There were five days left before New Year's Eve.
The schedule was set for Grandma and Feng Yaoqin to return to the capital.
It just so happened to be the day of the Lunar New Year.
That day, everyone went to pick them up at the airport merrily.
They arrived at the capital airport ahead of the flight's scheduled arrival time.
Qi Shaobai found the best position facing the exit.
He leaned on one hand and hopped up to sit on the railing.
Gripping the railing with both hands, he slightly raised his chin, craning to look inside.
His reckless, eager posture combined with his well-behaved sitting posture did not seem out of place at all.
Before long, Grandma's figure appeared.
The boy's eyes lit up. He couldn't wait to run over and throw his arms around Grandma.
In a loud, clear voice:
"Grandma, I missed you so much!"
Grandma was caught off guard and filled with warmth.
Smiling, she patted her great-grandson on the back,
"Oh, my little one, slow down."
Looking over Qi Shaobai's enthusiastically lowered head, Grandma saw her grandson and granddaughter-in-law not far away. The wrinkles around her eyes crinkled deeper with her smile.
Qi Mo wore a dark gray shirt with a black overcoat over it. He stood tall among the crowd.
His right hand held Sheng Mumu's. They walked towards this side.
Sheng Mumu's eyes were filled with smiles. She happily trotted over in small steps, pulling Qi Mo's hand to make him walk faster.
Qi Mo smiled slightly, striding forward with his long legs.
Seeing this, Grandma's expression suddenly froze.
Her eyebrows quietly knitted together.
Strange...
The atmosphere between little Qi and Mumu seems a little different than before.
They used to hold hands and smile at each other too, very lovingly.
But today, they looked even more like a newlywed couple.
Grandma tilted her head, looking back and forth.
She keenly sensed a subtle change in her grandson and granddaughter-in-law's relationship, but couldn't figure out what exactly had changed.
Before she could think further, the two had come up to them.
Grandma was filled with warmth again with two more hugs.
Her grandson was consistently mature and steady. His embrace was powerful. Apart from a few customary polite greetings, there were no extra words.
Her granddaughter-in-law was completely different.
All smiles, she wrapped her arms around Grandma's. She chattered away incessantly in a sweet voice that seeped into one's heart.
One moment she asked if Grandma was tired from the long flight, the next she said she wanted to make fried meatballs for Grandma later to showcase what she had learned.
Grandma smiled as she gently patted her hand, saying "Good, good, good" repeatedly.
Seeing that Sheng Mumu was chatting with Grandma, Qi Shaobai quietly went over to Grandma's other side and pulled her over.
He took out his phone from his hoodie pocket and opened the photo album.
He showed Grandma the “evidence” of his grades improving over the past few months.
In an extremely proud voice:
“Grandma, this is my final exam transcript. Look, it's not bad, right..."
Grandma squinted to look. She nodded approvingly:
“Not bad at all...your English has improved a lot...”
Qi Shaobai's eyebrows quirked up happily. His finger slid across the screen:
“My math and physics have also improved.”
“Oh yes, there’s also this one—”
“This was taken when our class performed at the school arts festival. Our act was selected as one of the top ten performances. The school gave us some useless stationery items. I randomly took a picture.”
“You brat, how can you call stationery useless,” Grandma lightly hit him. “I think the notebook and pens look quite nice.”
Qi Shaobai: “Then can I give them to you?”
Grandma gave him a look. “When you were little and didn’t want to eat certain dishes, Grandma would finish them for you. Now that you’ve grown up, you still want to give Grandma things you don’t need?”
Qi Shaobai laughed. “But these were prizes from the arts festival. They belong to both of us. You contributed too.”
Grandma: “Alright alright. Give them to me. I’ll take them back to Guangzhou and give them to my classmates.”
Qi Shaobai's eyes widened. “Your classmates?”
Grandma: “What, only you’re allowed to have classmates? My elder university classmates count too!”
“Of course they count,” Qi Shaobai laughed heartily. He flipped through his phone album again, introducing each photo, “See this one, it’s my grades from two months ago.”
Sheng Mumu and Qi Mo were left on the side. They quietly watched the overly eager Qi Shaobai.
Sheng Mumu used her elbow to nudge the man beside her, muttering:
“Young Master Qi is wagging his tail so hard I can see an afterimage. Can you see it?”
Qi Mo’s gaze lowered. He looked at Qi Shaobai’s “imaginary tail”.
The handsome arch of his brows slowly relaxed. He nodded seriously.
Lowering his voice, he said, "I see it. He's wagging quite energetically."
Sheng Mumu was stunned for half a second before looking up with a smile curving her lips.
“President Qi, I didn't know you were so good at playing along.”
She had randomly joked around. She didn't expect him to smoothly follow up like that.
Qi Mo met her gaze. His brows suddenly relaxed as he laughed softly, his eyes gentle and serene.
In a low voice: “I learned from you.”
After he spoke, he didn't give Sheng Mumu a chance to respond. He held her hand again.
His knuckles rubbed gently at her soft fingertips, fiddling as his gaze slowly lowered elsewhere.
Sheng Mumu blinked blankly.
Looking at the man's refined, profound side profile, she exclaimed inwardly: Is he still that cold president?
How can he talk like that?
One set after another.
"Qi Mo, your name is very fitting." Sheng Mumu said softly.
"Hm?" Qi Mo had just turned his head when Sheng Mumu’s hand pressed down on his shoulder.
She moved closer to his ear.
"Mo, black dog. Recently I discovered, you really are a gentleman on the surface but extremely sly and scheming on the inside. An enormous scoundrel dog."
"... " Qi Mo's body stiffened. He froze for a few seconds.
Slowly turning his head, his body slightly leaned closer to be at eye level with her.
The handsome arch of his brow quirked up slowly. His smile turned subtle.
Dragging his words, he narrowed his eyes faintly, repeating the adjective she used: "Enormous?"
"Yes, enormous." Sheng Mumu said.
Over thirty years old already, why would he still be a puppy?
Sheng Mumu was still feeling very pleased at her accurate description when a few seconds later, she suddenly stopped.
Wait...were they talking about the same thing?
His smile seemed ambiguous. As if he had misunderstood?
Sheng Mumu’s mind suddenly flashed back to a scene from earlier that morning before they left home—
Qi Mo was showering in the bathroom.
She was at her dresser happily humming a tune while putting on makeup.
Lost in song, her hand slipped and she smudged her lower eyelashes with mascara.
She had to carefully remove the area with a cotton swab and makeup remover before redoing it.
After searching around for half a day without finding any, she called out:
“Have you seen my cotton swab box? Is it there on the counter?”
The pitter-patter of water grew softer. His voice replied from inside: “I’ll bring it out for you.”
She only wanted to confirm the location of the cotton swabs, but hearing Qi Mo say that, she had no choice but to wait by the door.
Shortly after, the bathroom door opened from inside.
A box of cotton swabs was handed out towards Sheng Mumu.
Water droplets still clung to the man’s strong, muscular forearms, creating a misty effect.
As Sheng Mumu took the box, her gaze inadvertently shifted. Her breath suddenly tightened.
The scene before her eyes was intensely striking.
The man's upper body was bare. A not too thick bath towel was wrapped around his waist.
His chest and abs were exposed to the air, forming a lean and smooth inverted triangle from his broad shoulders to narrow waist.
The grooves on his abs were accented with light and shadows. His snaking hip lines were sensual.
Water droplets slid along the contours, disappearing into the depths of the towel.
The man raised a hand and casually rubbed his short wet hair with the towel. His eyes casually glanced over.
Sheng Mumu hadn’t retracted her gaze yet. It was still paused around his waist and abdomen.
The towel wasn’t too thick. She could vaguely make out a curve beneath.
Her ears instantly grew hot. She casually looked away, taking the box towards her dresser.
She had just turned when her pupils secretly shook.
How to put it.
It was...very exaggerated.
Recalling the present, Sheng Mumu felt her cheeks flush from the man's penetrating gaze beside her.
She knew he must be recalling that scene from before they left.
Otherwise, he wouldn't speak in such an ambiguous tone.
Sheng Mumu took a light breath, blushing to her ears. She glared at him:
"...Qi Black Dog! You really are a dog!"
The insulted man smiled and straightened up, his gaze slowly shifting elsewhere.
The hand holding hers moved.
His evenly shaped fingers pried her fingers open one by one, tightly interlacing them in his grip.
His tone was casual, as if to say it went without saying. "To be precise, an enormous dog."
