After changing into her altered clothing, Liu Duo instantly felt a lot cooler. She couldn’t figure out how the people there could withstand the heat wearing long sleeves.
She used a handmade fan to cool herself as she made her way downstairs.
“Duo Er, do you want some water?” Ye Ling asked.
Liu Duo had dashed upstairs right after coming home. She hadn’t had time to drink.
She nodded. Indeed, she was very thirsty. It was summer – a time when people dehydrated rapidly, so she knew she ought to drink more water.
“Yang, Ling, why don’t you take off your long-sleeved shirts? Don’t you feel hot?” Liu Duo didn’t understand why Ye Yang and the men would wear their vests when working on the farm but not when they were at home.
She couldn’t make sense of it.
It was unbearably hot wearing long sleeves!
Ye Ling blushed and shook his head, “A little rest will do.”
He was shy to bare his arms in front of her.
Ye Yang didn’t say anything as he took off his shirt without a second thought. It was truly hot, and he was at home, where no outsider would bother him, so he needn’t bother with customs.
And so Liu Duo immediately whistled at him as she tilted her head and coaxed Ye Ling, “See, Ling. You should learn from your eldest brother. This is the most direct way to cope with the heat. Just take it all off! You’ll feel hot again after taking a rest anyway, because you wear too many layers!
As Ye Liu served the freshly-cooked vegetables from the kitchen, he overheard Liu Duo talking. He laughed in response, “Little Duo, I do feel that it’s hot, even just wearing a vest. A good idea would be to take everything off! Much cooler that way! What do you think?”
Ye Ling’s face reddened so quickly that blood could have almost spilled out! This brother was overdoing it with his excitable speech! He had no sense of decency!
Even Ye Yang couldn’t hold up his aloofness as a small crack of a smile emerged while his mouth twitched.
Liu Duo rolled her eyes at Ye Liu. Taking everything off was his solution?
Once again, he was up to no good and assumed she didn’t know.
“Take it off, why don’t you? You’re in the kitchen anyway, and I bet it’s hot in there,” Liu Duo talked back.
“Sure thing, Little Duo. Why don’t you help me?” With that, he placed the dishes on the table and wandered in front of Liu Duo, encouraging her to help him out of his clothes.
Oh, how she’d love to smack him!
And she really felt like punching him – not once, but twice!
It wasn’t just a feeling, for she really did it! It was two soft, gentle punches, and it felt like she was helping him with an itch. “Get on with your cooking, don’t make us wait!”
This meant she was hungry, and Ye Liu didn’t care if she was lying, as he too stopped joking around, “Just wait a moment, Little Duo. Coming right up!”
And so he returned to the kitchen and got to work on the last dish and soup. He wouldn’t want Liu Duo to wait long.
Liu Duo had long gotten used to his temporary switches between serious and playful moods. It was actually quite sweet, because he would get down to serious business anytime she gave the command.
When they started their lunch, Ye Liu and Ye Mo had gotten rid of their long sleeves and were wearing only vests.
Ye Ling wouldn’t do it, and Liu Duo wouldn’t force him, as she occasionally helped keep him to cool off using a fan in her left hand.
“Little Mo, could you tell Li Wazi later that he and his family are invited to a potluck at our house tomorrow? I’ll inform Aunt Ye,” said Ye Liu.
Ye Mo nodded, “Sure.”
And then he said to Liu Duo, “Little Duo, Ran Er won’t be at home tomorrow, so why don’t we bring some food over to him so that he can celebrate your birthday too, albeit differently. The teacher should allow it this time.”
Liu Ran had gone to the boarding school, and although he could have meat once every three days, Liu Duo felt the food there wouldn’t provide a diet as sufficient as home-cooked food.
So she had brought lunch to him almost every day, and the teacher would turn her away every time.
