Chapter 197

A Ling sent me to see you, and to let you know.

Zhou Yinhe curled his lip and said, "I told you, I made this trip for nothing; she insisted I come."

Ning Qing gave him an amused glance. Could she not understand this little thought? She went along with her son's words:

If you were half as thoughtful as A Ling, your father and I would be satisfied.

"Oh." Zhou Yinhe lowered his head silently.

Zhou Shuanglin sipped her meal wine and said lightly, "Bring Qin Lao and Wen Lao with you; take good care of them, and be sure to bring everyone who needs to come."

Seeing Ning Qing's look, he hesitated, then went on: "When you return, shouldn't we also get ready for our two families to meet?"

Zhou Yinhe gave a soft 'hmm.' "More or less."

Seeing his hesitation and uncertainty, Shang Zhiyu smiled and said, "Is Xiao Wu lacking confidence?"

"……" Zhou Yinhe's chopsticks, held in his hand, froze midair, then quickly resumed as he went back to picking vegetables.

Zhou Qiyue glanced at him and snorted, "Men being overconfident isn't good either."

All the men present, whether they had spoken or not, fell silent.

Zhou Yinhe ultimately didn't stay at Feng Qi Yuan, and his excuse was so airtight no one could find fault.

I'll go back; tomorrow I can just leave directly—if I stayed overnight I'd have to take a detour.

Zhou Shuanglin gave a cold wave of her hand, and after he left she told Ning Qing, "This son was basically raised for nothing."

Ning Qing smiled gently: "Then it's not completely in vain, after all we found a good daughter-in-law for ourselves."

——

The next morning, Wen Ling woke early, but Zhou Yinhe wasn't by her side.

She got up, washed up, and checked the time—three hours left until departure.

She stretched, took the elevator down, and Zhou Yinhe was standing in the living room watching the butler direct the servants as they loaded luggage onto the car.

Why are you up so early?

Zhou Yinhe glanced back, smiling lightly: "It's not early anymore."

The custom ring he'd ordered last night wasn't ready, so he took back the company piece meant for Wen Ling to wear just for fun as a backup; this morning he learned it was finished, so he got up early to retrieve it.

He felt his pocket, and Wen Ling noticed this small gesture, her heart tightening.

She could tell Zhou Yinhe's trip was to propose, but when the moment arrived she still felt nervous.

"Grandpa and Grandpa? Still not up?" Wen Ling glanced around—Lu Zhaoye and Qin Yuyang weren't there either.

"Out back, their routine is far healthier than ours."

Wen Ling let out a soft hum and walked from the corridor to the backyard to look for a few people.

Qin Lao and Wen Lao stood by the fish pond with hands behind their backs, watching the fish; Qin Yuyang leaned against Lu Zhaoye, acting spoiled, hoping Lu Zhaoye would take him to try something like skydiving when he arrived.

Lu Zhaoye was annoyed to death by his pestering, and irritably said, "Go find your older sister and your future brother-in-law; if they agree, I'll take you to play."

"They definitely won't agree, bro—just take me once." Qin Yuyang naturally knows who's easy to talk to; as for his brother-in-law, his face fell—aside from his older sister not fearing him, there are a few in Sijiucheng who don't fear him.

Wen Ling heard Qin Yuyang's words, frowned and shouted, "Qin Yuyang, what are you trying to do?"

Qin Yuyang jumped, pulled his hand back, afraid to speak; Lu Zhaoye gave him an amused glance.

He really knows how to read people.

Wen Ling had already approached; Qin Yuyang tucked himself behind Lu Zhaoye, not daring to look at her face.

Qin Yuyang, what did you just say you wanted to do?

Lu Zhaoye, enjoying the show, smirked: "He wants me to take him skydiving."

Ha, you've gotten bold—how old are you to think of skydiving? Wait till you've learned properly before jumping.

Then it's over—he'll never be able to skydive in his lifetime, what a shame.

Wen Ling glared at Lu Zhaoye, who was laughing while watching the commotion; Lu Zhaoye raised an eyebrow, lifted both hands in surrender, and stepped aside to watch Wen Ling scold her cousin with hands on hips.

Well... huh, what an interesting scene—he had never seen anything like it.

Qin Yuyang's eyes sparkled with stars from being scolded; he stepped forward, for the first time getting so close to Wen Ling, grabbed her hand and urged, "Cousin sister, I'm not going, I'm not going!"

"Really?" Wen Ling lowered her head, looking at Qin Yuyang's pitiful expression.

Unlike Zhou Yinhe's usual aggrieved look, Qin Yuyang seemed truly aggrieved...

"All right." Wen Ling let him off, only then noticing that Qin Yuyang was affectionately holding her hand.

She froze for a moment, her fingers tightened, and she still grasped Qin Yuyang's small hand.

She looked up and called out to Qin Lao and Wen Lao: "Breakfast is ready!"

The five walked forward together, Qin Yuyang continually holding Wen Ling's hand without letting go.

The butler had already gone ahead to send off the luggage; Zhou Yinhe was on the phone by the floor-to-ceiling window, hearing footsteps he turned around, saw Qin Yuyang holding Wen Ling's hand, and frowned.

"I'm hanging up." He ignored whoever was still speaking on the other end, directly ended the call, turned and walked to Wen Ling, pried Qin Yuyang's hand away and took her hand for himself.

Wen Ling chuckled: "What are you doing?"

"No, I just saw a red spot on your hand and wanted to see what's wrong." Zhou Yinhe chuckled lightly, secretly glaring at the innocent Qin Yuyang.

Lu Zhaoye walked past them, snorted and teased: "Men, men, the air is so sour—did the kitchen vinegar bottle tip over?"

As he spoke, he headed toward the dining room; Zhou Yinhe gave a cold snort, took Wen Ling's hand to wash it, then used a warm towel to wipe the water droplets from her hand.

"It's not that serious—he's my cousin."

"What's wrong with your cousin? When a son grows up he avoids his mother, and besides, you're his cousin sister."

"……"

Wen Ling didn't know what to say; anyway, whenever she tried to reason with Zhou Yinhe, he always had a contrary argument to throw back.

He's like a living ETC, automatically raising objections.

After breakfast, Wen Ling returned to her room to change clothes, and then everyone headed together to the private jet airport built especially for these young masters.

The plane flew smoothly in the sky; Wen Ling boredly flipped through a fashion magazine, and whenever she saw something she liked and wanted, she folded a corner of the magazine.

Although Zhou Yinhe didn't often go to the company, he didn't neglect what he had to handle, sitting beside Wen Ling replying to emails.

"Baby."

Wen Ling looked up doubtfully and asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhou Yinhe grinned as he took a small box from his pocket and handed it to her.

Wen Ling froze, eyes wide, and said incredulously, "You're not going to propose to me here, are you?"

"What proposal?" Zhou Yinhe was taken aback for a moment, then reacted and laughed, "What are you thinking? I just bought it for you to wear as a joke."

"Ah... haha, I thought it was something else." Wen Ling laughed, took the box and opened it to take a look.

She slipped the ring onto her finger, blinking her sparkling eyes as she admired it, her eyes full of satisfaction.

Zhou Yinhe glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, his heart pounding nonstop.