Friday night classes ended at nine-thirty, and Xu Yiwen returned home before ten.
The lights inside the villa were turned off, plunging it into pitch darkness. Xu Yiwen turned on his phone light and, using that dim beam, made his way back to the guest room on the second floor.
After taking a shower, he picked out an outfit that brought out a good complexion in the walk-in closet, getting it ready to wear tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s trip to the He family home was meant for him to test the waters regarding the He parents’ attitude toward his marriage with He Xihuan.
Signing a divorce agreement with He Xihuan was easy; the hard part was getting the He family to accept it peacefully.
When all was said and done, his marriage to He Xihuan was a case of the Xu family marrying up into the He family.
The He family treated him very well, and he did not want to break their hearts.
At nine-thirty on Saturday morning, Xu Yiwen had already placed the gift boxes in the trunk and was waiting in the car for He Xihuan.
He Xihuan wasn’t wearing a suit; he had casually thrown on an apricot-colored sweater paired with a light green down vest.
As soon as he got into the car, he took off the vest.
The moment he tossed the vest into the back seat, his gaze landed on Xu Yiwen in the driver’s seat.
The sweater he was wearing was identical to Xu Yiwen’s. It was a matching couple’s outfit that second older sister He Xiyou had bought on a whim while shopping for clothes for her little daughter Li.
Xu Yiwen noticed it too. Just as he was about to get out of the car to go back and change into a different outfit, his phone suddenly rang.
His second older sister’s family had already arrived, and little Li was urging them to hurry up over video call.
“Uncle Xiao Wen, you and little uncle need to hurry over.” Ke Wuli, who had just turned five and started school, wanted to run around and play everywhere the moment Saturday and Sunday rolled around.
Two months ago, Xu Yiwen and He Xihuan had taken Ke Wuli to Happy Valley for a whole day, tiring the two of them out to the point where they fell straight into bed and went to sleep as soon as they got home.
Yet, looking at the photos with Ke Wuli in his album, Xu Yiwen felt a warm sweetness in his heart.
He had never gone out to play with his family when he was a child, nor had he ever experienced a life like Ke Wuli’s.
He envied Ke Wuli, and he cherished Ke Wuli just like his own flesh and blood.
“Alright,” Xu Yiwen’s tone softened as he pushed the matter of their matching clothes to the back of his mind. “We’ll be right there, we’ll see little Li soon.”
He Xihuan, who had gotten out of the car at some point, pulled open the driver’s side door and leaned down to look at Xu Yiwen, who was chatting with Ke Wuli. “I’ll drive. You chat with little Li.”
“Uncle Xiao Wen, look, I made this for you.”
Seeing that Ke Wuli in the video was still showing off her handmade craft, Xu Yiwen smiled lightly, got out of the car, and switched places with He Xihuan.
To prove that the two of them were deeply in love, they always drove just one car when returning to the He family home unless there were special circumstances.
Sometimes they took his car, and sometimes they took He Xihuan’s car.
Since he had woken up early today and prepared the gifts, they drove his car directly.
They had exchanged zero words yesterday, and he didn’t expect He Xihuan to treat him any better today.
So when He Xihuan offered to drive himself, Xu Yiwen was momentarily surprised.
A little after ten, they arrived at the He family villa. He Xihuan took out the gift boxes, holding them in his right hand while his left hand hung naturally by his side in a loose curl.
At the front gate, while waiting for someone to open it, He Xihuan anxiously glanced several times at Xu Yiwen’s palms.
Why wasn’t there any movement at all?
Usually at this time, Xu Yiwen would have already taken his hand, and firmly intertwined their fingers at that.
“Cough, cough,” He Xihuan feigned casualness as he gave a couple of light coughs and raised his left hand. “Hand.”
Xu Yiwen kept both hands stuffed in his pockets, showing no intention of taking them out.
He shifted his steps outward, lowered his gaze, and replied, “No need. It’s cold, Mom and Dad won’t care about details like that.”
He Xihuan’s eyeballs were practically popping out of his head. A gust of cold wind swept through his heart, and he silently wailed, “You used to say it differently!”
Hasty footsteps echoed from inside the yard. As if racing someone, He Xihuan swiftly scooped out Xu Yiwen’s right hand and locked his fingers tightly with his.
“The lock isn’t broken,” Ke Yijian opened the courtyard gate and welcomed the two inside. “Little Li was just being mischievous and changed the front gate password while playing earlier.”
“Brother-in-law, little Li is much more mischievous than my sister was when she was little,” He Xihuan curved his lips into a smile, leading Xu Yiwen into the yard.
“Your sister wasn’t as wild as you when she was a kid,” Ke Yijian took the gift boxes from He Xihuan’s hands and said with a light smile, “Your sister said this is a case of the niece taking after her uncle.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll take the blame.” He Xihuan gripped Xu Yiwen’s palm tightly. He could feel Xu Yiwen struggling slightly, his palms already starting to sweat.
“We aren’t wronging you,” He Xiyou, wearing a low ponytail, stood waiting at the entryway and chimed in. “Yijian and I were always bullied by you when we were kids.”
“Xiao Wen,” she looked at Xu Yiwen and said, “you don’t need to be so nice to Xihuan. Bully him more and get back all the abuse we suffered.”
“Alright,” Xu Yiwen answered, digging his fingertips hard into the back of He Xihuan’s hand before brushing it away. “I’ll help you bully him back right now.”
He Xiyou was only a year older than twenty-seven-year-old Xu Yiwen. She also needed to publish journal articles for her work, so she and Xu Yiwen shared plenty of common topics to talk about.
She gave Xu Yiwen a thumbs-up, left He Xihuan and Ke Yijian standing off to the side, and walked toward the living room with Xu Yiwen while chatting away. “When will the journal article you finalized last month come out? Let me read it later.”
“I chatted with the editor last month, and they said it’s scheduled for next year. Once the physical copies are mailed out, I’ll send a copy over to you.”
Even though He Xiyou’s field of expertise differed from Xu Yiwen’s, she had read every single paper Xu Yiwen published during his graduate studies.
Therefore, He Xiyou wasn’t just being polite, and neither was Xu Yiwen.
Every time the editor mailed physical copies of the journal, he would make sure to have one copy bound and delivered to He Xiyou.
“Then I’ll just wait for you to bring it over.” He Xiyou poured a cup of brewed oolong tea and handed it to Xu Yiwen. “Mom said you love drinking this, so she brewed it specially for you.”
“You had to attend classes, revise papers, and submit project completion documents all last month. You must have been exhausted, right?”
“It’s alright,” Xu Yiwen sat on the sofa, took a sip of tea, and felt both his stomach and heart warmed. “Just push through a bit, and it all gets finished.”
“Where are Mom, Dad, and little Li?” Xu Yiwen glanced around and asked with a hint of confusion.
“Mom and Dad are in the study upstairs, taking care of an impromptu video conference,” He Xihuan pointed in a certain direction. “Little Li is hiding in the bathroom, scared she’s going to get her bottom spanked.”
He Xihuan, who had been following closely behind, raised his voice and asked, “What impromptu conference? Why wasn’t I notified?”
“Mom and Dad said,” Ke Yijian patted He Xihuan’s shoulder with an amused expression, “that you need to focus on keeping Xiao Wen company.”
Hearing this, Xu Yiwen instead felt a bit restless and uneasy.
He stood up and walked toward the room He Xiyou had pointed out. “I’ll go check on little Li.”
Xu Yiwen only knocked a few times and called out Ke Wuli’s name a couple of times before she came out.
She tugged on Xu Yiwen’s hand and showed off her handmade creation to him. “Uncle Xiao Wen, do you like it?”
Xu Yiwen looked at the rocket made of construction paper and rubbed Ke Wuli’s dark, soft hair. “I love it.”
“Here,” Ke Wuli shifted a drawing over in front of Xu Yiwen. “I drew this. Uncle Xiao Wen and little uncle.”