Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

Little Fish couldn't resist either.

The main reason was that the opportunity was so rare; she usually didn't have such a good chance to openly sneak into Ai Qing's wardrobe.

She really liked the smell of Ai Qing.

Perhaps because she had been smelling it since she was a child, this scent gave her a sense of warmth and security from the bottom of her heart.

When you smell it, your whole body can relax, achieving a feeling of physical and mental well-being.

Although Xiaoyu was forced to hide in the closet because Yao Qiang entered the house, it was exactly what Xiaoyu wanted.

During the tense and exciting moment, when Ai Qing pulled her to the wardrobe door, she was secretly overjoyed.

I just didn't expect Yao Qiang to come and go so quickly; she left after saying only a few words.

At this moment, Xiaoyu was already intoxicated by Aiqing's scent and didn't notice the commotion outside the wardrobe at all.

By the time the wardrobe door was opened, it was already too late.

"What are you doing?" Ai Qing looked at Xiao Yu with a strange expression.

To be fair, he had seen Xiaoyu secretly smelling his coat before, but he just assumed that Xiaoyu was particularly fond of the first piece of clothing she wore after becoming human.

Who would have thought that Xiaoyu would have such a strange fetish for clothes?

Why are you specifically targeting his clothes to smell them?

"It's nothing..." Xiaoyu blinked, a little guilty, and looked away. She forced herself to lift her head from Ai Qing's pile of clothes and explained softly, "I was thinking... in case Mom opens the closet, I'll hide in the pile of clothes so she won't see me."

Ah!

That explanation makes perfect sense!

As Xiaoyu spoke, she suddenly felt clever about herself, and her tone became more assertive, almost as if she were emphasizing her confidence with her hands on her hips.

Ai Qing didn't care what excuse she gave, but asked with a dark face, "Who are you calling 'Mom'?"

"Huh?" Little Fish tilted her head in confusion. "You're my brother, and she's your mother, so she's also my mother."

Ai Qing: "..."

That makes so much sense, I don't know how to refute it.

Moreover, if Xiaoyu really calls her mother "Mom," Ai Qing thinks Yao Qiang would most likely not refuse.

After all, when we were raising small fish, Grandma always referred to herself as Grandma, so Mom naturally refers to herself as Mom.

Ai Qing, who is clearly the master, should be referring to himself as "father."

But considering that the little fish calls me "Dad," it feels better to call him "Brother."

"Don't say anything yet, come out of the closet first." Ai Qing pried open the closet door, gesturing for Xiao Yu to come down from inside.

Little Fish looked very reluctant, and with great reluctance, she stretched out her legs and slid slowly out of the wardrobe.

After coming out, she pouted behind Ai Qing's back, looking a little unwilling.

"Come on, open your mouth."

Ai Qing, who was behind Xiaoyu, took a piece of apple and held it to her lips, saying, "Try it."

"Mmm~" The little fish opened its mouth and ate it. "Delicious!"

"Let's share it," Ai Qing said, holding up the plate. "Otherwise, when we sneak out later, we might not be able to eat the barbecue."

……

At 11 p.m., all was quiet.

At least that's the case in this neighborhood.

The community is mostly populated by elderly people. Most young people probably studied nearby before university, and then they left their hometown and this place.

I won't even work here in the future.

So it gets very quiet here at night.

By this time, the grandparents on the first floor had already gone to sleep.

Ai Qing and Xiao Yu stealthily descended the stairs and walked into the courtyard without attracting anyone's attention.

The three brothers in the living room on the first floor were more perceptive. They noticed the commotion outside and slipped over to the glass door of the balcony, staring intently at the two figures in the yard.

When Ai Qing turned her head to look at the living room, she was almost frightened by those three pairs of glowing eyes that looked like ghost fire.

"Go away, go away." Ai Qing waved to the three of them. Seeing that they were still staring, she gave up on chasing them away and quickly pulled Xiao Yu to the gate of the courtyard.

Both the first and second floors have their own entrance doors.

However, the first floor is usually connected to the supermarket, and the gate of the courtyard leads directly to the road outside the community, so there is no need to enter or exit through the stairwell near the elevator.

Therefore, Ai Qing's family usually uses these two passages to enter and exit their home.

Of course, Ai Qing chose this gate in the courtyard mainly because it was relatively safe and quiet, so she took Xiao Yu out this time.

The front door of my house makes a lot of noise when it opens and closes. I don't usually notice it, but it becomes especially noticeable at night.

Although the gate in the yard also made noise, it was quite far from the bedrooms of my parents and grandparents.

Furthermore, the courtyard gate is located in an open outdoor area, so the noise is not very noticeable, making it relatively easy to sneak out.

"Let's go." Ai Qing opened the door a crack, letting Xiao Yu slip out first, and then followed her.

After arriving outside, gently close the gate.

After successfully slipping out, Ai Qing adjusted the fisherman's hat on Xiao Yu's head and whispered, "How long can this last?"

"At least two hours," Little Fish whispered in response.

“OK, very good.” Ai Qing nodded, then pulled Xiao Yu out of the residential area. “Let’s go find a barbecue restaurant.”

"A barbecue restaurant!"

"Shh!" Ai Qing covered Xiao Yu's excited mouth. "Keep your voice down. We haven't gone far yet. Don't let anyone hear us."

"Mmm..." Little Fish nodded, and didn't forget to sneak a few sniffs, feeling that Ai Qing's hands smelled quite nice.

The two strolled out of the residential area without incident, and Ai Qing didn't run into any acquaintances in the middle of the night.

Yunting Road becomes quiet in the evening.

Aside from internet cafes and some 24-hour convenience stores, only one foot massage parlor and a few barbecue restaurants are still open.

Further east at the intersection, near Wanbao City, the area becomes more lively.

Even at 11 p.m., the food street there is still bustling with people.

"Aren't we going to eat at this place?" As they passed a barbecue restaurant, Xiaoyu recognized the words on the signboard and asked curiously.

"The food here is just average; it only works because it's close to the gate of the residential area," Ai Qing said. "Besides, they don't have grilled fish. We went to the one at the street corner."

This grilled fish restaurant is quite large, with a second floor. The restaurant's charcoal grill is placed right at the entrance, so you can clearly see how the fish is grilled. The taste is also exceptional.

Ai Qing vaguely remembers that this shop was already there when he was a child.

Back then, the shop was a very small storefront with only three or four tables inside. In the evening, they would set up more than a dozen folding tables at the entrance, and business was booming.

Over the past ten years, this shop has remained a thriving business, and the master chef's skills are still superb, maintaining the familiar taste of yesteryear.

The only difference is that the store has become bigger, and there are more customers.

Even at 11 p.m., the entrance was still full of tables.

It's already May, and Hangzhou is already quite hot.

Even at night on a hot day, people are reluctant to sit indoors to eat barbecue; if they can sit outdoors, they will never go indoors.

Ai Qing didn't care about that. After entering the store with Xiao Yu, she picked out the barbecue she wanted from the freezer, ordered a grilled fish, and then went upstairs.

But just as he and Xiaoyu found a place to sit down, his face suddenly froze.

Right now, in a corner on the second floor.

A man sat alone at that spot, eating kebabs and drinking beer, and didn't seem to be in a good mood.

Ai Qing thought to herself, "Oh no!" and instinctively grabbed Xiao Yu's hand, trying to find another place before they were discovered.

The next second, his eyes met the other person's.

"Ai Qing?!" Ai Zhongguo's face showed surprise, then his gaze fell on his son's hand, and following his son's thieving hand to the little girl, a look of shock immediately appeared on his face.

"Uh... Dad... It's so late, you're here for barbecue too?"

Chapter 93 How did you know?!

Ai Zhongguo is in a bad mood this year.

Especially at the beginning of the year, news of layoffs began to circulate in publishing houses.

But at that time, he naively thought that this matter had nothing to do with him, a veteran employee of twenty or thirty years.

Those with more seniority than him are either semi-retired or powerful figures in the publishing house.

Even though his salary is only so-so, he still has a lot of influence.

However, starting in mid-February after the annual leave ended, the publishing house suddenly began to expand its recruitment of editors for the online media sector.

Before he could even react, news of layoffs came one after another.

Unfortunately, he was one of them.

He treated the publishing house like his home, working diligently for decades. He never expected that those he usually got along with would be so ruthless when it came to layoffs.

Having lost his most basic source of income, Ai Zhongguo became very anxious.

But he didn't want to show it to his family, so in this state of suppression and concealment, his anxiety spread and grew wildly like weeds.

In the end, his partner discovered the truth and confessed.

He has looked for many jobs in the past few months.

But most publishing houses no longer hire middle-aged people like him who can't keep up with the development of internet public opinion.

A few media companies still value his writing skills, and the current company offers him a fairly generous salary.

However, he strongly resisted writing articles and reports that did not reflect the actual situation.