One pretended not to hear, and the other pretended not to see.

Cheng Yanqing scanned Qing Hang from head to toe. “You’re still wearing yesterday’s clothes. Don’t tell me you just arrived early.”

Then he turned his target toward the motionless Cheng Wanyue.

“I’ve told you hundreds of times, wear shoes, wear shoes, wear shoes! How urgent could it possibly be? Would Qing Hang die of thirst if he didn’t drink this box of milk? When I’m rushing to work without time for breakfast, how come you never think to bring me milk?”

Though he didn’t like drinking milk, that wasn’t important.

Qing Hang took off his slippers and let Cheng Wanyue step on them.

“Oh, how considerate!” Cheng Yanqing even applauded twice. “Why don’t you just carry her? That way she’d be even less likely to catch a cold.”

“Cheng Wanyue, stop pretending to be deaf. Face your mistake! Who taught you to hide someone in your room without telling me?” Cheng Yanqing grew angrier the more he thought about it. “You two are something. I might as well move out with my niece and leave this home for you two to live in.”

Cheng Wanyue swallowed.

His temper was fierce, and she was in danger.

He probably knew she would face difficulties these few days, and hadn’t slept well last night.

“Erkang, Erkang,” she stroked Qing Hang’s face. “My eyes can’t see anymore…”

Cheng Yanqing clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking. “Cheng Wanyue, step aside.”

“Qing Hang, take Meiqiu away,” Cheng Wanyue tried a different approach. “Just now, someone said he wanted to slaughter it. What a great trauma to the little kitty’s young mind!”

Cheng Yanqing was the first to object. “No way!”

His attitude changed, and his gaze toward Qing Hang no longer suggested he was about to grab a knife. “You’ve already given it to her. Taking it back would be very unethical and ungentlemanly. A man shouldn’t do such things.”

Cheng Wanyue coughed twice. “Last night, I didn’t let him leave. Don’t scold him.”

Cheng Yanqing finished the remaining half glass of water. “An intellectual doesn’t curse people. Always using profanity is so crude.”

Cheng Wanyue pretended to persuade Qing Hang reluctantly. “Then let’s leave it with him. After all, he has no one to keep him company. Having a cat isn’t bad.”

Qing Hang nodded cooperatively. “Mm.”

Cheng Yanqing went into his room, and when he came out, he was holding the cat in one hand and a shirt in the other. “It’s new, never worn. Qing Hang, take off the one you’re wearing.”

Cheng Wanyue also thought it wasn’t good for Qing Hang to go to work in yesterday’s clothes. “Don’t worry, wear it. I’ll buy him another one.”

Qing Hang caught the shirt Cheng Yanqing threw over. When he was about to unbutton his current shirt, his fingers paused at the collar for a few seconds. His eyes met Cheng Wanyue’s, and suddenly she understood why he wouldn’t change in the living room.

Yesterday, she had scratched and bitten him quite a lot.

“Why are you blushing?” Cheng Yanqing couldn’t smile genuinely, but for Meiqiu’s sake, he forced a smile that made one’s skin crawl.

Cheng Wanyue wasn’t intimidated. “He has a good figure. Isn’t it normal for me to blush a little?”

“Get back to your room and go back to sleep!”

“…Fine, I’ll sleep.”

She shuffled back to her room wearing the oversized slippers. After closing the door, she couldn’t hear what they were saying outside.

If Qing Hang took a taxi to the hospital, he could still be delayed for another twenty minutes. He folded the shirt neatly and placed it on the sofa. There were clean clothes in the hospital department’s break room.

Yesterday I didn’t want to leave. It’s not her fault. Did we disturb you?”

“Not at all. The soundproofing is so good, how much noise would it take to disturb me?” Cheng Yanqing suddenly reflected whether he should have stayed away to avoid interfering. “As long as Wanyue likes you, I have zero objections. You just need to figure out how to explain to my parents.”

During their senior year of high school, Cheng Guo’an had considered adopting Qing Hang, but Cheng Wanyue disagreed, saying in front of everyone that if they took in Qing Hang, they’d lose her.

Qing Hang’s relationship with the Cheng family was unequal from the beginning—he was the one being supported.

“I’ll find time to visit Uncle Cheng. Wanyue said she was sick a few years ago. What illness was it?”

Cheng Yanqing knew Cheng Wanyue wouldn’t tell Qing Hang, at least not now, but sometimes he couldn’t help being soft-hearted. “Didn’t you believe her?”

Qing Hang thought for a long time. “That phone call eight years ago?”

That was their only conversation in eight years, and it happened through Cheng Yanqing.

“She’s lied to me many times.”

Qing Hang had believed all the lies Cheng Wanyue told before, except for that one time.

“Being sick is tough for anyone. Taking lots of medicine every day, going through various examinations, both body and appetite are affected, skin looks bad, complexion poor, temper even worse,” Cheng Yanqing briefly described the two years when Cheng Wanyue was ill. “If she doesn’t bring it up, don’t ask. It’s in the past now.”

Qing Hang faced life and death every day. He had seen too many patients tortured by illness. “Did she take a leave from school because of her illness?”

“Yes.”

“…I thought she left to date someone.”

Cheng Yanqing said flatly, “It would have been better if she had been dating. Qing Hang, you’re very lucky. Even if Wanyue hasn’t forgiven you for leaving without saying goodbye back then, she still came to Beijing to find you.”

The years Qing Hang spent alone had nothing to do with the word “lucky.”

He had spent eight years unable to remove Cheng Wanyue from his life. It was impossible for him to ever like anyone else. Even if she hadn’t come to find him, he would have gone to find her.

“Alright, alright, keep dawdling and you’ll be late,” Cheng Wanyue hadn’t slept at all, and came out to hurry Qing Hang to work when she saw the time.

She walked him to the door, watched him press the elevator button, and before the door closed, she beckoned to him with her finger.

Qing Hang didn’t even care if Cheng Yanqing was still in the living room. As soon as he came close, he lowered his head to kiss her.

“That’s not what I meant…”

She leaned back, but the next second his lips caught up with hers, making it difficult for her to speak clearly. “I wanted to say… in a couple of days, I’ll help you get revenge. Cheng Yanqing will suffer terribly.”

That hug between Qin Hua and Cheng Yanqing in the parking lot yesterday had indeed been photographed. Either Qin Hua was unwilling to spend money, or she intentionally wanted publicity, but the PR response was inadequate, and the topic was trending highly early in the morning.

Internet users couldn’t recognize Cheng Yanqing, who wasn’t in the entertainment circle, but Cheng Yanqing’s girlfriend would recognize him. This was the main reason for his irritability earlier.

Qing Hang was still holding the box of milk. He walked a few steps before turning back to kiss her again. “I’ll come make dinner for you tonight. Do you want chicken soup or tomato beef brisket soup?”

“Beef brisket soup, and I also want stir-fried duck intestines with pickled chili and scrambled eggs with green peppers,” Cheng Wanyue helped straighten his collar. “Can you attend A’Yu and Cheng Yuzhou’s wedding? I’ll book the flight tickets this afternoon.”

“I can’t go several days in advance. I can only go on the day of or the evening before.”

“Then I’ll go back first. There are many tedious details for the wedding, and I’ll help out. But what about Meiqiu? Cheng Yanqing might want to drive back. If he drives, I won’t buy plane tickets, and Meiqiu can come with us.”

“If it’s inconvenient, that’s fine too. I can ask a colleague to take care of it for a couple of days. I’ll accompany you to watch the flag-raising ceremony during the National Day holiday. You should get plenty of rest this week.”

“Mmm! Bye! Get to work, Dr. Qing.”

After seeing Qing Hang off, Cheng Wanyue went to the kitchen to make scallion pancakes. She added two eggs and prepared a cup of coffee before knocking on Cheng Yanqing’s door.

He hadn’t fallen asleep either.

Looking at Cheng Wanyue holding the plate with both hands, her mouth corners involuntarily turning up but desperately trying to suppress it, she ended up choking on her saliva.

He didn’t have objections to Qing Hang staying overnight, nor was he an old-fashioned person from the Qing dynasty, but when it came to his only sister dating someone, he was bound to be overly critical.

“This cup has been stepped on by Meiqiu. Are you trying to poison me so you can fly off with Qing Hang?”

Cheng Wanyue, “…”

She wasn’t that malicious.

“You’ve already drunk from it twice. One more time won’t make a difference,” she was too lazy to get a new cup. “After A’Yu and Cheng Yuzhou’s wedding, I want to bring Qing Hang to Second Uncle’s home. What do you think?”

The scallion pancake in Cheng Yanqing’s mouth was stuck—he couldn’t swallow it or spit it out. “Testing me, are you?”

“Brother,” Cheng Wanyue smiled sweetly as she wiped the ketchup from the corner of his mouth. “You have to help me.”

“He hasn’t even confessed to you yet. What’s the hurry?”

“I’m not in a hurry, but we should prepare our parents mentally. I might suddenly decide to get married one day and drag Qing Hang straight to register, which would be an even bigger shock then.”

It wasn’t that Cheng Guo’an disliked Qing Hang. For their parents’ generation, some inherent thoughts were quite rigid. In his mind, Qing Hang was already Cheng Wanyue’s brother, just not with the Cheng surname.

Cheng Yanqing bit into an eggshell and immediately perked up. “You focus on looking beautiful, and I’ll handle praising him.”

Cheng Wanyue was very satisfied. “I’ll save you a bowl of tomato beef brisket soup as a late-night snack.”

“You’d better stay out of the kitchen.”

“Qing Hang is coming to cook for me. You’ll benefit from my fortune.”

Cheng Yanqing, “…”

Young couples, so annoying.