"Grandma Ge, what were you doing when we arrived?"
Qiu Xi looked at her, still wearing her apron, and felt a little curious.
"This? I just finished in the kitchen and was about to go water the melons outside."
Seeing the child's strange look, Ge Jiaojie quickly realized and explained.
"Wow! Grandma Ge, you grow melons here too!"
Shen Yan and Song Daiyao exclaimed in unison.
Song Daiyao was simply curious, while Shen Yan's reaction was conditioned by her family's profession.
"Yes."
"Let me tell you, we arrived early, and I specifically chose this spot in the corner."
"This piece of land outside is right next to the students' land, perfect for me to grow vegetables."
Ge Jiaojie's face lit up with a smile as she spoke about it.
"Come on, I'll show you."
Excitedly, Ge Jiaojie led the children outside to see her small vegetable patch.
The four of them nodded repeatedly, "Mhm, mhm."
They were quite interested in what Grandma Ge had said.
"Here, this is it."
"Wow! There are watermelons too!"
"Grandma Ge, what were you thinking?"
Wouldn't this be summer fruit freedom?
"I just got interested. What? Do you like these watermelons?"
"Of course, they're essential for beating the heat these days!"
The weather in early June at the school was already quite hot.
The girls had been craving sweet watermelons recently.
"Then it's perfect. It's also a good day to try some."
Ge Jiaojie was not stingy and decided to do it right away.
Anyway, there weren't many melons, and some were to be given away, so she decided who got them.
"Since you've invited us to eat melons, how can we let you do all the work?"
"Alright!"
With that said, Ge Jiaojie let the girls pick the melons themselves while she went to prepare water, plates, and knives, and a bag.
Just as they were enjoying the melons, Ding Yujing returned, followed by a young man.
He wore glasses and looked refined, a rare handsome young man.
Just as Qiu Xi and the others thought he was Teacher Ding's student, the young man spoke.
"Grandma."
"You're here. Come and have some melon with us."
"Mm."
He was a bit aloof, as if he hadn't seen Qiu Xi and the others.
"You kid, why are you acting like you don't see anyone!"
Ge Jiaojie saw this and began her usual teasing.
"..."
"Grandma, if you don't introduce me, you'll just say I'm bothering girls again..."
Ding Yibai was very helpless. He didn't know whether to speak or not.
This was because he knew his grandmother very well and always managed to leave him speechless.
Ge Jiaojie, having been called out, couldn't say anything in front of the others, "You brat..."
"Alright, Grandpa will introduce you. This is Qiu Xi, your Grandpa Du's apprentice..."
"Grandpa Du's apprentice! Really?"
Ding Yibai was a bit surprised. He had never heard of Grandpa Du having an apprentice, let alone such a young girl.
"Hello, Qiu Xi. My master is indeed Du Bin."
Qiu Xi greeted him generously, unfazed by his shock.
"Hello, I'm Ding Yibai."
Ding Yibai responded without even processing the information.
However, this didn't bother Qiu Xi. Following Teacher Ding's lead, she introduced her three roommates to him.
"...Hello, everyone."
"Alright, come and have some melon with us."
"Mm."
"By the way, Yibai, why did you come back with your grandpa?"
Although he sometimes came back for meals with his grandpa, it was long past mealtime.
And this wasn't a leisurely day either.
Ding Yibai took a bite of the watermelon in his hand and replied, "Oh... I saw Grandpa on my way back. I came back today to pick my melons, and it seemed like the right time."
Ding Yibai was an agricultural student. The melons should have been planted in the experimental field, but he was afraid they would be damaged. Since his grandparents were at the school, he had them planted here for easier monitoring.
Today was the day he had estimated. He had checked before and planned to harvest the melons today. After showing them to his teacher tomorrow, he would start recording and organizing the data and previous materials to write his thesis.
"Oh, Grandma, where did you buy these melons? They're quite sweet. I'll go buy one later."
"Oh, they're the ones I planted outside. I picked them."
"Then I'll go pick one later... What! Planted outside! You didn't touch my seedlings, did you?"
Ding Yibai, who had been eating happily, started to break out in a cold sweat.
"..."
"Your precious melons, how could I dare to touch them..."
Ge Jiaojie paused midway through her sentence, as if realizing she hadn't picked the melons today.
"No! I need to go check."
Seeing his grandmother hesitate, Ding Yibai felt that something might go wrong.
He ran outside, and in the next second, Ding Yibai was stunned.
"Wuwu..."
His melons... were gone...
"What's wrong?"
Ge Jiaojie followed him out and looked at her grandson with concern.
"Grandma! My melons are gone..."
As her grandson turned around, Ge Jiaojie saw the small marked plot in the corner, with an empty spot next to it.
"What should we do?"
Ge Jiaojie also regretted not thinking of it earlier!
Clinging to a sliver of hope, Ding Yibai remembered something. "Grandma, have you finished all these melons?"
"No... no! I said I wanted to take two back for the girls."
"Let's go, let's go see."
As her grandson said this, Ge Jiaojie's mind suddenly lit up.
Qiu Xi and the others had only picked one melon after looking around. She thought it was too little and picked two more, planning to have them taken back later.
"Go..."
With that, Ding Yibai rushed in first.
On this short path, he kept praying that his melons were safe.
"Xiao Xi, where are the melons you picked earlier?"
"Yan Yan put them aside... Grandma Ge, what's wrong with you?"
The old woman and the young man suddenly rushed out. Qiu Xi and the other three inside hadn't reacted yet, and the two were already back.
They were about to ask Teacher Ding something, but were interrupted again.
"Oh dear, it's my fault..."
Ge Jiaojie explained the situation to them in a few words.
Qiu Xi was also surprised and found it a coincidence. With so many melons, why did Yan Yan choose this particular one!
That's right, Shen Yan had chosen this melon. Her family grew watermelons, and she had been cultivating them since she was a child. Her eye for melons was naturally superior to theirs.
So, when they were picking melons earlier, they had looked around and finally followed Shen Yan's advice.
"Here, take a look. Is your precious melon among these?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Shen Yan brought over the melons placed by the door.
When Ge Jiaojie mentioned it, she let her grandson look for himself.
Ding Yibai held two melons and carefully examined them.
Finally, he spotted his marked label on one of the melons.
He immediately smiled, "My melon! Thank goodness, thank goodness."
Ge Jiaojie also breathed a sigh of relief. If they had eaten it, her grandson would probably have been angry for a long time.
This had been a year-long effort, from selecting seeds last year, to nurturing and planting seedlings, then dealing with pests and supplementing nutrients. He had personally handled everything.
"Since you treasure it so much, is your melon ripe?"
However, this didn't affect her mood as she teased her grandson.
As soon as she saw him smiling foolishly, she asked a tricky question.
But before Ding Yibai could reply, Shen Yan interjected, "It's ripe!"
"..."
Song Daiyao, who was already feeling that Grandma Ge's question was a bit off, found Shen Yan's words even more peculiar.