Tall and imposing, Jie Jingchen stood behind Qin Mei, shielding her from the blazing sun. Qin Mei couldn’t stand the heat, but she was too stubborn to give in, gritting her teeth and bearing it.
Qin Mei turned to look at Jie Jingchen, who was still shielding her from the sun. His strikingly handsome face was covered in sweat. Since he couldn’t talk her out of it, he had resigned himself to letting her have her way, staying right there with her. At this, Qin Mei’s mood brightened a little.
"Childish." Qin Mei pulled Jie Jingchen into a shady corner and used her handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face.
"It is pretty childish," Jie Jingchen agreed, a faint smile gracing his lips, as luminous as the moon in the night sky.
’Punishing myself just to get back at him. What a stupid thing to do,’ Qin Mei vowed. ’Never again.’
"Have some water." Jie Jingchen twisted the cap off a water bottle and handed it to her.
This time, Qin Mei didn’t refuse. She took the bottle and had a drink.
"Here." Qin Mei handed the bottle back to him.
Jie Jingchen took it and tilted his head back to drink. As he did, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and Qin Mei watched him, captivated.
"What is it? Is there something on my face?" Seeing her staring at him so intently, Jie Jingchen thought he must have something on his face and wiped at it with his hand.
Averting her gaze, Qin Mei shook her head. "There’s nothing."
A roguish grin played on Jie Jingchen’s lips, a hint of mischief glinting in his eyes as he asked leisurely, "Meimei, were you just thinking about..."
"I was not!" Qin Mei cut him off hastily, a flustered look on her face—the classic sign of a guilty conscience.
The roguish charm of Jie Jingchen’s smile deepened. He saw right through her but didn’t say a word. If he did, she’d surely get her hackles up again.
"What time is it?" Qin Mei grabbed his hand to look at his watch, and her face fell. "There are still five more minutes?"
"You’ve been waiting for this for so many days. What’s another five minutes?" Jie Jingchen said, ruffling her hair.
Jie Jingchen had wanted to arrive right on time, but Qin Mei was too impatient. She kept hurrying him, and even when he was flooring it, she wasn’t satisfied. They ended up arriving half an hour early. Since they had time to kill, Jie Jingchen suggested they go see the progress on the house Jie Jingjue had bought for her, but Qin Mei refused. She insisted on waiting outside the train station, her reason being, ’What if the train is early?’
Jie Jingchen was exasperated. Trains were almost always on time. Barring any unforeseen incidents, the chances of one arriving early were slim to none; it was far more likely to be late.
"Jie Jingsi, is my sister coming back alone?" Qin Mei asked.
"What do you mean, ’your sister’? She’s *my* older sister. You should be calling her your sister-in-law," Jie Jingchen corrected. She was clearly his sister, but the way Qin Mei put it, you’d think they were sisters.
"She *is* my sister," Qin Mei grumbled.
"All right, all right, she’s your sister," Jie Jingchen conceded. ’If I don’t go along with her, we’ll have another argument over a title, and she’ll go stand in the sun again.’
"So, is my sister coming back alone?" Qin Mei asked again, insistent.
"Mom told her to bring her family with her," Jie Jingchen replied.
Qin Mei nodded, pleased with her mother-in-law’s arrangements. She was thinking about Jie Jingling’s family of three. ’Sun Tong is only two years younger than Jing Qi. They should get along well.’
Jie Jingchen had only seen Sun Tong once, when she was just a few months old. After completing a mission, he had passed through Dazhuang Village and stopped by the clinic to see his older sister. She had been treating a patient with Sun Tong strapped to her back. His sister had changed so much he’d almost not recognized her.
They had only met briefly. He’d left some money for her and then departed.
"As for your brother-in-law..." Qin Mei paused to think. In her memory, Sun Debao was a simple, honest man. "You two probably won’t have much in common."
"My brother-in-law is an honest man," Jie Jingchen said.
"Honest to a fault," Qin Mei said. "So honest that he’s always getting bullied by the eldest brother’s family."
Jie Jingchen fell silent.
Qin Mei couldn’t help but complain. "And especially your sister’s mother-in-law. She has an extreme preference for boys over girls. The eldest daughter-in-law gave her a grandson, while your sister, the second daughter-in-law, had a daughter. So she bleeds your sister dry to subsidize the first one."
Jie Jingchen remained silent.
Qin Mei continued, "She’s always saying things like: ’My grandson is the one who will carry on the family name. A granddaughter just gets married off and belongs to someone else’s family. All of you will have to depend on my grandson to take care of you in your old age.’"
Qin Mei’s imitation of Sun’s mother was spot-on. Watching her stand there with her hands on her hips, Jie Jingchen felt his eye twitch.
Dropping the pose, Qin Mei scoffed, "Pah! ’A son preserves the name,’ they say? Well, a daughter preserves your life."
"Then let’s have a daughter in the future," Jie Jingchen said, playing along.
Qin Mei glared at him. ’As if they could decide whether to have a son or a daughter! A child’s gender is up to fate.’ "What if it’s a son?"
"I’ll strangle him," Jie Jingchen said.
Qin Mei was speechless.
"Qin Mei."