“Oooh~”

“You two are too much. You spent all afternoon canoodling and now you’re showing off as well?”

“Exactly. Far too much!”

That embarrassed Chen Qingqing enough that she turned away, to stop him looking at her any longer.

But she still couldn’t quite hide the smile at the corner of her mouth.

A girl praised for her looks by the boy she likes is always going to be pleased about it.

The five of them stayed there until half past six, and once it was dark they went back the way they had come. Xu Ye dropped them at the dormitory, and he had meant to keep Chen Qingqing in the car and talk a while longer — but they had spent so much of the afternoon glued together already that he didn’t say anything.

Chen Qingqing, on the other hand, told him over and over as she got out that he should get to bed early and not lie in tomorrow morning.

Then she blinked at him, as though hinting at something.

He understood at once. Tomorrow was Shen Xinyi’s birthday, and she wanted the morning free to go and buy her a present.

He watched them go up, then drove back to the hotel alone. He hadn’t even got his shoes off when Qin Zhiwei called.

“Xu Ye. Come and pick me up early tomorrow.”

“How early?”

“Around eight?”

“Get lost. Around eight means I have to be awake by seven-something.”

Qin Zhiwei felt his request had been a bit much himself, and amended it quickly. “As early as you can manage, then.”

“Have you got the present sorted?”

“Mm. Bought it at the counter today.”

“Why aren’t you coming over today?”

“I’ve moved to a four-person room, and the three roommates I’ve got now are a lot more normal. The ones before were dreadful — I think I told you about them?”

“Mm. That’s it for now, then. My mom’s messaging me.”

“Sure.”

Xu Ye hung up and opened the chat with the contact name Empress Dowager Zhang.

Zhang Hong: Son, have you eaten?

Whenever Zhang Hong messaged him with nothing particular in mind, this was more or less always how she opened, whether or not it was anywhere near a mealtime.

In fact, this is how most parents start a conversation with a child away at university.

Xu Ye started a video call.

Zhang Hong picked up almost the instant it rang.

Zhang Hong and Old Xu appeared on his screen, sitting on the sofa.

The moment it connected she smacked Old Xu on the thigh and said loudly, “Can’t you see I’m on a video call with my son? Turn that television off!”

Old Xu yelped, but he rubbed his thigh and switched off the evening news.

“Son, have you eaten?”

“I’ve eaten.”

Zhang Hong took in the hotel wall behind him. “That doesn’t look like your dorm.”

Xu Ye admitted it straight out. “I’m at a hotel next to your daughter-in-law’s school.”

Zhang Hong laughed. “If you talk like that, won’t the girl have something to say about it?”

“She isn’t here.”

He added, “And it wouldn’t matter if she were. I’ve called her mother Mom to her face.”

Old Xu put his thumb up. “Son, you’re better than me on that front.”

Smack.

Zhang Hong hit Old Xu again and said, her face full of pride, “Obviously. My son is better than you.”

Old Xu was thoroughly hard done by. He wanted to say your son is my son too, and where would he be without me — but Zhang Hong looked so pleased with herself that he couldn’t be bothered to say it and earn himself another slap.

“Son, tell your mother properly this time. What is it her parents actually do?”

“I’ve told you before.” Xu Ye put it succinctly. “Her parents divorced a few years back. Her father is president of a city bank and her mother is a vice-president at some multinational cosmetics company, but the two of them are still half attached to each other, and the odds are they’ll remarry.”

Zhang Hong heard that and went straight back to worrying. “With a family that good, would they even look at ours?”

“Mom. Am I not a catch?”

“Their circumstances are a great deal better than ours. These days everyone cares about the two families matching.”

Xu Ye laughed. “Mom, don’t forget your son is a small businessman these days, and in another couple of years he may well be a big one. You don’t need to worry about any of that. You’ve no idea how much her mother likes me.”

“Well, going out with a girl is going out with a girl, but you haven’t graduated yet, so be careful.”

While mother and son were talking, a message came in from Jiang Meilin.

Jiang Meilin: Xiao Xu, are you with Qingqing this week?

Xu Ye glanced at WeChat, told Old Zhang that his mother-in-law wanted him, and hung up in a hurry.

“Ha. That surprised you, didn’t it. One message from the mother-in-law and your son ends the call on the spot. He’s got a mother-in-law and forgotten his own mother.”

Zhang Hong took Old Xu by the ear. “What have you got to be so pleased about? Go and mop the floor.”

“Didn’t I mop it when I got in from work?”

“Then mop it again.”

“Love, if you carry on treating me like this I’m going to tell your parents on you.”

“Have some shame.”

Every time Old Xu went to his in-laws’ he would complain about his lot in front of the two of them. In the early years they would take their son-in-law’s side and give their daughter a talking-to, but he had done it often enough now that neither of them was surprised by it any more, and these days the most he got was a few words of comfort.

Seeing Jiang Meilin’s message, Xu Ye answered quickly. “We’ve just got back. I’ve dropped her at the dorm, and I’m on my own at the hotel.”

Once he had sent that, he picked out a few of the photos he’d taken at the Binjiang Green Space that afternoon — the ones with Chen Qingqing in them — and sent those too.

Jiang Meilin video-called him almost at once.

She seemed to be in her own office. Behind her was a floor-to-ceiling window with the city lit up outside it, in what was very probably the central business district of a first-tier city.

“Where did you go today?” Jiang Meilin had dropped the severity she wore at the office; her face was all warmth.

Xu Ye smiled back. “Not far. The Binjiang Green Space, on the Huangpu as well. Shanghai Expo Culture Park is straight across from it.”

“I saw Qingqing put something on Moments just now.”

“Did she? I haven’t had a chance to look.”

Jiang Meilin had watched the change in Chen Qingqing over these six months. What she had posted to Moments in that time was nearly more than in her whole three years of high school put together — and although most of it was only scenery, that in itself said a great deal.

“What are you two doing tomorrow?”

“One of Qingqing’s roommates has a birthday tomorrow. In the morning the two of us will go around the mall and buy a present, then we’ll see about the afternoon. Dinner together in the evening, and then I go back to school.”

Jiang Meilin nodded, smiling, and then turned the conversation to him. “How is that games company you invested in doing?”

“First-quarter revenue is up twelve percent on last year, and I’m very optimistic about their next project. Barring surprises, the studio’s next game — Honkai Impact 3 — will be out next year.”

“If there’s anything about investing you don’t understand you can ask me. I know a lot of people in that world. I might be able to help.”

“Will do.”

They talked for about a quarter of an hour, until Jiang Meilin heard her assistant knock and ended the call to get back to work.

Xu Ye messaged Chen Hansong shortly afterwards. “Auntie is working late. If you know where her office is, order her a coffee.”

Once the message had gone through, he sighed to himself. “With great power really does come great responsibility.”

(End of Chapter 217)