Chapter 163 - 162: Do you have children outside?

Words : 1242 Updated : Sep 23rd, 2025

Chapter 163: 162: Do you have children outside? The kitchen was filled with rich aromas, and the man holding the plate of food hesitated, shifting his feet awkwardly. He took a few deep breaths, but despite repeatedly trying to reassure himself, he still couldn’t step over the threshold, standing there foolishly instead. "What’s with all the stalling?" Xu Fan leaned casually against the doorframe, looking amusedly at the flustered man. It was him who said he’d go ask the old man. It was him who claimed he’d risk everything for his brothers. Now, it’s still him standing frozen and scared stiff. Seems like he really takes it all. "Brother, I’m going now." Xu Linchuan took two steps forward, and just as he was about to brush past him. He forced a somewhat ingratiating smile: "If the old man hits me, you’ll back me up, won’t you?" He was truly terrified of that cane. When it landed on someone, it hurt badly enough that no one would recover in less than two or three days. "Of course." Xu Fan nodded seriously with a slight tilt of his chin towards the dining room, displaying a clear hint of encouragement. Xu Linchuan tightened his grip on the plate, hesitated for two seconds, then resolutely stepped forward. Sitting down to the right of the old man, he discreetly reached out to touch the cane: "Old man, the weather is pretty nice today." Xu Zhen glanced at him indifferently, picked up a bite of food with his chopsticks, chewed, and seemed entirely uninterested in engaging. "Are you in a good mood today?" Xu Linchuan shamelessly pressed on, while discreetly pulling the cane toward himself. "It’s alright." "I’m doing okay too." Xu Linchuan chuckled awkwardly and shifted his gaze to the plate of food before him: "Do you think this tastes good?" "Average." "What about this?" "..." Xu Zhen could tell he had something to say but refused to open the conversation himself. No matter what Linchuan asked, he answered, driving the younger man to frustration. After going back and forth like this, Xu Linchuan finally gave up. He picked up a piece of beef and placed it in the old man’s bowl: "Old man, how many calves do you think this cow can have?" "This is bull meat; it can’t give birth." Xu Zhen cast a look at him as if staring at an idiot. Who eats perfectly good bull meat and chooses rubbery cow meat instead? Xu Linchuan coughed awkwardly, racking his brain for another animal he could use as an analogy. Feigning nonchalance, he said: "Hey, my colleague’s dog had an affair recently." "Brother, you know, right? It’s that one—Lucky." Xu Linchuan shot a look at the man sitting opposite him. Xu Fan: "..." He frowned slightly, his gaze complex as he glanced at the old man, deeply sensing that someone was doomed today. Seeing the man remain silent, Xu Linchuan didn’t seem fazed and kept talking: "After Lucky had the affair, it ended up having a pup with the neighbor’s dog..." After rambling for a bit, he finally got back to the point, staring earnestly at the indifferent old man: "Do you think Lucky should acknowledge this pup?" Xu Zhen placed his chopsticks down, pulled a napkin from the box, and leisurely wiped his mouth. He turned to look at Xu Linchuan with an assessing gaze: "Did you father a child out there?" "Pfft, cough cough—" Xu Fan, who had been drinking water, couldn’t help but choke at the unexpected comment. His face and neck turned red from holding his breath. "Why so worked up? Is the child yours?" Xu Zhen raised his brows and threw another sharp look at Xu Fan. "No." Xu Fan quickly denied, sharing a brief, defeated glance with the sheepish Xu Linchuan across the table and letting out a silent sigh. Carefully considering his next move, he lowered his voice under the pressure of the old man’s piercing gaze: "That child is—" "Oh, eating time, huh." A deep and resonant voice broke in from behind, cutting off their words at just the right moment. Jin Heng placed the birdcage on an empty stool, unapologetically sat beside Xu Zhen, and motioned for someone to bring him a set of utensils. "What brings you here today?" Seeing his old friend, Xu Zhen’s smile grew noticeably more sincere than when facing Xu Linchuan earlier. While chewing and swallowing, he turned his head slightly and said to the two dazed brothers: "Go grab a bottle of your old man’s good wine." Upon hearing this, Xu Zhen couldn’t help but glance at him again, a faint feeling of unease creeping up in his heart. It wasn’t until the glass of white liquor was placed in front of him that it pulled his wandering thoughts back to the present. "Old Xu, drink." Jin Heng lifted his glass, clinking it lightly against Xu Zhen’s, then downed more than half in one go, grimacing slightly at the burn. Xu Zhen sensed something off about him tonight, but with the two younger ones still there, he refrained from saying anything. He finished most of his own glass, raising an eyebrow: "So, how’s this drink?" "Not bad, better than the last one; the aroma’s a bit richer." "..." The two men continued their idle chatter for a while. It wasn’t until the two boys had gone upstairs that Jin Heng tossed his chopsticks onto the table and leaned back in his chair. He looked at Xu Zhen with a faint smile: "Old Xu, don’t you think time is passing too fast?" "Yeah, our hair is nearly all gray now." Xu Zhen ran his fingers through his hair, much like Jin Heng’s, now showing its age, and sighed lightly. Jin Heng fell silent for a moment, picking up his glass and sniffing the liquor at the rim, as if drifting back into memories: "Back when we drank, Little Wan would always keep an eye on us." "Whenever we drank too much, she’d come over and snatch your glass away, then turn to me and say, ’Uncle Jin, you should go home.’" Once, I got so drunk I shouted at Little Wan, venting my anger at her for being so meddlesome even with adults drinking. That time, I smashed a glass and stormed straight out of the Xu family’s yard in a rage. The snow was falling heavily in the Imperial City that night, and I couldn’t walk steady, my steps crunching in the snow, when suddenly there was a black umbrella over me. Little Wan pressed a hot water bottle into my hand, held my arm, and silently walked me all the way home. It wasn’t until we reached the Jin family doorstep that she looked at me seriously and said, ’Uncle Jin, it’s not that I’m meddling—it’s that your liver isn’t healthy, and you shouldn’t drink so much.’ All these years later, Jin Heng had forgotten how he felt back then but still remembered the scene from that night and Little Wan’s determined expression. "So in a way, it’s thanks to your Little Wan." Coming out of his reminiscence, Jin Heng’s eyes were slightly red. He took a sip of white liquor, shook his head lightly, then placed the glass back on the table. "Jin Heng." Xu Zhen’s expression shifted, gripping his glass tightly, a flash of sorrow and self-reproach passing through his eyes: "Let’s not bring her up."

Chapter 163 - 162: Do you have children outside?

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