Chapter 1269 — There's Something Wrong with the Water!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Then I won't stand on ceremony — I'll just call you Xiaoyi!" Mother Chen said with a smile. "Thank you. If not for your medicine, I could never have recovered so quickly! Xiaoxi, go pour tea for our guests — what are you still standing there for?"
"Yes, Mom!" Chen Xi had grown much more at ease with Wei Zhao and Feng Xiaoxiao over the course of the afternoon, and in the bustle of coming home she had quite forgotten the tea; only her mother's reminder brought it back to her.
"Don't trouble yourself — we don't drink tea." Wei Zhao waved a hand. "I only came to see how Auntie Chen's recovery is progressing. Now that my mind is at ease, Xiaoxiao and I should be going."
"So soon? Why not stay and have dinner here tonight?" Seeing that Wei Zhao meant to leave, Mother Chen hurried to press him to stay.
"Very well, then. We'll eat together." Wei Zhao nodded. He had nothing on that evening anyway; all he needed was to keep Feng Xiaoxiao company.
He doubted the young lady would have much to say about his not coming home, so long as he was out looking after Xiaoxiao. So long as Xiaoxiao was happy, that was enough.
And Feng Xiaoxiao was indeed happy. In Chen Xi she saw a spirit of optimism, of refusing to bow, of ever climbing upward, and it lifted her own spirits as well.
"Wonderful! Xiaoxi and I will go to the kitchen and cook. Xiaoyi, you and Xiaoxiao can watch TV in the living room, all right?" Now that Wei Zhao had agreed, Auntie Chen looked especially delighted.
"No need — let us help too, it will go faster that way." Wei Zhao smiled. "Don't underestimate me. I'm quite a hand in the kitchen!"
"Haha, my husband Wei Zhao is a wonderful cook!" Feng Xiaoxiao chimed in.
Mother Chen had meant to refuse, but with both Wei Zhao and Feng Xiaoxiao saying so, she could only let Wei Zhao come into the kitchen with them.
Chen Xi washed and sorted the vegetables, Mother Chen cut the meat, Feng Xiaoxiao lent a hand, and Wei Zhao found himself with nothing to do.
"The water they're washing with..." Wei Zhao's gaze suddenly sharpened, fixing on the basin in front of Chen Xi.
"What's wrong with the water, Brother Wei Zhao?" Chen Xi was baffled.
"Let me see." Wei Zhao squeezed his way in, nudging Chen Xi aside. His body brushed against hers, and her face warmed. Yet when she stole a glance at him, he seemed not to have noticed at all, and she quietly let out a breath of relief.
How could Wei Zhao possibly know what the child was thinking? It was one thing for Ying Ziyu to harbor such thoughts — she was a hoodlum girl by upbringing — but Chen Xi, a good girl through and through? Yet though Chen Xi was a good girl, she had reached puberty all the same, and she too spun her hazy little fantasies about the opposite sex.
And Wei Zhao had done her family such a great service; it was impossible that Chen Xi felt nothing for him. Still, it was only a vague, hazy feeling, one she kept hidden deep inside, never daring to reveal it — terrified that Sister Xiaoxiao might notice and think she meant to seduce her boyfriend. That would leave Chen Xi wishing the ground would swallow her whole.
"Where does this water come from?" Wei Zhao dabbed a finger in the vegetable-washing water and put it to his tongue, then asked.
"Ah! It's just tap water. Is something the matter?" Chen Xi, pulled back from her thoughts by his question, blinked and answered hastily.
"Tap water?" Wei Zhao frowned, turned on the tap, caught a few more drops on his tongue and tasted them.
"Xiaoyi, what is it? Is there a problem with the tap water?" Seeing Wei Zhao studying the tap, Mother Chen hurried over. "Is the water quality poor? It's like that all over the old city — we've already had a purifier installed..."
"A purifier?" Wei Zhao bent down and, sure enough, found a water purifier beneath the cabinet. Without a word he shut off the valve, then took the purifier apart.