Bai Haoyu woke up early today, got dressed, jumped out of his small bed, and enthusiastically brushed his teeth and washed his face. He put on his backpack and went downstairs to sit at the dining table, waiting for breakfast made by Qiaoqiao.

  But...

  Only he alone...

  Bai Hangyu climbed down from the chair and ran to the guest room on the first floor, he remembered that Qiaoqiao often used this room.

  He was also afraid of waking up Song Yuqiao, so he knocked on the door with his fingers like a cat scratching an itch. He pinched his throat and asked in a low voice: "Qiao Qiao, are you up?"

  There is no answer inside.

  Bae Ho-young then turned the door handle and, as a result, the door opened.

  Then. The two little people in Bae Ho-young's heart started arguing.

  A little man burst into loud laughter: Qiaoqiao didn't even lock the door!

  Another little man kicked him flying: You can't just enter a girl's boudoir! Peeping Tom! Despicable kid!

  Then. Pei Hangyu's face showed a mixture of these two expressions, looking both excited and disappointed, his small face became a bitter melon growing towards the sunlight.

  The door is open.

  Bai Haoyu's cat poked its head in, took a look first, then stretched its short legs inside and twisted its butt in.

  There is a quilt piled up in the middle of the bed. It bulges upwards.

  Bai Hangyu smiled silently, walked over, and quietly got into bed, shrinking under the quilt, thinking to himself that he was finally able to sleep with Qiaoqiao.

  But why... is there only a quilt and no one?

  Bai Hangyu had shrunk into his quilt, without even sensing Qiao Qiao's presence, let alone her body temperature...

  Where is he?

  Bai Hangyu lifted up the quilt with one hand. Where's Qiaoqiao?

  He immediately jumped off the bed and went upstairs to find his dad.

  The old man's door was locked from the inside, and he slapped the door with a "pa pa pa" sound: "Dad, get up quickly! Qiaoqiao is gone!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, the door opened from inside. Pei Si Cheng directly grabbed his son's collar and immediately closed the door behind him.

  "Speak softly, Jiao Jiao is still sleeping."

  "Oh." Pei Hangyu's little head drooped down, but he immediately understood, "Dad, why did Qiaoqiao run into your room? Why does Qiaoqiao want to sleep with you?"

  Pei Su Cheng again raised a finger to his lips, "If you make another sound and wake up Qiao Qiao, she will be very angry and won't like you anymore."

  Bae Ho-young indeed shut his mouth and didn't say a word. "Then I'll go downstairs and wait quietly."

  Pais Cheng turned around and entered the house, Song Yuqiao had already woken up, sitting on the bed in a daze, his eyes somewhat dull. Hearing Pais Cheng come in, he raised his eyes to look at Pais Cheng for an instant with some confusion.

  "Are you awake?"

  Song Yuqiao nodded and rubbed his temples: "I'm a bit dizzy from sleep."

  She took a glance at the time and it was already 7:10.

  "Is it still possible to make breakfast for Xiao Huo?" Song Yuqiao hastily got out of bed and ran into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. When she came out, Pei Si Cheng had just put on his trousers and was buttoning up his shirt.

  She also wanted to change clothes, but she only wore underwear inside her pajamas and didn't even wear a bra. However, Peis looked like she had no intention of leaving at all, still leaning against the wardrobe behind her, asking: "Why don't you change your clothes?"

  Song Yuqiao's face turned crimson, "You go out first."

  Pei Si hugged his arms and learned from Song Yuqiao, yesterday's single word "no", then raised an eyebrow, looking at Song Yuqiao with great interest.

  Song Yuqiao: "......"

  Song Yuqiao took off her nightgown and put on the camisole, sitting on the bed with her back to Pei Shichen.

  Even with her back to Peis Chen, she could feel the scorching gaze on her back.

  Maybe I was a bit nervous, the hook and eye of the bra at the back had been fastened for a long time but still couldn't be fastened until a pair of hands stretched over from behind.

  Pei's fingertips were slightly cool, touching Song Yuqiao's back, and Song Yuqiao suddenly tensed up.

  He helped Song Yuqiao fasten the clasp of her bra, grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, looked at her bright red face, smiled: "Touched all over, still afraid to look... but, really good-looking."

  His gaze fell, and he swept a glance over the rounded shape, his fingers pinching Song Yuqiao's waist, before turning around directly. Taking advantage of Song Yuqiao hitting him with a pillow, he said: "I'll go down to grind soy milk first."

  The bedroom door in front of her slammed shut with a bang, and Song Yuqiao felt that all the exposed skin on her body was burning hot, especially the parts that Pei Sicheng had just pinched.

  Song Yu Qiao was stunned for half a minute before hastily taking out her own blouse and skirt, putting on her clothes.

  Because her face was really too hot, she went to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face, took a deep breath, before turning around and going downstairs.

  The morning was indeed very tense, Song Yuqiao overslept again today, Pei Haoyu had to go to school at 8 o'clock. Song Yuqiao didn't have much time to make some complicated breakfast, so he simply made scrambled eggs and ham, added toast slices, and made a few sandwiches.

  Bai Haoyu sat at the dinner table, watching his dad standing over there grinding soy milk, and Qiaoqiao standing in front of the cooking platform making sandwiches. Why did it feel so harmonious without any discord?

  It's so coordinated! He was completely left out.

  Pei Si Cheng had already ground the soy milk and poured three glasses, placing them on the dining table.

  Bai Haoyu took this opportunity, before Qiaoqiao arrived, and quietly asked his dad: "Dad, you finally... bought off Qiaoqiao? No, that's not the word. Was it subdue? Acquire? Take in? Ah, I remember! You finally got Qiaoqiao under control!"

  Pei Si Cheng looked at his son and paused for three seconds before saying, "Yes, it's over."

  What a wonderful choice of words!

  After eating, Pei Xiao Huo's little friend Lei went to the toilet at this time and took Pei Si Cheng's iPad with him. Song Yu Qiao was standing in the kitchen washing dishes, Pei Si Cheng had everything ready, then walked into the kitchen, "Are you done? Put it down and I'll wash it when I get back."

  "It's almost done, just a few glasses and plates left." Song Yuqiao's hair was not tied up, scattered on her shoulders, because she had to lower her head while washing the dishes, the hair on both sides fell down and covered her eyes, her hands were wet, she couldn't help but turn her head, wanting to use her shoulder to brush her hair back.

  Pei Si walked up behind Song Yuqiao and with both big hands directly from the front, grabbed all her loose hair to the back, one hand grasping her hair strands.

  "That's all right."

  Song Yuqiao's hand washing paused, "You help me get a hair tie from my bag, I'll just tie it up and be fine, no need to keep holding on, my hand is sore."

  However, Pei Si Cheng did not move.

  Song Yuqiao sped up the movements in his hands, but even so, washing and drying the dishes and cleaning up the cooking table took almost five minutes. Pei Si Cheng kept raising his arm, grasping Song Yuqiao's long hair behind his head. Song Yuqiao felt his arms ache just thinking about it. After finishing washing the dishes, he hurriedly untied his apron. "I'm done, can you please put your hand down now?"

  "My arm is sore, can you massage it for me?"

  Song Yuqiao lowered his head and said, "I just told you to put it down."

  Pei Si Cheng smiled lightly and wrapped his arms around Song Yu Qiao's waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. His hands gently placed on her abdomen, palms facing inward, sticking to her skin, hot and scorching: "This time, I'll accompany you through the ten months of pregnancy."

  At this moment, the softest part of Song Yuqiao's heart trembled violently.

  Behind him, Pei Hangyu came out of the bathroom with his pants in hand and saw two people hugging each other.

  He stopped in his tracks, rubbed a pair of bright big eyes, no mistake, it was his old man hugging Qiao Qiao!

  So melancholy...

  If it's really like what Dad said just now, he has already "taken care" of Qiaoqiao, then how will his days be spent in the future? Can't he bear to watch Dad show off his love in front of him every day? It's simply unbearable!

  So, a bright idea suddenly flashed in Pei Hangyu's little brain.

  While going downstairs, Pei Hangyu pulled Song Yuqiao's hand and said, "Qiao Qiao, I'll tell you a secret."

  Song Yuqiao tilted her head: "Huh, what secret?"

  Bai Hangyu made Song Yuqiao lean down, then mysteriously whispered in her ear: "My dad is a monster, he eats people. At night, he'll eat you up until not even your bones are left. It's super scary, so be sure to stay far away from him and don't get eaten."

  Song Yuqiao: "......"

  It's indeed a man-eater and its skills are extremely high, she has already been eaten clean.

  When he got on the bus, Pei Hangyu sat down on something hard with a thud and let out an "ouch". He turned his head to look and it was a ghost mask!

  "Wow, this ghost mask is exactly the same as the one grandma bought for him when we were strolling around the temple fair yesterday afternoon!"

  "Qiao Qiao, did you also go to the temple fair yesterday?" Pei Haoyu asked, holding the mask in his hand.

  "Oh, that was last night at your house when I was waiting for you outside," Song Yuqiao explained, "it was the nanny who was fired by your dad who gave it to me."

  Pei Sicheng understood as soon as he heard the four words "Baomu Auntie", that it was again the useless old lady from the Pei family.

  In this way, she and Song Yuqiao met a few times, but they still haven't broken the ice.

  What a silly daughter-in-law and a silly old mother.

  However, Pei Shicheng also enjoyed it and didn't say anything clearly.

  ………………

  Song Yuqiao directly came to Jia Ge because she and Zheng Qing were specially approved not to punch in every day, so they could take charge of the second round of the selection competition first.

  This morning was setting up the venue, and this afternoon is the first game of the second round. However, since it's not a live broadcast, I'm not too nervous.

  When Song Yuqiao and Zheng Qing met again, they were a bit awkward. After all, last night's dinner was originally a blind date between him and Song Yuqiao's best friend Hua Sheng, but it ended up being his ex-girlfriend, making everyone look bad, especially Zhang Qi's scolding words, which pierced the man's self-esteem one by one.

  So when Jia Ge accompanied the person to check the venue in the morning, except for some work-related details, there was basically no extra conversation between them.

  It wasn't until lunchtime that Zheng Qing said to Song Yuqiao, "Let's go eat together."

  Song Yuqiao glanced at Zheng Qing and nodded slightly.

  It was already noon and there wasn't much time left, so they didn't go out to find another restaurant but instead went into the internal dining hall of Jagger's.

  Jia Ge's working lunch was not bad, compared to the ordinary restaurants outside, the dishes were not inferior. Song Yuqiao considered that there was a baby in her belly, so she chose a few dishes with lighter flavors and less oil, paired with a small portion of rice, and ordered a bowl of soup.

  Zheng Qing didn't drink either, after all there was still a live recording in the afternoon.

  At the dinner table, Zheng Qing brought up his ex-girlfriend to Song Yuqiao.

  "Please apologize to Hua Zhen on my behalf, I really didn't expect what happened yesterday."

  Song Yuqiao took a bite of the bamboo shoots and said, "What are you apologizing for? This matter is not your fault, and I'm not someone who hasn't seen Zhang Qi before. From the initial design draft, I've met her several times, and to be honest, I didn't have a good impression of her."

  Song Yuqiao regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. After all, Zhang Qi was Zheng Qing's ex-girlfriend, and what he said might be a bit too much.

  As expected, Zheng Qing remained silent for a long time after hearing these words, and only spoke up after a while: "Song Yuqiao, do you still remember Zheng Rong?"

  Song Yuqiao's spoon in his hand fell onto the table, "Do you know Zheng Rong?!"

  Zheng Rong is Song Yuqiao's high school classmate, but in fact, not just a high school classmate. At that time, she was also close to Hua Shuang and Lu Lu, but the closest one was still with Song Yuqiao.

  However, later Song Yuqiao went to Canada and had no contact for more than two years. After returning, Zheng Rong's original home moved away, and she never saw Zheng Rong again. The QQ avatar was all black, and MSN had not been used for a long time. Because WeChat was not popular in high school at that time, it was impossible to contact people. Several classmate gatherings also did not see Zheng Rong. However, Song Yuqiao always remembered this close friend.

  Zheng Qing saw Song Yuqiao's astonished expression and suddenly smiled: "I knew you couldn't forget about me, your younger brother."

  "Little brother?"

  "That's right, Zheng Rong is my brother, but a paternal cousin. The reason I was transferred from the headquarters this time to work with you on this advertising bid is also because I applied for it myself."

  Song Yuqiao thought for a moment and suddenly understood.

  Also, Zheng Qing and Zheng Rong, these two names are surprisingly similar. How did she not notice it at first glance?

  "Where is Zheng Rong now?" Song Yuqiao asked.

  Zheng Qing replied: "Originally I was an exchange student abroad, came back last year, and am now doing a master's degree at X University in the south."

  The two of them talked about Zheng Rong's affairs for a long time, and Song Yuqiao had an unstoppable smile on his face, as if the carefree and unrestrained youth of that year had returned.

  On the other side of the restaurant, Lu Jingchong had just come down from upstairs with Liang Yi, who was full of resentment. "Fifth brother, can't you really lend me your ice cream to play for a few days?"

  Lu Jingchong twitched his mouth: "I can lend you the plush toy from the ice cream for a few days."

  Liang Yi had been trying all sorts of ways to win over the little kid's favor since he first saw him, but unexpectedly, the other party didn't take the bait. When no one else was playing with him, he would play by himself and never took the initiative to look for Liang Yi, even if he was just two steps away, holding the remote control and switching channels until he got bored!

  His eyes flashed and he saw a table in front of him not far away.

  "Hey, isn't she Bai San's girlfriend?"

  Song Yuqiao and Zheng Qing sat at the edge of the restaurant, on the side of the stairs, three tables away from where Lu Jingrong and Liang Yiru were passing by.

  Lu Jingchong followed Liang Yi's line of sight and looked over, and it was indeed Song Yuqiao.

  Liáng Yì narrowed his eyes: "Laughing and chatting with such a man? Péi Sān Gē is really tolerant!"

  Lu Jing glanced at Liang Xiaoliu beside him with the corner of his eye and said: "If Pei San finds out, he will definitely not be able to bear it."

  Liang Yi's eyes widened suddenly.

  So that's how it is.

  Liang Yi took out his phone and took two photos from a very secretive angle, saying: "I'll go out for a bit first, I'll come over again when the game recording is on."

  Lu Jingzhong said in his heart: Hurry up and leave, don't come back again.

  Liang Yi went out and directly called Pei Si Cheng, conscientiously making a small report, and also sent the photos of the two pieces of evidence to Pei Si Cheng.

  "Oh?" Pei Su said, "Then you can help me keep an eye on Yu Qiao for now."

  "Good!" Liang Xiaoliu readily agreed.

  "Finally got something done under this rare clear blue sky."

  ………………

  This afternoon, Ye Zenan originally said he would come to handle Pei Yuling's discharge procedures, but something came up at the company and he called his mother: "Mom, you stay in the hospital for another day, I'll go tomorrow morning to handle your procedures."

  "I really can't use you anymore, is that right? Yesterday was pushed to today, and today was pushed to tomorrow again?" Pei Yuling said, "If Liu Jie hadn't returned to her hometown for a while, I wouldn't need you!"

  Ye Zenan and his mother have been in conflict for a long time, although when Pei Yuling fell ill and had surgery, as her son, he was indeed worried and found the best doctor to treat her with the best medicine.

  However, he always had complaints about his mother in his heart.

  If Pei Yuling hadn't gone to the hypnotist with ill intentions when Song Yuqiao came back, then many things would have been different now. For the past three years of their marriage, he wouldn't have treated Song Yuqiao with such an attitude. Now it's too late for regrets.

  Ye Zenan thought of this, suddenly felt suspicious.

  She was drugged and mistook her for Song Yuqiao. On that afternoon, Song Yuqiao did see her, but why in these three years has Song Yuqiao never mentioned this matter, and even to Ye Zenan's eyes, it seems like Song Yuqiao has completely forgotten about the incident...

  This matter is indeed somewhat strange.

  Ye Zenan suddenly remembered the bottle of medicine mailed from Canada.

  Originally, he was going to send it to Fang Zhao that day and ask him to find someone to help identify it, but later his hypnotic memory was broken and he completely forgot about the matter. Now that he suddenly remembered, there might be some clues on that bottle of medicine.

  Ye Zenan thought for a moment and then called Fang Zhao, saying: "Do you still remember that medicine I mentioned last time? After I finish my work tonight, I'll send it over to you."

  In the hospital, Pei Yuling felt a chill in her heart.

  She had raised her child with great difficulty, and even when Ye Qijun was in a plane crash seven years ago, she did not give up. In these few years, she never thought of remarrying, but only took care of her son alone. Now, however, her son is at odds with her because of another woman.

  She really didn't want to stay in this ward for another day!

  Ye Zenan didn't help her with the discharge procedures, so she went to do it herself!

  Pei Yuling held many receipts, left the ward, along the corridor, her legs were still not very convenient due to the last time she fell from the stairs, so she had to hold onto the wall and walk slowly.

  However, when passing the corner of the stairs, a person came from the stairs and did not notice Pei Yuling walking close to the wall. He rushed over and bumped into Pei Yuling, causing her to stumble.

  "Ah." Pei Yuling cried out, and the little girl in front of her had already hastily supported her.

  "Sorry, auntie, are you okay? I didn't mean to."

  Pei Yuling looked at the girl in front of her with a sincere tone, and didn't scold her much, just saying that she should be more careful in the future and not so reckless.

  "Auntie, are you going to handle the discharge procedures?"

  Pei Yuling looked at the girl in front of her and saw that her gaze fell on some documents in her hand, saying: "Uh-huh, I'll go take care of it myself."

  However, Pei Yuling walked with the support of the wall, and her footsteps indeed looked slow. Moreover, she seemed a bit dizzy, it was unclear whether it was due to being angered by her own son or because of the surgery, after taking two steps, she stopped again.

  The girl behind took a step forward, supported Pei Yuling: "I'll help you with that, you go back and rest, aren't you in room 523? I often see you when I take food to my sister."

  Pei Yuling turned around and took a look at this smiling gentle girl, "Then thank you."

  At this time point, there were many people handling the discharge procedures, and they needed to queue up. Pei Yuling waited in her ward for more than half an hour before the girl who helped her with the discharge procedures came back.

  "Auntie, this is your reimbursement receipt, and there's also a refund of 138 yuan for hospitalization."

  "Thank you," Pei Yuling handed her the box of nutritional supplements that someone had sent over during her hospitalization, "Here, take it, Auntie is thanking you here."

  Really thank you, at this time, when no one helped Pei Yuling, this girl appeared and helped her.

  "No need, I just helped out and ran some errands, it's what should be done."

  The girl refused and was about to leave when Pei Yuling stopped her. "What's your name? Come, Auntie will give you a phone number."

  She stood at the hospital room door which was just opened halfway and smiled, "My name is Qiao Mo."