### Chapter 185: Watch Out for the Jiang Family
Xia Yu saw her father questioning Jiang Kekai and understood why Jiang Kekai wanted to leave. But…why did she have to bring Xia Yu along?
While Xia Yu usually followed Jiang Kekai’s every command, in this instance, she hesitated. Her gut told her that moving out might upset her parents greatly, and it would be wrong to do so.
But Xia Yu couldn’t say no to Jiang Kekai either. She didn’t want her Little Ning Sister to get hurt, which left her in a difficult predicament.
Seeing Xia Yu like this, Jiang Kekai naturally knew what was on her mind. She didn’t want Xia Yu to struggle for her sake either.
So, Jiang Kekai sighed and pinched Xia Yu’s little face, giving in slightly: “Fine, fine. I’ll let it go for now. Just sleep, just sleep.”
With that, Jiang Kekai wrapped her arms around Xia Yu and lay down comfortably, closing her eyes. Even though it was still early, with Jiang Kekai’s orders, Xia Yu had to obediently move and find a comfortable spot to sleep next to her, ending any further disturbance.
The scene between Jiang Kekai and Xia Yu was quite heartwarming and peaceful, two little girls getting early rest.
However, things were different next door. Since Xia Hanhan dragged Xia Ling back to the room and closed the door, these two dumb little girls started another heated fight in bed. Now they were both tired and hungry.
“Hey, do you have anything to eat in here? I’m starving. Hurry up and find me something to eat, or I might have to eat you in the middle of the night.” Lying in bed, the dumb little girl Xia Hanhan nudged Xia Ling’s chubby little face with her foot.
Xia Ling glanced at the cheeky Xia Hanhan and, already too tired to move, lazily responded, “There’s still a big bag of instant chicken and mushroom noodles in the cabinet. If you want it, go get it yourself.”
“Hey, I might be your guest. You should get it for me!”
Xia Hanhan continued to prod Xia Ling’s face with her foot, urging her to hurry up.
“…”
“Go quick, or else I’m going to starve and then I’ll eat you.”
Crying out, Xia Hanhan prodded Xia Ling’s face again, this time even more aggressively, with her foot pressed firmly onto Xia Ling’s face…
However, Xia Ling’s patience was not endless. No matter how tired she was, being provoked like this by Xia Hanhan, she got up and forcefully turned around, pinning Xia Hanhan down and restraining her.
“Alright. If you really want to eat me, show me!”
With that, Xia Ling tried to hit Xia Hanhan’s head with her own, venting her frustration.
Despite the pain it caused her as well, Xia Ling felt better for it. Xia Hanhan deserved this beating.
Sure enough, Jiang Hanhan quickly admitted defeat at being hit in the head. For the first time, she uttered an incredibly embarrassing statement: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Sister, help me find something to eat? I’m really starving.”
Suddenly, Xia Ling stopped attacking Xia Hanhan and looked down at her triumphantly, “What did you just call me?” “Sis…sister.”
Xia Hanhan looked utterly defeated.
Seeing this, Xia Ling felt an immense sense of achievement and gave Xia Hanhan a puff of air from her nose before letting her off the hook.
Putting on her shoes, Xia Ling quietly tiptoed to the door, peeking through a tiny gap. She saw her parents and older brother sitting solemnly in the living room.
Of course, under such circumstances, Xia Ling certainly wasn’t brave enough to go out, so she quietly closed the door again.
Just as she had risen from the floor, her head bumped into Jiang Hanhan’s chin that had followed after her to peek—
“Ah.”
“Ouch!”
Predictably, both dumb little girls let out cries. Poor things.
Seeing Xia Ling glare reprovingly at her, Jiang Hanhan panicked that Xia Ling wouldn’t find anything to eat, and began coquettishly apologizing: “Sis, I was wrong.”
This strategy worked well; Xia Ling didn’t drag her to bed for another intense battle as before. Instead, she turned and opened the cabinet.
Inside was a packet of instant chicken and mushroom noodles. Xia Ling took out two packets and checked the remaining water in the kettle. There wasn’t enough, but she also dared not go out, so she found a nearly empty bottle of mineral water, added it to the kettle, and plugged it in to heat up the water.
Jiang Hanhan watched quietly, unbothered.
Xia Ling then grabbed a large bowl, opened it, and handed a packet of noodles to Jiang Hanhan: “Let’s share, hurry up.”
Jiang Hanhan instantly understood and began tearing open the instant noodles, adding them to the bowl, then retrieving some hot dogs from the snacks Jiang Kejing sent to Xia Yu.
Finally, she added water, sealed the bowl, and waited for three minutes.
At this point, Jiang Hanhan couldn’t wait anymore. She snatched the chopsticks next to the bowl, fearing Xia Ling would not let her eat first. Xia Ling kept silent and opened another drawer, finding a pack of unused disposable chopsticks.
Thus, the two snack-loving little girls began their midnight feast with one big shared bowl. Incredibly delicious.
Naturally, while eating, Xia Ling and Jiang Hanhan occasionally bit the same noodle, especially at the beginning when there were many noodles. Hungry, Jiang Hanhan would never give up her share voluntarily; she had called Xia Ling “sister” out of necessity anyway, so now she went right back to her mischievous ways.
Suckling vigorously, Jiang Hanhan closed her eyes and tried hard to pull Xia Ling’s half of the noodles towards her side, feeling she scored a win.
Xia Ling, however, refused to lose. She sucked on her noodles with equal force but kept her eyes shut, clearly seeing Jiang Hanhan rushing over to her side.
As Jiang Hanhan’s face drew closer and closer, Xia Ling decided it was time to retreat, but…
Jiang Hanhan, unexpectedly, sped up her movements and managed to s*ck some of the noodles directly from Xia Ling’s mouth, startling Xia Ling in the process.
Simultaneously, feeling something strange, Jiang Hanhan opened her eyes and became an instant steamy heroine, with her mouth full of noodles, speaking muffled but clear, “Why didn’t you dodge it?”
Xia Ling, still shocked, retorted indignantly, “How could I have dodged it?!” Indeed, Xia Ling had been trying her best to avoid the situation earlier, but Jiang Hanhan had suddenly accelerated, leaving her caught off guard. Chewing for a moment, she swallowed the remaining noodles. Glancing at the unfinished noodles, she decided, “Why not?”
Hence, Jiang Hanhan resumed eating with renewed gusto, shamelessly declaring, “Don’t tell anyone, and as punishment, these noodles are mine. You can’t take any.”
Xia Ling: “…”
Looking at her adorable yet shameless Jiang Hanhan, Xia Ling was at a loss for words. Even at such a time, she still craved instant noodles? Little did Jiang Hanhan know that eating was a way to quell her hunger and ease the awkwardness of the situation. What else could she do now? Might as well finish those noodles.
In the end, Jiang Hanhan devoured the entire bowl of noodles without leaving anything behind, not even the soup.
After what had happened, Jiang Hanhan felt too embarrassed to talk to Xia Ling; imagining her first kiss being taken by a girl made her uncomfortable.
Otherwise, Jiang Hanhan would probably have asked Xia Ling to wash the dishes, but now, feeling too shy, she ended up doing it herself.
Indeed, Xia Hong, Wang Wenjuan, and Xia Le were all still in the living room.
Xia Hong seemed to be telling Xia Le something important. But seeing Jiang Hanhan come out, he stopped talking and simply watched her silently.
Jiang Kekai’s relationship with the family was complicated. Xia Hong and Wang Wenjuan were somewhat wary of Jiang Hanhan, considering she was a Jiang Family kid.
But, despite their reservations, there was nothing they could do; they couldn’t kick her out, especially given how close their own children were to her and the potential retaliation from the Jiang family if treated harshly.
Xia Hong only wished Jiang Hanhan and her sibling would return home soon.
As for the reminder Xia Hong had given Xia Le, he was telling him to be more careful and mindful of any potential outside threats in the future, as caution is always necessary.
Regarding Xia Yu and Xia Ling, Xia Hong hadn’t found a chance to speak to them and thought they got along well with the Jiang family kids. He believed they would not encounter similar issues Xia Le did.
Thus, Xia Hong couldn’t understand—was it really the Jiang family? What reasons did they have? But his son’s conviction forced him to stand by his son’s side.
On the other hand, Lin Jie and the other three young men from Peng City and their parents had received information from their subordinates’ investigations. After all, enduring so much today, they wouldn’t just sit idly by without looking into it.
