Because of the work his aunt and uncle did, Wang Yuxin came to stay at the house for a while every summer break.

A week at the shortest, a month at the longest.

Xu Ye was used to it by now.

Xu Ye had washed his hair and just dished himself up a bowl of congee for breakfast when Old Xu and Old Zhang got ready to head off to work together. On their way out they made a point of telling him to look after Wang Yuxin properly.

Xu Ye said at that, with a long face, “I’ve got to go to work myself in a bit.”

Old Zhang wasn’t having any of it. She left him with a “not my problem” and dragged Old Xu off downstairs.

Wang Yuxin sat across from Xu Ye, chin propped in her hand, watching him with a smile all over her face.

Xu Ye gave her a flat look and said irritably, “You were a tagalong when you were little, and who’d have thought you’d still be a tagalong now that you’ve grown up.”

“I am not.”

Wang Yuxin muttered it, then sat there like a good girl and watched Xu Ye finish his bowl of congee.

Xu Ye pulled on a T-shirt and went back to his room for his car keys and his phone, ready to head out. Wang Yuxin was still watching him wide-eyed, with that small injured look on her face.

Xu Ye went to the door and changed his shoes, then glanced back at Wang Yuxin and caught the picture of injured innocence on her face. He had just been about to harden his heart, and it went soft again on the spot.

“What are you looking at? Let’s go.”

Wang Yuxin sprang up and hurried over.

Xu Ye shut the door and put one big hand on top of Wang Yuxin’s head, laying down ground rules in advance. “When we get to where I work, don’t look at anything you shouldn’t look at, don’t ask anything you shouldn’t ask, and don’t say anything you shouldn’t say either. Understood?”

“Understood.” Wang Yuxin nodded over and over. She had never agreed to anything so fast.

Xu Ye picked Qin Zhiwei up on the way. The moment Qin Zhiwei opened the car door and spotted Wang Yuxin, he asked right away, “Xu Ye, who’s this pretty girl?”

“Are you a dumbass? You don’t even recognize my cousin?”

“Christ, your cousin’s gotten this big?”

Xu Ye couldn’t be bothered with him and drove all the way to the Youwei garment factory.

Once Qin Zhiwei was out of the car he went off to the warehouse to clock in.

Xu Ye led Wang Yuxin into the factory. They had barely got through the door before the workers inside were greeting him first.

“Morning, young Mr. Xu.”

“Morning, Zhou-jie.”

“Young Mr. Xu, who’s this little girl?”

“My sister.”

“…”

That morning at home, when Xu Ye had told her he was his own boss, Wang Yuxin hadn’t quite believed it. Now, hearing everybody call him Director Xu, he suddenly looked a whole lot classier in her eyes.

She was really curious what kind of factory this was.

So she started looking all around, her big bright eyes sweeping over everything in the place.

The moment she caught sight of the gaudy lingerie strung up in the air over in the sewing workshop, Xu Ye reached out and covered her eyes, then hauled her up to the second floor.

Pei Youwei saw that Xu Ye had brought a little girl with him and asked about it out of curiosity too. When she heard it was his sister, she had Zhang Xiaonuan bring over a whole pile of snacks for her.

Wang Yuxin sat down beside Xu Ye and asked in a small voice, “Xu Ye-gege, are you really the boss?”

“Mm.”

Wang Yuxin said quietly, “But your business is so indecent~”

Xu Ye shot her a look immediately. Wang Yuxin acted like nothing had happened at all and turned her head away.

……

Two days passed like that.

At eleven on the morning of the tenth, Xu Ye left work early and drove Wang Yuxin over to Red Leaf Estate. Qin Zhiwei had gotten into the car to begin with, but the moment he heard Xu Ye say he was going to the movies that afternoon with Chen Qingqing and her family, he got straight back out.

Xu Ye knew he was thin-skinned and didn’t press him. On the drive over he had Wang Yuxin send Chen Qingqing two messages ahead of time.

The messages said they’d all eat out together at lunchtime, and that Chen Qingqing should tell his mother-in-law not to cook at home.

As it happened.

Xu Ye had only just pulled up at the courtyard gate when Chen Hansong came driving up behind him.

You’d have thought the two of them had planned it.

Jiang Meilin and Chen Qingqing were both ready, and when they saw Xu Ye and Chen Hansong arrive they came out of the house together.

Chen Qingqing got into Xu Ye’s car, naturally. Jiang Meilin gave Chen Hansong a deliberate sidelong glance, then got in after her.

Chen Hansong was in agony.

Just as he was standing there awkwardly, Xu Ye shot Wang Yuxin a look and had her sit in the back with Jiang Meilin and Chen Qingqing. Only then did he say to Chen Hansong, “Uncle, there’s only the five of us. Why don’t we all take my car?”

Chen Hansong had no desire whatsoever to ride in Xu Ye’s car, but his wife and his daughter were both in it, so he had to get in whether he liked it or not.

Once Chen Hansong was settled in the passenger seat, Xu Ye drove off toward the mall.

It was lucky he had brought Wang Yuxin along. The girl wasn’t shy with strangers and could talk to anybody, and if she hadn’t been in the car the atmosphere would probably have been unbearably awkward.

For lunch Xu Ye picked a Sichuan restaurant.

The spicy diced chicken, the mapo tofu and the shuizhu roupian were all really good, and they went down well with rice. Chen Qingqing ate a whole bowlful.

Right at that moment she felt especially happy. Her mom and dad were both beside her, and Xu Ye the dumb pig was there too, and there was Wang Yuxin, whose whole job seemed to be keeping the mood up. If it were up to her, every day from now on would be exactly like this one.

Xu Ye didn’t say much over the meal. He just kept taking calls, one after another.

Some were from the factory.

Some were from the company.

All of them were about work.

Seeing how busy he was, Jiang Meilin asked him what he was working on these days. And since the question came from his mother-in-law, Xu Ye of course held nothing back and told her everything.

Xu Ye spoke with color and conviction, and the smile never left Jiang Meilin’s face. To Chen Hansong, her expression and the look in her eyes both seemed to be saying: my son-in-law is so impressive.

The vinegar jar in Chen Hansong’s chest had been knocked clean over, and he couldn’t hold it in either. “He just got lucky,” he cut in. “He made all that money on stocks, and no sooner had he taken it out than the market started falling.”

So now you’re jealous of Xu Ye, Jiang Meilin thought, and she came straight back at him. “Yes, yes, yes. Xiao Xu can make money and it’s just luck.”

Chen Hansong got worked up. “If I hadn’t gotten him the leverage on his stocks, could he have made that much money in such a short time?”

Xu Ye hurried in to break it up. “Yes, yes, yes. Without Uncle and Auntie, where would I be today?”

“Jiang Meilin, did you hear that? I helped too.”

“Ha.”

……

The movie started at two thirty in the afternoon.

Xu Ye took them all to the cinema, then went to the counter to pick up the popcorn and the Cokes. Because he had booked out the screen, the five of them went in early.

Monkey King: Hero Is Back ran ninety minutes. Xu Ye had seen it before, all right, but only on a phone, and enough years had gone by that he had more or less forgotten the plot. Watching it again in a cinema now felt completely different.

An hour and a half later.

The moment the movie ended, Xu Ye asked, “Well? Did you all think it was any good?”

“It was great!”

Wang Yuxin got in first with her answer.

Jiang Meilin nodded. “I don’t think we’ve had animation of this quality here before. The box office might well keep climbing.”

Chen Hansong looked at it from a business angle. “It’s a good IP. The audience isn’t limited to kids, and it’s the summer break right now, so the box office shouldn’t be low.”

Xu Ye broke into a grin. “Looks like I’m about to get lucky again.”

(End of Chapter 261)