By all logic, someone as huge as Han Wei really had nothing to do with the words “cute and innocent.”
But in Shen Yingying’s eyes, those three words suited him perfectly.
Xie Fangzhu’s mouth twitched.
Unable to hold back, he raised a hand and pressed down on Han Wei’s big head. “Shut up!”
Only then did Han Wei realize he had said the wrong thing.
Sister-in-law was his brother’s woman. Of course his brother knew what kind of person she was—why would a younger brother like him need to point it out?
Men cared about their pride. And here he was, blurting out in front of sister-in-law that his brother liked her.
Wasn’t that making his brother lose face?
Thinking of this, he hunched his broad shoulders slightly and looked pitifully at Xie Fangzhu.
“Bro, sorry… my mouth slipped too…”
“Hopeless,” Xie Fangzhu snapped coldly, glaring at him. Then he looked toward the back of the cafeteria again.
When his gaze landed somewhere, his expression softened considerably. He turned to Shen Yingying and said, “Eat slowly. I’m going to find someone.”
Shen Yingying looked in the direction he had glanced.
There were too many people, and she couldn’t tell who he was looking for.
She nodded. “Alright.”
After Xie Fangzhu left, Han Wei awkwardly rubbed his hands and looked sheepishly at Shen Yingying.
Without his brother around, Han Wei suddenly felt extremely awkward sitting alone with sister-in-law.
The bench felt like it was burning his butt; no matter how he sat, he couldn’t get comfortable.
Seeing how restless he looked—so mismatched with his huge build—Shen Yingying couldn’t help but speak first to ease the tension.
“You and Brother Xie seem really close. I always see him with you the most.”
Han Wei hadn’t expected sister-in-law to know his name, much less speak to him first. And her voice was so gentle, completely different from the sister-in-law he had imagined.
“Ah, actually, Bro gets along with everyone…” he said shyly, even his thunderous voice becoming quieter. “It’s just that I’m always following him around, hehe. He always says I’m annoying. See, he’s nice to everyone else, but he’s really fierce with me…”
Shen Yingying wanted to say: because Xie Fangzhu only pretended to be nice to everyone else. Only in front of Han Wei did he reveal glimpses of his carefully hidden true nature.
But she didn’t expose him. Instead, she smiled and said to Han Wei, “That’s because you’re his friend. People only act casually with their real friends.”
Hearing that, Han Wei’s eyes widened.
He had always thought of himself as Xie Fangzhu’s lackey. How would he dare think of himself as a friend?
Yet Shen Yingying had actually called him Xie Fangzhu’s friend. He felt deeply flattered.
Not only was sister-in-law beautiful, but her heart was unbelievably kind too.
For a moment, his fondness for Shen Yingying rose by several more points.
“Sister-in-law, don’t say that…” he said with a goofy grin. Just as he was about to continue, Xie Fangzhu returned, carrying a five- or six-year-old little boy in his arms.
Han Wei quickly shut his mouth and asked, “Bro, why’d you bring the little smart aleck here?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed a woman following behind them and hurriedly added, “Eh? Sister Yin, you’re here too.”
The woman looked around twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old. She had a gentle appearance, with soft smiles in her eyes and brows that made people instantly feel comfortable around her.
Hearing Han Wei’s question, she smiled and answered, “Xiao Zhu said Yingying is riding her bicycle home today, so she can give Jiaozi a ride.”
Then she turned to Shen Yingying and said, “Yingying, Jiaozi happened to twist his foot these past few days. It hurts him to walk home, and as his mother, I feel awful but can’t do much about it. Since you’re riding a bike today, I really have to thank you. Sorry for troubling you.”
Shen Yingying searched through the original owner’s memories. The original owner didn’t know this woman, only having seen her a few times at the mine.
From the woman’s words, she wanted Shen Yingying to give the little boy a ride home on the way back.
And since Xie Fangzhu had brought the boy over personally, it meant he already knew about this arrangement.
Thinking this through, she nodded and addressed the woman the same way Han Wei had.
“Sister Yin, it’s just along the way. You don’t have to be so polite.”
A trace of surprise flashed through Yin Rou’s eyes at her response.
Then she said gratefully, “Yingying, thank you so much.”
After reminding her son to listen to Shen Yingying, she picked up the packed meal she had gotten from the cafeteria and hurried off.
Once Yin Rou had left, Xie Fangzhu explained to Shen Yingying:
“Sister Yin works in the lamp room, and her husband works at the meat supply store. The store only runs two shifts, so he has to get up early. Sister Yin still needs to bring him food, so she doesn’t have time to take Jiaozi home. I saw the kid getting tired from walking, and since you’re riding today—and their place isn’t far from Uncle Chen’s—it’s convenient to drop him off.”
From the sound of it, he had volunteered for the task himself.
Shen Yingying was a little surprised. Since when had he become so kind-hearted?
But looking at the little boy’s large dark eyes, she found him unbearably adorable and didn’t think too much about it.
“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely get him home safely.”
As she spoke, she pinched the boy’s thin little cheek.
“It’s more than a kilometer back to the family quarters. Jiaozi’s so little, yet he can already walk all the way home himself. That’s amazing!”
Xie Fangzhu nodded and set the boy down. “Then Han Wei and I are off to the meeting.”
Before going down into the mine every day, Xie Fangzhu had to lead the workers in a pre-shift meeting. They had already left home rather late today, and Shen Yingying didn’t want to delay him, so she quickly nodded.
“Alright, hurry along.”
Before leaving, Xie Fangzhu also pinched Jiaozi’s cheek.
“Jiaozi, be good, okay?”
The boy’s clever eyes darted between Xie Fangzhu and Shen Yingying before he said seriously, “Uncle Xie, I remember what you said. I’ll obediently listen to Sister Yingying.”
Xie Fangzhu’s brows furrowed ever so slightly.
Earlier, he had told Jiaozi to call her Auntie Shen. Yet when it came out of the boy’s mouth, it had turned into “Sister.”
He was “uncle,” while Shen Yingying was “sister.” The generations sounded mismatched.
He was only seven years older than Shen Yingying. How had they ended up sounding like different generations?
But then he thought: no matter how strange the titles sounded, Shen Yingying was still his wife.
And that made him feel much better.
…
Shen Yingying placed the bicycle lock into the front basket and pushed the bike backward a few steps.
Seeing Jiaozi standing obediently beside her without moving around at all, she thought to herself how well-behaved the child was.
Swinging onto the bicycle, she called for Jiaozi to climb on.
When her eyes met his large dark ones, she was startled.
Wasn’t this child looking at her a little too intently? The seriousness in his gaze made it seem as if he were afraid she might run away.
Suddenly, a thought surfaced in her mind.
After Jiaozi sat down properly, she casually asked, “Jiaozi, what did Uncle Xie say to you today?”
The boy behind her was silent for a moment before replying, “He told me to listen carefully to Sister Yingying.”
“Anything else?”
“No!” Jiaozi answered firmly.
“Oh?” Shen Yingying deliberately raised her voice dramatically, then lowered it mysteriously.
“But my super-hearing ears heard Uncle Xie say something else too. Jiaozi, little kids who lie will have their noses grow loooong.”