Two in the afternoon.

Outside the train station.

Xu Ye sat in the car waiting for Jiang Meilin's call, chatting with Chen Qingqing to pass the time.

Xu Ye: "Once I've picked your mom up I'll take her straight to Auntie Yang Lin's, then come back for you around dusk."

Chen Qingqing: "How much longer till my mom gets here?"

Xu Ye: "Another half hour or so. The high-speed train from Jinling takes about seventy-five minutes."

Chen Qingqing: "Then what are you doing there so early?"

Xu Ye: "I was worried about traffic, wasn't I."

Chen Qingqing: "All right. I've got class. This teacher has a foul temper, so I'd better go."

Xu Ye: "Mm-hm."

Jiang Meilin had sent Xu Ye her train number before she left. At two thirty-five she got off the train, messaged him, and the moment she came out of the station there he was at the curb, waving hard.

The New Year's holiday ran for three days, and Jiang Meilin had taken three more days of leave on top of it, so she would be in Shanghai for six days altogether. She had brought a small twenty-inch suitcase with her.

"Xiao Xu. You haven't been waiting long, I hope."

"Not long, I only just got here myself." Xu Ye took the suitcase out of her hand, put it in the car, and before long they were on the way to Jing'an District.

On the way.

Jiang Meilin asked about Xu Ye's plans for the winter break. She knew universities let out early, but Xu Ye had a company now and there was no chance of him heading to Jiangzhou the day the semester ended, so she wanted to know in advance when he would be back, to arrange her own work around it.

"I'll be done with exams around the thirteenth or fourteenth, but I probably won't get back to Jiangzhou until the end of the month. How about I take Qingqing home first, once the break starts?"

Xu Ye was testing the waters.

Jiang Meilin smiled. "See what Qingqing says. If she wants to…