He really was utterly shameless. Absolutely without scruples.

After being around Xie Yichen for so long, even though she had slowly developed some degree of immunity, every now and then he still managed to catch her off guard with a fresh new level of brazenness.

The thudding in her chest abruptly sharpened. Ning Sui drew in a breath with reddened ears, then couldn’t resist giving him a pointed sidelong look: “…Liking chicken drumsticks isn’t exactly a rare or remarkable thing.”

Xie Yichen’s eyebrow flickered upward.

— If he kept at it, she’d actually get annoyed at him.

He made a conscious effort to rein himself in, pressing his lips together: “True. I like them too.”

Ning Sui: “……”

The sounds of cooking from the kitchen continued in full, clattering glory. It didn’t seem like dinner would be ready anytime soon. The two of them simply sat down at the desk and began flipping through the old photos together.

It had to be said — the album was remarkably comprehensive. Kindergarten photos were at the front, and Xie Yichen immediately spotted the play she’d mentioned.

Ning Sui really had played a tree. She was completely encased in a costume — one of those full-body character suits with only the face showing. The trunk was brown, and perched on top of her head was what appeared to be a cluster of leaves and a few small peaches. When the costume shifted, the peaches swayed. It was devastatingly endearing.

To match the costume colors, her normally fair little face had been painted over with brownish-toned stage makeup, so she looked as though she’d tumbled into a muddy field — entirely unrecognizable, save for a pair of round, bright, luminous eyes.

Xie Yichen flipped through the pages, laughing softly as he went. There were so many more — a family outing to a children’s theme park, where inside a gigantic spinning teacup, little Ning Sui nestled in Ning Deyan’s arms, their cheeks pressed together; a primary school sports day, where she was spinning a hula hoop bigger than she was; her first speech under the school flag; her first English speaking competition; her first time performing at an end-of-year variety show…

All these small and ordinary moments had caught Xia Fanghui’s eye, and she had quietly recorded each one, capturing every flicker of Ning Sui’s growing-up, one by one.

Xie Yichen thought it was the most endearing thing he’d ever seen.

Wanting Xia Fanghui to feel at ease, they’d left the bedroom door open while they were inside. He leaned close to Ning Sui’s ear and lowered his voice: “I want to tuck that little version of you into my pocket.”

The words were entirely sincere — pure, unguarded adoration.

Ning Sui watched him tilt his head and use his phone to photograph the pictures one by one, carefully, then arrange one as his lock screen wallpaper. Something flitted through her mind unbidden —

What did he look like as a child? Was he adorable too?

But then — would Xie Zhenlin and Qiu Ruoyun have made him a careful, loving album like this?

Ning Sui’s breath went quiet for a moment. She reached out and took his hand, gently tracing the lines of his palm with one finger: “…I’d like to see photos of you when you were little, too.”

Xie Yichen glanced down at her, caught her fingertips in his hand, the corner of his mouth tilting upward.

There probably weren’t any at his parents’ home — but his uncle and aunt’s place should have some. Most of them would be candid photos taken alongside his older cousin.

Before he could say anything, he heard her add, with perfect sincerity: “Preferably the no-trousers kind.”

He looked at her for a long, amused moment — she licked her lips, then slowly and innocently redirected: “Do you want to go see the balcony garden my mom has going?”

Xie Yichen was genuinely curious: “There’s a garden?”

“Mm, she’s grown all sorts of things.”

They came out of the bedroom, and Ning Sui led him to the balcony — where he got his first glimpse of the various leafy vegetables and mushrooms that Fangfang had mandated the whole family tend to. Two of the pots had already been harvested.

“In all likelihood, these are two of tonight’s dishes.” Ning Sui sidled up beside him and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial hush. “But I’d advise you not to eat them.”

Xie Yichen also dropped his voice to match, amused: “Why?”

“Because a while back my mom assigned my brother to handle the fertilizing, and he decided, in the interest of efficiency——” Ning Sui found this genuinely difficult to say out loud. “He peed on them a few times.”

Xie Yichen: “?”

She added earnestly: “So… yeah.”

Xie Yichen: “……”

The two of them made a full loop around the apartment. The whole place had a warm and lived-in feeling, full of everyday life. Ning Yue had shut himself in his room to study, but from the balcony you could see the layout inside: a clean white writing desk, bookshelves above it, and lined up across them, the Gundam models and Transformers figures he loved.

Eventually they made their way back to the living room. It was close to six o’clock by then. They were still in the middle of a conversation when the sound of a key in the front lock suddenly broke through — and both of them looked toward the door at the same moment.

Ning Deyan had just wrapped up a big deal at the office today and was feeling thoroughly pleased with himself, humming a little tune as he unlocked the door and came inside. He’d brought back a bottle of red wine to enjoy with a quiet drink — and the moment he stepped in and caught sight of a tall, handsome young man standing in his living room, he did a double take, craning his neck sideways to squint at his own apartment number. “Did I walk into the wrong place?”

Ning Sui quickly called out: “Dad.”

That was enough to stop Ning Deyan mid-stride before he could step back out.

Nobody had mentioned that his daughter’s boyfriend would be showing up for dinner today. Not wanting to make a bad first impression — to seem like an uninvited guest — Xie Yichen promptly composed himself, greeted him first with a “Hello, Uncle,” and then introduced himself and gave a brief account of how they’d ended up here.

A presentable, upstanding young man. Ning Deyan narrowed his eyes and couldn’t resist studying him carefully: “Ah — little Yichen, is it.”

He and Xia Fanghui had been holding his daughter’s boyfriend’s name in their minds for quite some time now, without ever having met him in person. But seeing that Xia Fanghui had been keeping herself in check and hadn’t pushed for a formal meeting, he’d followed her lead and not pressed either.

And now, here they were — running into each other by happy accident.

Ning Deyan’s immediate thought was: thank goodness I brought a bottle of wine tonight. Otherwise, how was he supposed to properly test this young man?

By the time Xia Fanghui and the cleaner came bustling out of the kitchen carrying a pot of nutritious ten-ingredient soup, the living room had already been lively with conversation for a good while.

Ning Deyan sat with the posture of a man prepared to interrogate the household finances, top to bottom — but Ning Sui had the distinct feeling she might be imagining things. The basic questions she’d expected — family background, parents’ occupations, how things were going at school — he seemed to already know the answers to, because he skipped right past them and went straight to asking Xie Yichen about his experiences and accomplishments, ranging across his entire life.

It started out normal enough. Then, about twenty minutes in, the tone began to drift in a peculiar direction. Ning Sui sat quietly beside them and listened as Ning Deyan, as if reciting a secret code, asked Xie Yichen with a languid air: “Do you play mahjong?”

Xie Yichen was genuinely caught off guard, unsure whether yes or no was the right answer.

Xia Fanghui picked up on the familiar keyword and immediately sent a sharp look in that direction: “What are you talking about?”

Ning Deyan gave two awkward laughs and slid the wine bottle across: “Nothing, just chatting.” And then waited expectantly for permission to open it.

With that, Xia Fanghui redirected her attention back to her carefully prepared home banquet, arranging the dishes with satisfaction, and tossed a bottle opener to Ning Deyan while calling toward the bedroom: “Dinner’s ready — everyone wash up and come to the table!”

From inside came an enthusiastic howl, and the immediate sound of a pen being flung down: “Coming, coming!”

Xie Yichen went to help carry the dishes. Xia Fanghui started to stop him, but seeing that he was already moving with practiced ease, efficiently making trips between the kitchen and the dining table in a calm, orderly way, she left him to it.

Once everything was set and the cleaner had gone home, the whole family settled in together.

The wine Ning Deyan had brought home was a good one. After it had been opened and left to breathe in the decanter for a few minutes, he poured a glass each for Xie Yichen and himself, then put on a show of asking: “You drink, right?”

Xie Yichen nodded: “I can, Uncle — but I don’t drink often.”

Xia Fanghui glanced up, catching Ning Deyan’s eye across the table. A quiet, meaningful look passed between them.

— Not bad. That was the right answer.

He passed.

Ning Deyan chuckled and clinked glasses with him. He took a sip himself, then watched as Xie Yichen drank the whole glass down to the bottom, and only then remarked warmly: “That’s youth for you.”

Then he promptly refilled his glass — filled it to four-fifths of the way up, overflowing and extravagant.

Ning Sui sat beside them without making a sound.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that her boyfriend had wandered into the den of a predator.

Ning Deyan kept his tone conversational: “Any hobbies outside of school?”

Xie Yichen sat up straight: “I spend most of my time with computers and math, but I read at school when I can, or do sports — basketball, mostly. During breaks, I like to travel.”

Ning Sui noticed that tonight, her mother seemed to have stepped back from the spotlight, leaving her father to do most of the talking: “Good — youth is meant to be full and varied.”

He paused, then looked over with interest: “Traveling — where do you usually go?”

Ning Deyan and Ning Sui were uncannily alike in temperament. Xie Yichen remembered that when he’d first spoken to Ning Sui, this had been the topic she’d been most enthusiastic about too.

So he went through the list.

“When I was younger, I traveled to the U.S. and Europe with my parents. Later on I started road-tripping through scenic spots around China with friends — places like a few of the provinces in the northwest and southwest.”

Ning Deyan nodded appreciatively: “Mm, that’s great.”

He was at that particular stage of middle age — the kids were nearly grown, there was finally a little money to spare, and he’d been looking forward to enjoying life a little more. He said: “Your auntie and I have been talking about going on a trip together too. Based on your experience, which province in China is best for a self-driving tour?”

Xie Yichen said: “Yunnan, Urumqi, and Xining are all excellent. The scenery is beautiful — you and Auntie should definitely consider them.”

“Will do.”

Ning Yue, blissfully oblivious to the fact that this entire dinner was a series of tests, was in high spirits — chopsticks stabbing this way, spoon scooping that way, practically vibrating with enthusiasm: “Mommy, your steamed fish is so good — way better than the braised ribs!”

Xia Fanghui ruffled his hair fondly: “Very kind of you to say so. But the fish was made by the cleaner. The ribs were mine.”

Ning Yue, who had just stepped squarely on both feet, froze completely and backpedaled at full speed: “Uh, I mean — wait, I had it backwards, haha…”

A moment of exquisite silence fell over the table. You could have heard a pin drop.

Ning Yue immediately went searching for a rescue: “Ge, Mom says you’re really impressive — have you ever done any academic competitions?”

Xie Yichen graciously threw him a lifeline: “I did competitive programming and math olympiad.”

Ning Yue’s eyes lit up at the mention of math olympiad: “So that means if I have problems I can’t solve, I can ask you?”

Xie Yichen smiled: “Sure — I’ll do my best.”

Ning Yue was immediately thrilled, but then thought it through — high school competitions were a different beast from university coursework, and his sister, despite being a math major, had gotten a bit rusty on some olympiad problems. He put on his most sincere expression and got the honesty out of the way first: “Though Ge, you might want to think it over before agreeing — my problems are very hard. There may be some… challenge involved.”

Xia Fanghui felt that her son could be genuinely clueless sometimes, and gave him a light tap on the forehead: “He’s being modest, you know. National training team, admitted to Tsinghua through the competition track — you think he can’t handle your little problems?!”

The chicken drumstick in Ning Yue’s hand almost fell into his bowl: “The national training team?!”

Xia Fanghui: “Not only that — he just received the top-tier university-wide special scholarship too.”

Ning Sui quickly glanced up across the table at that — she didn’t think she’d told Fangfang any of this. How did she know all these details?

Xia Fanghui caught her scanning look, paused briefly, gave a small cough, and said nothing more.

Ning Yue might not fully grasp what the special scholarship meant at Tsinghua, but the fact that it made his mother speak of it with such gravity told him it must be extremely impressive. He was struck by proper awe.

“So what’s your major, Ge?”

Xie Yichen found him more endearing by the minute: “Computer science.”

Through the second half of dinner, Ning Yue watched Xie Yichen with the starstruck devotion of a first-time fan.

Xie Yichen kept serving food into Ning Sui’s bowl — all her favorites. Xia Fanghui had prepared several braised squab: fragrant and glistening with fat, delicious to look at, but a little much to eat with the skin. So Xie Yichen put on a pair of disposable gloves and patiently stripped away the skin, worked the meat off the bones, and piled it all into Ning Sui’s bowl.

He also extended the same thoughtfulness to Ning Deyan beside him, topping up his glass and adding to his plate: “Uncle, just let me know if there’s anything else you’d like.”

Attentive to a degree that nearly left Ning Deyan somewhat at a loss for how to respond.

Ning Deyan had a general sense that Xie Yichen came from a business family with some considerable standing, and had surely seen much of the world — but that didn’t matter to him. Sitting in this seat, he was measuring by his own standards of what a son-in-law should be. And though he was privately quite taken with the young man, he still continued working through the checklist in his head, refilling Xie Yichen’s glass as he went: “By the way — you’re heading to the U.S. for graduate school, right? What are your plans after?”

Xie Yichen: “Uncle, Auntie — right now I’m working within my cousin’s startup team. They’re planning to expand overseas, and my plan is to spend the first two years studying while also providing technical support for the company — building up my own experience and capability at the same time. Once I’ve developed a solid enough foundation, I’d like to branch out independently, in a direction related to my current AI research…”

Ning Deyan gave him a measured look: “A startup? That comes with no small amount of risk.”

Xie Yichen considered for a moment, then replied with calm composure: “Startups do carry risk, but the AI field right now — cutting-edge technology is still very much valued by the market. As long as there’s meaningful progress on the R&D side, turning it into something that can be deployed shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve had exposure to startup environments already, so I have a rough understanding of how the overall structure needs to operate.”

He paused: “Uncle, Auntie — please don’t worry. Before I make any serious move, I’ll take every precaution, do thorough preparation, read the market carefully, and keep the risk as controlled as possible. At the same time, the cost of experimentation while still in school is relatively low — I can explore on the startup side while also doing internships at major tech firms, which means there’s always a way forward and a way back. Both paths stay open. And then there’s my cousin — I can consult him anytime.”

You could hear clearly that he had thought this through. Ning Deyan gave a slow nod: “And if the startup takes off — does that mean you’d stay in America for good?”

At this, Xie Yichen looked over at Ning Sui: “I’m not sure yet where Little Coconut plans to work. If she’s thinking of staying abroad, I’d focus my development there for a while. If she wants to come back home, I’ll shift my center of gravity back as well.”

He paused, then said candidly: “But I imagine she’ll probably want to come back. There’s no place quite like home, in the end. And Huai’an has been developing into a national hub for science and technology innovation — the prospects here will only get better.”

That particular answer landed squarely on every frequency Fangfang’s heart was tuned to.

Of course the children would grow up wanting to go out and see a bigger world. But if it were possible — she truly did not want Ning Sui floating alone out there, weathering it all by herself.

Selfishly speaking: with Ning Sui’s graduation approaching, Xia Fanghui had been quietly steeling herself, doing the internal work of preparing for years of long-distance separation from her daughter. She kept telling herself to be ready. She desperately didn’t want Ning Sui to finish her graduate degree and stay abroad to work — she wished she could wrap everything up for her the moment she graduated and bring her home.

She hadn’t expected Xie Yichen to have considered this layer too.

This child — his thoughtfulness ran deep.

Ning Deyan and Xie Yichen made several rounds with the wine. By the time the bottle was empty, Ning Deyan had clearly reached the pleasantly hazy stage. Xie Yichen was still holding up reasonably well — his ears were a little red, his breathing a touch deeper than before — but he was already waving a hand to slow Ning Deyan down: “Uncle, don’t worry about filling mine up — you can pour what’s left into mine——”

Xia Fanghui pressed a hand on Ning Deyan’s arm: “That’s enough, Lao Ning. We’re done for tonight.”

The implication being: neither of you should have any more.

To Ning Sui, sitting beside them, those words were the sound of a test being passed. She quietly exhaled. To Ning Deyan, however, they landed like a thunderclap on a clear day.

He’d been right in the middle of enjoying himself. His hand paused mid-reach, and his eyes clung to the wine glass with visible longing: “Honey, just a little more?”

This kind of pleading-for-permission drinking was practically a household ritual. Xia Fanghui was in a good mood tonight and showed him mercy: “Fine, drink as much as you like. Just pace yourself — little Yichen still has to get home tonight.”

Ning Deyan patted his chest: “I know, I know!”

By the time dinner was winding down, the atmosphere around the table had mellowed into something warm and easy — glasses being raised, dishes passed around, everyone settling into the kind of unhurried conversation that has nowhere particular to be.

Xie Yichen found that the more time he spent with the Ning family, the more he liked them.

Ning Deyan had the spirit of someone much younger. He was genuinely fascinated by Xie Yichen’s life — endlessly curious, firing off question after question: how exactly does the work in your research lab go? What was it like getting along with the other students during your spring research exchange in America? Did you get to explore any famous sights nearby? Which city was your favorite? And so on and so forth. Xie Yichen kept up with him, talking freely and ranging across whatever came up.

While the two of them were in full conversational stride, Ning Yue quietly slipped away from the table and made a beeline for his room.

Ever since getting his new phone, Ning Yue had been granted half an hour of gaming time after dinner. Desperate to stretch every second of it, he ate at breakneck speed every night and made his escape with military precision.

Tonight was supposed to be a grand family banquet, which made Xia Fanghui especially alert: “Where are you going?”

Ning Yue stopped in his tracks and turned around with complete honesty: “To poop.”

Xia Fanghui’s eyes did a slow circuit. She cleared her throat: “There’s no need to announce it quite so bluntly.” Meaning: we have a guest.

“Okay.” Ning Yue gave a slow, solemn “oh,” then looked back at her with full sincerity: “Mom, may I go drop a load?”

Xia Fanghui: “……”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA