After their late-night meal, Ye Jing was ready to head home.
Jiang Xun tried to persuade her to stay. "Auntie, aren't you staying the night?"
Ye Jing was tall. In heels, she was even a few centimeters taller than Jiang Xun. She affectionately ruffled his hair.
"I have work early tomorrow morning, so I'll head home."
Jiang Xun clutched the seams of his trousers in embarrassment, even the tips of his ears turning faintly red.
Standing behind him, Fu Yanli happened to catch the scene.
The hand hanging at his side stirred, his fingertips rubbing together lightly.
Still mortified, Jiang Xun asked, [Six, do you sell anything that'll make me taller?]
666 replied mechanically, [No, dear.]
They saw Ye Jing off.
Jiang Xun instantly deflated like a punctured ball, his whole body drooping.
Beside the 190-centimeter Fu Yanli and the 185-centimeter Chu Xingye, his little frame, which didn't even reach 175 centimeters, made him look like a squat little gourd. He couldn't even measure up to Ye Jing.
In his previous life, he had at least been 180 centimeters tall.
Seeing him like this, Chu Xingye couldn't resist a jab. "What's wrong, you little lump of coal? You look like you owe someone millions."
Jiang Xun looked up at him. "Brother Xingye, do you think I can still grow taller?"
Chu Xingye was immediately amused. With both hands in his pockets, he narrowed his eyes and sized Jiang Xun up for a moment, then shook his head.
"Not likely."
"Tsk... dark as coal and short and squat, too. What a disaster."
Having finished gleefully mocking him, Chu Xingye headed back to his room with a spring in his step.
Jiang Xun's face fell, a cloud of gloom hanging over him. Then he tilted his head up toward Fu Yanli beside him, gazing at him pleadingly with those round, innocent puppy eyes.
"Uncle, do you think I can reach 180 centimeters?"
Looking into those eyes, Fu Yanli pressed his thin lips together. After a moment of silence, he answered tactfully, "You're fine the way you are."
So small... like a little coal briquette.
Jiang Xun: "..."
Thanks. That wasn't comforting at all.
Fu Yanli returned to his study to deal with work.
Jiang Xun sat on the couch wallowing for a long while, then wandered around the house as though searching for something.
Something felt off.
Even if Ye Jing didn't usually live here because of work, she and Fu Yanli were married, after all. Surely she stayed over occasionally?
Yet there was no trace of her having lived in this enormous house. No personal belongings, nothing.
And although the couple looked well matched, they didn't behave like an ordinary married couple. Never mind hugging or kissing-they didn't even hold hands.
Fu Yanli might be aloof by nature, but this seemed a little too aloof.
A big shot was a big shot, after all. He must have his reasons.
Jiang Xun mulled it over. After all, he had only seen what was on the surface. What they were like in private was anyone's guess.
He didn't dwell on it. His brows furrowed, and he went back to fretting about his height.
The next day, Jiang Xun remembered the matter again and quietly asked Chu Xingye about it.
"Brother Xingye, do you think Uncle and Auntie are really in love?"
Chu Xingye was playing a game. At the question, he gave Jiang Xun an odd look, then shifted farther away in distaste.
"I didn't realize you were such a gossip."
Hugging a cushion, Jiang Xun muttered, "It just popped into my head, so I asked."
Chu Xingye tossed his phone aside, abandoning his game.
"Let me tell you, you can question anyone, but don't you dare question my uncle and aunt's love." He folded his arms, looking thoroughly displeased and utterly certain.
Jiang Xun immediately leaned closer, angling his right ear toward him. "Oh? Let's hear it."
Chu Xingye shot him a sidelong glance. "Why should I tell you?"
Then Young Master Chu looked furtively in every direction. Only after making sure his uncle was still in the study did he lower his voice.
"Just a little while ago, my uncle and aunt went to my grandpa's for dinner..."
After dinner, Ye Jing had something to attend to and needed to leave early, so Fu Yanli walked her to the door.
When he came back, everyone's sharp eyes spotted a lipstick mark on his collar. Chu Xingye's mother, Fu Sang, had even examined it-the shade was exactly the one Ye Jing had worn that evening.
"They're more in love than you could imagine. What would a little lump of coal like you know?"
"Who knows how many shameless vixens out there want to seduce my uncle? But he only has eyes for my aunt. He doesn't even spare them a glance."
Chu Xingye concluded his account, not forgetting to shoot Jiang Xun a disdainful look.
"Yes, yes, yes." Jiang Xun kept nodding along, thinking that Chu Xingye was practically the head of Fu Yanli and Ye Jing's shipping fandom.
Sure enough, he had been overthinking it.
Ah, there I go shipping them again.
Another day to believe in love.
"Brother Xingye." Jiang Xun shyly lowered his head and tapped his index fingers together, all bashful and coy. "When can we have a sweet romance like Uncle and Auntie?"
Chu Xingye's expression went blank. "Over my dead body."
Jiang Xun: "..."
Fu Yanli emerged from his study with a cup and saw his nephew and his nephew's young fiancé leaning close together, whispering about something.
Hearing him, they both turned to look at him at once. His nephew even guiltily shifted to one side.
"Uncle, have you finished your work?" Jiang Xun asked with a perfectly casual smile.
Fu Yanli pressed his lips together, his expression calm. "Making coffee."
Jiang Xun said, "Drinking too much coffee at night isn't good for you. Shall I get you some milk instead?"
Fu Yanli paused, then gave a slight nod. "Mm."
Jiang Xun immediately rose and bustled eagerly into the kitchen.
Chu Xingye curled his lip in disdain. Always sucking up to my uncle. He might be short, but he certainly isn't short on schemes.
Fu Yanli cast an indifferent glance at his nephew, then returned to his study to continue working.
Before long, Jiang Xun knocked and came in with a cup of hot milk.
"Uncle, your milk." He carefully set it on the desk, then pushed it a little farther in.
Fu Yanli looked at the steaming cup of milk, then at Jiang Xun. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Get some rest early, Uncle. Don't work too late. I'll leave you to it."
The door closed. Fu Yanli kept his gaze on the screen and continued typing.
A few minutes later, he stopped and relaxed against the back of his office chair. His clean, slender hand lifted the cup, and he took a sip of warm milk.
By the time he finished his work and came out of the study, he had drained the cup.
Jiang Xun returned to his room and took a shower.
Then he began his various bedtime routines, slathering skin-brightening body lotion all over himself and applying hand cream.
Finally, he lay on his stomach on the bed, scrolling through his phone with a face mask on.
The original owner of this body had often done manual labor, exposed to the wind and sun. His skin was far too rough.
Jiang Xun browsed a shopping app. This hand mask looks pretty good. Sold.