Just when Yan Shuyu was about to start cussing him out, he chuckled at her and carried on, “Hear me out first. What I meant to say was that we can try to date first. After all, we can’t decide overnight if we want to get married. What do you think?”

She thought he was right – that’s what Yan Shuyu really wanted to say, but she couldn’t.

What the boss man had just told her was that all her “worries” about serious issues such as him having his own son, that he’d favor his own son more after they were married, and that her son wouldn’t be able to inherit anything, etc. were merely her overthinking everything. Right now, he just wanted to have fun. It hadn’t crossed his mind to marry her.

Frankly, if the boss man was to swear that he would never marry her, Yan Shuyu would truly give this whole thing a thought. The boss was, after all, super handsome, has good techniques, and a very generous person. He took her to French restaurant that cost 4 digits even before they were a couple. If they only “hang out”, she could experience the joy of both keeping her own boy toy and dating a rich man at the same time!

Just think about it. She could take full advantage of the male-god grade boss man and bed him over and over again with no strings attached. Finally, when they break up, she would be able to get a large sum of money from him – it said so in all the CEO novels, the CEOs always gave their girlfriends a house or a car when they break up. It was a mandate for someone of their statuses.

By then, the lump sum that she got from him would be enough for her to support herself and her instant son. She’d have nothing else to worry about. Then, after her son had grown up and became successful, all the more she wouldn’t have to worry about anything ever again.

Her life was complete in her dream.

Yan Shuyu drooled and fantasized about this whole thing for a while before she turned back to reality. In her eyes, Zhou Qinhe had even less integrity than she did.

He might have said that he had no intention to get married, but perhaps that was his ploy to make her lower her guard before he struck. After all, she had already revealed the villainess stepmom’s true motive. Shouldn’t any normal person want to be staying as far away from her as possible right about not? Why did he still want to have anything to do with her? It was strange that the boss man seemed not to be concerned about that at all.

Quite contrarily, he seemed excited to accept the challenge and give the whole thing a shot. Perhaps, he had already decided that she was so unique that he must have her. So, her recent actions had further strengthened his determination to make her his son’s stepmother.

No. She could not fall for his trap.

Yan Shuyu balled up her fists. In order to completely diminish the boss’s interest in her, she has to pull out her “last resort” – ruining her own image and being completely unreasonable.

“What do you mean by that? Are you saying that we are just going to hang out but never get married? What is the point of that then?”

Zhou Qinhe, “…….”

Sure enough, her sudden turn into a shrewd person caught the big boss, who was used to seeing classy socialites and ladies, in total surprise.

After he had managed to recollect himself, he gave her a look of “sorry-for-being-disrespectful-to-you” and said, “Pardon me, I didn’t know you are such a conventional girl deep down inside.”

Yan Shuyu’s eyes flickered before she recalled that just a little while ago she was pretending to be an open and modern woman who bucked the trend of being a traditional conservative woman. Suddenly, her character setting had switched from that to a 1950’s housewife. This abrupt change certainly made it seem like there was something wrong with her.

But Yan Shuyu maintained her composition well. After years of surfing on the web, she had seen all sorts of tools. She would shamelessly admit that she was an expert in being unreasonably adamant and unapologetically.

After she was done rallying for herself, she continued on with her most righteous and dramatic accusation, “Are you trying to say that this is all my fault? When I was …. with you, I didn’t know that you don’t want to get married at all. I’m a woman, and a single mother at that. Life is rough enough for me already. I can’t believe you’d even suggest such a thing…”

As she was speaking, Yan Shuyu even pulled out a handkerchief out of nowhere to make her acting seem even more dramatic.

Boss Zhou, who had always been able to maintain his coolness when faced with just about anything, was truly and genuinely shocked this time. For the first time in Zhou Qinhe’s life, he doubted his own decision. Why did he find such a peculiar woman interesting to a point that he’d like to give being with her a shot. Could this possibly be the worst decision he had ever made in his entire life?

While Zhou Qinhe worried if being with Yan Shuyu would affect his integrity later on, his integrity had already been compromised as of now.

Due to Yan Shuyu’s incredible performance and that she was so into her role, there were already plenty of passersby started to look over in their direction. As though coordinated among each other, after they have looked at the beauty’s crying performance, they’d inevitably looked over at the loser man across from her with contempt. A nerdy looking young man even gave him an angry look. If Boss Zhou didn’t look upscale and upstanding, and someone that one wouldn’t want to mess with, someone would have probably stood up and defended Yan Shuyu by now.

But even just being looked at with contempt was a brand new experience for Boss Zhou, and not one that he has an appreciation for.

The corners of Zhou Qinhe’s mouth twitched. Looking at the woman who kept on wiping her tears away in front of him, he suddenly pursed his lips. The very next second, he walked up and tenderly put his arms around her.

His action not only stopped all the bystanders from keeping on watching but also successfully stopped Yan Shuyu’s instant performance.She wanted to push him away, but the boss was probably prepared because of the last experience of her jerking away from him. He might look the slender type, but even with his arms wrapping only casually around her, it felt that she was pushing at a wall that wouldn’t give even just a little bit. After a long time of trying, the only outcome of her effort was her being out of breath.

She finally pleaded with him, “Boss Zhou, can you please let go of me?”

“I’m afraid you will feel sad again once I let go of you.”

Yan Shuyu, “……”

With the boss’s blatant threat, Yan Shuyu, as much as it was against her wish, gave in. “I won’t, Boss Zhou. I have already calmed down.”

“Are you sure?” asked Boss Zhou in the most caring way. “You don’t need to hold it in. I am more than happy to let you borrow my shoulder.”

“Yes, thank you so much for offering. I feel much better now,” said Yan Shuyu through gritted teeth.

Zhou Qinhe finally let go of her and took half a step back but stayed within arm’s reach in case he needed to pull her back in again. Calm and composed, he asked, “You sure you are alright?”

Yan Shuyu nodded. She soon heard the boss say, “Then let’s continue what we were talking about.”

“……” Yan Shuyu was fretting a little. She had already highlighted her unfaithful, gold digging, and shrewd nature. Any negative side that she could think of she had already played it out. And that still couldn’t turn the big boss off?

Could she say that what the boss has for her was true love?

She was all out of ideas if they were to continue this conversation.

Yan Shuyu had all sorts of ideas running through her head, but the boss only said a simple, “Are you certain that if we are to date, we must end in marriage?”

As much as she wasn’t sure the meaning behind his question, Yan Shuyu nodded decisively. “Yes, I am certain.”

In the novel, the stepmom had to work on it for two years before she was able to marry into the prominent family with her son. That ought to tell her it was no small feat to marry into his family. The boss might be hitting on her right now, but she doubted he wanted to get married any time soon. That was just out of character for him. The boss, most likely, just as he had said so himself, just wanted to “hang out” with her right now. As long as she kept up with the greedy and overbearing front, the boss would lose all interest in her over time.

Persistence would bring about victory~~

Yan Shuyu’s analysis was correct this time. In front of the busy shopping center, with countless passersby looking at them, and the person across the street going crazy from time to time. The scene was quite out of control, and the boss seemed to be getting pushed to his limit. Seeing how stubborn she was, he finally nodded slightly and said, “Okay, I get it.”

Well, that was quite a twist. Yan Shuyu seemed to have already seen the end of the tunnel. Her eyes beaming, she said in a testing manner, “Then… I am going to take off now?”

Zhou Qinhe looked at her for a few seconds straight until her look went from hopeful to worried before he pursed his lips and said, “Okay, goodnight.”

The boss was, after all, very well mannered. Even when he was rejected his manners were still impeccable. But it wasn’t easy to meet the boss’s gaze like that. Yan Shuyu felt the urge to drop down on her knee any minute and started singing “I Am Conquered”. She wiped away the non-existing sweat from her forehead.

But, as much as the boss’s look was very threatening, she was still able to beat him with her wit and her amazing performances. She should be applauded for that. Yan Shuyu was filled with confidence for herself again. Waving goodbye to the boss, she left happily and never even looked back once.

Naturally, Yan Shuyu, who has left in such a carefree way, failed to notice how the boss was standing there in his usual calm and composed way. There was a smile under his eyes, and he looked nothing like a man who has just been rejected.

Yan Shuyu walked briskly back to her place. The little kiddo, who had already crawled into bed, rubbed his tired eyes and said in a milky way, “How come you are just now coming home, mommy?”

See that he was still sitting on top of the blanket, Yan Shuyu quickly put down her purse and walked over. Worried, she asked, “How come you didn’t get inside the blanket? What if you catch a cold sitting on top of it?”

The little kiddo docility leaned into her arms. Wwrapping his little arms around her neck, he said in a soft voice, “Yuanbao was worried that it’s too comfortable inside the blanket, and I’ll fall asleep before I can say goodnight to mommy when you come home.”

“That will be alright. Mommy will still come and say goodnight to you when she’s done,” said Yan Shuyu as she gave the little kiddo a loud smooch before she picked up his little, heavy body, and shoved him underneath the blanket.

She was not impatient at all during the entire process; contrarily, she felt a sense of softness inside of her. It has certainly caught her off guard being a mother at such a young age, but she never would have thought that raising one’s own bun would be such a fun activity.

The little bun was so clingy day in and day out and would occasionally ask for kisses, hugs, and to be held up high. He was truly more fun than any other pet or toy. Looking at the little kiddo getting heavier and heavier as each day went by, Yan Shuyu was filled with a sense of accomplishment. Her son was fattened up by her one spoonful at a time. If her son has no appetite one day and lost a few pounds of weight, it’d hurt her greatly.

Zhang Yuanbao finally slowly let go of her neck after he was shoved underneath the blanket by his mother like a big ragdoll. A look of unjust filled his eyes.“Mommy came home so late today. Yuanbao is already sleepy.”

This was the first time Yan Shuyu took a look at her cellphone. It’s already 9 PM. That was quite late. Usually, she would have already finished washing up and be back in bed ready to read a bedtime story to her son.

It was all the boss’s fault, keeping her out so late. After she had placed all the blame on Boss Zhou, Yan Shuyu went back to comforting her son, “I’m sorry, Yuanbao. Something happened today, which was why mommy was home late. Why don’t we do this? Why don’t I read you your bedtime story first, then I’ll go wash up after you have fallen asleep? What do you say?”

Zhang Yuanjia just wanted to whine a little bit. He shook his head with the sophistication that was beyond his age and said, “I am sure mommy is tired too. You should go wash up first. Yuanbao will wait for mommy for his bedtime story.”

Her son was already such a warm little boy at his young age. She must have saved the entire galaxy in her previous life. Touched, Yan Shuyu threw her arms around the little kiddo one more time and gave him another loud smack and said, “Okay then. Mommy will go wash up first. I will be back shortly, okay?”

Little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao nodded. His cheeks reddened, and he asked, “Mommy, can I go play with Tongtong?”

“Eh?” Yan Shuyu stopped in her way, turned around, and asked curiously, “You like Tongtong a lot?”

Little kiddo gave a very forceful “Mm!” and went on, “Big sister Tongtong was very nice to me and she’s cute too.”

Yan Shuyu had always known that her son was well-liked and that all the kids at the kindergarten wanted him as their partner. But she had never seen him particularly fond of any one person, so she was a bit surprised by his request.

Naturally, she didn’t object to his fondness toward Manager Yang’s niece. Manager Yang was kind and well-mannered. His family members couldn’t be that bad. Plus, the two of them had received so many favors from him and his family, including accepting Tongtong’s electric piano. They should, indeed, show a gesture of appreciation. Yan Shuyu smiled and said, “Okay, I will take you to go visit her when I have a chance. Should we bring gifts as well?”

Little kiddo nodded and said happily, “The day after tomorrow is big sister Tongtong’s birthday. We can get her a birthday present.”

Yan Shuyu acknowledged his suggestion.

Three days later, the two of them brought with them a Snow White doll to the birthday girl when they went over to the little kid’s birthday party. Naturally, they had let Manager Yang know in advance. The kids had a great time, and Yan Shuyu also had a sumptuous dinner at her boss’s place. After the birthday party, Manager Yang even drove them home personally.

The mother and son duo got out of the car happily. Hand-in-hand, they stood by the side of the road as they waved goodbye to Manager Yang before they turned around and headed home. When they reached the bottom of their building, they heard a familiar voice again. “Yanyan, Yuanbao.”

Stunned, Yan Shuyu turned around while thinking since when did the boss start calling her the way her buddies did? On top of that, hadn’t they had a thorough conversation just a few days ago? Why was he here now?

Before she could ask anything, Zhou Qinhe proactively let her know the purpose of his visit. He looked at her deeply and said, “I have given it a lot of thought. If you insist on getting married, we can work on that….”

Yan Shuyu: WTF?

Has he gone insane?