On the first day of the New Year's holiday Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing went nowhere at all. They were up early and out the door in a hurry, straight over to Yang Lin's.

They spent the whole day at the house, and after dinner that evening they went back to the hotel.

On the second, Xu Ye drove the two women to Jing'an Temple, and at Jiang Meilin's request he and Chen Qingqing went into the main hall with them to offer incense and pray.

Yang Lin was devout throughout.

For a woman her age, having a child is not an easy thing. All she wanted was for it to go smoothly and for nothing to go wrong.

With Jiang Meilin there, the comforting didn't need to come from Xu Ye, so he saw through it, said nothing, and stayed quietly at her side.

Jing'an Temple is unlike other temples: it sits in the middle of a busy shopping district, with six or seven big malls in the immediate area alone, and the very pleasant Jing'an Park right next door.

They ate lunch nearby, walked in the park for a while, and went back to the house in the afternoon. Xu Ye hadn't been back long when he said to Chen Qingqing, "I arranged with Zhao Ming to go to a thing tonight — people from the finance crowd. I'll go over, show my face and come back. Wait for me and I'll pick you up."

Chen Qingqing was about to answer when Jiang Meilin put in from beside her, "Go easy on the drink."

"Mm."

Xu Ye called Zhao Ming first, arranged to meet at his place, and drove straight over.

Once he had gone, Jiang Meilin glanced at Chen Qingqing and said, with studied casualness, "There's no avoiding that kind of entertaining, and in finance connections matter a great deal, so it'll come up more often than in other lines of work. Don't fall out with Xiao Xu over it later on."

Chen Qingqing's eyes went wide with surprise. The look on her face said: I never…