Xu Ye had gone out of his way to pick somewhere that looked fairly upmarket — even the restaurant’s name was a straight rendering of an English one. The interior was well done and had some atmosphere to it, so he took Chen Qingqing inside.

The tables were separated from one another by screens, the lighting had been specially designed, and soft piano music came from speakers in the corners. The whole thing gave an impression of real romance.

Once he had ordered, Xu Ye handed the menu back to the waiter. Chen Qingqing was sitting opposite, playing with her phone. He smiled. “Qingqing, do you know what day it is today?”

Of course she knew.

She had noticed several days ago that Valentine’s Day fell before Spring Festival this year.

But she deliberately shook her head and put on a face of complete ignorance. “No idea.”

“Stop playing with your phone. I’ll do you a magic trick.”

Under the table, Xu Ye lit the magic wand in his hand, and when Chen Qingqing raised her head she found him holding a small wooden stick that was burning.

He held it out toward her. “Blow on it.”

She had no idea what he was up to this time, but she leaned in obligingly and blew gently — and at that moment Xu Ye ran his other hand up the wand, and a vivid rose appeared on the end of it.

Chen Qingqing blinked, taken aback.

“It’s for you.”

He handed the rose over and she took it, smiling. A few looks at it in her hand and she knew exactly how the trick had been done.

Xu Ye explained. “It’s Valentine’s Day. I was going to buy you a bouquet, but your mom’s at home today, and if I gave you a bunch of flowers you’d never have the nerve to take them back inside. If you want real ones, I can go and buy some later.”

“No.”

“This is lovely as it is,” Chen Qingqing said quickly.

“Other years, on New Year’s Eve — do you and your mom have the reunion dinner at home, or go to a hotel?”

“Usually at home.”

“Just the two of you?”

Chen Qingqing nodded and put the rose away into her bag. “New Year’s Eve at our house isn’t any different from an ordinary day. My mom and I are usually asleep a bit after ten.”

“You don’t stay up for it?”

She shook her head slightly.

Seeing her mood turn, Xu Ye said quickly, with a smile, “Then don’t go to sleep so early this New Year’s Eve. Stay up with me.”

“Don’t you have to be with your parents?”

Xu Ye laughed. “I can do the first half of the night at my place and the second half at yours. I’ve been to your house so many times by now it’s practically going home.”

Hearing something that shameless, Chen Qingqing merely bestowed a flat look on him and said nothing further.

Once the food arrived the two of them ate and talked about nothing in particular.

Halfway through, Xu Ye got up to go to the toilet — and on the way back, glancing idly around the restaurant, he happened to catch sight of someone very familiar.

That someone was none other than Chen Qingqing’s father, Chen Hansong.

Xu Ye froze. He was about to go over and say hello, but two steps in that direction he saw that there was somebody sitting opposite Chen Hansong — a woman, to be precise.

He retreated quickly and sat back down across from Chen Qingqing, distracted.

Chen Hansong and Jiang Meilin bickered every single time they met, but Xu Ye had worked out long ago that the two of them still had a place for one another. He had even been thinking that if his father-in-law showed a bit of sense, he might help push the pair of them back together. So what was this?

Is my father-in-law moving his affections elsewhere?

Chen Qingqing had watched him stare into space for a good while without responding. She frowned, puzzled. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Xu Ye shook his head quickly and picked his chopsticks back up, thinking that until he had this straight, Chen Qingqing had better not know about it.

At that same moment.

At another table, Chen Hansong and the woman sitting across from him were also getting to the point.

“Old Chen. How long is it since you and your ex-wife divorced?”

“Over five years.”

The woman had a brisk, capable look about her, and she came straight out with it. “Old Chen, the truth is I asked you out today because there’s one question I wanted to put to you. Neither of us is young anymore, so on some things I’d rather not beat around the bush. You know my situation. You’ve been divorced over five years; my husband died over three years ago. Since we’re both on our own now — I wondered whether there might be some possibility of the two of us making a new family.”

Chen Hansong appeared to have guessed well in advance why she had asked him out. He took it perfectly calmly, was silent for a moment, and then said, “Miss Su. I’m sorry. That’s not something I can agree to.”

“Why? Do you have some reservation?”

“I have a daughter.”

“As far as I’m aware, your daughter has always lived with your ex-wife. And she’s at university now.”

Chen Hansong hadn’t expected her to know it in that much detail, and for a moment he had nothing to say.

The woman seemed to have caught the drift of it, and asked tentatively, “So there’s still a place in your heart for your ex-wife. Is that right?”

Chen Hansong nodded, sincerely.

The woman did not, as she might have in a television drama, start making a scene about it. She smiled faintly. “Then I was too forward. Consider what I said unsaid.”

Chen Hansong smiled too. “The food here is rather good, though. Could you let me finish before you throw me out?”

The woman laughed out loud, and had the subject changed in no time.

When Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing had finished their meal they left the restaurant directly, and because every table was shielded by a screen, Chen Qingqing never saw Chen Hansong at all.

Xu Ye drove back to Red Leaf Estate distracted the whole way. When they got to her door, Chen Qingqing asked, “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing. I’m not thinking about anything.”

“You obviously are!” Chen Qingqing fixed her big eyes on him, with the air of someone who had already seen straight through him.

Xu Ye scratched his head quickly and put on a wicked grin. “Well, it is Valentine’s Day. I’ve spent the entire drive working out how to trick you into letting me have a kiss. Going back like this would just nag at me.”

“You jerk.”

She turned to open the door and get out, but Xu Ye had already locked all four doors. She tried it, found it wouldn’t open, and said at once, “Unlock it. I want to get out.”

“One kiss and I’ll let you out.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then I’m not unlocking the door.”

“I’ll shout.”

“Are you stupid? However loudly you shout in a car, nobody outside is going to hear you.”

Chen Qingqing had only been saying it for effect. She would never have dared actually do it.

Xu Ye had no shame. She still had some.

“Fine, I won’t get out then. Let’s see which of us can outlast the other.” Chen Qingqing had started playing dirty herself.

Xu Ye reached over to take her hand. She twisted away at once and folded both arms across her chest so that he couldn’t. Zhang Ruowei had said long ago that step one of a relationship is holding hands, step two is hugging, step three is kissing, and step four is—

Chen Qingqing thought that she could not go along with everything Xu Ye wanted, or this wretch would take a mile every time he was given an inch.

With nothing else for it, Xu Ye conceded. “All right. You win. The doors are unlocked. You can get out.”

Chen Qingqing pulled the door open and had one foot on the ground when she looked back and found him sitting there wearing an expression of “misery.” She hesitated, then turned around. “Close your eyes.”

“What for?”

“Are you closing them or not?”

Xu Ye obediently closed his eyes.

Chen Qingqing checked around her, found nobody there, and ducked back into the car as fast as she possibly could. She kissed him on the cheek — light as a dragonfly skimming water — then got straight out, shut the door, and ran the whole way into her own yard.

By the time Xu Ye opened his eyes, the door was already closed.

That small patch of his cheek was cool. Looking closely, you could just make out a faint lip print. Xu Ye put his seatbelt back on, then opened his phone and sent Chen Hansong a message.

Xu Ye: Uncle Chen, when I was having dinner with Qingqing this evening, I saw you having dinner with a lady.

Xu Ye: Uncle Chen, you wouldn’t want Auntie Jiang finding out about this, would you?

(End of Chapter 190)