Chapter Ten: The Suspicious Aunt’s Smile

Wen Yichen was just about to take another sip when Wen Yixin’s words made his hand pause mid-air. He knew it was only a joke, yet he found himself at a loss for how to respond. He neither agreed nor refused. Even he couldn’t quite explain why, but when Wen Yixin said that, a strange feeling flickered in his heart—perhaps he simply couldn’t accept the idea of calling someone younger than himself a silly sister-in-law.

Seeing Wen Yichen troubled, Wen Yixin gave a soft laugh, light enough not to draw the attention of the adults. “I’m just joking with you! Why are you taking it so seriously?”

Wen Yichen said nothing, burying his head in his bowl. Wen Yixin hadn’t said anything further, but Wen Yichen’s ears gradually flushed with a suspicious shade of red.

This subtle change did not escape Jiang Muwen’s notice.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly, seeing his ears slowly turning red.

“I’m just getting warm from eating,” he replied.

After dinner, Wen Yichen, under the pretext of making up his homework, invited Jiang Muwen—who was about to start on her mooncakes—into his bedroom. Yet, Jiang Muwen, deprived of mooncakes, couldn’t let it go, as if without them she lacked the energy to study.

“Wen Yichen, look at tonight’s moon—it’s so round, doesn’t it look just like the mooncakes Aunt prepared for me?”

Faced with the girl before him, who seemed utterly obsessed, Wen Yichen sighed helplessly and stood up. “What flavor do you want?”

His question stumped Jiang Muwen. She froze, torn between which flavor to choose—she wanted to taste them all, but knew she couldn’t possibly finish them.

“Never mind, I’ll bring them all in for you,” Wen Yichen said and turned to leave the bedroom.

Hearing Wen Yichen’s slippers shuffling out, Jiang Muwen imagined their lives together in a few years—Wen Yichen complaining, yet his body moving involuntarily to serve her tea and water. The thought brought a smile to her face, thanks to Aunt Su Yu’s earlier mention at the dinner table of their childhood betrothal, which gave her another chance to picture them together in the future.

Just as she was lost in her happy reverie, a ringtone interrupted her thoughts, startling her. Her gaze landed on Wen Yichen’s phone lying nearby—the name “Xia Manman” displayed prominently, making Jiang Muwen’s heart tremble.

Xia Manman was a classmate—a girl, as the name suggested. In Jiang Muwen’s eyes, Xia Manman was quite pretty, and rumor had it that shortly after the semester began, a boy was secretly infatuated with her.

Now, Xia Manman was calling, and Jiang Muwen’s nerves tensed. It seemed Xia Manman was determined to get through; the ringtone kept sounding as long as the call went unanswered.

“Whose call is that?” Wen Yichen’s voice came from behind.

“It’s Xia Manman…” Jiang Muwen answered.

The next moment, she heard a plate set down on the desk, and Wen Yichen’s slender fingers slid across the phone screen, then pressed the speaker button.

His movements were fluid, as if he didn’t care in the least that Jiang Muwen was right there beside him. It was as though he were alone in his room; after taking the call, he casually picked up a mooncake, sat down, and with one hand holding the mooncake and the other a pen, began writing something on paper.

To Wen Yichen, he and Jiang Muwen were already close enough that it was more comfortable to be open about trivial things than to hide them.

“Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!” Xia Manman’s sweet, soft voice came through the phone, making Jiang Muwen, who had just bitten into a mooncake, shiver involuntarily.

But Wen Yichen showed little reaction. He took a bite of his mooncake and gave a casual “mm.”

Silence fell; Wen Yichen seemed disinclined to continue the conversation.

After a few seconds, Xia Manman spoke cautiously, “Wen Yichen… I have some problems I can’t solve. Could you help me?”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Muwen paused—she suspected Xia Manman’s call was about more than just homework. Xia Manman wasn’t stupid; she often helped classmates with their studies. Why, then, did she suddenly become helpless in front of Wen Yichen?

But Jiang Muwen kept her thoughts to herself, quietly sitting beside Wen Yichen, pretending to study diligently while listening intently to their exchange.

Soon after Xia Manman finished speaking, Wen Yichen’s voice reached Jiang Muwen’s ears: “Sorry, I’m busy today.”

The moment he spoke, Jiang Muwen felt a surge of secret joy. She lowered her head, and her lips involuntarily curled into a smile she couldn’t suppress.

“Oh… Is that so? Alright then…” Xia Manman sounded disappointed.

Wen Yichen responded with a faint “mm,” said goodbye, and hung up.

Cold as ever, he seemed unwilling to exchange even half a sentence with other girls. His gaze returned to Jiang Muwen, noticing that although she held a pen, she hadn’t written a single word.

“Are you planning to stay overnight at my place?”

Wen Yichen’s cold question startled the quietly delighted Jiang Muwen. She snapped out of her reverie, her hand clutching the pen trembling slightly. She heard what Wen Yichen said, but instinctively asked, “Huh?”

“Idiot,” Wen Yichen muttered, glancing at her test paper. Aside from the questions he had just explained, she hadn’t written anything.

It had been a while since Wen Yichen called her an idiot, and hearing it again, she felt a strange sense of nostalgia. The word seemed to possess a certain magic; after he said it, she couldn’t help but imagine their future together—him exasperatedly calling her an idiot while dutifully doing things for her.

Perhaps Jiang Muwen was too lost in her daydreams; after Wen Yichen spoke, the air grew quiet, so quiet that even Wen Yichen felt a little awkward. He glanced at her and unexpectedly saw a suspicious, aunt-like smile on her face.

“Jiang Muwen, what on earth is going on in your head all day?” Wen Yichen asked, bewildered. He’d called her an idiot, but her reaction now seemed a little off.