Jiang Lai looked at the food being offered to her by her sister-in-law. In front of her daughter, she didn’t want to act so intimately; otherwise, what would her daughter think of the two of them?
“You’re the one who’s been most exhausted lately. Take the food and eat it yourself!”
Chi Yingyu could see her brother-in-law’s gaze. She glanced at her niece—was it because the child was here that he felt shy?
But Jiang Leyi didn’t bother about these familiar things at all. If it were before, when she was bored, she would tease them a little, saying how close the family was, then sneak a bite of her little aunt’s food.
But right now, she wasn’t in the mood at all. From the start of the meal, she’d been focused on her phone, barely eating a couple of bites from her bowl.
Jiang Lai saw that Chi Yingyu still hadn’t put down her chopsticks and, seeing the expectant look in her little sister-in-law’s eyes, glanced at her daughter, who wasn’t looking their way, then slowly opened her mouth to accept the food her sister-in-law offered.
Her sister-in-law had been working hard lately; indulging her like this today was a small reward.
Chi Yingyu watched her brother-in-law open his mouth, and she really, really wanted to feed him something else—maybe her own lips or hands. That rosy little mouth looked perfect for stuffing something into it.
Jiang Lai was just glad that her daughter wasn’t looking her way. But when she realized her daughter had been on her phone, chatting with someone since entering the room, and occasionally flashed a mysterious smile, she felt uneasy.
Normally, if her daughter was this absorbed in chatting with someone, Jiang Lai wouldn’t interfere—at most, she’d gently remind her to focus on eating during meals. After all, her daughter was an adult now, with her own life and relationships to maintain.
But seeing her daughter so engrossed in her phone, Jiang Lai couldn’t help but worry, remembering how long she had chatted with that dangerous person before dinner. She feared her precious daughter might be talking to Si Yina.
At this moment, Jiang Lai even wanted to be a “bad dad,” to just take her daughter’s phone and, if it really was Si Yina she was chatting with, delete her contact then and there.
But something so unreasonable and abrupt was completely unacceptable; it would ruin her image. Jiang Lai didn’t want the hard-won father-daughter bond to be damaged by her own hands.
So she could only try to express her concern in a subtler way. But if her daughter asked why she couldn’t talk to Si Yina, how could Jiang Lai explain?
Was she supposed to tell her daughter everything that had happened, not only to maintain her dignity as a father but also to protect her daughter’s mental health? No matter what, those shady things could never be revealed.
If her daughter found out that her dad, after becoming a woman, had ended up almost being pinned against a wall and played with—Jiang Lai thought even imagining this was too much, and such things must remain buried in her heart, never to be known by anyone, especially not her daughter.
Jiang Lai had a different face for everyone, but in front of her daughter, she only wanted to maintain one image: the ideal father she had in mind.
She didn’t know how to be a satisfactory and respected dad—no one had taught her, no one had explored it with her. All along, Jiang Lai had been doing her best to play her ideal role, wanting to be the person her daughter could always rely on.
If her image became so weak and wretched, easily bullied by others, she would never accept it! So, no matter what, her daughter could never find out about what happened between her and Chi Yingyu.
That included her one-night stand with Xu Ruobing, and the time Chi Yingyu almost took her body.
Since she couldn’t say it directly, that didn’t mean she couldn’t drop some hints.
As Jiang Lai was preparing her subtle approach, Chi Yingyu also noticed how absorbed Jiang Leyi was in her phone.
Even though her whole heart was set on Jiang Lai, that didn’t mean she ignored Jiang Leyi.
She was her sister’s daughter—apart from Jiang Lai, she was the most important person in Chi Yingyu’s heart.
Besides, Chi Yingyu had watched her grow up. Though she was her sister’s child, she’d almost treated her like her own, giving her all her care and energy.
When Shen Ruxue revealed her true identity, Chi Yingyu’s first worry was that her brother-in-law might return to her sister’s side, and her second was whether Jiang Leyi would no longer be as close to her.
After all, she was just the little aunt, and in some ways, couldn’t compare to Leyi’s own mother—even though she’d helped raise her.
Noticing something was off with Jiang Leyi, Chi Yingyu wasn’t as conflicted as her brother-in-law. As soon as she sensed something strange, she spoke up.
“Leyi, who are you chatting with? You’re so focused you’re not even eating your food.”
Chi Yingyu, knowing nothing, couldn’t help teasing her niece, who was so engrossed in her phone and chatting away. It looked just like someone in the early stages of a romance.
“Could it be that our girl, who’s never dated, is finally blooming? Is it a boy or a girl?”
If possible, Chi Yingyu really couldn’t bear for her niece to leave their side, but if Leyi truly liked someone, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. She was old enough to date now.
But what Chi Yingyu said as a playful tease sounded like the end of the world to Jiang Lai. Just the thought of her daughter possibly dating was a painful blow, not to mention the idea that she might be talking to Si Yina.
To Jiang Lai, nothing could be worse.
“No way, Auntie. I wouldn’t like anyone, boy or girl. Right now, I just want to stay by your sides.”
Jiang Leyi finally finished sending her last message and put away her phone.
“And it’s not what you think. I was just chatting with a high school classmate. We finally reconnected and had a lot to talk about, but I already told her I need to eat now, so I won’t be checking my phone anymore.”
In Jiang Leyi’s heart, no one was more important than her family. Not her cherished high school classmate, or the pretty girl who’d approached her, or anyone else—none of them compared to these two before her. She loved them most.
Today was supposed to be a joyful gathering, but Jiang Lai was absent-minded the whole time. Even though her daughter really didn’t touch her phone again during the meal, she still felt something was off.
Once Chi Yingyu was free, they finally had time to prepare everything needed for the New Year. But just as the family planned to go shopping, as long as Jiang Lai and Chi Yingyu went out together, a Jiang Leyi would always appear.
Whenever the two were together, the third would soon join them. Jiang Leyi used to cling to them like this, but now, things had changed.
Jiang Leyi had her own things to do. Even when they invited her to shop, she said she was busy and preferred to stay home.
Even in the past few days, whenever she didn’t speak up, Jiang Leyi was always glued to her phone, messaging someone unknown.
Jiang Lai, seeing her daughter so absorbed in her phone, grew more and more worried—especially since she still hadn’t figured out who her daughter was chatting with.
This sense of the unknown and her daughter’s sudden change made Jiang Lai anxious.
When she realized she couldn’t find out on her own, she considered asking for outside help.
One night, after Jiang Leyi returned to her room, Jiang Lai quietly went to Chi Yingyu’s door.
Jiang Lai’s House had three rooms. Besides Jiang Lai’s own Master Bedroom, which was the largest, the other two rooms were identical except for their orientation.
Despite the same layout, Chi Yingyu’s room was styled completely differently from Jiang Leyi’s. Maybe because she’d only just moved in, Chi Yingyu’s bedroom was simply furnished, matching her usual straightforward style. Perhaps since she was about to sleep, the lighting in the room was dimmed a little.
The room felt especially cozy.
“I have something I want to talk to you about……”
Chi Yingyu saw her brother-in-law enter her bedroom with a troubled face and close the door behind her. She couldn’t help but frown. But lately, had she done anything that needed to be discussed in private?
Chi Yingyu thought maybe her little mischief had been discovered—but even if it had, they weren’t anything serious.
Wasn’t it just holding Jiang Lai’s intimate clothes to her face and sniffing them while doing laundry? That hardly counted as anything terrible. While she thought over her past little antics, Jiang Lai’s emotions were on the verge of collapse.
“Yingyu, what if Leyi gets tricked by someone—what should we do?”