Tao Fengche even began to suspect if Sui Yuesheng had already written “Check Tao Fengche’s homework completion every night” into his own daily schedule.

With a huge Tao Corporation under his management and having to juggle the Tao family’s secret businesses, Sui Yuesheng’s workload was definitely not light.

On Tuesday night, Sui Yuesheng was still working in the study until past two in the morning. Tao Fengche stood by the door for a while, feeling a mix of emotions. He didn’t disturb him, tiptoeing back to his room. However, on Wednesday, Sui Yuesheng surprisingly arrived home before Tao Fengche.

As soon as Tao Fengche entered the house, he sensed something was off. When the servant put the shoes in the cabinet, he glanced over casually and noticed that several pairs of slippers were missing, including Sui Yuesheng’s pair.

A thought crossed his mind, and he asked, “Has he returned?”

It was a simple pronoun, but at this moment, Xu Song knew exactly who it referred to.

Xu Song was checking the dishes in the dining room. Upon hearing the question, he smiled, “Young Master Sui came back a little after five this afternoon. He arrived almost at the same time as the lawyer team, and they’re still having a meeting upstairs.”

Xu Song pointed upstairs as he spoke.

Tao Fengche glanced at the amount of food on the table and said, “Uncle Xu, please go upstairs and call them down for dinner.”

It was understandable for them to eat separately when Sui Yuesheng got home late, but since he was home now, it would be strange to eat in two separate groups.

Tao Fengche felt there was nothing wrong with what he said, but Xu Song gave him a long look of loving approval before turning and heading upstairs.

Feeling uncomfortable under the gaze, Tao Fengche sat at the dining table playing with his phone. A moment later, Xu Song came back down and shook his head at him, “Young Master Sui and the others are still in the meeting. He asked me to send the food up later. You go ahead and eat first. I’ll ask the kitchen to make some more.”

Xu Song hurried off after speaking, leaving Tao Fengche alone at the table. Suddenly, a sense of indescribable sadness welled up in him. What were they discussing in the meeting that was so urgent they couldn’t even eat? Was it really necessary to work so hard?

He had forgotten his earlier anger at Sui Yuesheng for supposedly neglecting the Tao Corporation, and silently finished his meal before returning to his room to do his homework as usual.

A little after 9 p.m., Sui Yuesheng appeared punctually in his room. After hearing that Tao Fengche had finished his homework, he lowered his head and started checking it.

While Sui Yuesheng was fully focused on reviewing the homework, Tao Fengche was observing him.

Sui Yuesheng looked very tired, his face marked by a layer of fatigue. Being a foreigner, his skin was very pale, and his light blue-gray eyes had noticeable dark circles under them, making them particularly striking. It was like seeing a crack suddenly appear on a precious porcelain, eliciting a feeling of wasteful pity.

He looked like he hadn’t slept well. This thought suddenly popped into Tao Fengche’s mind.

After all, Sui Yuesheng had been working until 2 a.m. last night. Who knew when he actually went to sleep? By the time Tao Fengche woke up around 7 a.m., Sui Yuesheng had already gone to work. It’s fortunate that his health was good; otherwise, he would have more than just dark circles under his eyes by now.

Tao Fengche suddenly wanted to advise Sui Yuesheng to go to bed early; otherwise, he might not only get dark circles but also risk going bald. A recent gossip shared by Wang Yuan about a middle-aged alpha who became bald due to years of staying up late and drinking flashed through his mind.

His gaze inadvertently shifted to the top of Sui Yuesheng’s head, but this omega with an irregular schedule had an impressive amount of hair. His light gray curls were smooth and shiny, looking like they belonged in a shampoo commercial.

So Tao Fengche swallowed his words back down. He couldn’t think of an appropriate way to start the conversation, nor did he know what kind of role he should take to remind Sui Yuesheng. It would be too strange to say it out of the blue.

It wasn’t until Sui Yuesheng finished checking the recitation homework and was signing off on the written assignments that Tao Fengche finally spoke, “Are you going back to the meeting later?”

“Yes.” Sui Yuesheng nodded, marking a mistake with a red pen. “This is a homophone error. You need to correct it three times.”

Tao Fengche: “…”

He wanted to tell Sui Yuesheng that correcting mistakes three times was a method only used in primary school. In high school, the common practice was to correct the mistake once beside the error. But maybe tonight’s harmonious atmosphere brought back old memories, and he recalled the times he taught Sui Yuesheng to read.

After a tutor suggested improving Tao Fengche’s teaching methods, he humbly accepted and made changes, adding a post-dinner review session. Whenever Sui Yuesheng wrote a wrong character, he would circle it with a red pen and make Sui Yuesheng write it three times on the next page, just as the school teachers required.

Years had passed, and Tao Fengche wasn’t sure if Sui Yuesheng remembered these details like he did, or if he had forgotten but was still influenced by them, or if he just said it casually.

Driven by a certain inexplicable thought, Tao Fengche not only nodded in agreement but also took the notebook back and, under Sui Yuesheng’s supervision, carefully wrote the homophone character three times in different colors.

He chose to ignore how his teacher, Feng Hui, would react to seeing this elementary school-style correction.

“For homophones, write what it substitutes for and its meaning,” Sui Yuesheng instructed from behind his chair.

Tao Fengche patiently complied. The only sounds in the large room were their steady breathing and the rustling of pen on paper, like spring silkworms munching on mulberry leaves.

The room was too quiet, so Tao Fengche awkwardly made conversation, “Is the legal team still waiting for you in the study?”

As soon as he said it, he wanted to take the question back. What a stupid question. Where else would they be if not in the study?

“Yes, I asked Uncle Xu to bring them some food,” Sui Yuesheng seemed a bit surprised. “Do you need to talk to someone from the team? I can call them over.”

“No,” Tao Fengche shook his head, handing over the corrected assignment.

He wanted to ask Sui Yuesheng if Xu Song hadn’t brought dinner up two hours ago, why were they bringing food again now? Was it because they were too busy to eat earlier, or was it because their mental work was too exhausting and they were hungry again?

But asking that out loud felt too weird.

Sui Yuesheng was unaware of the twists and turns in Tao Fengche’s mind. His entire focus was on the homework. After checking it, he nodded with satisfaction and advised, “Go to bed early.”

It was as if he was wrapping up their interaction for the night.

“Hey!” Tao Fengche hesitated for a long time but eventually called out to him. Then he pulled open a drawer and rummaged through it.

Teenage alphas often feel hungry, and Tao Fengche found it troublesome to go downstairs for food each time, so he kept snacks in his drawer. Xu Song knew about this and would occasionally add to the stash, which had become a regular food storage spot, like a squirrel’s hoard for winter.

He dug around for a while and finally pulled out two bags of cookies, some beef jerky, and chocolate, grabbed them all, and handed them to Sui Yuesheng, feigning nonchalance, “Take these with you to eat.”

Sui Yuesheng laughed in surprise.

Honestly, when Tao Fengche first opened the drawer, he thought he was going to pull out a gun again. But it turned out to be snacks for him. His heart warmed, and just as he was about to take them, Tao Fengche added, “Don’t share them with anyone.”

His tone was fierce, like a small dog guarding its food.

“Alright, I won’t share,” Sui Yuesheng’s heart melted like cotton candy. When he saw the chocolate was milk-flavored, his smile deepened.

After Sui Yuesheng left the room, Tao Fengche stared at the drawer for a while, then pulled out a piece of beef jerky, popped it into his mouth, and hummed an off-key tune as he headed downstairs to work out.

---

In psychology, there’s a concept known as the “21-day effect,” which means it takes at least 21 days for a person to form and solidify a new habit or idea. This idea has led to numerous pieces of “self-help wisdom” advocating for “forming a good habit in 21 days.” However, for Tao Fengche, forming a habit didn’t even take a week.

Starting from Monday, Sui Yuesheng came to his room every night to check his homework. Although the timing varied, he never missed a day. By Friday night, after supervising Tao Fengche’s study session as usual, Sui Yuesheng suddenly informed him that he would be on a business trip the next day and wouldn’t be back until the following Tuesday, instructing him to study well during these days.

Tao Fengche: “…”

Sui Yuesheng’s words seemed harmless, but Tao Fengche couldn’t shake the feeling that he was subtly implying, “Even if I’m not home, don’t think about copying homework.” However, instead of feeling angry at Sui Yuesheng’s distrust, a subtle discomfort surfaced in Tao Fengche’s heart first.

No way, has he really gotten used to being supervised by him?

Tao Fengche immediately wanted to retort, but swallowed his words and nodded obediently.

Sui Yuesheng, satisfied, added, “I’ll have Uncle Xu check your homework every day.”

Tao Fengche: “?”

How come one supervisor leaves and another one shows up? I’m seventeen, not seven, is this really necessary?

But now, with Sui Yuesheng about to leave for his business trip and still concerned about his studies, Tao Fengche vaguely felt that he was genuinely being taken seriously by the other party.

He felt inexplicably pleased and nodded again.

The next morning, when he got up at eight, Sui Yuesheng was already gone.

“Young Master Sui went to Taiqing on a business trip,” Xu Song said.

Taiqing…? That’s at the northernmost part of Jiuzhou, while Jingpu was in the south. Why did Sui Yuesheng suddenly go there?

Tao Fengche was curious but didn’t dwell on it. The Tao’s business was large, and before his death, Tao Zhixing often flew between continents. Tao Fengche was used to it. After nodding, he sat down to drink porridge. Xu Song, however, took a call, hurried to the door, and then placed a red invitation in front of him.

“Young Master, it’s Old Master Zhu’s seventieth birthday tonight, and he sent us an invitation.” Xu Song looked troubled.

Tao Fengche rarely attended such banquets. When Tao Zhixing was alive, only close families would send invitations, and Tao Zhixing would take him along. Now, with Sui Yuesheng in charge, this tradition continued. Recently, for the Yu family’s youngest son’s first birthday banquet, Sui Yuesheng went alone.

But tonight, Sui Yuesheng definitely couldn’t attend.

The Zhu family made their fortune in the bathing industry and had little interaction with the Tao family. In terms of scale, they were slightly inferior to the Tao family. Normally, they could easily find an excuse to decline, but Sui Yuesheng happened to be in Taiqing.

If word got out, people might gossip that with Sui Yuesheng away, the Tao family had no one to attend the banquet, speculating that Tao Zhixing’s only son was being kept under house arrest.

By accident, this invitation had become a test. But if handled well, it could also be an opportunity…

After pondering for a moment, Tao Fengche made a decision: “I’ll go.”