Chapter 57

"Yes, yes, yes." Li Mi suddenly realized that facts speak louder than words, and quickly said to Xie Yiyi, "The dog is in the backyard, but you are pregnant, so I don't dare to bring it out for you to see."

Xie Yiyi: "If you don't let me see it today, who knows if there really is a dog?"

Since Xie Yiyi had said so, Li Mi regained his confidence. With the dog in hand, his innocence was assured. He said to Xie Yiyi, "Then sit tight, don't be scared, I'll go get the dog."

As she spoke, she handed the baby back to Yoda, who took him and, following Shi Xing's lead, sat steadily on the sofa, waiting for Li Mi, just like Xie Yiyi and Ying Jing.

"Hey, there really is!" Yoda looked up at Shi Xing, who smiled and gestured for her to look at Xie Yiyi and the other person.

When Li Mi brought the dog out, Xie Yiyi's first reaction was surprise. Why was this dog so big? At first glance, it seemed somewhat familiar. Then, she glanced at Li Mi, who was walking the dog and grinning obsequiously. Ah, the dog resembles its owner.

Xie Yiyi's initial suspicion vanished instantly, but she still had to say something: "Why is this dog laughing?"

Li Mi hadn't expected his wife to react this way. He tilted his head and stammered, "Maybe it's because he's a Samoyed?"

Xie Yiyi suddenly thought of something and said, "Wait a minute! If this is your dog, then how come I've never seen it at your parents' place?"

Seeing Xie Yiyi's gaze, Li Mi quickly said, "I told Mom and Dad from the beginning. Because you're afraid of dogs, the dog is always boarded up outside whenever you go. We bring the dog back as soon as you leave."

Do you remember that there was a room in your house that was always locked from the inside?

Xie Yiyi remembered this vividly. She had asked Li Mi about it, and he said that some of the clutter in the house hadn't been tidied up for too long, so he simply locked it up. At that time, Xie Yiyi even joked that it might be Bluebeard's room.

Li Mi said, "That's the room where Little Dot lives. All its things are put away there every time you come." Speaking of this, Li Mi thought that every time Xie Yiyi came to the house, the most important thing for the whole family was to clean up the house as soon as possible and clean up the dog hair that was everywhere.

It's all so painful to think about. These experiences could be summarized into a thesis, about how I hid and concealed the fact that I owned a dog while pursuing a girlfriend.

Xie Yiyi was surprised to find out she was the newcomer; the dog had joined the family before her. Seeing Li Mi standing there looking so wronged and afraid to move, she said, "Are you just going to keep this from me forever?"

Li Mi: "Actually, I've thought many times that when the time is right, I should tell you and see if you can accept it. Little Dot is such a good-tempered dog. He never barks loudly or bites people randomly."

"Little one?" Xie Yiyi frowned.

Li Mi quickly said, "Yes, yes, that's its name."

"So," Xie Yiyi said awkwardly, "you call Diandian by its name?"

Li Mi scratched his head: "When did I call you Dian Dian?" But at this point, all he could do was nod and say, "Yeah, right."

Xie Yiyi glared at her and continued, "What do you mean, 'right'? Keep explaining. How long are you planning to keep this from me?"

Li Mi had no idea that his casual shout in his dream had caused so much trouble. Looking at Xie Yiyi, he said, "I wanted to be honest with you after we got married, but you were in a bad mood all those years, and I even said the wrong thing, so I didn't dare to say it." As he said this, Li Mi gave Xie Yiyi a hesitant look.

Xie Yiyi instantly realized that during that period, their relationship almost fell apart because he wanted to give Yoda the best funeral package. The couple exchanged a knowing glance at Yoda before quickly looking away.

"Besides, you were busy with work during that time and didn't have time to pay attention to me every day. So I could walk the dog whenever I went out on a business trip. Everything was fine. When you got pregnant, your parents also had to come and take care of you, so I definitely couldn't go on business trips often. I could only ask Qu Xingye for help, and now his wife is pregnant too."

"I really have no other choice. I originally wanted to tell you to see if you could accept it. But then I got pregnant again, and I'm afraid it will upset you, so I can't say anything now."

At this point, the matter is clear. All the suspicion originated from a dog, but Xie Yiyi didn't know what to do.

The baby in Yoda's arms wasn't scared at all. Sitting in Yoda's lap, the baby kept sitting upright, trying to get closer to play with the dog. The little one was also very clever; when the baby got closer, the baby would move back, and when the baby was too tired to fall back, the baby would move forward.

A man and his dog, living a carefree and happy life.

Seeing how happily the baby and the little one were playing, Li Mi suddenly had an epiphany. She took the baby from Yoda, led the dog, and looked at Xie Yiyi together.

Xie Yiyi felt a little awkward being stared at by all sorts of eyes, big and small, people and dogs.

The remaining adults exchanged bewildered glances. They wanted to laugh, but the couple had almost fought over this. They didn't want to laugh, but a dog had somehow brought up a story spanning so many years.

Everyone looked around in tacit agreement, and Qu Xingye stepped forward: "It's rare for everyone to get together, so why don't we have a meal at home?"

Xie Yiyi's sadness and distress had long since vanished during her back-and-forth conversation with Li Mi, leaving only utter embarrassment. Li Mi finally understood Xie Yiyi's awkwardness and took the initiative to speak up: "I've bothered you for too long. Let's skip today, I'll invite everyone another day."

Everyone quickly nodded in agreement; they couldn't bear to stay in such an awkward situation any longer. After all that commotion, Xie Yiyi was exhausted, and the family had no choice but to take the dog home.

In a secluded corner, where no one was watching, Yoda picked up Shixing's phone. The screen was still showing his conversation with Li Mi. Yoda returned to the home screen and smiled. It was still the same photo of himself and Shixing from years ago; the phone had changed, but the photo was still the same.

However, mine is the same. Hehe.

Yoda smiled and handed the phone to Shi Xing. Shi Xing had been staring at Yoda, raising an eyebrow in confusion. The next second, seeing Yoda's grinning face, he smiled along with him.

This time, there was no need to change faces; everyone had relaxed smiles on their faces anyway.

Yingjing was going to another city, so Yoda and Shixing took her to the airport. Everyone had their own things to do after work, and their meetings were always rushed. But it was good enough that they could meet at all. Yoda hugged Yingjing. No matter how reluctant they were to part, they could only watch her departing figure, remaining where they were.

Turning around, she saw Shi Xing standing far away and asked curiously, "What's wrong with you? You're acting strange. You've kept your distance from me as soon as you got back."

Shih Hsing: "My cold isn't quite over yet, and I have a slight cough. I'm afraid of catching it."

No wonder Shi Xing kept his distance from her as she held the baby, not even taking over because he was worried she was tired; he was afraid of catching the baby. Thinking about how he had just returned, still sick, and they had been busy together for half a day, Yoda couldn't help but ask anxiously, "Is it serious? Did you come back feeling unwell?"

Shi Xing shook his head: "Don't overthink it, the project doesn't need me right now. We found an abandoned mine tunnel under the factory over there."

The original idea was that the section of the mine tunnel was close to the buildings, and if it could be utilized as a tourist attraction, it would better showcase the development process of the industrial heritage.

However, after Shi Xing went down to inspect it, he found that the structure inside was not very stable and the air quality was very poor. Wearing a breathing mask down there for a long time was stuffy and suffocating, making it unsuitable as a tourist site. But Shi Xing felt it would be a pity to simply backfill it. Inside were actual coal transport tracks used in production at the time, and each section showed traces of the development of production equipment.

Following the current recommendations, the initial plan is to backfill the deeper sections in the latter half to ensure safety. The areas closer to the outside, where air quality is still acceptable for visitors, will be reinforced. Next, after a safety inspection, detailed design will be implemented as part of the visitor experience.

Shi Xing was, after all, just a designer and not skilled in professional architectural structures. He would only return after the mine's structural reinforcement project was completed.

"I see." Yoda was relieved. She was worried because she didn't trust her and was eager to come back and exploit her, which was why she got so sick.

Shi Xing stood a step away from Yoda and looked at him: "Don't worry, it will be fine soon."

Only after confirming that Shi Xing had fully recovered did Yoda agree to let Shi Xing go out with him to see the project site.

Ye Xin and Tang Yun's project requires redoing the basic construction. If the plumbing and electrical work isn't done properly during the renovation of a house, it will be very difficult to fix problems later.

The simplest solution is to completely re-lay the paving, but that would be too expensive.

Yoda compromised by having the plumber test the water pipes to see if the previously laid pipes were usable.

After pressurizing, the technician tapped the water pipes under high pressure little by little. If there was a problem with the pipes, they would leak, and in severe cases, they might even burst open. Shi Xing subconsciously tried to stop Yoda, who was watching the scene, but Yoda grabbed him instead.

"Believe me, I'm much stronger than you now. You've just recovered from a cold, so you should be the one hiding behind me." Shi Xing wanted to say more, but Yoda covered his mouth. "Shh, listen."

Hiss, hiss.

Yoda reacted quickly, pulling Shi Xing aside. Under high pressure, the leaking pipe overflowed with water, eventually bursting open.

"Luckily, I dodged it quickly."

Bad news: the water pipes were defective. After turning off the water valve and letting the water drain from the pipes, Yoda carefully examined the marked leak points.

Okay, the water pipes will have to be replaced.

The two stood up again and watched as the technician used a voltage tester to test each socket. Shi Xing patted Yoda's hand and said with a smile, "You reacted really quickly just now."

Yoda watched as the electroscope was plugged in and pressed, only feeling relieved when it turned green each time. He then grabbed Shi Xing's hand and said, "Of course, we can't let ourselves be fooled twice in the same place."

Shi Xing: "When have you ever been soaked?" In his memory, there had never been a situation in any of Yoda's projects where the water pipes needed to be redone.

"Ah, I mean, it's normal to encounter this situation, so we're prepared. Cough cough." Yoda had just mentioned it casually, and Shi Xing only realized it after asking. She hadn't encountered it before; it was Shi Xing who had, and she even sent a message to Yoda while she was unconscious, feeling wronged. That's why Yoda was being careful.

The messages Shi Xing sends while he's asleep are mostly about problems he encounters at work and solutions. They're not romantic, but they're very practical.

Yoda would look through the chat history whenever he had free time. Later, he found the information too much and simply used it as a search box. If he had a problem, he would first check if Shixing had encountered it before and how he had handled it.

Once he got used to it, Yoda almost forgot that he hadn't told Shixing about it yet.

However, Yoda comforted himself, thinking that the other party probably wouldn't care anyway, since no new messages were being sent to the old account.

Seeing Yoda lower his head and remain silent, Shi Xing asked in a low voice with concern, "Are you alright? You didn't catch a cold too?"

Yoda quickly looked up: "No, no. Don't worry, I'm very busy right now. I know that you need to be healthy to work well."

After speaking, she quickly turned to look at the plumber, afraid that Shi Xing would guess something from her face. She moved too fast and didn't notice Shi Xing's thoughtful expression at all.

Good news, the sockets are all working properly. The original wiring can finally be used again. As long as we add a few more outlets according to Tang Yun and Ye Xin's needs, every little bit helps.

Yoda pulled out his notebook and marked all the electrical outlets that needed to be added on the wall according to the design drawings. The more accurate the outlets, the better the user experience after the renovation. Every little detail counts.

Shi Xing turned his gaze back to Yoda and tentatively asked, "I feel like you're a little different?"