Li Xiao dished out a small bowl of rice and explained, "This is my student, Shen Yuan, he lives downstairs."
After speaking, Li Xiao looked at Shen Yuan again: "Shen Yuan, this is my younger sister, Li Meng."
"Hello."
Shen Yuan nodded and raised his hand to greet.
However, although the two were sisters, their personalities were completely different.
Li Meng responded with a faint "Oh." Even knowing he was her sister's student, her expression remained cold, and her eyes maintained a defensive posture.
The atmosphere changed, and Shen Yuan also became a bit more reserved. He waited until Li Meng had washed her hands and sat down before picking up his chopsticks to get food.
It was their first meeting, and he didn't want to leave a frivolous impression on the Counselor's sister.
He just didn't expect that the two sisters' personalities were truly vastly different. During the meal, Li Xiao asked Li Meng a few questions, mostly about work, but Li Meng only responded faintly to her sister.
One was warm and considerate, while the other was cold and indifferent.
Crucially, Li Meng was constantly wary of Shen Yuan, glaring at him a few times while eating in small bites, her eyes like a protective mother beast.
?
"Aside from being a bit close when I just untied her apron, I don't think I did anything to your sister, did I?"
Shen Yuan muttered inwardly.
Being guarded against like this wasn't a pleasant feeling, and even with Shen Yuan's thick skin, he couldn't sit there anymore.
He usually ate two bowls of rice, but today he only ate one before putting down his bowl and chopsticks: "Counselor, I'm full. I'll head home first. You two take your time."
"Only ate that much? There's still a lot of rice in the rice cooker."
Li Xiao looked up, surprised, and glanced at him.
"I eat little; one bowl is enough. I'll be going now. See you at school!"
"Okay, be careful when you go downstairs."
Li Xiao got up to see him off, and after seeing Shen Yuan go downstairs, she closed the door and sat back at the dining table, scolding, "What were you doing just now? Why do you keep looking at my student like that?"
"He has ill intentions," Li Meng said coldly.
"What nonsense are you talking about? He's just my student."
"Believe it or not, him coming to your house alone late at night definitely means he has no good intentions, and the way he looks at you isn't right either."
Li Meng was a flight attendant, and she encountered all sorts of men on planes every day. She trusted her judgment of men very much.
Some men looked proper but would secretly glance at her when she and her colleagues weren't paying attention.
Some even secretly took photos with their phones.
And some men were even more shameless, directly asking for contact information.
Thinking of those men's lewd expressions made Li Meng feel disgusted. They were all just creatures who only thought with their lower bodies!
"Look at you, you're back to your old habit. I know you're resistant to men, but you can't always view them with the same perspective."
"I'm never wrong about men. You should also learn to discern at school," Li Meng said with certainty.
"Got it."
Li Xiao had no way to deal with her sister. Ever since that incident, she had completely lost trust in men.
She sighed inwardly and began to clear the dishes and the table.
Li Meng stood up to digest. As a flight attendant, maintaining her figure not only involved controlling her diet but also her daily posture was very important.
However, she inadvertently caught sight of a new bag on the coffee table.
"Sis, did you buy a new bag?"
Li Meng casually picked it up. It was an exquisite black handbag, soft and comfortable to the touch, with perfect stitching and tailoring. But when she turned it to the front, she found that the buckle had an LV logo.
"No, this was given by the student who just came to the house."
Li Xiao replied while washing dishes.
"He gave you an LV?"
Li Meng was somewhat incredulous.
"He said it was a high-quality replica, just over two hundred yuan."
"Oh."
She rarely bought such luxury bags and couldn't tell if it was real or a replica. Li Meng thought about it and realized that it made sense; he lived downstairs, so he probably wasn't wealthy and couldn't afford such an expensive bag.
But as a student, was it appropriate for him to give his teacher a bag?
Combining the scene she had just witnessed, Li Meng became even more convinced that this student named Shen Yuan had ulterior motives.
"I told you this student of yours had no good intentions. Otherwise, why would he give you a bag for no reason?"
Li Xiao had finished washing the dishes by then, dried her hands with a towel, and walked out, saying helplessly, "It's really not what you think. Today..."
Li Xiao explained the whole story to her sister. It sounded logical, but Li Meng still felt something was off. She firmly believed her first intuition.
This Shen Yuan, audacious and lustful, definitely wants to pursue my sister!
Shen Yuan had already returned home by then. He didn't know that he had been labeled a pervert by Li Meng. If he knew, he would definitely strongly refute it.
How could I be that kind of person!
"Dad, Mom, I'm back."
Shen Yuan pushed open the door as usual and shouted loudly.
"You're back, you're back, why are you shouting so loud?" The middle-aged woman on the sofa was watching TV and immediately reprimanded him impolitely.
"Hehe, I'm just saying hello to you."
Shen Yuan was used to his mother Li Hongjuan's attitude and didn't think much of it. Anyway, at home, he was already the one with the least status.
"Mom, I haven't eaten. Are there any dishes left at home?"
Shen Yuan patted his stomach. He had only eaten one bowl of rice at Li Xiao's place upstairs and felt like something was missing in his stomach.
"In the fridge, go heat it yourself." Li Hongjuan pointed the remote control towards the kitchen, sounding a bit impatient.
"Leftovers, huh."
Shen Yuan was a bit reluctant: "Why don't you fry another dish? Your son finally comes home once in a while."
"Fry it yourself!"
Facing Ms. Li's attitude, Shen Yuan sighed silently. As expected of his own mother. Since his mother was unwilling to comfort her son, he had to do it himself.
Actually, Ms. Li hadn't only treated him this way after the family went bankrupt; it had been like this ever since Shen Yuan's sister, Shen Xuan, was born.
When Shen Yuan was young, his grades were poor, and he was mischievous and often caused trouble. Li Hongjuan didn't know how many times she had been called to school by teachers.
Each time, it was a criticism, telling her to take him back and educate him properly, making her unable to hold her head up every time she went to school.
In contrast, Shen Xuan had been sensible and considerate since childhood, always thinking of her parents, a true little cotton jacket.
Moreover, her grades were excellent. She was currently in her third year of high school, in the experimental class at Xing City No. 2 High School, with hopes of getting into Tsinghua or Peking University. Ms. Li always held her head high when attending parent-teacher conferences.
Tell me, with such a pair of children, is it reasonable not to be biased?
But fortunately, Shen Yuan was used to it. If Ms. Li suddenly started being nice to him one day, he would feel uncomfortable instead.
The door creaked open again, and a middle-aged man who resembled Shen Yuan by five or six parts walked in, though he was slightly overweight and shorter.
"I'm back."
"Oh, Lao Shen is back. You haven't eaten, have you? I heated up your portion too."
As soon as he saw his father, Shen Heping, Shen Yuan was happy.
"Why is son back today?"
Shen Heping was a bit surprised, as their home was a two-bedroom, one-living room apartment, with no room for his son. Shen Yuan usually lived in the dorms.
Shen Yuan chuckled: "I missed you all, that's why."
"Good, good."
Shen Heping nodded contentedly, put his briefcase aside, and instructed, "Since our son is back, tell your mom to cook two dishes. We'll have a good drink tonight, just us two men."
Shen Yuan's gaze instinctively fell on Li Hongjuan. If his mother was willing to cook, he wouldn't have to eat leftovers.
As expected, Li Hongjuan sat motionless on the sofa, too lazy to even turn her head: "If you want to drink, make it yourselves, spoiling you two!"
The two father and son exchanged an awkward smile, then simultaneously turned their heads away.
Shen Yuan continued heating the dishes, thinking that his family status hadn't continued to drop because there was no more room to fall, but his father's family status had truly plummeted to a terrifyingly low level.
Shen Heping was also open-minded. Since his wife wasn't willing to help, he rolled up his shirt sleeves, walked into the kitchen, and started busy working with his son.
However, since he didn't usually cook much, Lao Shen didn't know where to start. In the end, Shen Yuan took out a potato and a piece of meat from the refrigerator.
"Let's just make a simple stir-fried shredded potato with meat."
Although Li Hongjuan was sharp-tongued, her heart was soft. She put down the remote control with a "thump" and walked into the kitchen with disdain: "Get out, all of you! You can't even cook a simple dish. What good are you two men!"
"Thank you, Mom, you've worked hard!"
Shen Yuan chuckled, put down the potato he was peeling, and scurried out of the kitchen.
In the living room, Shen Heping handed Shen Yuan a cigarette. Shen Yuan didn't usually smoke, but since he was rarely home, he decided to have one with his father.
He was about to light it, but Shen Heping shook his head: "Your sister doesn't like the smell of smoke. Let's go to the balcony to smoke."
Shen Yuan was speechless for a moment. He was rarely home, and yet he was still let down.
It was one thing for Ms. Li to be biased, but even Lao Shen was a doting father to his daughter. And to think, his son was just fighting alongside him in the kitchen!