Very Similar

"According to the Pythagorean theorem, fried chicken goes better with soda than with beer, and of course, you need honey mustard sauce with it."

"So what does that have to do with the Pythagorean theorem?"

"It really doesn't have anything to do with it, so can you order me a serving of fried chicken? Add a Coke and honey mustard sauce, thanks."

Ye Shuang was looking over a report while Anshi Yi stretched her foot over, the toe of her pantyhose-clad foot poking his thigh.

"Can't you order it yourself?" Ye Shuang grabbed Anshi Yi's foot with one hand to keep it still, while calmly continuing his work with the other, as if completely used to this sort of thing.

"I don't have any money."

"You don't even have enough money to order fried chicken?" Although Ye Shuang wanted to say, "Like I believe you," he didn't say anything more and just tossed his phone over. "Order it yourself."

"The boss is generous." Anshi Yi took Ye Shuang's phone and started ordering takeout, then glanced over at An Shiyu, who was playing a game. "What do you want?"

"Milk tea."

"Oh." Anshi Yi acknowledged and didn't forget to ask what Ye Shuang and Yezi wanted.

But the answer she got was that neither of them wanted anything.

"Alright, pay for it." Anshi Yi fiddled with the phone for a while before tossing it back.

"Yeah." Ye Shuang responded and paid for the order.

By then, seeing that Ye Shuang was completely absorbed in work, Anshi Yi felt a bit bored and started playing with her own hair. "Have you been working harder lately, or has your workload increased?"

"I'm taking over some of Chen Qin's workload, so it's normal for it to increase." Ye Shuang said without looking up.

Anshi Yi rested her cheek on her hand. "Ehh—so that means no more slacking off, huh?"

"Pretty much, but you get used to it." Ye Shuang hummed in agreement.

"Maybe you should give us a feel instead."

"Mm?"

"Feeling us up counts as 'slacking off' too, you know," said the super-memory fish.

"...I don't even know where to start with that one."

Soon, Ye Shuang's phone rang. He looked at it and saw a message from Chen Qin:

Chen Qin: A-Ye, I'm at the office.

Chen Qin: kiss.jpg

Ye Shuang put down his work and told the two fish, "I'm stepping out for a bit. Keep an eye on Yezi."

"Oh?"

After Ye Shuang left the office, Anshi Yi turned to look at An Shiyu. "What do you think?"

"I don't know." An Shiyu just yawned. She had already finished handling most of her assistant duties and was getting a bit bored just sitting here playing games, mainly because Ye Shuang was leaving.

"Let's go out and have some fun," Anshi Yi said.

"Let's go. Bring the little brat along." An Shiyu's gaze landed on Yezi.

Yezi, who was sitting on the couch, blinked. The next moment, she was scooped up by Anshi Yi and carried away, wrapped in her arms.

Wh-where are we going?

Yezi's arms and legs dangled in the air, a slightly dazed expression on her little face.

...

Meanwhile, Ye Shuang returned to Chen Qin's office. He had stopped by in the morning, but only to pick up some documents and say a quick hello.

As soon as he walked in, he saw Chen Qin sitting in the boss chair. She wasn't wearing formal attire, just a very casual blue long dress that seemed to radiate a youthful energy, as if she had gone back to her college days.

The computer wasn't on. On the desk, there was a cup of health tea and a plate of pastries, fruits, and other snacks.

Chen Qin was holding a tablet, apparently binge-watching some show.

"A-Ye, you're here?" Chen Qin had even lowered the backrest of her chair. When she noticed Ye Shuang coming in, she craned her neck to look at him.

"Looks like you've been resting well."

Seeing Chen Qin in such a leisurely state, Ye Shuang gave a somewhat helpless smile but still praised her.

"Hmph, I'm going to take good care of my body now." Chen Qin said, touching her still-flat belly. "A-Ye, I can feel her kicking me."

"The baby isn't even formed yet, you silly pig," Ye Shuang said.

"Ohhh~"

Ye Shuang sat down beside Chen Qin, picked up an apple from the table, and started peeling it with a fruit knife.

The evenly thick apple peel fell into the trash can as Ye Shuang said, "Here, have a bite."

"Apples aren't good to eat." Even so, Chen Qin still reached out and took it.

In the Cantonese region, apples are basically the fruit people only eat when there's nothing else at home. No one really knows why, but most people's apples just sit there until they rot. Maybe it's because they symbolize "peace," so keeping them around seems more meaningful.

Eating the apple Ye Shuang had peeled for her, Chen Qin happily swayed her body from side to side like a little girl overjoyed. Then she asked what had happened yesterday to make Ye Shuang rush off so urgently.

"It's a long story. Yu You and Yezi's blood types happened to match. Isn't that strange?" Ye Shuang said. He had no reason to hide anything from Chen Qin.

"Oh?" Chen Qin thought for a few seconds before confirming. "If their blood types match, doesn't that mean they're relatives?"

"They're mother and daughter. That's what the police station said." Ye Shuang shook his head. "It's not just that they're relatives. The policeman even said the blood relation is very close, at the mother-daughter level."

Ye Shuang's words made Chen Qin's brain short-circuit for a moment. A mother-daughter relationship wasn't strange in itself, but considering Yu You's age and Yezi's age...

"No way. Based on that, she would have been just over ten... how old?" Chen Qin felt something was off. Could she have given birth at that age?

Wouldn't that be illegal?

"But I asked Yu You, and she said nothing like that ever happened. So I'm leaning more toward it being a mistake. I took hair samples from both of them to get a DNA test done." Ye Shuang continued. The results might be available in less than a week.

Eating her apple, Chen Qin nodded while lost in thought. "A-Ye, you know, I think Yezi kind of looks like you."

"Like me?" Ye Shuang was startled.

"Yeah, she really does. Her eyes and nose—they really look like you when you were little." Chen Qin said. "Maybe the world really does have coincidences this crazy."

"Even if she looks like me, Yu You and I have never done anything like that. There's no way we could have a child together." Ye Shuang said slowly, "Especially one that's already that old."

"You've never... done it?" Chen Qin paused mid-bite, looking somewhat surprised.

"Huh? No."

"Oh..." Chen Qin let out a soft sound and continued eating her apple, but her pace of chewing quickened. She crunched through it noisily and then asked Ye Shuang to prepare her another fruit.

"A-Ye..."

"Yeah?"

"I want to do it right here."

"Not happening this year."

"Boo."