Liu Ci and Lin Shuwen left after their business discussion was over followed shortly by the Zhou’s father and son duo.

The amount of time that they’ve spent today was already longer than usual. In the past, when Zhou Qinhe brought Zhou Yi to Sunshine House, they had never stayed for more than half an hour, sometimes even less than 20 minutes.

The little male lead politely bid his farewell to Yan Shuyu and Zhang Yuanjia before he left with his father. The two little boys, who were just glaring at each other moments ago, really showed some signs of making up by this time.

The “showdown and aggressive” feel between the two little boys seemed to have slowly melted away after Yan Shuyu’s cello performance.

Ever since little Zhou Yi learned “Little Leaping Frog” from Aunty Yan, he had felt close to her and looked up to her. Now that he found out that the same Aunty Yan who could play “Little Leaping Frog” on the piano could also play the cello and was so good at it, the little kiddo was marveled by her.

Zhou Yi was only slightly emotionless right now and nowhere close to his father’s level of hiding his feelings. Like a good-for-nothing person, his mouth had dropped open as he was immersed in Aunty Yan’s beautiful melody. And, Zhang Yuanbao had witnessed the entire scene.

Little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao had been trending toward becoming his mother’s brain-dead fan lately. Seeing how Zhou Yi had such good taste and knew to appreciate his mother’s strength, that made Zhang Yuanjia felt extremely proud of his mother and decided that perhaps he just might be able to befriend Zhou Yi – limited to just being fond of him, of course. If he still wanted to fight him over his mother, his stance could change instantly.

Yan Shuyu’s instant son’s “change of heart” happened during her most awkward moment. Without the adults being aware of it, friendship quickly sprouted and grew between the two little kids. Granted, Yan Shuyu hasn’t had the time to notice any of those minor details; by the time she noticed that the relationship between the two little boys had changed, it was when Zhou Yi was saying his goodbyes.

Then, while Yan Shuyu was looking on, Zhou Yi proactively thanked Zhang Yuanjia, “I am taking off now. Thank you for showing me around today.”

“No worries.” Putting his pettiness aside temporarily, Zhang Yuanjia slipped right into the role of a kiddo host and even threw out an invitation, “Come again. I will be able to spend more time with you next time.”

The little male lead nodded seriously, “I shall come again.”

The two little hands connected, and Zhou Yi then left with his father. Yan Shuyu, on the other hand, was still fascinated by the scene of the two little boys shaking hands – her son and the male lead were the archnemesis who had always been at each other’s throats in the book. Now, with the incredible effort that she had put in, they had become friends. At this rate, they just might become the best of childhood friends. OMG, she was so touched right now.

When Yan Shuyu had finally recollected herself from her own fantasy, she suddenly noticed that she was surrounded by her little buddies and her son had already gone over to the office.

She felt a bad feeling washed over her. Shivering, she wrapped her arms around herself and asked, “What… are you guys trying to do?”

Miss Sherry, leader of the crowd, was already rubbing her hands together. “Yanyan you little brat. Keeping us in the dark this entire time. Spill! What’s your relationship with Boss Zhou!”

“Exactly! We’ve all heard Boss Zhou’s words. What’s the situation here, hmm?”

Just as Yan Shuyu has anticipated, that they’d try to pry it out of her forcefully. But, when it came to this topic, in all honesty she was as baffled as her little buddies!

When Boss Zhou extended the job offer to her a few days ago, Yan Shuyu surely had to exercise all of her determination in order to turn down the temptation. But she truly felt that episode wasn’t a big deal to someone like the boss. Afterall, a CEO from such a prominent family could very likely be described as controlling the ups and downs of several million dollars every minute.

And, even so, Yan Shuyu had to wonder if her imagination has been limited by her poverty state. Could the amounts she had in mind would be offensive to someone of the boss’s status? For someone who’s time and brain power were as precious as they were for Boss Zhou, how could he possibly keep such a minute issue in mind?

Never in a million years would she have imagined that not only did the boss keep it in mind, he had further brought it up in front of everyone today just to put her on the spot before he dropped the subject and just left without elaborating much on it.

Zhou Qinhe had already left. If he was still there, even Yan Shuyu wanted to ask him what was his intention.

Looking at how anxious her little buddies were, she started worrying whether she’d live to see another day if she just told them the truth. So she went silent for a little bit and embellished the incident irresponsibility, “Perhaps Boss Zhou was very offended that I turned him down?”

After being quiet for a couple of seconds, the little kiddos were even more emotional than they were before. “So NOW you admit that Boss Zhou is pursuing you?”

“No! Wait! That’s NOT what I am saying!” Yan Shuyu was just messing around with them. She hadn’t expected it to result in such a major misunderstanding. She didn’t even know where to begin to explain herself. “What I am trying to say was that I had ungratefully turned down his offer to get me a job and he felt offended by that, which was why he was so petty about it.”

It was obvious that nobody believed Yan Shuyu anymore.

Sherry, still the lead on this, crossed her arms in front of herself and asked again, “Alright, then tell us why wouldn’t you want to join a corporation like the Zhou’s?”

If this question came up just a day ago, Yan Shuyu would be totally speechless. After all, the excuse that she had given the boss wouldn’t work with this crowd at all. Any normal human being would know which to choose between being a white collar working at a corporation ranked top #500 worldwide versus being a server at a coffee shop. And she was poor, not some WRP who just wanted a job to “experience life”. It wouldn’t make any sense for her to give up a well-paid, cozy, and stable job just because she liked the work environment at the coffee shop better.

But now, Yan Shuyu didn’t feel trapped at all.

She said with confidence, “Truth be told, I was, of course, very tempted when he brought it up. But I figured that we aren’t that close and it was such a big favor so I finally turned it down. Afterall, it’d be okay even if I don’t go to work for Zhou’s Corporation. I have already decided to work in the capacity of an instructor at the musical institution once I have earned by certificate. Instructor Liu and Instructor Lin had already tentatively agreed. And I’d be with Yuanbao to and from work going forward, which is a better option anyway…”

Even though the boss called her out at the very critical moment, he didn’t pursue it to the end after all. Plus, Manager Yang also jumped in to help her out and was able to get her out of the awkward situation. There was no uncertainty in Liu Ci’s decision. He even told her definitely that his musical institution’s grand opening is next month and that she was welcomed to start next month even if she still hasn’t received her certification. This way, she could get familiar with the environment and settle in. She could start teaching classes after she has earned her certification by year end.

Yan Shuyu thought for a few seconds after hearing the offer and finally decided on turning down Male God Liu’s kind gesture. Instead, she had opted for following the proper procedures and waiting to start at her new position after she had received her certification. After all, it was still two months away from when she would take the examination and obtain her certification.

Starting at the musical institution too early meant that she’d be drawing a salary for doing nothing for over a month. That would be like totally taking advantage of them – even though going to work there with just a junior high school certification was also taking advantage of them. In Yan Shuyu’s opinion, she should take advantage of them bit by bit; if she was to go too overboard right away, she wouldn’t be able to take any more advantages in the future.

More importantly, the maximum time she had left in Sunshine House would not exceed another 2-3 months. Yan Shuyu was truly reluctant to leave her lovely little buddies, so she had decided to make the most of the last of her “server days”. One should always aim high, even though she wouldn’t become the wife of a prominent family, but now that she has a better option, she’d never come back and become a server again ~ thought Yan Shuyu to herself confidently and then felt that the remaining days would be very meaningful.

Her little buddies were really surprised upon hearing her reasons. They had known about Yan Shuyu preparing for the certificate examination and have known that she was different from them and wouldn’t be staying at Sunshine House long term. But once they heard that she already had her next place lined up, they had a hard time accepting it all of a sudden and lost their interest in gossip. Not wanting to see her leave, they surrounded her and said words like,

“Yan-je, you have only been here for two months. You are leaving too soon.”

“Where is this musical institution that you are talking about? Is it far from here?”

“Well, I guess being an instructor beats being a server. You must make more over there as well?”

And just like that, Yan Shuyu had successfully changed the subject.

It was very unfortunate that she was only smart enough to mess around with these young server girls who had just joined the workforce. In front of the boss, she could do nothing but let him wrap her around his little finger.

The next night, on her way home, she had unfortunately ran into the boss, who was always able to make her feel helpless in front of him.

Why was it “unfortunate”? Because the boss was waiting at the strip mall in front of her apartment.

It was a little after 8 PM at night, and there were a lot of people still walking around on the street. Even so, Yan Shuyu was able to see that tall and slim body amidst everyone else. She was startled and immediately wanted to turn around and dash.

But she quickly gave up on that idea as she had noticed that the boss was standing just across from the entrance to her building, the only one at that. She wouldn’t be able to avoid him for very long. As such, she forced herself to take him head on and started walking up to him.

If there were no way of avoiding it, she might as well take the lead on it. Perhaps the boss would feel very well respected and let her off the hook easily? With her wishful thinking in mind, Yan Shuyu walked straight up to the boss. She greeted him as she walked in front of him, “Hello, Boss Zhou, what a coincidence. Are you waiting for someone here?”

Yan Shuyu was just making conversations. She hadn’t expected Zhou Qinhe to turn around, looked at her for a couple seconds, and said meaningfully, “Indeed I am.”

For some odd reasons, Yan Shuyu had a feeling what he really wanted to say was, “I’ve been waiting for you for quite a while now.”

At this very moment, she truly regretted letting the boss find out where she lived. Him waiting for her in front of the building couldn’t be a good thing. She became alert all of a sudden, took a couple of steps back, and prepared to dash readily as she said to him, “Is that so. Then I will let you be. See you….”

Before she was even done talking, Zhou Qinhe had already seen through her. He took a couple of steps forward and gently wrapped his hand around her wrist. “No worries, you are the one that I am waiting for.”

He was so quick that Yan Shuyu paused for a second. She recollected herself quickly. Did the boss just take her hand into his? Was she doomed to marry him and become the male lead’s stepmom? That was too scary of a thought. Yan Shuyu panicked and subconsciously jerked her hand back. It so happened that Zhou Qinhe wasn’t really holding onto her with any sort of force, so she was able to shake her hand free easily.

Oh shoot. Now she had offended the boss once again. Yan Shuyu’s heart was beating out of her chest when she saw Zhou Qinhe slowly take his hand back, gave her a sideward glance, and asked, “Such a strong reaction, huh?”

Yan Shuyu, “……”

She suspected there was subtext to what he was saying, but he couldn’t prove it.

Thinking about everything that she had done to the boss the night that she had transmigrated over, Yan Shuyu had a bit of a guilty conscience. But, she forced herself to come up with an explanation, “Pardon me, Boss Zhou. I am just not used to it. It’s nothing personal.”

“Not used to…” said Zhou Qinhe slowly, “Me touching you?”

Yan Shuyu, “……”

Now she was plenty sure that the boss's word had a lot of subtext and that she could prove it.

He couldn’t have just said what he wanted to without making it sound so suggestive. There was not much Yan Shuyu could do about that, naturally. Yet, with her four years of dating experience, his words didn’t exactly make her blush. Which made it easier for her to play dumb. She widened her eyes and gave the boss a I-have-heard-nothing look.

The two of them looked at each other, and neither one of them talked. Right when Yan Shuyu thought she had gotten away with it, the boss started again. He looked squarely into her eyes. Even though his look wasn’t piercing, it didn’t offer her an opportunity to dodge it either. Accentuating one word at a time, he asked, “If that is the case, then why did you do what you did?”

Now Yan Shuyu definitely had a bad feeling, “Did… did what?”

Zhou Qinhe lowered his head all of a sudden. His warm breath reached her neck from her ear as he said, “Crawled into my bed when I was drunk…. Should I go on?”

Yan Shuyu shuddered.