Xu Ye came back to the table, and the four of them ate and talked, the atmosphere thoroughly easy.

Old Zhang's timing was pitched just right. About ten minutes later the video call came in. Xu Ye made a show of picking up his phone to glance at it, then tapped accept.

Old Zhang appeared on the screen and opened with a performance for the ages. "Son, have you eaten?"

Xu Ye played along, his own acting entirely up to standard.

"Eating now."

Hearing Old Zhang's voice made Chen Qingqing inexplicably nervous.

Jiang Meilin and Chen Hansong, across the table, went quiet too, listening to mother and son talk.

Old Zhang went on. "Isn't Qingqing with you?"

"She's right here."

Xu Ye tilted the phone so Chen Qingqing came into frame, and Chen Qingqing said a shy hello to her.

"Good. Good that you're together."

Chen Qingqing was too embarrassed to pick up the thread, and Xu Ye was about to speak when Jiang Meilin put down her chopsticks and asked with a smile. "Xiao Xu, is that your mother?"

Xu Ye nodded quickly and made an affirmative sound, then said to Old Zhang, "Mom, Qingqing's parents are here too. How about you talk with them a while?"

"I'd love to." Old Zhang was a natural extrovert — on an ordinary day she could take the trash out and end up talking to a stranger for an hour.

Xu Ye handed the phone to Jiang Meilin, who reached out and took it.

Jiang Meilin hadn't settled on what to call Old Zhang yet, but Old Zhang's opening — qingjia — gave her the right form of address at once.

Chen Qingqing kept her head down, face red, ears pricked.

Xu Ye went on eating like a man without a care in the world.

The two of them talked very happily, and none of the awkwardness anyone had imagined materialized. Old Zhang praised Chen Qingqing to the skies, saying things like our Xiao Ye isn't good enough for your girl, and that he'd been a handful since he was small and…