He Xiu finally turned his head and stared intently at Jian Yan, as if trying to discern something from her face. Feeling a little shy, Jian Yan defended herself, saying, "Didn't I tell you last time that I had misandry? It's not easy to meet someone with whom I can ride in the car and chat like this."

  "Oh." He Xiu responded, with a half-smile.

  Jian Yan pointed forward and said sternly, "Pay attention to the road while driving!"

  He Xiu chuckled and retracted his gaze, not pressing the issue further.

  His aunt lived in an ordinary residential area. As they walked upstairs, he said to her, "My aunt has been living alone since she divorced her husband because she couldn't have children."

  Jian Yan was slightly taken aback for a moment and then nodded, "I see."

  "I originally wanted to move her to a place closer to the He family so that it would be easier for me to take care of her, but she just wouldn't agree."

  Jian Yan said, "My mom is the same. I asked her to move in with me, but she refused."

  He Xiu smiled and said, "If she moved in with you, it would be her taking care of you, right?"

  "..." Why did he say the same thing as her mother! Jian Yan was 不服气 in her heart. "Although I'm busy with work usually, I'm not as busy as you. Since you can take care of your aunt, why can't I take care of my mom?"

  He Xiu said, "Because I'm the boss myself, I can choose not to work when I don't want to."

  Jian Yan: "..."

  She was immediately convinced.

  His aunt lived on the seventh floor. When they reached the seventh floor, Jian Yan noticed that the door on the left was slightly ajar, as if it had been deliberately left open for someone.

  "Is this the place?" she asked.

  "Yeah." He Xiu walked up and still knocked on the door, "Aunt Jiang."

  The kitchen of this house was designed right near the entrance. Aunt Jiang was cooking in the kitchen. When she heard his voice, she walked over in two steps. But when she opened the door, she froze in place.

  Jian Yan had dressed up specially today. She was wearing a dark floral dress, paired with a golden-brown long fur vest and a brown wide-brimmed hat. The high-saturation colors of her whole outfit made her look fashionable and retro.

  "Who is this beautiful lady..." Aunt Jiang's gaze fell on He Xiu, and there was a faint glimmer in her eyes.

  He Xiu said, "Her name is Jian Yan. She's my friend."

  "Friend?" Aunt Jiang repeated.

  He Xiu nodded, and Aunt Jiang nodded knowingly. Oh, that meant he hadn't caught up with her yet.

  "Hello, Aunt Jiang," Jian Yan greeted her politely. "Happy birthday to you."

  "Thank you, thank you. Come in and have a seat. Don't stand at the door," Aunt Jiang invited them into the house and quickly poured them a cup of hot water. "You really should have told me in advance that you were bringing a friend. I wasn't prepared at all."

  She deliberately emphasized the word "friend". He Xiu smiled calmly and said, "This way, it can be a surprise for you."

  "It is quite a surprise." Aunt Jiang sized up Jian Yan again and then walked towards the kitchen. "You two have fun first. I still have cooking to do in the kitchen."

  Jian Yan looked in the direction of the kitchen and stood up from the sofa. "Why don't I go and help you?"

  "No, look at how nicely you're dressed. Don't get your clothes dirty. Just sit with He Xiu for a while. The meal will be ready soon."

  "Uh..." But it was clearly Aunt Jiang's birthday, and she still had to cook to entertain them. Jian Yan felt really embarrassed.

  He Xiu pulled her back to sit on the sofa and turned on the TV by the way. "Just sit here and relax. If you're really bored, I can sing a song for you."

  Jian Yan: "..."

  She began to focus on watching TV.

  After a while, the fragrance of the food started to waft out from the kitchen. She took a couple of sniffs and smiled slightly at He Xiu, saying, "Your aunt is so good to you. She's made all your favorite dishes."

  He Xiu curled the corner of his mouth slightly and said to her, "Aunt Jiang has been very kind to me since I was a child. I've always regarded her as my second mother."

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  Jian Yan nodded to show her understanding. "Then why don't you go in and help your 'mom' cook? Just leave her alone in there to be busy?"

  He Xiu smiled and said, "It's rare that someone is here to taste her cooking today. Let her give full play to her skills."

  Because of Jian Yan's visit, Aunt Jiang added two more dishes on the spot, so the meal time was a little later than expected. Before the meal, He Xiu took out the custom-made big cake and carefully opened the exquisite cardboard box.

  "Wow, this cake is so beautiful. I almost can't bear to eat it." Aunt Jiang stared at the cake on the table, amazed. He Xiu said, "This is a birthday cake I specially asked President Yu's wife to make for you. Didn't you keep thinking about the orange mousse from her place since you tasted it last time?"

  "Yes, that girl has really good cooking skills. I'm even thinking about learning how to make desserts."

  "Sure. I'll send you an oven later."

  "Why do you have to give me everything? I can just buy it myself." Aunt Jiang glared at him and warned, "And I won't move. Don't buy me a house. It's a waste of money."

  "Okay, okay, I won't buy it." He Xiu coaxed Aunt Jiang like a child and inserted the candles into the cake by the way. "Make a wish first."

  He lit the candles. Aunt Jiang put her hands together and said seriously, "I hope He Xiu can find a girlfriend soon."

  He Xiu chuckled and said, "If you say the wish out loud, it won't come true."

  Aunt Jiang said, "I'm specifically saying it for you to hear." And at the end, she winked in Jian Yan's direction.

  Jian Yan: "..."

  Aunt Jiang really was very good to He Xiu.

  After making the birthday wish, He Xiu cut a small piece of cake for each of the three of them. Today, the dishes cooked by Aunt Jiang were the main focus, so he didn't dare to cut too much. Before Jian Yan finished the cake on her plate, Aunt Jiang put something like an eggplant cake into her bowl. "Try my braised eggplant with minced meat."

  This braised eggplant with minced meat wasn't simply made by cooking eggplant and meat together. Instead, a small meatball was wrapped between two pieces of fried eggplant. Jian Yan took a bite. It was sweet, and both the eggplant and the meat were well-seasoned, and they were fried just right. "It's delicious. This is like a dish from a big hotel."

  Aunt Jiang said proudly, "I used to work in a hotel kitchen, and I taught He Xiu his cooking skills."

  "Wow, then he's really lucky to have such good food."

  "Not really." He Xiu shook his head with a smile. "The work in the kitchen is very busy. Most of the time, I ate the food cooked by my mom."

  When Aunt Jiang saw that he talked about his mother so naturally in front of Jian Yan, she knew that it wasn't as simple as him just bringing a friend back to celebrate her birthday.

  This was clearly him bringing his future daughter-in-law to meet her.

  But since this daughter-in-law hadn't been won over yet, she had to give him a hand.

  After the meal, He Xiu took the initiative to do the dishes, while Jian Yan stayed in the living room and chatted with Aunt Jiang.

  Aunt Jiang peeled a piece of fruit for her and asked, "What do you do for a living, Miss Jian?"

  Jian Yan said, "I draw comics."

  "Draw comics?" Aunt Jiang seemed very surprised. "Then how did you meet He Xiu?"

  "I wanted to draw the female lead who sells clothes in a department store for my new work, so I went to Xingguang Department Store to gather materials."

  "Oh, I see." Aunt Jiang nodded and pushed the fruit plate in front of Jian Yan. "Eat some fruit, eat some fruit."

  "Thank you, Aunt Jiang."

  "You're welcome." Aunt Jiang looked at her again. The more she looked, the more satisfied she was, and the more beautiful she thought Jian Yan was, just like He Xiu's mother when she was young. "He Xiu has told you about his mother, right?"

  "Yeah."

  "Don't look at him as the young master of the He family now. He really had a hard time when he was a child." Aunt Jiang sighed as she said this. "His mother fell out with her family because she wanted to give birth to him. She actually wavered and thought about having an abortion, but in the end, she couldn't bear to do it. But it was right that she didn't have an abortion. He Xiu was very smart and sensible since he was a child. He knew his mother was working hard, so he basically did all the housework by himself."

  Jian Yan listened quietly as she spoke. At that time, He Xiu was only five or six years old, and he could already help his mother with the housework. Later, he even took on the task of cooking.

  "He was so small that he couldn't even reach the stove. He would move a small stool and stand on it to cook. It's a pity about his mother..." Aunt Jiang choked up as she said this. Jian Yan gently stroked her back to comfort her silently.

  "When his mother passed away, she wanted to entrust him to me. I knew she didn't want to look for He Xiu's father again, but I knew my own capabilities. I couldn't give him anything. If he stayed with me, he could only suffer with me. He was only seven years old, so young. I didn't want his future to be ruined like that."

  So she still took He Xiu to find his father. At that time, He Jinglong was very surprised, as if he didn't know at all that he had a son. She also regretted it later, afraid that He Xiu would be bullied and have a hard time in the He family. But thinking about her own conditions, she felt that it was better for him to be with his biological father than with her.

  She held Jian Yan's hand and looked at her, saying, "He Xiu is really a good boy."

  Jian Yan lowered her eyes and smiled, saying, "I know. He's very nice."

  When He Xiu came out after washing the dishes, Jian Yan and Aunt Jiang were chatting and eating fruit happily. He walked over and smiled at them. "Is there any for me?"

  Aunt Jiang glanced at him and handed him a few segments of pomelo. "This pomelo is sweet and juicy. Yan Yan specially saved it for you."

  He Xiu blinked twice. In the time it took him to wash the dishes, it had changed from Miss Jian to Yan Yan. He looked at Jian Yan, and Jian Yan raised her eyebrows at him without saying a word.

  After it got dark, He Xiu drove Jian Yan home. Since their identities were now exposed, Jian Yan didn't ask him to take her back to her mother's place but to her apartment building.

  He Xiu looked at the villa-style apartment in front of him and smiled at Jian Yan, saying, "Ms. Tangzhi really put on a good act. Even the address was fake."

  Jian Yan said calmly, "It's not fake. The place you went to last time was the residence where my mom and I used to live. My mom still lives there now."

  He Xiu nodded and didn't pursue the matter further. "Do you remember when Xu Ying came to Xingguang Department Store to give me the engagement banquet invitation last time?"

  "Remember. What's wrong?"

  "I'm not sure if you're free that day, but I'd like to invite you to go with me."