Chapter 421: The Closest Yet Most Distant Couple

Shi Youxuan took a cucumber out of the refrigerator, washed it clean, placed it on the cutting board, smashed it hard with a kitchen knife, and then chopped it with a few "thwack-thwack" sounds.

She poured in some soy sauce, a little bit of salt, and some mature vinegar, and that was it.

She had seen Sheng Hanyu make it before; it was very simple and quite refreshing, perfect with porridge.

Actually, adding a bit of minced garlic to smashed cucumber is better, but the aunt had a flight to catch, and eating garlic would give her bad breath.

"Knock, knock."

She knocked lightly twice, and the door opened from the inside; the aunt was already dressed and ready, pulling her suitcase in her hand.

"Morning," the aunt greeted her first.

"Aunt, morning!"

Shi Youxuan told her she had already made breakfast and asked if she wanted to eat a little.

Originally, she was worried the aunt wouldn't eat.

She should have had no appetite.

However, the aunt was very polite and readily agreed: "Okay, thank you."

The two went to the dining room, Shi Youxuan ladled out two bowls of porridge, one for each, and in the middle of the huge dining table sat only one plate of smashed cucumber!

"I only prepared this much, please make do with it."

Shi Youxuan started to feel embarrassed; this was just too simple.

Compared to the meals the aunt had made for her... well, they couldn't be compared at all!

"It's quite good, thank you." The aunt picked up her bowl to eat the porridge, her movements elegant, as always.

They had only said three sentences in the morning, and two of them were "thank you."

Although the aunt looked calm and composed on the surface, yesterday's events must have still had a great impact on her.

Shi Youxuan picked up her bowl, took just one bite of the porridge, and then went to the washroom to spit it out.

"Ptooey, ptooey!"

Was this something a human could eat?

I'm afraid if a pig ate it, even the pig could lose weight.

Shi Youxuan admired herself; she could cook even the simplest white porridge so poorly.

Coming out of the washroom, she was dumbfounded; the aunt had calmly eaten the entire bowl of white porridge, set down the bowl, and said, "I'm full."

"Aunt, are, are you okay?" Shi Youxuan was very worried.

The more calm and composed she appeared on the surface, as if nothing had happened, the more worried Shi Youxuan became.

"I'm fine."

The aunt smiled: "Thank you for your concern, I really am fine, let's go."

Shi Youxuan drove to take her to the airport; along the way, she tried several times to persuade her to give up the idea of returning to the south, but unfortunately, she didn't succeed.

Sending the aunt through security, Shi Youxuan stood outside the security checkpoint and waved goodbye to her, and only when she could no longer see her figure did she start walking back.

After arriving home, Shi Ran came up to greet her: "Mom, didn't Great-Aunt just come back from the south? Why does she have to go again?"

It looked like Sheng Hanyu had already told the child about the aunt going to the south.

Shi Ran must have asked when she woke up in the morning and didn't see her mother.

Sheng Hanyu had told her that Mom was taking Great-Aunt to the airport to return to the south, but he didn't say why she was going back.

"Great-Aunt has an old friend in the south who is sick, so she went to visit." Shi Youxuan made up a random excuse to fool the child, and the child believed it.

Sheng Hanyu hadn't cooked.

Shi Youxuan suggested going to the nursing home to scrounge a meal.

Actually, today was the second day of the Lunar New Year, the day to visit the wife's family, so logically they should have gone to see Shi Yucheng.

Sheng Hanyu was in a bad mood, but he followed along anyway.

Shi Yucheng had completely made the nursing home his home; he didn't even go back for the New Year, but instead brought Shi Yuke over to spend the New Year together.

Shi Yuke only stayed at the nursing home for one day before clamoring to go back.

Back at the psychiatric hospital, she was like a Queen; all the male patients admired her like stars surrounding the moon, and Shi Yuke loved that feeling, it was especially good.

But here at Dad's, there was nothing—no men doting on her, which to her meant there was nothing at all!

So she made a fuss about going back, and finally went back last night.

She went back yesterday, and today Shi Youxuan's family arrived.

A perfect miss, avoiding awkwardness.

"Ranran, did you miss Grandpa?" Shi Yucheng stood at the door to welcome them.

"I did, Happy New Year, Grandpa!"

Shi Yucheng smiled and handed her a red envelope: "Happy, happy, you be happy too."

"Happy New Year, Dad!"

"Happy New Year, Dad!"

The two paid their New Year respects to Shi Yucheng, and then carried the bags of gifts inside.

Shi Yucheng also gave them each a red envelope, but the weight of the mother's and daughter's envelopes was the same, while the envelope for Sheng Hanyu was just for show and very thin.

Fortunately, he didn't care.

"I thought you would come earlier, but you only just arrived."

Shi Yucheng fussed about reheating the food, and then three generations of the family sat around the dining table to eat the reunion dinner.

"Dad, where is Shi Liu?" Shi Youxuan noticed Shi Liu wasn't there.

"Oh, for the New Year, I gave him two days off to go keep his little friend company; young people should have their own lives, they can't always be with old people, it lacks vitality," Shi Yucheng said with a smile.

Actually, besides giving Shi Liu time to be with his loved one, Shi Yucheng had other considerations for giving him the time off.

What his eldest daughter was like, he hadn't been clear about before, but now he knew.

He was afraid that Yuke would see Shi Liu acting infatuated, which was a completely impossible thing, so he didn't want to add any unnecessary trouble.

Since he was giving Shi Liu time off, he might as well give her a few more days.

That child was good; she was usually hardworking and uncomplaining, quick and nimble with her hands and feet, and never gossiped.

"It's really a blessing to be your child," Shi Youxuan suddenly blurted out.

This sentence of hers was sincere, coming from the bottom of her heart.

"Silly girl."

Shi Yucheng was stunned, then smiled as he picked up food for her, constantly urging her to eat more, saying she was too thin.

He even said that being too thin made it difficult to conceive, telling her to hurry up and have a few more while she was still young.

She and Sheng Hanyu hadn't even registered their marriage, hadn't held a wedding, hadn't taken wedding photos, and even their marital home hadn't been handed over yet, but her father was already thinking about having more children; he really was thinking far ahead.

If this topic had come up at any other time, Sheng Hanyu would definitely have been most interested.

He wished for nothing more than to have a few more children, so he could firmly tether Xuanxuan to his side and ensure she couldn't "fly" anywhere.

But today he kept losing focus, always appearing absent-minded.

Shi Yucheng noticed and winked at his daughter, asking in a low voice, "What's wrong with him? He looks abnormal."

"It's nothing, he didn't rest well last night," Shi Youxuan prevaricated.

But Shi Ran exposed her mother's lie: "That's not right, Dad is in a bad mood because Great Aunt went to the south."

"Yesterday Great Aunt and Grandpa came home together, then Mom went to keep Great Aunt company in the middle of the night, and she came back late this morning after taking Great Aunt to the airport."

"Big mouth," Shi Youxuan scolded her daughter.

The little girl was good in every way, except that she always liked to interrupt when adults were talking, which was not good.

"I'm full," Sheng Hanyu said, putting down his bowl and chopsticks.

The people at the nursing home knew the Chairman had arrived and took it very seriously; the director brought the nursing home's key staff over to pay a New Year's visit, so Sheng Hanyu used the pretext of inspecting the work to go out.

After he went out, Shi Yucheng sent his granddaughter to another room to play.

Shi Yucheng said to his daughter, "There is something I think I should tell you."

He told his daughter that thirty years ago, when he was still working as a driver for the Sheng Family Old Master.

Once, while he was cleaning the car, Sheng Jiang and Wang Yingzhi happened to be arguing in the garage, and the content of their argument was related to Sheng Hanyu's parentage!

Although thirty years had passed, this matter was so explosive that he had kept it fresh in his memory ever since.

That argument back then was the only time in many years that Shi Yucheng had seen Sheng Jiang lose his temper!

An honest man does not lose his temper easily.

But when he does lose his temper, it is many times more intense than anyone else's.

Sheng Jiang questioned Wang Yingzhi, asking why she had taken the son Wang Yinghao had given birth to and claimed it was her own?