“Yaoyao probably couldn’t help but tell tales again, right?” Lin Zhixun scooped up soup with a spoon, drinking it with a cheerful chuckle.
“What do you mean by telling tales, Dad! Your health broke down from overwork to the point of hospitalization, yet you still kept it from me and refused to let me know.” Lin Ze felt rather annoyed looking at his father’s leisurely expression.
“Zeze, your dad was just afraid you would worry. Besides, telling you wouldn’t have helped anyway.”
Xiao Qingyao’s subtext was crystal clear: she was once again treating Lin Ze like a little child, expecting him to just focus on studying while the adults handled everything else at home, leaving him with nothing to worry about.
“Well, at least I have the right to know, Mom. If you guys ignore me like this again, I…” Lin Ze paused, unable to come up with anything truly hurtful. “I won’t come home for the Chinese New Year! I won’t celebrate with you guys!”
Hearing Lin Ze’s completely harmless threat, Xiao Qingyao let out a low chuckle.
She whispered softly into Lin Zhixun’s ear, “Oh, hubby, look at our Zeze. When he gets upset, he is just like a paper tiger, so cute.”
Lin Zhixun planted a kiss on Xiao Qingyao’s cheek. “Yaoyao, you’re pretty cute too.”
Xiao Qingyao gave him a light, shy nudge.
“…” Lin Ze watched them silently. “Mom, Dad, could you please exercise some restraint in a hospital? Besides, I’m still right here.”
“Oh my, I completely forgot you were here for a second.” Lin Zhixun gave his forehead a slap, putting on an act of sudden realization.
“How could you forget when Zeze, this lightbulb, is glaringly bright?” Lin Ze’s mom teased with a smile.
Lin Ze pressed his lips together, looking at the older couple with utter helplessness.
They were definitely doing this on purpose just to show off in front of him!
Lin Zhixun glanced at Lin Ze, withdrew his gaze, and said, “I think that little girl next door is quite nice. She’s bright-eyed and polite to everyone. It’s a pity, though, that some brat has high standards and looks down on her.”
“Ah, Yingying? That girl really is lovely. Come to think of it, she’s quite fond of a certain someone, but who knows if that someone has caught on to her feelings yet,” Xiao Qingyao added.
Lin Ze didn’t even need to guess to know that the “someone” his parents kept talking about was him!
They might as well just call him out by name.
“Oh, you two stop tag-teaming like this. Yingying hasn’t even said anything yet, and you two always use her to tease me.”
Seeing his father’s beaming face, Lin Ze couldn’t help but steer the conversation back, forcibly dragging them to the starting point of the topic.
“Mom, Dad, I’m serious. You can’t keep treating me like a child,” Lin Ze said.
His father smiled a bit unnaturally. “Alright, next time for sure. We won’t do it again.”
“Dad, are things really busy at the company lately?”
Lin Ze rarely asked about the Lin family’s business. After all, he didn’t understand the corporate world yet and couldn’t offer any help, but seeing that his father had worked himself to the point of collapse for the sake of his job, he couldn’t help but feel worried.
“Just a little bit, usually nothing major. The work pressure isn’t high either; it’s just that the company recently partnered with UI, so there are a lot of coordination details to handle.”
Seeing the deep frown on Lin Ze’s face, his father suddenly put on an enlightened expression and said, “Though we’re done with the busy part now, so it’s no big deal.”
Just when Lin Ze thought his father’s explanation would put his mind at ease, his frown only deepened further.
“UI? Why would they partner with a small enterprise like ours?” Lin Ze asked, feeling puzzled.
Although Lin Ze didn’t know much about the ins and outs of his father’s company, he still kept himself updated on some local industry news through his phone.
UI couldn’t be considered a massive enterprise in City A, but compared to a modest family business like the Lin family’s, UI practically stood high above the clouds, looking down upon them.
UI’s resources were fiercely fought over by companies across every industry just to secure a tiny foothold.
Naturally, if they had better choices, they would lean toward the stronger side. Even if there were no better partnerships available, they wouldn’t lower their standards so much as to collaborate with a completely unknown small business, would they?
That was what Lin Ze thought, but his father seemed to notice the worry in his son’s eyes and reassured him, “Don’t worry, our cooperation has been going very smoothly.”
Seeing his father speak with such conviction, Lin Ze couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps he really was just overthinking it.
If people were willing to give them this chance and partner with them, it also meant their family had the capability to catch the eye of such a company.
Lin Ze, oh Lin Ze, you really need to break this habit of self-deprecation.
He smiled bitterly at himself.