evildoers

There is a gentle slope behind the Lu family's villa, and there is not much open space. It is indeed a bit reluctant to call it a "back garden". Lu Zhixu has never been able to live well, and he relies on part-time workers for housework, and he doesn't care about the garden. Anyway, Martha's Manor There is a dedicated person to maintain the garden for the residents.

But in Xia Chen's hands, the open space changed.

Lu Zhixu didn't come from a wealthy family. When he was a child, he also spent summer vacation in his hometown. He had memories of the quiet nights in the countryside, the lush summer, the terraced fields in the south of the Yangtze River, and the melon sheds under the stars.

He has a picky personality and good taste. He may not have thought of giving Baby Lu Jiaming a wonderful childhood, but he doesn't have that much energy, and he can only make Baby Lu Jiaming have nothing to worry about.

Therefore, most of the time, he is very grateful to Xia Chen.

The small open space has been sorted out into a small vegetable garden. There are several small vegetable plots, and a plot of soil near the black iron railing is planted with vegetables in the shape of cat ears. The left side of the vegetables with cat ears seems to be spinach. The vegetables planted on the two plots of soil are similar in appearance, and they both look like chrysanthemum seedlings.

On the ground near the black iron railing, several small pits were dug out. The soil in the pits was still moist, and two or three melon seedlings grew in each pit—the melon seedlings were always very fat and tender. Yes, two chubby leaves, like open palms.

Lu Zhixu was still looking at the small vegetable garden in amazement. Baby Lu Jiaming couldn't bear it anymore, dragged his hand to the railing, and hurriedly offered him treasures: "Look, Dad, here are the vegetables I planted, brother said It blooms and grows pumpkins, and pumpkins are its seeds..."

Lu Zhixu was confused by the baby's messy introduction, barely figured out that the melon seedling was a pumpkin seedling, and the baby dragged him to introduce the "Donghao" dish, and stammered for a long time, Lu Zhixu Xu's head was dizzy.

"Baby is talking about chrysanthemum chrysanthemum." Xia Chen smiled and helped Lu Zhixu out: "This piece is all chrysanthemum chrysanthemum."

"That's right, this slice is all 'Donghao' dishes..." Baobao showed off proudly: "My brother said that 'Donghao' dishes will be ready to eat soon."

Lu Zhixu didn't buy it at all, and frowned, "Why does this dish look like that clown chrysanthemum? You were deceived by the seed seller, right?"

"'Dong Hao' is not like the chrysanthemum," Bao Bao explained excitedly to Lu Zhixu: "The leaves of the chrysanthemum are like that, and the vegetables of 'Dong Hao' are like this..."

Xia Chen quickly grabbed the baby so that he would not pull out a handful of vegetables from the ground in agitation and show it to Lu Zhixu.

Lu Zhixu was not very interested, and said lazily, "Anyway, they all look about the same."

The baby was hit, and pouted again, clutching Xia Chen's pants listlessly, and lowered his head.

Xia Chen cast a helpless glance at Lu Zhixu, who indistinctly averted his eyes from his gaze.

Xia Chen laughed clearly.

He reached out and touched the baby's head, and said with a smile, "Isn't the baby going to water the pumpkin seedlings?"

Baby Lu Jiaming let out an "oh", seemed to be a little interested, and ran towards the faucet with his small bucket.

Like a young father, Xia Chen instructed from behind: "Baby, be careful not to get your shoes wet."

There is a bench with armrests at the back of the villa, Xia Chen went straight to the bench, sat down, and said with a smile: "Teacher, sit down and talk."

Lu Zhixu frowned, and also sat down in order not to show timidity.

The young man in a loose knit sweater and overalls jeans is slender, sitting in a very casual posture, turning his head to look at Lu Zhixu.

His gaze was soft and without hostility, but Lu Zhixu unconsciously raised thorns all over his body in his gaze.

"Is the teacher blaming me for turning the garden into a vegetable patch without saying hello?" Xia Chen asked.

"It doesn't matter."

"Then the teacher is worried that the baby likes to grow vegetables and is not promising?"

"I'm not such a utilitarian parent, so you don't have to provoke me with words." Lu Zhixu replied in a bad tone.

Xia Chen's face darkened.

The young man who has always been smiling can subdue people's hearts once he shows an injured look.

Lu Zhixu had to admit that he couldn't get angry with Xia Chen like this.

"I'm in a bad mood recently, there's no other meaning..." He explained a few words bluntly, stood up, and wanted to go back to the house.

"Did I make the teacher uneasy?" Xia Chen said behind his back.

Lu Zhixu just stopped for a moment, then continued to walk forward.

The wrist was grabbed.

He frowned, with slight anger on his face, looking at Xia Chen who was holding him back with displeasure.

The young man looked at him with scorching eyes, and the meaning in that gaze made people dare not delve into it.

Then, the next moment, the young man turned his eyes away.

"Teacher, don't be angry, I won't do it in the future."

No matter how awkward it is, with such a forbearing and low-profile apology, I can no longer be angry.

Lu Zhixu sat back on the bench.

Carrying a small bucket, Baby Lu Jiaming happily ran back and forth between the vegetable field and the faucet. After all, he was a child, and had already forgotten the unhappiness just now, so he focused on watering his pumpkin seedlings.

When he finished watering the pumpkin seedlings and was about to water the "Donghao" vegetables, Xia Chen stopped him.

Even though he had just experienced a storm, the young man still had a faint smile on his face, as if nothing happened just now.

"Baby, come here and rest for a while..."

Baby Lu Jiaming put the bucket next to the pumpkin seedlings, ran towards Xia Chen, and plunged into Xia Chen's arms.

Xia Chen adjusted the sun hat on the baby's head, and said with a smile: "Just now I told the teacher that the baby is learning poetry recently, and the teacher is very happy. Do you want the baby to recite poems for Dad?"

Baby Lu Jiaming blushed.

He glanced at Lu Zhixu timidly. Professor Lu raised his eyebrows and said, "Then recite it to me..."

"I can only recite one sentence..." Baby Lu Jiaming whispered, "My brother said it was written by a poet a long time ago."

Lu Zhixu waited patiently unexpectedly.

Xia Chen looked at him encouragingly with a smile.

"Cut spring leeks in the night rain, yellow beams in the new cooking room..." Baby's voice was tender, trying to bite every word, and explained aloud: "My brother said that he is a poet. A friend came to see him very late. It rains at night, and the poet I went to cut leeks and cooked for him. My brother said that people in ancient times were very smart, and they could say a long paragraph with a few words. When we learn poetry, we need to know the meaning of the poem. It doesn’t matter whether we can recite it..."

Lu Zhixu was a little surprised.

Regardless of the fact that Xia Chen's method is different from ordinary people's methods of teaching children to recite poems, it is not easy for him to teach babies to understand these words.

Baby Lu Jiaming took a breath and said in a low voice, "Uncle Xu is a friend of Dad. My brother and I planted leeks. When Uncle Xu comes to our house to play, we can also cut leeks and cook for Uncle Xu."

Lu Zhixu laughed.

In any case, this afternoon was busy and fulfilling.

The three of them stayed in the back garden until it was dark, Bao Bao happily introduced every vegetable to Lu Zhixu - including chrysanthemum-like chrysanthemums, radish seedlings, spinach that Popeye ate...

Xia Chen and Lu Zhixu didn't talk anymore.

Lu Zhixu faintly sensed something was wrong.

This young man named Xia Chen was still smiling and gentle, but there seemed to be something more in his eyes.

Something that makes one feel sad.

Such eyes made Lu Zhixu feel uneasy, and also faintly ashamed.

Although he is domineering and picky, most of the time, he is more like an ostrich. If he is afraid of something, he will instinctively avoid it and keep it secret.

But this time, he couldn't do what he did before, only caring about his own peace of mind, regardless of other people's life or death.

Because this other person is Xia Chen.

Lu Zhixu walked in front and stood at the door to open it, while Xia Chen walked behind holding the baby.

Lu Zhixu changed his shoes, and when he walked into the living room, Xia Chen and the baby were still standing at the door.

Xia Chen put the baby down, and squatted down to change the baby's shoes. The baby usually wears a pair of fluffy slippers at home with snoppy patterns on them.

When he was untying the baby's shoelaces, the baby suddenly hugged his neck.

The four-and-a-half-year-old baby Lu Jiaming whispered into Xia Chen's ear secretly and cautiously: "Brother, are you unhappy?"

Maybe it was because the baby's breathing on Xia Chen's ears was too soft, Xia Chen's heart trembled.

This kid named Lu Jiaming, he is only four years old, he doesn't understand anything, he doesn't even know what sadness is, but he knows that the current Xia Chen is not happy.

Xia Chen patted his head.

"Brother is not unhappy..." He told Baby Lu Jiaming like this: "Brother just has something that he wants very much, and it's hard to get, so he's a bit disappointed."

The baby opened its round eyes and looked at Xia Chen.

"Brother, isn't that thing expensive?"

Xia Chen glanced at Lu Zhixu who was taking his coat in the living room, and the corners of his lips curled up.

"Yes, very expensive."