These words made Jiang Qihuai’s heart soften a little, and he felt a bit like laughing.

He reached back and grasped the hand she was using to pinch his fingertips, kneading it like dough: “I wash the dishes, then what will you do?”

“I’ll keep you company while you wash,” Tao Zhi said solemnly, “I’ll give you loving encouragement from the side.”

Jiang Qihuai: “…”

His silence would not do. Tao Zhi absolutely had to get his convinced agreement and affirmation: “How about it, isn’t this deal very cost-effective.”

Jiang Qihuai laughed softly.

“Indeed, I’ve profited.”

To be able to trick her into coming home.

No matter how he thought about it, he had taken enormous advantage.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

After the meal, Jiang Qihuai chatted with Tao Xiuping in the living room for a while. Tao Xiuping was very knowledgeable in this area, the two of them talking about things like financing, what ABCD north-south-east-west shares, what sectors, Tao Zhi could not understand a single one.

She sat to the side bored, playing on her phone, the words spoken by the two men beside her passing by her ears like a foreign language.

After using up her mobile game stamina, she opened Weibo and started cloud-adoring the cat photos posted by a bunch of catteries she followed, finally clicking into a few photographers she was usually on good terms with to glance at their recent photos.

In the gaps between scrolling Weibo, Tao Zhi looked up and glanced at Tao Xiuping.

The creature known as man, it seems regardless of age, as long as they can find a common topic to chat about with the other party, the impression between them can naturally rise a level.

But it was truly too boring.

She was leaning back on the sofa, hugging a pillow and playing on her phone, when suddenly, from under the pillow blocking the view, someone reached over and gently squeezed her hand.

Tao Zhi paused, glanced sideways out of the corner of her eye at Jiang Qihuai sitting beside her, under the pillow she also subtly tilted her hand and secretly pinched him back, then with a “click” sound locked her phone, and got up to go upstairs as if nothing had happened.

She bounced and hopped up the stairs, and was just standing at the second-floor landing leaning on the handrail looking down, when suddenly someone spoke from behind: “What are you looking at?”

Tao Zhi shivered in fright, instantly turning around.

Ji Fan stood at his bedroom door holding a can of cola, looking like he had just come out.

“Seeing how long these two are going to chat,” Tao Zhi pouted, “The topics of finance workers are boring as hell.”

“Old Tao is happy though,” Ji Fan also came over, arms resting on the handrail bending over to look down, “Usually neither of us can chat about this with him, not interested, and don’t understand.”

He paused, then turned his head: “You should be pretty happy too.”

Tao Zhi nodded.

Of course she hoped Old Tao was willing to chat with Jiang Qihuai. Although Tao Xiuping had changed a lot over the years, his acceptance of Jiang Qihuai was still very reluctant.

If Jiang Qihuai could win his favor on his own, then Tao Zhi would laugh in her dreams.

She shook her head and wobbled thinking about it, then heard Ji Fan snort coldly beside her.

Tao Zhi turned her head, glanced at the cola in his hand: “Where did you get that? Didn’t see any in the fridge.”

Ji Fan pointed back with his thumb: “My room.”

Without another word, Tao Zhi straightened up and pushed the door open to go in.

Ji Fan: “Hey?”

When he followed her in, he saw Tao Zhi squatting in front of his mini fridge, picking through the assortment of bottled and canned sodas and beer inside, finally selecting a peach-flavored soda and opening it.

Tao Zhi opened the soda, closed the mini fridge door, turned around and took a sip, looking at him puzzled: “Why do you dislike Jiang Qihuai so much?”

“Because I can’t beat him.” Ji Fan walked over and leaned against the wall next to her, saying in a casual, roguish manner.

Tao Zhi: “…”

Tao Zhi stared at him with a deadpan expression, raising her hand as if to hit him.

Ji Fan laughed and dodged to the side, Tao Zhi rolled her eyes and lowered her hand.

Ji Fan’s smile faded a little, and he came back over.

He sat on the mini fridge and took a sip of cola, quiet for a few seconds before saying: “It’s not really targeting him or disliking him, it’s just that I promised mom, I would protect you.”

Tao Zhi was taken aback.

“I know you’ve always thought mom liked me more, just like I’ve always felt Boss Tao likes you more, but the last thing mom said to me before she left was to protect you well,” Ji Fan said, “Some feelings, I think parents can’t control them, being able to completely guarantee treating both equally is such a difficult thing. I think, loving one more doesn’t mean not loving the other, on the contrary, she might have felt she owed you until the very end.”

Ji Fan drank the last bit of cola in his hand, then turned his head: “So, it’s not really that I dislike him that much, maybe it’s just that seeing him planning to steal my job, I instinctively feel a bit unhappy.”

Tao Zhi tilted her head and couldn’t help laughing softly.

Seeing her laugh, Ji Fan said puzzled: “No, I’m rarely serious, and you’re still laughing?”

Tao Zhi: “Because you’re especially funny when you’re serious.”

“…”

Ji Fan sighed.

Neither of them spoke again, the icy peach soda sweet, sour, and cold filling her mouth, stimulating her taste buds and throat, Tao Zhi held the glass bottle, tilted her head back and took a few sips, when she heard Ji Fan suddenly call her: “Sis.”

He very, very rarely called her that, the last time was when Ji Jin passed away.

Tao Zhi paused.

Ji Fan placed the empty cola can in his hand on the table, his ears were a bit red, he seemed very uncomfortable, but said with extreme seriousness: “Although my job was stolen, I’m still quite happy that someone can take my place to protect you.”

Tao Zhi looked at those dark eyes similar to hers and was quiet for a while.

Twins are really magical.

They can roughly guess each other’s thoughts without saying them clearly, and there are even very occasional times when one person is emotionally volatile, the other also feels restless.

They are like souls that should have belonged to one, split into two by God’s mischief.

She and Ji Fan actually looked very similar as children, in photos from when they were one or two years old they were almost exactly alike, but as they grew up bit by bit, they became less and less similar.

Now, only the outline of their eyes and brows have some resemblance.

The cold glass bottle of soda passed the chill all the way to her fingertips, Tao Zhi lowered her eyelashes and smiled.

“Big sister is also very happy, seeing our A’Fan has grown up.”

When Jiang Qihuai went upstairs to look for her, Tao Zhi was not in her room.

She had been bored sitting downstairs, Jiang Qihuai originally thought she had returned to her room to do her own thing, but when he pushed the door open, the bedroom was completely quiet, not even the lights were on.

He turned on the light, walked to the bathroom door, raised his hand and knocked with his knuckles.

No sound.

Jiang Qihuai walked to her desk, pulled out the chair and sat down, took out his phone and opened WeChat.

After typing the message, he didn’t send it, he swiveled the chair, rested his elbow on the edge of the desk and sent it.

After waiting a while, Tao Zhi didn’t reply, he didn’t know where she had gone or what she was doing.

This person could even disappear without a trace in her own home.

Jiang Qihuai put his phone on the desk and casually pulled out a photography-related book from her desk to read.

There were very few books on her desk, almost all neatly standing upright lined up at the edge of the desk, probably because she hadn’t stayed here often or read them in a long time, a thin layer of dust had settled on the books.

Jiang Qihuai held the photography book in his hand, flipped through it a couple of times, his gaze sweeping over the row of spines standing in front of him.

With one book missing from the squeezed row, those books had loosened a lot, two of them tilted crookedly, revealing the originally squeezed innermost thin volume.

Jiang Qihuai’s gaze stopped on it, his fingers paused, he put down the book in his hand and pulled that one out.

A yellowed English essay collection, the edges of the pages already worn to a fuzzy edge, a curled crease on the corner of the page, who knows how many times it had been opened.

He lowered his eyes, opened the already softened cover.

Then, he saw the title page inside.

The fingers holding the page tightened inch by inch, stiff like frozen branches buried in a cold winter snow night.

Almost instantly, the image of the young girl bowing her head, holding a pen, pursing her lips as she carefully wrote her name on it directly rushed into his mind, he even clearly remembered the soft fuzz on her black hair when the afternoon sunlight fell on her, the light particles falling on her lowered long eyelashes.