Xu Ye looked up at his family, every one of them staring at him. He turned the speakerphone off immediately, went back to his room, and only then put the phone to his ear again.

“What is it?”

“An internet celebrity with eight hundred thousand followers reached out to us herself today. She wants to sell for us. Should we authorize her?”

Xu Ye answered quickly. “If they’re coming to us now, then we can revise the revenue-share contract. I’ll talk it over with Boss when I’m back at the company.”

“You got it. That’s all for now, then.”

Xu Ye left his phone charging in his room. When he came out, all three sisters had gone into the kitchen, and Old Xu was in there helping out too.

On the sofa, Wang Manning, Wang Yuxin and Wang Zixuan sat in a row.

Wang Zixuan was playing on his mom’s phone.

Wang Manning and Wang Yuxin were whispering together. The moment Wang Manning saw Xu Ye come out she shut her mouth, and Wang Yuxin glanced at him and stopped talking too.

Xu Ye sat down beside him and saw that he was engrossed in Temple Run. He laid a hand on the boy’s head and rubbed it roughly. “Wang Zixuan, how were your final exams?”

Wang Zixuan’s attention was entirely on the game. He answered absently. “Third.”

“That good?”

He didn’t say anything. His fingers slid nimbly over the screen. Wang Manning supplied the rest. “Third from the bottom.”

“Third from the bottom?” Xu Ye didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He picked up where she had left off. “If you’re going in as an arts student, which university are you applying to next year?”

Wang Manning pouted. “I haven’t decided. Either the capital or Shanghai. Though I hear the Jinling Art Academy is good too.”

Xu Ye: Even for an arts student, if you want to get into a decent arts school, your academic grades still have to meet the standard.

Hearing him take the tone of an elder again, Wang Manning came straight back at him. “Do you always talk to people your own age like you’re a grown-up?”

“I’m an adult already. You’re still a minor.”

“Tch~”

While the two of them were bickering, Xu Ye’s Second Aunt was in the kitchen asking a question of her own. “Sis, what is Xiao Ye actually doing these days?”

“I’m not clear on it myself. He says he runs a little business at school, but over the summer break he’s gone off to work at some company or other.”

“Xiao Ye’s changed so much. Coming out of the station today I almost didn’t recognize him.”

Little Aunt nodded too. “He has, quite a lot. He’s a completely different person from how he was in high school. That girl of mine loves being around him.”

“The two of them both spent a while at our mom’s, and they’re both only children, so it’s no wonder they’re close. Those two of mine — ah. The elder one fights me all day long, and the younger one does nothing but watch TV and play on his phone. He came out near the bottom on his finals this time. I’m at my wit’s end.”

“Children have their own fortunes. They’ll straighten out when they grow up.”

“Sis, when are you planning to go to our mom’s?”

Second Aunt said, “It’s not often I get back. Tomorrow I’ll go into town and buy a few things, then the morning after that I’ll head down to the countryside.”

Old Zhang nodded. “Xiao Lan and I will go with you.”

As Old Zhang spoke she lifted a dish out of the pan, and Zhang Ying stepped up immediately to take it and carry it into the dining room. Seeing the four cousins sitting in a row on the sofa, she said with a smile, “Xiao Ye, how about I give you a job?”

“What job?”

“I want to go into town tomorrow and buy a few things. How about you take Manning and Zixuan around Jiangzhou for the day?”

“Uh…”

Before Xu Ye could get a word out, Wang Manning refused outright. “Who wants him taking me around? I’m not a three-year-old.”

Zhang Ying shut her daughter up with a single line. “Do you still want that iPad or not?”

“I—!”

Xu Ye had actually been hoping Wang Manning would win the argument, since that would leave him free to go to the factory tomorrow. He hadn’t expected his Second Aunt to shut the girl up in one sentence. And as she had come all this way, refusing the job outright wouldn’t sit right either, so he could only grit his teeth and smile. “All right, I’ll take you both out tomorrow and we’ll wander around a bit.”

It was rare for the house to be this lively.

Dinner that evening was a considerable spread.

Once the whole family was at the table they fell to eating and talking, and partway through, Wang Manning was very nearly made to get up and dance. She would not have gotten out of it, but Xu Ye saw how unwilling she looked and stepped in for her. “Let it go. There’s barely any space in here — she wouldn’t have room to move.”

Hearing that, the elders at the table dropped the subject, and Wang Manning finally let out a breath.

As an arts student, she hated nothing more than being called on to perform at the table in front of her elders.

After dinner Xu Ye went back to his room and called Pei Youwei, and they talked for a while about the internet-celebrity selling.

In the living room the three sisters were reminiscing about their childhoods. It was then that Wang Manning moved over and sat down next to Wang Yuxin and asked, dropping her voice, “Yuxin, can I ask you something?”

“Go on.”

“What is it that guy actually does?”

“That guy?”

“Xu Ye.”

“You mean Xu Ye-gege? He’s a big deal now.” Wang Yuxin leaned in to Wang Manning’s ear and said quietly, “Xu Ye-gege is a big boss these days. Don’t tell anyone — he doesn’t let me tell people.”

“A big boss? Him?” Wang Manning’s face said she didn’t believe a word of it.

Seeing that, Wang Yuxin explained further. “It’s true. I’ve been to Xu Ye-gege’s factory myself, and Xu Ye-gege has a company in Shanghai too.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes!”

Wang Manning stopped talking.

But inside she was still doubtful. Is this guy really that impressive?

……

The next day.

Sunlight came through the window and spilled across the headboard. The air conditioner was whooshing out cold air. Xu Ye lay sprawled facedown across the bed in a great X, backside up in the air.

The closed bedroom door was suddenly pushed open from outside, an inch at a time. Wang Yuxin took in the scene on the bed through the crack, then opened the door properly, came over and leaned against the bedside, calling softly, “Xu Ye-gege~ Xu Ye-gege~”

Xu Ye rolled over and frowned. “Wang Yuxin, are you asking for a smack?”

“Xu Ye-gege, Manning-jiejie and Wang Zixuan are both out there. Eldest Aunt, Uncle and Second Aunt have all gone shopping together. Aren’t you getting up?”

Remembering what he had promised his Second Aunt the night before, Xu Ye sat up. He checked the time, reached for the air conditioner remote on the nightstand and turned the unit off, then rolled out of bed and opened the bedroom window.

The early-morning breeze hit him full in the face, carrying the scent of flowers and grass. Xu Ye stood at the window and stretched, then turned and walked out of the room.

Sure enough, his cousins Wang Manning and Wang Zixuan had already come over from the hotel.

Xu Ye ducked into the bathroom, washed and brushed, and came out to find three meat buns and a bowl of soy milk left on the dining table. He made short work of them.

“Come on, then. I’ll take you out and show you around.”

Wang Manning stood up and came straight to the point. “I want to take a look at your factory.”

Xu Ye blinked. He turned his head slowly toward Wang Yuxin, and the traitor promptly hid behind Wang Manning in fright.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“No why. I said no, so it’s no.”

“Don’t tell me the business you’re in is something that won’t stand the light of day?”

“Hey. You’ve actually got it.”

(End of Chapter 268)