It was a sunny and lively day on the beach at northern Coro Island.
It was the third week of December, and Christmas would arrive in a few days. The commercial street not far from the mansion had already set up a Christmas tree early and decorated the street with red ribbons. Girls in red cotton skirts distributed leaflets in the street to warm up the upcoming sales.
New Year’s Day would be a few days after that. The red ribbons would then be replaced by red lanterns, the red cotton skirts would be replaced by cool cheongsams while the evergreen trees would stay there unchanged. It was a unique heritage in Xin to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Day together.
Because it was Sunday, neither Xia Shiyu nor Natasha had to work. Early in the morning, Jiang Chen was dragged out of the door by two energetic women as they drove to the shopping district in the city center, where they went on a shopping spree.
Jiang Chen, who was in the passenger seat, looked at the countless bags of clothes and handbags and rolled his eyes at the mirror.
“Why didn’t you guys go buy stuff when I am away?”
“What’s the point if you’re not here?” Natasha glared at Jiang Chen, then raised an eyebrow and said in a flirtatious tone, “Okay, don’t frown. I bought two new pieces of lingerie, I’ll put it on for you when I get home.”
“I can help you change into it,” With a smirk, Jiang Chen glanced at the shirt that was fully supported by her chest.
Natasha, instead of being shy, straightened her chest defiantly, “Okay, you said it.”
“AHEM!”
Xia Shiyu, with her arms folded, blushed and dry coughed loudly, then she rolled her eyes at the two. She seemed to blame the two for talking about such a shameful topic in broad daylight and it destroyed the atmosphere of a family shopping trip.
As Ayesha listened to the two bicker, she smiled gently.
In those days when Jiang Chen was away, the house was always quiet, whether it was dinner or nighttime, it seemed like something was missing. Although she did enjoy the quietness, deep down, she liked this atmosphere more.
When they returned home carrying shopping bags of different sizes, it was already evening.
Not beyond Jiang Chen’s expectation, Ayesha brought the most trophies home. This little one, like before, enjoyed different fashions. However, she always felt embarrassed about it when she saw something she liked. Every time Jiang Chen saw her expression, he couldn’t help but pull out his credit card voluntarily.
The final result was that the clothes and handbags the four people bought all afternoon almost couldn’t fit in one car. On the contrary, Jiang Chen, who worked the most, bought only a belt and two pairs of leather shoes. With a small mountain-like shopping bag stack, he facepalmed hard.
The good thing was that he had a successful business, otherwise, it would be difficult to afford everything…
On the way, Jiang Chen considered using the storage dimension more than once to solve these “troubles”, but with Natasha there, he had no choice but to help the girls carry the bags home.
As soon as they got home, Natasha rushed into her bedroom with her shopping bags. When she went upstairs, she squeezed her eyebrows at Jiang Chen, as if she was suggesting those things that she had said in the car. Jiang Chen was really tempted to go up, but Xia Shiyu pulled him into the kitchen, so he had to give up on the idea.
When Xia Shiyu, who was wearing an apron, took out the eggs from the refrigerator, Jiang Chen glanced at her, unexpecting of this appearance.
“You can cook too? When did you learn?”
“I know how to cook, okay,” Xia Shiyu glared at Jiang Chen. She skillfully chopped the potatoes in her hands into fine slices, then swayed her ponytail, “It’s not good to always make Ayesha do the cooking. We discussed some time ago that Ayesha will cook Monday to Wednesday, Natasha will cook her Russian stew from Thursday to Friday, and I will cook on the weekends.”
What the h*ll is a Russian stew?
Jiang Chen was not convinced.
He vaguely remembered that it seemed to be called borscht…
“Would you like to take a shift too?” Her delicate chin raised up as she pointed with her chin to the schedule posted on the refrigerator, and giggled, “In fact, cooking is quite interesting.”
“Come on, I can only cook scrambled eggs with tomatoes, you know that.” Jiang Chen grinned.
“You haven’t improved at all.”
“Haha, I have you guys, I can just eat.” At that moment, Jiang Chen suddenly noticed Xia Shiyu’s apron, and he was quite intrigued, “Huh? I remember this is Ayesha’s apron?”
“You finally realized?” Xia Shiyu shook the hem of her apron, pursed her lips as she smiled, “Do you think it fits me?”
“Well, the fit is a bit off,” Jiang Chen touched his chin and seriously commented, “Well, the key is height. You are much taller than Ayesha.”
“Then do you like tall or petite?”
“This… can I say I like all?” Jiang Chen said helplessly.
“I knew you would say that.”
Xia Shiyu responded peevishly, then she turned around to focus on cutting vegetables.
But the subtle smile hidden in the turned up corner of her mouth could not be hidden.
…
After dinner, Jiang Chen opened a bottle of champagne, turned on the TV while he sat on the sofa.
During the time he was away, this world was also in troubled times. For example, Nippon, Finland, and other countries joined the Earth Defense Alliance. The second negotiation after the civil war between North and South Colombia, and what was now being broadcasted on TV right now-
The analysis by a commentator on the UA election and its ultimate impact.
“In the polls, we are leading for the time being,” With a cup of steaming coffee, Xia Shiyu folded her arms in front of her chest, then sat next to Jiang Chen, she said, “The B City Consortium’s public opinion tactic has done quite well, and supporting Mr. Joseph Kennedy in many states has become politically correct.”
“It’s useless to say that,” Jiang Chen shook his head, and tapped his finger on the armrest of the sofa. “The UA has the Electoral College system. No matter how loud the red and blue camps on the East Coast and West Coast are, eventually it’s still the few swing states that determine the outcome.”
That was what concerned Jiang Chen the most.
If Joseph Kennedy rose to power, then according to his agreement with the B City Consortium, the UA would unconditionally join the Earth Defense Alliance, and the East-West confrontation and New Cold War would be terminated before it escalated further…
But if Trump came to power.
While how global politics would shape out was still undetermined, he was certain that the probability for a potential conflict between the UA and Celestial Trade would at least double.
“I also thought about this issue,” Xia Shiyu nodded, “but at this stage, we did all we can do, we can only wait for the results.”
“That’s not true. Actually, we can help our allies based on the situation.” As he moved his sight away from the TV, he looked to Xia Shiyu, smiled, and said, “Remember those astronauts detained in our Mars Colony? Flights to and from Mars and Celestial City will be available by the end of the year, and we can let them start packing.”
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