Cheng Huanzhen hesitated, “Little Uncle, but I haven’t finished my work for today…”

Cheng Yiming: “Don’t worry, I’ve looked at all your tasks. None of them are urgent. We can delegate them to your subordinates when we’re out, there’s plenty of time!”

Cheng Huanzhen struggled, “Little Uncle, how about we call the driver, and I can organize the work I can do in the car…”

Cheng Yiming: “Don’t worry, the remaining work that you absolutely have to do is very simple. We can start on it when we get back tonight, there’s more than enough time!”

Cheng Huanzhen was exhausted, “Little Uncle, but I…”

Cheng Yiming waved his hand magnanimously and declared, “Let’s go, follow the navigation, let’s set off! Big Nephew, whatever you want to buy or eat today, just say the word. It’s my treat. This is the first time your Little Uncle is taking you out to have fun, don’t be polite with me!”

Cheng Huanzhen recalled the information he had on his Little Uncle.

Little Uncle had been abroad all these years, without any business training. It was impossible for him to hold any assets right now. In other words, the money he had was likely just an allowance from their grandfather.

…And he, a person with tangible assets, was going to let his Little Uncle, who lived on an allowance, treat him?

Was that really okay? Was it in line with social etiquette? It didn’t seem to be, but Little Uncle seemed very keen on treating him…

No, that’s not right.

Was he really going out with his Little Uncle just like this?

This was an entire day!

Cheng Huanzhen drove calmly. He drove very steadily and slowly.

Forget it. I’ll just consider it as spending a day to make Little Uncle happy.

Grandfather did say that I should accompany Little Uncle on a tour of the capital once.

He had originally planned to spend half an afternoon with Little Uncle, but that seemed unlikely to satisfy him.

…A day is a day. Satisfy him all at once, and it will save trouble later.

Cheng Huanzhen quickly reorganized his day’s schedule in his mind.

He allocated the entire morning and afternoon to accompanying his Little Uncle around the capital, reserving the evening for himself to handle his daily required tasks.

With this arrangement, his schedule for the day became much more orderly.

Cheng Huanzhen felt more comfortable, and his driving speed increased slightly.

So, next they just needed to head to…

Little Uncle’s voice suddenly rang out. He exclaimed excitedly, “Big Nephew, stop the car, look here!”

Cheng Huanzhen was very confused.

He stopped the car, got out, followed his Little Uncle, and entered a hutong. On the wall at the entrance of the alley, a “No. 3027” sign was half-hidden by green moss.

The hutong was somewhat narrow. On the right-hand side, a huge locust tree was planted in a courtyard. The tree’s branches were gnarled and powerful, with numerous bare branches extending over the courtyard wall, shattering the daylight in the alleyway into fragments.

Little Uncle excitedly pulled him into the shadow cast by the locust tree branches, blocking the morning sun. He held Cheng Huanzhen by the shoulders, adjusting his position and angle several times.

Finally, when the shadow of the branches completely enveloped his body, but a sliver of sunlight landed about half a fist’s distance in front of him, right at the tip of his shoes, Little Uncle held him steady and instructed, “Just like that, don’t move!”

He then turned and ran three to five meters away, took out his phone, squatted down, adjusted his position for a long time, then popped his head up and shouted:

“Big Nephew, look up, give me a smile, raise your hand! Hey, don’t be so stiff with your hand, make your expression more natural… Not like that! Forget it, just keep your feet still and move your head and hands around casually. I’ll rely on my skills to get a good shot.”

After countless “kaka” sounds from the phone, Little Uncle finally shouted, “OK!”

Apparently satisfied, Little Uncle trotted back to his side, held the phone up to his face, and swiped through the photos for him to see. “Big Nephew, look, how are my photos? Pretty good, right? Tsk tsk, look at the light, shadow, and atmosphere of this hutong… Come on, go to where I was just standing, you take a few shots of me from the same angle.”

Cheng Huanzhen: …

He silently looked at the phone in his hand and the unfamiliar hutong at his feet, finally able to voice his question, “But Little Uncle, wasn’t our first stop supposed to be the KK concept store on AA Avenue?”

Little Uncle was surprised, his eyes and brows blooming with a joyful smile. He took two steps back, into the sunlight, and spread his arms as if savoring the moment in the hutong. The morning sun fell on the green bricks, grey tiles, and carved stone door piers behind him.

He said, “A place like a concept store, does it matter if we go early or late? But if you miss the scenery here, can you ever find it again?”

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t understand.

If they couldn’t find it again, so what? Why did they have to come to a place like this specifically?

This was just an ordinary hutong, one of countless in the capital.

But he didn’t say it out loud, just looked at his Little Uncle.

Little Uncle bent down and plucked a small blue wildflower from a corner of the wall.

He took one, then two light jumps, returning to Cheng Huanzhen’s side.

With a smile in his eyes, Little Uncle held the blue flower between two fingers and reached toward him.

His eyes followed his Little Uncle’s hand as it moved to the side, and he watched as his Little Uncle tucked the blue flower behind his ear.

Cheng Huanzhen: …?

He tilted his head, trying to look toward his own ear to see what on earth his Little Uncle was doing.

But with this movement, the flower started to fall.

Cheng Yiming hurriedly shouted, “Don’t move!”

He immediately froze.

Cheng Yiming fumbled to catch the blue flower, then held his face with both hands to position it at a good angle. While whispering “don’t you dare move,” he carefully tucked the blue flower in place.

Then he took the phone from his hand, ran to a distance, and after several “kaka” sounds, happily ran back.

Cheng Yiming showed him the photo, laughing gleefully. “See? Doesn’t adding a bit of color to your head look much better?”

Cheng Huanzhen looked down and didn’t feel there was any difference from the previous photo.

Same person. Same scenery. Almost the same pose.

Wasn’t this the same photo?

Cheng Huanzhen really didn’t know why they were here studying two identical photos instead of heading to the KK concept store as planned.

Fortunately, his morning and afternoon schedule for the day was originally “accompanying Little Uncle.”

“Going to the KK concept store” was supposed to be his Little Uncle’s plan, not his.

So, being sidetracked by the scenery along the way didn’t actually disrupt his own established schedule.

Thinking this way, Cheng Huanzhen found he could accept the current situation.

So he replied, “Yes.”

Cheng Yiming was completely oblivious to the fact that his own established itinerary had been disrupted.

Cheng Yiming circled him, muttering, “We really need to get you some new clothes. At least have some other colors. Your clothes are either black or white, it’s so boring. How about the blue of this flower? Or do you have any other colors you like?”

Little Uncle always had a lot to say.

And within those endless words, there were, of course, many questions.

Although they had known each other for less than a day, Cheng Huanzhen already knew that most of the questions in his Little Uncle’s rapid-fire speech weren’t really waiting for an answer.

Cheng Huanzhen habitually skipped over the question, as it didn’t seem like one that required an answer anyway.

But he waited for two seconds and didn’t hear his Little Uncle’s follow-up words.

He glanced up from his phone, only to find his Little Uncle still looking at him quizzically, as if genuinely waiting for an answer.

Only then did he reply, “…I don’t have any particular preference for colors.”

Blue, black, or white, it didn’t matter.

He had more black and white clothes simply because they were more suitable for formal occasions, never a mistake, and his grandfather preferred them.

That was all.

To his surprise, his Little Uncle’s eyes widened, and he immediately said, “You’re lying!”

Cheng Huanzhen: “?”

Little Uncle glared at him. “When we were changing clothes just now, you clearly rejected a lot of my clothes. You wouldn’t wear the red, yellow, or green ones. You call that having no preference?”

Cheng Huanzhen: “…?”

Cheng Huanzhen pondered. Cheng Huanzhen doubted himself.

Did he really have a preference? …It seemed he didn’t.

Was there any difference between the colors? …There didn’t seem to be any inherent superiority or inferiority.

Then why did he reject his Little Uncle’s red, yellow, and green clothes?

Cheng Huanzhen thought for a while without finding an answer and habitually wanted to eliminate the question.

But Little Uncle was still in front of him, waiting for his answer.

If he eliminated the question and gave up thinking, he couldn’t answer his Little Uncle’s question.

Cheng Huanzhen sighed wearily in his mind and continued to think.

After a long while, he came to a conclusion: “Yes, Little Uncle, I do not have a preference for colors.”

He paused, then explained, “It’s just that I’m not accustomed to that style of dress.”

The answer wasn’t perfect, but fortunately, his usually persistent Little Uncle didn’t press the issue this time.

Because while he was thinking of an answer, his Little Uncle’s attention had already been drawn to something else in the hutong—

It was a calico cat that had suddenly run out from someone’s courtyard.

The cat rubbed against his Little Uncle for a while, and his Little Uncle chased the cat for a while, playing with it for quite some time.

When he had figured out his answer, his Little Uncle came over, holding the stray cat, and happily invited him to pet it too. “Ta-da, free cat-petting time! Big Nephew, give it a pet. Do you like it? Do you want to have one at home? Would you rather have a cat or a dog?”

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t have a strong opinion on this and replied, “They’re about the same.”

Little Uncle was not very satisfied with his answer.

Little Uncle dragged him deeper into the alley.

Seeing someone selling salty tofu pudding, he bought a bowl with great enthusiasm, tried a spoonful himself, then offered it to him. “Big Nephew, try it—doesn’t it taste pretty good? Do you like it? I heard the sweet tofu pudding in this country is also good. Have you tried it? Which one do you think is better?”

Cheng Huanzhen took two bites and tasted the normal flavor of salty tofu pudding.

Cheng Huanzhen replied, “I’ve had it. They’re about the same.”

Little Uncle was still not very satisfied with his answer.

Little Uncle continued to drag him even deeper.

Hearing the melodious sound of a flute coming from a house, Little Uncle closed his eyes and hummed along with the melody for a few phrases, then asked with a smile, “Big Nephew, do you like music? Speaking of which, when you were in primary and middle school here, you must have had art classes, right? Music? Visual arts? What are you best at?”

Cheng Huanzhen thought to himself, he wasn’t his father. He wasn’t in the entertainment industry. Why would he need to be good at music or art?

He answered honestly, “They’re all okay. About the same.”

Hearing this answer, Cheng Yiming actually got angry.

Cheng Yiming’s cheeks puffed out, his eyes wide as he glared at him, and for the first time, he called him by his full name: “This is about the same, that is about the same. Cheng Huanzhen, are you just brushing me off? You… you just don’t want to hang out with me, do you!”

Little Uncle was fuming, his eyes slightly red. The usually overflowing emotions turned into fiery anger, ready to erupt, for a moment matching the same tone as the spicy saffron scent of his perfume.