"This is a visitor gift." Lin Sitian handed the tea gift box in her hand to Zhou Sheng.

This time it was Zhou Sheng's turn to hold back his laughter. He took the gift box first, then held her hand again, "Why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous."

"You're not nervous. You're throwing the gift to me before you even go upstairs?" Zhou Sheng took her into the elevator. "I'll hold the gift for you first. You have to give it to my mom yourself when you go upstairs."

"Wow, can I not go up--" Lin Sitian clung to the elevator door and retreated, "Just tell Auntie that I came to give her a gift, and thank you for your kindness in having a meal..."

"Lin Sitian."

"Woo?"

"It's dangerous to stand at the elevator entrance."

"Oh." Lin Sitian let go of her hand after hearing that. The next second she realized something was wrong. She was pulled in by Zhou Sheng and the elevator door slowly closed.

She panicked, "Zhou Sheng, you lied to me!"

"How could I lie to you? Climbing an elevator is dangerous," Zhou Sheng said seriously, looking down at the gift box in his hand, "You told me before that the gift you gave me is more expensive than mine."

It is a premium grade West Lake Longjing tea. You can tell it is expensive just by looking at the packaging.

"I didn't know what to give, so I asked my dad. He knows a lot about etiquette since he works in engineering, so he asked me to buy this." Lin Sitian put all the responsibility on her father, thus getting rid of her own selfish motives.

"He asked you to buy the special Mingqian Longjing? Isn't that too grand?"

"No, I said that my grades have improved significantly recently because you spent a lot of time tutoring me. In addition, you also helped me take my grandma to the hospital last time. Your family also invited me to dinner today, so my dad said that the dinner must be better. Besides, you used your own pocket money, how can it be the same?"

As we were talking, the elevator had reached the floor and the door opened.

"It is indeed meaningful," Zhou Sheng handed the gift box back to Lin Sitian, "...then you should give it yourself."

"Zhou Sheng you——"

"Is Tiantian up?" There was a door on one side of the elevator that was ajar, and Zhou's mother's voice came from inside.

"Coming." Zhou Sheng replied.

Lin Sitian's eyes widened, she pulled him aside and whispered, "She called me by my nickname."

"Yeah, my mom is a bit outgoing." Zhou Sheng touched his nose.

Lin Sitian's nervousness eased a little. Zhou Sheng pushed the door open first. There happened to be a man standing at the door. Lin Sitian quickly glanced and saw that it was an adult man. Without saying a word, she lifted the tea gift box and pushed it in front of the other person.

"Hello, uncle! This is a gift!" Lin Sitian was too timid to look the other party in the eye until a chest-shaking laughter came from in front of her.

"Does she think of me as her dad?" the man said to Zhou Sheng, smiling rudely.

Lin Sitian glanced at the man above the gift box and froze in place.

The man was no more than twenty-four or twenty-five years old. His facial features were somewhat similar to Zhou Sheng's, but he was much more mature. He looked at her lazily with his eyes downcast.

He is quite handsome, but he has a bit of a scoundrel vibe.

"Oh, sorry," Lin Sitian looked at Zhou Sheng hurriedly, "What is this...?"

Zhou Sheng held back his laughter for a long time, "My second brother."

"..." She tried hard to resist the urge to dig the soil: "Hello, brother, I am Zhou Sheng's classmate, my name is Lin Sitian."

"Zhou Yan, don't scare Tiantian--" Lin Yuyan's warning came from the kitchen.

Zhou Yan scratched his head and chuckled impatiently towards the kitchen, "I didn't do anything!"

Lin Sitian became even more panicked. Was she causing family conflicts?

Zhou Sheng pushed her and said, "Don't worry about him, just go in."

"What do you mean?" Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows. "You have made great progress. You can bring your girlfriend home at the age of seventeen. I was eighteen years old back then--"

"He was kicked out." Zhou Sheng said.

Zhou Yan kicked Zhou Sheng on the knee, "How do you talk to your brother like that?"

Zhou Sheng was kicked unexpectedly and almost fell to his knees: "Brother——!!" Fortunately, Lin Sitian helped him up.

At the same time, Lin Yuyan was bringing out the dishes from the kitchen and glared at Zhou Yan, "You are bullying your brother again. Go back to your school quickly, or you will have to pay me the rent."

“I’ve only been back a week!”

Lin Yuyan ignored him. She turned around and saw Lin Sitian, who was already dumbfounded. She immediately put on a smile and greeted her. "Tiantian, you're here. Just treat it as your own home. It's okay. Auntie just needs to finish cooking two more dishes..."

"Hello, Auntie," Lin Sitian finally found another opportunity to give out the tea leaves that she had never given away, "This is a gift."

Lin Yuyan accepted it with a smile, "Thank you, Uncle happens to like drinking tea - but next time you come, you don't have to buy such expensive things, otherwise Auntie will be in trouble to ask Zhou Sheng to send something back."

"No need, Zhou Sheng always sends me - um." Lin Sitian suddenly stopped talking.

"I asked him to buy the blueberry mousse," Lin Yuyan said with a look of understanding. "The same thing happened with the apple before. This kid doesn't know how to choose and he sent me a message."

Lin Sitian’s jaw almost dropped. Zhou Sheng, when did you start to expose yourself?

"It's so unfair, I want to eat blueberry mousse too." Zhou Yan said in a pitiful tone, "My brother has never bought it for me since I was a child."

"What a coincidence! My brother has never bought one for me either." Zhou Sheng sneered.

"Your brother has no money, no money—"

"Is this the reason why you are relying on your parents?"

Lin Yuyan smiled and raised her hand to wave it in circles to make a soothing gesture, "Can you two be more harmonious? Tiantian is still here."

Lin Sitian held her chin and pretended to be calm and said, "It's okay, don't worry about me."

How does she feel...

It's outrageous. This home is different from what she imagined.

Even Zhou Sheng was very different from his usual self.

So weird, take another look.

Lin Sitian sat on the sofa uncomfortably and took the cup of water handed to her by Zhou Sheng.

"You really don't need my help?

Zhou Sheng sat next to her and said, "You might need it when you are no longer a guest."

"ah?"

Zhou Sheng blushed after he finished speaking, "No, I was just talking casually."

The two of them sat on the sofa watching TV. Of course, Lin Sitian was not in the mood to watch it. Taking advantage of Zhou Yan's entry, she chatted with Zhou Sheng: "You and your second brother have a really good relationship."

"You should also go get glasses." Zhou Sheng said helplessly.

"They have a very good relationship, noisy and noisy, it's really enviable." Lin Sitian pouted, "I'm an only child, there's no one else at home, sometimes I really want to have a brother."

"If you were teased by him since you were a child, you wouldn't think so."

"But I heard that brothers always take care of their sisters, right?"

Zhou Sheng curled his lips, "To him, there is no distinction between men and women."

Lin Sitian burst out laughing, "Isn't that the same as you?"

"How could I..." Zhou Sheng frowned and wanted to defend himself, but when he thought about it carefully, there was really no difference.

"By the way, he is the second brother, so do you have an older brother? Does he live at home, too?" Lin Sitian became more and more curious about Zhou Sheng's family.

"My eldest brother Zhou Yu has moved out for several years after starting a family. As for my second brother... he just graduated with a master's degree and recently came back to live here for a while after his lease expired. He doesn't usually live here."

"In other words, your mother gave birth to three sons in total?" Zhou Sheng and his second brother seemed to be six or seven years apart in age.

Zhou Sheng's lips curved slightly, "She actually wanted to have a daughter, but she tried several times and all the results were sons. If her age didn't allow it, she might want to try again."

Just as he was talking about this, he heard someone opening the door.

Lin Sitian looked up and saw a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses coming in. He was carrying a fishing rod as if he was carrying a shotgun, with a stern look and a serious expression.

"Dad." Zhou Sheng stood up and went to greet him.

Lin Sitian also quickly stood up and said, "Hello, uncle."

The man was stunned for a moment when he saw Lin Sitian, then nodded and said, "Zhou Sheng's classmate, welcome." His expression didn't change much, but it could be seen that he had tried his best to be kind, but his kindness was a little grim.

"Why did you come back so late? Did you catch any fish?" Lin Yuyan asked casually as she brought out the last dish.

The man took something out of the folding bucket and said, "Look at this."

A piece of dark wood with layered carbonized texture, giving it a unique, ancient and dignified flavor.

"It's a good thing I didn't count on your fish to cook." Mother Zhou said lightly and went into the kitchen to get something.

"What do you know? This is sunken wood." Zhou Haiping only blamed his wife for not knowing its value.

"It can't cover up the fact that you are an 'Air Force'--" a voice came from the kitchen.

Zhou Haiping turned around and glanced at Zhou Sheng and Lin Sitian in front of him. Although his expression was calm, Lin Sitian felt that he seemed to be seeking approval. "Do you know what this is?"

Lin Sitian thought it was just a piece of broken wood, so she didn't dare to say anything. Fortunately, Zhou Sheng spoke first: "Sunken wood is a carbonized wood that was buried in an ancient riverbed thousands or tens of thousands of years ago. It has been formed by lack of oxygen, high pressure and the action of microorganisms. It is a non-renewable and scarce wood."

"Wow." She had never expected that this inconspicuous thing was so valuable. "Can I see it?"

"Look." Zhou Haiping remained calm as he put the sunken wood into Lin Sitian's hands, with a hint of joy in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows.

Lin Sitian carefully looked at the wood in her hand and asked Zhou Sheng: "So it's just for decoration?"

"Oh, it was a precious wood for making coffins in ancient times." Zhou Sheng said lightly.

Lin Sitian almost threw it on the ground.

Zhou Haiping glanced at his son coldly and said, "Don't scare them."

"It can't be..."

"This hasn't been processed yet," Zhou Sheng smiled, "It's a treasure that can ward off evil spirits and protect the house. What are you afraid of?"

Only then did Lin Sitian feel relieved.

Lunch consisted of six dishes and one soup, a table full of delicacies comparable to the New Year's Eve dinner. Lin Sitian had not had such a sumptuous meal for a long time, and it had also been a long time since she had eaten home-cooked meals with her elders outside of a restaurant.

At first, Lin Sitian wanted to be polite and pretend to be reserved, but she couldn't stand it because Zhou's mother kept picking up food for her. Later, perhaps because she felt that her status was worrying, even Zhou Sheng started to pick up food for her, and Lin Sitian's bowl was never empty.

Based on Zhou Sheng's usual performance in school, she thought that the Zhou family's family style should be strict and strict, but after a meal, the two brothers came and went, and Zhou's mother also showed her various concerns for her, which made her a little flattered. Even Zhou Sheng's taciturn father became much more humane in this atmosphere, listening to them quietly and patiently throughout the whole process. Lin Sitian felt that Zhou Sheng seemed to have inherited his father's style.

"——Auntie was serious when she told you thank you for taking care of Zhou Sheng."

After dinner, Dad Zhou was responsible for washing the dishes, while Mom Zhou sent Zhou Sheng to his second brother's room and talked to Lin Sitian alone.

"Of my three children, Zhou Sheng is the most sensible, but he's the one I'm most worried about," Lin Yuyan sighed. "You know, before he became your deskmate, he only had one thing on his mind. He was too lazy to interact with people, and he didn't care whether others liked him or not. He was obsessed with reading books and had no other interests. I was really afraid that he would lose touch with others."

Lin Sitian shook her head quickly. "In fact, Zhou Sheng is quite popular in school. Maybe he was too focused on studying before, so no one knew him very well. But later on, it got much better. He is very enthusiastic, especially in studying..."

"Then why didn't anyone know him before?" Lin Yuyan asked with a smile.

Lin Sitian was stunned for a moment. Yes, when Zhou Sheng was in the first year of high school, he had only two labels in school: top of the grade and... the teacher's lackey.

"It's still because of you." Lin Yuyan was an experienced person after all, and saw through the fundamental reason for the change at a glance, "He will not just study stupidly, but start to learn to accept others and accept new things."

"So, I still want to thank you."

Before Lin Sitian left, Zhou Haiping asked her if she wanted the piece of sunken wood - Lin Sitian was embarrassed to agree or refuse, and while she was hesitating, Zhou's father had already stuffed the wood into her hands and asked her to play with it.

Zhou's mother even packed a bunch of snacks for her to take back home. At this moment, the young couple was waiting for a bus on the roadside, and all the snacks were in Zhou Sheng's hands.

"Your mother also said that if I want to eat her cooking in the future, I can come to your house anytime. She is looking forward to my coming." Lin Sitian took Zhou Sheng's arm and smiled and said, "I didn't know I was so likable."

"You are very likable." Zhou Sheng was very supportive.

"Your father is also very straight, giving me something like this—" Lin Sitian pinched the small piece of wood in her hand and looked at it, "Who would give the raw materials for a coffin to their son's girlfriend?"

"Maybe this thing could be worth nearly a thousand if it were processed into a bracelet." Zhou Sheng didn't care.

Lin Sitian almost dropped it on the ground again.

"One, a thousand?"

"Look at the quality. This one is pretty good. Of course there are also ones that cost a few hundred or a few thousand." Zhou Sheng said with a smile.

"Return several thousand?! Ahhhhh I can't accept this. How can I accept such an expensive thing? Take it back and give it back to your uncle--" The sunken wood in her hand suddenly felt a thousand pounds heavy. Lin Sitian was in a hurry to stuff it into Zhou Sheng's pocket.

Zhou Sheng wrapped the dark wood and her hand, "He fished it out. You can also say it's worthless, but he told you to play with it."

"How do I play? I don't have a hobby of throwing thousands of pieces of wood around!"

The taxi had already arrived, and Zhou Sheng gently embraced him.

"Anyway, what he cares about most is already in your hands."

…

…

When Lin Sitian returned home, she was surprised to find that Lin Youwei was also there.

"Dad!" She cried out in surprise, "Why are you back? Is it..." Thinking of a certain possibility, Lin Sitian suddenly panicked, "Is it something wrong with grandma?"

No, she didn't receive any notification.

This time, Lin Youwei did not come in a hurry, but he still looked tired. Lin Youwei looked at his daughter's eyebrows for a long time, and finally spoke solemnly -

"Tiantian, there is something you need to be prepared for..."