The Mother of Fugui

"Cheers—"

"Cheers~"

Inside the apartment on that night, several glasses clinked together, letting out a clear clinking sound.

Ye Shuang and the rest of the group sat around drinking, having a small, cozy get-together. It had been quite a while since they last got to sit together like this, drinking and chatting, what with all the work stuff and personal matters piling up for everyone.

But these were people who had grown up together since childhood. Even if they went for stretches without contacting each other, or even not talking at all, there was never any awkward distance the moment they met again.

Truly good relationships don't need to be deliberately maintained.

This was Chen Hai's place. It wasn't particularly big, but it was more than enough for a casual drinking session, and the bunch of guys didn't care much about fancy surroundings anyway. As for Chen Qin, she felt she didn't care where she was as long as she was with Ye Shuang.

At that moment, Fugui chugged a whole big cup of booze in one go, then propped his cheek on his hand as he looked around the apartment. "Hey, Chen Hai, your place is actually pretty tidy now. It used to be a total pigsty, you've gotten better at keeping things clean, huh."

Chen Hai grinned and squinted his eyes when he heard that. "Hey, come on, what's the big deal? Cleaning it up just makes it more comfortable to look at. And who said it was a pigsty before? It was just a little messy, that's all."

"I guess that's some progress, you're not the same as you used to be," Chen Qin chimed in.

Chen Qin rarely praised Chen Qin, after all—when you grow up together, especially as siblings, there's no such thing as rose-tinted glasses between you. Having seen the worst sides of each other, it never came easy for her to say nice things, but Chen Hai really had improved lately, and he'd earned her genuine approval.

Ye Shuang didn't say anything at the time, just smiled softly.

Besides the alcohol, there were snacks like beef jerky and marinated duck bits on the table to go with the drinks. Ye Shuang chewed on some peanuts, listening to his old friends ramble on. Chen Hai seemed a lot more steady lately, but once he had a few drinks in him, he turned into a total chatterbox, going on and on about how tough his job at the company was.

Then he started complaining about how the management team handled things badly, until Chen Qin's face darkened a little.

Wait a minute, are you taking jabs at me, subtly?

But Chen Hai caught on pretty quick, hurrying to clarify that he was talking about the other managers, not including Ye Shuang and Chen Qin. He never meant to imply that about them in the first place, anyway—when it came to work, the two people he'd always admired most were Chen Qin and Ye Shuang, the one handling external affairs and the other taking care of internal operations perfectly.

Chen Qin could lock down huge, high-value contracts that brought massive profits to the company, and Ye Shuang was exceptionally skilled at rooting out corruption and embezzlement within the group. That was something even many big corporations struggled to pull off, after all—plenty of managers had the mindset of siphoning money from the company and transferring their assets overseas before bailing, which was far from unheard of.

"Fugui, what have you been busy with lately?" Chen Hai asked. It felt like this guy hadn't gone abroad recently, but he'd been totally unreachable.

"My mom's been unwell lately, I've been by her side taking care of her nonstop," Fugui said, looking a little worn out. When the rest of them heard that, Ye Shuang and the others exchanged a quick glance before asking,

"Auntie's alright, right? Did you take her to see a doctor?"

"Yeah, she's staying in the hospital right now."

"If she's already in hospital, that means it's pretty serious, doesn't it?" Chen Hai said immediately, but Fugui just shook his head gently when he heard that.

"She's in hospital just so it's easier to look after her, it's not that big of a deal. Ugh, knock on wood, stop saying stupid things!" Fugui rolled his eyes at Chen Hai, clearly annoyed that the other man was spouting bad luck.

"In that case, who's running the family businesses?" Chen Hai asked.

"Our super duper cute little treasure daughter, Taozi, of course! She's tiny, but she's so sharp and capable," Fugui said, full of pride. "You have no idea, that kid's basically a little superwoman."

Ye Shuang spoke up then, making a suggestion. "How about we all go visit Auntie in a few days? It's been a while since we last saw her."

Chen Hai had no problem with that at all—paying a visit to an elder was totally normal. The only thing was, Fugui's mom had always had some issues with her mental health, so she spent most of her time resting quietly to recover.

"Yeah, let's go visit her," Chen Qin said, turning to ask Fugui for his permission. "Is that okay with you, Fugui?"

"Of course it is," Fugui smiled, not refusing at all.

By the time the drinks went around a few times, everyone was pretty drunk. Chen Hai was splayed out on the floor with his shirt unbuttoned, fast asleep. Ye Shuang was still fairly sober, but Chen Qin right next to him had a bright red face, her eyes glazed over and hazy. "Honey~"

She mumbled, nuzzling her cheek against Ye Shuang's arm, her hands wandering restlessly.

"Do you want to take a shower?" Ye Shuang could tell Chen Qin was completely out of it, so he asked if she wanted to wash up to sober up a little.

"Come with me," Chen Qin tugged at his arm.

"Isn't that a bad idea?"

"But I want to, honey~ I really want to~" Chen Qin was acting like a little girl, clinging to his arm and swaying back and forth, coquettish. Ye Shuang felt his arm bump against her over and over, and he coughed softly.

"Everyone's still here," he said, even as Chen Qin kept pulling him. He glanced over at Chen Hai and Fugui, who were both deep asleep, and finally gave in and followed her.

……

"Ugh, I drank way too much, that sucks," Fugui woke up, looking around. To be exact, he'd been woken up by Chen Hai's thunderous snoring.

He saw Chen Hai sprawled out on the bed, not caring at all how he looked, snoring away loudly. Fugui made a face, grabbed a blanket from the side, and draped it over Chen Hai's stomach. "Even a wild boar would catch a cold if you leave them uncovered like this, dummy."

He staggered a couple steps, then suddenly froze, pressing his hands to his cheeks. "Wait a second, where did Little Shuangshuang and the others go? Did they head home already?"

But he soon spotted a faint glimmer of light coming from a corner not far away. He peeked over, and when he heard the steady, rhythmic sounds coming from inside the room, he snickered. "Wow, they really don't treat us like outsiders at all, huh."

"Alright, I was totally wasted and never even woke up, ohoho," he said to himself, laying back down on the floor and closing his eyes.

And on top of that,

he yanked the blanket right off Chen Hai's stomach.

"Mnngh?" Chen Hai felt the cold air hit his bare stomach, and blinked awake groggily. "Shit, why's the ceiling spinning?"

He smacked his lips a couple times, then rolled over and went right back to sleep.