Chapter 152: I Have a Small Wish ⑥
The day before, Nie Qiu and Huang Yan had arranged with Peng Yu Yang to go to his house after school to select programs. So, as soon as school ended, the three of them, as usual, walked out of the school gate with some of Peng Yu Yang’s friends.
Boys in adolescence all like to show off in front of girls, and the boys who were good friends with Peng Yu Yang were no exception. After drinking milk tea at the school gate, the group walked along, laughing and chatting.
After separating from those boys, Nie Qiu said to Huang Yan and Peng Yu Yang, “Huang Yan, Peng Yu Yang, I want to participate in the performance for the selected program.”
“Ah? Why?” Huang Yan was a little surprised. To be honest, although she wanted to be the Art Committee Member, she had never thought about performing a program in front of all the teachers and students. That would be… too embarrassing.
“My mom wants to come to school to watch the art festival,” Nie Qiu said a little shyly. “Now, our performances are all held in the auditorium. After seating all the teachers and students, there won’t be many seats left. It will definitely be like the year before last, where only performers can invite their parents to watch the program. I want… I want my mom to watch a program too.”
“Then we need to choose a better program,” Peng Yu Yang said. “Let’s go to my house first and see!”
Since it wasn’t yet time for the restaurant to close and there was usually no one at home, Peng Yu Yang took Nie Qiu and Huang Yan to their family’s restaurant. He led them upstairs to the private room where he often did his homework, which was also his dad’s lounge.
The entire private room was like a room, with a bed, a computer, a sofa, chairs, and a liquid crystal display. Huang Yan’s family background wasn’t very good. Although her home was also decorated, it was nothing compared to the decoration here. As soon as she entered the room, she couldn’t help but look around.
Peng Yu Yang asked Nie Qiu and the others to put their schoolbags on the sofa, then smiled and said, “I’ll go to the kitchen and have them prepare some juice and snacks. Please wait for me here.”
“Okay, okay! Can I order?” Before Nie Qiu could refuse, Huang Yan, who was curiously touching the retro telephone, excitedly asked when she heard about food.
Peng Yu Yang smiled and nodded. “Of course, you can. What do you want to eat? What about Nie Qiu?”
“I can’t eat until I’m full and go back,” Huang Yan frowned, very troubled. She had known since she was very young that if she didn’t eat at home, her parents would worry. If she told her parents she ate at someone else’s house, they would get angry and say she was impolite. When she was young and ignorant, her mother had also threatened her, saying that if she ate other people’s food everywhere, she would be tricked by bad people. So, every time, even if she ate something at someone else’s house, she wouldn’t tell her parents and would try to eat more to show that she was hungry.
“Pfft!” Nie Qiu saw Huang Yan frowning and knew what she was thinking. Yes, many children might have experienced such things when they were young. Although she hadn’t experienced it herself, she could still imagine it. “We just drank milk tea, so we can just order snacks. No juice, please. Is plain water okay?”
When Huang Yan heard this, she quickly nodded at Peng Yu Yang. “Yes, yes, yes. We just drank milk tea, and if we drink more, our stomachs will be bloated. I’ll just have snacks. Like salted egg yolk pumpkin, corn pancakes, pan-fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, shrimp dumplings, etc. Even if I don’t eat until I’m full, I have to try one of each.”
“Okay,” Peng Yu Yang nodded and looked at Nie Qiu. “Nie Qiu, what about you? What do you want to eat?”
“I don’t need anything. Plain water is fine,” Nie Qiu said with a smile. “We came here to choose programs, not to freeload.”
“Then I’ll go down. The computer is over there, and there’s no password. You can take a look first,” Peng Yu Yang said, pointing to the computer, and then turned to leave the room and went downstairs.
Nie Qiu didn’t touch the computer. Computers are the most private things in modern society. Even with the owner’s permission, Nie Qiu wouldn’t touch it when the owner wasn’t present. Huang Yan also didn’t plan to play on the computer because she didn’t know how to use the internet. Apart from computer class, she hadn’t touched a computer at other times. The computers in computer class were not connected to the internet, so they were only used for drawing or creating tables. Therefore, she didn’t know how to use the internet and didn’t want to pretend that she did, so she didn’t touch the computer.
Nie Qiu took out her homework from her schoolbag to do homework. Huang Yan looked around the room, observing things like the brown leather sofa, the color of the floor, the wallpaper on the walls, the carvings on the ceiling, and the colorful crystal chandelier. Everything caught Huang Yan’s eye, making her a little dazzled.
Peng Yu Yang walked into the kitchen. Since it was after school and approaching the dinner time for people getting off work, everyone in the kitchen was busy. The apprentices under the several chefs smiled and greeted Peng Yu Yang when they saw him.
Walking further into the kitchen, his dad was sitting at the dish preparation area, eating sunflower seeds. He walked up, took a menu from the vegetable stand, wrote down the snacks Huang Yan had ordered, and then tore off the menu.
“Heh heh, Yang Yang, you’re quite popular at school!” a waiter said with a smile, holding a tray and looking at Peng Yu Yang.
Just as Peng Yu Yang was about to speak, Peng Yu Yang’s dad stopped eating sunflower seeds, spat out the shells in his mouth, and asked the waiter, “What are you talking about?”
“Boss, don’t you know?” the waiter said while placing dishes on the tray according to the menu on the board. “I just saw it, Yang Yang brought two girls back, not one, but two! And he took them upstairs.” After saying that, he shouted and, with one hand supporting the tray, carried the dishes out.
Peng’s dad smiled, placed the sunflower seeds in his hand on the dish preparation table, and reached out to snatch the menu from Peng Yu Yang’s hand. “Alright, you go upstairs, I’ll cook for you.”
Peng Yu Yang looked at the dust from the sunflower seed shells on his dad’s hands and was quite worried. “Dad, wash your hands before you cook.”
“You’re a good kid, aren’t you? You’ve been eating my cooking since you were little, and now you’re looking down on your old man?” Peng’s dad patted Peng Yu Yang’s shoulder with his big hand, making loud thuds. “Alright, I get it. I’ll wash my hands and cook for you.”
After saying that, Peng’s dad walked towards the center of the kitchen and loudly announced, “Who can give me a stove? I’m going to cook for my future daughter-in-law.”
“Boss, I’m done stir-frying here. I have a stove here.”
“Dad!” Peng Yu Yang shouted loudly, but the kitchen was too busy with the sound of gas flames and pots and pans. Peng’s dad couldn’t hear Peng Yu Yang calling him.
Helplessly, Peng Yu Yang shook his head, turned, and left the kitchen, heading upstairs. Forget it, with how busy it was, it was best to let his dad do it quickly.
