Ding dong, ding dong.
Before Ye Meng reached home, she received a WeChat message from Fang Ya’en.
Fang: I just remembered, the entire Alley Street is being demolished. That crab restaurant you mentioned wasn’t doing great business and rented a small storefront. I’ll ask around tomorrow about where exactly they relocated.
Fang: Where are you now? Don’t tell me you’re already having a romantic encounter.
She sat in a Didi premium car, the scenery outside flashing by. The flowing car lights intermingled with the night, casting an ambiguous play of light and shadow across her face.
Lemon Leaf: You have a mysterious confidence in the town’s younger brothers.
Fang: Today’s younger brothers, each one more handsome than the last. With my many years of child-raising experience, when finding a husband, definitely choose one with beautiful eyes. If the eyes aren’t good-looking, it can easily affect the next generation’s genes. Look at neighbor Wang’s kid, now he’s constantly demanding double eyelid surgery at home.
Reading this conversation, Ye Meng’s mind somehow suddenly conjured up the eyes of the man by the lake. He had somewhat slender phoenix eyes with slightly downward-curving outer corners that should convey gentleness when he wasn’t speaking or dejected. Yet he had precisely the kind of arrogant, haughty disposition she disliked most.
She preferred gentle boys.
As soon as Ye Meng walked through the door, she saw her entire family sitting neatly on the sofa. At first glance, it was like walking into an eagle’s nest, with five or six pairs of eyes staring at her like hawks. She was long accustomed to this and ignored them, heading upstairs to her bedroom: “The ladies and gentlemen are still up? If you get dark circles tomorrow, don’t steal my eye cream, Grandma.”
The old lady closed her eyes and fell backward straight against the sofa.
“Mom!”
“Mom!”
“Darling!”
Everyone rushed over in panic, one after another. Only Ye Meng remained motionless. But she couldn’t withstand her eldest aunt’s red-faced scolding: “Why are you just standing there? Come over quickly and check on her! Your grandmother has always loved you most since you were little!”
Ye Meng had no choice but to move closer. As soon as she approached, her arm was predictably caught. The old lady’s strength was astonishing as she grabbed her: “Sit down!”
Ye Meng rolled her eyes. She’d known it—this trick never failed. Well, no sleep tonight.
The old lady held her firmly with incredible strength. Ye Meng sighed; a seventy-year-old who could eat three bowls of rice at once—you wouldn’t find many like her in the whole country.
“Tell me, what exactly do you mean? Every single one I find for you, you’re not satisfied with.”
“I’ve told you before,” Ye Meng gave up struggling, grabbed the remote control beside her, and said self-deprecatingly, “I like younger men.”
“You’re already so unorthodox, and now you want someone younger than you. Are you two getting married or planning to break up the family?” The old lady snatched away the remote control and turned it off.
Ye Meng silently rolled her eyes, her gaze slanting toward the two silent men nearby. The old man and her father remained speechless, perfectly demonstrating the Ye family men’s talent for being ornamental.
Her youngest aunt, however, quietly stood behind her: “I quite support Meng Meng finding someone younger.”
“You shut up. You always unconditionally take her side,” the old lady rebuked, turning to the eldest aunt. “You speak.”
She specifically wanted her most capable and elite-minded eldest aunt to stand on her side.
The eldest aunt had always protected herself by staying out of troubled waters and casually asked: “So how many years younger do you want to find?”
“There’s no standard. One or two years isn’t too few, seven or eight years isn’t too young,” Ye Meng said with a smile. “I’m being quite reasonable.”
The old lady nearly fainted again. Just as she was about to scold her, Ye Meng received a WeChat message, her expression changed, and without further ado, she stood up and hurriedly said: “I won’t keep entertaining you all. I need to go out.”
The old lady was hardly willing to let her go so easily. “No, where are you going this late at night?”
“Grandma, it’s truly urgent. Fang Ya’en broke her leg while looking after her child at home.”
The old lady, with a face like ancient green moss, expressionlessly said: “You’ve already used that excuse.”
Ye Meng could have slapped herself—truly, the bad excuses always work better than the good ones.
“Alright,” Ye Meng had a flash of inspiration and immediately made up another excuse. “I’m going out to meet my boyfriend. I’ve been seeing someone recently, but I didn’t want to make a fuss about it. Once our relationship is settled, I’ll bring him back for you to see, okay?”
The clock pointed to eleven, the corridor dim. The hospital room was brightly lit, silent, with an IV drip slowly dripping.
“What are you doing, want to smoke?”
Hearing this, Fang Ya’en turned her gaze to the neighboring bed. In the next bed was an old lady who had reportedly slipped on soap while bathing, fracturing her hip, which required three pins. The family member attending to her was her grandson, who was quite handsome—the rare kind who was handsome in both features and build.
“I told you, no smoking.” The old lady had just reached out her hand when the handsome young man mercilessly slapped it back. The old lady yelped in pain and immediately reported Fang Ya’en, who was smirking:
“She was just smoking; look, the curtain is still emitting smoke.”
The handsome man’s brow slightly furrowed. Fang Ya’en froze, immediately waving frantically at the air to disperse the remaining smoke. “No, I haven’t had surgery yet, just smoking a cigarette to relieve the pain. Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine, my grandmother has a heavy smoking habit,” the handsome man was quite reasonable, and reminded her with no particular expression, “You’d better not smoke in front of her.”
“You don’t smoke?” Fang Ya’en stared at his hand, asking curiously.
This man’s hands were very attractive—long, slender, straight, with clear knuckles, and white. Looking closely, one would notice that the tips of his index and middle fingers had a wheat-like color. For someone so young, without several years of heavy smoking history, it wouldn’t be like this.
“No, I don’t,” he said.
The hospital room had just quieted down for two seconds when the old lady became restless again. Pointing at the expensive red wine held by the imposing male protagonist on the TV, she said to her grandson: “Li Badou, I want to drink this wine.”
Fang Ya’en was shocked by this old lady’s wastefulness. Such a handsome young man with such a casually chosen name.
The man looked up from his phone in confusion, glanced at the TV, then lowered his head: “Can’t afford it.”
The old lady’s eyes rolled around, staring at him persistently: “Let Little Jiang buy it. Little Jiang can afford it.”
“Why should she buy it?”
“Aren’t you two boyfriend and girlfriend?” The old lady quietly leaned over and whispered in his ear: “Isn’t your birthday coming up? Ask her to buy it as a birthday gift.”
The man lowered his head to send a WeChat message, smiling sarcastically: “I’ve only met her twice. You think it’s appropriate to ask someone for a birthday gift just like that?”