It was 11 p.m.

The street outside had quieted down, with only a slight whistling of the wind, while the living room, bathed in the flickering light of the TV, was a peaceful haven.

The cat, the mouse, and the dog on screen had just sworn brotherhood in Peach Garden when a truck drove past, jostling them briefly...

The newly introduced robot vacuum was working diligently, slowly moving across the floor, while Tuanzi sat on top of it, her eyes reflecting the light from the TV. From time to time, she'd glance uneasily towards the bathroom.

Continuous sounds of water and music came from the bathroom, blending with the audio from the TV, further highlighting the tranquility of the night. It had a certain familial warmth.

Inside the bathroom, hot water cascaded from the showerhead above Zhou Li as he stood there, brushing his teeth.

Suddenly, his mobile phone chimed.

Zhou Li peeked over and saw that it was a message from Brother Nan.

At the same time, a series of light footsteps approached rapidly from outside. Soon, two little plum blossom prints appeared on the frosted glass, and Tuanzi could vaguely be seen pressing her face against it.

"Zhou Li, what was that noise?"

"What's wrong?"

"Let Lord Dumpling in to check it out!"

"What are you playing at?"

"Zhou Li!"

"..."

Zhou Li, with several dark lines appearing on his forehead, had no choice but to say, "I just got a message. Keep watching your Cat and Mouse!"

"Lord Dumpling wants to come in! Open the door! Lord Dumpling wants to bathe too! Lord Dumpling wants to play in the water!"

"Sigh..."

Zhou Li, in resignation, dried one hand on a towel, picked up his phone, and opened the message—

Li Daimao: What are you doing?

Zhou Li: Taking a bath

Li Daimao: You're on your phone while taking a bath?

Zhou Li: Listening to music

Li Daimao: I don't believe you, show me!

Video call request...

Zhou Li quickly hung up, his eyes widening as he stood there, stunned.

Li Daimao: Haha, scared you, didn't I?

Zhou Li's headache intensified. He placed his phone on the washstand to continue playing music and decided to ignore Brother Nan's messages.

Ten minutes later, he finished his bath and stepped out.

Tuanzi was back on the robot vacuum, drifting lazily in the living room. She happened to glide into a dark corner, her eyes shining with an eerie fluorescence. Seeing Zhou Li emerge, she immediately leaped down and trotted over to him.

Running to Zhou Li's side, she tried to stop abruptly but only managed to slow down. Then, bypassing Zhou Li, she peeked into the bathroom. Peering inside, then looking back at Zhou Li, her small face was full of suspicion.

Zhou Li sat down on the sofa and lifted his chin towards her. "Go ahead and look. I hid eight bowls of boiled cabbage in there."

"Liar!"

"..."

Zhou Li pulled out his phone again.

Zhou Li: What do you really want?

Li Daimao: Nothing much.

Li Daimao: Just that I hadn't messaged you today. This little spark we have was hard-earned; can't let it die out.

Zhou Li: ...You're nuts.

Li Daimao: ?

Zhou Li: Sorry.

Li Daimao: I won't hold it against you. I'm going to take a bath. You go ahead and watch cartoons with your daughter.

Zhou Li: Okay.

After a moment's thought, he added, "Listen to music and take your time. My room has a bathtub. If you're particular, feel free to give it a scrub yourself."

Li Daimao: /OK

Zhou Li put down his phone and looked toward Tuanzi, patting the sofa beside him. "Come on, sit next to me."

Tuanzi turned her head away, putting on a proud air.

Zhou Li didn't mind and instead focused on the TV.

Five minutes later, he took out his phone and sent a video call request to Brother Nan.

The call connected.

It connected!? Zhou Li froze.

In the frame appeared Brother Nan's face. The lighting was dim, but it was clear she was lying down, an apple in her hand.

"Fell for it, didn't ya? Hahaha HONK HONK HONK..."

"..." Zhou Li felt quite uncomfortable and could only say, "Tomorrow we're having dinner with my mom, so go to bed early."

"Got it!"

"Mhm."

Seeing she seemed about to say more, Zhou Li quickly hung up, denying her the chance to mock him. It seemed futile, though—he still heard a series of triumphant HONKS from her bedroom.

「The next day, noon.」

Since it was Ms. Ji treating them, she had chosen a restaurant that truly represented the specialties of Caiyun. It was a Wild Mushroom House called 'Rare Delicacies Wild Mushroom Garden.'

It seemed to be a rather upscale place, with luxury cars parked at the entrance, making their little Xiao Ai car stand out in a unique way.

Zhou Li and Brother Nan arrived early. They even brought Tuanzi and Huai Xu along.

After all, the old monster was very sociable. But then again, once he started eating, being sociable or not didn't matter—he wouldn't be easily distracted.

His uncle's family was very considerate and also arrived early. This way, when they later met Ms. Ji's new family, having familiar faces around would make Zhou Li feel less awkward. If he did feel awkward, at the very least he could still chat with Baozi.

Ms. Ji arrived a few minutes later than them. It was unclear whether this was intentional, but her being late didn't matter; a family being too punctilious can feel stiff.

What followed was a round of introductions.

Her current husband was a tall, strikingly handsome man, appearing even more attractive than Old Zhou now. But this was mainly because Old Zhou hadn't taken good care of himself in recent years. Old Zhou must have been much handsomer than this man when *he* was younger, much more so. After all, he and Old Zhou did share some resemblance.

According to Ms. Ji, this man was also of mixed heritage, Chinese-European, so Ji Xuan actually had only one-quarter European blood.

Ji Xuan looked slightly older than her profile picture but was still exceedingly beautiful, dazzlingly so.

She was cheerful and lively, proactively greeting Zhou Li, complimenting him on his good looks, and asking why he didn't reply to her messages, which made Zhou Li somewhat embarrassed.

This uncomfortable phase lasted a few minutes before ending.

The restaurant only had private rooms; the group sat down around a large round table.

Ji Xuan sent blatant gazes from across the table, and sometimes when Zhou Li looked at her, she'd even wink at him.

I can't stand this, I can't stand this...

The restaurant specialized primarily in hot pots with a mushroom broth base, into which you could add free-range chicken, preserved ribs, or ham, followed by mushrooms—various types of them. Zhou Li had never heard of many of the mushroom names, some five or six characters long, and he only knew common ones like matsutake, termitomyces, and bamboo fungi.

There were also stir-fried dishes.

Zhou Li ordered stir-fried Jianshouqing.

Since many wild mushrooms are poisonous, they were all brought and added to the pot by the waitstaff.

Beforehand, a server would ladle out a bowl of the original broth for everyone to taste. After the mushrooms were added, the server would place a timer on the table. Before the timer ran out, one couldn't add any more dishes, serve the broth, or even stick chopsticks into the pot.

Fortunately, his uncle and auntie were experienced locals and ordered many snacks and side dishes.

With the timer set for twenty minutes, everyone at the table ate and chatted.

His uncle and auntie talked about past incidents of hallucinations from mushroom poisoning, recounting their own experiences and those of a friend. The hallucinogenic nature of mushrooms was fascinating enough, but what was even more astonishing was that this effect seemed to have a 'multiplayer' quality. If one family member saw a dinosaur, the others would see it too; if one person felt like they were falling into the sea, when the ambulance arrived, they would often find all the poisoned individuals rowing together.

This provoked hearty laughter from everyone.

Then they talked about houses, the pandemic, and international situations. Ji Xuan and her father both spoke Chinese, and their proficiency was perfectly adequate for normal conversation.

Ji Xuan's father's Chinese proficiency might even have been better than that of some young people from ethnic minorities or remote mountain villages.

The meal turned out to be more enjoyable than he had anticipated. He'd originally thought dining with foreigners might be somewhat awkward, with things like dietary restrictions or using serving chopsticks. However, that wasn't the case; it seemed Ms. Ji had trained them well. And they found everything delicious, exclaiming in surprise, which had Lord Dumpling looking on in wide-eyed amazement.

After the meal, they walked out of the restaurant.

Ms. Ji came up to Zhou Li and took his arm. When she saw his car, she pondered for a moment before saying, "In Europe, it's common for parents to buy their children a car as a gift when they come of age. How about I buy you a car too?"

Brother Nan heard as well and perked up her ears discreetly.

Zhou Li declined, saying, "That's not necessary. This car may not be high-end, but it's never had any problems, and we really like it."

"Are you sure you don't want it?"

"No, thank you."

Zhou Li hesitated, then said, "It's quite unique."

Are you kidding me? Where else in the world could I find another car with a mysterious enhancement? I might find a couple of bicycles like that, though.

Brother Nan grinned.

Ms. Ji understood and didn't ask any further.

His aunt, who was walking ahead, turned back. "Speaking of which, didn't you guys want to go out and have some fun? It's been hot recently, so let's go to Wild Duck Lake. It's perfect for playing in the water. Besides, around Chunming, there aren't many other interesting places nearby—they're either out of season or just rip-offs for tourists. You've all been to Dian Lake already."

"Can we swim there?" Ji Xuan asked.

"Are there really wild ducks?" Brother Nan asked.

"Can we catch them and bring them home?" Huai Xu asked.

"Can we buy a couple of ice creams on the way?" Baozi asked.

"MEOW~~"

"Since everyone seems to have agreed already..." Zhou Li paused momentarily. "Then let's go."

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