Manager Yang obviously knew her very well. If it was up to her, she would never get one toy out of a clawing machine in her entire life.

Yan Shuyu looked at the boss sitting across from her quickly and replied with a look of complacency, “Not telling you~~”

As they’ve had so many activities in the morning, it was already 1 PM by the time they had finished lunch. Zhang Yuanjia and Zhou Yi started to get tired, and Zhou Qinhe asked thoughtfully, “Would you like me to drop you off at home for a nap?”

Yan Shuyu shook her head, “Not enough time. I’ll just drop him off at the musical institution. He will be able to nap there for a little bit.”

Then, she’d need to head to the coffee shop to start her shift.

Zhou Qinhe raised his brows just the perfect amount, “Fengyu Musical Institution?”

“Yeah.” With their current relationship, Yan Shuyu no longer needed to keep the news from him. She explained proudly, “Instructor Lin and Instructor Liu handpicked my Yuanbao and asked to train him for free. Now that the musical institution has officially opened for business, Yuanbao will be getting busier and busier.”

“Yuanbao is so amazing.”

Zhang Yuanjia wasn’t as much of a showoff as his mother. He blushed when he heard Uncle Zhou praising him and said, “Xiao Yi is very amazing too. He has been taking piano lessons before me.”

Zhou Qinhe smiled happily and said, “You both like playing the piano. What a coincidence.”

Zhang Yuanjia and Zhou Yi felt the same way as well. The two little boys exchanged a look and smiled at each other at the same time. They both felt that they had grown closer to each other. Then, Zhou Qinhe turned and asked Zhou Yi, “Do you want to go play at the musical institution with Yuanbao?”

Zhou Yi blinked his eyes, baffled. Zhou Qinhe smiled and explained, “If you go with Yuanbao to the musical institution, I can take care of some work at the office then come back and pick the two of you up in the afternoon.”

The little male lead was also a nice child, and he nodded his consent. Zhang Yuanjia even went as far as to guarantee that, “Don’t worry, Uncle Zhou, I will take care of Xiao Yi.”

Zhou Qinhe smiled and said, “Well then, thank you for looking after him, Yuanbao.”

Zhang Yuanjia thrusted out his little chest and felt that he had become big and strong all of a sudden.

And that’s how they’ve arrived at this decision happily. Yan Shuyu, on the other hand, had a difficult time deciding what to say. She was thinking about how to keep this under wrap with her little buddies at Sunshine House. That being said, she was pretty much going to go over to Fengyu Musical Institution next month. That would become her home base going forward. Would it be inappropriate to expose her relationship with the boss too early?

She struggled with that idea for a few seconds and finally did not raise any objection. Mainly because she has no grounds to stand on. The boss was Male God Liu’s customer too. It’d make perfect sense for him to drop his son off there and pick him up later. What rights did she have to object to that?

As such, the villain stepbrother and little male lead went to the musical institution together in a very friendly hand-in-hand manner. Boss Zhou, being the gentleman that he was, dropped off Yan Shuyu at the coffee shop after he dropped off the two kiddos before he headed into his office.

When Yan Shuyu arrived at Sunshine House, Manager Yang had already been waiting for a while. As soon as he saw her, he gossiped, “Yanyan, where are your stuffed toys?”

The stuffed toys were, of course, inside of the boss’s car. He was going to pick up her son anyways and would be bringing their stuffed toys with him then.

With a secretive look, she asked, “Guess.”

Yang Zifeng didn’t bother to engage her in her little ploy as he already knew the answer to that. She quickly switched to a different gossip topic. “Speaking of which, have you talked to Boss Zhou yet?”

Did he have to bring that up? Yan Shuyu placed her hand over her chest and mourned the loss of her 2 million yuan.

Manager Yang, curious, stuck his head over and asked, “So what ended up happening to the check?”

Yan Shuyu didn’t expect her little buddy to be so blunt. He didn’t even ask how the boss had responded but jumped straight to the part of what happened to the check. Had he already guessed the boss’s response?

She gave Manager Yan a dubious look and answered his question truthfully. “We’ve already returned it back to its rightful owner.”

“Boss Zhou has already sent the check back to the rich woman?” Yang Zifeng was a little bit stunned. “That was fast.”

He had checked with Yan Shuyu just yesterday, and she still had the check in her possession. So the two of them must have communicated last night, and the check was already taken care of today. Yang Zifeng was very impressed with Boss Zhou’s efficiency.

Yan Shuyu misunderstood that her little buddy saw eye to eye with her and got excited. She punched the couch and complained to him. “Yeah. How awful was that, right? The check was given to me, and he got to be the nice guy.”

“The nice guy?” Yang Zifeng raised his brows without giving too much away. “Speaking of, how’s that rich woman related to the boss?”

“She’s the mother of the White, Rich, and Pretty that he went on a date with once,” said Yan Shuyu. Then she added, “The cousin of White, Rich, and Pretty is a buddy of the boss. I felt that they are a good match for each other.”

Manager Yang lifted his brows again and continued to pry. “And Boss Zhou returned the check just like that? Did he say anything else?”

“I don’t think so,” said Yan Shuyu with a look of Foolish, White, and Sweet as she tried to recall the details. “But he said that there is a family banquet at the rich woman’s house today and that it’s a good day to do so… I didn’t really get that part.”

“A good day…” Yang Zifeng’s face was filled with respect. “Your Boss Zhou is truly a ruthless one. Like a wolf, almost.”

Yan Shuyu didn’t have time to dwell on his word choice. She asked humbly, “Why do you say that?”

Seeing how eager she was to learn, Manager Yang patiently analyzed the situation to her. “You said that Boss Zhou and the White, Rich, and Pretty are good match, but I don’t think so. If they truly are good match for each other, her mother wouldn’t have come to you so frantically. Obviously, Boss Zhou is a good catch that they will never come across again. They didn’t want to let him go nor did they dare to put pressure on Boss Zhou directly; which was why they decided to go from your angle.

“The rich woman’s plan was pretty impressive. As long as you’ve accepted her check, one way or another, you will leave a gold-digger impression with Boss Zhou. That is a taboo for most rich people. What she didn’t expect was that you have never pretended that you are a righteous one; you’ve always been an unscrupulous one. Boss Zhou, who knows you through and through, wouldn’t have been disappointed no matter how you have responded.

“Her action, on the other hand, offended Boss Zhou directly. Plus, your Boss Zhou even one upped her. Do you really think his returning the check on the day of her family banquet is just to simply return the check? No! He was making a statement. He had stated to the rich woman that he had no interest in White, Rich, and Pretty. At the same time, he faceslapped her entire family. Is that ruthless or is that ruthless?

“Just thinking about how arrogant that rich woman was the other day, even I felt my cheeks smarting for her.” Yang Zifeng lamented with a string of “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Your Boss Zhou knew how to hit where it hurts most.”

Hearing Manager Yang’s explanation, Yan Shuyu’s little heart shuddered. “Is he really that, that mighty?”

So she wasn’t even the one who had it the worst. Yan Shuyu didn’t feel comfort from that but hugged herself in self-pity.

Yan Shuyu had always known that the boss was a schemer, but she had never encountered someone like that before. The entire time that she has been with the boss, he has always been gentle, patient, and gentlemanly. It was to the extent that she had been pushing her luck further and further. Now that she heard Manager Yang’s analysis, Yan Shuyu finally realized that the boss was still a boss after all. His cunning character set remained. As much as he was smiling cheerfully every day, those who offended him would still be met with such a horrible fate.

Yan Shuyu lit a candle for herself for being involved with such a terrifying character.

Her reaction made Yang Zifeng speechless. “My only intention was to let you know that Boss Zhou isn’t as much of a pushover as you thought. There’s no need to overreact.”

“Do you think he’d treat me that way too when we break up one day?” asked Yan Shuyu, terrified.

“You two are together already?” Yang Zifeng paused for a little, but that was still within his speculation. “You just got together with him, and you are already worrying about breaking up? Is it necessary to be that pessimistic? Perhaps what Boss Zhou has for you is real love, and you will be able to marry into the prestigious family.”

The sheer thought of that made Yan Shuyu shudder. “Don’t even joke about that.”

She would not marry into the prestigious family. Not in this lifetime.

Yang Zifeng was mainly kidding. Seeing her reaction, he felt relieved after his surprise subsided. “Alright, I don’t think so either. Boss Zhou looks like the very intelligent type and obviously not someone who’d be head over heel in love. You’d have better odds of marrying into a prestigious family if you found yourself a Foolish, White, and Sweet. With someone like Boss Zhou, perhaps you’d succeed if you borrow another 500 years from heaven and keep working on it.”

Even with Manager Yang’s reassurance, Yan Shuyu was only half relieved. The other half of her was still worried. “If he’s as mighty as you said, how am I going to break up with him in the future?”

Yang Zifeng, “……”

“Don’t you think you are overthinking this a bit? Boss Zhou has no shortage of women. If you want to break up, just break up amicably. You don’t think he’ll lock you up and have his ways with you, do you?”

Yan Shuyu, “……”

She reminded him coolly, “That was a bit suggestive.”

“Just say if I was right or not.” Yang Zifeng had no restraints when he talked in front of her. He was still working on comforting her. “If Boss Zhou has that kind of a preference, he’d have done it after the first time you’ve turned him down. You really think he’d wait till the day you two break up?”

Manager Yang’s words successfully put Yan Shuyu’s heart back inside of her chest, but that conversation had a lasting effect.

When she saw the boss again after work, she had some minimum respect for him.

Yup, the boss has come to pick her up from work again. Yan Shuyu thought he’d drop off her instant son at the coffee shop, but surprisingly, the boss was so full of love that after he had picked up the two kiddos, he took them out again and then to dinner before coming to pick her up at Sunshine House at 8 o’clock.

Sitting in the passenger seat of the boss’s car again, Yan Shuyu thanked him politely and with appreciation. “You can just drop Yuanbao off at the shop next time. He’s already used to it.”

Zhou Qinhe said casually as he started the car, “It’s alright. I have time. I didn’t mind spending some time with them.”

Yan Shuyu continued to say politely. “That’s too much to ask for.”

As sensitive as Boss Zhou was, he noticed that something was different about her by now. Lifting his brows, he chuckled. “Aren’t you going to ask what they had for dinner tonight?”

Yan Shuyu continued with what she thought was her impeccable flattery. “I am sure any restaurant that you’ve picked would be delicious.”