While Aya Tone and his daughter were sharing a heartwarming moment, Fire Finch and her mother sat in their car, engrossed in a life consultation.Gripping the steering wheel, Fire Finch asked, “Mom! You didn’t say anything you shouldn’t have, did you?”
“One can never tell~ if a certain someone doesn’t make a move soon, this old mother of hers might just do something truly outrageous~”
Xuan Yuanhuai gazed idly at the peaceful scenery outside the window, all while uttering chilling words.
“…”
Fire Finch, her face devoid of expression, kept her hands on the steering wheel, awaiting the green light.
Yet, the deeply indented leather of the steering wheel betrayed the turmoil raging within her.
“My affairs are none of your business.”
The light turned green, and the car started.
“Can you stop being just like your father? If you like someone, just go for it! If your mother hadn’t been so fierce back then, with your father’s timid nature, you probably wouldn’t even exist, still babbling in some remote mountain village.”
Recalling her romantic history from back then, Xuan Yuanhuai couldn’t help but sigh with nostalgia.
Of all people for this daughter to emulate, she chose her father. Truly, she shouldn’t have let her get so close to him when she was young.
“We haven’t reached that stage yet.”
“So what stage have you reached then? Let your mother offer some advice.”
Helping her daughter pursue a son-in-law, Xuan Yuanhuai was exceptionally enthusiastic.
Her methods for chasing her husband in the past had been too simple and crude; she had succeeded without truly experiencing the romance of it all.
Now that her daughter was emulating her father, it was the perfect opportunity for her, as a mother, to try out the new tactics she’d learned from TV dramas.
“We’re just…”
Fire Finch pondered for a moment, knowing she couldn’t reveal their superior-subordinate relationship, as it would expose Aya Tone’s female identity.
Should she be the one to expose it, the contract between them would vanish.
“We’re just in a tenant-landlord relationship…”
“What did you say?” Xuan Yuanhuai stared at Fire Finch in disbelief.
She had originally thought her daughter was only a little timid like her father, but she never imagined she could be timid for so long.
Tenant and landlord—isn’t that practically the relationship between strangers?
Xuan Yuanhuai’s hand slowly drifted to the dagger hilt at her waist. “How troublesome. Perhaps your mother should just tie that boy up for you and then drug him.”
“Your mother once met a physician who gave her a prescription—it guarantees a single shot to the soul!”
“Don’t!” In a burst of panic, Fire Finch slammed the accelerator to the floor.
The car instantly transformed into a runaway wild horse, performing a spectacle of speed and passion on the road.
****
A street-side food stall not far from Tianming Apartment.
A striking young couple, accompanied by an adorable little girl, presented a heartwarming picture of a perfect family of three.
The diners present couldn’t help but elevate their demeanor, and their voices involuntarily softened.
“Here you go, your order: Stir-fried Beef Delight with Pickled Cabbage.”
“Boss, I don’t think I ordered this dish?” Aya Tone looked at the pungent dish before him with a troubled expression.
With Xiao Jiu by his side, he certainly wouldn’t order such unusual dishes.
“Oh, the boss didn’t make a mistake; I ordered this.” Fire Finch swiftly pulled the “specialty dish” closer, simultaneously dispelling the boss’s suspicions about her.
After the boss left, Aya Tone finally looked at Fire Finch, who had already begun to eat with furious abandon. “Auntie went back?”
“Wuwuwuwuwu-ah!” Fire Finch mumbled through a mouthful of food, confirming, “That’s right, she went back!”
“Can you finish eating before you speak?”
“Gulp, gulp, ha!” Fire Finch guzzled down a large glass of beer, cleared her throat, and finally let out a long sigh of relief.
The glass met the table with a heavy, intimate thud.
“My mom went back. Otherwise, do you think I could have called you out to eat here?”
Speaking of her mother, Fire Finch remembered the ultimatum Xuan Yuanhuai had delivered in the car.
–This year, bring Aya Tone back to the clan meeting to meet the family!
Ugh.
Just thinking about having to trick Aya Tone into going back then gave Fire Finch a massive headache.
The clan meeting wouldn’t be in Yan’an City, and she had no idea how she would manage to trick Aya Tone into coming home.
Moreover, once they returned to the clan, those nosy relatives would undoubtedly swarm around, prying with endless questions.
“Ah—so annoying!”
When one is vexed, one naturally seeks an outlet, and thus, two more large glasses went down.
That unrestrained way of drinking made Aya Tone’s eyebrows twitch.
“Hey, Xiao Jiu is still here. Can you please be more mindful?”
Aya Tone was already regretting agreeing to eat out; had he known this would happen, he would have preferred to eat at home with just Xiao Jiu.
“Xiao Jiu, you mustn’t learn from your Sister Fire Finch in the future, alright?”
“Mm-hmm, I know~” Little Aya Jiu secretly withdrew the small hand that had been reaching for the beer bottle and very obediently hugged the glass of milk in front of her.
Oh, this child.
Aya Tone sighed helplessly.
He wouldn’t overly interfere with his daughter’s choices, but before Little Aya Jiu reached adulthood, it was absolutely out of the question!
Ignoring the drunkard beside him, Aya Tone skillfully served a bowl of porridge for himself and Xiao Jiu.
It was better to quickly fill their stomachs and leave.
Although tomorrow was the weekend, letting the child be a little wild wouldn’t be a problem.
But!
Playing at home was still playing, and being too close to Fire Finch might easily corrupt the child; leaving early was definitely the right choice.
However, Fire Finch, with two more drinks in her, now became quite talkative.
“Come, a toast to the success of the project!” As the guild master, Fire Finch had naturally received news that the S-rank dungeon in the Imperial Capital had been successfully cleared.
However, Aya Tone’s identity couldn’t be revealed in front of Xiao Jiu, so she had simply referred to it as a project.
“Cheers~”
Aya Tone, quietly eating his porridge, hadn’t intended to respond, but Little Aya Jiu, seated in her booster seat, heard the words “cheers”.
Though small, she was clever; without knowing why they were cheering, she put down her spoon and raised her tiny milk cup.
Helplessly, Aya Tone could only raise his own cup and gently clink it against Little Aya Jiu’s milk cup.
“What about me?” Fire Finch gazed pitifully at the father and daughter.
Holding her beer glass aloft, no one clinked with her.
She despised their little clique.
“Sister Fire Finch, cheers~” Little Aya Jiu climbed up, struggling to hold up her milk cup towards Fire Finch, and called out in her childish voice.
That adorable sight instantly captured Fire Finch’s vexed heart.
“Xiao Jiu is still the best~” Fire Finch leaned closer, and the two cups clinked together, emitting a crisp, pleasant sound.
‘Hmm, she really wanted to abduct Xiao Jiu and take her home.’
Having spent a few days with Xiao Jiu, Fire Finch found the child truly adorable and sensible.
‘Much better at coaxing people than a certain fake, legal loli.’
Thus, a certain someone was inexplicably given a resentful glance.
Aya Tone: “?”
‘He hadn’t even said anything. How could she cue him?’
“Cheers!”
‘Whatever. If his boss said he was wrong, then he was wrong.’
“That’s more like it.” Fire Finch grudgingly forgave Aya Tone and happily continued to enjoy her meal.
‘Truly hard to understand…’ Aya Tone put down his cup and shook his head.
However, after the brief interlude, the relationship between the three seemed to have grown considerably closer.
At the very least, Aya Tone was no longer in such a hurry to take Xiao Jiu home as he had been initially.
After the meal and drinks.
Fire Finch was already leaning back in her chair, eyes hazy with alcohol, her mind wandering.
Aya Tone looked at her with disdain. “Honestly, if you can’t drink, don’t drink. You’re already out after just one bottle of beer?”
With such low alcohol tolerance, Aya Tone truly wondered how she dared to drink so much.
‘Big addiction, small capacity.’
Fire Finch: “Ah—”
She seemed to have been out for some time.
Aya Tone clicked his tongue lightly, then gently cradled Little Aya Jiu, who was already feeling sleepy, allowing her to rest more comfortably.
“Boss, I’m borrowing the handcart by your door. I’ll return it tomorrow, alright?”
“Sure!”
The apartment wasn’t far, and since they were regular patrons, the boss naturally recognized them and lent out the handcart without hesitation.
Leaving Fire Finch in the cart, Aya Tone carried his daughter with one arm and pushed the unconscious Fire Finch away from the food stall with the other.
Unbeknownst to them, in a corner of the food stall, a pair of eyes watched them intently.
“Fire Finch? Xiao Jiu? And that man?”
…