Feiyue chimed in, "I can handle a thousand drinks without getting drunk, that bit of alcohol isn’t going to make me lose my composure."
"Just so, I won’t boast about anything else, but my tolerance for liquor is definitely good," Feiteng added.
"Alright, quit the chatter and hurry up to clean up and get to bed," Xia Xiao said, not lingering on the subject. After setting down the cup of tea, she too headed upstairs.
Feiling and Li Manzi also followed upstairs, while Li Min and Ye Jia went to help Feiyang and Feiyue, touching both of their hearts.
Feiteng instantly became a glaringly bright lightbulb in the room, becoming the most intrusive presence.
"Come on, brother and sister-in-law, give it a rest, will you? I’m still a bachelor here, so spare me the heartache," he said.
At this remark, Feiteng received a unanimous look of disdain from Feiyang and Feiyue.
Feiteng touched his nose, conceding the point; after all, they were his older brothers.
However, seeing couples all around the house, and even Feiling with a sweetheart, Feiteng truly felt a sense of loneliness right then.
Once everything was tidied up, everyone retreated to their rooms, and after bathing, Gao Jiaxing brought Shitou into Feiteng’s room.
Feiteng: ...
"Since you’re all alone, you might as well start practicing how to be a good dad, considering you’ll have your own family one day," Gao Jiaxing said and then left.
Feiteng again: ...
Then, meeting Shitou’s gaze, Shitou frowned, sat up, and called out, "Uncle."
"Poor nephew of mine, you’ll be sleeping with your uncle tonight," Feiteng said.
At his words, Shitou lay back down, closed his eyes, and fell asleep without insisting on returning to Xia Xiao’s room.
Feiteng heaved a sigh of relief, glad that there were no tears or tantrums, otherwise, he wouldn’t have known how to handle the situation.
With Shitou away, Gao Jiaxing naturally had a very pleasant night; Xia Xiao was quite speechless at Gao Jiaxing’s smugness.
That night, Feiling still slept with Li Manzi. Being from similar circles, they found no end to their conversation.
"You should get some sleep, sister-in-law, staying up late is not good for you during pregnancy," Feiling eventually put a stop to the conversation.
Li Manzi hummed softly, her hands gently resting on her stomach as she too closed her eyes to sleep.
Poor Feiyi, the father-to-be, was still emotionally stirred, his pregnant wife sleeping over at her sister’s.
In the early morning, Gao Guoqiang and Zheng Xianghong brought home breakfast for everyone, including fried dough sticks, steamed buns, rice dumplings, and hard-boiled eggs, not to mention the soy milk they made themselves.
Jing Yao and Old Sir Jing also came over, but at that point, Jing Yao’s leg hadn’t healed yet, and Feiyang, Feiyue, Feiyi, and Feiteng, who wanted to test the potential brother-in-law, just couldn’t, so they let it be.
Today, Feiteng was on a morning flight. Having spent a good number of days in the Capital, it was time for him to return to the zoo. Before leaving, he had a good talk with Jing Yao and, surprisingly, they hit it off, leading Feiteng to approve of his future brother-in-law.
Gao Jiaxing was only back for a night before he had to return to the military, clearly tired, yet he took it all in stride.
Feiyang and Feiyue, Feiyi, all stayed with their wives and children, with Feiling keeping Jing Yao company at home, while Xia Xiao took Shitou to the company.
Half a month later, Feiteng called, announcing that the zoo had acquired a panda.
Xia Xiao was delighted and decided to take Shitou to take a look. She and Shitou were quite familiar with Nanhua Mountain.
"How did you get them? I never heard you mention this before," Xia Xiao asked.
Feiteng said, "Jing Hao helped apply for it. He works at the Garden Bureau. But it must’ve been Jing Yao who told him. I had chatted with Jing Yao before coming home, and didn’t expect him to remember. Plus, with Jing Hao’s involvement, things got a lot easier."
Xia Xiao and Shitou looked at the two giant pandas, still in their infancy, one male and one female, with clearly defined black and white fur, round and incredibly cute.
Xia Xiao was feeding the giant pandas with bamboo leaves and gently caressing them, giving them some spring water to drink.
When Shitou wanted to approach the pandas, Feiteng stopped him; after all, despite their vegetarian diet, pandas are still of the ’carnivore’ classification.
Shitou was just over a year old, still a child, and getting too close to the giant pandas was dangerous.
At that moment, Feiteng’s phone rang. Feiteng paused and said, "Just tell them I’m not here."
"Who is it?" Xia Xiao curiously looked at Feiteng’s irritated demeanor.
"A woman lawyer."
As soon as Feiteng finished, Xia Xiao frowned and said, "Is it that woman lawyer, the one who kept bothering you?"
"Not her, another one," Feiteng explained. "She’s a cousin of my classmate, the same one as the female traffic officer Huang Yulan. They got married; I was the best man, and she was the maid of honor, so that’s how we met."
"Oh, not her." Xia Xiao exhaled with relief. It was good that it wasn’t the previous one; she was intrigued now, "What kind of girl is she? I want to go see."
"Mom, don’t stir things up, okay? I’m really not interested in woman lawyers now. Please, don’t try to match me up with another lawyer," Feiteng hastily said.
"I won’t stir things up; I just want to see what kind of girl she is." Xia Xiao felt that her son had some fate with woman lawyers. One had left, and now another appeared. She couldn’t help but be curious.
Then Xia Xiao, with Shitou in tow, went to meet the woman lawyer, and Feiteng followed quickly, fearing his mother might somehow ensnare him.
Standing at the entrance of the zoo was a young woman in casual clothes, yet gracefully composed, beautiful, fair-skinned, and charming.
When she saw Feiteng come out, Yu Jialin bashfully called out, "Gao Feiteng, I was just passing by on an errand, heard from my cousin that you were here, and casually came to see you."
Suddenly, Shitou ran towards Feiteng, wrapped his arms around Feiteng’s leg, and called out, "Daddy."
Feiteng’s expression instantly cracked. Who was going to tell him why his little nephew was calling him daddy now?
Xia Xiao couldn’t help but smile as she saw the shy girl at the entrance turn pale with disbelief, her eyes wide open in shock, looking at Shitou.
They did look quite alike. Yu Jialin, feeling shocked, asked, "You have a child?"
"Yes, this is my son." Gao Feiteng took the opportunity to pick up Shitou and flashed a grin at Yu Jialin, "Do we look alike?"
"Where is his mother? If you have a child, why aren’t you married?" Yu Jialin looked at Gao Feiteng with a trace of suspicion.
Xia Xiao said with a slight smile, "Feiteng, since we have a guest, why don’t you invite her in to sit? It’s embarrassing to have her standing at the entrance."
Yu Jialin glanced at Xia Xiao and couldn’t immediately guess her relation to Feiteng. Although Xia Xiao was somewhat famous, it was only among certain circles.
Yu Jialin even suspected Xia Xiao might be Feiteng’s child’s mother, but Xia Xiao was older than Feiteng, and also bore some resemblance. Then, it suddenly clicked—remembering Feiteng had a cousin, she smiled lightly and said, "Nice to meet you, Sister Gao. I’m Yu Jialin."
Feiteng laughed out loud.