CHAPTER 306: CHAPTER 298: QIQI’S INDIRECT KISS

Later, Sisi learned from Mr. Yun that the Mo Family was a prominent clan in Guangzhou during the Republic of China era, well-known throughout Guangdong, not for their wealth but for their talents.

Indeed, the Mo Family produced many talented individuals, excelling in music, chess, calligraphy, poetry, painting, songwriting, and sculpture, all at the top of their fields.

Mo Liu’s grandfather, Mou Ming, was renowned for his painting. Notable officials and nobles all loved to collect his paintings of cows and gold bar; many people would queue up to buy them.

The Mo Family was wise. Before the chaos of war even began, they foresaw what was coming and sold most of their family assets, moving to settle in Hong Kong, except for Mou Ming’s branch due to his father’s frail health and their status as a concubine branch, they stayed behind.

After Mou Ming’s father passed away from illness, war broke out. Mou Ming himself was quite clever; even before the Japanese entered Guangzhou City, he had already disposed of his family’s wealth, leaving nothing behind.

Later, somehow, Mou Ming met Mr. Yun and under his persuasion, joined the Communist Party, becoming an excellent aide to Mr. Yun. Mou Ming, being a free-spirited, nonchalant, and uninhibited man who could engage anyone in conversation, from high-ranking officials to the common folk, proved extremely helpful to Mr. Yun during that period by gathering many crucial pieces of information.

Because of Mou Ming’s illustrious history and Mr. Yun’s protection, Mou Ming did not suffer much during the ten years of turmoil and lived quite comfortably.

According to Mo Liu, his grandfather is becoming more mischievous by the day, causing a lot of headaches for his father.

For instance, secretly killing chickens raised by his father for his grandmother to make soup, just because he couldn’t paint chickens as well as his father; and catching fish raised by his uncle for his grandmother to steam, too, because he couldn’t paint fish as well as his uncle,...

Although she has never met the interesting old man Mou Ming, Sisi has taken a fond liking toward Mo Liu’s grandfather; she imagines having such a playful elderly figure at home would make it lively every day.

In the blink of an eye, it has been almost two months since the school year started. The Old Man and Granny Zhao came to Beijing right after Qingming and have settled into their own residence, spending their days playing chess, chatting, practicing boxing with old friends, while Granny Zhao tends to the garden, chatting with her old sisters, leading a very comfortable life.

Sisi has also moved back to live with the Old Man, though she often stays at Yun Mansion too, helping Mr. Yun with cooking and making desserts. As for Xinhua Tian, he is still living in Yun Mansion, not having moved back with the Old Man.

The Old Man always says, "A day as a teacher is a father for life, you are fortunate to have been taught by Mr. Yun, so you should treat him as your own grandfather, honoring him. Since Mr. Yun has no children, you must take good care of him. After Mr. Yun passes away, you should also take responsibility for his funeral and burial."

The older generation places great importance on the term ’master,’ especially considering how dedicated Mr. Yun was in teaching Xinhua Tian. The Tian Family is extremely grateful to Mr. Yun, and these words also reflect what Bajin Tian and Man Mu Tian truly feel; they even think that Xinhua Tian should prioritize Mr. Yun over them!

Though Sisi and Xinhua Tian do not often come home, the Old Man’s house is still very lively, with Shouhua Tian, Anping Zhong, Weiwen Hu, Qiqi Liu often coming over to eat, especially on weekends.

Granny Zhao, feeling sorry for these kids who get subpar meals at school, frequently sends Shouhua Tian to invite these children home for a hearty meal to improve their diet.

And Zhuge Yun, whom He Xuewen greatly admired, had also dined at his home several times. The Old Man also liked this young man a lot, especially the calm and composed demeanor of Zhuge Yun, which the Old Man deeply appreciated. He secretly instructed Granny Zhao to take extra care of this young man when possible.

Granny Zhao naturally agreed happily, as she genuinely cared for Zhuge Yun. Despite being a college student, he didn’t have a decent outfit or shoes and wore the same old clothes every day.

It was later that Granny Zhao found out that Zhuge Yun’s father had passed away early, and his mother had remarried. He was raised by his grandparents, and every month Zhuge Yun would save 10 yuan to send back to his elderly grandparents, managing only on a meal budget of 9.5 yuan himself. Granny Zhao felt even more sympathy for him.

She adjusted some old clothes of the Old Man’s for Zhuge Yun; she didn’t make new ones, fearing it might upset him, so she just altered old ones. Although they were old, they were still much better compared to the clothes he wore.

When Zhuge Yun received these clothes, his eyes teared up a bit. Looking at Granny Zhao’s kind and grandmotherly smiling face, he sincerely bowed deeply, keeping in mind all those who had helped him, merely hoping that one day he might have a chance to repay them!

Sisi also had a few meals with Zhuge Yun, who was consistently courteous and polite to her, always with a genuine smile, calling her Ah Nan just like Hu Weiwen and the others did.

Liu Qiqi was quite familiar with Zhuge Yun as they were classmates. They had formed a bond since they started school together, and due to Liu Qiqi’s chivalrous nature, she often tried to help this financially struggling classmate, like with slices of pork fat.

"Sisi, you don’t know, Zhuge Yun only eats dry rice with boiled greens at every meal, not a bit of oil, how can his body take it? It’s unbearable to watch."

"What can we do then? It’s not good for us to help too obviously!"

"Yeah, later I figured out a way. I said I didn’t like to eat fat meat, and gave it all to him to eat."

Qiqi said this quite proudly, feeling she was very clever to have come up with such a good solution.

Just then, it hadn’t been long since Chang Yunhuan’s "indirect kiss" incident and upon hearing about the pork fat, Sisi subconsciously thought of indirect kisses, her mind hastily painted a picture of Liu Qiqi and Zhuge Yun puckering up intensely and kissing, and she couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Liu Qiqi was annoyed. She knew she had been too kind to Zhuge Yun; even her big cousin Hu Weiwen had told her to maintain some girlish reserve and keep a distance from male classmates.

But she just couldn’t help it. Every time she saw Zhuge Yun eating those oil-less dishes, her heart ached and she wanted to help him, not understanding why she felt this way.

Sisi: Girl, you’ve fallen for this man!

"Why are you laughing? I was just thinking that since we came to school together, I couldn’t bear not to help him," Qiqi said, feeling embarrassed and annoyed.

Sisi controlled her laughter, seeing Qiqi’s cheeks blush like peach blossoms, sighed, and wondered how Qiqi could have fallen for a boy like Zhuge Yun?