Chapter 24

Zhong Yuan smiled. “His wife cried all the way to the institute. If he can’t comfort him, he’ll absolutely explode tonight. Professor Song is the real one—gave him half a day off to comfort him. Otherwise he’d just be dragged off, and later he’d be smashing doors.”
Song Fuxue: “...”
Xi Siyan had a private dorm room at the institute. Jing Miao wasn’t coming for the first time.
He refused to live in the shared dorms, saying there’d be nowhere to bring Jing Miao if he came. The Xi family donated ten million to Huada, and the institute carved out a decent single room for him.
Clearly, Xi Siyan didn’t stay there often—the bedding still looked brand new.
Xi Siyan locked the door, shut the windows, drew the curtains, turned on a small lamp—all in one breath—then hurried to coax Jing Miao:
“Baby, talk to gege. What’s wrong? Did I make you angry? Or did you miss me too much? I’m sorry, baby. I’ve been too busy these days and didn’t keep you company properly. Don’t be mad anymore, okay?”
Jing Miao punched his chest between sob-hiccups, but couldn’t bear to hit hard—purely like he was acting spoiled.
“Do you not love me anymore?”
“What nonsense are you saying?” Xi Siyan kissed him to cut him off. “I love you so much I could die, and you say I don’t love you?”
Jing Miao cried even harder. “Mom said… said you used to not be able to go a few steps without me. Now you can come home at midnight. Next you won’t come home at all!”
“And just now you were smiling and talking to someone else! You never smile and talk to other people!”
Xi Siyan surrendered, half amused and half in awe of his mother.
Since starting school, Jing Miao was basically “a small cry every two days, a big cry every five.” Anyone else would’ve been exhausted. Xi Siyan, however, liked it.
Every time Jing Miao cried, it was for reasons that hit right in Xi Siyan’s heart and made him love him even more.
Xi Siyan had long realized his own twisted preference.
Before they were officially together, Jing Miao would cling, and after Xi Siyan’s earlier awful behavior, Jing Miao would secretly cry. Xi Siyan had already felt a dark satisfaction.
Now that they were together, Jing Miao cried because of him—Xi Siyan liked it even more.
He liked it because Jing Miao’s world was only him.
Xi Siyan had already told Jing Miao he would have over a week of overtime—the reason was to save up a long break to spend winter vacation with him.
Jing Miao had been happy and promised he would absolutely not cause trouble.
And Jing Miao really had been good.
For several days, he didn’t call. He didn’t cry or fuss. He was obedient to a fault.
Xi Siyan actually wasn’t used to it.
If his mind were lowered to Jing Miao’s level, he would also cry and ask Jing Miao whether he didn’t love him anymore.
Su Wan was truly skilled—just a few lines and she had provoked Jing Miao into crying all the way to the institute, crying right into Xi Siyan’s heart.
It was just that her words were ridiculously exaggerated.
“My precious Miaomiao, stop crying,” Xi Siyan coaxed, voice low and rapid. “Why do you think gege comes home late? You know why.”
“And don’t listen to Mom’s nonsense. What do you mean I used to not be able to go a few steps without you? I still can’t.”
“I miss you so much every day I could die, baby. It’s your fault you can’t stay awake—every time I get home you’re already asleep.”
“Don’t you feel it? Every night I kiss you all over before I sleep. You never wake up. Do you know how hard that is for gege?”
“And I was smiling and talking because work is about to end—I was thinking you were coming, that’s why I smiled.”
He panicked into promises:
“I promise I won’t smile anymore, okay?”
He kissed him and pulled at his clothes, voice turning soft. “Miaomiao… kiss me.”
Finally soothed, Jing Miao slowly stopped crying. “Gege… when I’m on break, can I stay with you at the institute?”
Xi Siyan hesitated. “It’s not as comfortable as home.”
“I’m not afraid! I don’t want to be home alone!” Jing Miao pleaded, tears starting again. “Please, gege. I won’t bother you at work. I’ll wait here obediently.”
“Oh, good baby—don’t cry.” Xi Siyan held him and soothed him. “Okay, okay. Tonight you wait here for me to get off work, alright? Tomorrow gege will bring you to work too.”
“Endure two or three more days. Then gege will be home with you every day.”
Xi Siyan hugged him and sighed softly.
Jing Miao indulged him, and Xi Siyan indulged Jing Miao. Over the past year, Jing Miao’s body had grown softer and more resilient.
After five days without touching him, Xi Siyan had been restrained to the limit.
Sometimes he found it strange: before, he could endure. Once they crossed that line, he couldn’t control himself at all.
Any time, any place—just looking at his precious baby so pretty, his mind would drift.
They stayed tangled for hours. When it was finally over and they cleaned up, it was already around dinner time. Xi Siyan only reined himself in when he feared Jing Miao might go hungry.
Xi Siyan ordered delivery from Jinjiu Sunshine.
Normally, if you ordered from Jinjiu to Huada during peak hours, it could take two hours to arrive, so Xi Siyan had never ordered it.
When Jing Miao wasn’t with him, Xi Siyan just ate whatever the cafeteria or colleagues’ takeout offered.
But Jing Miao was different.
Back when he lived in the Xi household and things weren’t great, he still ate the housekeeper’s cooking. That auntie was an exceptional cook—she had once been a state-banquet chef—so Xi Siyan learned excellent cooking from her.
Later, the auntie Xi Siyan hired was also very good. Jing Miao was picky, so she kept improving until it got better and better.
After the accident, Jing Miao’s palate had been raised by rotating “three chefs.” He hadn’t eaten cafeteria food or takeout for even one day.
When they ate out, he would only accept Jinjiu Sunshine’s dishes.
Afraid he would get hungry and upset, Xi Siyan had to use a bit of “status.”
In less than forty minutes, Jinjiu Sunshine’s lobby manager personally drove their Rolls-Royce—used to pick up VIP guests—to deliver the food.
The spectacle stunned the new young staff at the institute and nearby grad students picking up their own takeout.
Xi Siyan thanked them, grabbed the food, and hurried back to the dorm.
After feeding Jing Miao dinner, it was nearly seven. Xi Siyan saw Jing Miao was worn out and didn’t force him to walk. He made him stand for a few minutes at most, then let him sleep.
Jing Miao didn’t want to close his eyes. He missed Xi Siyan too much. He was afraid that once he slept, he’d have to wait for days again.
So he lay there blankly, staring at Xi Siyan, not letting him leave.
Xi Siyan stroked his face and spoke softly, telling him about the institute.
Jing Miao slowly fell asleep in his palm, still holding his hand, drowsy.
“They hire work-study students to babysit the data overnight—20 yuan an hour. A six-hour overnight shift is 120 yuan plus a 15-yuan breakfast coupon… and then they still have to go to class…”
Xi Siyan talked about many things.
Only after he saw Jing Miao’s breathing smooth out and his body rise and fall evenly did Xi Siyan finally lower his voice to say what had been on his mind:
“I didn’t notice this problem before. Heat-resistance testing in Materials is done like this—night after night, stacking hundreds of hours. Students, professors, researchers, none of us can endure it. So they started this work-study system.”
“If someone really can’t keep going, they can apply for a stipend, and work-study students will fill in.”
“The day before yesterday, when Zhong Yuan mentioned it, I suddenly felt unsettled. So I went to look up the work-study roster from four years ago.”