Shi Miao finally managed to hail a taxi at the bottom of the mountain road.
The car drove all the way into the old city district.
It finally stopped in front of an old residential building covered in ivy.
This was a compound converted from an old work-unit housing estate. Its red brick walls had darkened with age, and everywhere exuded the warmth of everyday life—a completely different world from Song Hanzhou’s cold, lonely villa on the hillside.
Though the compound looked old, its location was extremely valuable. Most of the residents were former government officials or old-school businesspeople.
Most young people had moved to the new city district; those who lived here were mostly elderly.
Shi Miao naturally couldn’t afford a place here.
She paid the fare, got out, and walked with practiced familiarity to the third floor, taking out her keys to open the door.
A white-haired old lady, dressed very neatly, sat on the fabric sofa, apparently having waited for her for a long time.
Shi Miao composed her expression, walked to the entryway, changed into slippers, and called out softly, “Grandma, I’m back.”
Chen Qiuzhu didn’t respond, only looked up at her with a stern expression. “Where did you go last night?”
Shi Miao’s face didn’t change. “An emergency surgery came in at the hospital. I was busy until the early hours, and I was too tired, so I crashed in the on-duty room.”
Chen Qiuzhu was an old lady with an eccentric temper. She’d been on bad terms with her daughter for most of her life, and Shi Miao had never met this grandmother in all her years growing up.
It was only a year ago, when Shi Miao was preparing to return from London and was sorting through Mother Cheng’s old belongings, that she stumbled upon her grandmother’s contact information.
After that, she brought her vegetative mother back to Jingzhou to live with her grandmother.
At first, Grandma set down many rules.
The first was paying rent.
Five hundred yuan a month.
In Jingzhou, where every inch of land was worth gold, that amount wouldn’t even rent a basement, let alone a hundred-square-meter apartment.
Shi Miao knew perfectly well that the old lady was all bark and no bite. Besides, she didn’t think her grandmother was obligated to take them in, so she was grateful, and on the first of every month she would place the rent on the old lady’s bedside table.
The old lady had OCD and severe cleanliness compulsions, and she managed Shi Miao very strictly.
Shoes had to be changed at the door, and slippers arranged by color; the sofa cushions in the living room couldn’t be sat on crooked, and cups had to be placed dead center on coasters; the kitchen had to be wiped spotless after use—not a trace of grease left even in the stove’s crevices…
Anyone else would probably have been driven mad by these fussy rules, but Shi Miao didn’t mind, and the year passed peacefully.
The old lady had also set another rule: no coming home late, and certainly no staying out overnight.
But once she learned the nature of Shi Miao’s work, she turned a blind eye—as long as Shi Miao didn’t disturb her rest when she came back.
In the past, even when she couldn’t make it home, Shi Miao would send her grandmother a text message in advance, though every one of them sank like a stone into the sea.
Last night had been so sudden that Shi Miao hadn’t had time to say anything, and after spending the night at Song Hanzhou’s place, her mind had been such a tangled mess that she’d forgotten all about it.
Shi Miao had assumed her grandmother didn’t care whether she came home or where she went.
After she finished speaking, her grandmother didn’t ask any more questions, just nodded.
Shi Miao had sweated up a storm last night and hadn’t been able to shower at Song Hanzhou’s place, so she felt sticky and uncomfortable all over.
She turned and went into her room to grab a change of clothes, preparing to take a shower.
Her grandmother was still in the living room. She asked Shi Miao, “Last time I told you to have a meal with Xiao Qin—why didn’t you go?”
The “Xiao Qin” Grandma mentioned was Shi Miao’s blind date.
He was from the neighboring residential complex, a university professor, thirty years old. His parents were old acquaintances of Grandma’s, so everything about him was known inside and out.
At the thought of this man, Shi Miao frowned slightly. “Work at the department has been busy, so I didn’t go.”
She had Qin Zhao’s WeChat saved on her phone—Grandma had forced her to add him. The man often sent her warm, caring messages, but when it came to money, he wouldn’t part with a single cent.
He also loved to lecture.
Shi Miao really had no feelings for him at all.
“Then aren’t you free today? Perfect timing to have a meal with him and meet. Xiao Qin is good-looking, filial to his parents, and surely decent in character—not to mention a professor. What great conditions,” Grandma said. “It’s rare that he’s interested in you. You’re 27, almost 28—you’re not a young girl anymore. It’s time to think about your own future.”
Shi Miao had no reason to refuse. “All right, I’ll go see him.”
It was the perfect opportunity to put an end to Qin Zhao’s hopes once and for all.
The restaurant was set: Seaya Restaurant.
Seaya Restaurant.
“Song Shu, look—it’s the limited-edition Jurassic T-Rex figure. Do you like it?”
Bai Zhiyao was all smiles.
“Mm, I like it. Thank you, Aunt Bai.” Song Shu was, after all, still a seven-year-old child. Seeing a toy he liked, he couldn’t help but light up with starry eyes, unable to put it down.
Bai Zhiyao said, “Then can Song Shu tell me why you were unhappy today?”
At her words, Song Shu pressed his little lips into a thin line, his thick long lashes lowering.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s all right too.” Bai Zhiyao immediately backed off, her tone still gentle.
She knew Song Shu’s temperament—slow to warm up and distant, just like his father.
Because of what happened back then, Song Hanzhou had completely cut her off.
Over these years, in order to repair her relationship with Song Hanzhou, she had put considerable effort into Song Shu. Bai Zhiyao asked herself honestly—she probably hadn’t even been this good to her own son.
Yet Song Shu always kept her at arm’s length. Bai Zhiyao just assumed it was his nature.
Right now she didn’t dare press him, afraid of shattering the little bit of closeness she had finally managed to build.
Bai Zhiyao raised a hand to signal the waiter over and ordered a children’s set meal.
Song Shu knew he shouldn’t go around telling others about his father’s private matters, but he really didn’t want a strange woman suddenly barging into his life—he had never wanted a new mommy.
Even though… he didn’t want Aunt Bai to marry Daddy either…
After a long silence, Song Shu finally looked up. “Last night, Daddy… brought an auntie home.”
Bai Zhiyao’s expression changed abruptly. “What did you say?”
Song Hanzhou had just finished an important meeting. He set his phone’s navigation to Seaya Restaurant, preparing to pick up his son.
In the car, he was on a call with Old Madam Song, Zhou Ya.
The woman’s voice came through the Bluetooth earpiece: “It was me who had Zhiyao go pick Song Shu up from school. If you have a problem, take it up with me—don’t go giving Zhiyao the cold shoulder later.”
“I don’t.” Hanzhou’s voice was flat, his gaze resting on the traffic ahead.
Over the past few years, Zhou Ya had more or less figured out her younger son’s temperament. When he said “I don’t,” he was surely stewing inside, thinking she had overstepped and made decisions on her own again.
But how could she, as his mother, not worry?
Song Hanzhou was already 28 this year. Ever since the incident with the Xu Family, he had thrown himself entirely into his career, without so much as a single close person by his side. He couldn’t stay a bachelor forever, could he?
Besides, her grandson needed a mother too.
Zhou Ya felt that Song Shu was becoming colder and colder in temperament—not at all sunny and cheerful like other children his age—and it was most likely learned from Song Hanzhou.
Adults had too much influence on children. If there were a gentle, considerate stepmother by his side to care for and guide him, Song Shu’s temperament would surely slowly change for the better.
And this household could finally feel like a real home.
Bai Zhiyao came from a good family, had a gentle personality, had feelings for Song Hanzhou, and was genuinely good to Song Shu. In Zhou Ya’s eyes, she was the perfect choice.
She really couldn’t understand why Song Hanzhou simply refused to accept her.
In that instant, Zhou Ya thought of the woman from the rumors—Song Shu’s birth mother.
As for Song Hanzhou’s past, Zhou Ya had no comment. Even if he still couldn’t forget that woman, it was all in the past now.
“Anyway, remember to take Miss Bai home later. Be polite, don’t be so cold all the time. Understood?”
Zhou Ya couldn’t help nagging: “Miss Bai is wonderful, and she gets along well with Song Shu. Think about the engagement—”
“I’ve arrived. Gotta go.”
Before Zhou Ya could finish, the call was cut off, leaving her both angry and helpless.
Getting out of the car, Song Hanzhou walked toward the restaurant.
But what he saw was Bai Zhiyao, looking flustered and at a loss.
“Hanzhou! Song Shu—Song Shu accidentally ate mango pudding. It’s all my fault, I didn’t check that it came with the set meal…”