After we started the campfire, Niu ShiLi and I made a simple hanger with branches to dry Eunuch Cao’s clothes by the campfire.

Of course it wasn’t just for him. If someone else accidentally got their clothes wet, they can take it off and get it dried here (the girls don’t need to get naked like Eunuch Cao, they brought a temporary change of clothes with them).

“Mas, master, why is it so cold on the top of the mountain.” Eunuch Cao showed off his fat as he huddled around the campfire, “I was so hot I was sweating while I was on the bus.”

“No **.” I replied in a bad mood, “Other than the fact you’re soaked from head to toe, look at how high up we are. The temperature drops six degrees every a thousand meters above sea level, did you study geography all for nothing?”

To be honest, I usually slept or managed the online store during geography class. I learned about the sea level fact from my dad.

Teacher Yu, who heard me say a correct fact, nodded happily.

Why are you nodding, you’re the English teacher not the geography teacher! Why are you proud when I told a well known geography fact, I can’t even properly pronounce the work ‘OK’!

Xiong YaoYue couldn’t wait anymore as the BBQ rack was still being set up. She skewered a sweet potato with a stainless steel BBQ fork that had a wooden handle. Then she squatted down across from Eunuch Cao and began to roast it over the fire.

“Winnie, it’s too close to the fire. It won’t taste good if it’s burnt.”

It was rare for Xiao Qin to be not bugging me. Instead she walked beside Xiong YaoYue and made a cooking suggestion.

She also simultaneously skewered her own sweet potato and began cooking it next to Xiong YaoYue.

“The best distance is three inches above the fire, it will produce the tastiest sweet potato.”

She said as she demonstrated to Xiong YaoYue.

“Like this?”

“No, that’s too low. It caught on fire! Blow it out!”

“It seems pretty hard… Xiao Qin, you help me roast it, I’ll see if there’s any other goods I can swipe for us…”

Although it was a rather crude dish like roasted sweet potatoes and an even cruder cooking method, I felt quite warm and fuzzy listening to the two girls exchange cooking techniques, especially when Xiao Qin started talking to her classmates in a kind manner.

Maybe it was because Xiong YaoYue was the first person in class 2-3 who knew that Xiao Qin and I were dating and supported us.

Regardless of whether or not Xiao Qin and I were a real couple, it was a welcoming improvement to see Xiao Qin being able to communicate normally with others.

The historic breakthrough was that Xiao Qin was facing the half-naked Eunuch Cao who was right across the campfire. Previously, Xiao Qin would have been so nervous that she couldn’t say anything if she was in front of a boy other than me.

Even if Eunuch Cao had ben constantly nodding to Xiao Qin to show respect and show he was not a threat.

I replaced Xiong YaoYue and sat next to Xiao Qin and asked, “What, is your androphobia cured?”

“Nope.” Xiao Qin roasted her and Xiong YaoYue’s sweet potatoes with a smile.

“But you’re in front of…” I pointed to Eunuch Cao, “In front of that and can still speak to Xiong YaoYue normally, so doesn’t that mean your condition is much better?”

Eunuch Cao wasn’t mad at all when I referred to him as ‘that’ and he still had a smile on his face.

“Ye Lin classmate’s disciple is my disciple. And I think my disciple is very weak…”

It was the first time Eunuch Cao heard Xiao Qin admit he was her disciple, so he knelt down in excitement and immediately lowered his head to the ground and shouted out loud:

“I am deeply grateful for the master’s wife taking me in as a disciple. May you and the master live in a hundred years of happiness…”

Eunuch Cao’s words made Xiao Qin giddy and her face turned even redder under the fire’s reflection.

She had carefully adjusted her straw hat so the front brim was raised up so the flames wouldn’t hit the hat.

Another beetle flew over and landed on Xiao Qin’s straw hat. I quietly shooed the beetle away and made sure it didn’t scare Xiao Qin.

Please don’t misunderstand, it’s not because I’m considerate. I was thinking if Xiao Qin was startled and threw the skewers in front of her, it would hit Eunuch Cao, then wouldn’t he become a dead fatty?

Anyhow, Eunuch Cao is the son of my dad’s friend and I won’t let him die like a character from Happy Tree Friends.

“Master’s wife.” Seeing Xiao Qin happy, Eunuch Cao said, “If you have any orders, please tell your disciple and I will make sure to get it done.”

“If you don’t like the sight of the study committee member’s big breasts and you want your disciple to teach her a lesson, then I will put my life on the line to…”

Eunuch Cao vowed his loyalty while flexing his ten fingers and moving them in a very perverted way.

I said angrily: “I think you’re the only one who wants to touch it, what does it have to do with Xiao Qin?”

Eunuch Cao said: “I think she really doesn’t like Gong CaiCai. If you don’t believe me, then let’s ask her. Master’s wife, do you…”

Xiao Qin shook her head then whispered in my ear:

“I… I might not be afraid of being in front of Eunuch Cao, but I still can’t talk to boys. Please let him know I appreciate his good intentions, but I’m a good person and can’t bully Gong CaiCai. Tell him we can discuss it when Ye Lin classmate isn’t here. We can communicate with paper slips to see how we should deal with the dairy cow girl…”

Is there such a thing as a good person who calls their classmate a dairy cow… I won’t pass on the message for you. If you want to tell him, then say it yourself.

“She still won’t talk to you, you just need to respect her like before.”

I said to Eunuch Cao while using a branch to poke the campfire in boredom.

Xiao Qin passed over a roasted sweet potato with her right hand, “Ye Lin classmate, do you want a taste, this one’s almost done.”

She was smiling and unusually happy.

“I remember Ye Lin classmate loved roasted sweet potatoes as a child. I think it’s the same right now, since you even ordered me to go buy roasted sweet potatoes when I first transferred here.”

Please don’t mention that event anymore… I made you run around in the cold. You were already afraid of the cold and that could have been the root cause of your menstrual cramps.

I smelled the sweet aroma of the sweet potato she waved back and forth and I couldn’t help but salivate.

But I decided to hold back since it’s easy to get full from sweet potatoes. There would be much more to eat after the class leader’s side sets up the BBQ, so there’s no rush.

“(*^__^*) Hehe… does Ye Lin classmate still remember when we used to live in the compound and you would come to my home to eat baked vermicelli in front of the fireplace during winter.”

I do still remember about the old man who walked around the streets the popcorn, but he didn’t come around our homes often. So a lot of the kids who wanted to eat it did a DIY style holding vermicelli near the fireplace.

But… I don’t think I went to your home willingly. It’s because one of my snowballs hurt you in a snowball fight, so you knocked me down in the snow, then dragged me home and forced me to make you baked vermicelli.

All you did was sit on a cushion and happily watch cartoons. When you were done eating, you would ask for more and if I was too slow, you would throw the leftovers at me.

Ah, just thinking about it makes my blood boil. The soul of the child me was screaming at me to throw Xiao Qin’s straw hat into the fire, or anything that would make her cry.

No, I have to hold it in. I have to. If I can’t find balance in my mind with Xiao Qin as my girlfriend, then I’ll have to just treat her as my sister.

Ai Mi is often unreasonable and even punches and kicks me (although her hits don’t hurt).

I’ve never been angry with Ai Mi, which means the word “sister” holds a special meaning to me. If I treat Xiao Qin as my sister, I should not care about the many evil things she did to me in the past, right?

Yeah, I don’t think the feeling is completely gone.

Maybe it would make a difference if I could get my dad and Auntie Ren married so that Xiao Qin could officially become my sister in the family register.

As I was thinking about it, Xiong YaoYue came back with ten or so strange purple berries on a skewer.

“Tsk, the class leader didn’t give me a chance to steal food. She even said I would only give them more trouble.”

Then she squatted down next to me and began roasting the berries over the fire.

“What is this?”

I hurriedly covered my nose and asked as the purple fruits burst with the heat, emitting the smell of spoiled wine and expired peanut butter.

“I don’t know either.” Xiong YaoYue replied with a laugh and licked her lips with anticipation, “It’s those berries the class leader stopped me from eating earlier. I found some on the top of the mountain too, so I picked a few to taste.”

“How can you roast fruits?”

“Since the class leader is worried it might have poison, but doesn’t fire remove poisons?”

Xiong YaoYue had an expression as if she thought she was really smart.

The juice from the purple fruit dripped down onto the fire and made the flames burn more vigorously.

Don’t tell me there’s alcohol in that? The strange smell even made Eunuch Cao cover his nose, so it can’t be anything good.

“Winnie, don’t eat this, we will give both our roasted sweet potatoes to you.”

I snatched the skewers from Xiao Qin and shoved it directly into Xiong YaoYue’s hand.

Anyway, there will be plenty of good stuff later. I can eat beef and lamb while Xiao Qin could eat seafood.

Xiong YaoYue didn’t know what I was thinking and happily received the roasted sweet potatoes.

“What will you guys eat if you give both to me.”

“No problem, we’re not in a hurry.” I waved in a general direction and glanced at Xiao Qin. She instantly understood and began swallowing her saliva while staring at the seafood by the BBQ.

“Xiao Qin’s skills at roasting sweet potatoes are really much better than mines…”

Xiong YaoYue held one of the skewers between her legs than began peeling open the sweet potato.

“I can’t believe only the outside is black…”

What, so when you roast your sweet potatoes, it’s black on the inside too? How did you even survive until now eating completely carbonized sweet potatoes?

“Do you want it?” Xiong YaoYue had the sweet potatoes, so she wanted to gift the skewer of unknown purple fruits to Eunuch Cao.

Eunuch Cao waved his hand: “I haven’t lived enough yet.”

“Coward.” Xiong YaoYue rolled her eyes at him. Then to prove her own bravery, she ate the skewer of purple berries along with the sweet potatoes.