Zhong Jin took Little Tong back to the team during the day, and his visit to Jing City couldn't be hidden from Yu Feiyang anymore. Since they were all part of the same system, and everyone knew that Zhong Jin and Yu Feiyang were as close as brothers who could share the same pair of pants, it was inevitable that word would get back to him.
So Zhong Jin didn’t wait for someone else to break the news. He took the initiative and called Yu Feiyang, asking him to gather their old group of friends and find a place to hang out that evening.
Yu Feiyang, of course, agreed without hesitation.
"I'll pick the place, and I'll pay. You don’t need to worry about anything. Just show up on time."
Yu Feiyang’s family was actually quite well-off. Both his parents were highly educated intellectuals, and he was the product of a typical scholarly household. But as his mother often said, "This child has been ruined."
Back in school, Yu Feiyang was far from being a model student. He joined a small gang of troublemakers, initially determined to become their leader. However, since he was the best academically among them, he ended up being forced to do everyone’s homework—sometimes four or five assignments a day. Ironically, his grades skyrocketed, and he eventually ended up attending the same university as Zhong Jin, the top student.
Given his background, Zhong Jin didn’t expect Yu Feiyang to pick a fancy place for dinner.
And sure enough, it was a street-side barbecue stall.
Zhong Jin carried Little Tong out of the hotel, planning to take a ride-hailing service to meet up. Just as they stepped out, Qiu Sheng’s sleek black Bentley Flying Spur pulled up.
She rolled down the window and leaned out, "Where are you headed?"
Zhong Jin, holding the child, walked over and bent down, "Driver, are you going to Yunjingdu Subway Station?"
"It’s a bit congested over there. Is it okay if we take a detour?" Qiu Sheng played along.
"Sure."
Qiu Sheng gestured toward the back seat, "Hop in."
As the gleaming luxury car disappeared from view, the hotel security guard who had witnessed the entire scene was completely baffled. These rich kids in Jing City were really out of their minds—could she even cover the gas money driving that car as a ride-hailing service?
The car actually belonged to Zhong Jin. His parents had gifted it to him for his 25th birthday, but he found it too flashy and rarely drove it. When they divorced, he transferred both the car and the house to Qiu Sheng.
Now, seeing Qiu Sheng behind the wheel, it suited her perfectly, matching her elegant demeanor.
When they arrived at the barbecue spot Yu Feiyang had sent—Old Chen’s Barbecue—Zhong Jin got out of the car first with Little Tong, while Qiu Sheng went to find a parking spot.
Yu Feiyang and the others spotted Zhong Jin from a distance, and Zhou Tian waved at him, shouting, "Big Head, over here!"
Zhong Jin walked over with the child, set her down, and the little one, clearly a regular at these kinds of places, found her own small stool and sat down. Seeing the adults staring at her, she flashed a cheerful smile,
"Hi, Feifei."
Yu Feiyang, "..."
Yu Feiyang, "...Little Tong? Why are you still here?"
Zhong Jin sat down, bending his legs, "What do you mean, 'still here'? This is my daughter. Let me introduce you all—Zhong Yun Tong."
The group fell silent for a moment, then erupted into a chorus of questions, "Are you kidding?" "Since when do you have a daughter?" "Whose child is this, really?"
Zhong Jin ignored them, skillfully taking off Little Tong’s backpack and placing it on his lap. He leaned down and asked her, "Do you want some water?"
The child nodded.
Zhong Jin pulled out a thermos filled with warm water from the backpack, unscrewed the cap to reveal the straw, and let her hold the cup herself to drink.
From the way he handled everything, it was clear this wasn’t his first time taking care of a child.
Yu Feiyang blinked, "No way... She’s really your daughter?"
Zhong Jin pulled up the paternity test results stored on his phone and showed it to them.
Zhou Tian nudged Yu Feiyang, "You’re the expert here. Check if Big Head’s faking this."
Yu Feiyang saw the official seal on the paternity report, "Isn’t this from Du Xin’s hospital?"
Then Yu Feiyang jumped to his feet, "Holy crap, you took the kid to see Du Xin last time for a paternity test? Damn, you really kept this under wraps, huh?"
Zhou Tian’s jaw dropped, "This kid is really Big Head’s daughter? Oh my god."
Suddenly, one of them blurted out,
"Zhong Jin, be honest—did you and Qiu Sheng get divorced because of this kid? You always seemed so upright, but who knew you were playing games like this? Are you even human?"
The barbecue stall was already noisy, and this bombshell of a revelation turned the place into complete chaos.
Just then, Qiu Sheng returned after parking the car, "What’s all the commotion about?"
The friends were even more confused, "Didn’t you and Big Head get divorced? When did you two get back together? Wait, is this chubby little girl your daughter?"
Qiu Sheng calmly sat down next to Little Tong, "What’s so strange about it? I’m somewhat of a public figure—keeping a child a secret is pretty standard, right?"
Yu Feiyang asked, "So are you two back together now?"
Qiu Sheng and Zhong Jin answered in unison, "No."
Zhong Jin added, "At the moment, Ms. Qiu Sheng and I are co-parenting."
The friends, having never seen anything like this before, were completely thrown off. They started bombarding them with questions.
Until a small, impatient voice cut through the noise, "When’s the food coming?"
Everyone suddenly fell silent.
Little Tong tapped the table with her chopsticks, "Did you guys order lamb skewers and beef fat skewers or not?"
Caught up in the drama of the ex-couple, no one had even thought about ordering yet.
Once the skewers arrived, they also ordered some fresh beer.
The friends, all busy with their own lives, hadn’t gotten together in a while. Taking advantage of the opportunity, they all decided to let loose, and most of them had a drink or two.
Zhong Jin helped Little Tong pull the meat off the skewers and placed it in her small bowl, then turned to Qiu Sheng, "You can have a drink with them. I’ll drive back later."
Qiu Sheng shook her head, "I’ll drive. You have a drink."
Back in the day, during their gatherings, Zhong Jin would always be the designated driver while Qiu Sheng drank. She always thought her alcohol tolerance was better than his, but Zhong Jin believed she just liked drinking.
"Qiu Sheng’s not drinking today?" Zhou Tian asked.
"I recently had a cosmetic procedure done. I can’t drink. Zhong Jin can have a drink with you guys."
Their group never pressured anyone to drink—those who wanted to could, and those who didn’t weren’t forced. Hearing Qiu Sheng’s explanation, no one pushed further.
Zhong Jin poured himself a glass of fresh beer.
Zhong Jin didn’t show signs of being drunk easily. Even when he’d had too much, he remained composed, sitting quietly as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
No one could tell if he was actually drunk.
Until Zhou Tian asked if he wanted to order more food, and Zhong Jin pointed at Little Tong, saying, "My daughter’s a bit picky, but her health check-up results are perfect." That’s when Qiu Sheng realized he was already drunk.
"Stop drinking," Qiu Sheng took the glass away from him.
Zhong Jin didn’t protest. He picked up Little Tong, who was dozing off against the table, and cradled her against his chest, letting her sleep.
By the time the gathering ended, most of them were pretty drunk. Qiu Sheng, being the only sober one, called rides for each of them and sent the disoriented friends off.
She told Zhong Jin to wait on the bench with the child while she went to get the car.
Zhong Jin, appearing perfectly calm as if he hadn’t been drinking, nodded, "Alright, drive carefully. I’m fine."
When Qiu Sheng returned with the car, she found Zhong Jin chatting with the barbecue stall owner, "Do you have a daughter? This is my daughter."
Qiu Sheng pulled over and shouted, "Zhong Jin, get in the car."
Zhong Jin turned and waved at her, then continued talking to the owner, "My kid’s really well-behaved. She doesn’t cry, never cries. I get a headache hearing other kids cry, but mine doesn’t. She’s really good."
Qiu Sheng couldn’t bear to watch.
She put on her sunglasses, marched over, and dragged Zhong Jin away.
Back at the hotel, Qiu Sheng didn’t feel comfortable leaving a drunk man alone with a child, so she decided to stay the night.
Zhong Jin placed the child on the large bed, rummaged through the suitcase, and pulled out a set of pajamas to change her into. She then went to the bathroom, wrung out a warm towel, and used it to wipe the child's face and hands. She grabbed another towel to clean the child's feet.
Everything was done in an orderly manner.
Qiu Sheng leaned against the doorframe and asked, "Are you actually drunk or not?"
"No."
Zhong Jin walked into the bathroom with a calm expression, picked up her toothbrush, squeezed some toothpaste onto it, and stood there brushing her teeth.
Qiu Sheng walked over and took a look, then asked, "Are you brushing your teeth?"
Zhong Jin, with her teeth bared, was brushing the mirror with her toothbrush, leaving foam all over it. She asked with an air of nonchalance, "What are you looking at? Haven't you seen someone brush their teeth before?"
Qiu Sheng pouted, "I've seen people brush their teeth, but I've never seen someone brush the teeth in the mirror."
After Zhong Jin finished washing up, Qiu Sheng arranged for her to sleep on the sofa in the suite. She then went into the bathroom to clean the toothpaste foam off the mirror and took a shower.
When Qiu Sheng came out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe, she saw Zhong Jin asleep on the sofa. Somehow, Zhong Jin had managed to change into her pajamas. She was curled up with a pillow in her arms, her handsome profile half-buried under a blanket, the other half illuminated by the warm yellow glow of the bedside lamp.
"That jerk is actually quite good-looking," Qiu Sheng muttered as she pulled the blanket up to cover the exposed half of Zhong Jin's face.
Before falling asleep that night, Qiu Sheng had been sharing the big bed with Little Tong.
When she woke up in the morning, Zhong Jin had somehow crawled into the big bed. Little Tong was nestled in her arms, and one of Zhong Jin's legs was stretched out, resting on Qiu Sheng's stomach.
Qiu Sheng lifted Zhong Jin's leg by the pajama pants and moved it to the side. Seeing that Zhong Jin was still asleep, she grabbed her eyebrow pencil from the nightstand and colored Zhong Jin's big toe black.
Having drunk the night before, Zhong Jin woke up later than Qiu Sheng for the first time. She sat on the bed with her back hunched and her long legs spread apart, staring blankly at her blackened big toe.
Qiu Sheng walked out of the bathroom after finishing her makeup and glanced at Zhong Jin. "What's wrong with your foot?"
Zhong Jin, "......"
Qiu Sheng feigned surprise, "Is your toe necrotic or something?"
Zhong Jin wiggled her toe. It moved just fine—no necrosis.
Little Tong, awakened by her parents' voices, rubbed her eyes and sat up, her messy black hair sticking out in all directions. When she saw her father's blackened toe, the poor child froze in shock and quickly waved her hands, "It wasn't me, I swear!"
"Do you need to pee?" Zhong Jin reached out and pinched the child's cheek, her voice hoarse as she asked.
The child stretched out her arms, "Yes."
Zhong Jin carried the child into the bathroom and turned back to Qiu Sheng, "You should throw that eyebrow pencil away. Don't use it after it's touched my foot."
