Zhang Yiming pretended to hail a cab by the street. He was desperately curious about why Kong Yinhong suddenly came to the company and what it had to do with Shen Duoyi.

The matter must be very private, otherwise they wouldn't have deliberately sent him away. The rain hadn't stopped, and his suit was covered in a layer of fine droplets. Looking up by chance, he saw an adorable Volkswagen Beetle slowly passing by.

"Hey, stop, stop, stop! Show me your license." He reached out to intercept it, acting like a traffic officer. The window rolled down, and You Si sat in the driver's seat, heading home from work. She said impatiently, "What are you doing? I'm in a hurry to pick up the kid."

Zhang Yiming hung onto the window: "Why does the little aunt always pick him up? Why doesn't You Zhe do it since he's the uncle? And why does Shutiao call you little aunt but calls You Zhe uncle? Something seems off to me."

You Si turned her head away: "Nephews are close to aunts, nieces are close to uncles. We choose what feels closest." She caught sight of Qi Shi'an and Shen Duoyi at Ming'an's entrance, and looking closer, she also saw Kong Yinhong.

"What's going on?"

Zhang Yiming said: "I don't know either, seems fishy."

The Beetle stopped by the road. When Zhang Yiming and You Si walked to Ming'an's entrance, they just heard Kong Yinhong say something about being "despicable". The two exchanged glances, then saw Qi Shi'an and Shen Duoyi standing side by side.

"Auntie, still chatting?" Zhang Yiming saw the situation wasn't good, "We planned to gather at Shi'an's place today, do we need to reschedule?"

You Si felt an elbow nudge and played along: "Rescheduling would take forever, everyone's so busy."

It was already dark, and a muffled thunder rolled at that moment. Kong Yinhong suddenly realized she had been confronting the two young people at the entrance for so long. She could hardly believe her own irrationality and didn't want to hear any more persuasion or explanation.

"You all go ahead and gather, I'm heading back." She opened her umbrella, and when passing by Qi Shi'an and Shen Duoyi, she wanted to say something more but ultimately said nothing.

Only the four young people remained at Ming'an's entrance. Zhang Yiming and You Si had only acted on their years of friendship intuition to help Qi Shi'an and Shen Duoyi out of the situation, but they didn't know what had happened.

You Si checked her watch: "I really need to pick up the kid now, I'm off."

Zhang Yiming walked beside her, raising his hand to shield her from the rain, and turned back to say to Qi Shi'an: "When are we gathering? Do you two have some secret relationship we don't know about?"

Those two had already walked to the street to get in the car. Qi Shi'an held onto Shen Duoyi: "Let's go too."

Shen Duoyi walked dazedly toward the parking lot, not even reacting when raindrops from his hair tips dripped into his eyes. Qi Shi'an held him back and consoled him quietly: "My mom only said those things because she doesn't understand the situation, and she's always been blunt. When she calms down, she'll listen to my explanation."

Shen Duoyi took a deep breath: "I'm fine, I was just a bit too hasty today, didn't handle it well."

"What wasn't handled well? I need to write down what you said when I get home." They had reached the car, and Qi Shi'an gave a final reminder, "Don't think too much about it, drive carefully."

The roads were slippery, and Shen Duoyi did drive carefully. Sitting alone in the car, he felt somewhat helpless. At a red light, he browsed through his phone contacts, but who could he confide in about something like this?

The screen suddenly lit up, and seeing the incoming call, he quickly grabbed at it like a lifeline.

"Lulu?"

"Are you home? I just got back from surveying the ring water system, bought a few boxes of dragon fruit from an orchard in the suburbs, wanted to bring you two boxes."

Shen Duoyi checked the time: "I'll be home in five minutes, what do you want for dinner?"

The two met downstairs, both drenched in rain. Lu Ketong carried his drawing tube on his back while struggling with two boxes of dragon fruit. Shen Duoyi took them, remembering when they lived in the hutong, and Lu Ketong first visited his room bringing dragon fruit.

The housekeeper added two more dishes before leaving. Due to the bad weather, they ate and took care of Grandpa Shen who went to bed early, then finally had time to sit down and chat. Shen Duoyi gave Lu Ketong a blanket to wrap up in, and couldn't help asking: "So busy?"

Lu Ketong sat on the cushion with blueprints spread on the coffee table, answering: "The boss has too many demands. Actually, I'm about to quit, planning to open a restaurant and be my own boss."

Shen Duoyi said: "I support you, I'll bring my colleagues when it opens."

"You just say nice things." Lu Ketong didn't look up, "When the time comes, bring your partner, and I'll charge you both extra."

Shen Duoyi guessed Lu Ketong had heard some things from Fei Yuan. He lay on the sofa, turned sideways to see Lu Ketong's profile, then reached out to grip Lu Ketong's shoulder, saying: "Lulu, actually I met his mom today, and it didn't go well at all."

Lu Ketong immediately threw down his pen and turned to ask: "Why? Is it purely about not accepting your orientation, or does she have issues with you specifically?"

"Both not accepting it and dissatisfied with me." Shen Duoyi smiled helplessly, "His mom said that while I'm hiding it from my family, he's being honest with his side, trying to get their approval, and she thinks I'm despicable."

Lu Ketong angrily said: "Grandpa is eighty, how can you tell him? And if uncle and auntie were still alive, you definitely would have been honest too, isn't this just picking fights? Don't be sad, if one explanation doesn't work, try twice." As he spoke, he grew angrier, "What right does she have? Isn't this just taking advantage of you not having parents? How can she pour salt on your wounds... I'm so angry!"

Shen Duoyi comforted him: "Don't be angry, it's not that serious, his birth mother doesn't know about my family situation."

"That makes more sense." Lu Ketong calmed down a bit, "Wait, his birth mother? He has a stepmother?"

Shen Duoyi nodded, and Lu Ketong flopped onto the sofa: "What a world, some people have no mother, while others have two. That's where conflicts come from - it's not about having too little, but about things being uneven."

After being gloomy all evening, Shen Duoyi finally laughed genuinely, agreeing while chuckling: "Exactly, two moms, look at them showing off."

It was already very late, and Shen Duoyi wanted Lu Ketong to stay over. Lu Ketong was too tired to move, but just as they finished tidying up the drawing tube, the doorbell rang. Fei Yuan came to pick up Lu Ketong, and before leaving, they made plans to try the food when his restaurant opens.

Meanwhile, Qi Shi'an had just finished dramatically recounting the events of the past two days to Huo Xin and Qi Jingtang. He knew Kong Yinhong would definitely contact his father, so he decided to make the first move.

Qi Jingtang said somewhat apologetically: "Explain to your mom quickly, the family situations are different, what she said really hit a sore spot."

Qi Shi'an pretended to be troubled: "Mom won't listen to my explanation, she even directly asked if Duoyi is sincere or if he's trying to take advantage of my feelings. Standing at the company entrance today, I thought we were filming a TV drama."

Huo Xin had a quick temper: "How can this sister be so unreliable!"

"How about this, don't go talk to your mom yet, let her cool down first." Qi Jingtang knew Kong Yinhong better, "I'll go see her on the weekend, actually she asked to meet me, but didn't say what it was about."

Huo Xin immediately said: "You're going to meet? Will you each bring a research paper and debate about their relationship? Whoever wins the debate gets their way?"

Qi Shi'an finally spoke up to ask: "Dad, Mom, does this mean you agree?"

Qi Jingtang and Huo Xin suddenly went quiet, as if they weren't the ones who had just been ready to make decisions for Qi Shi'an and Shen Duoyi. Qi Jingtang sighed almost imperceptibly and said: "You've been so thorough with your honesty, and you have your grandpa as such a strong supporter backing you, what can we do?"

Huo Xin stroked her jade bracelet: "If we can't change it, we accept it. The key is that changing it would mean destroying your happiness, then wouldn't I become an evil stepmom?"

Qi Shi'an said: "You already are a stepmom."

"That was just a figure of speech!" Huo Xin glared at him, "Running here to tattle late at night, when something happens you still come to your stepmom to handle it, how annoying!"

The end of summer brought a rare couple of cool days. Shen Duoyi got up early to tidy up the room, then prepared a table full of breakfast. Millet porridge, soybean pickles, red date cake, and a pot of tea eggs. Grandpa Shen came out of the bedroom wearing long sleeves, following the fragrant smell.

"Why make such a feast?"

"Got up early, had nothing else to do." Shen Duoyi ladled out two bowls of porridge, then peeled tea eggs for Grandpa Shen. He kept his head down, against a ray of morning light, particularly quiet.

"Grandpa, in a few days I'll be twenty-eight." Shen Duoyi passed the smooth egg to Grandpa Shen's plate. He looked up, his expression seeming like normal casual chat, but also as if he had made an extreme resolution.

"Grandpa, another year older, you'll definitely push me more about starting a family and such." Shen Duoyi looked at Grandpa Shen, "I might disappoint you, but in all these years, I've never had feelings for any girl, starting a family is completely out of the question."

Grandpa Shen was stunned, and after a while finally took a bite of the tea egg: "If there isn't anyone then there isn't, I just mentioned it, wasn't really trying to force you. Living life is a lifetime thing, how can we be careless about it, aren't we doing fine, just us grandfather and grandson?"

Shen Duoyi nodded, picked up his bowl and took a big gulp of porridge: "Thank you, Grandpa."

He could only take it one step at a time, could only see what happens after each step, but he was happy about the step he had taken for himself. After breakfast, he took a shower, then changed into white clothes and white pants, and even put on white sneakers.

Grandpa Shen twisted around in his recliner: "My good grandson, you're twenty-eight now, why are you dressing like you're eighteen? Where are you going?"

"Going out to play, am I not allowed to pretend to be young?" Shen Duoyi answered with a laugh, then packed his backpack, "I'm heading out, call me if anything comes up."

He drove to the Yamenting Apartments, thinking that on a weekend morning Qi Shi'an would sleep in for a couple more hours, and he could offer a wake-up service, but when he opened the door with his key, Qi Shi'an was already sitting on the sofa drinking coffee.

Most frustratingly, Zhang Yiming and You Si were sitting across from him also drinking coffee, and Shutiao was playing with toy cars on the carpet, bottom in the air.

Zhang Yiming immediately stood up energetically: "Team Leader Shen came at just the right time, and notably has a key to Mr. Qi's apartment, this makes me imagine things."

Shutiao rolled over on the carpet and mimicked: "Brother Duoyi came at just the right time..."

Shen Duoyi's face went from red to white and back again. He had already opened the door, even if there were thousands of troops inside he couldn't escape now, so he simply closed the door gracefully and changed into the same style of host slippers as Qi Shi'an.

Qi Shi'an curled one long leg, sitting slightly sideways on the sofa, he patted the space beside him saying: "Come here, sit here."

Shen Duoyi walked over and sat down half a step away, but as soon as his bottom touched the sofa he was pulled by Qi Shi'an. Qi Shi'an looked him up and down: "No wonder Shutiao changed to calling you brother, why are you dressed so fresh and young, you're making me look old."

"I didn't know you were all gathering today." Shen Duoyi looked up at Zhang Yiming, but he didn't dare look at You Si. That night You Si had confided her heart's secret to him, and now he was being so intimate with Qi Shi'an, it really wasn't very proper.