Qi Chenglin nodded and said, "He really likes you, but you mustn't disappoint him."

"Thank you…" Ruan Danchen breathed a sigh of relief.

Qi Chenglin smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Go on in."

Ruan Danchen turned around but froze.

"What is it?" Qi Chenglin asked after seeing her standing motionlessly.

"…" Ruan Danchen said helplessly, "I didn't bring a key because I thought I was going to send you from inside the home. I didn't expect you to drag me out."

Qi Chenglin could not respond to that.

Without another word, he reached for the doorbell.

"You're gonna wake Youxuan up." She held his hand but it was too little too late. He had already rung the bell.

Qi Youxuan still did not come out to open the door.

Ruan Danchen thought that the boy must have already fallen asleep, or perhaps he did not mind the doorbell because he thought she was at home.

Qi Chenglin fished out his phone and dialed the boy's number. After a while, he said, "Stop pretending and open the door."

"…"

Not long later, the door opened. Ruan Danchen looked down and noticed that the young man had already changed into his pajamas. One of his fair-skinned hands were holding a Soundwave 1[1] toothbrush, which looked huge in his hands.

His children's toothbrush made a brushing sound, his mouth filled with foam.

"Eh, why are you both suddenly outside? When did you go out?" The toothbrush was still in Qi Youxuan's mouth when he spoke. He was spewing foam and speaking rather incoherently.

He pretended so well that Qi Chenglin's lips twitched.

Ruan Danchen, on the other hand, was quiet.

Qi Youxuan then came to the realization that he had pretended to sleep earlier. He was aware of how odd it would look if he became so energized all of a sudden, so he feigned fatigue and leaned on the wall, saying, "Aunt Ruan, I've got the good habit of brushing my teeth every morning and every night. I won't sleep well if I don't brush my teeth. I remembered that I haven't brushed my teeth, so I got up to do so."

Ruan Danchen was speechless.

"Oh, go on, keep pretending." Qi Chenglin scoffed and glanced cynically at him.

Qi Youxuan was fuming! 'What kind of that is he! He's always exposing me! Why am I even helping him all the time!'

"Dad, I'm still very sleepy. I don't have enough energy to go home," Qi Youxuan added.

Qi Chenglin snickered and said, "I didn't say I was going to bring you home. You can stay here for the night. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning."

"Thanks, Dad!" Qi Youxuan was so happy that he forgot his mouthful of toothpaste foam. He accidentally spat out a large part, but fortunately, none of it landed on Ruan Danchen and Qi Chenglin.

Embarrassed, he kneeled down and wiped off the foam with his bare hands. His careful movements made Ruan Danchen feel heartbroken. She quickly pulled him back up.

"Don't wipe it anymore. I'll be mopping the floor later anyway," Ruan Danchen said. "Go back and brush your teeth."

The little boy saw that Ruan Danchen was willing to let him stay and ran gleefully to the washroom.

Ruan Danchen watched as the lad dashed into the toilet and closed the door. She then turned to Qi Chenglin and said, "Thank you."

With his hands in his pockets, he looked at Ruan Danchen as she stood by the door. Her moist and innocent-looking eyes were slightly red. Her skin was fair, and her nose was red due to her crying. Nevertheless, none of that dampened the pureness that was inherent within her.

Her reddened eyes and nose lent her a look of innocence, making others feel sympathy for her.

Qi Chenglin's head felt hot. The one thing he absolutely wanted to do was press her onto the wall and kiss her violently.

On the surface, however, he kept his cool and nodded before turning to leave.

…

…

By the time Ruan Danchen closed the door and went back into the house, Qi Youxuan was done and had returned to lie down on her bed. Ruan Danchen did a cursory mopping of the floor and bathed. She then changed into her sleepwear and blow-dried her hair.

When she went back to the bedroom, the young boy was already asleep. Hearing the noise, he rubbed his eyes and opened them. He was very much drowsy-eyed.

Seeing Ruan Danchen, he shifted inside and asked anticipatingly, "Aunt Ruan, can you tell me a bedtime story? I wanna listen to Ultraman defeating monsters."

"…" Ruan Danchen had no idea how to tell the story. She had never even watched Ultraman on TV, but she could not bring herself to reject the boy's request. All she could do was tell him what she saw from those monster-disaster movies.

Qi Youxuan fell asleep very soon. Ruan Danchen even heard his faint mumbling, "Aunt Ruan, can you please be my stepmother?"

Ruan Danchen looked at the boy in her arms and kissed his forehead tenderly. It never crossed her mind that the chance would ever come for her to hug him while he slept.

…

…

Qi Chenglin went back to Prestige Residences. Upon entering his home, he saw Guan Liya sitting down.

"Mom, why are you here?" Qi Chenglin asked and changed into his slippers.

"The manor's neighbor, Aunt Chen, her son is working in Germany. He came back for the holidays and brought some snacks. Aunt Chen dropped by the manor and gave these for Youxuan. Grandmother told Xiao Fan to send them to our home, and I decided to come by tonight to give them to Youxuan. I didn't know you won't be home," Guan Liya said. She noticed that Qi Youxuan was nowhere to be seen, and the main door was closed too, so she asked, "Where's Youxuan?"

"At a friend's house." Qi Chenglin changed his footwear and replied bluntly.

"Friend? What friend? You're not worried to leave him all alone? What's wrong with you? You usually don't treat him like a child, but don't forget that he's only six-years-old. You're just going to let him be alone? What if he gets scared at night? Tell me, when are you going to treat your son better? He's just a small boy. Is it really okay for him to wake up in the middle of the night and realize that his family isn't there?" Guan Liya was exasperated. Qi Chenglin is such an irresponsible man—what in the world was he thinking that night?

Guan Liya went back to the living room after chastising Qi Chenglin. She took her bag and headed out, dragging Qi Chenglin along the way. "This is unacceptable! Which friend's house did you leave him at? We'll go and get him back."

"Mom, he was the one who wanted to stay there. Even if you go there now, he won't follow you home." Qi Chenglin stopped his mother. "He even put on an act just to stay back."

Guan Liya was curious. "Whose home is he at? I can't believe Youxuan voluntarily wanted to be there."

Qi Chenglin's lips curled into a smile. Guan Liya spotted that and asked him in anticipation and apprehension, "Is it the stepmother that Youxuan has been harping about?"

Without waiting for Qi Chenglin to answer, she grabbed Qi Chenglin's arm excitedly and said, "You have someone you're serious about? What's her profession? Where is she from? What kind of family does she come from? What about her character? You're not worried to let Youxuan stay there with her? Does Youxuan really like her?"

Qi Chenglin listened to her barrage of questions and answered them one after the other, "I have a good impression of her and I'm taking this seriously. She's from Sheng City, but when she was still a baby, she followed her mother to B City. She's now working as a normal employee in a small company. She's the only one at home right now. I trust her character, and I'm not worried to let Youxuan stay there. Youxuan genuinely does like her."

Guan Liya was flabbergasted. She did not expect Qi Chenglin to know that woman so well.

Youxuan mentioned her once back at the manor, but Qi Chenglin at that time was unwilling to divulge anything at all. How far did their relationship progress for him to suddenly explain everything in such detail to Guan Liya?

"How about you find a time to bring her home and introduce her to us? If you like her, then we trust your judgment of her. I don't demand anything in particular from her as long as she treats Youxuan well and doesn't do anything bad to him. At the end of the day, he isn't her son, and although I won't ask her to love Youxuan like her own son, at the very least she has to treat him as though he was." Guan Liya was anxious. She might trust in Qi Chenglin's judgment, but she knew that there were times where a man's mind would be too muddled because of how smitten he was with a woman. What if the woman was pretending to be nice?

She wanted to meet the woman so her worries would be eased.

"She's very nice toward Youxuan, but not to me." Qi Chenglin pulled a long face. 'Didn't you notice that I was shooed?'

Guan Liya was speechless.

"By that you mean the girl doesn't like you yet and your interest is unreciprocated?" Guan Liya asked cautiously.

"Not exactly," came Qi Chenglin's ambiguous response. The entire situation was not easy to explain as of yet. "Don't worry. When the time comes, I'll definitely bring her home."

Following that, Qi Chenglin said nothing further no matter how determinedly Guan Liya tried to pry.

He sat down composedly on the sofa and read the news. He responded with the same monosyllabic 'mm' to every single question that Guan Liya asked, making her feel as though he was not even paying attention to whatever she was saying.

Finally at wit's end, she decided to leave after realizing that she could not get anything out of him.

Xiao Yang had earlier stopped the car at the foot of the building. After Guan Liya went in, Xiao Yang drove off. Guan Liya then made a call to the manor. "Aunt Liu, is Grandmother asleep?"

After some time, the old lady took over from the call. Guan Liya had an indescribable mood—both happy and nervous, she said, "Mom, there's a girl that Chenglin likes."

"Really? From which family? What does she do? How old is she? Where is she from and how does she look like?" The old lady turned frantic and began firing away her questions.

Guan Liya recounted everything that Qi Chenglin told her earlier.

"Mom, I know it's a good thing that Chenglin has someone he likes. I'm just worried that the woman won't treat Youxuan well. Chenglin's situation is different from Chengzhi's because Song Yu's character is something that everyone knows. Qi Chenglin's not telling who the woman is, and Youxuan wouldn't say anything too. I'm worried that he's being deceived. What if the woman is only pretending to be nice just so she could become a part of the Qi family? What if her true nature is only revealed after she becomes one of us? What are we going to do if she treats Youxuan badly?" Guan Liya said worriedly. She was not afraid to say all that in front of Xiao Yang. After all, Xiao Yang had been in the family's employ for many years, just like Aunt Chen.

"Don't worry. If he hasn't brought her back yet, then nothing's certain. We'll wait and see. I'll find a way to ask around, and even if I can't find anything out, Chenglin will have to bring her sooner or later. By then, we'll be able to have a look." Grandmother Qi placed quite some thought into it. With Qi Chenglin's marriage, the one thing that concerned them most was Qi Youxuan.

"Youxuan's a smart boy. Back then, he really took a liking to Song Yu, and from what you said, he seems to like this woman very much too. Youxuan is adept at recognizing a person's character and sincerity. They'll be coming over tomorrow, so we can think of a way to ask Youxuan."

"There's nothing else we can do," Guan Liya lamented and hung up.

…

…

The next morning, Ruan Danchen woke up early to tidy up and prepare breakfast for the little one.

Not long after she woke up, the boy woke up and even changed into his sports clothes. Ruan Danchen did not expect that he would bring over the clothes that he would change into.

"Why are you up so early?" Ruan Danchen had just finished tidying things and did not even start making breakfast yet.

"I go for a jog every morning so I can slim down," said the young boy while he did warm-ups inside the house.

Since he was unfamiliar with the area, Ruan Danchen was worried that something might happen to a small boy like him. Thus, she said, "I'll join you."

Qi Youxuan beamed with happiness. After Ruan Danchen changed into her sportswear, they both went out together.

Since it was a Saturday, most working-class people were still sound asleep. Most of the elderly, however, did not sleep as much as plenty were out and about, doing their morning exercises.

Ruan Danchen held Qi Youxuan's hand, and as soon as they went out of the building entrance, they met Aunt Wu. She came back from the market and was dragging along her little trolley.

She was stunned to see Ruan Danchen holding Qi Youxuan's hand.

When she was walking her dog the evening prior, she bumped into Xiao Chen and her daughter who lived in apartment 501. They had a little chat, and Xiao Chen said that Ruan Danchen was in a relationship with a divorcee who had a child. The man even brought his son to have dinner at Ruan Danchen's house.

Aunt Wu listened to all that without paying too much attention to it, but when she saw Ruan Danchen holding that little boy's hand and going out, she wondered if the man and his son spent the night at Ruan Danchen's place.

"Danchen, why are you out so early on a Saturday?" Aunt Wu smiled and asked.

"Bringing this boy out for a walk." Ruan Danchen smiled and remarked candidly.

In Aunt Wu's ears, however, the sentence took on a different meaning altogether. 'Did Ruan Danchen really become the boy's stepmother?'

"Hi Granny," Qi Youxuan greeted politely in a crisp and clear voice.

"Eh, hello, hello. You're so polite." Aunt Wu was no match for the charm of the adorable little boy. She was no longer thinking about whether his father was a divorcee or not.

During the night before, Xiao Chen mentioned that the boy's father was very handsome, but she said it rather vaguely, so Aunt Wu could not picture how handsome the man was. After seeing Youxuan, however, she found the boy to be extremely cute. The father must also be incredibly good-looking.

"This is my friend's son," Ruan Danchen introduced. "Youxuan, this granny is my neighbor."

Qi Youxuan heard that and instantly became more energized and polite. "Granny, please take good care of Aunt Ruan when my dad and I aren't around."

Ruan Danchen was stupefied.

Qi Youxuan's words seemed more and more out of place.

Aunt Wu had the same thought as Aunt Chen and nodded while smiling. "Hehehe, such a good boy. Don't worry about it. Oh yes, where's your Dad?"

"Dad went home last night. I didn't want to leave, so he let me stay here," the little boy said earnestly.

Aunt Wu thought to herself and felt that it was no small feat for Ruan Danchen to win over the boy.

"Hehe, you and Xiao Ruan seem to have a genuinely good relationship," remarked Aunt Wu with a smile. Believing that Qi Youxuan was still a naive little boy who would not think much, she asked directly, "What does your Dad do?"

Upon hearing that sentence, Qi Youxuan puffed out his chest and asked proudly, "Have you ever heard of Qilin, Granny?"

"Yes, I've heard of it, it's a big company," answered Aunt Wu and nodded. She surmised that the little boy's dad was an employee at Qilin.

Qi Chenglin nodded and answered crisply, "Mm, that belongs to my family."

Aunt Wu was stunned speechless.

At that moment, it was a shock of lightning struck her brain. Her mind went blank and she was dumbfounded.

She wondered how Ruan Danchen could meet such a rich young master through daily conversations alone. It was not even a normal rich guy—he was practically impossible-to-reach since he was from such a prestigious family.

Aunt Wu found it hard to believe when she looked at Qi Youxuan, but there was no reason for the boy to lie to her.

She looked at Ruan Danchen, who hastily said, "Aunt Wu, you should head up. We're going for our jog now."

"Okay, okay," Aunt Wu said. She was still in shock and looked startled out of her mind.

Aunt Wu finally regained her senses after Ruan Danchen brought Qi Youxuan away. She even heard Ruan Danchen tell the little boy, "Don't just reveal your family background to a stranger next time. Granny Wu isn't a bad person, so it's no problem, but what if you met a bad guy who wants to harm you because he knows your family background?"

"Okay." The young boy nodded and looked sincere in learning from his mistake.

"…" Aunt Wu felt her legs go weak. The night before, Xiao Chen's daughter intimated that the boy's father was rich, but never did she expect that he was filthy rich. Simply using the word 'rich' was not apt enough of a description.

…

…

Ruan Danchen brought Qi Youxuan to circle run one lap around the nearby park. Their faces were red from the running.

When they returned, they passed by a roadside stall selling some breakfast. There were wontons, deep-fried glutinous rice dough cake, and also sesame balls among other things. His eyes were fixed onto the food once he smelled the aroma wafting from afar.

"Aunt Ruan, I wanna eat those." Qi Youxuan pointed his finger and waved it in the direction. "It smells so good."

Ruan Danchen brought him over, much to the little boy's delight and curiosity. The wontons did not interest him, because despite not having any of those from outside stalls, Aunt Chen and Aunt Zheng made them frequently. It was the fried cakes and sesame balls that intrigued him since he had never eaten them before.

"Aunt Ruan, what are these?" Qi Youxuan pointed and asked.

"You've never eaten them before?" Ruan Danchen asked.

Qi Youxuan shook his head and said, "I usually have breakfast at home. Aunt Chen makes them at Grandma's home and in my home Nanny Zheng makes it. I've never eaten outside breakfast before."

Ruan Danchen understood that. She bought two bowls of wontons, two fried cakes, and two sesame balls in the end.

The young boy was surely unable to finish such a big bowl of wontons. In addition to the fried cakes and sesame balls, probably half of the full portion would be left over for her to finish.

She carried the food in one hand and held Qi Youxuan in the other. Then, she spotted a Benz parked below her apartment, the exact same one that Qi Chenglin bought.

"Dad came here early," the boy said, having spotted the car too.

Ruan Danchen's heartbeat quickened. She was unprepared to face him after what happened the previous night.

Qi Chenglin already knew that she was the woman from that fateful night seven years ago. Along with the relationship she had with Qi Youxuan, she felt embarrassed, shy, and ashamed to face him.

She wondered what was on his mind when he looked at her.

Two tugs were felt on her hand, prompting Ruan Danchen to look down and see the little boy looking up. He urged her, "Aunt Ruan, let's go home quick. We have to eat these when they're hot."

The boy's cute demeanor made her set aside those issues temporarily, and she thus went into the building with him.

After getting out of the elevator, she turned to the side and saw Qi Chenglin standing at her door. His a-hundred-and-ninety-centimeter-tall body was standing there, occupying practically the entire door.

- - -

Bonus scene.

"Dad," Qi Youxuan called out, "next time when you want to bring Aunt Ruan outside so you can kiss her, please bring keys. If you do this, I'll be so embarrassed."

"Next time, I'll bring her home," Qi Chenglin answered. "I won't need to bring keys by then."

"You have a point, Dad," Qi Youxuan answered in agreement.

Ruan Danchen was dumbfounded by their conversation.

"Ah, Aunt Ruan, you're here?" said Qi Youxuan.

Ruan Danchen was speechless for a while before she spoke, "Can both of you consider my feelings next time when you speak?"

聲波 – translated as Soundwave, with a capital S, as we believe it is referring to the Transformers robot named Soundwave.