bai Xiaowan said too little to be too silent. During the dinner, Xi Shan picked up vegetables for her, put the beef in front of her specially, and said "thank you" to Xi Shan cautiously.

They were not as polite as a mother and son, Chi Nian felt strange, but when Xi Shan said that he and Bai Xiaowan almost "cut the mat", it was inconvenient to ask directly.

After the meal, Chi Nian consciously cleaned up the dining table and prepared to wash the dishes—it was a tacit agreement between him and Xi Shan that the cooks don't wash the dishes—but just after finishing the leftovers, Xi Shan went into the kitchen and opened the dishwasher.

"I'm coming, you go out and have a rest."

Chi Nian refused: "You are already very tired from cooking, I didn't do anything, I just put these bowls away and finished."

Xi Shan insisted on taking it: "You go out first... I don't want to be alone with my mother."

Chi Nian frowned.

"She's definitely going to talk about that again. You're here, so she can't bring it up directly." Xi Shan sighed in disgust and turned to beg him, "Help me out and watch TV instead of talking to her. "

"Okay." Chi Nian agreed, and took two steps without forgetting to mention the conditions, "After this matter is over, I'm going to Danzishi for barbecue."

Xi Shan said no problem.

He agreed readily, but Chi Nianzhen walked into the living room and saw Bai Xiaowan sitting on the sofa, still a little unsure what to do.He turned on the TV as Xi Shan said, tuned to the news channel, and went to sit on the sofa on the other side. Sprite quickly jumped onto his lap, and Chi Nian simply focused on stroking the dog.

I just sat awkwardly for a while. In the not-too-large house, there was only the sound of metal clashing from time to time in the kitchen, and the narration of the news about giant pandas living in Canada.

"...It's quite cute." Bai Xiaowan said suddenly.

She speaks softly, and she can't speak the southwest dialect even after staying in Chongqing for more than 30 years, her accent retains the accent of Qinghai, making Chi Nian seem to have returned to the time of travel all at once.

Chi Nian had no choice but to respond: "Well, it's really cute."

Starting the conversation, he guessed that Bai Xiaowan might want to chat with him, and sure enough, the next moment, she asked, "How long have you lived with... Xi Shan?"

"Just less than three months." After Chi Nian finished speaking, he quickly made up for the interrupted self-introduction, "Auntie Bai, I am Brother Xi's friend, and I teach painting in Huangjueping. I have no place to live, so Brother Xi let me Come and stay in the second bedroom."

He bit the "second bedroom" hard, lest Bai Xiaowan would think about anything else.

Bai Xiaowan nodded understandingly, her inadvertent expression was quite similar to Xi Shan's: "He hasn't brought anyone home for a long time, and it's always been himself...so I'm a little surprised, don't take offense, Xiaochi."

Chi Nian said no.

Then it fell into a stalemate again, and Chi Nian heard Bai Xiaowan sigh, still softly.

"The last time he went home to live, did you quarrel?" After she finished speaking, she didn't let Chi Nian have to answer, and then said after a while, "Xi Shan has a weird personality and must have caused you a lot of trouble. He He doesn’t like to make friends very much, and he seldom talks to me, and it’s not easy to meet someone who is willing to live with him.”

Chi Nian frowned, feeling that she had something to say, but still bit the bullet and agreed: "Brother Xi is very nice."

Bai Xiaowan looked at him, those eyes that looked like Xi Shan were very gentle.

"...I came here today mainly because of his father's affairs. Unfortunately, Xi Shan probably doesn't want to hear about it."

Just as he was nearing the kitchen door after wiping his hands, Xi Shan stopped involuntarily when he heard these words.As he approached the wall, he couldn't guess whether Bai Xiaowan was talking to him on purpose, or if he was just chatting with Chi Nian.

She likes Chi Nian very much, Xi Shan can tell, and Chi Nian is lively and innocent, even if he doesn't do anything, he can quickly get closer to people.It's true that Bai Xiaowan doesn't talk much, Xi Shan was also very surprised that she was able to chat with Chi Nian, but when he mentioned Xi Dongyang, he had to be extra careful.

Xi Dongyang is his psychological shadow, no matter whether he lives or dies in the future, Xi Shan doesn't want Chi Nian to be involved in matters related to that person, otherwise even if Bai Xiaowan is his own mother, he will turn his face on the spot.

In the living room, Chi Nian said hesitantly: "Brother Xi hasn't told me about the situation at home, I think... I can't care about it either. Auntie, if you have anything to discuss, just discuss it."

Bai Xiaowan didn't seem to hear Chi Nian's words: "Xi Shan's father has advanced rectal cancer."

Xi Shan lowered his eyes, opened and clenched his fingers.

It's retribution, he thought, he was mentally prepared, but when he heard the news of the diagnosis from Bai Xiaowan, Xi Shan was still dazzled for a moment.He pursed his lips, and there was almost no blood on his face.

But so what?

"You also know that once this kind of advanced stage, it is actually procrastinating... Originally, Xi Shan's father was considered to be in good condition, but now he is completely dragged down by this disease, and the family borrows money everywhere." After Bai Xiaowan finished speaking, that was all. , She took a sip of water and turned her attention back to the TV screen.

The topic was skipped, and Chi Nian couldn't respond well, so he had to watch TV with him.

At this time, Xi Shan sneaked into the bedroom without making a sound, without meeting his mother's eyes.

In the afternoon, Bai Xiaowan left after not staying long. Before leaving, she told Xi Shan to "put on a new duvet", "keep warm in winter", "get along well with Xiaochi", stepped out of the house with one foot, and couldn't help but add .

"Xiaochi's family is not in Chongqing. During the holidays, you should bring them something to eat."

"Oh." Xi Shan said flatly, "Be careful on the road."

After closing the door, Chi Nian let out a long breath, relaxed his whole body, and slid down against the wall limply.After being caught by Xi Shan, Chi Nian couldn't help attacking him after regaining his footing: "I'm exhausted!"

"Go to Tanzishi for barbecue tomorrow," Xi Shan said.

Chi Nian took two steps, but he was full of doubts: "Auntie came here today just to deliver the quilt?"

"what?"

"She told me about my uncle..." Chi Nian observed Xi Shan's expression, but didn't see any abnormality for the time being, only felt a little intense emotion in his eyes, and he breathed a sigh of relief, "But, if you don't want to say it, forget it Auntie should, and didn't ask you to borrow money...By the way, she mentioned that you have a loan, what's going on?"

"Well, it's not much, six or seven thousand a month." Xi Shan stretched his waist and went to the living room, "It's just a little leftover, and the pressure is not too great, so I don't bother to pay it off at once."

Chi Nian was speechless: "Six or seven thousand is not much..."

Xi Shan sat on the sofa, took a sip of the lemon tea that Chi Nian had drunk, and smiled at him.

"Why, do you want to pay me back?"