395 Stole my idea
Ai stared at her father, dressed in his usual weird clothes with a small toothpick like twig pressed between his lips that had his charming and sunny smile like always. His hair and small ponytail were a bit messy but only making him all the more attractive even at his age.
Ai tilted her head, expressing. “Dad?”
“Ai-chan!” Zhou Yichen beamed. “You father is here! Are you happy to see me? You definitely are, I know. You were always a daddy’s girl after all~”
“What are you doing in Beijing?”
“To meet you and Jun-cute of course!” His booming voice was filled with vigor.
Zhou Yichen carefully looked around to check if a particular person was within his sight or not. “Hmph. Glad your mother is not here.”
“Mom is here too?” She asked, surprised.
“Your mother stole my idea! It was me who first thought of coming to Beijing to meet you two to spend some quality time together with my daughter and future son-in-law. But Nuying heard from God knows where that I was coming here, and she copied my idea and came following me,” he snorted. “I am telling you. She is a professor, but she is the one who cheats the most. Are you sure her students are learning good things from her? Hoho, but I reached you first!” He proudly said.
Ai crashed his dreams in a single blow. “You pretty much came here because you were too bored by working at the same place, didn’t you?”
“…”
“You have definitely run out of your gambling money, haven’t you? You slacked too much in finding your new job, then got bored of the place and now you are here to figure out what to do.”
A thin line of blood flowed from the corner of his lips. “Ah Ai-chan, you don’t have to always expose your father like that. I am your biological father, you know?” He wiped the imaginary blood off.
Zhou Yichen bent down and smiled at the cat. “Do you want to pet him?”
Ai nodded.
“That would be impossible, it seems my dear. For now at least. Cats don’t trust so easily, definitely not stray or feral ones. He will not let you pet him. You have to spend time with him, get him used to you and let him make the first contact. Otherwise he will only scratch you, haha.”
He tried to show that using himself and as expected, the cat with the dark brown eyes hissed at him as if they were intruding upon his food-searching journey.
“Why do you know so much about cats?” Ai asked.
Zhou Yichen shamelessly said, “I had followed the same procedure to woo your mother once upon a time.”
“…”
His gaze darkened. “But then she started to use her paws on me for every single thing.”
On the other side, the Jun-like cat gave them a stare and hopped away. Ai pursed her lips with disappointment.
I will definitely pet him one day.
She got up on her feet and dusted her dress.
Zhou Yichen hung his arm around hers and chirped. “Come on. Take me to Jun-cute. I want to reach him before your mother does. Then we all three will have lots of fun~ I wanted to come to your condo, but I kinda lost my way. I kept circling around but look, I coincidentally met you,” he winked.
Ai remained quiet for a short pause. “I am going to the library today. Jun is at Sky.”
Zhou Yichen blinked his eyes and didn’t fail to miss the silence before her response. Ai’s expression shone less brightly as well.
He made a gesture as if he was sniffing something. “I smell something fishy. Ohhh, did you and Jun-cute fight?”
Her brow slightly twitched. “No.”
“Hah! You cannot hide anything from me,” he pinched her cheek. “You don’t have to be so worried holistically. Fights are normal in any relationship. Nuying and I are the prime example for that. But you shouldn’t ignore them either otherwise these things slowly start to chip away your happiness and peace of mind which can ultimately cause separation. Nuying and I are the prime example for that too.”
Ai pursed her lips. “I don’t understand if you are consoling me or worrying me more.”
Zhou Yichen smiled. “Showing you both sides of something is necessary dear. Turning blind to one side is always harmful.”
He whistled, which made a high school girl passing by, slightly blush.
Aish, this man is so cool. Is he that woman’s brother?
Zhou Yichen grabbed her hand. “Come on. Tell your daddy dearest everything. I am Zhou Yichen and with me around, all of my Ai-chan and Jun-cute’s worries will go whoosh!”
—
Jun stared at his future mother-in-law with a hard stupor.
Am I fine or are my eyes playing tricks on me? Why am I seeing Aunt Xie here?
Not only there was Xie Nuying, there was Xie Nuying carrying a long wooden stick in her hands.
“Hello,” Xie Nuying politely greeted him. Her eyes radiated satisfaction as she saw Jun.
“A-Aunt?” Jun hopped up on his feet instantly and faced her with shock. “What are you doing here in Beijing?”
“To meet you and Ai. Glad that I found you first,” she nodded with more satisfaction.
“First?”
Xie Nuying’s expression then didn’t look so good. “Apparently, a certain careless and irresponsible man stole my idea of meeting my daughter and son-in-law and he followed me all the way here as well. I wouldn’t have minded but he could at least given me the credit. But no, he wants to hog the spotlight for everything.”
She is definitely talking about Uncle Zhou, he cleared his throat.
“He is…not with you?”
“No. I wanted to meet you and Ai first. He said he will. But it was my idea. But he refused to back down. Then we started a race, and I got lost somehow. Beijing is so confusing,” she pursed her lips.