[Shoving a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, Jingyi has to take a second before he can comment on Xichen's apology. Once his mouth is free, though, he has zero compunctions in pointing out:]
Everything I have heard—[Gossip may be forbidden, but this had technically been news.]—says that he is very good at hiding things. If he was specifically hiding things from you, I do not think you should feel that bad. You are very smart. Hiding things probably took a lot of effort.
[There! Reassurance! Jingyi makes his way through another couple of spoonfuls and agrees that he did, indeed, make an excellent choice of ice cream, and then he shoves the gift box that he brought toward his new adoptive father. The topic clearly makes Xichen sad and he does not want to do more than acknowledge it and let the ice cream do its work.]
Here! Open this! This is the second tradition that I discovered. I think it is supposed to be attached to a day, but I did not want to wait for the proper day.
no subject
Everything I have heard—[Gossip may be forbidden, but this had technically been news.]—says that he is very good at hiding things. If he was specifically hiding things from you, I do not think you should feel that bad. You are very smart. Hiding things probably took a lot of effort.
[There! Reassurance! Jingyi makes his way through another couple of spoonfuls and agrees that he did, indeed, make an excellent choice of ice cream, and then he shoves the gift box that he brought toward his new adoptive father. The topic clearly makes Xichen sad and he does not want to do more than acknowledge it and let the ice cream do its work.]
Here! Open this! This is the second tradition that I discovered. I think it is supposed to be attached to a day, but I did not want to wait for the proper day.
[And inside is...a mug.]