Ye Jiuliang laughed unrestrainedly, inadvertently drifting off, "Hurry up and pack my luggage, don’t dawdle."

Li Mochan glanced at her sideways, his gaze heavy.

Once he finished packing, it would be her turn to be dealt with.

The little scamp was really pushing her luck.

**

The morning fog dispersed, and in just one night, a layer of fallen leaves covered the courtyard ground again.

Several suitcases were piled up in the living room, giving off the distinct impression of embarking on a long journey.

Jiang Yisheng closed his room door, turned around, and coincidentally, the door of the neighboring room opened with the man leaning casually against the door frame.

They looked at each other across the space, and the atmosphere suddenly fell silent for a moment.

Jiang Yisheng smiled lightly, "Morning."

"Morning," Ji Mingqian’s eyes swept over the backpack in his hand, his eyebrows raising, "Heading out so early?"

Jiang Yisheng hummed in acknowledgment, "After breakfast, I’ll leave. What about you guys?"

"Depends on when Ajiu and his better half get up," Ji Mingqian shrugged his shoulders, his tone lazy.

Jiang Yisheng nodded, and the person across from him suddenly walked toward him.

"You..."

Just as he was about to speak, the weight in his hand lightened.

Ji Mingqian took his backpack, "Let’s go, I’m also heading down for breakfast."

"Uh, I can carry the backpack myself," Jiang Yisheng paused, wanting to say he had only injured one hand.

"Can’t I do a good deed for the day?" Ji Mingqian, with his back to him, said in a mild tone.

"It’s to save you from always saying that I just bully you."

Jiang Yisheng was stunned for a moment, a discreet smile forming on his lips as he walked down the stairs behind him.

"You’re up early, Mingqian," Veya said as she packed some snacks for the plane, looking up to see the two descending the stairs, her voice tender.

Jiang Yisheng joined the conversation teasingly, "Yeah, it’s rare that the pig got up early today."

Ji Mingqian, "..."

Whose backpack was he holding?

Could he throw it into the trash?

"Asheng, watch your language," Veya mildly scolded, hearing her son compare Ji Mingqian to a pig.

Jiang Yisheng looked down, and the man beside him spoke up for him, "It’s fine, Auntie, we often joke like this."

With that, Ji Mingqian placed Jiang Yisheng’s backpack on the sofa.

Recognizing that the bag Ji Mingqian carried belonged to her son, Veya couldn’t help but sigh, "Indeed, being a few years older, he’s much more mature than my Asheng."

Ji Mingqian retracted his hand, leaned towards Jiang Yisheng, speaking in the lowest voice that only the two of them could hear, "Did you hear that? Your mom says you’re immature."

"..."

The retort came so swiftly, a frown streaked across Jiang Yisheng’s forehead.

Who was actually her own son?

"Mingqian, Asheng, breakfast is in the dining room, hurry up and eat before it gets cold," the elder Mrs. Jiang said with a smile.

Jiang Yisheng asked, "Grandma, have you eaten?"

"We’ve eaten," she replied.

Entering the dining room, the table was already set with bowls and chopsticks.

As Jiang Yisheng pulled out a chair beside him, yet to sit down, a figure dashed in front of him, and in the next second, someone had already snatched his seat.

He looked down at the man sitting in the chair, his tone dark, "Ji Mingqian, how childish can you be, with so many seats here, why snatch mine?"

"I carried your bag, and you can’t do me a favor in return?" Ji Mingqian argued with conviction.

Seeing the smug smile on his face, Jiang Yisheng wished he could slap him dead.

Not wanting to contend with him, he resigned himself to pulling out the adjacent chair to sit down.

Ji Mingqian served a bowl of porridge and naturally filled one for the person next to him as well.

Jiang Yisheng gave him a sideways glance, as if a bowl of porridge he served him could erase his recent wrongdoing.

After a couple of sips of porridge, Ji Mingqian reached for a tea egg, peeled it, broke off the white, and then tossed the yolk into the bowl of the person beside him.

"For you, don’t mention it."

Jiang Yisheng watched the yolk drop into his bowl, his lips twitching.

"..."

Your sister.

He tilted his head, looking at the person beside him who was enjoying the egg white, and said through gritted teeth, "Ji Mingqian, you throw the food you don’t want at me as if I’m a trash can?"

"Don’t you like eating egg yolks?" Ji Mingqian said nonchalantly, ignoring his fiery gaze.

Not getting tangled in his distorted logic, Jiang Yisheng, still indignant, twisted his arm, "Who eats eggs like you do, eating the white and tossing the yolk to someone else?"

"Ajiu and Anuo." Ji Mingqian tugged at the corner of his mouth, the pain in his arm insignificant, "They don’t eat the egg yolks either; I’m not the only one."

Could it be that living together for so long, habits were contagious?

Jiang Yisheng visibly paused, "Then who ate the yolks when you had eggs before?"

Surely they didn’t all just throw them away; that would be wasting food.

"Achen would eat them, and if there were too many, we’d feed them to the cats," Ji Mingqian said.

Strictly speaking, it should be that Anuo’s egg yolks were cleaned up by Achen, while he and Ajiu’s yolks were given to the cats.

Jiang Yisheng was speechless.

**

The spacious bedroom, curtains thrown open, specks of golden light spilled through the glass windows.

Laughter, clear as bells, echoed from the bathroom.

Li Mochan dried the droplets of water on his face with a towel, his gaze dropping to the woman crouched at his feet, a hint of starry helplessness flickering in his eyes.

"You little rascal, have you played enough?"

Ye Jiuliang exhaled, looked up with curved eyes and brows, "I told you it could be washed off, and you didn’t believe me."

Li Mochan glanced at his right leg, now free from the colorful doodles of the water-based pen.

Getting up in the morning to see a large turtle drawn on his leg had left him with indescribable feelings.

She was the first and only person who would dare to draw on his leg.

And yet, somehow, he couldn’t do anything about her.

He picked her up and seated her on the washbasin countertop.

With his forehead against hers, Li Mochan spoke in a soft and husky voice, "Didn’t I deal with you thoroughly enough last night?"

That must be why she had the time to get up in the middle of the night and make a mess.

"You dealt with me, so why can’t I deal with you?" Ye Jiuliang grinned.

"You little rascal."

Accompanied by a deep voice, a light, dragonfly-like kiss followed.

A moment later, after changing their clothes, Ye Jiuliang walked out first with her backpack, and Li Mochan followed with the suitcase.

Turning the corner, they came face to face with Mo Chen coming upstairs.

"Sister."

"Aren’t you supposed to have class at Beisen today?" Ye Jiuliang noticed he wasn’t in his uniform and narrowed her eyes, "Skipping class again?"

"No, no," Mo Chen stood on the stair, waving his hands and explaining, "There was a big exam at Beisen yesterday, so we have a week off."

Beisen’s big exam?

Ye Jiuliang was momentarily stunned.

Hadn’t she just skipped another exam?

She turned back to Li Mochan, meeting his teasing smile, and chuckled awkwardly, "So, can I still graduate?"

Li Mochan laughed, "What do you think?"

Ye Jiuliang pouted, just about to say something more, but Mo Chen spoke first, "Sister, I’ll be away for a few days."

"Hm?" Ye Jiuliang looked at him with puzzled eyes.