As it was getting dark, Xu Ye left after all.

It was Old Zhang who had called him away.

Not that he had been planning to stay the night at Red Leaf Estate anyway.

Things between him and Chen Qingqing were moving along steadily, but they hadn’t reached the last step yet. And there were cameras in the living room — if he really did stay, his mother-in-law would be sure to find out. There were still things you had to be careful about.

Once he had driven out of Red Leaf Estate, Xu Ye called Old Zhang back. “Mom, what’s so urgent that you need me home?”

“Don’t come home. Go straight to the train station.”

Xu Ye didn’t follow. “What for?”

Old Zhang seemed to be in the middle of something else. She shouted at the top of her voice, “Your Second Aunt is about to arrive. Drive over and pick her up.”

“Why don’t you send my dad?”

“I’ve packed your dad off to buy groceries. Your Second Aunt is eating here tonight.”

Xu Ye answered right away. “You got it. I’m on my way.”

He hung up and headed for the train station.

Of the three sisters — Zhang Hong, Zhang Ying and Zhang Lan — it was Zhang Ying who had been the best behaved and the quietest when they were young, a Jiangnan woman of the classic sort. And yet in the end she was the only one who married out of the province.

Xu Ye had always thought well of this aunt. According to his grandmother, as a small child he had trailed around after her constantly, and she had been very good to him in return. They were rarely in touch the rest of the year, but whenever she called Zhang Hong at New Year she would have Xu Ye come to the phone and wish her a happy new year — so that she had an excuse to send him a red packet of New Year money.

Xu Ye parked at the curb and hurried over to wait by the station exit. After about a quarter of an hour, people finally started coming out.

He pulled out his phone, found his Second Aunt’s number in his contacts and called it. When it connected, the voice that answered was a very young one.

“Hello?”

Xu Ye blinked. Then it registered, and he asked immediately, “That’s Manning, isn’t it?”

Zhang Ying had the luggage, so Wang Manning was carrying the phone. Hearing his voice, she blinked in the same way, then shot straight back, “Is that Xu Ye?”

“No respect for your elders. You’re supposed to call me gege.”

“You’re only two years older than me.”

“I’m still your gege.”

Wang Manning pulled a face, not in the mood to argue it out with him. She took the suitcase out of her mother’s hand and handed the phone straight back to her.

“Hello? Is that Xiao Ye?”

“Second Aunt, I’m right here at the exit. You’ll see me as soon as you come through the gate.”

“Mm. We’ll be out in a moment.”

He hung up and went on waiting at the exit.

A few minutes later he saw Zhang Ying’s family of three come out.

Zhang Ying and Wang Zixuan hadn’t changed much. Wang Manning, though, was nothing like the girl in Xu Ye’s memory — she seemed to have gone straight from a scruffy little thing to a fresh-faced young woman.

“Xiao Ye.”

“Second Aunt~” Xu Ye hurried forward and took the big suitcase from her.

Back in her hometown, Zhang Ying was in high spirits. She took his hand and looked him up and down, her whole face smiling. “Xiao Ye, when did you get so tall?”

“Not that tall.”

“You were only so big when you were little. Now look at you, a grown man. Time really does go fast.”

“You haven’t changed at all, Second Aunt. Just as young as before.”

“Haha. Your Second Aunt is nearly forty. I’m old now.”

“Not at all. You look like you’re just past thirty.”

Hearing that, Zhang Ying laughed more happily still.

Wang Manning, though, curled her lip and privately passed a four-character verdict on him: smooth-talker.

“Manning, Zixuan, have you called him gege yet?”

Only then did Wang Zixuan say it. “Gege.”

Wang Zixuan was small and thin, with round-framed glasses. By the sound of his voice he hadn’t hit puberty yet, and he still looked like an elementary school kid.

Wang Manning stood beside them, unmoved.

Seeing this, Zhang Ying slapped her arm and snapped, “Are you deaf? I told you to greet him.”

Only then, and reluctantly, did Wang Manning say gege.

The four of them talked as they walked and soon reached the curb. Xu Ye opened the trunk, put the luggage in and waved the three of them into the car.

Zhang Ying fastened her seat belt and watched him pull out into traffic with practiced ease, and her curiosity got the better of her. “Xiao Ye, when did you get your license?”

“Right after high school. I’ve been driving half a year now. Don’t worry, Second Aunt, I drive steady.”

“Is this a new car your dad bought?”

Xu Ye shook his head quickly. “No, I bought it myself. My dad still drives that old Santana.”

Then he explained without being asked. “After I started college I went into a small business with my roommates and made a bit of money. I figured having a car would make things easier, so I bought this one.”

Zhang Ying turned straight around to Wang Manning. “Look at your gege. He can afford to buy his own car now. And you? You eat what the family gives you, you use what the family gives you, and you never do as you’re told.”

“Ugh, Mom, you’re so annoying!”

Xu Ye asked with a smile, “Second Aunt, what year is Manning in now?”

“She’ll be a senior in the fall.”

Xu Ye knew perfectly well, but he asked anyway. “Grades all right?”

“Don’t ask. A complete mess. She isn’t cut out for school. Your uncle and I are already planning to have her try for art school.”

“If she goes to art school it won’t be easy to find work afterward.”

“She’ll be marrying into someone else’s family sooner or later anyway.”

Wang Manning couldn’t listen to any more of it. She pulled out her earphones and put them on.

She had never had much to do with Xu Ye. Coming this time, she had actually been looking forward to meeting this cousin two years older than her, and their quirky younger cousin.

But after hearing the things he had said to her mother, she took an instant dislike to him.

He’s only just started college himself. Who’s he pretending to be so grown-up for?

……

He drove them all the way home.

Old Zhang and Little Aunt were busy cooking in the kitchen. Old Xu and Wang Yuxin were cleaning up outside. Seeing that they had arrived, he called quickly toward the kitchen, “Love, Zhang Ying’s here.”

Zhang Ying greeted her brother-in-law first. Then, seeing her elder and younger sisters both come out of the kitchen, she went straight to meet them, and the three of them fell into each other’s arms, happier than words could say.

After the round of greetings, Zhang Ying beckoned Wang Manning and Wang Zixuan over and ordered them to say hello.

“Hello, Eldest Aunt. Hello, Uncle.”

“Hello, Little Aunt.”

Sister and brother went through them one by one. As soon as Wang Zixuan was done he grabbed the phone out of Zhang Ying’s hand, sat down on the sofa and started playing on it.

Old Zhang, meanwhile, pulled Wang Manning aside and praised her at length, as though she were her own precious daughter.

How pretty she was, how tall she was, and she could dance too…

Praised to the skies, and then some.

It was at that moment.

Xu Ye’s phone suddenly rang.

Everyone in the living room turned to look at him without thinking. Xu Ye saw that the call was from Zhang Xiaonuan, answered it offhandedly and put it on speakerphone.

The speakerphone had barely come on when her voice rang out of it:

“Hello, Director Xu. Are you busy?”

Director Xu???

The whole family froze.

(End of Chapter 267)