Song Xinya led Song Tingyou back home.
Song Tingye walked toward them: "Are Youyou's household registration and ID card done?"
Song Tingyou: "Our brother-in-law helped, so of course they're done."
Song Tingye: "Even though our brother-in-law is ruthless, punishing people without blinking an eye, like a hard, cold stone from a cesspit—stubborn and icy—when it counts, he gets things done."
Qin Yuhe walked out of the study: "Song Tingye, you live off my food and drink every day, and behind my back you badmouth me like this. Even a snake I raised would be more grateful than you."
Song Tingye shrank his neck, his eyes wide with panic: "Ahhh, um, well, brother-in-law, how did you come out?"
Qin Yuhe: "If I hadn't come out, how would I have heard you calling me a stone from a cesspit behind my back?"
Song Tingye's legs went weak, and he slid to his knees on the spot, grabbing Qin Yuhe's thigh: "Brother-in-law, I love you!"
Qin Yuhe: "I don't believe you."
Song Tingye: "Really, brother-in-law, I've never loved a man like this before. You're the first!"
Qin Yuhe: "Your love is like a stone from a cesspit—hard and cold."
Song Tingye: "Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo."
Qin Yuhe: "What's with the open-mouthed wailing? If you're sincere, squeeze out a few tears for me to see."
That was impossible; he couldn't produce any. Song Tingye was all fake innocence, trying to bluff his way through by playing pitiful, but his acting was terrible—scowling and scrunching up his face wildly.
Qin Yuhe kicked him away: "Don't dirty my new leather shoes, you stone."
Song Tingye rolled on the ground, doing two somersaults: "Old Sun is off!" (a playful reference to the Monkey King character Sun Wukong from Journey to the West)
He pointed an arm to the sky, made a flying gesture, and skipped over to the table, saying to the two studying companions, Qin Yuyan and Jin Ruizhi: "I was so scared just now, I thought my brother-in-law was going to punish me. Good thing I'm super clever and got away with it."
From behind came Qin Yuhe's voice: "Fifty sets of Chinese exam papers today."
Song Tingye's head slammed onto the table with a thud: "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead."
To make his claim of being dead more convincing, he rolled his eyes wide and stuck out his tongue.
Jin Ruizhi glanced at him coolly: "You deserve it. Who told you to have a loose tongue?"
Qin Yuyan put her hands on her hips: "Don't say that about Tingye! He's just a bit stupid."
Jin Ruizhi and Qin Yuyan exchanged a look and mercilessly laughed at Song Tingye: "Hahahahahahahaha."
Song Tingye straightened up in a flash: "You two have angered me back to life."
Thud—Song Xinya pulled a bag of chips from a shopping bag and smacked it onto Song Tingye's head.
"Can your theatrics be as sparse as your money? Now go do your fifty sets of Chinese exam papers!"
Qin Yuyan picked up the bag of chips that had slid off Song Tingye's head and exclaimed, "Wow, it's my favorite spicy crayfish flavor."
She tore open the bag and started munching, crunch, crunch.
Song Tingye: "Let me have some too. I earned those chips with my head. At least let me taste them."
"Not giving you any. Even a whole bag isn't enough for me," Qin Yuyan said, running off with the chips.
Song Tingye chased after her, grabbed her ponytail, and stuffed his other hand into the chip bag, pulling out a big handful: "Haha, gotcha!"
Qin Yuyan stared at the empty bag: "Boo-hoo, you took them all. Now I have nothing left to eat."
Song Tingye ran off with the handful of chips, and Qin Yuyan chased him.
The two ran back and forth, fighting over the chips.
Qin Yuhe watched them: "Did my mom give birth to a mentally handicapped kid back in the day?"
Song Xinya: "My mom wasn't much better. She gave birth to an idiot."
Song Tingyou quietly walked away to avoid becoming a synonym for mentally handicapped and idiot—a fool.
Qin Yuhe took the plastic bag from Song Xinya's hands, glanced inside, and asked: "Didn't buy it?"
Song Xinya: "I did buy it. There are tomatoes in the bag, aren't there? I'll make you tomato beef noodles later."
Qin Yuhe let out a laugh: "The tomatoes are that big. I'm not blind—how could I miss them?"
He turned his head to look at her, his dark eyes deep: "Playing dumb?"
Who would put lubricant in the same bag as fruits and vegetables? Sure, both go into the body, but the entry points are different.
Song Xinya's skin wasn't thick enough for her to put lubricant in a transparent plastic bag. Unlike Boss Qin, she couldn't be that brazen.
She replied: "I forgot."
Breaking her promise?
Qin Yuhe stared at her for two seconds and said two words: "It's fine..."
Song Xinya felt a secret flash of joy. Was he not going to mess with her tonight?
As she was making the tomato beef noodles in the kitchen, Qin Yuhe stood by the kitchen island with a file in his hand, leaning gracefully, reading it.
When Song Xinya turned to grab a tomato, the heel of her foot stepped on his leather shoe, and she stumbled sideways.
Qin Yuhe reached out and steadied her waist, keeping her upright.
Song Xinya: "Why aren't you reading your file in the study?"
Qin Yuhe: "Keeping you company."
Song Xinya: "You're in the way here. Better go to the study."
Rustle—Qin Yuhe closed the file, his piercing eyes fixed on her: "Starting to despise your own husband now?"
Song Xinya pursed her lips and smiled, then extended her index finger and poked his chest, mocking him plainly: "Despise you? So what? What can you do to me?"
Qin Yuhe smirked with a sideways curl of his lips, let out a derisive snort, reached out, and grabbed the finger she had poked into his chest, about to twist it backward to teach her a lesson.
Unexpectedly—
She stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his face, a very loud "mwah".
Qin Yuhe's motion to twist her finger turned into a hold.
He pressed his tongue against the side of his cheek she had kissed: "What's this? A slap, then a sweet treat?"
Song Xinya looked at him with a mischievous smile, her eyes bright: "Is it not allowed?"
Qin Yuhe reached out and grabbed her chest: "Is it not allowed?"
Song Xinya's face turned as red as a tomato.
She lowered her head and mumbled: "What if the younger siblings see?"
Qin Yuhe: "When you kissed me just now, why weren't you afraid of the younger siblings seeing?"
Song Xinya: "That's different."
Qin Yuhe: "Women can touch men, but men can't? It's the 21st century, gender equality, sister."
Song Xinya said nothing more, picked up the tomatoes from the sink, and started making him tomato beef noodles.
After that grab, she became very docile.
In the living room, the younger siblings doing their exam papers only heard a "mwah".
Song Tingyou asked innocently: "What was that noise?"
Jin Ruizhi: "The sound of someone getting bitten by a dog."
Qin Yuyan protested: "Don't call my brother a dog!"
Song Tingye said: "Why can't that dog be my sister?"
Qin Yuyan: "Please, wish your sister well for once."
At dinner, only one bowl of tomato beef noodles was placed in front of Qin Yuhe. Everyone else had rice.
Song Tingye: "Why does only brother-in-law get tomato beef noodles? I want some too."
Qin Yuhe: "Do you want to do a hundred sets of Chinese exam papers?"
Song Tingye picked up the chopsticks, bowed his head respectfully, and handed them to Qin Yuhe with both hands. "Brother-in-law, please eat."
In a harmonious atmosphere, the meal came to an end.
In the bedroom, a freshly washed Song Xinya sat on the bed. Suddenly, a message notification sounded from her phone.
Han Jingyi: "Xinxin, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about. How about a cup of coffee tomorrow at two in the afternoon?"
As it happened, Song Xinya also had something she wanted to discuss with Han Jingyi.
Her fingers typed a single word on the keyboard: "Sure."
The bedroom door opened, and Qin Yuhe walked in, holding a jar of peanut butter in his hand...
He lifted his eyes to look at her. "Who were you chatting with?"
