That evening Xu Ye got a call from Old Zhang and another from his mother-in-law. Officially they wanted to know whether he had eaten dinner; what they actually wanted to know was whether he was with Chen Qingqing tonight.

Once they heard he was out on a date with her, both of them ended the call themselves.

They had wandered around outside for a while, and just as they were about to head for the hotel, Chen Qingqing's phone started chiming.

Xu Ye was curious. "Who's calling?"

Chen Qingqing dug out her phone, glanced at it, and said, "It's Auntie Yang Lin."

"Go on, answer it." Xu Ye lifted the bag out of her hand, took the hand itself, and started across the street.

The call connected.

Yang Lin asked right away, "Qingqing, what are you up to?"

Chen Qingqing answered honestly. "Auntie Yang Lin, Xu Ye and I are still out."

"Tomorrow's Christmas. You and Xiao Xu come over to Auntie's place to eat."

Chen Qingqing couldn't make up her mind. She got out a hurried "I'll let Xu Ye talk to you" and pushed the phone at him.

"Hello? Auntie Yang Lin?"

"Xiao Xu, bring Qingqing over to Auntie's tomorrow morning for a meal."

"Sure."

Xu Ye smiled. "When did you get back to Shanghai, Auntie?"

After National Day, Yang Lin had been traveling nonstop. Xu Ye had her on WeChat, and every few days something she posted would show up in his Moments.

"Start of the month. I won't keep you two from your date — come over early tomorrow morning. There's something I want to talk to you about too."

"Will do."

"All right, we'll leave it at that."

"Bye~"

Once Yang Lin had hung up, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She hadn't realized Chen Qingqing had come to lean on Xu Ye this much — that even a call meant for her had to be handed over for him to take.

She let out a small sigh and looked down at the message on her phone from the doctor at the hospital.…