Xiao Tianwen sat in the back seat holding Hanghang, smiling at his son in the driver’s seat.
“You know your Aunt Jiang even better than I do, huh? Talking about deployments and strategies already?”
After that, he added with clear satisfaction,
“All these years of raising you weren’t for nothing.”
“Whenever it involves Aunt Jiang, you lose your composure. Anyway, I guarantee you Aunt Jiang will definitely come back tomorrow.”
Hearing the certainty in his son’s voice, Xiao Tianwen replied, “Alright.”
The car stopped at the gate. The three of them got out, and Xiao Jingchuan added,
“Dad, I told Aunt Liu to pack up and leave tomorrow.”
Xiao Tianwen paused mid-step. “Why?”
“Before she understood the truth of the situation, she privately complained to me about Yunzhu, which caused Yunzhu a lot of trouble.”
Xiao Tianwen nodded. “Mm. Tomorrow, have someone find another suitable auntie.”
“Okay.”
Early the next morning, Xiao Jingchuan drove out. His first stop was the Overseas Chinese Store. His tall figure stood before the glass counter, and the sales clerk immediately came over.
“What would you like to buy, comrade?”
“Recommend a wristwatch suitable for a girl.”
The clerk, a woman in her forties, smiled. “For your girlfriend?”
“My younger sister,” he said. Since he had never bought things for a woman before, he wasn’t confident in his taste and added, “Around nineteen years old. Something a bit more valuable.”
The clerk took out a watch from the counter and handed it to him.
“This Plum Blossom watch is very popular among advanced intellectuals in Beijing right now.”
Xiao Jingchuan took it. A silver band, small and delicate. For a moment, an image flashed through his mind the slender, jade-like hands that had once faced him across a chessboard. He decided immediately.
“I’ll take this one. How much is it?”
“This is the most expensive ladies’ model in the Plum Blossom series. Five hundred yuan.”
“Wrap it up for me. And pick out a few good fountain pens, several notebooks, and a schoolbag as well.”
Seeing the refined, distinguished young man before her, the clerk turned around and selected the most expensive option for each item.
After paying, Xiao Jingchuan drove to the address his father had given him and stopped in front of an ordinary dormitory building.
He found the door number and walked closer, immediately spotting Jiang Youqing busy in the main room.
“Aunt Jiang.”
Hearing his voice, Jiang Youqing turned around. Seeing him standing at the doorway, blocking much of the light, she said,
“Young Master, come in.”
Xiao Jingchuan stepped inside.
“From now on, just call me Jingchuan.”
Jiang Youqing smiled. “Then I’ll call you Comrade Jingchuan.”
Xiao Jingchuan knew she was deliberately drawing a line between herself and the Xiao family, and he didn’t mind.
“I heard Yunzhu wants to study English, so I arranged a particularly outstanding English teacher for her. This teacher doesn’t just teach English she also knows German, French, and Russian. With Yunzhu’s talent and learning ability, if she studies under the right teacher, her progress will be remarkable.”
At the mention of Yunzhu’s learning ability, Jiang Youqing’s eyes lit up immediately. She knew better than anyone how strong her daughter’s aptitude was.
“Alright, I’ll go call Yunzhu.”
She turned and walked to Fu Yunzhu’s room.
“Yunzhu, Comrade Jingchuan is here.”
Hearing her mother’s form of address, Fu Yunzhu couldn’t help raising an eyebrow. She closed her textbook and came out.
Entering the main room, she saw Xiao Jingchuan sitting upright on a chair, posture straight and proper. She greeted him,
“Hello.”
For the moment, she couldn’t think of a more suitable form of address.
Xiao Jingchuan took the gifts out of the bag.
“I bought you a watch and some study supplies. I hope they’ll be useful.”
Fu Yunzhu froze slightly. “This…”
“Thank you for teaching Hanghang,” Xiao Jingchuan said sincerely.
“It’s only right. I couldn’t very well eat and live at the Xiao house for free, nor could I really let you help me find a school just because of a few games of chess.”
She had heard it was the best high school in the capital.
In the past, finding the best schools and teachers was nothing more than a word from family and a sum of money to her.
Only now did she realize how impossibly difficult it was for ordinary people.
Even finding a decent translator at the Xinhua Bookstore as an excuse had been extremely hard.
Xiao Jingchuan hadn’t expected such a young girl to have such a clear moral scale in her heart no desire to take advantage of others, even offering generous returns without keeping score. Compared to what she had done for Hanghang, what he was doing now hardly amounted to much.
But he didn’t want things to end with them being “even,” especially since his father was still waiting for Aunt Jiang to return.
“Since you calculate things so clearly, how should we account for me hiring you an English teacher? This is an English tutor to the daughter of a diplomat.”
Jiang Youqing was stunned. A teacher like that was an opportunity her daughter absolutely couldn’t miss. She immediately said,
“I’ll go back and take care of your and Chief Xiao’s meals.”
Xiao Jingchuan looked at Fu Yunzhu, the corners of his lips lifting.
“Alright.”
Fu Yunzhu always felt he had an ulterior motive but one that aligned perfectly with her own wishes, since she hoped her mother would follow the original plotline of the story.
She looked up and met Xiao Jingchuan’s smiling eyes.
He withdrew his gaze and looked around the room.
“The environment here is noisy and will affect Yunzhu’s studies. If Aunt Jiang returns to the Xiao house and leaves Yunzhu here alone, it wouldn’t be safe either. Why not move together? We can prepare a separate room for her. There aren’t many people in the Xiao household and plenty of rooms Yunzhu can choose whichever she likes.”
Jiang Youqing was extremely moved.
“Thank you, Young Master.”
Xiao Jingchuan nodded, then looked at Yunzhu.
“Come with me to meet the teacher now.”
“Alright.”
He watched as Fu Yunzhu took the gifts into her room. When she came out, the watch was already on her wrist not ignored, but not treated as something extraordinary either, as if such things were nothing unusual to her.
Fu Yunzhu followed Xiao Jingchuan out and got into the car.
“I’ve already had Aunt Liu pack up and leave, and I warned my cousin as well,” Xiao Jingchuan said, his well-defined hand resting casually on the steering wheel, fingers tapping lightly.
“Thank you.”
“So, have you thought about becoming my younger sister?”
From the back seat, Fu Yunzhu watched the passing light and shadows glide across his face through the window, outlining a nearly perfect profile. He handled matters flawlessly gentle yet commanding.
Who wouldn’t be tempted to have such a strong, gentle, and handsome man as an older brother?
“From now on, you’re my brother in my heart?”
“Why ‘in your heart’?”
“Because I don’t know in what capacity I should be your sister.”
She knew, of course but she wanted to hear him say it himself.
Xiao Jingchuan pressed his lips together.
“My dad likes your mother, and I think your mother likes my dad too. So I want her to become my stepmother.”
“Why do you think my mom likes your dad?”
Her mother had hidden it so well if she hadn’t read the book, she wouldn’t have noticed at all.
Xiao Jingchuan smiled.
“I think smart women wouldn’t refuse my dad.”
Fu Yunzhu: !!!
She had no way to respond to that. If her mother refused, wouldn’t that make her a “stupid woman”?
So she just smiled and didn’t continue.
The car started and drove all the way to a quiet siheyuan courtyard, stopping at the gate.
Xiao Jingchuan got out and opened the door for Fu Yunzhu. Only then did she notice his hands were empty.
“Isn’t it a bit improper for us to go in empty-handed?”
Xiao Jingchuan turned back to look at her.
“Me being here is the best gift.”
Fu Yunzhu: !!!
Seeing her slightly stunned expression, Xiao Jingchuan laughed.
“Alright, come on in.”