The next morning, Ying Zhiyu and Li Xi headed out early to “intercept” the elderly couple.
Ying Zhiyu had done his homework—Gan Ruyao’s parents were both teachers, and even after retirement they kept the habit of sleeping early and waking early.
They usually got up around six or seven for morning exercise. After that, they would stop by the market, buy the day’s groceries, and then head home.
Ying Zhiyu had seen recent photos of the couple, and although Li Xi hadn’t seen his grandparents since he was old enough to remember, he had always quietly followed news about them.
So when they reached the farmers’ market near the couple’s neighborhood—
Ying Zhiyu hadn’t even taken Li Xi inside yet before Li Xi suddenly stopped walking.
Ying Zhiyu turned and followed his gaze.
Gan Ruyao’s parents.
The elderly couple were completely silver-haired, but still looked strong, and more importantly, very close.
Gan’s father carried the shopping basket, trailing obediently behind his wife while she browsed each stall, occasionally asking the vendors a few questions.
In the crowded market, she would glance back now and then to make sure her husband hadn’t fallen behind. Sometimes, afraid of being separated by the crowd, they held hands.
Ying Zhiyu asked, “Want to go say hello?”
Li Xi had no memories of ever meeting his grandparents.
No matter how rocky the marriage between Li Songqian and Gan Ruyao had been, the direct cause of her death had always been postpartum depression.
Li Xi had no idea how his grandparents felt about him and his sister.
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
Showing up out of nowhere and disturbing their peaceful life—after thinking it over, Li Xi still felt he shouldn’t.
Seeing them was enough. But he couldn’t stay in Yao City forever, and it looked like they were also very accustomed to life here.
So… keeping this distance was better for now.
Ying Zhiyu didn’t comment. To him, meeting or not meeting was entirely Li Xi’s choice. Until the person involved sorted out his own feelings, others could only stay by his side.
They followed the grandparents from afar until the couple finally left with baskets full of groceries.
Then Ying Zhiyu asked, “What do you want for breakfast? Bread, steamed buns, pancakes, fried dough?”
There were lots of bun shops and breakfast stalls around the market.
Some had crowds packed in front, and Ying Zhiyu couldn’t be bothered squeezing in with Li Xi. Others he walked past, sniffed, and immediately tugged Li Xi away from.
“What is it?” Li Xi asked.
“Not fresh,” Ying Zhiyu muttered.
“You can tell just from smelling?”
“By the color, the smell… and also…”
Some prices were way too cheap. Since his family ran a bun shop, he knew exactly what ingredients should cost. After browsing the market earlier, he already had a sense of local prices.
You can run a business cheaply, but you can’t sell at a loss. Who knew what kind of meat they were using?
As the crowds grew thicker, Ying Zhiyu pulled Li Xi out of the market area entirely.
Li Xi had no idea where Ying Zhiyu was taking him. Even though this wasn’t Alpha’s hometown, he always seemed confident and familiar with everything, leading Li Xi down a small side street without hesitation.
The alley was lively, filled with little shops and snack stalls.
Clusters of elementary school kids crowded around many of the carts.
They passed a scallion pancake stand that smelled amazing, and Li Xi tugged on Ying Zhiyu’s sleeve.
Ying Zhiyu turned.
“Buy one,” Li Xi said.
Ying Zhiyu blinked. “…Here?”
He looked at the stand, the signboard, then at Li Xi, unsure. “A scallion pancake? With scallions?”
Li Xi usually avoided this kind of thing.
Li Xi simply nodded. “Mm. The line’s long, so let’s get one.”
Looking at the two neat lines of elementary schoolers in front of the stall, Ying Zhiyu: “…”
After paying and scanning the code, he handed the hot pancake to Li Xi.
“You’re not having one?” Li Xi asked.
“I’ll find somewhere with seating,” Ying Zhiyu answered.
Later, they ended up at a tiny breakfast shop.
The place was small but had a big menu.
Ying Zhiyu ordered two soy milks, one ear of corn, a basket of dumplings, and two roujiamo sandwiches.
Li Xi noticed a bit of dark soot-like stuff on the edge of the bun and whispered, “If I eat this… am I going to get diarrhea?”
What he was talking about was “pot soot.” The sheltered young master had never eaten at roadside stalls, so who knew what he thought it was.
Ying Zhiyu snapped the corn in half and gave Li Xi a piece, casually saying, “Then it’ll clean you out.”
Li Xi: “…”
By the time they finished, Li Xi was shocked to realize everything together cost less than twenty yuan.
The young master who’d never experienced this kind of pricing was stunned.
Who needs a bicycle at this point? If he got diarrhea, so be it!
After their slow, leisurely breakfast, Ying Zhiyu led Li Xi out of the alley and around to the front gate of an elementary school.
Li Xi immediately knew where they were. He didn’t say anything—just followed.
Ying Zhiyu didn’t hurry toward the gate. On both sides of it was a row of small shops—mostly stationery stores, unlike the snack-filled alley they’d just left.
He took Li Xi into one.
As they browsed, Ying Zhiyu said, “Every time I had a test as a kid, I’d buy a new pen at the school gate that morning.”
“Why?” Li Xi asked.
“Praying for good luck, I guess?”
“You, the straight-A student, believe in that stuff?” Li Xi looked at him in disbelief.
Ying Zhiyu picked a gel pen and tested it on the scrap paper by the counter. Without looking up, he said, “My deskmate said it worked.”
When they left, each of them had a new pen.
Li Xi kept glancing at his as they walked.
After a while, he asked, “Your deskmate…”
Before he could finish, Ying Zhiyu cut him off and answered the question he was obviously leading to: “We didn’t differentiate in elementary school, so he wasn’t an Omega. We’re not in touch now. I don’t even remember what he looks like.”
Li Xi: “…”
He choked. Why did this sound like Alpha was saying he was jealous? Jealous of a childhood deskmate?
—
The elementary school was where Li Xi’s mother, Gan Ruyao, had studied.
Pretending to be parents, Ying Zhiyu successfully brought Li Xi inside.
Once they entered the campus, Li Xi kept sneaking looks at Alpha.
“Is there something on my face?” Ying Zhiyu asked.
“How did you know there was a Bamboo Shoot Class here?” Li Xi asked.
The gate guard had asked which class their “child” was in, and Li Xi had been nervous. But Alpha had answered calmly: “Bamboo Shoot Class.”
Ying Zhiyu shrugged. “The scrap paper at the stationery shop had ‘Bamboo Shoot Class XXX’ written on it. I saw all the names too—if I needed to report one, I could.”
Li Xi: “…”
After wandering the school for a while, the bell rang, and they slipped out the back gate.
Then Ying Zhiyu led Li Xi into a nearby park.
Yao City wasn’t big, but the park was full of rides and playground equipment.
This time, without prompting, Ying Zhiyu explained, “Since it’s a honeymoon trip, I had to plan a bit.”
Even though they were in Li Xi’s mother’s hometown, he hadn’t forgotten the real purpose of the trip.
Li Xi tightened his hold on Alpha’s hand.
As they walked, Ying Zhiyu asked, “Have you been to an amusement park before?”
Li Xi looked helpless. “Of course I have.”
Just because he came from money didn’t mean he lived off-planet. Even if he’d never been to a public park like this, his family’s private island had its own amusement facilities when he was young.
Because it was a weekday, most school-age kids were in class.
The only people in the park were very young children, maybe five or six years old—some even younger.
Ying Zhiyu pointed at several rides to ask if Li Xi wanted to try them.
Li Xi shook his head each time.
Parents and toddlers everywhere—he was nearly thirty. It felt ridiculous joining in.
Ying Zhiyu didn’t push. They strolled around. While he went to buy ice cream, Li Xi watched a young couple playing a ring toss game nearby.
They looked like students, probably in early secondary school and newly differentiated. Neither had pheromone patches on, but the faint outlines of their glands were visible.
Maybe they were skipping class—both were still wearing their school uniform pants.
When Ying Zhiyu returned, the Omega girl had just thrown five rings in a row and missed every one, whining to her boyfriend.
The Alpha boy took the last five rings. His aim wasn’t bad—he hit two.
But from what Li Xi saw, neither of those prizes were the one she’d originally wanted.
Ying Zhiyu handed a cone to Li Xi. “Wanna play?”
Li Xi shook his head. “Just looking.”
He really wasn’t interested. Those little ring-toss prizes definitely weren’t worthy of the Third Young Master Li.
Ying Zhiyu figured the same and didn’t push. They kept walking.
Halfway down the row, they ran into the same young couple again.
This time, the couple was at a balloon-shooting stall.
Ying Zhiyu was good at reading the room, so he slowed down on his own.
Sure enough, Third Young Master Li stared at the couple again for quite a while.
A small sign stood beside the booth: “1 yuan per shot, 10 yuan for 12 shots.”
The boy immediately dug ten yuan out of his uniform pocket.
Ying Zhiyu wasn’t sure what Li Xi was focused on, but as soon as he saw the kid pull out money, his own first thought was—aren’t phones banned in middle and high school?
The girl took the first round. Six shots—three hits, three misses. Then it was the boy’s turn.
This time, the boy did even worse than the girl. Six shots, only two hits.
Li Xi saw the boy’s face flush red—probably out of embarrassment—and the girl immediately clung to his arm, coaxing him gently.
Then the girl pulled out another ten yuan and persuaded the boy to play again.
By the time the happy couple left with their balloon-shooting prizes, Ying Zhiyu asked quietly, “Are we still following them?”
Li Xi shot him a blank look and turned away.
Ying Zhiyu hurried after him. “If you played, the booth would go bankrupt.”
Li Xi shook his head. “The gun’s off. The sights tilt left.”
Ying Zhiyu raised his brows. “You could tell?”
Li Xi gave him a strange look. “After watching that many shots? It’d be weird if you couldn’t.”
Alpha Ying: … wow. That felt like an insult.
When they got back from the amusement park, they bought groceries and planned to cook that night.
They had just walked up to the second floor and hadn’t even taken out the keys when the door across the hall opened.
A young woman stepped out in loungewear, carrying a bag of trash—clearly on her way out.
Ying Zhiyu was about to turn back when she, being naturally friendly, stopped to look at the two tall men standing at the door.
“Excuse me, are you… the new owners?”
Seeing it was unavoidable, Ying Zhiyu handed the key to Li Xi and stepped forward to talk.
“Not new owners. This is our old family home. We finally had time to come back and check on it.”
The girl’s eyes brightened. “Oh! You must be Grandpa Gan’s grandson! He used to tell me he had a grandson and a granddaughter—I played here all the time when I was little!”
Li Xi paused behind him.
Ying Zhiyu nodded. “Yeah, this is the Gan family’s place.”
He deliberately angled himself to block the girl’s view of Li Xi.
She was young, and likely an Omega. He worried she might recognize Li Xi.
While he talked, he subtly gestured for Li Xi to go inside first.
Li Xi pressed his lips together, took the bag of groceries from his hand, and went in.
Five minutes later, Ying Zhiyu came home.
Li Xi was sitting on the living room couch. No TV, no phone—just sitting there.
Ying Zhiyu turned on the TV as he passed. “What do you want to watch? I’ll start cooking.”
Li Xi didn’t answer, but as soon as Ying Zhiyu walked into the kitchen, he quietly followed.
Ying Zhiyu raised a brow at him, then put him in charge of washing vegetables.
At home they used a dishwasher to wash greens, but this was an old house—no fancy appliances. The Third Young Master had no choice but to wash them himself.
Halfway through cooking, Ying Zhiyu realized they didn’t have dark soy sauce.
They’d bought vegetables on their way back, but the seasoning supplies were stocked ahead of time—and only included light soy sauce.
When he turned around, he found Li Xi crouched down washing cilantro, head lowered, hair cowlick right in the center of his crown.
Ying Zhiyu stared at the whorl for a moment, wisely choosing not to comment on how Li Xi—who normally avoided anything with a smell—was now quietly washing cilantro.
Maybe being stared at too long, Li Xi looked up. “What is it?”
“We’re missing soy sauce.”
Li Xi paused, probably trying to remember what soy sauce was, then said, “I’ll go buy it.”
“No need,” Ying Zhiyu said.
The nearest shop was far, and Panda and a bodyguard lived downstairs—with more across the building. If Li Xi went out, the whole entourage would have to follow.
So Ying Zhiyu decided, “I’ll borrow some from next door. She probably cooks.”
He’d seen kitchen scraps in the girl’s trash bag.
Li Xi lowered his head without comment.
Two minutes later, Ying Zhiyu returned with the soy sauce. When all the dishes were done, he grabbed some of the snacks they’d bought earlier and returned both the soy sauce and a small gift bag to the neighbor.
During dinner, Ying Zhiyu talked about eating at various neighbors’ houses as a kid.
“My mom’s family is huge. My grandparents didn’t really care much about us ‘outer’ grandkids, so I mostly grew up with my dad’s parents.”
His parents worked away from home.
His sister was ten years older and left town for school early.
“Grandpa got dementia really young… then became paralyzed. He was bedridden for over ten years.”
“Grandma liked to go play cards. She’d sometimes bring me along so I could eat there, then bring something home for Grandpa. If the place was too far, I had to find food on my own.”
He recalled these things calmly—without bitterness.
He understood Grandma’s restlessness. Caring for a paralyzed spouse for years would exhaust anyone.
Since Grandma was gone most days, neighbors often fed him, or childhood friends would take him home to eat.
He said Grandma always brought him treats at night—sometimes candy, sometimes other snacks—and he used to look forward to it.
But as Li Xi listened, all he heard was a child wandering around alone, unsure where his next meal was.
No wonder Ying Zhiyu was so good at reading people.
A kid raised on “a hundred households’ meals” had to learn fast.
And the fact he managed to grow up straight and steady despite all that… Li Xi thought it was a miracle in itself.