Yan Shuyu had always been very intimidated in front of the boss. But, this time, that was not the reason why she didn’t say it out loudly that the boss has gone insane.

Even a coward has their bottom line. Even Yan Shuyu couldn’t remain quiet after someone had randomly proposed to her when they had failed to reach an agreement. But, she was a little too slow. After she had recovered from the shock that she had experienced, she heard her instant son’s milky voice. “Mom and Uncle Zhou are going to get married?”

Zhang Yuanjia’s words were not emotional. He merely cocked his head and looked at his mommy like a little kid who couldn’t yet comprehend the meaning of a marriage. Yan Shuyu knew fully well, however, that whilst other 5-year-olds might not know the meaning of marriage, her instant son, being a little boy who was mature beyond his age, had a pretty good idea of what Zhou Qinhe was talking about.

She had heard that kids from a single-parent family usually have a very strong reaction toward their parents getting married again. Judging by how calm her little kiddo was acting, perhaps he was just waiting for his mother to “marry Uncle Zhou”. That would make him better able to fight over someone else’s father with him.

Thinking of that, Yan Shuyu shuddered and shook her head wildly. “No! That’s not true! Mommy is not going to marry Uncle Zhou!”

Yan Shuyu, who was mad in denial, failed to notice the beam of light that flashed past the boss’s eyes as soon as she was done talking, as though he had anticipated that reaction from her.

“But didn’t Uncle Zhou just ask you to….” Little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao wasn’t a kid that was easy to fool. He quickly raised his question. But before he was able to finish what he was asking, his mother had already interjected, “Uncle Zhou was just kidding!”

“Was he?” Yan Shuyu’s very adamant tone had the little kiddo wavering. He slowly looked over to Uncle Zhou standing across from him.

Zhang Yuanbao is a smart kid. He needed both sides of the story and wouldn’t just listen to his mother’s version.

This time, Yan Shuyu finally reacted quick enough. She beat her son at winking and signaling the boss. He hoped that he’d work with her on that.

Never mind that getting married was just an excuse that she was using to turn away the boss, even if she was very willing to go and get married, they haven’t even started a relationship yet. It’s way, way, way too early to be talking about marriage in front of her kid. The boss probably wouldn’t be that crazy? Yan Shuyu had no choice but to count on the boss’s integrity while she continued to signal him frantically.

Zhou Qinhe saw the looks from both the mother and son, but he didn’t answer right away. He looked at Yan Shuyu, then looked down at the little boy standing next to him and fell into a suspicious silence, as though he was plotting something evil.

Seeing that the boss showed no response at all, Yan Shuyu blinked so hard and fast that she was about to have an epileptic seizure. She was so anxious that she wanted to hit him. She couldn’t help but finally say to him, “Boss Zhou, don’t you have something that you want to say…?”

Boss Zhou gave her a smile that wasn’t a smile. Just when he was giving her the creeps, he finally smiled and said, “You are exactly right.”

Yan Shuyu: Meow, meow, meow?

What just happened? The boss had turned nice all of a sudden?

But that went along very well with his “very considerate” character setting. Yan Shuyu put aside all her criticism for the boss and gave him a thumbs up in her head, but in the next second, she was so mad she could explode.

Zhou Qinhe took a step forward, rubbed her son on his little head tenderly, and said, “Yuanbao, I was just kidding. Don’t misunderstand. But Uncle Zhou has something else to discuss with your mommy. Can we take you home first?”

Yan Shuyu, “……”

Now she was really feeling the creeps. She knew that nothing good ever came out of the boss waiting for her underneath her apartment. She protested weakly, “Boss Zhou, it’s so late at night, shouldn’t we….”

As her voice was too weak and too pitiful, the sound of her struggle was directly covered up by her own son. The little kid had a look of confusion on him. Blinking his large eyes, he asked Zhou Qinhe, “Uncle Zhou and mommy?”

Zhou Qinhe completely omitted the subject’s opinion and gave the little boy a very determined “Mm”.

Then, it’s the matters between the adults. Even though little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao was still a little confused, he nodded agreeably, “Alright then.”

“Good boy,” said Zhou Qinhe as he rubbed the little kid on his head again, looking even more tender and stuck up then when he was with his own son. But precisely because he was so tender, he looked exactly like the wolf who kidnapped Little Red Riding Hood in the fable from Yan Shuyu’s perspective. Each move of him seemed so well-thought out. Just like right now.

After Zhou Qinhe was done rubbing the little kiddo on his head and received a “10” rating in the little boy’s heart, he immediately brought up his request of, “Can I hold your hand, Yuanbao?”

Little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao, whose head was just rubbed by the uncle that he was fond of, was in a very excited state. So, naturally, he didn’t even think before he put his hand into his and said happily, “OKAY!”

And, just like that, the wolf grandma had received the initiative. With one hand holding the little boy, he turned and in a role reversal way, he said to Yan Shuyu, “Let’s go, Yanyan.”

Zhang Yuanbao, who might have a little bit of black belly tendency in front of others, had turned 100% into a FWS. He, too, turned around and said to her, “Let’s go, mom.”

Yan Shuyu, “……”

But she didn’t dare to move. So far, the boss only knew which building she lived in, and he was already able to clock her so precisely under her apartment. She could only imagine what her life would be like if he found out exactly which unit she lived in.

As she was thinking about it, Yan Shuyu still walked up and held her son’s other hand. She was attempting to have a tug-of-war --- she needed to get his son back and at the same time, to diminish the boss’s intention to go up to her place.

She said to him nicely, “We wouldn’t want to make Boss Zhou run up and down like that. Why don’t you wait for me downstairs? I’ll just drop Yuanbao off and come back down.”

Yan Shuyu had a pretty good idea that she would not be able to weasel out of this one.

Having heard that, Zhou Qinhe merely lifted his wrist and asked in a very considerate way, “It’s almost 9 PM. Isn’t it time for Yuanbao to get ready for bed?”

Yan Shuyu blurted out, “How did you know that, Boss Zhou?”

“Xiao Yi is on the same schedule. Experts in child-rearing said that it’s important to ensure kids have sufficient sleep and stick to a schedule.” Having said that, Zhou Qinhe paused for a second and put on just the right amount of curiosity in his voice as he asked, “Doesn’t Yuanbao go to bed and get up early?”

Truth be told, Yan Shuyu didn’t believe in this caring father’s front that the boss was putting up. In the novel, when the male lead had already earned all the power and was standing at the apex of life, he still couldn’t get over the little bit of superficial tenderness that his father had shown the villain stepson. Yan Shuyu gathered that the male lead was quite pitiful himself, in that he lacked fatherly love ever since he was just a child.

During the month when the original owner was working at Hotel Dorsett, the boss either worked overtime or was socializing till the wee hours and would go directly back to the hotel when he was done. He never even went home to check; how would he know his son’s schedule?

Gathering all the evidence, the boss was just putting up the front. However, what Yan Shuyu was thinking did not matter. Zhang Yuanbao, worried that the uncle would think that he was any less than Zhou Yi, had already stood up for himself and said, “Uncle Zhou, Yuanbao goes to bed and gets up early too!” As he was saying it, he even spontaneously gave a yawn to show that he was, indeed, sleepy.

This little actor.

Yan Shuyu couldn’t bear looking at it any longer, so she turned away. The excuse that she had came up with had been shattered so she would need to come up with a new one. In the meantime, the adult and child duo Zhou Qinhe and Zhang Yuanbao resumed chatting with each other again. Zhou Qinhe asked Zhang Yuanjia what he normally does after he went home and the little kiddo told him that he’d bathe and his mother would read him stories in bed.

“Does mommy help you bathe?”

Zhang Yuanjia shook his head proudly. “No, Yuanbao knows how to bathe himself.”

“You are so good.” Zhou Qinhe generously doled out praises. “Xiao Yi isn’t as mature as you are.”

Zhang Yuanjia might look mature, but he was actually a very competitive little kid. Zhou Qinhe’s praise was exactly what he liked to hear the most. The little kid couldn’t help but look very prideful. But he still knew to be polite. “Zhou Yi is a very good kid too, and smart. He is more fun to play with than the kids at my school.”

Zhang Yuanjia sounded very sincere when he said that. He might be a very articulate child that other kids would love to be friends with, but for a kid who was matured beyond his age, he’d probably enjoy being around other kids who were also matured beyond their age. That was also the reason why Zhang Yuanjia enjoyed being around Tongtong, who was two years older than him. They shared the same language and even though the little male lead Zhou Yi was half a year younger than him, he too was a matured child. When there were no conflicts between the two, Zhang Yuanjia much preferred to be around those who were like him.

When the subject had turned to the little kid that he had only met once, Zhang Yuanjia asked Uncle Zhou with anticipation, “When can Zhou Yi come out and play?”

“He normally only goes out to play on the weekends.”

“Oh, yeah? Me too!” Zhang Yuanjia offered up the invitation, “You can bring him to Sunshine House, Uncle. That way we can play together.”

Zhou Qinhe’s lips curved upward and he cheerfully agreed, “Okay.”

Yan Shuyu, “……”

She has yet to come up with an excuse for tonight and her FWS son had already made a date with the Zhou father and son. He sure was trying hard to pull her leg. Now, Yan Shuyu was worried about the two of them keeping on chatting with each other. She dragged her son over to her and willed herself to say, “Boss Zhou, it’s getting late now. Let me take Yuanbao upstairs, and I will be back down quickly. Please wait.”

“Oh, is that so,” said Zhou Qinhe as he pursed his lips.

Yan Shuyu dragged her son even closer to her but Zhang Yuanjia and Zhou Qinhe were still holding hands. At the last thing that she said, Zhou Qinhe finally slowly let go of Zhang Yuanjia’s hand.

Zhou Qinhe looked down at the little kid by his leg and said, a little disappointed, “Aww, I was hoping that I could go and see what kind of books Yuanbao reads before he goes to bed so I can buy the same one for Xiao Yi as well. Well, if it will be inconvenient for you, then never mind.”

By now, Yan Shuyu had been dueling with the boss for a while now. A simple retreat in order to advance tactic like this had no effect whatsoever on her. Zhang Yuanjia, on the other hand, who was mature before his age but not yet understood the evilness of others, had no resistance toward it.

The little kiddo looked up at his mother and with the cutest look on him, he pleaded, “Mom, can’t we invite Uncle Zhou upstairs?”

“No, we can’t.” Even though her son was super cute when he did that and made her want to hug him, kiss him, and raise him up in the air, this was a matter of principles. She resisted the temptation to give in and was as cold as a stepmother.

“Why not?”

Yan Shuyu had a sudden stroke of genius and came up with a great reason, “Because mommy is a girl and Uncle Zhou is a boy. We shouldn’t be in the same room together. Just like at school, boys don’t go inside the girls’ bathroom, right?”

Yan Shuyu didn’t really expect her 5-year-old son to understand the difference between boys and girls. She was mainly talking to Zhou Qinhe. Yet the man who was hinted at didn’t even flinch and acted as though he had heard nothing at all. He just calmly and nonchalantly watched on as the mother and son duo dueled it out in front of him.

Zhang Yuanjia was an extremely smart boy, he immediately found the hole in the other party’s words and said, “But Yang-gege is also a boy. He came to our house before.”

The man who was acting nonchalantly just a second ago became very curious all of a sudden. He asked, “Who is Yang-gege?”

“Yang-gege is….” That was not an easy question for little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao. He cocked his head and thought about it for a little bit before he remembered that both his mother and the other big sisters at work all referred to Yang-gege as “manager”, so he happily responded, “Yang-gege is mommy’s manager!”

Zhang Yuanjia nodded decisively but Uncle Zhou's attention had moved away from him a long time ago.

Zhou Qinhe gave Yan Shuyu a glance and a smile that wasn’t a smile and asked, “He was the one who just dropped you off, right?”

It wasn’t a very sharp look, but it was enough to give Yan Shuyu goosebumps and became very nervous. Once again, she felt like she was someone who was caught cheating red-handed.

But, giving it some more thought, that would kind of make sense. After all, the boss had already come and proposed. Meaning, they have a special relationship in his eyes. And not only had “another man” drop her son and her off at home, she even invited himself. Yet she was coming up with all sorts of excuses toward the boss who also wanted to go upstairs. How was that a right thing to do?

Naturally, Yan Shuyu didn’t feel bad about that, but she felt intimidated! The boss’s behavior as of late had already been very bizarre. What if he got so jealous that he decided to take her out altogether?

She couldn’t afford to offend a domineering boss. Oh, no, no, no. So Yan Shuyu had no choice but to change to tune right away. “Alright. I will be honest with you, Boss Zhou. Our house is small and messy. I merely didn’t want to offend your eyes by asking you to come up, but if you don’t mind, would you like to come up for a cup of tea?”

After seeing that his mother had changed her mind, Zhang Yuanbao turned his head back to look at Uncle Zhou with anticipation.

Uncle Zhou, however, had already lost his interest. “No, it’s alright. I will just wait here.”

Sh*t! Yan Shuyu was sure that he had made a mental note of this incident to retaliate at a later date. All CEOs under the sun were petty as heck.

As Yan Shuyu badmouthed him in her head, she was getting even more anxious. She took a step forward, passing her son. Standing in front of the boss, she said with the most sincerity, “Boss Zhou, the two of us genuinely would like you to come up with us if we can have the honor.”

Aye, how quickly the table had turned? Just a minute ago, the boss was so eager to go up to their place and she was giving all her might to keep him from doing that. Now that the boss was “okay” with it, it was her turn to adamantly invite him upstairs. Even Yan Shuyu must lament at the rate things had been changing. Of course, the way she was looking at the boss was still very sincere.

What she heard from the boss, instead, was, “You have already resigned a while back. Plus with our current relationship… isn’t it somewhat improper for you to still be referring to me as ‘Boss Zhou’?”

“Eh?” Yan Shuyu didn’t notice the curious pause when the boss mentioned their “relationship”. She was very baffled. How did the subject go from going up to her place to how she was addressing him? Without thinking, she blurted out, “Then how should I address you? ‘Brother Zhou’?”

Zhou Qinhe, “……”

Many different people had referred to him differently throughout his life. Only the closest to him would call him by his name. Most of the others would either refer to him as “Young Master”, or “Young Master Zhou”. Of course, mostly he got “Boss Zhou”, “CEO Zhou”, “Boss” (in Chinese), and “Boss” (in English) in the last few years. But, this was definitely the first time he has heard of something as peasant as “Brother Zhou”. Even he was dumbfounded beyond words for a little bit there.

After she had said that, Yan Shuyu realized that she was being unrealistic here. She was just a cannon fodder stepmother here. How could she think that the boss would be her brother and become the instant aunt of the male lead? That was such a shameless move on her part!

After she was done with self-deprecating, Yan Shuyu waved her hand and said, “Never mind these details. Let’s go.”

Zhou Qinhe’s original plan was to ride it as far as he could, but after hearing her words, he was, somehow, a little bit moved. He looked at the two faces of different sizes that were filled with anticipation. Even though the bigger face’s expression was a bit over exaggerated, that look had still touched something inside of him.

For the first time in his life, Zhou Qinhe had given up on his plan. Meeting the gaze of both the mother and son, he nodded slightly and said, “Okay.”

“Great!” said Yan Shuyu with relief. Her son in one hand, she led the boss toward her building eagerly. At that very moment, she had already forgotten all about how she was digging her feet in just two minutes ago trying to stop him from going to her place.

Zhang Yuanbao also had a happy look on his face as he reached out his hand and said, “Uncle Zhou.”

Zhou Qinhe also reached out and took his hand.

The two grown-ups and a child held hands and walked into the elevator together. Any way one looked at it, they looked like a family of three.