Fu Huixing simply wanted to make a New Year's greeting call to Shi Li. Since calling too early or too late would seem too deliberate, he chose an ordinary time on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year.
He should have hung up after exchanging New Year's greetings.
However, through the phone receiver, he heard Feng Yunhe's voice. Though the male voice was intermittent and unclear, Fu Huixing was absolutely certain that the voice belonged to Feng Yunhe.
This meant that Shi Li was currently with Feng Yunhe.
Regardless of whether Shi Li had actively sought out Feng Yunhe or if they were together for some other reason, the fact remained that Feng Yunhe and Shi Li were together at this moment.
This realization made Fu Huixing feel uneasy.
The Fu Family Villa was very lively at the moment, with family members who rarely returned home coming back to celebrate the New Year together.
This included Fu Huixing's biological mother, with whom he rarely had contact.
Mother and son had no private communication, let alone any public interaction.
During New Year's, a time for family reunions, there was always a strange atmosphere lingering throughout the Fu household.
This atmosphere was entirely due to the presence of Fu Huixing's mother.
Of course, everyone in the Fu family was skilled at maintaining appearances, expertly putting on a show of being a warm and loving family.
The only exception was Fu Zhanyang, the second young master of the Fu family, whose simple nature made him appear as if he were sitting on pins and needles, visibly uncomfortable.
He disliked this atmosphere at home and desperately wanted to escape.
Fu Huixing naturally noticed his cousin's small gestures; the second cousin's thoughts were so obvious they required no deep analysis.
He approached Fu Zhanyang and asked quietly, "Cousin, do you want to get some fresh air?"
Fu Zhanyang's naive and foolish eyes immediately lit up, and he nodded.
Fu Huixing then suggested, "Shall we go out for some air?"
Fu Zhanyang continued nodding; this was perfect.
Because his ex-girlfriend turned out to be a corporate spy and human trafficker, the family had been sympathetic to Fu Zhanyang during his period of heartbreak. However, after he emerged from his post-breakup depression, the entire family's attitude toward him took a complete 180-degree turn.
He had become the family's black sheep, someone his parents would occasionally mock.
As the current bottom tier of the family, even the two dogs he kept had higher status than him.
If his status dropped any lower, he'd be fighting with the dogs for food in their kennel.
As someone with no voice in the family, even though he wanted to go out and play with friends, he didn't dare.
A person without status wasn't entitled to have their own thoughts, let alone act on them.
After all, the last time he followed his own thoughts, he not only nearly harmed himself but almost endangered the entire family.
His cousin was considered half an outsider in the Fu family, having only been brought home by his aunt after elementary school, and he didn't spend much time at the Fu Family Villa.
Previously, his presence hadn't been very noticeable, and Fu Zhanyang wasn't sure when his cousin had gained more influence in the family.
Could it be because his grades had improved that his father had started viewing Fu Zhanyang differently?
That's what Fu Zhanyang guessed.
His cousin was different from him; he was the family's disgrace, while his cousin was free to do as he pleased.
He thought to himself that it wasn't his own desire to go out, but rather his cousin wanting to take him out.
With this mental justification, he felt more confident about leaving the house.
Fu Zhanyang called out to his mother, "Mom, I'm going out for some air with Huixing."
Mrs. Fu didn't look at her own son, instead fixing her gaze on Fu Huixing before nodding, "Alright, go ahead."
Fu Zhanyang, who was used to being treated like thin air: ...You heartless woman!
Finally escaping the strange atmosphere at home, Fu Zhanyang let out a huge sigh of relief.
He really thought his cousin just wanted to get some simple fresh air outside, but he hadn't expected Fu Huixing's idea of getting air would involve going to someone else's house.
After all, on New Year's Day, there weren't many places open for entertainment.
Moreover, Fu Zhanyang didn't think he and his cousin would have much in common to enjoy together.
"It was getting stuffy at home, and I saw you were getting drowsy staying there."
Fu Zhanyang felt touched, not having realized before that his cousin Fu Huixing cared about him so much.
Being naturally straightforward, he had no filter when speaking to his cousin.
He complained, "It's too boring at home, nothing interesting to do. I want to go out."
During New Year's, other families would play cards and more cards, but their family just sat around staring at each other, unable to play cards or use phones, gathered around the TV watching the unbearably boring Spring Festival Gala.
Occasionally, some of the elders' former subordinates would come to pay New Year visits, and listening to the old folks reminisce about the past was extremely boring for him.
They had already watched the boring Spring Festival Gala on New Year's Eve, so why did they have to watch it again today?
"If Second Brother is feeling bored, you could hang out with friends, though I'm not sure if your friends are available now, they're probably busy with New Year visits."
Fu Zhanyang, being used to doing whatever he pleased, wasn't the type to consider others.
He put his arm around Fu Huixing's shoulders, "You're right, our home is boring, I can find someone to hang out with."
Fu Zhanyang picked up his phone and started looking for people to contact.
Shi Quan wasn't his first choice, but after calling several others who were either not home or too busy, only Shi Quan remained. After three seconds of silence, Shi Quan said, "Alright then, come over."
Whether herding one sheep or two, or even a whole flock, it didn't matter.
He realized that the possibility of seeing his girlfriend today was zero, so he stopped struggling.
After leaving the elderly couple's home, everyone had gained something, such as candies in their pockets or mouths.
Shi Ruan gained something extra compared to others – she had added contact information for several handsome younger brothers to her phone.
After leaving the villa, Shi Quan stopped by the roadside, showing no intention of heading to the next house.
Shi Ruan was busy giving Shi Li death glares, and neither of them noticed.
Until a flashy pink sports car stopped in front of everyone, and out jumped Fu Zhanyang in bright red clothes, followed by the more properly dressed Fu Huixing.
[My eyes have been contaminated]
Fu Zhanyang's all-red outfit polluted the environment and people's eyes wherever he went.
Shi Li simply focused her gaze on Fu Huixing instead, whose fresh appearance temporarily relieved her contaminated eyes.
People like to wear red during New Year's, and Shi Li also had a lot of red in her outfit.
However, when Huang Jie dressed her daughter, beauty was an important factor alongside festiveness.
Therefore, Shi Li's outfit was eye-catching without being jarring.
As long as he wasn't with his own family, Fu Zhanyang was always particularly enthusiastic.
He excitedly greeted everyone and wished them Happy New Year, but when it came to giving red envelopes, things became awkward. He had only brought two red envelopes, intended for Shi Quan's two sisters.
Since he was Shi Quan's classmate, only Shi Li and Shi Ruan were younger than him in the Shi family.
It was natural for an older brother figure to give red envelopes to younger sisters.
He hadn't expected others to be present.
These days, people's appearances often don't match their actual ages – a six-foot-tall boy might be an elementary school student with a children's smart watch, and a beautiful young woman might be a mother of two. These things were unpredictable.
Fu Zhanyang didn't dare assume whether these two were older than him.
But it wouldn't look good to only give red envelopes to the Shi sisters.
So he decided to wait and give the red envelopes privately when others weren't around.
Fu Zhanyang's intelligence flickered briefly before going offline again.
He put his arm around his good friend's shoulder, "You're too kind, waiting for me specially by the road. I come to your house often, I won't get lost."
Indeed, he had misunderstood that the group was waiting specifically for him by the roadside.
The three Shi siblings were used to Fu Zhanyang's occasional moments of confusion, having seen them many times before.
Feng Yunhe had heard about it but had never witnessed it firsthand.
As for Liang Rongrong, this was her first time meeting Fu Zhanyang, and she didn't even know who he was.
Liang Rongrong had been living with the Feng family for quite some time, but Feng's Father hadn't thought about taking her out to see the world, and it wouldn't have been appropriate anyway.
This should have been Feng's Mother's responsibility, but she had poor health and had been staying in a sanatorium recently, rarely going out, let alone taking Liang Rongrong out to socialize.
Liang Rongrong began attending various social events after becoming a minor celebrity through advertising, accompanied by her agent.
However, at that time, the Fu Family's second young master was under the dark cloud of discovering his girlfriend was a human trafficker, and for a long period, he had avoided such meaningless social interactions.
So it was understandable that Liang Rongrong didn't know the Fu Family's second young master.
However, the Fu Family's second young master was handsome and warm-hearted, quite different from the cold personalities of Shi Quan and Feng Yunhe.
Liang Rongrong took quite a liking to the Fu Family's second young master.
Being naturally forward with men, and especially since she had such a good impression of the Fu Family's second young master, her attitude unconsciously became rather eager.
The Fu Family's second young master was typically gentle and considerate towards women, but his ex-girlfriend had left him with deep psychological trauma, causing him to involuntarily think of that human trafficker whenever he met girls of a similar type.
As luck would have it, Liang Rongrong gave him the same feeling as his ex-girlfriend - both were the delicate, vulnerable type of girl.
He was truly scared.
So Liang Rongrong noticed that while the Fu Family's second young master was exceptionally warm to everyone else one moment, the next moment when she merely spoke one sentence to him, he would distance himself from her as if she carried some contagious disease.
Having always been treated courteously by men, this was the first time she'd experienced such double standards.
Liang Rongrong was nearly furious to death.
