CHAPTER 6: CHAPTER 6: STAY HERE AND KEEP ME COMPANY

After hanging up the phone, Caleb Yates’ expression was very serious, as if something significant concerning the fate of the country was about to happen.

Renee Winslow was already a bit nervous, and he made her even more tense. She tightened her body, rubbed the sweat on her pants, and asked softly, "Senior, has your elder from the family returned?"

Caleb Yates lit a cigarette, exhaled the smoke with a mischievous look, and said, "My third uncle is back."

Renee Winslow glanced towards the building behind The Scholar Tree and said nervously, "Maybe you should just take me back to school."

Caleb Yates reached out to rub her head, comforting her, "Don’t be scared. I’m freaking twenty years old, having a girlfriend is normal, even bringing you home. My third uncle won’t interfere."

Renee Winslow asked cautiously, "Is your third uncle very strict?"

Caleb Yates chuckled, "Not exactly strict. He never really cares about us younger ones. It’s just that he’s very cold, has a big temper. Back when he was stationed at the border, he killed half a platoon of foreign soldiers on his own. Later, he went to the southwest border to assist narcotics police in taking down the largest drug cartel in the south. Because of those experiences, he’s full of hostility. Except for my grandparents, no one in our family isn’t afraid of him."

Renee Winslow pressed her lips tightly, imagining a fierce-faced, cold middle-aged man in her mind.

Caleb Yates drove the car into the garage, unbuckled his seatbelt, and patted Renee Winslow on the shoulder, "You sit in the car for a while. I’ll go meet my third uncle, and I’ll come get you after he leaves."

Renee Winslow: "Senior, I really think it’s inappropriate to come to your house like this. You should just take me back to school."

Caleb Yates listened to her repeatedly saying going back to school, pulled at his collar irritably, "Not taking you, just sit in the car and wait for me obediently."

He pushed the car door open, got out, slammed the door shut with force, and shoved a hand into his pocket as he walked briskly ahead.

The lights in the main hall weren’t on, the sunset streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, casting a hazy golden shadow on the floor.

A wheelchair was parked in the center of the living room, Jack Yates was sitting in it with his back to the light, his sharp and profound face in the shadows carried an inherent fierceness, surrounded by an intimidating hostility, enough to send chills down one’s spine.

As Caleb Yates entered the door, he paused momentarily at the entrance, glanced at the slippers, thinking he’d be going out soon, so he walked in wearing sneakers to the center of the room and called out mischievously, "Third Uncle."

Jack Yates lazily lifted his eyelids, his sharp phoenix eyes cutting across Caleb Yates’ face like a knife.

Caleb Yates instantly toned down all his mischievousness, all his nonchalant and defiant aura disappeared, turning him as obedient as a primary school student.

"Third Uncle, is your leg feeling better?" he asked respectfully.

Jack Yates didn’t answer his question, coldly asked back, "On vacation?"

Caleb Yates: "Yes, just started today."

Jack Yates rested his right hand on the wheelchair’s armrest, tapping lightly with his fingertips, saying in a deep and slow voice, "You’re almost in your junior year. Don’t just focus on having fun."

Caleb Yates: "Yeah, I know."

Jack Yates said nothing more, glanced at Butler Pierce.

Butler Pierce quickly walked behind him and began pushing him out.

Seeing Jack Yates almost out of the living room, Caleb Yates hastily called him, "Third Uncle, I brought my girlfriend home today."

The wheelchair stopped abruptly, and the air seemed frozen for a moment.

After a while, Jack Yates spoke in a cold voice, "Don’t do anything over the top at home, and make sure neither your great-grandfather nor grandfather knows you brought someone back."

Caleb Yates breathed a sigh of relief, grinning, "Don’t worry, Uncle. I definitely won’t let them know; I won’t even tell my parents. We’re just staying at home for one night, we’ll leave early tomorrow morning, won’t disturb your recovery."

Once Jack Yates left, two boys sitting silently on the sofa stood up simultaneously.

A boy wearing a baseball cap grinned, "Damn, scared the hell out of me."

Caleb Yates kicked his leg, "Stanley Yates, watch your mouth, that’s my third uncle."

Stanley Yates laughed, "That was just an expression, not really cussing out Third Uncle, besides, your Third Uncle is also my Third Uncle, right?"

Caleb Yates didn’t argue, he turned and walked out.

Stanley Yates asked, "Where are you going?"

Caleb Yates didn’t respond, dashed out hurriedly. He quickly ran back to the garage, pulled open the car door, opened his arms, and hugged Renee Winslow.

Renee Winslow pushed him away with force, "Don’t hug, it’s hot."

Caleb Yates buried his face in her neck, laughing, "I told Uncle, he agreed we could be together."

Renee Winslow: "..."

What do you mean he agreed they could be together?

Caleb Yates held her hand, leading her towards the main building with white walls and gray tiles, talking briefly about the family situation as they walked, mainly who would be around tonight.

His cousin Miles Lynch, and his brother Stanley Yates.

Miles Lynch is his aunt’s son, two months older than him, in the same academic year, studying flying at Northwing Aeronautics University.

Stanley Yates is one year younger than him, in the same year as Renee Winslow, starting sophomore year in September, studying finance.

Renee Winslow listened quietly.

Upon reaching the main building, Stanley Yates came out from inside, teasing with a smile, "No wonder Caleb didn’t even sit upon returning home, hurriedly went off after greeting Uncle, turns out he went to fetch his sister-in-law."

Renee Winslow smiled awkwardly, taking the opportunity to pull her hand away.

Caleb Yates kicked Stanley Yates again, "Aren’t you going to greet your sister-in-law? Looking for trouble."

Stanley Yates laughed, "Hello, sister-in-law."

Caleb Yates introduced, "Stanley Yates, my cousin."

At this moment, a handsome boy walked out from inside, Caleb Yates pointed and said, "My cousin, Miles Lynch."

-

Since the elders of The Yates Family weren’t around, only Caleb Yates’ cousin and brother, everyone being young people, Renee Winslow felt slightly more at ease, less restrained.

But being in someone else’s house, during dinner, Renee Winslow didn’t dare to eat quickly and sloppily as she did before, deliberately ruining her image.

After dinner, Stanley Yates and Miles Lynch played games on the sofa, while Caleb Yates took Renee Winslow for a walk in the garden.

Walking side by side along the tree-lined path, Caleb Yates kept one hand in his pocket beside Renee Winslow, the lower hand occasionally brushing against the back of her hand, but no longer forcefully grasping it.

Nearing the old Chinese scholar tree, Caleb Yates stopped, held Renee Winslow’s wrist, looked at her passionately, "Do you still not have any feelings for me?"

Renee Winslow looked away from his gaze, "Senior, I don’t want to lie to you, towards you..."

Before she could finish, Caleb Yates interrupted, "Alright, don’t say it. I can wait, one month isn’t long; I can afford to wait. But after a month, I don’t want to hear you say you have no feelings for me anymore."

Renee Winslow lowered her eyes, pressing her mouth tightly, saying nothing.

Caleb Yates walked towards another path, trying to ease the awkwardness, initiating conversation, "Let me tell you about my third uncle."

Renee Winslow: "Mm."

Caleb Yates turned his head to look at her and smiled slightly, "My third uncle is the pride of the entire Yates Family, a mountain we all look up to."

Renee Winslow didn’t respond, she quietly listened.

Caleb Yates walked under a cluster of wisteria, pulling Renee Winslow to sit on the bench beneath the flowers.

"My third uncle used to be called Felix Yates, with the name ’Felix’ from ’Windfang Ruin.’ It was given by my great-grandfather. My great-grandfather spent his life in the military, so he hoped his descendants could be like him, valiant and skilled soldiers. But before he retired, he was always busy and had no time for his children, let alone his grandchildren. Just as my third uncle was born, my great-grandfather retired, so he had time to care for his grandson. You could say my third uncle was my great-grandfather’s favorite grandson."

"My third uncle was very clever and diligent, and he didn’t let my great-grandfather down. He got into military school at sixteen, took a post in the border at twenty, and during a border conflict, he single-handedly broke through, defeating half a company of foreign troops. No exaggeration, it even made the news back then. But he also sustained severe injuries, taking over half a year to recover."

"After healing, he was transferred to the Southwest border and even went undercover in Nambon for eight months. However, at twenty-four, right when he was about to be promoted to the rank of general, he suddenly retired from the military and changed his name to Jack Yates. He then went to Corinthia and only returned two years ago; it was less than half a year before he became a leader in the business circle."

Renee Winslow genuinely praised, "Your third uncle is truly impressive."

Caleb Yates self-deprecatingly tugged at his lips, "Precisely because there’s this great mountain of my third uncle overshadowing us, we juniors lack motivation since no matter how hard we try, we can’t surpass him."

Renee Winslow smiled and said, "Everyone has their own way of living; you have yours, and you don’t have to be like your third uncle."

While they were talking, Caleb Yates received a call; some of his old friends learned he was back at the Yates Family’s old residence, so they came over to see him.

Caleb Yates: "A few of my old friends are here, do you want to join us, or do you prefer to wander around the garden a bit more?"

Renee Winslow: "I’ll pass on meeting them, you guys are all guys, and I wouldn’t have much to say."

Caleb Yates reached out to hug her briefly, then quickly let go, "I’ll go say hello and come find you later."

Renee Winslow: "Okay, go ahead."

After Caleb Yates left, Renee Winslow continued to stroll in the garden, walking slowly along the pebble-lined path. When she reached a patch of peonies, it suddenly started to rain.

Summer rain showers came quickly and abruptly, with raindrops the size of beans pelting down, soon turning into a downpour.

Renee Winslow shielded her head with her hand, looking around until she spotted a pavilion ahead. She quickly ran forward, intending to take shelter from the rain there.

However, as she passed a moon gate, she spotted an orange cat frantically scratching at the door while meowing desperately. The door was solid wood, not tightly closed, leaving a narrow gap the cat couldn’t squeeze through or push open. From inside the door came the faint cries of kittens.

Renee Winslow guessed that there might be another garden inside the moon gate where the kittens had sneaked in, and the mother cat was desperately trying to save her babies.

She’s not one to meddle, but the orange cat’s cries were so pitiful, and with the rain soaking it, leaving it looking even more pathetic. Thinking of the kittens getting drenched as well made it impossible for her to walk away.

So she stepped forward, picked up the orange cat, and forcefully pushed open the heavy wooden door.

With the orange cat in her arms, she entered the courtyard and found it was styled in the Ming and Qing gardens; the environment was quite elegant, with the cat cries coming from behind a rockery.

She quickly walked towards the rockery with the big cat, and upon passing it without seeing the kittens, she continued forward through a moon gate into the front courtyard, where she saw a two-story building.

Flanked by long hallways and enclosed on all sides by high walls, forming an independent courtyard, it seemed very much like the place Caleb Yates’s third uncle lived because behind the building was a sky-darkening old Scholar Tree.

Realizing she had ventured into a forbidden area, Renee Winslow felt her heart seize up.

Caleb Yates had repeatedly warned her not to enter where his third uncle resided, yet here she was.

Since she was already here, Renee Winslow couldn’t bother thinking about anything else.

As she moved forward into the corridor holding the big cat, she was about to continue when a wheelchair emerged from behind a corridor pillar. Seated in the wheelchair was a man in a black shirt.

The man had a cold and detached demeanor, his sharp-boned hand resting on the wheelchair, with visible veins on the back, both sexy and fierce.

Renee Winslow noticed three small kittens lying placidly on the man’s lap, mewing softly.

The orange cat in her arms cried even more pitifully, struggling to jump out of her embrace.

Afraid to let go, Renee Winslow held tightly to the orange cat, standing still in the corridor.

The rain kept falling, the sky gloomy, and the man’s face even tenser than the sky, his deep eyes predatorily fixed on her, causing her heart to race.

This must be Caleb Yates’s third uncle, colder than she imagined, but also more handsome and much younger than she expected.

She thought Jack Yates would be a stern-faced middle-aged man, but he looked only in his twenties, not even thirty. Yet, so cold, his temperament was both icy and harsh, like a sharp blade, deterring anyone from approaching.

Facing the man’s cold gaze, Renee Winslow felt her whole body tremble with fear.

But she bravely spoke up, "Uncle, hello, the three kittens in your lap may belong to this orange cat I’m holding. Could you please return the babies to it?"

Jack Yates’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, his voice low and cold, "How can you prove these three kittens belong to it?"

Renee Winslow pursed her lips, gathering her courage to reply, "I saw the orange cat scratching and crying at the moon gate earlier, crying so sadly. Now it’s crying even harder seeing you holding the three kittens; they must be its children."

Jack Yates picked up one of the kittens in his lap, placing it on the ground.

Catching on, Renee Winslow also released the orange cat.

With the cat gone, nothing shielded the front of her soaked area, her thin T-shirt clinging to her body, revealing its shape underneath. Yet she paid no mind, her attention fully on the cats.

Sure enough, the orange cat rushed forward to guard the kitten, continuing to meow at Jack Yates.

Jack Yates’s gaze swept over her briefly, taking the sight of her shape and size before he lowered his eyes.

Renee Winslow looked at the two remaining kittens on his lap, plucking up the courage to say, "The two on your lap seem to belong to the orange cat as well."

Jack Yates released another kitten, which the orange cat quickly herded behind it, but it still meowed at him.

Facing Jack Yates’s abyss-like eyes, Renee Winslow forced a smile, "It appears all three belong to the orange cat, Uncle, would you mind returning the last one too?"

After speaking, she looked at the cold-faced man, feeling as if she was about to crumble.

Jack Yates looked down and stroked the kitten, his distinctively jointed hand covering the kitten, and slowly said, "I’ll return it, but I have one condition."

Renee Winslow’s eyes lit up, smiling brightly, "What condition? Please, tell me, Uncle."

When she smiled, two small dimples appeared on her cheeks, her smile charmingly sweet.

Jack Yates squinted slightly, "You substitute this little kitten and stay with me."

Renee Winslow: "..."