A trip to the bathroom

That evening, Luo Ye went into a room.

Fan Jian said, "This is my son's room. It's been empty since he left for work. You can sleep here."

"Okay, Uncle," Luo Ye said politely.

But Fan Jian frowned.

Uncle?

Who are you calling Uncle?

He glanced back at the room next door, where Fan Xinya and Su Baizhou were staying.

Their courtyard home had three rooms in total: the room he shared with his wife, his son's room, and a spare room.

After he brought Fan Xinya back from Hangzhou, she had moved into the spare room. Normally, when Su Baizhou came back, she would stay in the room Luo Ye was using, but with Luo Ye here, she could only share a bed with her mother.

The toilet was out in the courtyard, so using it meant going outside.

Luo Ye was still a little unaccustomed to that.

Still, when in Rome. There was nothing he could do about it.

But Fan Jian did not leave. He plopped down at the end of the heated brick bed in Luo Ye's room and asked sternly, "Kid, what do you like about our Rice Rice?"

At that, Luo Ye's expression turned completely earnest.

He did not dare hide anything from her uncle.

He had already come to his senior's home. If he still claimed he did not like her, he could guess that her uncle would kick him out the very next second.

Luo Ye was so nervous that he had not even noticed how he was addressing him.

"I don't know!"

Luo Ye answered with great conviction. Then, seeing Fan Jian's fierce expression, he shrank back and added earnestly, "I can't put it into words, but she really is amazing. Whenever she comes up, I like everything about her."

Hearing this, Fan Jian nodded in complete agreement.

Indeed, his Rice Rice really was that outstanding.

But his sister's marriage had been unhappy, so as her uncle, he had to be strict when it came to his niece's choice of a life partner.

"Kid, what does your family do for work?"

"Huh? My aunt and her husband run a company. They develop game software."

"Who asked about your aunt? I'm asking about your parents."

Fan Jian stared fiercely at Luo Ye.

Dodging the question and changing the subject. Major points deducted.

"My parents? I don't have any."

Luo Ye said this calmly. Clearly, he was already used to having grown up without parents.

"What?" Fan Jian frowned and looked at Luo Ye in confusion.

"I don't have parents. They died in the line of duty before I was old enough to remember."

Seeing the young man's unchanged expression, Fan Jian froze.

How could someone make Fan Jian feel unbearably guilty with a single sentence?

Luo Ye had managed it.

The moment he said that, Fan Jian felt as though needles were piercing his heart. It hurt like hell.

He had a child of his own and was a father himself, so it was all too easy to imagine his own child losing both parents at a young age and growing up all alone...

But... no.

Fan Jian's expression grew resolute again.

He could not go soft. Fan Xinya's experience was a cautionary tale right before his eyes. However pitiful Luo Ye might be, he was still an outsider. He had to think of Su Baizhou.

His niece was outstanding. He had heard that she had already secured a recommendation for postgraduate admission at Jiangda. Soon, the Fan family would have its first postgraduate student, and she was beautiful, too. Naturally, Fan Jian had high standards for her future boyfriend.

Winning the approval of elders like them took more than a sob story.

Besides, it was not that he discriminated against children without parents. Growing up in a troubled family environment could shape someone into a very different sort of person, making disagreements with others more likely.

He could sympathize with others, but he could not risk his own family.

Wait, this kid didn't say they passed away. He said they died in the line of duty. What did that mean?

"When you say they died in the line of duty..." Fan Jian asked after a silence.

At his words, Luo Ye recalled what his aunt had told him.

His parents had not abandoned him on purpose. They were the people who loved him most in the world.

But their duties had meant they could not stay with their loved ones, and they had ultimately died while pursuing criminals.

After hearing the story, Fan Jian burst into tears.

"Those damned criminals!"

He slammed a fist onto the end of the heated brick bed, then hugged Luo Ye and said solemnly, "Son, from now on, I'm your uncle. I'm your family."

Luo Ye: ...

You're way too emotional.

Luo Ye had earned Fan Jian's approval.

But it did not actually do him much good.

In the household hierarchy, Fan Jian ranked only above his son. He was even below Big Yellow out in the courtyard.

Big Yellow was an old yellow-coated dog they had kept for almost ten years. A fierce and formidable guardian of the house, he was much more useful than Fan Jian.

After Fan Jian left, Luo Ye lay on the heated brick bed, staring at the rather rough ceiling.

It lacked the bustle of the city, but there was a warmth to this place.

Luo Ye began recalling everything he had experienced that day.

The scenes in his mind soon settled on Fairy Senior leaning against his shoulder on the bus.

At the thought, Luo Ye rolled back and forth on the bed, so excited that he could not calm down at all.

Luckily, he had finished writing his novel update that morning. Otherwise, his readers would have had to put up with missing an update today.

Late that night.

Luo Ye woke with an urgent need to pee.

Still half-asleep, he sat up in bed, then looked blankly around.

The toilet... where was the toilet?

Luo Ye put on his slippers, opened the door, and stepped into the courtyard.

Without moonlight, a night in the countryside could only be described as pitch-black.

Right now, Luo Ye could not see a thing.

Luo Ye wandered around the courtyard, searching for the toilet.

Soon, he entered a little dark room.

Unable to find the light, he could only turn on his phone's flashlight.

Looking around the little room and sniffing the pungent odor in the air, Luo Ye confirmed that this was the toilet.

After relieving himself, Luo Ye switched off the flashlight and walked out.

Just then, a figure came in and collided with Luo Ye.

Su Baizhou cried out in pain. Recognizing his senior's voice, Luo Ye reacted immediately. He stepped forward and slipped an arm around her lower back. Just as he was about to pull off a cool move, his foot slipped, and he fell anyway.

But before he hit the ground, he pulled Su Baizhou against him, cushioning her fall with his own body.

"Are you okay?" Luo Ye asked.

"I'm fine."

Su Baizhou looked at the young man pressed against her, her voice betraying no emotion. But in the darkness, Luo Ye could not see how red her face had become.

It was too dark to see anything, save for a faint glimmer in their eyes.

Their eyes met instinctively, and neither spoke.

His senior's body was soft. She usually wore loose clothes, and only when they were pressed together like this did Luo Ye realize how perfect her figure was.

He could distinctly feel two bunnies squashed against his chest, unable to move.

Holding his senior in his arms, Luo Ye had only one thought.

Bliss...

"Have you held me long enough?"

Although Su Baizhou had not resisted, she was afraid she would faint if this went on any longer.

For some reason, her face was burning, and her mind was starting to go hazy.