Chapter 6

Chen Tianruo signaled Wang Song with her eyes and moved to sit beside Xi Siyan.
“Siyan-ge, I heard from Wang Song your doctoral defense was today.”
He nodded. “Mm.”
Jing Miao sat quietly. Xi Siyan opened his phone and put on *Despicable Me 2* for him, lightly pinching the back of his neck.
“Sit up straight. Don’t lean so close.”
Chen Tianruo stared, stunned.
When she went abroad, this person hadn’t appeared in Xi Siyan’s life yet. This was her first time seeing the legendary Jing Miao in person.
In their old social circle, mentioning Xi Siyan always brought sighs; mentioning Jing Miao always ended with “forget it.”
She had known Xi Siyan since she was twelve. More than ten years had passed, and she had never seen him this gentle and attentive.
“Siyan-ge, what do you want to do after graduation?” she asked.
That question instantly drew everyone’s interest.
A rich young man who didn’t want to inherit his mother’s business, didn’t want to enter politics with his father, and was obsessed with academics—what would he choose?
One friend said, “Siyan will definitely keep climbing in research. His materials science field has no end.”
“Among us, Siyan’s still the most accomplished. PhD at 27, national-level talent, patents like rain.”
“Exactly. And he’s handsome. And rich.”
Chen Tianruo listened to the praise and agreed inwardly.
Yes. There was no one better than Xi Siyan.
Xi Siyan just smiled faintly and didn’t respond.
“Gege, I want orange. Like a Minion.”
Jing Miao suddenly pointed at a whole orange on the fruit plate nearby.
Xi Siyan half-stood and took it. “You want the whole one?”
Jing Miao hesitated. “I can’t finish a whole one.”
“Okay, then we’ll split it half and half.” Xi Siyan began peeling it.
Wang Song and the others were already used to this.
Chen Tianruo and her friends, however, looked like their jaws might drop.
“Him? Hah. Elite talent my ass,” Wang Song snorted. “I think after graduation he’ll just become a full-time dad.”
Seeing Jing Miao inch closer and closer to the phone again, Wang Song reflexively reminded him:
“Jing Miao, one inch closer and your eyes will go into the screen.”
Xi Siyan turned back. The child had already sat up straight.
Wang Song suddenly felt ashamed of his own conditioned reflex. He wanted to smack himself—watching Xi Siyan parent for too long had contaminated him.
“University lecturer. I’ll submit the application soon,” Xi Siyan said lightly.
Chen Tianruo was shocked. “What? Wh-why?”
Not that being a teacher was bad. It just felt like such a waste.
Wang Song answered for him with annoyance:
“With his ability, he can pull strings and become a single-subject lecturer. Less money, but more time off, which makes it easier for him to go home and raise the kid.”
“Mm.” Xi Siyan admitted it openly, feeding peeled orange segments to Jing Miao one by one with his juice-sticky hand.
Chen Tianruo’s smile stiffened for a moment. She quickly recovered.
“Teaching is great too. Siyan-ge will excel at anything.”
“Ugh! Sour!”
Jing Miao’s beautiful features crumpled all at once, his whole body shivering.
Xi Siyan immediately held out his hand under his mouth.
“Spit it out.”
Jing Miao parted his lips and spat the half-chewed orange into Xi Siyan’s palm. Xi Siyan swiftly switched hands and pulled out a candy.
“Peel this yourself and eat it. Sweet.”
This time Chen Tianruo couldn’t keep up the fake smile at all.
Wang Song continued pretending he didn’t see. Everyone else was used to it. Chen Tianruo’s friends didn’t dare ask much.
The entire meal was basically a live demonstration of how Xi Siyan raised a child.
After dinner, everyone proposed a second round.
Chen Tianruo said she wanted to check out a rooftop nightclub that was trending online. No one objected.
She quickly noticed Jing Miao shrinking back. Before anyone else spoke, she stepped in front of him with a bright smile.
“Miaomiao, right? Want to go play with jiejie?”
Jing Miao shook his head and moved behind Xi Siyan.
She wasn’t annoyed; her smile stayed sweet.
“I heard the singers there are really good. They also have great snacks. Don’t you want to try?”
Half his face peeking out, he refused softly:
“I can’t eat late-night food. It makes me uncomfortable. If I’m uncomfortable, gege takes me to the hospital. I don’t like hospitals.”
His words were ordinary and his tone almost adult, but his sentence rhythm was awkward, like speech itself was difficult.
When Jing Miao talked with Xi Siyan, he was smooth and could speak at length.
But when facing anyone else, he would fall into odd pauses and halting expression.
Chen Tianruo couldn’t argue with such a proper reason.
Forcing him to go now would feel like making someone who’d just taken antibiotics drink alcohol.
“You all go ahead. I’ll take Miaomiao back first.”
As expected—if the fool didn’t go, Xi Siyan didn’t go.
Chen Tianruo’s face darkened.
She had taken the earliest flight home. The moment she landed, she came straight to see him instead of going home. Yet she couldn’t find him all day, and now at dinner they barely exchanged a few lines.
There was no trace of her in Xi Siyan’s eyes.
He was exactly like a father taking his child out—chatting about cartoons, picking every single piece of food into Jing Miao’s bowl, wiping his mouth, handing him water…
Now she proposed a second venue, and Xi Siyan still chose to go back with Jing Miao.
“Siyan-ge, we finally meet after so long. Do you really have to kill the mood like this?”
Her expression had already gone cold, and so had her words.
Wang Song saw trouble coming and stepped in:
“How about bringing Miaomiao with us? He doesn’t have to eat. You can just stay with him nearby.”
Unexpectedly, Xi Siyan’s expression cooled too.
“He said he’s not going.”
Chen Tianruo still wanted to speak, but Wang Song grabbed her first, smiling as he cut in:
“Alright then. Drive slow. Bring Miaomiao out again next time.”
Only then did Xi Siyan’s expression ease slightly.
“Mm. Have fun. Put it on my tab.”
As Wang Song drove Chen Tianruo home, he tried to make things clear without making them too explicit.
“Xiaotian, you came back to force this because you still wouldn’t give up. We’ve known each other since childhood, so let me give you one sincere piece of advice:
Jing Miao and Xi Siyan are tied for life. This is out in the open now. Uncle and Aunt have already acknowledged him as the Xi family’s young master.
You’re still young. There’s no need to rush into becoming a grown man’s stepmother.”