Just then, a head peeked in from the edge of the full-length mirror.

A straight, smooth, high ponytail swung into the mirror, followed by the young “Little Uncle,” his face and eyes brimming with vibrant life.

Little Uncle assessed his appearance in the full-length mirror and smiled brightly, his eyes filled with satisfaction. He then picked out seven or eight more pairs of pants from the store and, beaming, pulled him back into the fitting room.

By the time noon arrived and Little Uncle brought him home, his entire outfit had been completely changed.

Underneath a navy blue double-breasted wool coat was the dark blue mandarin collar shirt that Little Uncle had initially decided “he liked.” The hem of the shirt was tucked into high-waisted charcoal gray trousers, paired with matte leather black Chelsea boots.

It was a very understated outfit.

This is indeed much more acceptable than bright green or bright gold, Cheng Huanzhen thought.

Or, in Little Uncle’s words… “more liked”?

This was a style he had never tried before, and it looked surprisingly good on him.

…Did he like this style of dress?

He didn’t know, but Little Uncle said he liked it.

Cheng Huanzhen hadn’t cared about it initially.

But when he thought about the clothes he had rejected, he felt that Little Uncle did have a point.

For a moment, the stuffiness that had been weighing on his chest since meeting Little Uncle last night inexplicably dissipated quite a bit.

Even the fact that his entire day’s schedule had been forcefully rearranged by Little Uncle no longer seemed so frustrating in hindsight.

Thinking of this, Cheng Huanzhen suddenly wondered, wasn’t Little Uncle originally planning to eat lunch out and continue shopping in the afternoon?

He looked at Little Uncle with confusion.

He only heard Little Uncle planning with great energy, “Let’s take a nap this afternoon, and tonight we’ll go play on North Street! I heard there are many specialty shops and a lot of intangible cultural heritage experience centers on North Street. Let me think, tonight we’ll first go to…”

Cheng Huanzhen’s eyes shot up.

Cheng Huanzhen: “Little Uncle! Wasn’t our plan to go out in the afternoon and stay home at night? How come…”

Little Uncle said matter-of-factly, “Because the shops on North Street only open at night, it’s useless to go in the afternoon! Alright, big nephew, you take your time eating. Finish up your leftover work quickly this afternoon, and tonight we’ll travel light and go out with ease!”

Cheng Huanzhen: “…”

Cheng Huanzhen: “…”

Cheng Huanzhen watched with a shattered expression as Little Uncle cheerfully skipped back to his room, not expecting that his daily schedule, after being completely ruined, could be ruined once more!

Indeed, if he had the chance, he still had to ask his grandfather to take Little Uncle back!

…

Five days passed in a flash. Cheng Huanzhen couldn’t bear to recall what a mess his schedule for the week had become under Little Uncle’s hand.

The first day, needless to say.

The second day, as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, he was greeted by Little Uncle’s energetic and vibrant “good morning”… Strange, hadn’t his one-day companionship duty already been completed?

The third day, after hearing Little Uncle promise the night before that he would definitely stay home and not disturb him, he once again made a detailed and regular daily plan… and then was once again dragged out of the house by the energetic, on-a-whim Little Uncle. The percentage of his life that day that went according to plan was 0%.

The fourth day, he seriously considered the possibility of complaining to his grandfather and sending Little Uncle back to the old residence, trying to include it in his plan. After hesitating for three seconds, his plan was once again disrupted by Little Uncle, and they went out again.

The fifth day, he gave up and chose to schedule his daytime for Little Uncle, only flexibly squeezing in two work tasks, and then piling all the rest of his work into the evening. As a result, Little Uncle had a great time playing by himself all day, completely forgetting about him. Then, in the evening, on a whim, he dragged him out to a night market.

Cheng Huanzhen: …

The morning of the sixth day.

Cheng Huanzhen lay in bed gloomily, staring at the ceiling.

He pondered whether Little Uncle would knock on his door immediately to drag him out, or if he would sleep in a bit and then, at some uncertain point, suddenly get the urge to drag him out.

Last night, he had habitually made a schedule for today.

Based on the experience of the past five days, the probability of his plan taking effect normally under Little Uncle’s influence was minuscule.

…It was the sixth day.

If he counted the first evening when his plan was disrupted, then this was the seventh day.

A whole week.

He hadn’t had a single normal, planned, orderly day of life!

After lying in bed for about ten minutes, Cheng Huanzhen still hadn’t heard Little Uncle’s knock.

It seemed that today, Little Uncle would be taking the “on a whim” route.

He got up calmly and changed his clothes.

He changed into a dark purple shirt.

This outfit was one that Little Uncle had picked out for him during their shopping trips these past few days. It was also a color “he liked.”

However, in the sequence of shirts Little Uncle had arranged for him, dark purple was not ranked high, in fact, it was rather low.

It was only because Little Uncle had thrown a tantrum the night before, demanding that he “must wear each outfit for one day,” that he had incorporated this shirt into his dressing schedule.

Little Uncle hadn’t only taken him to clothing stores.

Dessert shops, antique shops, jewelry shops, toy stores (he was already twenty years old!), stationery stores (he was already in university!), department stores…

Any shop that Little Uncle saw on the street or on “Big Green Book” that he found interesting or well-stocked, he would take him inside to browse, piling all sorts of things in front of him and forcing him to make a choice.

Then he would buy everything he chose and bring it home to become his daily necessities.

For example, in this washroom—

The rinse cup was changed from one without a handle to one with a handle, from light gray to dark gray.

The face towel was changed from a patterned one to a plain one.

The facial cleanser was also changed to a tea-scented foam type.

…These all seemed to be “styles he liked.”

Did he like them?

Cheng Huanzhen closed his eyes. The cold water splashed on his cheeks, washing away the gentle foam cleanser. He thought that this was indeed more comfortable than the style he used before.

Well… this is probably what ‘like’ is, then.

After washing up, Cheng Huanzhen went downstairs to the dining room.

As he left his room, he subconsciously glanced at the room next door.

Little Uncle’s door was still closed.

Little Uncle wasn’t awake yet.

After nearly a week of contact, Cheng Huanzhen had discovered that Little Uncle’s waking time was not fixed.

He didn’t often wake up at six; more often, he would sleep until ten, and sometimes even until twelve.

In short, just like Little Uncle’s usual way of doing things, it was completely irregular.

Cheng Huanzhen followed his schedule and finished breakfast in fifteen minutes. Then he planned to push forward as many planned items as possible before Little Uncle woke up.

So far today, he hadn’t seen Little Uncle at all.

But based on the pattern of the past few days, the moment Little Uncle woke up would be the moment his perfect schedule began to collapse.

He returned to his study, looked over his plan, and found that the first item on this morning’s schedule was a meeting with several senior management personnel to discuss matters related to the new season’s star products.

Cheng Huanzhen had just opened his computer, intending to join the meeting room.

On the dark laptop screen, his informal attire was reflected.

…Oh no.

The habit of changing into a suit right after waking up was so ingrained in his mind that he had momentarily forgotten he wasn’t wearing formal attire at the moment.

Little Uncle was picky about colors and absolutely forbade him from wearing suits or any other overly formal, black-and-white clothes at home, saying that the sight of them made his eyes hurt.

Cheng Huanzhen: …

Could Little Uncle’s excuse be any more fake?

His schedule didn’t have much leeway.

The meeting time was fast approaching. He didn’t have time to change his entire outfit. He could only quickly find a suit jacket from his closet that best matched the dark purple shirt and put it on to barely cover his informal clothes.

Although it started in a rush, once the meeting began, Cheng Huanzhen quickly immersed himself in it.

To him, “having a meeting” was not something that required much effort.

He had been living like this since middle school. For him, having a meeting was much simpler than going out with Little Uncle to make choices these past few days!

Yes, this was the kind of life he was most accustomed to.

Order, rules, every day’s arrangements clearly visible on a schedule.

The things that needed to be considered were also simple and clear: complete the work.

The door was tightly closed.

In the familiar, simple, and neat room, a familiar video conference was in progress.

He was wearing a familiar formal suit, greeting everyone in the video conference seriously and solemnly.

Listening to reports, guiding discussions, finalizing conclusions.

A familiar, reassuring, and calm feeling, long-lost, welled up in his heart.

Although Little Uncle had only been home for a week, he felt that the days had passed like a century.

So long that even having a meeting could make him feel such a sense of “nostalgia.”

The worry that Cheng Huanzhen had vaguely held since waking up this morning, about his plan being disrupted by Little Uncle at any moment, quietly calmed down at this time.

While in the meeting, he found his mind wandering, thinking that although the time spent with Little Uncle was also “happy”—this was Little Uncle’s summary for him—he was indeed more accustomed to and better at this kind of regular, orderly, and simple life.

As long as Little Uncle stayed home for a day, his schedule for that day could not be executed as planned.

…Maybe, he should still find time to talk to his grandfather?

As his mind wandered, his calm and serious voice continued without a pause, “…The final sample testing must be completed before New Year’s Eve. The stability of the core functions must reach the standard we initially set. The product launch in March…”

However, just at that moment, a touch of vibrant red suddenly appeared in the video conference screen.

As soon as this red appeared, Cheng Huanzhen didn’t need to look closely. His peripheral vision automatically caught this different color in a picture of black, white, brown, and gray.

In the various boxes of the video conference, a few figures seemed to move their heads slightly, as if they had noticed this color.

Cheng Huanzhen’s voice subconsciously faltered.

…Oh no, Little Uncle is awake.

But he hadn’t finished his meeting yet!

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t know what kind of conditioned reflex this was.

Now, whenever he saw Little Uncle, he could almost hear Little Uncle’s overly energetic (noisy) “Bang, bang, bang!” “Big nephew!” and the inevitable, heavy hammer blow that would come crashing down on his perfect schedule from the sky.

Cheng Huanzhen’s heart leaped into his throat.

His hands clenched tightly, instantly breaking out in a cold sweat.

Don’t knock on the door!

And definitely don’t shout!

Little Uncle!!

He didn’t know if his sudden panicked inner voice was heard.

In the slight crack of the door, the head along with that touch of red only paused for a second before quickly disappearing, even closing the door for him.

Cheng Huanzhen’s heart finally, barely, dropped from his throat.

His back was already soaked with cold sweat. He kept his voice as calm as possible, forcing himself not to pay attention to the sound of footsteps quickly moving away and then quickly approaching outside the door.

“…If we win this battle, the bonus…”

Finally, with a hurried “meeting adjourned,” he didn’t pay much attention to the situation in the video conference. He quickly took off his headphones, turned, and strode to open the door.

He didn’t know what kind of mood he was in at this moment.

Perhaps there was some relief of surviving a close call, perhaps some annoyance at almost having a mishap—but in any case, he opened the door with force.

As soon as the door opened, a brilliant red flooded his vision.

Little Uncle’s eyes were curved in a smile, and he was holding a small, fiery red potted plant in his hands.

Upon seeing him, Little Uncle expectantly held the plant up to him and said with a grin, “Big nephew, you’ve worked hard! I saw that your room has nothing in it, it’s too monotonous, so I picked the best-looking potted plant from my room for you. Quick, take it and put it on the windowsill behind your desk. I’ll pick a few more for you in a bit!”