He glanced at Bo Xin and murmured softly, "...Is that so."
"That's right."
Bo Xin placed a hand on Jiang Yuxu's shoulder. She hadn't expected that, of the two children, Jiang Yuxu would be the first to strike.
But at least this was better than ignoring each other.
Perhaps finding it a bit amusing, Bo Xin's tone carried laughter. "Even though I ate with him, your meal was made by my own hands."
Jiang Yuxu looked at her incredulously, then pressed his thin lips together, a flush of anger creeping to the tips of his ears.
He brushed aside her hand with one hand, creating a safe distance.
"Since you're back, I'll go to my room now."
Bo Xin didn't stop him. The table was completely empty, and she remembered she had made quite a lot of hand-pulled noodles. "Do you need some digestive tablets?"
Jiang Yuxu had never taken them, but the name made it clear enough.
"No need."
"Take them." Bo Xin moved closer, feeling the child's stomach, which was noticeably full even after just a little food.
She could feel the body under her hand stiffen.
The child bristled like a startled cat under her touch, but it also made him more obedient.
The digestive tablets were under the coffee table. Bo Xin handed them to him, and Jiang Yuxu gently closed the door, as if to shut out their view with a show of defiance.
Looking back, Bo Xin felt she really had her work cut out for her—pacifying one, then having to pacify the other.
The schoolbag was left at the entrance. Bo Xin took out a set of new pajamas for Ji Yanyi.
"Want to take a bath?"
Ji Yanyi shook his head. "I want to stay with Mom."
An eight-year-old boy could already bathe himself. If he went to take a bath, Mom would surely go to bed.
Bo Xin didn't ask why, just said, "When did you last wash your hair?"
"Last night."
Bo Xin leaned closer to Ji Yanyi and indeed caught the faint scent of lavender shampoo. She decided to let it go. As for keeping him company—what would they do?
"Do you want to hear a bedtime story?"
Ji Yanyi pressed his legs together and sat up straight. "No, I have some questions about my studies to ask Mom."
Previously, he had always come to her to play. This was the first time for studying.
Bo Xin found it quite interesting.
"Alright, let me see how you've been doing lately."
Ji Yanyi hurried to his schoolbag and took out his winter homework. He had already completed most of it, and there were marks from a red pen. Bo Xin's eyes landed on a few incorrect answers, and she perked up.
She shifted from one hand to both—this usually meant she had something to say, since problems like these didn't require scratch paper.
Ji Yanyi stared at Bo Xin without blinking, only looking away when she glanced at him.
Bo Xin smiled faintly. She thought of her younger brother, Bo Xiao, because he too wore his heart on his sleeve.
"This time..."
Seeing Ji Yanyi's eyes grow increasingly hopeful and excited, Bo Xin waited until the end to say,
"You've made great progress."
Even though these were still elementary-level problems, she remembered that previously Ji Yanyi had only been at a second-grade level. Now he was at third grade.
Bo Xin felt gratified.
Ji Yanyi lifted his chin, the gloom and bitterness of the night swept away in an instant.
"I asked Teacher Zhang about this problem."
"And for this one, I asked for the multiplication table."
"Even if it's not that hard and everyone knows it, I memorized this whole long part."
Bo Xin recalled that in the original story, Yanyi wasn't a naturally smart child, but with hard work and practice, he had graduated from a prestigious university. What did that mean? It meant he could learn, too.
She flipped a few more pages. "Then you'll amaze everyone when school starts."
Ji Yanyi's cheeks flushed. He admitted he was already looking forward to it. "I definitely can't beat the top of the grade, but surpassing that second-to-last guy should be easy."
He sat up straight and folded his notebook neatly.
The tutoring center also gave simple scores. Seeing the sixty-three on the page, his mind raced ahead to the teacher announcing his score in front of everyone, and the shocked expressions of the annoying kids in class.
Ji Yanyi laughed out loud. Bo Xin sighed, thinking her foster son's ambition was rather modest.
There wasn't much to say about elementary school topics. The students she sponsored were at least in the top three of their grade. Bo Xin said a few simple things, and Ji Yanyi listened.
It didn't matter whether Ji Yanyi understood or not, because his real purpose wasn't to learn these few problems.
"You've improved so much. Want to hear a story?"