Chaochao, who hadn't seen Yu Ci for a long time, decided after serious consideration that things couldn't continue like this, and then waved her little hand—

Of course, we're inviting Brother Yu Ci over for dinner!

The system has reservations about this.

If it hadn't witnessed Yu Ci's subtle manipulation in the chat logs, it would have believed it!

Yu Ci strode out of the car, thanked the Huo family driver, and then slowly walked into the villa carrying the gifts.

As soon as he entered the door, he heard the little dumpling's almost anxious and angry voice from afar, "Oh brother, you, you give me..."

Chaochao tilted her head back, waving her little hands back and forth, bouncing around on the ground, looking quite energetic.

But she was still one piece of the cake away from him.

"Look what I found! Chaochao, you secretly hid pudding in the fridge..."

Jiang Chi slightly raised his arm, holding the snowman pudding between his fingertips. His peach blossom eyes lowered slightly as he stared at the little dumpling with a playful expression. He sighed leisurely, "So that's why you come to check the refrigerator every few days. You're keeping a mistress here."

I don't understand such high-level idioms as "Kinmu Hidden Foot," but I definitely understand the word "hidden."

The little dumpling immediately panicked and explained, "No, no, I didn't want to hide it. I wanted to save it to eat while watching TV tonight. My sister gave it to me!"

Jiang Chi pressed down the little dumpling's pop-up head, patted it casually, and put the snowman pudding back in its original place in the refrigerator with his other hand. "Okay, okay, I won't tease you anymore."

Seeing the little snowman safely back in place, Chaochao patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to say something to Jiang Chi in a huff, she suddenly caught a glimpse of someone coming from the entrance hall.

"Ah, Brother Yu Ci, you're out of school!"

Chaochao immediately forgot what she wanted to say to Jiang Chi. She hugged Yu Ci and chattered on and on about her longing for him.

Then, with practiced ease, he opened the bag next to Yu Ci's hand.

"Is this for me?" she asked, blinking her bright eyes.

"Mm," Yu Ci responded gently, "You can open it and take a look."

Jiang Chi leaned against the refrigerator, and upon seeing this, the smile in his peach blossom eyes faded slightly. He clicked his tongue softly, opened the refrigerator door, and casually pulled out a bottle of mineral water.

When closing the door, I made sure to push the pudding box further inside, otherwise, if it had accidentally fallen to the ground, given how much this child cherishes it, it would probably have cried silently until it ruined the foundation of the house.

Jiang Chi held the bottle and sat down anywhere in the living room.

Over there, Chaochao first took out a bag of cute animal-shaped handmade cookies, "Wow..."

Then she took out an exquisite square sandalwood box.

Inside was a beautiful, pure white orchid specimen.

The petals are smooth and tender, showing almost no signs of withering.

It was at the moment it fell that its beauty was etched into the memory.

Chaochao's little mouth opened even wider: "Wow—"

Seeing her overjoyed expression, Yu Ci's lips curled slightly. Recalling her earlier words, his eyes darkened. "Zhao Chao..."

"Hmm?" The little dumpling tilted its head and looked at him while chewing on a cookie.

Yu Ci's gentle eyes were no different from usual. His jade-white fingertips twirled a tuft of hair sticking out from her little bun. "The sister you just mentioned, who is she?"

Yu Ci's question reminded Chaochao of something, and her expression gradually changed from blank to serious, then to grave. "!!!"

She realized she didn't even know her sister's name.

Chao Chao raised her troubled little face to Yu Ci, "It's the young lady I met in the store. She helped me several times, but I forgot to ask her name..."

As she finished speaking, Chaochao's voice grew softer and softer.

Just as he was about to look up at the sky in the courtyard at a 45-degree angle, his slowly rising, melancholy gaze suddenly stopped on Yu Ci's chest.

"...Huh?"

Chaochao took another closer look.

Yu Ci went straight to the Huo family after leaving school, still wearing her school uniform.

"I know, my sister goes to the same school as you, Brother Yu Ci, and oh, and Brother Jing Cheng too!"

No wonder she felt like she'd seen it somewhere before.

Does this mean that when she goes to school to visit her brothers, she might also have a chance to run into the older girl?

Chaochao's depressed mood was instantly swept away.

When Yu Ci heard that the girl was also a student at Yingchuan University, his fingertips paused, and his eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

The aloof young man smiled slightly, a hint of dazzling beauty in the corner of his eye. "Chao Chao, be careful when you encounter strangers on the road, just in case."

Coming from Yingchuan, a key provincial university, doesn't mean you're without malice, nor does it mean you're... a psychologically normal person.

Yu Ci thought of the girl from Class 6 who had secretly followed him and acted strangely a few days ago. His clear eyes narrowed slightly, and a coldness spread like mist.

Hearing the boy's words, Chaochao's mood improved, and she picked out a puppy biscuit and put it in her mouth. She nodded seriously and said, "I ran into that last time. An uncle even tried to cheat me out of money."

Jiang Chi, who was sitting diagonally across the living room, suddenly looked up and spoke in unison with Yu Ci.

"You were scammed?" Yu Ci asked in a low voice.

"You got scammed?" Jiang Chi shouted.

Chaochao suddenly felt like she was sandwiched between her brothers' voices, like a sandwich filling. She quickly swallowed a real puppy cookie, waved her little hand, and blurted out:

"No, no, I wasn't scammed. I still have the money, but I used it to buy skewers later."

Yu Ci: "..."

Jiang Chi: "..."

Huo Qin raised his eyebrows slightly as he entered.

The air suddenly fell silent.

Chaochao didn't realize anything was wrong after she finished speaking, but the atmosphere was too quiet, and her little brain couldn't help but start working.

The next second, the little dumpling fell into serious thought.

The next second, her eyes widened suddenly.

In the third second, she put a finger to her lips and said, "Shh—"

"Brother...please, please don't tell Daddy..."