Chapter 455: Babysitter Zhang Ye!
Afternoon.
At the courtyard door.
Aunt and Sis insisted on walking with him out of the courtyard.
"Little Ye, drive carefully."
"Yea, got it Aunt."
"Thanks, Little Ye."
"Sis, there's no need to say so much. Go back in."
"Okay. Come whenever you have time. There will be someone home all the time anyway."
Not long after he got into his car and drove out of his aunt's alley, his cellphone, that he had thrown onto the passenger seat, rang. His eyes were sharp and he saw Rao Aimin's name appear on the caller ID. He reached out to grab the phone and turned the hands-free mode on through the dashboard.
"Landlady auntie." He held onto his steering wheel as he continued driving.
In a polite manner that Rao Aimin had never done before, she asked, "Where are you??"
"I went to my Sis' place and just left. Why? Is there something?" Zhang Ye asked.
Rao Aimin said, "Come over to my place and look after the kid today. I need to settle some issues outside. I'm not sure what time I’ll be back. I will be waiting here!"
Zhang Ye complained, "If you are going out, just go. Chenchen doesn't need anyone to take care of her. She's so smart and resourceful. It's already good enough that she doesn't go around bullying people."
"Hey, what's with those words. Cut the nonsense and hurry over!"
"I have to go home tonight. I was not home for the new year and my parents are already nagging. If I keep staying out, my mum is going to kill me for sure."
"If you don't head over here, I will take your life."
"Damn, alright, alright. I will come over right now."
"OK, when you get here, bring a bottle of soy sauce on the way. There's no more left in the house. I'm hanging up now."
"You really take me to be a nanny now? Looking after the kid and buying soy sauce?! This bro's not a small fry anymore, how can you treat a famous person like this?"
He did not hear any response from the other end.
Du du du, the call had already disconnected.
Zhang Ye was helpless. Forget it, this bro's mood isn't too bad right now. I will be generous and not take this up with a woman like you. He continued his drive towards Jiaomen!
......
He arrived.
He got out of the car to buy what he needed to.
At the shop in the neighborhood. Ever since Zhang Ye's address had been exposed and with the attack some days ago, everyone who were from around here knew that Zhang Ye also stayed here.
"Yo, Teacher Zhang!" The grocery store's big sis’ eyes brightened up.
Zhang Ye smiled, "Give me a bottle of soy sauce please."
The big sis asked, "Dark or light? What brand?"
Zhang Ye wasn't too sure himself, "Anything is fine. It doesn't matter."
The big sis smiled, "Then I will give you the plain one."
"Sure, how much is it?" Zhang Ye reached for his wallet.
"Ah, there’s no need for that." The big sis waved him off.
Zhang Ye said, "How can I?"
The big sis laughed out, "Just you choosing to come to shop is our shop's fortune, so how can I accept payment? If you want to buy other things in the future, just give us a call. I will get my son to deliver it to your place."
Now, that's what you called popularity!
Look at this bro's popularity!
Zhang Ye felt good, but due to his principles of not taking advantage of commoners monetarily, he still paid up. With the item in hand, he brought it upstairs.
Ring, ring, ring.
Mom gave him a call.
"Son, I heard you helped your Sis?" Mom's tone sounded good.
Zhang Ye acknowledged, "Yea, it's just a small favor. Did Aunt call you to inform you?"
His mother happily said, "Yes, your Aunt kept praising you and even said that your Sis' blogshop is gaining popularity. In just an hour, she has already earned quite a large sum. Well done, Son. I've just gotten off the phone with Dad and he says you did well. You Aunt's family hasn't been doing too well since your uncle passed away. We couldn't do much to help them back then either, so now that you've done well in life, you should take care of them some more. Your Aunt has always taken good care of you when you were young during the seasonal school breaks."
Zhang Ye said, "I know."
His mother said, "Alright then."
"Uh, Mom. I don't know if I can make it home tonight. My landlady has something to attend to and requested me to take care of her child. It's that big sis who helped me to get released from the police station the other time." Zhang Ye said.
His mother was in a good mood, so she happily responded, "Then you must help her with her request. Alright, I understand. I won't leave any food for you tonight."
"OK."
After hanging up, he went upstairs in the lift.
Dong dong. Zhang Ye knocked on the door, "Landlady auntie!"
After a long while, footsteps sounded as someone walked towards the door. After some struggle with the door handle, the door finally opened, revealing a deadpan looking Chenchen.
Zhang Ye wondered, "Where's your aunt?"
Chenchen pouted, "Zhang Ye, why are you so late? My aunt left already."
"Do you think I can fly? I had to drive over." Zhang Ye came inside and closed the door. He did not change into slippers and just placed the soy sauce on the kitchen counter, "It's just the two of us, so you can go watch TV." He yawned. In the room, it was rather warm. Feeling sleepy, he said, "Your uncle Zhang will be taking a nap."
Chenchen ignored him, sat on the sofa, and began watching cartoons. "OK."
Zhang Ye reminded her, "Remember to do your homework."
Chenchen sat crossed legged on the sofa, pretending not to hear him.
Zhang Ye proceeded upstairs, familiar with the layout of the house, into Rao Aimin's bedroom. He saw her bed was still in a mess, the quilt not folded, and the sheets crumpled. Rao Aimin must have taken a nap after lunch when she was called away, therefore not having time to make the bed.
Taking off his shoes.
Taking off his clothes.
He climbed into the bed. The bed was already cold, but Rao Aimin's fragrance still lingered. Zhang Ye knew the smell well as he closed his eyes and fell asleep soon after.
An hour passed.
Two hours passed.
After an unknown period of time, he was shaken awake.
"Zhang Ye, Zhang Ye." Chenchen pushed his arm.
Zhang Ye opened his eyes, still in a drowsy state, "Ah?"
Chenchen said with a sullen face. "I'm hungry."
Zhang Ye acknowledged her before rolling over to continue sleeping.
Chenchen carried on tugging at his shoulder. "Zhang Ye, Zhang Ye, Zhang Ye, I'm hungry."
Zhang Ye waved his hands at her, "Don't mess around, let me sleep a little while longer. You go and..." When he had spoken up to this point, he drifted back to sleep and was snoring loudly.
"Zhang Ye."
"Zhang Ye."
Chenchen kept calling out to him.
However, Zhang Ye was sleeping like a dead log. When it came to winter, he didn't want to get up the moment he began sleeping.
After some time again, Zhang Ye slowly opened his eyes again. When he got up, he felt his stomach grumbling with hunger.
What was this smell?
It was the fragrant smell of cooking!
Zhang Ye thought that the landlady had returned. He looked at his watch and it was already past 6PM. He quickly got dressed and went downstairs.
The clanging sounds of cooking sounded out from the kitchen.
Zhang Ye did not go in to help out, but just sat down on the sofa outside waiting for dinner to be ready.
But when the sound of cooking slowly died down and the kitchen door opened, Zhang Ye was stunned. Because there were no signs of the landlady in the kitchen at all. Only a young kid aged 8, and a small stool at the kitchen stove could be seen. Beside it was a chopping board and there were knives and plates as well!
It was actually Chenchen who had prepared dinner!
Zhang Ye nearly cussed. What a genius child!
Chenchen also saw Zhang Ye who was lying down in the sofa, with a sullen expression. She did not continue looking at him and just put the dishes on the dining table before going back into the kitchen and stepping onto the stool to get another dish. She brought it out and lay it on the table again and for the 3rd time, went back into the kitchen. She squatted down to scoop herself a bowl of rice and then grabbed a pair of chopsticks before finally going back to the living room to the dining table. She sat there eating, not caring about Zhang Ye, as if she was angry at him.
Zhang Ye blinked. He went to scoop himself a bowl of rice shamelessly and took the utensils before sitting down next to her, "Hey, kid. When did you learn to cook?"
Chenchen said nothing.
Zhang Ye coughed, "Did you learn from your aunt?"
Chenchen didn’t even look at him.
Zhang Ye couldn't be bothered, so he began eating as he was really hungry. He took some cabbage and tasted it. Wow, it was pretty good, "Good cooking, Chenchen. Your culinary skills are very good, let me try some of those spicy chicken cubes too!" When he tasted them, he thought it was rather good too. Of course, the taste couldn't be compared to the landlady's cooking, but for a child of 8 years old, it was really, really good.
He ate as he continued praising her.
A moment later, Chenchen finally said, "Zhang Ye, why are you so lazy?"
Zhang Ye had an embarrassed smile on his face as he said, "Well, about that. I was tired today, so I didn't get up, but even if I got up, I don’t know how to cook, but lucky for us, we have you here! You've made me change my impression of you. You are the future little god of chefs, really amazing!"
A typical kid would have lost their bearings with such praises.
But Chenchen was different from other kids. She only pouted and said, "Childish!"
Zhang Ye smiled, "Don't be angry, don't be angry. Look at you, how can you be so petty? Actually, Uncle was just pretending to sleep so that I can access your survival skills. Look at these two dishes, these are the results of my test. This is the hidden potentials humans that have. You might not understand uncle's efforts now, but when you grow up, you'll understand."
The corner of Chenchen's lips stretched out into a smile. "....Hur Hur."
Zhang Ye knew that this kid was more street smart than an adult and that he couldn't fool her, so he said, "Uncle will wash the dishes later, so you can just watch TV."
Chenchen added, "And do my homework for me."
Zhang Ye looked at her, "But you can't let your aunt find out."
"Deal." Chenchen held up her little hand in a cute manner, but still maintained her deadpan expression.
Zhang'er also stretched his hand out and slapped the little hand. With that slap of palms, the division of tasks was decided. Chenchen did the cooking while Zhang Ye did the homework.
The atmosphere became harmonious once again.
After the meal, Zhang Ye began to do Chenchen's homework after having washed the dishes.
In the little study room.
"I will write it out on a paper for you to copy onto your workbook. Let me get this clear first, I will only do language portions for you. Otherwise, if you finish too quickly, your aunt will know and she will definitely beat me up." Zhang Ye said.
Chenchen said, "You will write in my workbook."
Zhang Ye said, "Our handwriting is different and others will know it."
Chenchen leered at him. "My Aunt saw your 'Ode of Mulan' on the internet and said you are a calligraphy expert. Can't you imitate the handwriting of others?"
This wicked child!
Zhang Ye was wondering how lazy she was. She was so lazy that she didn't even want to copy something over? Hai, forget it. He couldn't bite the hand that fed him. "Alright, I got it." He was naturally able to imitate handwriting.