In a flash, Tao Xin went upstairs. Zhou Nian watched her back and gritted his teeth, saying, “I suspect Daji has put a hex on my dad.” 

“You, kid,” Li Lequan twisted Zhou Nian’s head back. “Why are you so angry? Do you have a father complex?” 

Zhou Nian hissed back, “You have a father complex! Your whole family has a father complex! I just don’t like it, okay?” 

Although Zhou Nian grew up in a single-parent family, he lived with his grandparents since childhood and only moved in with Zhou Tingzhi in recent years. Their father-son interactions weren’t frequent, so saying he had a father complex was a stretch… Li Lequan stroked his chin, pondered for a while, and then looked enlightened. “Oh, I get it.” 

“Get what?” 

“My analysis is that you’re so angry because that woman shattered your fantasy of a perfect family. In your expectation, your dad should find a dignified and elegant stepmother, have another one or two lively and lovely younger siblings, and then your family would live together happily.” Li Lequan grinned. “In my opinion, you simply regard that woman as an imaginary enemy who is destroying your family.” 

Coincidentally, upstairs, Zhou Tingzhi was saying something similar. 

“Xiao Nian doesn’t have bad intentions. He’s just eighteen years old, but he’s still like an eight-year-old. He still cries when he hears someone sing ‘Only Mother is Good in the World.'” Zhou Tingzhi walked to the bed and rubbed Tao Xin’s face. “And you’re not the mother he envisions, so he resists you.” 

“So you came back so early because you were afraid we’d fight?” 

“Um… afraid you’d quarrel.” 

“He’s eight, so how old am I in your eyes?” Tao Xin pushed Zhou Tingzhi’s hand away, frowning. “I don’t like this attitude of treating me like a child.” 

Zhou Tingzhi lowered his eyes. “But I am much older than you.” 

Tao Xin stared at him. The anger she had suppressed last night surged back up. She sat up, looked directly at him and said, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. You don’t think we can go the distance, right? Yes, twenty and thirty-eight, maybe we can ignore the age difference and get along well now, but what about five years from now, ten years from now? You’re worried, afraid I’ll regret it.” 

“I didn’t…” 

“Didn’t? Didn’t you push me off last night when I said I wanted to sleep with you, saying you had work and had to get up early? You’re fooling me! Or is it that you’re getting older, your abilities in that area have deteriorated? If you admit it’s because you’re afraid of delaying me, then I can understand.” 

Tao Xin wasn’t good at arguing, but suppressing Zhou Tingzhi seemed to be her innate talent. She didn’t even need to think hard to question Zhou Tingzhi until he was speechless. And Zhou Tingzhi, who was always clear-headed and good at debating, was always stumbling in front of her, as if it took great effort to utter a complete sentence. 

All these years, Zhou Tingzhi hadn’t improved at all. 

“I… I just think that you’re still too unfamiliar to me. Assuming we’ve only been dating for two days, the progress shouldn’t be…so fast…” 

“Oh, okay, I can accept that.” 

Zhou Tingzhi breathed a sigh of relief. He had just finished showering, wearing soft home clothes. When he stood up, his shoulders stretched, his white short sleeves slightly taut, outlining his body. Drops of water from his hair fell one by one onto his collar, quickly forming a small wet patch. The soaked fabric clung to his skin, inexplicably alluring. 

Tao Xin’s gaze moved upward, she brushed his wet, messy black hair back, her fingertips tracing his still youthful and handsome eyebrows and eyes. “But you’re not unfamiliar to me at all.” 

Zhou Tingzhi’s body trembled slightly, his breath hot. 

“Then, can I kiss my new boyfriend who I’ve been dating for two days?” 

“…Yes.” 

Tao Xin curved her lips and quickly leaned in to kiss his cheek. 

Zhou Tingzhi slowly opened his eyes, looking at Tao Xin in a daze. 

“Is this a reasonable progression?” Tao Xin said with a smile. “I dated my ex-boyfriend for half a month before we got to this point.” 

Zhou Tingzhi still remembered that day, remembering her wearing his large coat, hopping along the autumn path covered with fallen leaves. The coastal city, the evening wind was damp and cool. She felt cold, but she didn’t want to leave him. When the wind blew, she would rush into his arms. After a long time, finally, in the dim light of the street lamp, she tiptoed and kissed his cheek, reluctantly saying goodbye. 

He stood alone under the street lamp, suddenly thinking of a line from Zhang Ailing’s novel—”The person he loved also loved him, it should be a very ordinary thing, but for those who are in it, it seems like a once-in-a-lifetime coincidence.” 

Such a once-in-a-lifetime coincidence, even the luckiest person could only encounter it once in a lifetime. 

Hearing Aunt Qin calling for dinner, Zhou Tingzhi squeezed Tao Xin’s hand and took her downstairs. Zhou Nian and Li Lequan were already sitting at the dining table. Seeing Tao Xin come down with Zhou Tingzhi, neither of them reacted much, especially Zhou Nian, who only glanced at Tao Xin with his peripheral vision before withdrawing his gaze, unlike before when he was so hostile. 

Tao Xin was someone who would become even tougher when faced with toughness, and softer when faced with softness. Zhou Nian had restrained his hostility, and she put away her vigilance. Now looking at Zhou Nian, with his short hair and drooping eyebrows, he really was a rather pitiful child. 

Thinking of what Zhou Tingzhi had said, Tao Xin decided to take the initiative to befriend Zhou Nian, at least to strive for peaceful coexistence under the same roof. 

But at her age, the only person she had ever put effort into getting close to was Zhou Tingzhi. 

How to get along with her boyfriend’s son was indeed a big problem. 

Tao Xin was thinking very intently, and after a while she realized that the atmosphere at the dinner table was a little heavy. Zhou Tingzhi and Zhou Nian were silently eating, not saying a word. Li Lequan tried to break the awkward silence, his eyes rolling around, looking at this one and that one, clearly unable to find a breakthrough. 

Tao Xin looked up and just happened to meet Li Lequan’s gaze. Li Lequan looked like he had found a savior and smiled at her. 

To be honest, Tao Xin had a good impression of Li Lequan. After all, Zhou Nian couldn’t have gone home just because of Zhou Tingzhi’s words, and he couldn’t have changed his attitude towards her without reason. It was conceivable that Li Lequan must have played a good role in this. If he had ill intentions towards Zhou Nian and fanned the flames, Zhou Tingzhi and Zhou Nian would definitely not be sitting at the same table eating peacefully like now. 

Perhaps Li Lequan was the breakthrough point for her to get along with Zhou Nian. 

Tao Xin looked at Li Lequan and suddenly asked, “Do you still count on taking me to climb the ranks?” 

“Ah?” Li Lequan was stunned before reacting, and quickly said, “Of course, what rank are you now?” 

Tao Xin thought for a moment and said, “I think it’s Gold.” 

Before she finished speaking, Zhou Nian sneered, the meaning was self-evident, it was sarcasm. 

Tao Xin treated him as an eight-year-old boy, and also thought he was just being simply mischievous, without any malice, so she didn’t take it seriously. “What rank are you guys?” 

Li Lequan scratched his head and said, “We’re both King ten stars, we can’t play ranked matches with you.” 

“Oh…then what rank do you need to play ranked matches?” 

“For three-person teams, you need at least Star Glory.” 

Although Tao Xin had only played with the observer for a few days, she also knew the ranking order of the King of Glory, Gold above is Platinum, Platinum above is Diamond, and Diamond above is Star Glory. Even if you don’t lose a single game, you still have to play over a hundred games. 

It seemed this path wouldn’t work, she had to find another way. 

Tao Xin scooped a spoonful of hot soup, blowing on it while saying, “Then I’ll climb the ranks myself…” 

Tao Xin’s suggestion to climb the ranks together was clearly for another purpose, Zhou Nian wasn’t stupid, of course he could see that, but he hadn’t forgotten Tao Xin’s confident look when she said “This is also my home.” Now she was doing this again in front of Zhou Tingzhi, Zhou Nian felt that Daji was really scheming, and couldn’t help but sarcastically say, “Humph, you should forget it.” 

Zhou Tingzhi, who had been silent, suddenly said, “It’s okay, I’ll help you.” 

What?! 

Zhou Nian and Li Lequan widened their eyes in unison. 

In Zhou Nian’s eyes, Zhou Tingzhi’s life was dull and boring. He seemed to have started working since he was born, with countless things to deal with every day, his schedule was always very tight, and occasionally playing golf was for socializing. As for hobbies, he probably only liked swimming and mountain climbing. 

Zhou Nian never knew that Zhou Tingzhi also played games. 

Because Tao Xin wanted to test Zhou Tingzhi’s skill, she gave him her phone and asked him to play a solo match. Zhou Nian didn’t even bother to eat, standing behind Zhou Tingzhi and watching intently the whole time. Although it was a low-end game at the Gold level, his Sun Shangxiang didn’t have any extra operations, precise positioning, stable output, and it only took seven minutes to lead his teammates to push to the high ground. 

Hearing the VICTORY sound from the phone, Zhou Nian seemed to have just woken up from a dream, staring at Zhou Tingzhi in disbelief. 

“It’s finished so quickly?” Tao Xin took the phone, also a little surprised, but quickly said with a smile, “MVP, you’re good, you’re much better than Zhao Jiaman.” 

Hearing such praise, Zhou Tingzhi’s lips curled into a slight smile, a kind of very restrained and reserved pride. 

Seeing such an expression on Zhou Tingzhi’s face for the first time, Zhou Nian’s mood suddenly became complicated. 

He remembered that when he was a child, Zhou Tingzhi only came home during the holidays. Every time he came back, he would park his car in the yard and honk twice. This was like a secret signal between their father and son. As soon as Zhou Nian heard the continuous car horn, he knew it was his father, and he would happily run out to greet him. Until he was ten years old, Zhou Tingzhi would pick him up, lift him high above his head, and then open the trunk to show him the full trunk of gifts. 

For young Zhou Nian, looking forward to Zhou Tingzhi coming home was like a child looking forward to the New Year, a little carefree. But when he grew up, when he yearned for fatherly love and companionship, his values had already formed, and he had already realized that his material conditions, privileges, and status all came from Zhou Tingzhi, who had made his fortune from scratch.