Qiao Jiusheng was puzzled, but Dai Chukong’s expression changed.

  Fang Yusheng, who had been observing Dai Chukong, saw the change in her pretty face. She seemed to be very upset. His heart skipped a beat as he felt that something was amiss.

  However, Qiao Jiusheng immediately understood what Fang Yusheng meant. Fang Yusheng wanted to find out Dai Chukong’s attitude toward Qi Bufan’s possible marriage.

  Qiao Jiusheng was very tactful and quickly said, “I think that Miss Li and Miss Zhang are quite good. Not only are they beautiful, but their personalities are also very gentle. What’s even rarer is that they treat people gently. Such people are the most understanding. They will be good candidates if they can get along with Bufan.”


  Even though Miss Li and Miss Zhang did not exist, Fang Yusheng could continue the conversation.

  He said, “I think Miss Zhang is better than Miss Li. Although her family isn’t as good as Miss Li’s, she’s especially nice. I’ve seen her a few times in the past. She’s a girl who knows how to be a good person. Bufan is good in all aspects, but he doesn’t like to talk much. If he finds someone who knows how to talk, his days will be happy.”


  Qiao Jiusheng nodded and said, “Yes, we must find someone with a gentle personality who can live together with him and Chukong in the future.”


  When the two of them were talking, they pretended to be unintentionally observing Dai Chukong’s reaction. However, Dai Chukong did not say a word. Even though she hid it very well, a redness appeared on her long and pretty face. Qiao Jiusheng instantly realized that this topic was a little too serious for a newcomer like Dai Chukong.

  “Let’s not talk about it. It depends on his own choices.”


  “True.”


  The two of them had just stopped talking when Dai Chukong suddenly stood up. The commotion was quite loud, but it startled Qiao Jiusheng. Qiao Jiusheng looked up at her. “What’s wrong, Chukong?”


  Dai Chukong softly said, “It’s getting late. I’m a little tired. Brother Yusheng, Sister Ah Sheng, I’m going to sleep. You guys should rest early too.”


  “Okay.”


  After Dai Chukong left, Qiao Jiusheng immediately glared at Fang Yusheng. “Look at you. You scared the young lady so much that her face turned pale.”


  Fang Yusheng frowned as he stared in the direction Dai Chukong had left in.

  Qiao Jiusheng could tell from Fang Yusheng’s gaze that there was more to it. “What’s wrong?”


  “I think Bufan has something to be worried about,” Fang Yusheng ambiguously said.

  Qiao Jiusheng was still confused. “What?”


  “Nothing. Come, let’s sleep too.”


  “I’m not tired yet. Let’s stay a little longer.”


  “I’ll stay with you.”


  Qiao Jiusheng continued reading while Fang Yusheng stared at the starry sky. When he thought about Dai Chukong’s shocked expression when she heard their conversation, a terrifying and bold thought emerged in his mind. Qi Bufan’s adopted daughter’s thoughts toward Qi Bufan seemed to be very shocking.

  Fang Yusheng had previously joked with Qiao Jiusheng about letting Qi Bufan “digest it internally.” Now, he wished he could slap himself.

  ***

  Dai Chukong returned to her room, but she could not fall asleep.

  She stood in front of the mirror and studied her reflection.

  She looked good, had a gentle personality, and treated others peacefully…


  Qiao Jiusheng’s evaluation of Miss Li and Miss Zhang kept repeating in her heart and could not be dispelled. Dai Chukong suddenly smiled bitterly. In this world, anyone could like Qi Bufan, except her.

  That was because, in that person’s heart, she was a daughter, not a girl.

  Dai Chukong dejectedly lay down. She could not sleep the entire night. She just lay on the bed and turned around.

  The next morning, Dai Chukong was woken up by Big Black downstairs.

  She got out of bed and went downstairs. She saw Qi Bufan and Fang Yusheng doing pull-ups together. Qi Bufan’s stamina was better than Fang Yusheng’s, and even after doing eighty consecutive exercises, his breathing was still quite even, while Fang Yusheng’s breathing had already become chaotic.

  “Hold on, there are still twelve left,” Qi Bufan said to Fang Yusheng.

  From the corner of his eye, Fang Yusheng saw Qiao Jiusheng looking at him. He gritted his teeth and continued.

  When Fang Yusheng reached 95, his hands started shaking.

  At this moment, Qiao Jiusheng said, “You can do it, Yusheng. You can’t be such a weakling.”


  The words “weakling” stimulated Fang Yusheng.

  Fang Yusheng gritted his teeth and slowly finished the last few movements. He was about to sit down when he heard Qi Bufan say, “If you sit down now, you might grow a big butt.”


  Fang Yusheng was speechless.

  He immediately stood up straight and slowly walked around the vegetable garden a few times. Big Black was not familiar with him. Every time Fang Yusheng walked to the side of Big Black, the dog would bark madly.

  Fang Yusheng suddenly said to Qiao Jiusheng, “Ah Sheng, it’s cold.”


  “Yes.” Qiao Jiusheng was wearing a windbreaker today.

  Fang Yusheng added, “It’s cold and suitable for making hot soup.”


  Qiao Jiusheng’s eyes were filled with smiles as she replied, “Yes, I really want to drink soup.”


  “What soup would you like to drink?” Fang Yusheng dotingly smiled. When he spoke, he glanced at Big Black with a yearning expression. He suggested, “Winter is suitable for dog meat and dog soup.”


  Qiao Jiusheng hummed in agreement and smiled slyly. She even said, “Just pluck its fur and stew it. It tastes the best like that.”


  The two of them amicably discussed the dog-eating plan. Big Black, which had been acting arrogantly just now, seemed to understand human language. He instantly bent down and lay on the ground, not daring to look at Fang Yusheng again.

  He seemed to be telling the dog, “How dare you shout at Master Yusheng!”


  Fang Yusheng swung his legs and walked to Qiao Jiusheng’s side. Under Dai Chukong’s horrified gaze, he followed Qiao Jiusheng into the house for breakfast.

  Dai Chukong walked to the bottom of the horizontal bar and pulled Qi Bufan’s pants. “Big Brother, are they going to kill Big Black?” She had heard that the people in the city loved to eat dog meat. Dai Chukong had grown up with Big Black and was unwilling to see them eat dog meat.

  Qi Bufan glanced at Dai Chukong and stopped.

  His feet touched the ground, and he patted Dai Chukong’s head. He said, “Naive, foolish girl.”?

  During breakfast, Dai Chukong was trembling in fear, afraid that Fang Yusheng and Qiao Jiusheng would kill Big Black.

  When Qiao Jiusheng and Fang Yusheng saw her frightened gaze, they thought that she was frightened by their conversation last night and had yet to recover. They looked at each other and felt guilty.

  “Sigh.”


  Qiao Jiusheng leaned close to Fang Yusheng’s ear and whispered, “Did we scare her?”


  Fang Yusheng looked at Dai Chukong and Qi Bufan with a meaningful gaze. He did not say anything.

  Dai Chukong realized that Fang Yusheng had been observing her. She thought that he was thinking about how to tell her that he wanted to kill Big Black. Dai Chukong’s heart tightened. She quickly pulled Qi Bufan’s sleeve and said to him, “Let’s go see the house after breakfast.” She then paused and saw Qi Bufan nod. Dai Chukong then said, “We can also buy a small house for Big Black and put it on the balcony.”


  “Okay.”


  She carefully glanced at Fang Yusheng and Qiao Jiusheng. When she saw that they did not request to keep Big Black, Dai Chukong was relieved.

  After the meal, Dai Chukong dragged Qi Bufan away in a hurry. Before they left, she did not forget to take the dispirited Big Black with her.

  Qiao Jiusheng and Fang Yusheng stood in the small courtyard. When they saw Qi Bufan and Dai Chukong get far away, Qiao Jiusheng said to Fang Yusheng, “It seems like Bufan can forget about getting a wife in the short term.” Dai Chukong had such a huge reaction to Qi Bufan’s potential marriage. If he got married, the family conflict would be very deep in the future.

  Fang Yusheng nodded. “Not anytime soon.”?

  The two of them chatted amongst themselves, and they had surprisingly similar views.

  After sending Dai Chukong off, Qiao Jiusheng suddenly said, “Yusheng, a friend is coming over in the afternoon. The roses at home have already withered. You can go to the flower shop outside and buy some flowers.”


  Fang Yusheng asked, “Who did you invite?”


  “Officer Wu, do you still remember her?”


  “Oh, her.” Fang Yusheng remembered Jiaren Wu. She had helped him out in both cases. He had some impression of that beautiful police officer.

  Of course, he had an impression of Jiaren Wu not because of her beautiful face. What impressed him was the first time they met. In the police car, Qiao Jiusheng had asked Jiaren Wu if she knew a person called Wei Shuyi.

  At that time, Fang Yusheng had treated Wei Shuyi as his love rival. As long as any matter was related to his love rival, Fang Yusheng would always listen carefully.

  Fang Yusheng seemed to have thought of something, and his smile was exceptionally deep and beautiful.

  “I’m going to buy some flowers.”


  He took his car keys and went out. Qiao Jiusheng recalled his bright and proud smile and suspected that he was thinking of some bad idea.

  When Fang Yusheng returned with the flowers, Qiao Jiusheng was making desserts in the kitchen.

  She had worn a coat and a light blue apron. Her bulging stomach made her look a little plump. Fang Yusheng took a few more glances at her and put down the flowers. He walked over to her and hugged her from behind. “Don’t do this anymore. I’m always worried when I see you do things.”


  She had such a big belly; he was really afraid that she would fall.

  Qiao Jiusheng fiddled with the pastry in front of her and said, “It’s okay.” She picked up the strawberry and removed the leafy parts. “Oh right, you can’t eat eggs, but starch is still okay, right?”


  “Of course.” Fang Yusheng stared at the food in front of her and was a little surprised. “You made this for me?”


  “Yeah.”


  He felt incredulous. “I thought you didn’t like doing all this?”


  “Once in a while is fine.” Qiao Jiusheng pinched Fang Yusheng’s nose with a starch-stained hand and said, “This is called fun.”


  Since it was her third trimester of pregnancy, the two of them did not dare to do anything ridiculous. Fang Yusheng had been holding it in recently, and Qiao Jiusheng’s heart ached for him. She wanted to treat him better. She wanted to make some delicious food for Fang Yusheng, but he was allergic to eggs. After thinking about it, Qiao Jiusheng had decided to make a strawberry dish for him.

  All the strawberries this season were planted in the shed. Qiao Jiusheng picked a few plump red strawberries to make strawberry mochi and arranged them.

  Fang Yusheng could not help but steal a bite of the strawberry. He did not admit that he had benefited from it and said, “It’s delicious.” He swallowed the strawberry and bit Qiao Jiusheng’s ear before saying, “But it’s not as delicious as yours.”


  Qiao Jiusheng chuckled and scolded him after laughing. “Get out.”


  Fang Yusheng couldn’t bear to leave. Instead, he rubbed against her like a piece of candy.

  Aunt Jin had come to the kitchen to get some sweet orange juice. When she saw the two of them messing around in the kitchen, she cleverly turned around and ran out.

  Qiao Jiusheng made twelve strawberry mochi and set up a plate for Fang Yusheng to bring them out. She then placed them on the coffee table at the back of the house and waited for Jiaren Wu to come to enjoy them. It was just nice that the sun was out today. The sun at the end of October shone on her body, making her feel especially comfortable.

  Coffee, dessert, and sunshine always brought warmth.

  Qiao Jiusheng cut the rose branches, placed them in a vase, and carried them to the corridor behind the house. It was then that she realized that only eight of the twelve strawberry mochi were left.

  The perpetrator was wiping his mouth, which was stained with some white powder.

  Qiao Jiusheng was speechless.

  Fang Yusheng beautifully smiled and didn’t seem embarrassed at all. He said, “I just wanted to eat one, but I couldn’t control myself…”


  “I didn’t say you shouldn’t eat them.” They were food anyway.

  Qiao Jiusheng placed the eight strawberries on the plate again. At this moment, Aunt Jin suddenly said, “The guard called. It should be Miss Wu.”


  “I’ll go pick her up!”


  Seeing that Qiao Jiusheng was about to pick up Jiaren Wu, Fang Yusheng stopped her and said, “I’ll go.”


  “Sure.”


  Fang Yusheng rode an electric car to the Fang family’s entrance. Jiaren Wu was a little stunned when she saw Young Master Fang driving a four-wheeled electric car from afar. In her opinion, such a wealthy family should value extravagance…


  It would have been fine if Fang Yusheng had driven a vintage electric car, but the one he was in was just an ordinary four-wheeled electric car with a hood. It looked simple and shabby.

  It had to be said that this was rather… comical.

  Fang Yusheng jumped out of the car and personally invited Jiaren Wu to the back seat.

  After Jiaren Wu sat down, she felt that the seat under her butt was a little hard. It was probably made of plastic, the cheap kind. She glanced at the seat in front of her and realized that the front passenger seat was especially luxurious and unique. Its seat cushion was made of real leather, and there was a comfortable back cushion on top of it. Just these two cushions alone would probably cost tens of thousands.

  Jiaren Wu guessed that this was Qiao Jiusheng’s personal seat.

  Although Young Master Fang was stingy, he treated his wife quite well.

  After sitting in the electric car, she staggered to get off and entered the house. When Jiaren Wu saw that the interior of the house was not luxurious and was more practical and warm, she finally relaxed.