He likes me.

As she was being held, Ying Qian thought to herself that she could feel the contours of Chen Wenzhi's muscles, feel his body temperature, and hear his heartbeat against her ear against his chest.

She had never sensed someone's intense affection so clearly before.

"Hmm." She agreed, but not really. To her, promises were intangible and unattainable, nothing more than illusions.

This idea remained only in her mind; her heart was already churning with turmoil.

*

We ate lunch downstairs.

Ms. Zhao recently got a cookbook and tried to cook according to it. The dishes didn't turn out very well, but she ended up covered in soot and the kitchen was filled with smoke.

Chen Wenzhi went inside, turned on the range hood and windows, and turned off the stove, thus minimizing the damage.

Ying Qian coughed repeatedly from the choking, and rushed over to "save the day" in worry!

"Xiaoqian, I guess we won't be able to taste Auntie's cooking today. Let's order takeout..." Zhao Yaya was quite sad, but it was all an act. She wiped away a tear in vain. "However, it's okay if we don't eat Auntie's food. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

Being a daughter-in-law isn't a bad thing... Anyway, there won't be any future conflicts between the in-laws, so she'll just treat Ying Qian as her own daughter.

Only Ms. Zhao herself knows the depth of this sinful thought.

Looking at Ying Qian's innocent appearance, she suddenly felt a pang of pain in her heart. Was it a bit unfair to pair her with Chen Wenzhi?

Chen Wenzhi tossed the cookbook aside, rubbed his forehead, and said, "Mom, forget about it." Then he went to clean the kitchen.

Zhao Yaya spat at him and pulled Ying Qian to the sofa to watch TV.

The TV is showing a recently popular variety show.

"What happened to your face?" Zhao Yaya noticed the marks on her face, took out an ice pack from the refrigerator, and applied it to her face, complaining as she did so, "Did Chen Wenzhi see that? He didn't even put an ice pack on your face, and now your face is swollen like a pig's head..."

"Pfft." Ying Qian couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Growing up in such an environment makes me feel incredibly happy just thinking about it.

Zhao Yaya didn't ask any more questions, mainly because she didn't dare to. Ying Qian's story might be even more dramatic than the nonsense she had in mind, and she was afraid of being hurt. So she simply decided not to ask.

By the time Chen Wenzhi finished cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, it was almost one o'clock. He stood at the kitchen door, drenched in sweat, and saw the two people huddled together laughing in the distance, which made his smile even wider.

Zhao Yaya's takeout arrived. She handed it to her son, saying with great embarrassment, "Xiaoqian, I didn't expect my cooking to turn out like this! I'm so sorry you had to see this!"

Ying Qian didn't think there was anything wrong with it, and shook her head, "Auntie might be able to try my cooking sometime."

"You can cook too?"

Zhao Yaya blurted out, then covered her mouth. Oh dear, would this remind her of her own background? She suddenly realized she had said the wrong thing and should slap herself!

I silently slapped myself in the face.

Ying Qian didn't think too much about it and readily agreed, "I can cook quite a few dishes, so please let Auntie cook them often when you have time."

She didn't know how to cook at first because she didn't want to trouble Meng Beiyan too much. She would tinker with cooking techniques whenever she had free time, and gradually she was able to cook a few dishes, even though Meng Beiyan still cared for her in every way.

Chen Wenzhi silently opened the takeout box. It contained braised duck, bok choy, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes—all common home-style dishes. Seeing that there wasn't much variety, he confidently divided the food between the two of them.

Everything is ready!

Let's eat!

The three of them didn't talk much while eating, creating a harmonious and pleasant atmosphere at the table.

After the meal, Chen Wenzhi put the leftover food in the refrigerator.

Zhao Yaya was watching TV with Ying Qian on her arm when she changed the subject and asked, "Are you planning to choose humanities or science?"

She wasn't usually keen on asking questions related to studying, but she and Wang Mengyao had learned that Ying Qian's grades were exceptionally high and she wasn't afraid of these things at all.

Only then did I feel relieved enough to ask.

This time, Ying Qian didn't hesitate and blurted out, "Liberal Arts."

"Then..." Zhao Yaya opened her mouth, seemingly hesitant, and asked in a low voice, "Does Chen Wenzhi know about this?"

Ying Qian didn't understand Zhao Yaya's intentions, but she still answered truthfully: "I chose liberal arts because Chen Wenzhi suggested it to me, otherwise I wouldn't have been so decisive."

"oh!"

Zhao Yaya hesitated, then clicked her tongue twice, deliberately keeping a straight face: "Ying Qian, you have to listen to what your aunt says. At this stage, you absolutely must not fall in love!"

My inner monologue: Of course, if anything happens between me and Chen Wenzhi, I'll just turn a blind eye...

After tidying everything up, Chen Wenzhi strolled over, his gaze lingering on Ying Qian for a moment before shifting to his mother. "May I go upstairs and help her tidy up the house a little?"

“Of course! We’ll go together!” Zhao Yaya stood up abruptly, speaking earnestly and logically, “You’re a boy, you’re not necessarily very meticulous when it comes to things, I’m going to supervise the work!”

Ying Qian was genuinely intimidated and nodded.

Chen Wenzhi realized something was wrong; what should have taken an hour was going to turn into two hours.

After going upstairs, Ying Qian took a closer look at the house and found that the layout was the same as downstairs, but it seemed quite different because the original owner had a different aesthetic sense.

The house decorations were nothing special, but the unusual decorative items were quite eye-catching.

For example, the sign on the living room TV reads: "Handsome guy is here."

There were also strangely shaped stones carved in the master bedroom wardrobe, which almost gave Zhao Yaya a heart attack.

Hearing the scream, Ying Qian rushed over, thinking something had happened. But then she remembered the colorful, strange stones in her mind and couldn't help but laugh.

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