Drunk

A soothing tune.

Soft lighting.

The resident singer in the bar gently strummed a guitar and hummed a melody, as if the song could intoxicate anyone.

In a booth in the corner, accompanied by the clinking of glasses, a chubby man wearing gold-rimmed glasses said, "Come on, have a drink. Celebrating Chen Qin having a baby."

Sitting beside Ye Shuang, Chen Qin only took a gentle sip of room-temperature juice, everything done with extra caution. "Not yet. The first few months are still pretty risky."

"You'll be fine as long as you're careful." Ye Shuang reached out, gently placed his hand on Chen Qin’s lower abdomen, and smiled.

Chen Qin gave a sweet smile, and the two exchanged a look.

"Ew, gross. Such a cheesy vibe." The man sitting next to Chen Hai raised his pinky finger, pinched his nose, and let out a sniff.

But at that moment, Fugui’s face was also full of smiles. After all, they were childhood friends, and seeing this scene made him genuinely happy. Things had finally blossomed and bore fruit—he was the first to know about Chen Qin’s feelings for Ye Shuang all along.

Chen Qin hadn’t planned to confess her feelings to Ye Shuang just once. She had missed many opportunities because of her shyness.

By the time she summoned the courage to confess, Zhao Mengyao was already by Ye Shuang’s side.

Pain. Too much pain.

Fugui couldn’t help but think that at the time, he hadn’t cared much that Ye Shuang had a girlfriend. After all, high school romances rarely lasted until after college graduation or even into adult life.

Each stage of life was like a fork in the road—different choices led to different outcomes. Back then, Fugui wasn’t worried simply because he thought Zhao Mengyao’s grades were poor, while Ye Shuang’s were top-tier. The college fork in the road could easily separate them. But what he never expected was that Ye Shuang would actually choose to apply to Zhao Mengyao’s college.

And he even put up with Zhao Mengyao’s small tantrums, sticking with her all the way until after graduation, joining her family’s company, and eventually climbing to the chairman’s position.

The moment he heard that Ye Shuang was about to get engaged, honestly, Fugui immediately reached out to Chen Qin the second he got the news.

Sure enough, Chen Qin asked him out for a drink and, through tears, said that if only she had been braver, even if she had failed, she wouldn’t have spent so many years regretting not taking that step.

Who knew it would turn out like this in the end?

Zhao Mengyao ran away from the wedding. Ye Shuang’s parents died in a car accident. And then he was taken in by Bai Yuyou.

"What a twist," Fugui said, drinking a glass of wine and shaking his head.

Just then, snacks and a fruit platter were brought to the table.

"You all seem really happy." The one bringing it over was Taozi. She smiled gently, dressed in a neat black server’s uniform, looking especially sharp.

"Oh, your brother Ye here has good news." Fugui said as he pulled Taozi to sit next to him. "Come on, darling, have a drink with us."

"Then I won’t hold back," Taozi said with a laugh. She poured herself a glass of wine and asked,

"What good news did Brother Ye get?"

"Ha," Ye Shuang said, a bit embarrassed. He rubbed his nose and replied, "I’m going to be a dad."

"Going to be a dad…" Taozi processed the information, slightly surprised, and blurted out, "Whose..."

Maybe realizing the words were a bit off, Taozi smiled apologetically and quickly raised her glass. "Congratulations, Brother Ye. Please don’t mind me."

"It’s your sister Chen Qin’s," Ye Shuang said, not bothered by Taozi’s earlier words. Chen Qin smiled at Taozi as well. "One month pregnant."

"I see," Taozi nodded. "That’s wonderful. Having a baby."

"They’ll hold the wedding soon. Sweetheart, make sure to keep the date open," Fugui said with a grin.

"Mm-hmm, I’ll definitely go!"

"And you need to find a boyfriend soon. I’m still hoping to hold a grandchild early."

"Huh?" Taozi blinked at Fugui’s words, then laughed it off. "No, no, it’s not that fast. I don’t have any thoughts about dating yet."

"What kind of guy does Taozi like?" Chen Hai asked cheerfully. "What do you think about a guy like me?"

"Huh?"

"What are you up to?" Chen Qin glared at Chen Hai.

"I’m saying, ‘A guy like me’—I didn’t mean myself," Chen Hai said quickly. He wasn’t interested in Taozi anyway.

"Brother Hai is a good guy," Taozi said with a smile. "But if I’m really looking for someone in the future, I’d still like to find a man like Brother Ye."

As soon as she said it, everyone turned to look at Ye Shuang.

Ye Shuang was stunned for a moment, and Taozi blushed, quickly adding, "I mean a personality like Brother Ye’s, not Brother Ye himself!"

Maybe realizing this still sounded a bit off, Taozi continued,

"Brother Ye is great, but he’s not right for me."

"Little Shuangshuang really is a male siren, attracting young women everywhere he goes." Seeing Taozi stumble over her words, Fugui said playfully.

"Uh..." Ye Shuang coughed lightly. "That’s an exaggeration."

At that moment, he glanced at Chen Qin. She was propping her face on her hand, smiling, as if she didn’t mind at all.

She was already very content.

Especially after finding out she was pregnant and realizing her body wasn’t defective, Chen Qin’s inferiority complex had disappeared.

Her cheeks were flushed, as if she were drunk, and the way she looked at Ye Shuang seemed as if her eyes could drip with water.

"Come on, cheers," Chen Hai said, raising his glass.

"Cheers."

The glasses clinked again. Then Fugui asked Chen Qin about her plans. "Baby Qin, you’re newly pregnant. Are you still going back to the company?"

"I’m only newly pregnant. It doesn’t affect anything," Chen Hai said. Knowing Chen Qin’s personality, she’d probably still go to work anyway.

"Nope," Chen Qin hummed. She reached out and touched her lower abdomen.

"I’m going to take care of the pregnancy. I can’t let anything go wrong."

"After all, this is A Ye’s baby."

"Ah~ Ye’s~ ba~by~~" Chen Hai squawked, mimicking her, and got kicked under the table by Chen Qin.

"Damn. But I do know some female CEOs who went back to work right after giving birth," Chen Hai said, wincing in pain. "They don’t even know how old their kids are. They go on business trips for months and have to ask the nanny what grade their kid is in."

"I don’t want that. I want to focus on raising the baby," Chen Qin said.

"You’re really family-oriented, but you can’t even cook."

Before he finished, Chen Hai got kicked again.

"There are plenty of nannies at home. Our Baby Qin doesn’t need to cook. Besides, Little Shuangshuang is here too," Fugui said.

Ye Shuang smiled. "I can cook."

In his mind, though, he was thinking about the weekend, how to tell Uncle Chen and Aunt Chen about this, and the matters of proposing and preparing the wedding...