——————
"Dad——"
"Daddy!"
"Uncle Yang!"
Xie Jingyang looked down and sighed internally, actually, he let out a quite audible sigh!
The three kids who were playing hide and seek in the courtyard across heard it and ran over excitedly, greeting him one after the other.
Xiao Si, being older and used to calling ’Dad’, found it tough as the kids his age here mostly called their fathers ’Daddy’. He struggled with this new norm and ended up switching between calling Xie Jingyang ’Dad’ and ’Daddy’.
But for Xiaoqi, being younger made it easier to switch how she addressed her father, hearing her playmates call their fathers ’Daddy’, she too liked calling him ’Daddy’.
She thought ’Daddy’ sounded nicer than ’Dad’!
Only Tiantian, Little Ya, she was just tagging along.
"Hey, be careful not to damage the plants while playing, okay?"
Xie Jingyang suppressed his longing and, seeing his children’s flushed, playful faces, he spoke with joy.
"Okay!"
Just having fun, the children greeted him and then ran off. Xie Jingyang smiled, catching from the corner of his eye that the third floor balcony was now empty, with only baby diapers and small clothes hanging on the edge left—
"Sigh~"
Xie Jingyang rubbed his face to hide his disappointment and quickly went upstairs.
It was now nearly six o’clock in the evening.
The weather was hot, with the sun still hanging in the west. The residual heat from the stone tiles truly made it unbearably hot!
As he stepped onto the second floor, he saw Mr. Xie playing chess with a young stranger—
Xie Jingyang paused, then recalling the sedan outside the big yard and Tiantian playing happily with his children, he immediately guessed that this young man was the boyfriend everyone was talking about, the youngest sister’s suitor!
"Dad, I’m here," said Xie Jingyang while initially greeting Mr. Xie, then he nodded to Zhou Zhenghui, "Hello, I’m Xie Jingyang."
"Hello, Brother Five," Zhou Zhenghui replied cordially, shaking his hand with a smile. Seeing him sit down naturally next to Old Xie and watch the chess game seriously, he didn’t continue the conversation.
Men, actually, don’t chat as much as women, especially since Xie Jingyang was twenty-five, not fifteen, knowing that the environment around playing chess should be quiet.
Moreover, a chess watcher should be silent.
That is, the most upright gentleman watching others play chess should just look on—hands and mouth mustn’t move!
Especially with Old Xie, well, to put it nicely, he’s a real chess nut.
If you speak out of turn and cause him to lose, brace your ears for a good scolding!
When Yan Jinsu had finished feeding the twins again, she really came downstairs, by then, the sky had turned red and the time was past six. Xie Jingchen should be home soon, so she hurried downstairs.
As for Yan Jinsu, she watched with great interest.
At this moment, she had never seen men compete in drinking before; back when she and her husband hosted a wedding feast in the countryside, everyone cherished their liquor as it was scarce and not much was consumed, barely enough to get drunk.
But not this time.
The home, filled with good liquor sometimes collected by her, totaled more than a dozen bottles, plus the pure distilled liquor specially brought from the distillery for her postpartum recovery, not only pure but also high in alcohol content, really seemed about to ’burn’!
Luckily, that white liquor was specifically bought for Old Mr. Xie to steep medicinal herbs in; her postnatal recovery drink was only 40 proof, nothing compared to the 60 proof.
Plus, after being steeped for a long time, the alcohol content decreased even more, by the time she was in her postnatal confinement, the alcoholic strength of the yellow wine was definitely not 40 proof, initially drinking it she felt slightly intoxicated, but after getting used to it, her body didn’t feel it at all.
And it was sweet, unlike the liquor in her husband’s cup at the moment, just a tiny sip and his face immediately became flushed red, his stomach burning like fire, spicy!
But, it was exceptionally mellow, very easy to drink, Old Mr. Xie kept saying that the liquor was good.
Zhou Zhenghui could drink, but he could not outdrink the three big men of the Xie Family who were directly targeting him!
One of them was even a soldier king!
Even though Little Zi’er kept bringing him dishes, his face was flushed red and his neck swollen; this messily shattered his delicate devilish peach blossom-like charming male demeanor, leaving only a red-faced monkey appearance!
By the end, Xie Jingyang had already fallen in battle, and as for Old Mr. Xie, under Zhou Xiuhua’s glowering, he just smiled and occasionally picked at some fried peanuts, taking small sips of liquor, an image of leisurely watching the play unfold.
Who needed him to step in when he had such a capable son, hey, where was the need to put him on the field—he only accompanied drinks up to three cups under Zhou Zhenghui’s toast, nothing more after that.
Not to mention Zhou Xiuhua wouldn’t agree, even Xie Jingzi and Yan Jinsu were watching from the sidelines, where could he freely continue?
Nothing else to fear, he just feared his wife getting silently upset—forget it, a good man does not fight with a woman.
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