"Tingting, what's wrong?"

"Little Uncle, I'm back, and I've got a lot of stuff. Can you come pick me up?"

The person calling Du Heng was Du Xuejing, who had just started her summer vacation.

She was currently at the high-speed rail station, looking helplessly at the three large suitcases beside her and her extremely thin classmate.

"Little Uncle, there are two of us and three suitcases. They're huge and very heavy."

Du Heng paused for a moment. "You're on vacation already?"

"Our vacation started the day before yesterday."

"Then why didn't you call me beforehand? I'm at work right now."

Du Xuejing sighed. "I did tell my little aunt, but she seemed to have forgotten."

Wu Shengnan? Considering what Wu Shengnan had been up to today, Du Heng figured she might have genuinely forgotten.

He checked the time; he would be finishing work soon. So, he told her, "Okay, just wait for me. I'll be there shortly."

After hanging up, Du Heng returned to his office to pack up, then grabbed his car keys and left.

Meanwhile, Du Xuejing turned to her thin classmate and said, "Xiaoya, my Little Uncle will be here soon. Let's head towards the exit; he can't drive in here."

The girl called Xiaoya glanced around timidly, yet her eyes were filled with curiosity. The place, with its modern construction that nevertheless revealed a sense of desolation at every turn, filled her with a distinct feeling of inner conflict and disharmony.

With that said, Du Xuejing heaved up a suitcase in each hand and went THUMP, THUMP, THUMP down the stairs. Xiaoya, on the other hand, struggled just to carry her one suitcase down.

When Du Xuejing reached the bottom of the stairs, she looked back at Xiaoya, who was still struggling down. Sighing, Du Xuejing put her own suitcases down and went back up to help.

"Let me carry it." She reached out and took the suitcase from Xiaoya.

Watching Du Xuejing handle the suitcase so easily, Xiaoya commented enviously, "Tingting, you're so strong!"

This compliment didn't seem to please Du Xuejing; she just rolled her eyes. "You think this strength just appeared out of nowhere? I earned it, one bowl of rice at a time!"

She then glanced worriedly at Xiaoya's slender frame. "Honestly, why did you go on a diet? You weren't even overweight. Now look at you, thin as a rail—all skin and bones, and you can barely eat. What was the point of all that suffering?"

Xiaoya's face fell. "I didn't want to... but..."

"Enough with the 'buts.' You're practically a skeleton already. What more is there to say?"

"Tingting, can your Little Uncle really help?"

"Don't worry. A simple case of anorexia is nothing for my Little Uncle," Du Xuejing said, her face beaming with pride. "He's Du Demigod, a general practitioner of Chinese medicine who can even treat cancer!"

After hauling the suitcases to the foot of the stairs, Du Xuejing pulled one over to sit on. "So heavy," she grumbled, "my arms are sore."

The two girls chatted idly while they waited.

By the time Du Heng arrived, almost an hour had passed.

"Sorry for the wait. You must have been getting anxious. It's rush hour, and the traffic was terrible," Du Heng said, smiling at the two girls. His gaze lingered for a moment on the exceptionally thin one.

"Little Uncle, this is my classmate, Gu Ya." Then, turning to Gu Ya, she introduced Du Heng. But just after the introductions, before they could even exchange proper greetings, Du Xuejing started to plead with her Little Uncle, "Little Uncle, I'm starving! Please take me out for some delicious food."

Du Heng looked at his niece indulgently. He greeted Gu Ya first before promising Du Xuejing, "Alright, a feast it is. We'll eat well."

Spare no expense when it comes to your daughter.

That was precisely the standard Du Heng applied to Du Xuejing. Although his sister-in-law often told him not to give Du Xuejing too much money, Du Heng would agree to her face but then do as he pleased.

He had a good grasp of current society. He also understood what university students, especially female university students, were like these days.

He did not want his niece to be ridiculed by her vanity-driven peers for her clothing and meals. Nor did he want her to be swindled over a dress or a tube of lipstick. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Especially since she was in the Capital, a gathering place for elites. Du Heng did not want his niece to waste her study time at school due to material needs.

That's why, since she started university last year, her monthly allowance had increased from 3,000 yuan to the current 5,000 yuan.

Of course, he could afford to give her more. However, he also worried that too much money might lead her to develop habits of comparing herself to others or becoming extravagant.

Thankfully, her prior upbringing had been sound, cultivating an excellent character and good habits. Consequently, she had not displayed any of the behaviors Du Heng worried about.

At the restaurant, Du Xuejing didn't immediately order her own favorites. Instead, she passed the menu to Gu Ya. "Xiaoya, order whatever you like. My Little Uncle is treating, so let's eat something good!"

Gu Ya, however, just smiled faintly and pushed the menu back. "You go ahead and order. I'm fine with anything."

Du Xuejing tried to hand her the menu several more times, but Gu Ya, with a gentle laugh, resolutely pushed it back each time. She was quite firm about it.