Love Tennis and Yumiko Miura

Zhixian had already considered the amount of ginger before putting it into the pot. He didn't put too much. After all, as a girl, Youmeiko would definitely like something a little sweeter.

Cola ginger soup is beneficial for treating colds and has a sweet and spicy taste. Try to make it more sweet and less spicy.

In about 10 minutes, the cola ginger soup is ready.

Zhixian first served himself a bowl and tasted it. After making sure that the taste was acceptable, he covered the pot to keep it warm.

While the ginger soup was boiling, Zhixian was also preparing to cook the noodles.

His cooking skills were not excellent, but just average, and he knew it.

However, cooking a bowl of noodles does not require any particularly high technical skills, just cook it normally. He is not a food god who can make a full banquet.

A bowl of noodles, a poached egg, a sausage and some vegetables.

He had considered using scallions in a paste, but his previous failure was still fresh in his mind, so Zhixian opted for his more reliable method. After all, this was to fill his stomach, not to show off his skills, so Youmeizi had to make do with the taste; it certainly wouldn't be as delicious as her mother's.

At this time, Ms. Sato arrived as promised and brought clothes with her.

"Mom, you're too fast, aren't you?" Zhixian reached out to help take the bags from Ms. Sato's hands.

"It just so happens that we have some ready-made in the car. We can use it for Yumiko-chan in an emergency." Ms. Sato changed into slippers and walked into the house.

"The size is also ready-made? Isn't that too much of a coincidence?" Zhixian expressed his doubts. Putting the height aside, isn't it too unreal that the size is also ready-made?

"You kid," Ms. Sato said dissatisfiedly, "your mother sells clothes. She has clothes for both inner and outer wear in her store!"

"I don't think it has anything to do with this matter."

"Okay, okay, actually, Yumiko's mother is a loyal customer of my store. She ordered clothes from my store and was supposed to pick them up today, but Yumiko came too early so the clothes haven't arrived yet..."

"...Please get to the point."

"Mrs. Miura ordered clothes for a family of three, so I just brought over what I had already prepared."

"Okay." Zhixian looked at his mother who was smiling, and decided not to delve too deeply into the issue. Anyway, it was good that the problem was solved.

"Yumiko-chan, I put the clothes at the door!"

"Ah! Okay, thank you so much for coming all the way!"

"It's okay, it's okay~"

After hearing the girl's shy and flustered response, Ms. Sato slipped into the kitchen contentedly, intending to see what her son was busy with.

She originally planned to lend a hand, but she found that her son had already done everything he needed to do.

"Do you want to try it?" Although it was a question, Zhixian had already scooped a small bowl of ginger soup for his mother.

"Ah, then I won't hold you back!" Ms. Sato took the bowl and took a sip. "Cola ginger soup? You're good at it, son!"

"It's easier to swallow if it's sweet."

"How thoughtful~"

55. Bathroom

Yumiko put all her clothes in the basin in the corner, then walked to the shower head and turned towards the hot water.

Because Zhixian's mother would bring her some clothes yesterday, she didn't have to worry about being without clothes for the time being. She could just take her clothes home and wash them tomorrow. After playing tennis, she foolishly followed him back home. In fact, she could have stayed at Yuigahama or Ebina's house for the night. They would have had some clothes to change into, and she wouldn't have to bother her elders to come and bring her clothes so late at night.

The hot water felt a little hot when it first hit her body, so Yumiko adjusted the temperature until her skin adapted to it.

The girl took a shower and her body gradually warmed up. She exhaled as if in relaxation and felt her whole body revitalized.

It would be more comfortable to take a bath in the bathtub at a time like this - but she had just rejected Zhixian's idea of ​​running hot water.

There are two reasons.

First, she considered that bathing for girls was inherently troublesome, and if she also took a bath, Zhixian would have to wait too long. They were both caught in the rain, and by the time she showered and then took a bath, Zhixian would have caught a cold, so she stopped Zhixian from turning on the hot water.

Another point is that if two people take a hot water bath, they must use the same tub of water.

That's too shameful!!!

After all, we're not family, and we've been friends for over a year now, and I'm not sure if we should be considered friends again. And they're friends of the opposite sex. If they were same-sex friends, not only would we not be ashamed, we might even hang out together and chat about little topics between besties.

But the problem is that Yumiko and Chizuru's relationship is not like that between Yumiko and Yuigahama, so Yumiko feels ashamed.

However, she guessed that Zhixian was probably influenced by inertial thinking and subconsciously wanted to run the bath water. After all, no outsider should have taken a bath in his house.

After warming up her body, Youmiko squeezed some shampoo into her hands, rubbed them together and worked up some foam.

For women with long hair, washing and maintaining it can be a real hassle. Unlike men's short hair, which can be handled with just a rinse, shampoo, and rinse, women's hair length means they need to spend more time on the same steps.

Wash the top of your head first, then gradually work your way down to the ends of your hair.

After applying shampoo, collect it on the top of your head and rinse.

That’s it for washing your hair.

Doesn’t it sound that it’s not that complicated, just takes a little more time?

Actually, this was because Zhixian only had shampoo at home, and Youmeizi's own routine required conditioner. However, Zhixian's family, one older and one younger, were both men who didn't have long hair, so even someone as meticulous as Zhixian couldn't have conjured a bottle of conditioner out of thin air.

However, the shampoo, facial cleanser, shower gel, bath spray and other items were very fully prepared. As for conditioner, it was really beyond his knowledge.

In fact, according to Yumiko's own habit, she still needs to use hair mask and essence. She attaches great importance to her long golden hair. After all, loving beauty is human nature.

Sometimes it's understandable that girls are lazy and don't wash their hair. They can't finish the task in five minutes and do it quickly. Every time it's time to wash their hair, girls silently praise themselves for their diligence.

So when washing your hair became a burden, barber shops very considerately launched a hair washing service. As long as you pay, you can enjoy the service of washing your hair for free without moving.

Even the barber shop staff will ask you when you walk in, "Do you want a haircut or a wash?"

(Author's voiceover: This part about the barber shop is applicable to China and has nothing to do with Japan.)

Maintaining your femininity is a very difficult and troublesome thing.

Putting on makeup, dressing up, and maintaining one's appearance are all very troublesome. During the year when she didn't play tennis, Yumiko spent all her free time on these things. She also got her ears pierced and wore a pair of small white earrings - she just covered them with her long hair when entering the school gate.

Skirt lengths and nail polish lengths are likely to be the focus of scrutiny by the discipline committee, but girls still enjoy doing them. Even boys dye their hair blonde just to look cool.

Even if they are not in a relationship, girls are happy to dress themselves up, just like the dolls and Barbies they played with when they were children.

Rabindranath Tagore has a poem that says: Even if you are sad, don't frown, because you don't know who will fall in love with your smile.

Women dress up to please themselves, but they can still dress up even when there is no one to please them, and they can do so happily.

Wow!

The hot water flowed down the head, passed through the neck, flowed down the collarbone, across the thighs, and passed through every inch of skin.

Halfway through her shower, Ms. Sato said she had left something at the door and asked her to come out and get it.

She wiped her hair with a towel, then wiped her body before quietly opening the bathroom door a little, sticking her head out and secretly looking around to prevent anyone from passing by.

After making sure that no one was around, she carried the bag from the floor into the bathroom.

Yumiko mainly talked about underwear with Ms. Sato on the phone, but the latter said she would bring her an extra set of pajamas.

When she took the bag, she found that the other party not only took underwear and pajamas, but also a very beautiful skirt and a matching top.

There was also a small note in the bag.

"This outfit is given to the cute Yumiko-chan by my auntie. You should get along well with Zhixian in the future!"

There is also a face with an "eh hey" expression with a wink and sticking out tongue in the lower right corner.

"......" This auntie is really lively. This expression reminds her of the emoticons that Yuigahama often sends when they are chatting.

But this dress is really great! Yumiko picked up the dress and compared it to herself. She decided to wear it tomorrow.

When she put on her pajamas and put the wet clothes into the bag, she found that there were words on the back of the note.

"Zhixian will definitely like Yumiko-chan dressed like this! Auntie promises! He will definitely praise you!"

It’s the same “eh hey” expression.

Yumiko hugged her clothes and suddenly felt her face getting hot. If she looked in the mirror, her face would definitely be red. However, the mirror was not clear because of the steam from the shower.

It must be because it was too hot after taking a shower!

Yumiko tried hard to banish the mischievous expression of Ms. Sato that she had just imagined from her mind.

"Can I let Zhixian praise me..."

She looked at the dress again, and an expression of shyness and longing appeared on her face involuntarily.

56. A bowl of ordinary noodles

Yumiko put on her pajamas, carried a bag full of clothes and walked out of the bathroom, ready to ask Zhixian to take a shower quickly.

"Are you okay?" Zhixian poked his head out from the kitchen.

"Well, where's my aunt?" Youmiko looked around.

"Gone." Zhixian replied.

"Gone?" Yumiko was stunned. She prepared herself mentally for a long time before she mustered up the courage to face Ms. Sato. She even prepared a plan in advance on how to deal with her enthusiastic questions.

As a result, the other party left. She felt like she was punching cotton with all her strength, but at the same time she felt a little relieved.

She was still not very good at dealing with elders like Ms. Sato - or rather, she was not good at dealing with elders at all.

"She doesn't want to live here." Zhixian came out with a bowl. "Although I said I could sleep on the sofa, she doesn't want me to."

"That's it..."

There were only two bedrooms, and she certainly didn't want to sleep in her ex-husband's bed. As for letting Yumiko sleep there, that didn't seem appropriate either.

"You can sleep in my room tonight. I just changed the bedding. I will sleep in my dad's room tonight." Zhixian put down the bowl.

"Okay...what is this?" Yumiko looked at the bowl on the table.

"Ginger soup," Zhixian said, and as Youmiko's expression changed instantly, he added, "Cola."

"Wow, I was so scared..." Yumiko put her hand on her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Drink it while it's hot." Zhixian said and left for a while, and came back with a hair dryer after a while.

"Let me blow dry your hair. Long hair is hard to dry."

"Eh? I can do it myself!"

"You can drink the ginger soup while I blow your pants. It won't interfere with either."

"but......"

"I just drank a bowl too." Zhixian plugged in the hair dryer and came to Youmeko. He raised the hair dryer in his hand and just looked at Youmeko.

“…Okay, okay! I leave it to you!” Youmiko picked up the bowl, turned her back to Zhixian, and handed her golden hair to him to deal with.

Zhixian turned on the switch and the hair dryer started blowing immediately.

At the same time, Yumiko also drank the cola ginger soup in small sips.

In order not to disturb Youmeiko while she was drinking soup, Zhixian did not turn the hair dryer to the maximum speed and blew her hair very gently.

The cola ginger soup tastes sweet and spicy, and the sweetness basically covers the spiciness. The taste is quite good, so Youmiko finished a bowl quickly.

Noticing that Youmiko put down the bowl, Zhixian silently increased the wind speed, and the sound of the air blowing doubled.

Yumiko's long golden hair exuded a faint lavender scent, and Zhixian gently held her soft long hair. The two of them tacitly did not speak, but just blew their hair silently, letting the hair dryer buzz.

"Okay." Along with these words, the hair dryer in Zhixian's hand also stopped working.

Yumiko turned around and the two looked at each other, both feeling a sense of loss.

"You haven't had dinner yet? I made you a bowl of noodles." Zhixian unplugged the hair dryer and put it in the drawer, then took Youmeiko to the dining table and brought out a bowl of noodles.

"You eat first, I'm going to take a shower." After saying this, Zhixian left in a hurry, as if he was going to prepare to take a shower.

Yumiko watched the boy leave in confusion, and had to shift her attention to the bowl of noodles in front of her.

A fried egg is placed on top, and the ham is cut into several sections and scattered on different parts of the noodles. Vegetable leaves are also added to take into account the combination of meat and vegetables.

It was a very plain bowl of noodles, almost without any special features, but Youmeko fully felt Zhixian's intentions.

Although it was not some delicacy, Youmiko felt that it was enough to have someone like this willing to cook a bowl of noodles for her at this time.

Ju Zhixian is still the meticulous Ju Zhixian he was a year ago, but he has become stronger after experiencing his parents' divorce.

She knew that Zhixian couldn't cook when she was in junior high school; she knew that Zhixian's lunch every day in high school was sandwiches bought from a convenience store (she secretly saw this when Zhixian took the sandwich out to look for Nozaki Mikoshiba); she also knew what it felt like to learn from scratch.

Yumiko was a pampered child at home, never having to learn to cook. She couldn't cook, and after failing at making chocolate, she simply bought ready-made chocolates to give as friendship chocolates on Valentine's Day. She gave up when faced with the challenge of cooking.

It was hard for her to imagine how Zhixian had learned to cook and do housework when her partner broke up, her parents divorced, and her arm was injured. But she knew that the process must have been very difficult, especially when she had to cross the river by feeling the stones without anyone to guide her, and had to rely entirely on her own experience.