Shangguan Yu continued to stare at that photo for quite some time. In the end, he shook himself and switched off the screen, putting the phone down and lay down again. It was time to sleep. He would have to get up early tomorrow to eat with his family and then they would move out to find something for him to wear for the date. He shouldn’t stay up too late or he would just be tired tomorrow.

While he did tell himself so, he just couldn’t fall asleep. Now even less than before. Lying in the darkness for a while, he finally picked up his phone and switched the screen back on, once again looking at Ao Jing’s photo.

"Really handsome, ah." He touched his own face, wondering what Ao Jing would have to say about him. It was hard to say if he would describe himself as handsome. Doing so would be quite arrogant, right? But saying that he wasn’t … His self-esteem wasn’t that low. He could probably be considered to be good-looking? On a scale from one to ten, he would definitely say that he was in the upper half. Maybe he was a seven or an eight?

Rolling onto his side, he gazed at Ao Jing, his lips shifting into a smile. "You’re definitely a nine. Does that mean I’m super lucky to have met you online or does it mean I’m up for being in trouble when we really get together? A guy like you will probably be hit on quite a lot, right?"

He sighed and once again switched off the screen, putting the phone down. He really would’ve liked to look at him for some time more but he knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea. No, he shouldn’t. He would be able to look at him all the time while they were on that date.

Telling himself that, he pressed his eyes shut, pulled up the blanket, and tried to fall asleep for real this time. While it didn’t work immediately, after spending some time to calm down, he finally drifted off into sweet dreams.

When he woke up the next morning, the scent of his mother’s cooking was already wafting through the house. Shangguan Yu sat up with a start and then jumped out of bed, picking up his clothes and rushing into the bathroom to wash up. In a few minutes, he had finished up, picked up his phone, and pushed it into his pocket before he went down to eat with his family.

His sister and brother-in-law were already sitting at the table again, discussing something with each other in a low voice.

"Morning, everyone." Shangguan Yu went over and sat down next to Yu Lan, giving the two of them a smile. "What are you talking about?"

The two of them exchanged a glance, looking a bit awkward.

Shangguan Yu raised his brows at them, not quite understanding what this was about. Was it something embarrassing that they couldn’t tell him?

His sister cleared her throat and then gave him a sweet smile. "We’ll talk about that when you’ve gotten a boyfriend of your own."

Shangguan Yu’s lips twitched. "Well, then you better remember that tomorrow. Who knows if I won’t come back in the evening and tell you that I already have one?"

She laughed and shook her head at him. "Anyway, have you decided where to go today to shop for clothes? Do you even know what you want to wear for the date?"

Shangguan Yu shook his head to both of that. "I don’t know what I should choose. That’s why I asked mom for help. As for where to go … Didn’t some mall open up here last semester? I remember you told me about it all excitedly. Is it good? You probably went there already, right?"

His sister nodded. "It’s quite alright. I guess we can go there. It’s not that far away either so we won’t take long."

At that time, their mother brought over the bowls and put them down in front of everyone. "Anyway, for now, we should eat first. We all need some energy to get through the day. Since we’ll be on our feet for quite some time we should make sure that we’ll be able to keep up. It wouldn’t do to have to take breaks all the time." She sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and gave them a smile. "Anyway, I’m already looking forward to it. Ah, it’s been so long since I was shopping with my two babies. Back when the two of you were younger, we would do so regularly. We should really make that a thing again."

Shangguan Xin pursed her lips. "Mom, wait a year or two and you can go and shop with your grandchild. What’s the fuss about going with us?"

Shangguan Yu laughed at that. "What? Are you and brother-in-law planning to have children now?"

His sister scoffed at that. "That’s another one of those things I’ll only tell you when you get yourself a boyfriend."

Shangguan Yu just continued to laugh. "Even if I have a boyfriend, the two of us still wouldn’t be having any children. So it doesn’t matter whether you tell me now or later, it’ll still have nothing to do with me."

Yu Lan smiled at that but still shook his head. "What are you even saying? If the two of us have children, you will become an uncle. I do think that has something to do with you."

Shangguan Yu shook himself. "Why don’t you wait a few more years then? I feel like I’m way too young to be an uncle. I always think of middle-aged men when I hear that word."

His mother looked from one person to the other and shook her head. "What’s that? Are you really complaining that you’ll be an uncle at your age? What am I supposed to say? I’m still so young and you actually want to make me a grandmother. Not that I mind at all. Having grandchildren will be nice. Actually, why don’t you hurry up a bit? Haven’t you been married long enough yet? By now, he could have had two or three of them."

Shangguan Xin sighed and then just pushed her mother’s bowl closer to her. "Let’s not speak about that right now. You just eat your breakfast, mom. Today, we’re supposed to go shopping so that Xiao Yu can finally get himself a boyfriend. This shouldn’t be overshadowed by us planning any good news."