How old are you, bro?

In just a few months, two households had moved out of the complex in quick succession.

The first was the family with the Rottweiler. After paying their fine and serving their detention, they wasted no time packing up and getting out.

They had illegally kept an aggressive dog. Even if they hadn't moved, the other residents would have hounded them out.

The second was that crazy woman who had single-handedly brought down her elderly father just before his respectable retirement, while also landing herself at the police station for a refresher course in being a decent human being.

There was no privacy in the age of big data. If you dared to make a claim, someone would dare to verify it. The woman's father was actually just a veteran accountant at the Finance Bureau, nowhere near as all-powerful as she believed.

Of course, he might have had a few connections, but the incident had already blown up online and caught the public's attention. Who would dare get involved with them now?

The most innocent victim in all this was probably her older brother. The woman had actually quarreled with her husband and taken her daughter back to her parents' place.

But the apartment at Blue Sky No. 1 had been bought by her brother. Knowing his parents were getting older and that their old complex without elevators was no longer convenient, he had brought them over to live there.

Who could have expected disaster to land on his doorstep out of nowhere? On the day of the incident, he and his wife had both been on the night shift. They were doctors at the same hospital and had happened to be performing emergency surgery.

The moment they finished, their superior gave them a vicious dressing-down and told them to go home and sort out their family affairs before returning to work.

The bewildered couple went home, then absolutely exploded.

When Cheng Yue went to work the next day, he heard the rest from his colleagues. Apparently, the brother had immediately contacted his brother-in-law and told him to pick up the child, then sent his parents back to their old apartment.

Afterward, he had braved the pouring rain that very night and taken his wife and child to his mother-in-law's place for the time being. When Cheng Yue got off work that day, he happened to see a moving company's truck driving into the complex.

Unlike this family, the household with the Rottweiler had provoked everyone's anger. Everyone worried that their illegally kept aggressive dog would threaten their safety.

This family's situation, however, was purely a spectacle for the neighbors. The people living here were all respectable enough, and no one wanted to spend their days enduring strange looks and endless jokes.

The adults would actually have been fine. The main concern was the effect on the child's living environment. If they had the means, moving was the best option.

One rotten apple spoiled the whole barrel. The wisdom passed down by their ancestors certainly had a point.

"Pumpkin and millet porridge?"

Cheng Yue placed the car keys in front of him. "If you don't want it, you can give it back."

He was on the early shift. Where was he supposed to find time to cook anything complicated? Besides, it wasn't as if they were some wealthy household. A couple of days of nice meals had been enough to make the gesture.

Ji Huaijin demonstrated through his actions that he was perfectly happy with it, while also asking him to take the keys back. "Keep them for now."

With a mouthful of warm porridge, his stomach finally warmed up after waiting all day.

Cheng Yue picked up the cherries on the table, brought by some unknown kind soul, and popped them into his mouth one after another. "What? After freeloading off me for so many days, has Professor Ji finally started feeling guilty and decided to repay me with a car?"

Ji Huaijin chuckled, his expression calm. "If you want it, we can transfer the ownership tomorrow."

"Cough, cough..."

Although he knew Ji Huaijin had money to spare, Cheng Yue was still so startled by the casual offer of a luxury car worth over a million in exchange for a few meals that he swallowed a cherry pit.

"Careful."

The moment he started choking, Ji Huaijin had put down his bowl and walked over to him. Frowning, he tipped Cheng Yue's chin up. "Did you swallow it?"

Cheng Yue was sitting down, so Ji Huaijin bent over to get a better look, pressing firmly with his thumb. "Open your mouth."

Cheng Yue: "..."

Seriously, don't you think this position, combined with what you're saying, gives people all sorts of ideas?

Besides, I've already swallowed it. What's there to look at?

"Huaijin, look what I brought you..."

Lin Shuyang pushed the door open without the slightest warning and froze in shock at the sight before him. "What are you two doing!"

Cheng Yue closed his eyes in weary resignation.

Murphy's Law: when you thought something might go wrong, it would happen, however small the possibility. In other words, whatever you feared was exactly what you got.

One second, he had been thinking that anyone who saw them like this would definitely misunderstand. The next, someone had proved him right.

Although they had already done everything, at this particular moment they really weren't doing anything.

Ji Huaijin straightened and turned sideways to look at the man still standing stunned in the doorway. His face expressionless, he said, "If you still can't learn to knock before coming in, I don't mind hiring an etiquette tutor to teach you all over again."

All it took to keep Lin Shuyang in line was the word "learn." He shuddered reflexively at those words. "Thanks, but no need. I learned my Royal Etiquette very well. You two, on the other hand..."

Hospital room play? Pretty adventurous.

A dirty mind saw filth everywhere. The other two were fully dressed and looked perfectly normal, yet he still managed to put every innocent detail into the same dirty category.

Meeting him again under such awkward circumstances, Cheng Yue awkwardly raised a hand and waved. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Quite a coincidence. Too bad I seem to have come at the wrong time?"

Ji Huaijin sat back down on the sofa and bluntly told him to leave. "Come in if you're coming in. Otherwise, get out. Remember to close the door."

Lin Shuyang instantly felt as if he'd caught on to something. He shut the door behind him, strode over to Cheng Yue, and stared straight at him.

"So, you little unlucky duck, you're the one, aren't you?"

Huh?

Cheng Yue had no idea what he meant. "Who?"

The more Lin Shuyang thought about it, the more certain he became. He was just about to say something when Ji Huaijin cut him off.

"He has a name."

Ji Huaijin shot him a warning look, successfully making Lin Shuyang swallow the words on the tip of his tongue.

Cheng Yue glanced between them in confusion, unable to understand their cryptic exchange.

"Oh, I heard someone had been bringing Huaijin meals. So it was you."

The harder they tried to hide it, the more it proved something was going on. Lin Shuyang's eyes lit up. Ignoring Ji Huaijin's sharp gaze, he pulled over a chair and struck up a conversation with Cheng Yue, grinning shamelessly.

He had to figure out exactly how this little unlucky duck had managed to win over someone as aloof and unattainable as Ji Huaijin.

"Hi, I'm Lin Shuyang. His brother in public, his lackey in private."

Come to think of it, the two of them had met and talked before, but never introduced themselves.

Cheng Yue laughed, amused by him. He hadn't expected this rich kid, who looked so haughty, to have such a sense of humor.

"I'm Cheng Yue."

Lin Shuyang drew out a long "oh," looking him up and down. "How old are you, bro?"

"..."

Where did you dig up such an old-fashioned conversation starter?

"Twenty-seven."

He was actually twenty-six in completed years.

Lin Shuyang was a little surprised. Apart from their first encounter in the complex, Cheng Yue had looked ready to step onto a runway both times they'd met since. He was so impeccably put together that even Lin Shuyang, a longtime fashion devotee, felt outclassed.

And with that youthful, collagen-filled face, he looked every bit like a male college graduate who had only just entered the working world.

Honestly, until a few minutes ago, he'd been about to tease Ji Huaijin for robbing the cradle.

As it turned out, he had misjudged him.