"Selling the house?" Jiang Yun was somewhat surprised. "You want to buy a house? But this is an old neighborhood, and there are quite a few protected historical buildings nearby. It's unlikely to be redeveloped, so there's not much room for appreciation here."
Jiang Yun thought Nian Suian wanted to buy a house for investment purposes, so she tried to dissuade her, as buying a house here wouldn't be a good investment.
"I'm not investing."
Hearing this, Jiang Yun was taken aback. After entering the house and sitting down, she asked, "What's going on? Are you and Gu having marital problems?"
She couldn't help but guess this, otherwise why would she suddenly want to buy a house? It's not like their family would leave their villa to come live here.
Even Sheng Xia looked at her with concern.
Seeing their expressions, Nian Suian realized they had misunderstood and laughed, "No, nothing like that. I just really like this neighborhood. Besides, you never know what might happen."
"That's true. Having money and property of your own is better than anything else."
When Jiang Yun was pregnant with Qi Zizhou, there were some complications, and her health hasn't been great since. She had no choice but to quit her job.
But she had made some small investments afterward, and the returns were decent.
"I'll keep an eye out for you then."
After returning home, Nian Suian played with Jiaojiao for a while. It wasn't long before Jiaojiao fell asleep, but before drifting off, she held onto Nian Suian, saying she wanted to go to her house to see the kitten.
"It's getting late, I should head back," Nian Suian said goodbye to the two. "Xia Xia, Sister Yun, bring Jiaojiao over to play sometime."
...
"Step-mom! You have to help me!"
As soon as Nian Suian entered the house, she saw father and son staring at each other on the sofa. The moment Gu Zhijing saw her, he ran over, complaining pitifully about his father.
"Dad is being too much!"
"What happened?"
Nian Suian went over to sit down and asked Gu Junxing, "What did you do to your son?"
"Dad said if I don't make it into the top ten in my class for the midterm exams, he won't let me go to the hot springs," Gu Zhijing snorted. "I know what you're up to. You just don't want me to be a third wheel on your trip!"
Nian Suian also looked inquisitively at Gu Junxing...
Gu Junxing sighed helplessly. He really didn't have that intention. "There are only forty students in your class. You can't even make it into the top ten?"
He thought he was being quite lenient, not even asking for top ten in the grade.
"You were eleventh in the last monthly exam. This time I'm asking you to move up just one place. That's not too difficult, is it?" Gu Junxing hadn't set the goal arbitrarily. He knew that if Gu Zhijing put in a bit more effort, he could make it into the top ten.
Gu Zhijing had his reasons too.
"There are only forty people in our class, but there are many good students. Besides, there was a reason for the last monthly exam results. The English paper was too difficult, and a lot of people failed, which widened the gap between me and others. But that teacher has already been stripped of the right to set exam papers, so this English exam will probably be easier."
After explaining at length, Gu Zhijing summarized, "Top ten is not possible, but top fifteen." He calculated that top fifteen shouldn't have any surprises.
"Keep bargaining and it'll be top five."
"You're doing this on purpose."
Gu Zhijing knew he couldn't win against his dad this time, so he stomped upstairs in a huff.
"What if he really doesn't make it? You won't let him go?"
"Don't worry about him. He can make the top ten. He's just making a fuss. It's no big deal."
"Alright." Seeing Gu Junxing so confident, Nian Suian had nothing more to say. After all, studying hard was the right thing to do.
At eleven o'clock that night, Gu Junxing came out of the study and saw that the light was still on in Gu Zhijing's room.
"Knock knock knock—"
"What?" At this hour, there was no one else who would knock on his door. He knew it was his unlucky dad.
"Even if you're cramming, you need to mind your sleep. Staying up late will affect your memory."
Hearing his father say this, Gu Zhijing stubbornly replied, "Who said I was studying? I'm playing games."
"I didn't say you were studying." This brat, his mouth was harder than marble.
"Hmph!"
Sunday morning, after Nian Suian got ready, she went to the third floor to see Tang Yuan, but to her surprise, neither the cat nor its carrier were in the room.
"Where's Gu Junxing?"
"The boss took Tang Yuan to play in the garden."
...
"You're up?"
When Nian Suian arrived, Gu Junxing was leading Tang Yuan on an exploration of the garden.
Seeing Nian Suian, Tang Yuan bounced over to her, its four paws going in different directions, looking adorably clumsy.
"Mm," Nian Suian responded, scratching under the cat's chin.
"Go have breakfast. We'll leave after you eat."
This time when they went out, Tang Yuan seemed to have grown braver. Nian Suian didn't put it in the carrier this time, but held it in her arms. It kept poking its head out, constantly staring out the window.
"Tang Yuan, you've grown in size and in courage, huh?"
"Meow~"
Gu Junxing also noticed Tang Yuan's enthusiasm today and smiled, "We can start taking it out for walks soon."
Although Tang Yuan had grown a bit, it was still small. They didn't dare let it roam freely around the house yet, as it was too big and the kitten might get lost. They only occasionally took it to play in the front and back yards on a leash.
While playing a paw-squeezing game with Tang Yuan, Nian Suian said to Gu Junxing, "When we have a chance, I'd like to invite Xia Xia and the others over. You don't know how incredibly cute Jiaojiao is!"
"I know, I saw the photos you posted on WeChat."
Nian Suian had posted two WeChat moments in a row, each with nine photos of Jiaojiao.
"So, isn't she super cute?"
"Yes, she is very cute." To be honest, he thought she looked even cuter than Gu Zhijing did when he was little.
"You can invite them over anytime. It's your decision, you're the lady of the house."
"Hey, I haven't agreed to that yet. Don't take advantage of me."
...
At the hospital, before the injection, Nian Suian and Gu Junxing asked the doctor to give Tang Yuan a check-up as well.
While waiting for the check-up, Nian Suian asked the doctor, "Can we change the name we registered before?"
"Of course. Just go to the front desk later and re-register."
"Okay."
"The cat is very healthy, and its weight is within the normal range."
This time, the injection went smoothly. Tang Yuan only meowed twice and was quickly comforted.
After the injection, they took it to the front desk to change its name.
"What do you want to change it to?"
"The formal name is Nian Zhijun. 'Nian' as in 'year', 'Zhi' as in 'know', and 'Jun' as in 'precious jade'."
The staff member's typing hands paused.
"We're registering a name for the cat, not for the owner." He looked at the name and thought it sounded like a person's name no matter how he looked at it.
"Yes, it is for the cat."
A nearby doctor couldn't help but interject, "Your family is interesting, giving the cat a human name."
"They say if you give a cat a human name, it can be reincarnated as a human in its next life," Nian Suian recalled something she had read online.
After Nian Suian finished speaking, she saw Gu Junxing with a thoughtful expression.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking if it were to be reincarnated as a human in our family, it would probably be Zhijing's child."
"..."
Nian Suian hadn't expected him to actually consider it.
"In that case, remember to tell him to marry and have children later in life."