After the door was opened, Jin Qiang stood up from the sofa and took the box from Jin Chao's hand, looking at Jiang Mu behind him, imagining that the father and daughter had not seen each other for many years, the scene would be very emotional, at least a long-lost hug, Jiang Mu would cry "Dad" with tears.

    But no, none of the expected scenes happened, Jiang Mu was no longer the clingy girl before, more often she was used to suppressing her emotions in her heart, and Jin Qiang just politely asked her to come in quickly, they were obviously blood-related, but they were so unfamiliar as if they were meeting for the first time.

    A slightly plump middle-aged woman with dark skin and a red apron came out of the kitchen. She was not very neat. Jiang Mu looked at her and called her "Auntie" awkwardly.

    Zhao Meijuan nodded without much enthusiasm: "I'm here."

    Then she said to Jin Chao: "Pick out the noodles."

    Jin Chao walked aside to get the noodles. Jin Qiang rubbed his hands, glanced at the sofa awkwardly, and said to Jiang Mu: "You must be tired, sit down, and rest first."

    Jiang Mu tried to put on an unnatural smile, but because she didn't like to smile much, her expression looked even more stiff.

    She quickly looked around the room. There was a three-seater sofa in the living room, covered with camel-colored sofa cushions, and on the left was a rectangular wooden dining table, one side of the table was padded with a few folded papers, and in the corner of the living room there was a slightly old baby chair, which seemed to be no longer used, and it was piled with miscellaneous items, making the already small living room look even more crowded.

    Jiang Mu was just about to sit down when she suddenly saw a child running out of the room and crashing into her. Jiang Mu was in so much pain that she almost lost her balance. She was so scared that she broke out in a sweat and held the child. She saw a monster with no hair and large white spots all over her head and face. She screamed subconsciously.

    Zhao Meijuan came out of the kitchen. Jin Chao, who was serving noodles, raised his head. Jin Qiang grabbed the child. Everyone's eyes stayed on Jiang Mu's terrified expression, and time stood still in an instant.

    Until the child suddenly burst into tears without any warning, Zhao Meijuan rushed over, glared at Jin Qiang fiercely, and took the child back to the room. She closed the door of the room heavily, and Jiang Mu's body trembled violently.

    Jin Qiang rubbed his hair in some embarrassment and said to Jiang Mu: "Xiao Xin had vitiligo a few years ago and is still receiving treatment. Are you scared?"

    Jiang Mu quickly put away his terrified expression and became at a loss. She suddenly realized that the scream just now put everyone in an embarrassing situation.

    Just when she was at a loss, Jin Chao turned around, put an empty bowl on the table, and said to her: "Wash your hands and come over. Eat as much as you want."

    Jiang Mu finally found a step and hurriedly followed Jin Chao's words to escape from this space. She walked into the kitchen, turned on the faucet, washed her face, and supported her hands on the sink for a long time before she recovered.

    When she walked out of the kitchen again, the panic on her face had been well hidden. She subconsciously looked at the closed door. The crying inside gradually stopped, and Zhao Meijuan did not come out.

    Growing up in a single-parent environment made Jiang Mu extremely sensitive to interpersonal relationships. She absent-mindedly picked up an empty bowl and then used chopsticks to scoop the noodles in the big bowl into the small bowl bit by bit.

    Jin Chao turned around and saw Jiang Mu absentmindedly picking noodles from his bowl. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "What are you doing?"

    Jiang Mu raised his head and replied blankly, "I'm scooping noodles."

    "You should go to the pot to serve it. What are you scooping from my bowl?"

    Jiang Mu stared at the big bowl in a daze and asked tentatively, "Isn't this... a soup bowl?"

    Jin Qiang and Jin Chao were speechless for a moment, and it was Jin Qiang who spoke up, "Mumu, the small bowl in your hand is for garlic."

    Jiang Mu saw that there was an equally large bowl in front of Jin Qiang. She was so embarrassed that she was about to return the noodles to Jin Chao. He blocked it with his hand and said to her, "Eat."

    Then he filled another bowl and sat down not far from Jiang Mu. There were only two dishes on the table, braised lamb bones and cabbage stewed with vermicelli. Unlike at home, even if she and her mother were eating together, Jiang Yinghan would prepare three dishes and a soup and serve them on exquisite plates. But the bowls in front of her with these two dishes looked not much smaller than a washbasin to Jiang Mu.

    The vermicelli had been out of the pot for a while and had become a mess. Jiang Mu tried to pick it up with chopsticks but failed. Seeing this, Jin Qiang directly used a spoon to scoop a large spoonful of noodles on her bowl, which stunned Jiang Mu. She stared blankly at the amount in front of her, which was three times more than her usual amount, and didn't know where to start.

    Jin Chao rolled up the noodles with chopsticks, but before he put them in his mouth, he saw Jiang Mu staring at the bowl in a daze. She saw the surprise of a prehistoric creature in a bowl of noodles. He put down his chopsticks, pushed the untouched noodles in front of him to her, and hooked the bowl of noodles covered with vermicelli with one hand.

    Seeing this, Jin Qiang said to Jin Chao: "Why did you switch over?"

    Jin Chao replied calmly: "She has hands. She can make her own food."

    Jiang Mu didn't say anything, and Jin Qiang called her: "Don't be embarrassed."

    Jiang Mu nodded and buried her head in eating noodles, but she was not used to eating onions, ginger and garlic, so she could only pick out the onions and garlic with chopsticks and put them on the side of the bowl.

    Jin Qiang saw it, drank a mouthful of soup, and seemed to recall some unpleasant past events. He suddenly said, "Your mother raised it, just like her. She used to argue with me when I put a piece of ginger in the dishes. She is so picky."

    Jiang Mu choked and stopped picking green onions. Jin Chao knocked the edge of the bowl with chopsticks, raised his head without expression, and said two words: "Eat."

    The door of the room suddenly opened, Zhao Meijuan walked out with Jin Xin, and Jin Qiang said to Jin Xin: "Xiao Xin, this is your sister, call someone."

    Although Jiang Mu didn't want to look directly at the little girl who looked too weird, she put down her chopsticks and looked at her out of politeness. Only then did she realize that the little girl had a pointed face and protruding ears. Maybe because her hair was shaved, her eyes looked particularly prominent and creepy, which made Jiang Mu think of the hairless monster Dobby in "Harry Potter." The

    little girl ignored Jin Qiang and came in front of Jin Chao without even looking at Jiang Mu.

    Jin Qiang scolded sternly, "I told you to call for help?"

    Before he finished speaking, Zhao Meijuan shouted, "Didn't you see that the child was frightened just now? Why are you yelling? She doesn't know anyone."

        With these two words, the awkward atmosphere reached its peak. Jiang Mu was just about to say "forget it" when the little girl looked at her shaking feet and suddenly called her, "Sister."

    Jiang Mu was somewhat surprised. She could feel that the little girl didn't like her very much, but she listened to Jin Chao very much.

    After Jin Xin sat down, Jin Chao went to wash his hands, then grabbed the lamb bones and tore the meat into small pieces, and put them into the empty bowl. Jiang Mu stared at him absent-mindedly. At home, her mother would chop the ribs into small pieces, which were convenient to eat. So when she suddenly saw such a whole bone, Jiang Mu had no idea how to eat it, so she only ate the noodles in the bowl without taking a single vegetable.

    Jin Chao tore off all the meat and placed it next to Jin Xin. Jiang Mu realized that he had picked the meat for his sister. This scene seemed familiar but also very strange, as if the bits and pieces in her previous dreams were magnified in front of her. She still had no expression, but an unknown emotion was stirred in her heart.

    Jin Chao raised his eyes to meet Jiang Mu's dazed eyes, lowered his eyes and scooped up a clean empty bowl, directly poured most of the mutton in front of Jin Xin, and pushed it along the table to where Jiang Mu was sitting. The bowl slid along the wooden table in front of Jiang Mu, just leaning against her bowl, making a crisp "ding" sound.

    Jiang Mu was slightly startled, looking at the mutton in the bowl in front of her, and the feeling of boredom in her heart just subsided a little, and then she heard Jin Xin on the opposite side shouting: "Why does she have more than me?"

    Jin Chao replied without even raising his eyelids: "She is a guest."

    The word guest suddenly pierced Jiang Mu's heart, and the boredom that had just subsided came again.

    This sentence made Jin Xin stop making trouble, but Jiang Mu didn't feel very happy. Then she felt a gaze on her face. The moment she raised her eyes, she met Jin Chao's eyes. He ate noodles very quickly, and the big bowl was empty. He leaned on the back of the chair, and his eyes seemed to glance at her vaguely, as if he could see into her heart. Jiang Mu's face swelled, and he glanced away.

    Afterdinner, Jin Qiang asked Jiang Mu to give him the materials. He would take time to go to Tonggang Affiliated Middle School tomorrow at noon to help her hand in the procedures.

    Jiang Mu took out the document bag from the luggage and put it on the table, then unzipped it and took out the materials one by one. When she looked back, she saw Jin Xin lying on the ground with her identity documents, preparing to fold paper.

    Jiang Mu's face turned pale and she was about to rush over when a figure suddenly appeared in front of her, picked up Jin Xin from the ground, and then picked up the identity document and pressed it on the table. Jin Qiang also happened to come over to take a look. At that moment, the bright words "Jiang Mu" in the name column made both of them stunned, as if reminding everyone that she and they were no longer a family.

    However, Jin Qiang did not say much, just sighed and put the things away.

    Before coming, Jiang Yinghan prepared some good tea and a learning machine for her, asking her to take them to her half-sis. Afterter all, she would have to trouble them for a while.

    She gave the things to them respectively, and Jin Qiang said a few polite words, but the little monster did not react at all, neither said thank you nor was she very happy

    Just at this time, someone knocked on the door. A young man came to find Jin Chao. It seemed that everyone knew him. Jin Qiang asked him to come in and sit down. The man did not come in, but stood outside the door and said, "No, uncle, call me if you have wine, come out and smoke a cigarette."

    Jin Chao followed him out the door, and the door was closed. In the suitcase was the gift that Jiang Mu secretly prepared for Jin Chao, tightly wrapped in black camouflage wrapping paper. After waiting for a while, she saw that Jin Chao had not come back yet, so she took the things out, glanced at the half-closed door, stood up, opened the door, and walked out.

    The corridor was filled with the smell of cigarettes. She held the special gift with a complicated mood. Before she approached the stairs, she suddenly heard a man lower his voice and said excitedly, "Are you really going? Are you going to die?"

    With a "click," the dim voice-controlled lights in the corridor suddenly lit up, and Jiang Mu's footsteps broke the darkness. Jin Chao in front of her was leaning against the wall of the corridor with a cigarette in his mouth. Hearing the movement, he turned his head and frowned slightly, staring at Jiang Mu with his hands behind his back.

    In front of him stood the tall and thin man who had just come to see him. He was unkempt in shorts and slippers, and had a beard.

    The two men stopped talking, and the bearded man looked at Jiang Mu in a nonchalant manner. She was wearing a white chiffon shirt and beige high-waisted wide-leg shorts. Under her cold white skin was the small frame unique to Jiangnan women. She looked delicate and exquisite, which made people's eyes light up.

    The bearded man smiled with interest and asked Jin Chao: "Your relative?"

    Jiang Mu's eyes slowly fell on Jin Chao. She wanted to hear how he would introduce himself to others, but Jin Chao said nothing, just raised his chin towards the stairs. The man said helplessly: "Okay, think about it yourself, I'm leaving first."

    After that, he turned his head and glanced at Jiang Mu again and said to her: "Come out to play next time, little beauty."

    Before Jiang Mu could speak, Jin Chao raised his eyelids and glanced at him coldly. The bearded man smiled and swaggered down the stairs.

    The corridor returned to silence again. Jiang Mu watched Jin Chao take his last puff of cigarette in silence. His side jawline was sharp and smooth, extending all the way to his clear Adam's apple. The messy corridor became the backdrop, and his outline was also stained with dim light, like a frame from an old movie. Jin Chao looked so unfamiliar to Jiang Mu, as if his body was covered with a layer of thorns that were difficult to approach.

    Until the voice-controlled light in the corridor turned off automatically, a spark flashed in the darkness, Jin Chao crushed the cigarette butt, slowly turned his head and said, "Looking for me?"

    When the light came on again, his dark and powerful eyes had locked on her. It was obviously just a gift, a very simple thing, but Jiang Mu felt something was unnatural. She took two steps towards him, handed him the packaged thing from behind, and said, "It's for you."

    Jin Chao lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze fell on the small rectangular box, he took it with one hand but looked at Jiang Mu, and said calmly, "Don't spend money to buy things for us."

    Jiang Mu's eyes also stayed on the rectangular gift box, his eyes moved slightly and replied, "It's still necessary. After all, I'm a guest."

    After that, she raised her eyes and saw Jin Chao turning the long box in his hand in a circle, with an imperceptible smile in the corner of his eyes.