The rain wasn’t heavy.

But it dripped intermittently all night.

It didn’t stop until the next day.

The outside world seemed as if it was covered with a misty filter, all gray and foggy.

In such weather, eating some plain porridge and drinking hot soy milk at home couldn’t be more pleasant.

Especially after getting drunk last night.

Originally, Jiang Chen wouldn’t have gotten up, but he was awakened by Fang Weiguo, who had returned from grocery shopping, knowing that they drank until midnight last night, so he deliberately bought them a nutritious breakfast.

It was a pity that he wasn’t with his own parents; otherwise, he could have continued sleeping.

Jiang Chen got up, but Fang Qing didn’t respond, the bedroom door tightly shut, which instead made Jiang Chen breathe a sigh of relief.

They drank a lot last night, but not to the point of blacking out.

What happened was vivid in his mind.

Jiang Chen took a sip of the steaming soy milk, the tip of his tongue seemingly still able to feel that warm touch, keeping his gaze low, not daring to meet Fang Weiguo’s eyes, thinking to finish quickly and make an escape.

"What time did you come back last night from drinking?"

"Two o’clock."

"Was it raining?"

"Yeah, it started raining by then."

In the past, sitting here, Jiang Chen would be quite at ease, carefree, unrestrained, no different from being at home, but after one night, he was like a different person.

A wave of guilt higher than the waves made him unable to lift his head, only using eating porridge to hide.

That’s right,

it’s all because of this rain.

If they hadn’t been trapped by the roadside, none of this would have happened.

But it shouldn’t entirely be blamed on the weather.

The effects of alcohol were equally indispensable.

Oh right.

And the mindset right after the gathering.

You can only say.

"The right time, the right place, and the right people" coincidentally came together, leading to the "unspeakable secret."

There’s a line in "The Secret" song, saying, "The most beautiful isn’t the rainy day, but the eaves we sheltered from the rain together."

In an instant.

Jiang Chen seemed to feel the fatalistic sense described in books, that feeling with nowhere to hide and no way to escape.

"I was worried you guys would get drunk."

The speaker speaks casually, but the listener gets it.

Fang Weiguo surely was just chatting, but Jiang Chen, feeling guilty like a thief, couldn’t help but sense hidden meanings in his words.

"You should worry about yourself. Who carried you home last time when you were dead drunk?"

Pan Hui interjected while mopping, somehow, though the house wasn’t large, the cleaning never seemed to end.

In Pan Hui’s eyes, Jiang Chen, whom she had watched grow up, was undoubtedly very reliable; she didn’t need to worry about this child at all.

Just not knowing what she would think if she knew about what happened last night? Would she pick up a mop and smash the head of this child she treated as her own?

Actually, at this moment, Jiang Chen could completely choose to confess, while the old couple was still unaware, and proactively "plunge" to the ground, kneel down and apologize, begging for forgiveness.

But evidently.

Boss Jiang isn’t a cowardly person, but he is certainly not a fearless competitor either.

Right now, he truly lacks the courage.

"I just feared that with a bunch of young people together, celebrating Tie Jun’s wedding, they might drink too much accidentally. They definitely drank a lot last night; otherwise, why hasn’t my daughter gotten up yet?"

Fang Weiguo responded to his wife, "Call again, or the soy milk will get cold."

"Uncle Fang, let Fang Qing sleep more."

Jiang Chen hurriedly prevented them, "Even if the soy milk gets cold, it can still be reheated."

"Jiang Chen really knows how to care about people. What’s wrong with letting the child sleep a bit more?"

Pan Hui completely ignored it, left to mop elsewhere.

Unreasonably criticized, Fang Weiguo shook his head, unable to deal with his wife, had to vent on Jiang Chen.

"You really are central heating."

"..."

Jiang Chen took a bite of a twisted cruller, remaining silent.

"When I was buying groceries just now, I heard the Wushang at the bridge over there can’t hold up anymore and plans to close, is the economy really that bad now?"

"Whether the economy is bad or not doesn’t have much to do with Uncle Fang, right? Anyway, Uncle Fang is retired."

"I may not be working now, but I’m not considered retired until I get a pension; according to the retirement policy adjustment, I still have several years to go."

"That’s also okay, anyhow, there’s Fang Qing’s old-age care."

Fang Weiguo laughed, "Those are different matters; as parents, if we can avoid adding burdens to the children, that’s surely best. And economic downturn should affect you quite a bit, right?"

Jiang Chen felt the warmth of concern, some warmth can’t be replaced or created by material wealth.

"Uncle Fang, all things have cycles, like when you were driving a truck, can’t always be uphill, economic downturn indeed undeniable, compared to before, our economic development speed did stall, but this is precisely a chance for wealth redistribution, and this large-scale redistribution has already begun."

Not forgetting the nation’s concerns despite low status, Fang Weiguo was intrigued; knowing that sitting before him was not only a junior but also a distinguished representative of Shen Zhou, an outstanding entrepreneur with expertise in economics.

"Wealth redistribution?"

Fang Weiguo’s eyes brimmed with curiosity, the positions of the two unconsciously became equal, turning into a conversation between men.

"Does Uncle Fang know what our country’s economic operation model is like?"

Fang Weiguo naturally shook his head.

Though regularly watching the news broadcast, the content seen by a truck driver and an entrepreneur is vastly different.

"Our economy is primarily debt-driven. The advantage of this model is allowing an economy to quickly achieve accumulation from 0 to 1 in a short time, but the drawbacks are also obvious, lacking momentum afterwards. When debt accumulates to an extreme, the operational efficiency of the economic engine naturally declines, eventually even the lever won’t move too much, just like the situation now."