About a week before the much-awaited Spring Festival holidays, a.k.a. Lunar New Year, Iris and Jin Liwei had a rare matching day off. They decided to spend the day with family, visiting the Jin Family's Old House.
They brought Little Jun with them at the request of the elders. They absolutely adored the child and couldn't wait to see him again. When Grandpa Lu heard that Little Jun was coming over, he also invited himself.
Both Dom and Jiang Ying Yue caught bad colds, so they stayed at home. Dom at the mansion, Jiang Ying Yue at Gold Heights.
This time, the couple didn't bring any bodyguards. It was only the three of them like a happy family. Iris just had to make sure that her face was covered well. She wore dark sunglasses, face mask, scarf and a hat.
When they arrived at the Jin Family's Old House, Jin Chonglin was also surprisingly there. It seemed that he volunteered to come when Huang Yuyan mentioned that Iris and Jin Liwei were coming over. Coincidentally, it was also his day off.
"You're tough to beat, Sister Xiulan," Jin Chonglin told her. "However, there's still time. 'Hey, It's Me' will reclaim the number 1 spot in the music charts again."
"Give it your best shot, Brother Chonglin."
The two had another great stare-down. Jin Liwei decisively stretched his hand between them, cutting their eye contact with each other.
Jin Chonglin could only smirk at his brother's antics. The elders were too busy playing and doting on Little Jun to notice what happened between the three younger adults. For the elders, the three were just extras. Little Jun was the current apple of their eyes.
After eating lunch together, Jin Liwei suddenly received an emergency business call. His assistant Xu Tian informed him that an important foreign business partner, a CEO, suddenly arrived in the country and wanted to meet up with him on short notice.
"I'm sorry, President. It seems that he's leaving the country tomorrow, so the only time that you can meet up is today."
Jin Liwei was very displeased. He didn't want to leave his baby girl. He wanted to spend the entire day with her, especially since she had been so busy working and studying every day. The only time that they could really spend together was the short time before they went to bed at night. He was about to reject the meeting when Iris caught what the call was about.
"Darling, it's alright. Go to that meeting. It sounds important," she told him.
"But—"
"Little Jun and I will stay here for a little bit more. I'll just call home and ask someone to pick us up from here."
"No need. I'll send Sister Xiulan and Little Jun home later. I brought my car," Jin Chonglin spoke up.
Jin Liwei frowned. He didn't like the idea of his baby girl and his younger brother alone together. But since Little Jun would be with them, he didn't protest against Jin Chonglin's suggestion.
"What kind of car? I hope it's not a sports car. There has to be space for a child's car seat at the back."
"Don't worry, Big Bro. I brought a sedan. Your wife and son…I mean, godson will be safe with me in my car."
Jin Liwei nodded and then turned to his brother. "Come with us. We'll transfer Little Jun's car seat into your car."
The three told the elders what happened and what they were going to do. The elders just waved them away, continuing to focus all of their attention to Little Jun.
After the car seat was transferred from Jin Liwei's car to Jin Chonglin's, Iris gave her darling a kiss. He hugged her tightly and deepened the kiss. It was obvious that he was reluctant to leave her.
"If my brother makes any moves on you, feel free to castrate him," he told her in a very serious voice.
"Hey! I heard you!" Jin Chonglin's voice sounded a few steps away from them. "Am I still your brother?"
Iris couldn't stop herself from giggling. However, she still replied to her darling. "Okay."
"Gah! I'm done with you both! You couple are too much. How dare you treat me this way? I can't believe that you're doubting me, your own brother! Don't worry. I'm not such an immoral person as to cuckold anyone, much less my own brother with his own wife! Hmph! I'm going back inside! I've had enough dog food for today. I'm about to puke from it all."
The couple watched Jin Chonglin march off back inside the house. They felt a little guilty after hearing his rant.
"Let's buy him a gift or something," she suggested.
Jin Liwei only left when he saw his baby girl safely back inside the house.
Iris, Little Jun and Jin Chonglin spent a couple more hours with the elders when it was Iris' turn to receive an emergency call. It was from the cat sitters.
Since Dom was sick, the cat sitters were the ones who took Ice Cream and Popcorn to the veterinarian that day. The cats were scheduled to be spayed and neutered respectively. The cat sitters informed them that the procedures were successful.
Popcorn was still groggy and preferred to sleep the anesthesia off. Ice Cream, on the other hand, was having a full-blown tantrum. Even though she was also groggy from her own procedure, she had already scratched the vet, the nurses and the cat sitters.
The poor cat hadn't been in the best of moods lately because she had been forced to diet and exercise. And now she had to go through such a scary procedure without her Mommy or Daddy or even Slave #1. She just snapped and was having a complete meltdown.
Everyone became alarmed when she started banging her head and body against the walls. The vet didn't want to use a tranquilizer because her body was still full of anesthesia from the procedure. They could only wrap the cage with blankets to prevent Ice Cream from hurting herself even more.
Iris' eyes watered when she heard the painful and pitiful cries of Ice Cream over the phone. The sounds went straight to her heart, squeezing it painfully.
"Don't worry. I'm coming," she promised.