2

In front of their eyes stood a two-story building made of dark brown wood and gray clay bricks and tiles. The words "Chen Family Restaurant" were painted in gold on a bright red background and surrounded by an intricately carved frame that hung above the front door. Approaching the building, Chen Xia happily skipped ahead to push the door open. However, though Yang Qiu had passed by this building many times, he had never gone inside. He stopped in front of the door, unsure of what to do. Noticing the lack of Yang Qiu's presence behind her, Mrs. Chen stopped and turned around. 

"Yang Qiu, is everything alright? Let's go inside. Look, Xiaxia is waiting for you already!" she said as Chen Xia popped his head out the door. 

"I think I should go home… I don't want to bother youguys…" Yang Qiu looked at his feet. I've never been to a friend's house before… I don't want to intrude… 

Mrs. Chen was about to continue speaking when Chen Xia's voice rang out.

"Come on Yang Qiu! What are you doing standing outside? I wanna show you my toy collection and then we can play with them together!" Chen Xia ran back out the door, reaching for Yang Qiu's arm. 

"Wait-" 

But before Yang Qiu could react, he was pulled inside by Chen Xia. He dragged Yang Qiu behind him and went to the kitchen. 

"Daddy! I'm home! And look, I made a new friend. His name is Yang Qiu!"

"Oho! If that isn't my Xiaxia! And hello there, Yang Qiu!How was your first day of school, boys?" Mr. Chen wiped his hands on his apron and walked towards the boys.

"It was awesome! Yang Qiu and I had lots of fun."

"Hello Mr. Chen, I had fun too. And thanks for having me," Yang Qiu added.

"No, problem! I'm glad Xiaxia has someone to play with, haha. Well, isn't this great! I will make my specialty noodles as a celebration! Yang Qiu, if you can, please stay and eat with us. It will be fun! Plus, it's not often that you get to try the Chen Family secret noodle recipe for free!" Mr. Chen couldn't help but boast a little.

"Oh, that's okay, I don't want to intrude on your family's time…" Yang Qiu was still a bit nervous about staying at a friend's house, as he had never done so before. 

Just then, Mrs. Chen walked in. Hearing Yang Qiu's words, she began to respond.

"Honey, you don't need to be courteous with us. Now that you're Xiaxia's friend, you can eat with us anytime.Plus, Mr. Chen's noodles are one of a kind. You really can't miss out on this treat!"

​"Haha, you praise me too much, honey. Well then, you boys go play while I prepare the noodles!" Mr. Chen happily basked in his wife's praise. 

"Okay, bye mom! Bye dad!"

"Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Chen." Yang Qiu was very grateful.

"Now come upstairs, let's go play together!" Chen Xia was already running towards the second floor.

​As the two boys headed upstairs, Mr. and Mrs. Chen stayed in the kitchen. 

"What a mature kid, eh?" Mr. Chen mused.

"He is the son of Yang Liu, right? Mrs. Yang passed soon after Yang Qiu was born… and I believe Yang Liu is in the city working right now. What a tough life this kid leads, living here all alone. No wonder he is so mature." Mrs. Chen frowned.

"Well, I guess it's all the better that our Xiaxia has become friends with Yang Qiu. I haven't seen Xiaxia so happy with another kid in a while now. Perhaps Xiaxia can be a good companion for Yang Qiu too. Hopefully there will be a lot to gain from these two spending time together," Mr. Chen felt a little bit better at this notion.

"I hope so… maybe the best thing to do is to let the boys build their friendship. I want to offer my support for Yang Qiu, but I also don't want to make him uncomfortable. After all, there are many sensitive things that we should not interfere with…" Mrs. Chen frowned, thinking through the situation.

​"Don't worry so much, honey. I'm sure the boys can handle themselves; we can just check in on them every once in a while, and make sure they know that we are here whenever they need us." Mr. Chen patted his wife's shoulder, trying to ease her worries. 

Feeling her husband's support, Mrs. Chen looked at him and put a smile onto her face.

​"You're right, I shouldn't worry too much. Now then… shall we make some noodles?" 

Meanwhile the two boys ventured into Chen Xia's room, which was of a similar size to Yang Qiu's room, though it felt completely different. Chen Xia's bedroom was quite messy. His bed was not made; the blanket was bunched together in the middle of the mattress, and the pillow was thrown haphazardly to the corner. There was a basket of dirty clothes near the open closet, from which some clean clothes were falling off their hangers. There was a small desk covered in unorganized papers and workbooks, which Chen Xia approached first. After dropping his backpack carelessly by the desk, Chen Xia walked towards the shelf in the corner of the room. Pulling out a weaved basket from the bottommost shelf, he turned back to Yang Qiu.

"Look Yang Qiu, these are my favorite toys!"

"Wow… that's really cool!" Yang Qiu was in awe of the great variety of toys that filled the basket to the brim. 

"What do you wanna play with?"

"Um… you can choose. I'm fine with anything you like!"

"Hmm, okay then! Let's play with these dragons… oh and this castle! You can be a princess who is trapped in the evil dragon's castle. I will be the prince that comes to save you!" Chen Xia immediately began setting up the scene without waiting for Yang Qiu's reply.

Luckily, Yang Qiu didn't have any objections. He did not respond either, simply watching as Chen Xia took out several toys from his wondrous basket.

Yang Qiu stayed silent as Chen Xia placed a princess doll on the tallest tower of the castle which was also the closest to Yang Qiu. Chen Xia then set the dragon toy in front of the castle and grabbed the prince doll.

"Okay it's ready. Let's start! All you need to do is wait at the castle and ask for me to come save you!" Chen Xia was extremely excited.

Yang Qiu hesitantly picked up the princess doll. He looked at Chen Xia and saw a pair of expectant eyes staring back. Why is he looking at me like that? Well, I guess I'll just play along. He looks happy, and I should play with him in return for his kindness earlier with the ice cream. Plus, this seems like it will be fun… Yang Qiu held up the doll and cleared his throat.

"Oh no! I'm stuck in this castle and there is a big scary dragon outside… If only a brave prince would come save me!"

Hearing this, Chen Xia giggled. He picked up the prince doll. "Is it the voice of a princess that I hear! I will come to save you!"

Chen Xia began having the prince travel towards the castle, moving it up and down as if the doll were jumping forward. After having maneuvered the prince doll to the front of the castle, Chen Xia suddenly paused.

"Um… Yang Qiu, you can be the dragon too! That way we can have the prince fight the dragon." Chen Xia was satisfied with his quick solution to the missing actor in his play. 

"Alright," Yang Qiu replied as he placed the princess doll back on the tower and held up the dragon.

The two of them clashed the toys together. 

As Chen Xia pushed the prince doll towards the dragon, he added his own sound effects. 

"Bam! Whoosh! Ugh! Pow!" 

Seeing Chen Xia's passionate fervor, Yang Qiu couldn't help but let out a giggle. When he saw Chen Xia going in for the final strike, he cooperated, laying the dragon down just as if it were truly defeated by the prince.

Becoming the victor, Chen Xia was extremely pleased.

"I am here to save you, princess!"

Yang Qiu quickly picked up the princess doll again. 

"You are so brave, prince! Thank you for coming to save me!" Yang Qiu stayed in character until the end.

Meanwhile, still basking in his character's success, Chen Xia revealed a toothy grin.

"You're welcome! Now we can live happily ever after!" The story was thus concluded.

Just as the prince finished successfully saving the princess, there was a knock at the door and Mrs. Chen poked her head in.

"Hello boys, I hope you are having fun, but dinner is ready! Come down when you're done cleaning up. You really can't miss out on these noodles!"

​"Okay mom!"

​"Thanks, Mrs. Chen!"

​After Mrs. Chen left, the boys began to clean up and organize the toys. 

Chen Xia picked up the prince doll and the dragon, still clashing them together as he moved them towards the box. 

Yang Qiu picked up the princess doll and the castle and carefully set them in the basket as well.

​"Thanks for letting me play with your toys, Chen Xia. It was super fun!" Yang Qiu watched as Chen Xia placed the basket back onto the shelf.

​"Thanks for playing with me too! I'm glad you were willing to play the princess, hehe. We should play together a lot because I wanna show you all my toys!" Chen Xia had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

​"Sure, that sounds like a lot of fun!" Yang Qiu was very movedfrom having received such an invitation. "Should we go downstairs now?"

​"Yeah! I can't wait for you to try dad's noodles!"

​On the first floor the restaurant was bustling with cheerful chatter and the clinking of chopsticks and spoons against plates and bowls. 

Hidden behind a draping cloth, Chen Xia led Yang Qiu down a short hallway and into a small room. 

Inside the room was a rectangular wooden table with two chairs on either side. On the table sat four steaming bowls of noodles swimming in a pale broth among various other items like pork strips, bok choy and green onions. Bamboo chopsticks lay across each of the bowls. 

Sitting down in one of the chairs, Chen Xia motioned to Yang Qiu.

​"Sit next to me Yang Qiu!"

​Following Chen Xia's directions, Yang Qiu carefully pulled out the chair next to Chen Xia and sat down. Mrs. Chen walked in at that moment, showing a warm smile when she saw the two boys sitting at the table. 

"Please dig in boys! I hope you enjoy the food, Yang Qiu."

"Thank you, Mrs. Chen." Yang Qiu looked at the bowl in front of him that was filled to the rim with hot broth and colorful toppings.

Chen Xia immediately picked up his chopsticks andbegan slurping the noodles. Seeing this, Yang Qiu followed suit, picking up his chopsticks and beginning to eat. 

Soon after, Mr. Chen walked in while wiping his sweat. 

"Hey boys! How are the noodles?"

"They're suuuper good!" Chen Xia responded with hischeeks puffed up. 

"Yeah, they're really yummy. Thank you so much for the food," Yang Qiu said. This is really good! I haven't had handmade noodles in a while…

"Haha that's good then. Eat plenty, you boys are growing right now!" Mr. Chen was delighted to havereceived praise from the two boys.

"Yes, yes, eat up! And speaking of growing, you must be six years old too, right Yang Qiu? When is your birthday?"Mrs. Chen asked.

"Oh, I was born in August."

"Woah that's the same month as me!" Chen Xia's mouth was still full of noodles. He quickly swallowed. "What day is your birthday?"

"It's on the fifteenth…"

"Wow, your birthdays are so close!" Mrs. Chen waspleasantly shocked. "Xiaxia's birthday is on the twenty-third. I guess that makes Yang Qiu a few days older!"

"Ooo so can I call you Gege?" Chen Xia asked enthusiastically as he turned towards Yang Qiu.

"I mean if you want to, that's okay with me." Yang Qiu blushed slightly. Nobody has ever called me that before… 

"Okay Gege! Please eat a lot! Dad's cooking is seriouslyawesome, though I'm sure you can already tell that yourself.Hehe." A bead of drool appeared at the corner of his mouth. 

Chen Xia lowered his head and immediately beganslurping his noodles again.

Mr. Chen chuckled, and Mrs. Chen smiled, shaking her head.

​Still not quite used to his new nickname, Yang Qiu looked down and continued eating with his mind slightly blank. 

​After dinner, Yang Qiu began getting ready to go home. Wanting to thank Chen Xia's parents one more time, he walked towards the kitchen where Chen Xia's parents were washing the dishes. 

"Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Chen for letting me stay, I had a lot of fun, and the noodles were amazing," Yang Qiu felt extremely appreciative. Just then, Chen Xia walked in behind him. 

"Gege, please come over a lot! It's so fun playing with you."

"Yes! Please feel free to come over anytime. It's a joy to have you here with us, and it's great that you and Chen Xia play so well together." Mrs. Chen felt more and more that her son had made a truly great friend. 

"Bye bye, Yang Qiu!" Mr. Chen said as he turned his head while washing up the final few dirty dishes.

Chen Xia and his mom led Yang Qiu to the exit andwaved as he headed down the street to go back to his house. 

Chen Xia watched until he could no longer see his Yang Qiu's retreating figure. 

​Back at home, Yang Qiu entered his bedroom and set his backpack down by his desk. 

He then went to the bathroom to wash up and prepare for bed. 

After he was done, he headed over to his desk and sat down. He picked up the telephone on the corner of his table and pressed a few buttons. After a few rings, the line connected.

"Hi dad."

"Hey son, how are you? Today was your first day of school, right? I'm so sorry I couldn't be there," the voice of Chen Xia's dad responded through the phone.

"It was good, and I know you're busy so don't worry about me. I even made a new friend today! His name is Chen Xia, and both him and his parents are super nice. His dad is a chef at the restaurant on the block. They even let me eat dinner with them! I made sure to thank them a lot."

The father and son chatted a bit more about their recent lives, as well as about other insignificant topics. Mr. Yang talked briefly about his life in the city, and Yang Qiu related some of the trivial happenings in the town. But having an appointment scheduled, Mr. Yang could only keep the conversation short. 

"I'm glad you're doing well, and I just wanted to let you know that I miss you, son. I have to go now, but I'll talk to you again later, all right?" Mr. Yang felt quite guilty for not being able to spare even a little bit of time to talk with his own son, but there was nothing he could do.

"Mhm, and I miss you too dad. Goodnight."

They ended the call and Yang Qiu went to bed, laying down beneath his blanket. 

Reflecting on the day's events, his mind ran endlessly. I feel so happy right now… Probably because I made a new friend and ate some good food. I can't wait to see Chen Xia again tomorrow… 

Thinking about his new friendship and new life as a student, Yang Qiu eventually fell asleep with a smile on his face.