After that, life got a lot quieter.

Sleeping until he woke up on his own, eating whatever he wanted, doing whatever he felt like. It was the life most people only dream about.

Before he knew it, it was late August.

Wang Manning had to report to school early, so once Qin Zhiwei and Shen Xinyi came down from Mount Lu, Xu Ye sent her back to Suzhou with Shen Xinyi.

Xu Ye got word a day early that Jiang Meilin was coming back from Jinling, so he dutifully moved back into his own house. The moment he opened the door, Old Zhang hit him with a snide one. "Well, well. You still remember where you live? I thought you'd really gone off to be somebody's live-in son-in-law."

"So should I leave?" Xu Ye asked, backpack still on, looking hurt.

"Get in here."

Xu Ye's face lit right up. "Mom, if you and Dad get bored at home by yourselves, you could answer the nation's call and have another kid. I definitely wouldn't object."

"Pfft—" Old Xu sprayed out a whole mouthful of water. He coughed a few times and rolled his eyes. "If you'd said that a few years ago, your mom and I could've given it a shot. These days we'd want to, but we just don't have it in us."

Old Zhang smacked Old Xu hard on the back. "What kind of talk is that?"

Xu Ye snickered, put his bag in his room and came back to sit on the sofa. He was just about to settle in for a chat with his parents when the phone in his pocket rang.

It was Li Tongwen, so he picked up right away.

"Hey, Tongwen."

"Xu Ye, I just sent you an email. Take a look. All the Tastien branches turned a profit over the summer. I was thinking maybe we could invest more and turn Tastien into a franchise brand?"

"Sure. I'll look at it in a minute."

"I ran some rough numbers. I figure a million and a half will cover the next step."

"You don't…