Yan Shuyu never self-reflected more than 2 minutes at a time. She was not the type who’d cry over spilled milk. She turned around and comforted herself; she was dying to quit and stay as far away from the boss as possible when she had first transmigrated because “she” had bedded the boss and was worried that he wanted to settle the scores.

But, she had come into contact with the boss a few more times since then, and she could tell from the way he acted that he had no intention to settle the scores with her or hold her accountable. He probably only thought of that night as any normal one-night stand. They were both adults after all and that was no big deal.

Zhou Qinhe’s mannerism toward her had her feeling relieved about what she perceived as the No. 1 danger.

And, she’d no longer have to worry about the cannon fodder fate of the stepmom and her son. After all, that arc wasn’t going to happen for many, many years to go. Having interact so many times with the boss, Yan Shuyu had gained some insight into his personality. The boss might always have a smile on his face, but deep down inside, he was no less prideful than any other CEOs. As long as she and her son could resist the temptation and not grovel to be the male lead’s whetstone like in the novel, there was no way the prideful Zhou Qinhe would cling onto them. After all, there were plenty others out there who’d love to help him out. It didn’t have to be them.

Although, it did hurt her ego that the boss could find a better, more qualified “Mrs. Zhou” any minute of the day but she, on the other hand, would never find someone better than him. But, since what she worried most wasn’t going to happen, Yan Shuyu did feel better overall.

Given all this, even if she’d willingly offer up herself and let the boss find out where she lived, what difference would it make? It wasn’t like the boss would lower his stance and hang out here and bother her.

And, if she really thought it through, she was the one who came out ahead today. The boss paid for the movie tickets, the popcorn, and the 4-digit a person French cuisine. She didn’t even spend a penny and had a great time and came home with a fully belly. This was just too good to be true.

Looking at it from a different perspective, Yan Shuyu no longer felt sorry for herself. In fact, she was quite proud of herself. In the original novel, the stepmom was completely used by the male lead’s father. He squeezed out the very last drop of usefulness from her. In contrast, she hasn’t given him any opportunity to take advantage of her since she had transmigrated. In fact, she had taken advantage of him time and time again. She was such a genius!

Smacking her own belly happily, Yan Shuyu walked inside her building full of pride for herself.

As soon as she walked out of the elevator but before she could even look for her keys, she looked up and saw that the door to her apartment was ajar. She walked closer and saw that her instant son was sitting on a little stool by the door.

As soon as he spotted her, the little kiddo jumped up with a face filled with happiness, shouted a loud “Mom!” and dashed into her arms.

Yan Shuyu also squatted down, threw her arms around him, and smooched him up and down. “MUA~ baby, you guys are home so early!”

Looking at the over-the-top performance from the mother and son, anyone who didn’t know better would think that they hadn’t seen each other for years. Yang Zifeng stood helpless behind him and explained, “We just got back as well. Didn’t you always say Yuanbao was very independent and could bathe and dress himself? I was going to have him take a bath first while we wait for you to come home, but he wouldn’t budge. It was as though he was worried that you’d walk inside the wrong house if he didn’t wait for you by the door.”

Even though Yan Shuyu was a unconscientious mother who’d forget that she had a son when she goes out, she still felt quite a sense of accomplishment hearing about how much her instant son had missed her. She gave him another big hug and a kiss before she picked him up and said to Manager Yang, “Thank you so much for your trouble today. You really didn’t have to wait for me. You just needed to drop Yuanbao off.”

Yang Zifeng smiled and said, “Oh, you’re okay with him being home alone?”

“Of course. Our Yuanbao will be a good boy even if he’s home alone, right?” Even though Yan Shuyu’s mothermood wasn’t exactly a spur-of-the-moment thing, it wasn’t far from it. Almost a month had passed so the cautiousness from the incident from the neighboring community was more or less gone. Now, she felt that it would be alright to leave the little kiddo home by himself from time to time. Even the original owner used to do that as well.

Even little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao agreed with that like a little adult, “I know how to take care of myself.”

Yang Zifeng looked at the kiddo and nodded in agreement, surprisingly. “That’s probably better than having Yuanbao stay in the shop all day long and be bored. Especially on the weekend, when you don’t have a lot of time to spend with him anyway. If he stays home, he could nap whenever he’s tired.”

That was what Yan Shuyu thought as well, except for one little detail, “The only tricky part is his meals. He’s so young that I don’t feel comfortable to have him order delivery alone.”

The original owner used to make the meals in advance and store them in thermal insulated lunch boxes so the temperature would be perfect when it was time to eat them. Yet Yan Shuyu had never cooked at home since she had transmigrated over. She was too lazy to even cook breakfast never mind preparing meals for her son after she came home from work exhausted. She deemed that idea unrealistic.

Yang Zifeng smiled, “He wouldn’t need to order take out. You wouldn’t know how clean those food are anyway. Just pick him up before dinner and drop him back off afterward. Your place is close enough that it wasn’t too much of a hassle anyway.”

The boss man was smart, and more importantly, not petty. Yan Shuyu gave him a thumbs up in appreciation, “Great idea!”

As they were chatting, Yan Shuyu picked up her son whose arms were still wrapped around her neck into the bedroom. Yang Zifeng saw the plastic bags on the floor and casually picked them up and brought them inside for her as he teased, “Looks like you had a fruitful trip today.”

“You were exactly right,” said Yan Shuyu proudly. She put her son down and gave Yang Zifeng an odd look, “You are not leaving yet?”

Yang Zifeng pouted and pretended that he was offended, “You just want to get rid of me now that you don’t need me anymore?”

“Of course not. I mean it’s getting kind of late and I need to bathe Yuanbao and put him to bed. I’m afraid I wouldn’t have time to be a good host. Don’t worry, I’ll treat you to dinner another day to repay you for the favor.” Yan Shuyu was very sincere as she said that. She had learned that it was only too important to have a good relationship with Manager Yang. And not just for promotions and raises, he would even babysit for her. Where else could she find such silly, rich, and caring boss?

Granted, the other girls at the shop all volunteered to babysit for her, but Yan Shuyu was most comfortable with leaving her son with Yang Zifeng. All the other girls were single girls. They may be okay to play with her child, but she wasn’t 100% comfortable having them take care of him. Yang Zifeng was single too, but he has a niece and at least has experience taking care of a child.

Long story short, Yan Shuyu knew she’d need his help more often than not in the future. She better take him out to dinner.

Manager Yang didn’t seem excited at all when he heard that. Instead, he countered, “You said the same thing when you first joined. I have been waiting for a whole month already. So this meal would happen something next year?”

Yan Shuyu, “…..”

She might have forgotten about that one.

She immediately patted her chest and said with utmost sincerity, “Okay, we will combine the two meals and take you to a fancier restaurant. You pick the time, how does that sound?”

As she was poor and becoming more frugal, Yan Shuyu felt a pang of heartache as she was saying that. But then she remembered how much she had gotten from the big boss today, so it’d be fine to spend some on Manager Yang. She’d still come out ahead anyway. As she arrived at this conclusion, she felt more comfortable with her decision. Yang Zifeng, looking at her very serious expression, suddenly burst out in laughter, “I was just kidding. Did you think I was serious?”

Yan Shuyu, “…..”

“Hey, change of subject,” said Yang Zifeng with a serious look.

Yan Shuyu had no choice but to put away her distress and listen to him, “What’s up?”

“I was going to bring Yuanbao home to play with my niece in the afternoon, but as it turned out, Instructor Lin had another engagement this weekend, so she moved her session today instead. So, Yuanbao also sat in during the session. Instructor Lin told me afterwards that she was about to start a musical store plus a training center with a few of her fellow schoolmates, and she desired to train Yuanbao up to be their star student, free of charge. They will also work on signing him up for all sorts of competitions as well, and wanted me to ask you if you might be interested in that.”

“Star student?” Yan Shuyu’s eyes beamed. She knew that sooner or later her instant son would help her rise above her current situation; she just didn’t think the opportunity could come so quickly. Happily, she asked, “So he’d be like their spokesperson?”

Yang Zifeng was well aware of her money-loving personality, so he smiled and said, “Something like that. No pay, though.”

Yan Shuyu was, indeed, a little disappointed when she found out there was no money attached, but she recovered quickly, “That’s fine. Didn’t you also say they’d sign Yuanbao up to all kinds of competitions? Does that mean they’d pay the fees to join the competition, but we get to keep the prize winning?”

“You have it all figured out, huh?” Yang Zifeng found that amusing but he nodded and said, “There’s room for negotiations there. That means you are interested, right?”

Yan Shuyu looked so eager that she wished she could say yes right away, but she still turned and consulted the actual person who’d be carrying out the deed, “Would you like to learn how to play the piano and participate in competitions in the future?”

Little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao’s eyes glittered just like his own mother’s and, without hesitation, he nodded and said, “Yes!”

“You better be sure about that? It’s not a small feat learning to play the piano like that. You will still be going to school and have to make sure that you don’t fall behind academically. You will be practicing playing the piano when other children are out there having fun. You sure you want to do it?”

“Yes! Yuanbao likes the piano!” said the little kiddo very decisively. Naturally, Yan Shuyu was very happy about that. She knew that her instant son may looked like a softie, but he has a mind of his own and was also more persistent than other children. If he said he could do it, then there shouldn’t be any issues. But she also felt odd on the other hand.

In the novel, the villain was treated the same as the male lead after he had joined the prominent family. He went above and beyond to learn everything that the male lead was interested in and to excel over the male lead in them in order to attract the attention of the male lead’s father.

The boss said the male lead has already started his piano lessons. The one time that she had spent time with him she had further confirmed that he was, indeed, interested in the piano. That meant that in the novel, the villain had also spent a sizeable amount of time on piano. How come she had never noticed his interest in piano except for fighting over other resources with the male lead?

Yan Shuyu couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you like the piano?”

Little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao looked at her in full of admiration and said in the most serious tone, “Because mom looks very attractive when she plays the piano. Yuanbao wants to get good at playing the piano too, so he can be as outstanding as mom when he grows up.”

Oh, so it was because of her influence. Yan Shuyu couldn’t be more proud of herself. She bent down, threw her arms around her instant son, gave him a big kiss, and said shamelessly, “Okay, then let’s make a pact. Yuanbao must work very hard on it so he can be as outstanding as mom when he grows up.”

Zhang Yuanjia blinked and reached out his hand, “Okay, pinky promise.”

The two had gone from a serious discussion to pinky promise and the solemnness from earlier was all gone. Yang Zifeng, who was just watching the entire development quietly, chimed in with a smile, “It seems Yuanbao had truly inherited your talent. My niece had been practicing for most of a quarter and the teacher only said she was doing alright and picked up slightly faster than other children. Yuanbao had only been practicing with you for a few days and Instructor Lin had her eyes on him right away….”

Shamelessly, Yan Shuyu smiled and said, “The looks plays a big role in this. Hehehe~”

Yang Zifeng thought about it for a bit and did not disagree. There were certainly plenty of talented and fast-learning children out there. The fact that Instructor Lin had her eyes on Yuanbao right away probably had a lot to do with his looks. The little boy was delicate and cute. If he had on tuxedo and a bow tie, he would look like a prince straight out of a fairy tale. One must possess qualities like that to be the star student.

“When is this great plan of raising him going to start? Did Instructor Lin give you her contact information?”

“It’s coaching, not raising. Sheesh, what is it that goes through that brain of yours….” Yang Zifeng wasn’t sure what to make of that, but quickly he recollected himself and said, “Instructor Lin just had this idea. They are still at the stage of looking for a location. The remodeling will take 1-2 months. It won’t be for a while. But she did say that she will pay a visit to our store soon and you will be able to discuss the details in person.”

Yan Shuyu nodded before lifting her son’s soft face and rubbing it with her hands as she asked, “We can goof off for two more months. Are you happy?”

The kiddo expressed that he wasn’t that happy about it, “I want to start sooner.”

“What are we going to do then?” Yan Shuyu spread her hands helplessly.

Yang Zifeng smiled suddenly, “You can start teaching him yourself during your free time. Your place might not be big enough for a full-size piano, but it can fit a smaller electric one. My niece started with an electric one as well, the portable kind. She doesn’t use it anymore. Let me ask my sister for it, that way Yuanbao can practice at home as well.”

“Eh? Your niece is your sister’s child, not your brother’s?”

Yang Zifeng, “……”

“That is your take away?”

“Of course,” said Yan Shuyu matter-of-factly. “That’s a very important point, alright?”

“….” Yang Zifeng was speechless again. But he also knew that as curious as Yan Shuyu was, he wouldn’t be leaving tonight if he didn’t clarify that. So he elaborated, “My sister was divorced. I didn’t think it was necessary to mention that specifically.”

“Oh, I see.” Yan Shuyu nodded and was suddenly enlightened, “Is that why you have been so nice to us? Because we are also a single-parent family?”

“Why else did you think?”

“I just assumed I am so pretty that everybody would fawn over me,” bragged Yan Shuyu in a not-so-humble way. “But this is fine too.”

Yang Zifeng couldn’t help but rolled his eyes and called her out, “Either way, you have nothing to lose, right?”

Yan Shuyu smiled proudly again. Before she could say anything else, her Wechat chimed and she looked down. It was a message from the boss. The message was short and concise, “I am home. I had a great time today.”

The boss was the one who requested to add her as Wechat friends while they were having dinner.

Yan Shuyu was quite shocked by the fact that a boss man like Zhou Qinhe would use something like Wechat like a commoner – that was very different than how it was in the novel. How could a CEO be so skillful at using Wechat?!

Nonetheless, he had taken her out to dinner. Under that circumstances, she had no choice but to obediently fish out her cellphone and add him as her friend.

Her thought at the time was to placate him first then she could ban him after a while. But she had second thoughts after that lavish meal. It was far too enjoyable getting free food and drinks from the boss.

Seeing her staring at her cellphone, Yang Zifeng couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Who was it? Sending you messages so late at night?”

“Oh, just a friend. Just saying hi,” replied Yan Shuyu casually. She quickly replied to the boss’s message with just a “Thank you for treating. Good night.”

It was so dismissive that even Yang Zifeng didn’t give it another thought. He stood up and said, “Alright, you guys get some rest. We will talk about Instructor Lin’s business in details some other time.”

After a whole day of shopping, Yan Shuyu was quite tired as well so she didn’t try to keep him any longer. She and her son walked Yang Zifeng to the elevator before returning to take their shower and go to bed. The boss did not send another message after that, so she conveniently forgot all about him.