He noticed that Yu Qingyue occasionally glanced at the crab but didn’t eat any, so he took one, scraped the meat into a small bowl, and then handed it to him.

“Here, eat it,” Yu Wanlai said.

Yu Qingyue’s face flushed slightly. Seeing that his parents weren’t paying attention, he happily took the bowl and ate.

Qin Shuang: … That strange feeling was back. She felt that her son had become very clingy with Yu Wanlai, almost dependent on him. Yu Wanlai was a bit better, not as clingy, but still very indulgent. After all… She shot a glance at Yu Cheng. After so many years, Yu Cheng had never done anything like this for her. She then thought about how well Yu Wanlai had been treating Yu Qingyue lately, so well that, as a mother, she had nothing to say. It seemed normal for her son to be attached to someone who treated him so well, right? She reluctantly came to terms with it and quietly glanced at Yu Qingyue again before focusing on her food.

After dinner, Qin Shuang insisted that Yu Cheng stay and wash the dishes with her. From the kitchen, they could hear Yu Cheng complaining.

Yu Cheng: “What’s going on with you lately? First, you drag me to the supermarket, and now you want me to do these things? I can’t even do this!”

Qin Shuang: “You’ve got hands and feet, why can’t you do it? Xiaoyue and Wanlai can.”

Yu Cheng: “…”

This was just too much. Was he supposed to learn from his son now? Should he go out and ask Yu Wanlai for some chef skills?

Yu Cheng slapped his hand, splashing some bubbles, “I get it. Are you saying the housemaid isn’t enough? Are you tired? I’ll hire a few more next time, and during the holidays, we can take turns with shifts.”

Qin Shuang rolled her eyes at him, thinking that doing something herself and asking someone else to do it were two very different things. “Just wash your dishes.”

In the afternoon, the installer came to install the dishwasher. Yu Wanlai was in the living room playing with the cat when he suddenly heard a knock on the door. He was a bit confused when he saw who it was. Yes, it was Yu Cheng who bought the dishwasher. After washing the dishes, Yu Cheng went upstairs and noticed his wife seemed a bit distant. After thinking for a long time, he figured it was probably because she didn’t like washing dishes. But since Qin Shuang said no more new helpers, he had to ask his assistant, who told him they could use the dishwasher. Yu Cheng didn’t care much about food, and even less about the kitchen, so he had never considered adding any smart appliances to the house. Their house was an old one, with classic wooden décor.

The whole afternoon, Yu Wanlai had to go to the door every now and then, whether it was the installer or a delivery person. Later, Yu Qingyue came down, and the two went to the kitchen to make Tangyuan (sweet rice balls).

Yu Qingyue saw Yu Wanlai wrapping the filling in glutinous rice flour and placing it in a water basin to wash off the flour, but the coating of flour on the filling kept getting thicker.

“I got it, let me try?”

Yu Wanlai, when he had a moment to glance at Yu Qingyue, saw the excited sparkle in his eyes. He paused for a second. Remembering the conversation he overheard between Qin Shuang and Yu Cheng, he couldn’t help but feel amazed. This family was really full of young masters and young ladies.

Then he suddenly thought of the phrase, “Just garlic melting into you, I’m just an outsider.”

Yu Qingyue noticed the sudden melancholy expression on his face. “…What’s wrong with you?”

Yu Wanlai waved his hand, some flour sticking to it, which flew into Yu Qingyue’s nose.

Yu Qingyue smacked his hand away. “…Are you being childish?”

Yu Wanlai was about to apologize, but when he saw the white flour on Yu Qingyue’s nose, he found it a bit funny. He couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

Yu Qingyue gritted his teeth, grabbed some glutinous rice flour, and smeared it on Yu Wanlai’s face.

Yu Wanlai: …

He glanced at Yu Qingyue and apologized, “I didn’t mean to. Don’t be mad, you just looked too cute.”

Yu Qingyue quickly lowered his head, thinking, What’s cute about that? But for some reason, his heart felt sweet.

Yu Wanlai took some of the glutinous rice flour and handed the Tangyuan, which he had dipped in the flour seven or eight times, to Yu Qingyue, telling him to roll them in the basin.

“This is too much work. It gets your hands all sticky. How about you do this? Just shake the basin and roll the Tangyuan so they’re rounder.”

Yu Qingyue agreed, so the two worked together. Soon, they finished making Tangyuan in four different flavors, neatly placed in the fridge to freeze until dinner.

After a morning and a bit of the afternoon, they made about 20 of each flavor, almost 100 in total. This was Yu Qingyue’s first time making something, and he had started out just wanting to spend more time with Yu Wanlai. But now, he found it surprisingly fun.

Yu Wanlai looked at Yu Qingyue, who was crouching in front of the fridge, and thought he was probably worried there wouldn’t be enough to give away. “We’ll keep 40, which should be enough. You can give the rest to others. Normally, 10 pieces is enough for one person.”

Yu Qingyue immediately slammed the fridge door shut, giving Yu Wanlai a fierce look. “Give them away? Who do you want to give them to?” It wouldn’t be Jiang Cheng, would it? Or Bai Jian?

Yu Wanlai: …

He quickly clarified, “I didn’t mean to give them away. I thought you might want to give them to your friends.”

Yu Qingyue just said “Oh” and, seeing that Yu Wanlai didn’t seem to mind his attitude, he finally relaxed.

Just then, Jiang Cheng sent a message to Yu Wanlai, with a few firework emojis and then a voice message.

Yu Wanlai casually opened it.

“Boss, Happy Lantern Festival, where’s my red envelope?”

Yu Qingyue’s face immediately darkened.

Yu Wanlai replied, “Happy Festival,” and sent Jiang Cheng a small red envelope. Jiang Cheng quickly responded with a GIF of a little person kneeling in thanks, which made Yu Wanlai laugh.

Yu Qingyue’s expression grew colder.

Just as Yu Wanlai was about to put his phone down, he suddenly remembered something and typed to Jiang Cheng, “Want to eat Tangyuan?”

Jiang Cheng replied with a voice message, and Yu Wanlai sat down on a chair in the dining room, then opened the voice message.

Jiang Cheng’s excited voice came through. “What do you mean? Wow, boss, you didn’t make Tangyuan this year again, did you?”

Yu Qingyue was too busy being angry to notice the oddness in the tone.

Yu Wanlai sent an “OK” emoji and then put his phone in his pocket.

He stood up and walked to the refrigerator, preparing to take out a few tangyuan, but as soon as he reached for them, Yu Qingyue slapped his hand down. Only then did he raise his eyes to look at Yu Qingyue, who was clearly not happy.

Yu Qingyue, angrily, lifted his eyes to stare at Yu Wanlai, “What are you doing?”

Yu Wanlai touched the back of his hand, not really hurting, although it did make a noise. “Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m taking a few tangyuan to give to Jiang Cheng.”

Yu Qingyue exploded, “You still want to give them to her?”

Yu Wanlai raised his hand and rubbed Yu Qingyue’s ear, seeing the sudden look of grievance on his face. “What’s wrong?” He thought Yu Qingyue was still worried there wouldn’t be enough to eat. “Don’t worry, there’s definitely enough for us. Plus, if we eat too much, it’ll be too greasy.”

Yu Qingyue snorted coldly, “Then freeze them, they won’t spoil for a short time.”

Yu Wanlai was amused by how Yu Qingyue was guarding his food. “Freshly made is much better. Don’t worry, if you want to eat more, I can make them for you again later. I’m just taking a few. She’s just a little girl, she can’t eat too much.”

Hearing that he still planned to give them away, Yu Qingyue swatted Yu Wanlai’s hand off and turned to go upstairs.

Yu Qingyue was so angry he could explode. He stayed in his bedroom, not hearing any movement for a while, and thought Yu Wanlai really had gone to deliver them. He tightened his grip on his phone, his fingertips turning white from the force. He was furious. Since receiving the message, Yu Wanlai’s attention had completely shifted away from him.

Yu Qingyue sent a message to Bai Yi, telling him they had only booked one room and needed one with a small hot spring. Bai Yi seemed to be waiting by his phone, and quickly replied. “…”

“Is Yu Wanlai not going?”

“Great!”

Yu Qingyue: “…”

He deleted the message in his phone that said “He and I are staying in the same room” and didn’t reply.

Yu Wanlai did indeed go to deliver them, but thinking of how Yu Qingyue looked angry, he stayed at Jiang Cheng’s for less than five minutes before leaving. Before leaving, he casually asked Jiang Cheng a few questions, “I just took ten tangyuan for her, why is Yu Qingyue so angry? He used to not want to eat anything I gave him.”

Jiang Cheng asked, “How many did you make in total?”

Yu Wanlai replied, “Almost 100,” and Jiang Cheng suddenly seemed to understand. Her eyes twinkled, and she half-jokingly said, “What else could it be? He’s jealous.”

Then, thinking of how Yu Qingyue had shown hostility towards her and Bai Jian that day, she felt something was off. A chill ran down her neck. She had thought it was because of Bai Jian, but now she thought it was because of her boss?!

Strange! Too strange! So, as the door was closing, Jiang Cheng hesitantly asked, “…Do you two often hug like that?”

Yu Wanlai rolled his eyes and didn’t answer. He turned and walked away. What did that have to do with the tangyuan? It was unnecessary to ask Jiang Cheng.

On the way back, he saw someone selling fireworks, so he got out of the car and bought some sparklers. By the time he came back, less than two hours had passed, it was just after 5 PM.

He went upstairs to put the sparklers away and went to the kitchen to cook the meat and clams. Not long after, Yu Qingyue, after talking to Bai Yi, was so angry that he fell asleep on his bed. It wasn’t until later when Qin Shuang came upstairs to call him that he woke up.

Yu Qingyue frowned, picked up his phone, and saw it was nearly seven o’clock. He thought, “Yu Wanlai hasn’t come back yet?”

He was very angry, but with Qin Shuang there, he didn’t dare show it, which made him feel even more aggrieved.

It wasn’t until he went to the dining room and saw Yu Wanlai that he felt a little better. When he saw that there was one more dish than at lunch, he frowned. How could he fall asleep? Yu Wanlai must have been busy making all this. But Yu Wanlai didn’t call him.

Yu Wanlai had indeed gone to call him, but seeing he was sleeping so soundly, he didn’t have the heart to wake him up.

Yu Qingyue went over and sat down. Although he was still angry, seeing Yu Wanlai do so much by himself made him feel guilty. He pulled out a chair for Yu Wanlai and took out bowls and chopsticks, setting them up.

Qin Shuang watched as Yu Qingyue set the table for Yu Wanlai, then sat down herself, ignoring both Qin Cheng and her.

Qin Shuang: ……… Could it be that his son has reached the point of “once he has a wife, he forgets his mother”?

She frowned as she looked across, and then noticed Yu Wanlai, who had just finished washing his hands. He was holding two sets of bowls and chopsticks, and seeing that Yu Cheng and Qin Shuang didn’t have any, he handed them over. Qin Shuang looked at Yu Wanlai and thought to herself, “A big guy like him can’t be the wife, he looks more like a son-in-law. Something’s off.”

Qin Shuang shivered from the strange thought in her mind and quickly dismissed it.

Yu Qingyue served Yu Wanlai a few tangyuan and then handed him the bowl. Yu Wanlai gave him a surprised glance, took the bowl, and thought, ‘He’s not angry anymore?‘ He had known it couldn’t be that the male lead would be a petty person who would fuss over a few tangyuan.

Yu Qingyue hadn’t forgotten about the tangyuan; he just didn’t want to keep sulking since Yu Wanlai had been busy all day. He couldn’t stay upset forever. It wasn’t until bedtime that Yu Qingyue suddenly remembered he hadn’t told Yu Wanlai about the hot spring. He had planned to talk about it in the morning, but after being confused by Yu Wanlai, he forgot, and only remembered now.

So, he decided to grab his pillow and knock on Yu Wanlai’s door. As he waited for the door to open, he was still thinking about how to explain himself to Yu Wanlai and make him stay and sleep there.

Yu Wanlai, who had been getting his coat to go look for Yu Qingyue, heard the knocking and went over to open the door. Sure enough, it was Yu Qingyue. A smile spread across his face as he rubbed Yu Qingyue’s slightly curled hair, took the pillow from his hand, and pulled him inside, tossing him onto the bed.

“Just in time, I was about to look for you. You coming over is fine too.”