Chapter 14: Family Ties

  "Xin'er, you and Miss Tian eat slowly," Mu Ao Yun said in a gentle voice.

  "Dad, have you finished eating?" Mu Yu Xing glanced at Mu Ao Yun's bowl.

  Mo Ao Yun nodded lightly, glanced at Tian Nuan Yu unintentionally, and said faintly: "The taste is very good!" After finishing speaking, he turned around and left the dinner table to walk towards the living room.

  "Dad, you don't seem to have eaten much, let's eat some more together," Mu Yu Xing shouted as she quickly got up and followed behind Mu Ao Yun into the living room.

  Tian Nuanyu's gaze also fell on Mu Ao Yun's bowl, and it turned out that earlier when Mu Yu Xin was chatting with her, Mu Ao Yun had quietly finished eating the rice in his bowl.

  She glanced at the dishes on the table, each of which had been tasted, but the amount eaten was very small. Originally, the quantity of each dish was already very small, and now there were still two-thirds of the dishes that had not been finished.

  "Dad, you're back so early, come and talk to me for a bit!" Mu Yuexin exclaimed, seeing Mu Ao Yun walk over to the sofa to grab his suit jacket, she wrapped her arms around his arm and cooed.

  Mu Ao Yun gazed at Mu Yu Xing with a pampered expression, and let out an almost imperceptible sigh before being pulled onto the sofa by Mu Yu Xing.

  Mù Yǔ Xīn leaned against Mù ào Yún's side, her hands still tightly wrapped around his arm without letting go. She tilted her head into the crook of Mù ào Yún's shoulder and took a deep breath, contentedly cooing: "Dad, you're so warm!"

  Mu Ao Yun looked at Mu Yu Xing, and suddenly a hint of self-blame appeared in his eyes. He fell silent for a moment before speaking in a soft tone: "Have you been doing alright at school lately?"

  Mu Yu Xing suddenly lifted her head and looked at Mu Ao Yun, her eyes sparkling with light.

  Mu Ao Yun's question made her realize that he wouldn't just accompany her for a short while, Mu Yu Xin's entire face lit up with delight, but the brightness only deepened the self-reproach in Mu Ao Yun's eyes.

  "Of course! Dad, do you know what's been going on at our school lately?" Mu Yu Xin started talking non-stop about some things that happened to her at school.

  Mu Yu Xin spoke at a pace that was almost uninterrupted, she feared that if she stopped, Mu Ao Yun would get up and leave to go into his study, then she wouldn't see him again until he came into her room to bid her goodnight before bed, and even then he would only stay for a brief moment before hurrying off again.

  Mu Ao Yun did not interrupt Mu Yu Xin, but instead listened quietly with a warm expression.

  Mu Yuexin sat on the sofa with her back to Tian Nuanyu, who couldn't see Mu Yuexin's expression, but from Mu Yuexin's excited and happy voice, Tian Nuanyu detected a hint of tension and fear.

  Even across such a distance, Tian Nuoyu could feel how much Mu Yuexin yearned to be able to lean in close with Mu Ao Yun and chat idly.

  Tian Nuoyu got up and quietly carried the dishes from the dinner table into the kitchen, putting the bowls and chopsticks into the sink.

  When Tian Nuanyu was cooking earlier, she found that the facilities in the kitchen were very complete. The tableware was not only exquisite but also had many styles. She had just made five dishes and used different plates to hold them. Just by looking at the cabinets, she saw that they were filled with all sorts of tableware.

  And the kitchen has a coffee machine, juicer, milk frother, bread machine, and oven.

  Tian Nuoyu turned her head and took a glance at the father and daughter who were sitting intimately on the sofa in the living room, then glanced at the coffee machine, before opening a cabinet.

  Before she found this cabinet when looking for tableware, it was filled with various types of coffee, all of which were special-grade coffee, including Blue Mountain, Colombian Special, and Brazilian coffee, with both coffee beans and powder.

  Tian Nuoyu picked up a bottle of coffee beans and then put it down, then picked up a bottle of instant coffee powder.

  Brewing coffee with coffee powder is much faster than with coffee beans, and now she has to bring two cups of coffee in front of the father-daughter duo sitting on the sofa within a short time, so as to prolong their time together.

  Tian Nuoyu opened the refrigerator again and took a look. She saw that there were several boxes of milk, as well as some fresh fruit. She took out a box of milk, two apples, two oranges, and a lemon, then walked over to the coffee machine.

  Just as Mu Yu Xin was getting hoarse and had almost exhausted all her thoughts, two cups of steaming hot coffee were placed on the tea table in front of her and Mu Ao Yun.

  Mu Yu Xing raised her head in surprise, saw Tian Nuan Yu smiling at her slightly, Mu Yu Xing instantly understood what Tian Nuan Yu meant. She happily exclaimed: "Dragonfly, you can still make coffee!"

  "I used to study a bit, but my level is average. Just now I saw coffee in the kitchen and brought two cups over," Tian Nuoyu secretly glanced at Mu Ao Yun, finding him staring at her, his face expressionless, her heart tightened, and she lowered her head awkwardly.

  "Hmm, it smells good. Every time Dragonfly says the level is average, the result is always not average. Dad, you like drinking coffee the most, come and try Dragonfly's craftsmanship to see if it's really average or not." Mu Yu Xing handed the cup of coffee in front of Mu Ao Yun to him.

  Mu Ao Yun didn't say anything, but reached out and took the coffee.

  "Huh? There's a pattern on this!" Mu Yuexin exclaimed, staring at the coffee cup in Mu Ao Yun's hand.

  Mu Ao Yun also lowered his head and looked at the coffee cup.

  The brown coffee in the cup is topped with a thick layer of reddish-brown shiny foam, which forms a cloud-like shape. The cloud doesn't lie flat on the surface of the coffee but appears to be three-dimensional and suspended above it. As the foam slowly changes, the "cloud" seems to float leisurely on the coffee.

  "Ah, I see! You've got a proud cloud here, haven't you?" Mu Yu Xing suddenly had an epiphany and asked Tian Nuan Yu with a smile.

  Tian Nuanyu smiled slightly, stealing a glance at Mu Ao Yun, and saw a hint of a smile in his eyes. Then she heard Mu Ao Yun say lightly: "Very similar."

  Tian Nuanyu's face suddenly flushed for no reason.

  "What about mine? What's on top of mine?" Mu Yu Xing exclaimed as she picked up the coffee placed in front of her.

  "Wow, my name can be written like this!" Mu Yu Xin exclaimed happily.