Jin Rulan didn't come home for lunch, so it was just the three of them at home. After a simple lunch, Xu Jiayue took Ni Sitian to the yard to pick flowers, saying they wanted to decorate the house and add more of a birthday atmosphere.

While Ni Sitian and Xu Jiayue were picking flowers in the yard, they looked up at Xu Tingchuan on the second-floor balcony and waved to him, but he seemed not to be looking at them and did not react at all.

She lowered her hand awkwardly. Xu Jiayue happened to see this and said to Ni Sitian, "Don't pay attention to him. He always has a sullen face on this day, as if Mom owes him something."

Ni Sitian couldn't understand it at all. She had been full of questions since this morning, so she asked Jiayue, "Why is this happening?"

Although the relationship between the mother and son was not good and they were distant and cold, Xu Tingchuan had never been in such a low mood as he was today.

“I don’t know either. Anyway, he does this every year on Mom’s birthday. Last year, he even had a big fight with Mom and drove back to the city in the middle of the night.” Xu Jiayue said, sounding quite annoyed.

"Then what are you arguing about?" Ni Sitian always has a reason for arguing; it can't be without cause.

“Nothing special, just trivial things. It seems like my brother can’t feel right unless he picks a fight.” Xu Jiayue sighed and shook her head. “Every time we have a fight, he doesn’t come back for a long time.”

Ni Sitian thought to herself, no wonder he never took her home to meet his parents when they got their marriage certificate last year, it must be because of this.

But why did Xu Tingchuan and Jin Rulan have such a big conflict?

Another thing she couldn't understand was that on New Year's Eve, she overheard a conversation between Xu Haicheng and Jin Rulan. It seemed that Xu Haicheng had done something to wrong Jin Rulan, which Jin Rulan had never forgiven, and they had always slept in separate rooms.

Xu Tingchuan also knew about this, but he did not side with Jin Rulan because of it. What kind of conflict could make a son so indifferent to his mother?

Ni Sitian suddenly thought of something and asked Xu Jiayue, "Does Mom not come home for half a day every year on her birthday?"

"It's not like May 16th is a Saturday every year. Normally, we have to work," Xu Jiayue said casually while cutting flowers.

Ni Sitian looked at Xu Jiayue and wondered if the flowers on Gu Huainan and Lin Youqi's tombstones were actually sent by Jin Rulan.

Unable to figure it out, Ni Sitian put aside her questions and casually asked Xu Jiayue, "How's your work at the research institute going?"

Xu Jiayue has graduated with a master's degree from Imperial College London and officially joined the chemical research group of the research institute. Ni Sitian is very curious about this kind of work that only the elite of the elite can do.

"I'm adapting alright. I used to spend a lot of time in the lab helping professors with experiments in the UK, so it's not that different." These things might be novel to Ni Sitian, but they are quite commonplace to Xu Jiayue.

Ni Sitian originally thought that Xu Jiayue, with her lively and outgoing personality, would find scientific research experiments boring, but she didn't expect that she seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. This may be the effect of heredity.

"Alright, let's put them in the vase," Xu Jiayue said with a smile, picking up the basket.

Ni Sitian and she walked into the house together, and the two of them put flowers in the vases in the living room and dining room.

There were still many left, and Xu Jiayue said with a smile, "Let's use them to take a petal bath."