It was now mid-December.

The wind outside was a bit strong, but the indoor thermostatic ventilation system was continuously operating, making it so warm that Pei Shurong took off her coat and conveniently removed her silk scarf as well.

She stood up from the sofa, paced back to the entryway, and hung her coat and silk scarf on the coat rack. Her gaze swept over every corner of the living room inch by inch. After returning to the sofa and taking a seat, she whispered to the old man,

“Dad, Yunyun’s place has changed quite a lot.”

It wasn’t just the leather shoes and casual sneakers of completely different styles at the entryway, but also the paired water cups and the details everywhere… all pointing to one fact.

—There was more than one person living in this apartment.

The old man, Pei Yihe, was very robust and agile. He had already skillfully taken out a complete tea set from under the living room coffee table and was washing the tea set with boiled water.

“Mm,” the old man replied concisely.

“Yunyun has also changed quite a lot these past few months,” he said.

Pei Yihe loved tea, and his daughter and grandson had also become very knowledgeable about it because of him. This purple clay tea set was a gift from him to his grandson Yan Ruoyun.

Pei Shurong sat to the side, opening the tea leaves. She glanced at the yak bone powder gift box and the pharmacy bag placed at the corner of the coffee table, then shifted her gaze to the tightly closed bedroom door, unable to help asking:

“Did I… just scare him?”

Pei Yihe didn’t even twitch an eyebrow, his solemn face devoid of any expression. He thought for a moment, then answered in a deep voice:

“The action of force is mutual.”

Pei Shurong: “…Dad.”

“Retired seniors should spend less time scrolling on their phones.”

---

In the bedroom.

Yan Ruoyun had just finished changing his clothes. He always dressed very casually at home—a turtleneck pullover sweater and beige trousers didn’t look bulky at all, but rather accentuated his astonishing proportions.

Lin Zhu had only changed his pants, his upper body still wearing that sleeveless tank top. He was burying his head in the wardrobe rummaging around, but after flipping back and forth several times, he still couldn’t find a piece of clothing that could completely cover his neck.

He didn’t let Yan Ruoyun bite his fingers, so when the man was pushed to the limit, he would gnaw on his neck, with the Adam’s apple being the hardest-hit disaster zone.

Last night, the two had completed their lifelong marking.

The man had suffered an unprecedented catastrophe. His small cavity was tormented so severely that he couldn’t maintain his daytime demeanor at all; he cried every time he opened his mouth, and only managed to hold it back by biting Lin Zhu’s Adam’s apple, letting out whimpering sounds similar to a small animal.

Of course, Lin Zhu hadn’t made him forcefully endure it at all.

By the final stage.

Yan Ruoyun was already crying and begging at the top of his lungs in a breakdown.

Despite this, Lin Zhu’s entire neck was long past the point of being presentable. Finding nothing after rummaging, he could only dumbly turn to his partner for help.

“Ge, lend me a piece of clothing…”

He really disliked clothes that restricted his neck, and wouldn’t even button the collar of his shirts if he could help it.

Not to mention a throat-choking garment like a turtleneck sweater.

But Yan Ruoyun was different.

He was used to keeping his neck hidden. Once autumn and winter arrived, most of his casual clothes were turtleneck styles.

At this moment, Yan Ruoyun stood half a meter away from him.

The man crossed his arms, tilted his head to lean over and observe his little boyfriend’s expression, and asked with a drawn-out tone: “Little Dog Lin, your face is way too red. Can clothes even cover it? You’d have to wear a mask for this, right?”

Lin Zhu: “…”

Actually, he was already wearing one.

Wearing a mask of pain.

Lin Zhu was expressionless, his eyes dead.

He bumped his forehead against the wardrobe with a thud.

Two seconds of silence.

Lin Zhu let out a breath. His tone was mixed with embarrassment, pain, shame, and admiration for the man’s current calm attitude as he asked: “Ge…”

“Do you really not feel awkward at all?”

Yan Ruoyun fell silent for a moment, then asked in return: “What kind of misunderstanding do you have about me?”

“How could it not be awkward… I never thought in my life that one day I would be talking about getting someone pregnant in front of my mom and grandpa.”

Just hearing the man recount what had happened a few minutes ago made the temperature on Lin Zhu’s face rise again, the heat rushing straight to the top of his head. He headbutted the wardrobe again and said with extreme heaviness:

“Then why do you look like nothing happened.”

He was so envious, so envious he was about to shatter.

Lin Zhu rested his forehead against the wardrobe door, as if wanting to smash a crack in it and drill his whole body inside.

He remembered a post he had scrolled past on the internet before, asking what to do if you clogged the toilet the first time you met your partner’s parents. At that time, looking at the text on the screen, he had felt suffocated by the secondhand embarrassment…

Never did he expect.

That he would actually one-up them.

Seeing his little boyfriend feeling boundlessly awkward, Yan Ruoyun pulled him away from the wardrobe door and personally looked for clothes for him.

The difference in height and weight between the two wasn’t large, but Lin Zhu had a larger frame, so naturally his shoulders were wider than his.

Yan Ruoyun dug out a slightly oversized turtleneck sweater and stuffed it into his little boyfriend’s arms. Adopting the steady mentality of a mature adult in society, he patiently taught him: “Little Dog Lin, I’ll teach you a trick.”

“It’s not just for your back, it works for this too.”

Hearing this, Lin Zhu hastily cast a hopeful look at Yan Ruoyun, “What is it?”

“Always remember one sentence,” Yan Ruoyun said smoothly, “As long as you’re not awkward, the awkward one is someone else.”

Lin Zhu: “…”

He quickly pulled on the sweater. As he put his head through the collar, he belatedly thought of a certain problem and asked nervously, “Ge, is it really okay to leave Grandpa and Auntie in the living room for so long?”

Yan Ruoyun: “No rush, give me the medicine first.”

The air was very quiet.

It wasn’t until this moment that Lin Zhu truly realized:

Yan Ruoyun was indeed just as he himself had said, far from being as calm as he appeared.

Otherwise, how could he have not noticed…

Lin Zhu was silent for two seconds, his tone even heavier than before as he said: “Ge, I’m sorry. I think I left the medicine and the gift box together on the coffee table in the living room.”

The situation at the time had been too urgent.

He really didn’t have time to think that much.

Yan Ruoyun also fell silent.

After a long while, he closed his eyes and said:

“…Little Dog Lin, why didn’t you just ○ me to death last night?”

---

Ever since that earth-shattering face-to-face encounter with his lover’s two elders at the front door, Lin Zhu had fallen into a state where every second felt like a year.

But in reality, from the time he got himself dressed nicely to when he and Yan Ruoyun left the bedroom and came to the living room… less than ten minutes had passed.

The living room was filled with the fragrance of tea.

The middle-aged woman looked exactly like a lady from a prominent family. Her sitting posture was elegant, and the way she held her teacup to sip tea exuded an indescribable beauty.

Lin Zhu finally understood why every movement of Yan Ruoyun’s looked so charming.

The white-haired elder only looked up for a glance, used tongs to take out two washed teacups, placed them on the sofa opposite him, then poured tea into them and greeted:

“Do you like drinking tea?”

This was clearly not directed at Yan Ruoyun.

As for Yan Ruoyun, he was indeed upholding the rule of ‘As long as I’m not awkward, the awkward one is someone else,’ calmly and naturally pulling Lin Zhu over to sit down.

“He likes drinking anything.”

Lin Zhu didn’t have the man’s high level of skill. After trying his best for a long time, the corners of his mouth only lifted by a few pixels.

Facing the elders, Lin Zhu reverted to his initial clumsiness with words. He subconsciously nodded vigorously, solemnly said thank you, and then immediately picked up the teacup with both hands and downed the tea inside in one gulp!

…So hot.

Yan Ruoyun looked over, seeing that Lin Zhu was burned but didn’t even twitch an eyebrow, and straightforwardly defended him: “Grandpa, Mom, Lin Zhu is young and gets nervous easily.”

Of the four people present—
Only Lin Zhu was a clear, innocent little dog.

Recalling his drawn-out calls in the room earlier, Pei Shurong cast a glance at her son.

Yan Ruoyun averted his gaze: “…Ahem.”

He also picked up his teacup and took a small sip.

Immediately after, Pei Shurong looked at Lin Zhu with a smile and asked softly: “Xiao Lin, I can call you that, right?”

Lin Zhu nodded repeatedly again and responded awkwardly,
“You can, hello Auntie.”

After saying that, he belatedly shifted his gaze to the elder directly opposite him, stammered for a second, and added:
“Grand… ahem, hello Grandpa.”

Seeing the blond youth feeling genuinely awkward, Pei Shurong took over the conversation: “My dad doesn’t like to talk, let’s chat.”

As soon as she finished speaking.
The elder in the Zhongshan suit raised his eyes, cast a disapproving glance at his daughter, and quickly turned back. Beneath the wrinkled eyelids was a pair of sharp eyes.

Lin Zhu’s back tensed.

The elder silently pushed the yak bone powder gift box from the corner of the coffee table in front of Lin Zhu, saying in a calm tone:

“Here, a meeting gift. It’s supposed to be for you to eat, right?”

Before Lin Zhu had time to nod, the elder stretched out his long arm again, pushed the medicine box in front of his grandson, and continued:

“Yunyun, you eat too.”

“…”

Yan Ruoyun lost his composure in a second. He silently raised his palm to cover his forehead, hiding half of his face, and said, blushing up to his ears,

“…Grandpa, stop messing around.”

Lin Zhu’s face was even redder than the man’s, just short of steam blowing out of his ears.

But seeing Yan Ruoyun in this state, he quickly stood up, bowed to the two elders opposite him, and spoke at a slightly faster pace.

“I’m sorry, our meeting today was too unsolemn!”

“If you don’t mind…” Lin Zhu forcefully suppressed the awkwardness in his heart, forcing himself to look up and meet the gazes of the two elders.

He pursed his lips and continued:
“May I treat you two to lunch so we can chat slowly?”