Yu Buying tiptoed toward the door of the reception room, took a quick peek through the crack, and then scampered away as fast as her legs could carry her, like a little thief.
Jiang Zhiyi, who was busy with the director’s photo session and interviews, seemed to sense something and looked toward the half-open door, but there was nothing there—only the faint, lingering sound of footsteps.
"Report, Officer! Reconnaissance complete!" Detective Garfield—Yu Buying—finished her mission and gave a crooked, wobbly salute to the tabby Chief of Police.
The sight was just... too adorable!
Jiang Yuchi felt her heart melting. She decisively handed her bag to Yu Buqi, scooped Yu Buying up with one arm, nuzzled her cheek, and asked, "Detective Garfield, tell me, what did you discover?"
The young master, Yu Buqi, took the bag from her as he chimed in with a snarky remark, "I’ve been reincarnated! In my past life, the whole family ignored me and only doted on my sister. When Mom held her, I had to carry the bags, but this time, I’m taking back everything that belongs to me!"
"Detective Doberman, please do not interrupt my work report," Yu Buying said, her little face tightening as she looked down at Yu Buqi from the safety of Jiang Yuchi’s arms.
"Try calling me by that stupid dog's name one more time, my dear sister," Yu Buqi said with a sinister grin.
This was looking bad. Why were they already threatening each other? Jiang Yuchi, a novice mother, immediately leaned down and said softly, "Yu Buqi, honey, it’s not right to threaten your sister like that."
To everyone’s surprise, Yu Buqi’s attitude was exemplary. He nodded frantically, but the words that followed made Yu Buying, who had been feeling so smug in Jiang Yuchi’s arms, go completely stiff.
"I’m sorry, Mom. I will reflect deeply on what I just said. I shouldn't have used the threat of never letting Yu Buying copy my homework again as a bargaining chip to verbally intimidate my sister."
Copy... copy homework? Was that even allowed? Looking at the guilty expression on Yu Buying’s face, Jiang Yuchi understood everything.
"Mommy, I just saw your ex-boy—no, my buyer... wait, no, your buyer? That’s not right either, I mean the buyer of the doll I made for you!" As the saying goes, when in doubt, change the subject—and Yu Buying was a master of the craft.
Jiang Yuchi could see right through her little trick, but the sight of her flustered, confused little bundle of joy was too cute to ruin. She could only play along, using her free hand to vigorously ruffle Yu Buying’s soft cheeks.
Yu Buying held up a finger, shook her head back and forth, and said, "How should I put it? He doesn’t feel like the same type as Dad."
Jiang Yuchi was about to press her for details when she bumped right into a familiar figure.
"Uncle!" Yu Buqi’s eyes lit up. He trotted forward, and the two of them performed a seamless hand-off of Jiang Yuchi’s bag.
Yu Qinghuai tucked the bag onto his shoulder, then naturally reached out to take Yu Buying into his arms. "What were you and Mom talking about?" he asked in a gentle voice.
Seeing Jiang Yuchi’s hands were now free and she was feeling unburdened, Yu Buqi pretended to be indifferent, took a few small steps toward her, and shyly took her hand, his gaze drifting elsewhere.
Jiang Yuchi was still wondering why Yu Qinghuai had appeared so suddenly and hadn't paid much attention to what he’d asked Yu Buying. By the time she snapped back to reality...
"We were talking about Mommy’s ex-boyfriend!"
The atmosphere froze for an instant. Yu Qinghuai gave a dry cough and lowered his eyes to hide the flash of gloom beneath them, while Jiang Yuchi felt so awkward she could have curled her toes into the floor.
Even Yu Buqi clutched his forehead in despair, though he quickly pulled himself together—well, it seemed this situation still required him, the young master, to play the hero and save his mother.
"Uncle, didn't you say this morning that you had a bidding meeting to attend? Why did you come over?"
"I had Uncle Zhang handle it for me." He looked at Jiang Yuchi, then unnaturally turned his face away and added, "Picking up the big boss and taking her home is more important."
The "big boss" herself felt her hand tighten slightly in Yu Buqi’s. She vaguely felt that this conversation and this atmosphere were not quite right for the two of them, and her brain began to brainstorm desperately for a way to change the subject.
Unexpectedly, Yu Buying, who had been lost in her own thoughts, suddenly blurted out. She punched the palm of her hand and shouted, "I know!"
The eyes of the other three turned to her in unison.
"Dad feels like the smart type, but Mommy’s ex-boyfriend didn’t seem very smart at all!"
A truly thorough and insightful deduction.
It made one want to give her little bottom a round of applause.
Jiang Yuchi couldn't help but think of Jiang Zhiyi’s face as she listened, and she let out an involuntary, cold laugh. That was true; the man really wasn't very smart.
"Buying, which one of Mom’s ex-boyfriends are you talking about?" Yu Qinghuai asked, his expression calm. *I wonder if it was that damned poor boy today, or that yellow-haired idiot who didn't know better and dared to get near her?*
Thank heavens there was no one else in the auditorium at this hour, or Jiang Yuchi truly wouldn't be able to face the world!
"Qinghuai!" Jiang Yuchi couldn't help but scold him.
"My apologies, sister-in-law." He admitted his mistake quickly, but for some reason, hearing him call her "sister-in-law" added a touch of ambiguity.
Jiang Yuchi felt a bit dazed. At the very beginning, when she was dating Yujie, Yu Qinghuai had been nothing but hostile toward her. Forget about calling her "sister-in-law"—for a long time, he had even stubbornly tried to introduce various "proper" young ladies of high society to Yujie.
The first time he had called her "sister-in-law" was after she received news of Yujie’s plane crash and had broken down in a state of madness. Yu Qinghuai had rushed over and pulled her into his arms. Even though he was two years younger than her, he had adopted the role of an elder, patting her back while calling her sister-in-law, telling her that for the sake of his brother and the child, she had to take care of herself.
After that, she had left for Country H, and in all their WeChat conversations since, she had never heard him call her that again.