336: Chapter 336 I'm an easy person to talk to

The car started and headed toward the Red Cherry Restaurant.

Along the way, Tian Lijuan was as excited as a fisherman who had just caught a big fish, chattering away incessantly.

From what time she woke up every day to memorize vocabulary, to how many sets of practice problems she had completed, to how sternly she had rejected invitations from her fair-weather friends—she reported the fruitful results of her month-long "reformation" to her Little Uncle in meticulous detail.

Jiang Ye drove while humming and nodding in response, until he casually asked a question:

“Did you do any mock exams? What kind of scores are you getting?”

Tian Lijuan, who had been high-spirited just a moment ago, instantly wilted. Her hands picked at her seatbelt, and her voice dropped several octaves:

“I... I did... I just did a full set right before the New Year...”

“What was the score?”

“...260.”

Jiang Ye: “...”

This score was even lower than he had anticipated; it was actually 26 points lower than her result in last year's Gaokao.

It seemed that a six-month hiatus was indeed fatal for someone with such a shaky foundation; it wasn't something that could be easily remedied by a single month of passion.

Comrade Feiyue's road to university was long and arduous.

————

The rest of the drive passed in silence, and the car soon arrived at the Red Cherry Restaurant.

After getting out, Old Tian took advantage of Tian Lijuan curiously sizing up the restaurant's facade to pull his "prospective son-in-law" aside.

“Xiao Jiang, let me give you a brief rundown...”

“Uncle Tian, don't worry.”

As soon as he started, Jiang Ye gave a steady, “I get it, I totally get it” smile and patted Old Tian on the shoulder.

“I have experience in pretending to be a husband. Leave it to me.”

“...???”

Old Tian was slightly stunned and tilted his head.

Wait... didn't we agree on pretending to be her Boyfriend? How did it automatically upgrade to 'husband' with you?

And what's with this look of being an old hand with maxed-out experience?!

He subconsciously turned to look at his daughter, who was currently standing on her tiptoes counting how many floors the restaurant had and looking not particularly bright. A wave of inexplicable unease surged in his heart.

“Xiao Jiang...”

Old Tian swallowed and corrected him, “It's Boyfriend, pretend to be her Boyfriend! Look, do you want me to explain the situation with this girl's Third Aunt and Second Uncle's families? And her cousins...”

“Don't worry, Uncle, I understand. I'll pretend to be her Boyfriend first.”

Jiang Ye nodded, his tone filled with a convincing calmness. “Don't you want to gain some face? Leave it to me, there won't be any problems. I have ex-per-i-ence with these kinds of occasions.”

“...”

Looking at those eyes filled with 'social experience,' Old Tian opened his mouth, but a pile of cautionary words got stuck in his throat.

Although something felt off, based on his established impression of Xiao Jiang as 'steady, reliable, and magnanimous,' he suppressed his doubts and chose to trust this 'Divine Doctor' and 'prospective son-in-law.'

“Oh, Dad! Stop nagging!”

Tian Lijuan leaned over and waved her hand dismissively. “Don't worry! How many people in those families could be more impressive than Little Uncle? You have no idea, on Valentines Day a few days ago, Little Uncle gave that ugly woman in the voice chat room...”

“Shut up!”

Old Tian glared at her crossly. “What's with all this 'Little Uncle' talk! Who calls their own Boyfriend 'Little Uncle'? It’s improper!”

Tian Lijuan shrunk her neck at the shout, but she also felt her dad had a point; it was a bit strange to call a romantic partner 'Little Uncle.'

She scratched her head and looked at Jiang Ye. “Little Uncle, then what should I call you?”

Jiang Ye was replying to a WeChat message on his phone. Without thinking, he casually replied, “Call me Mas...”

Just as the first syllable left his mouth, he suddenly realized something was wrong and forced himself to swallow the word 'ter.'

He looked up and, sure enough, met Old Tian's dark, brooding gaze.

“...Just call me Master!”

Jiang Ye didn't change his expression or miss a beat, instantly completing the logical self-consistency:

“I've been obsessed with the Three Kingdoms lately, studying Cao Mengde. I see that Comrade Xiao Tian is so fierce, she has quite the air of Dian Wei from the old days. She’s perfect to be my number one general... ha... haha.”

He gave a couple of dry laughs and quickly tried to fix it: “Ahem... just kidding. Just call me Brother Ye.”

Old Tian scanned him suspiciously for a few moments before reluctantly nodding. “Yeah, just call him 'Brother,' that sounds a bit more normal.”

“No! I don't want to!”

Tian Lijuan immediately became unhappy, her little mouth pouting. “Calling him Brother Ye is worse than calling him Little Uncle! That... that woman calls him Brother Ye!”

“Which woman? Why are you copying others?”

Old Tian pulled a long face. “What's with calling a romantic partner 'Little Uncle'? The generational hierarchy will be all messed up!”

“It's precisely because we're dating that there needs to be a special, unique nickname!” Tian Lijuan argued, craning her neck.

Seeing that the father and daughter were about to clash over a nickname again, Jiang Ye quickly stepped in to mediate and made the final decision:

“Alright, alright, listen to me! Just call me Little Uncle! It’s affectionate, no problem!”

Tian Lijuan immediately beamed. She triumphantly hooked her arm around Jiang Ye's and gave Old Tian a "humph," as if she had won a great battle.

Old Tian looked at his daughter's cheap-looking display of affection and then at Jiang Ye, his brow furrowed into the shape of the character ' river':

“Xiao Jiang, this... isn't this making us a laughingstock? There's a generational gap in the titles...”

“Uncle Tian, it's simple.”

Jiang Ye gave a light laugh, his face as calm as a breeze, as if he had a thousand strategies in his mind. “When you introduce me, just say my name is Jiang Shu—'Shu' as in 'comfortable.' Then just have everyone call me Xiao Shu.”

“...?”

Old Tian's vision went dark; he almost lost his breath and fainted right then and there.

Jiang Shu? Xiao Shu?

Having a table full of elders, including himself as the father, call his daughter's Boyfriend "Little Uncle"?!

Is this an idea a human being could come up with?!

“Wow! As expected of Little Uncle!”

Tian Lijuan's eyes instantly turned into stars, filled with admiration. “So cool! So smart! Why didn't I think of this method!”

Jiang Ye chuckled. He glanced at Old Tian, whose mouth was twitching wildly as if he were about to have a heart attack, and added very "considerately":

“Uncle Tian, if you're really too embarrassed, you can just call me Xiao Jiang or Jiang Shu directly. I'm a very easygoing person.”

Old Tian rubbed his throbbing temples forcefully, feeling his blood pressure rise.

You're easygoing?

Of course you're easygoing when a whole table of people is calling you 'Uncle'!

He took several deep breaths, looking at his daughter's star-filled eyes that said "My Little Uncle is number one in the world," and Jiang Ye's helpless expression that said "I've already compromised, what more do you want?" He could only wave his hand in self-abandonment:

“Fine... fine! I'll just say your name is Jiang Shu! I'll let everyone call you Xiao Jiang!”

Having settled this crucial "naming" issue, the three of them finally walked into the private room of the Red Cherry Restaurant.