Chapter 68: Good Night

Chapter 68: Good Night

Thanks to a light kiss under the fireworks, Ji Mingxiu felt elated for quite a while.

Even after the fireworks show, when he sat in the driver's seat, he still seemed a bit dazed.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Shi Ling buckled his seatbelt and looked at Ji Mingxiu with obvious concern. "Ji Mingxiu, are you sure you're okay? Do you really remember how to drive?"

Ji Mingxiu took a while to adjust and assured Shi Ling, "Don't worry, I'll definitely get you home safely!"

"But, Shi Ling, can I have another kiss?"

Shi Ling looked at Ji Mingxiu, somewhat resigned, and leaned over to give Ji Mingxiu a kiss on the cheek.

He sighed and said, "If I had a driver’s license, I’d make you switch places in your state."

Unfortunately, he hadn't obtained his driver's license yet.

Ji Mingxiu let out a soft chuckle and started the engine. "When you decide to get your license, let me know, and I’ll help you practice."

Shi Ling yawned, leaned back in his seat, and nodded. "Yeah, I should get a driver’s license sometime."

Ji Mingxiu glanced at Shi Ling quickly. "Are you tired?"

Shi Ling nodded. "A little. It’s pretty late, and the fireworks show at Jinshitan was quite spectacular. It didn’t end until midnight. Our old mansion is quite far from Jinshitan, and by the time we get home, it’ll be nearly 1 a.m..."

Shi Ling sighed, thinking that by the time they got home and finished washing up, it would be close to 2 a.m. "We should have left earlier. We need to wake up early tomorrow."

After all, the guests they need to receive on the second day of the Lunar New Year are quite important, and they can’t leave everything to Chairman Ji like they did today.

Ji Mingxiu smiled and said, "But tomorrow, we won't need to get up so early. Tomorrow’s guests probably won’t be as enthusiastic as today’s. It’ll just be some younger relatives coming over for a normal visit. For example, Second Uncle should be taking Lin Ze for a visit tomorrow."

"Also, although I've started taking over the main operations of the company, my father is still around. So, we only need to entertain the younger generation and don’t need to put in too much effort."

Among the younger generation, Ji Mingxiu was considered quite accomplished, and few people would dare to act recklessly in front of him.

At most, he would have to deal with young people who were told by their elders to build a good relationship with him.

Shi Ling suddenly sat up and asked, "What am I supposed to do?"

Ji Mingxiu replied with a smile, "You won’t have to do anything. Besides, you probably won’t know many of the people who will come tomorrow. However, would you mind helping to entertain Jiang Sijie and her sister, as well as Fang Lingyun, tomorrow?"

Shi Ling pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement. "You're right. It would be embarrassing if I got someone’s name wrong."

Although he had confirmed the collaboration with Senior Jiang to secure investment for the project and had gathered some preliminary information about Beijing's high-society circles, his understanding was limited. He mostly knew about shareholding distributions and company structures. However, not all the young people coming to the Ji family tomorrow are shareholders or hold positions in their family companies.

Most of those who had secured stable positions were at home.

To avoid awkward situations, he decided it was best not to get too involved.

Since Jinshitan was quite far from the old mansion, even though there weren’t many cars on the road at night, the drive home was smooth, with all green lights. Still, it was nearly 1 a.m. when they arrived home.

Shi Ling and Ji Mingxiu had thought that, since it was late at night, most people at home would probably be asleep. They would need to move quietly to avoid waking anyone up, but as soon as they entered the yard, they saw the house was brightly lit.

Shi Ling blinked curiously through the glass window at the brightly lit hall. "Why are the lights in the hall still on? We don’t usually stay up late, do we? We didn’t do it yesterday."

Ji Mingxiu was also puzzled. "This doesn’t seem likely. We’ve never had the habit of staying up late in our family. What are they doing in the living room so late? It can’t be that they forgot to turn off the lights, right?"

Whatever the reason, they needed to go inside first.

Ji Mingxiu took Shi Ling’s hand and headed toward the villa.

As soon as they opened the door to the hall, they heard a familiar teasing voice from Ji Mama. "Oh, so the couple of our beautiful love have finally come home!"

Although Ji Mama’s comment pleased Ji Mingxiu, he still had a question. "Why are you all gathered here like this? And what do you mean by 'beautiful love'?"

He had only come home a bit late, but it seemed like he had missed a lot.

Ji Mingyuan also looked at them with a teasing expression. "Haven’t gone online yet, have you?"

Ji Mingxiu nodded.

Ever since the fireworks show ended, they had been on their way home and hadn’t had time to go online.

He immediately realized what was happening and took out his phone to check the trending topics.

At number four, there was a topic about the Jinshitan fireworks display, the one they had attended.

Ji Mingxiu opened the app and scrolled down, and sure enough, he soon came across something related to himself and Shi Ling.

The first thing he saw was a photo.

Amidst the blooming fireworks, Shi Ling tiptoed up, gently kissing the side of Ji Mingxiu's lips.

Although it was just a photo, and because it was very dark that night, with insufficient lighting where they were, the figures in the photo were only silhouettes. Only those familiar with them could recognize them.

However, the lighting, ambiance, and overall feel of the photo were undeniably beautiful, and it was immediately obvious that the two people in the photo were lovers.

With the mood just perfect, the young couple couldn’t help but steal a kiss in the crowd.

As one of the people in the photo, Ji Mingxiu immediately recognized that it was himself and his boyfriend, but even so, he still felt his face grow warm as he looked at it.

He quietly saved the photo, feeling a bit embarrassed, and cleared his throat. "The photo is quite good."

Seeing his reaction, Ji Mingyuan knew he had found the important photo. He chuckled, "Indeed, not bad. Did you secretly save it, too? You might want to scroll down; there seems to be a video below."

Ji Mama waved at her eldest son with a teasing smile, "Hey, this might be the first time Mingxiu and Xiaoling kissed each other, so what if he saved the photo?"

Ji Mingxiu's fingers paused as he scrolled, and he looked up at the others in the living room, forcing a 'What’s the big deal?' look. "So, you all stayed up late because of this?"

Ji Father didn’t hold back. "Yeah, a kiss making it to the hot search is quite rare. Mainly, we wanted to interview the people involved about their feelings."

He somehow found a magazine, rolled it into a tube, and held it in front of Ji Mingxiu. "Come on, son, tell your dad, what’s it like having a kiss on the hot search?"

Ji Mingxiu almost laughed out of exasperation. "What, you want to have a kiss with Mom too?"

Ji Father immediately let go of the rolled-up magazine and put it aside. "No need, no need. You can lose this face; your old man is too old for that."

Ji Mingxiu snorted. "Can we all go to sleep now? Even if we don’t need to wake up early tomorrow, we can’t oversleep, right? If Uncle Fang, Uncle Jiang, Uncle Qin, and the others arrive at the old house tomorrow and we’re still in bed, that would be embarrassing."

Ji Father and Ji Mother exchanged a glance, pursed their lips, and signaled the other onlookers to disperse.

Ji Mingxiu then led Shi Ling up to the third floor.

Before they entered their rooms, Ji Mingxiu suddenly called out to Shi Ling. "Xiaoling!"

Shi Ling had just opened his door and, hearing his name, turned around. "What?"

In response, Ji Mingxiu’s face suddenly drew close.

Ji Mingxiu pressed a hand on Shi Ling’s shoulder and softly requested, "One more kiss."

The kiss lasted quite a while.

After a long moment, Shi Ling heard Ji Mingxiu murmur in his ear, "Xiaoling, good night."