Zhou Qinhe smiled but didn’t say anything else. Yan Shuyu felt that her performance was impeccable and happily gave herself a thumbs up. Then she, too, remained silent as the two children in the backseat were starting to fall asleep.

Zhang Yuanjia normally went to bed at around 9 PM or so. Perhaps he was exhausted because he didn’t really get much rest this afternoon and that he had a lot of fun today. He was the first to fall asleep. The male lead was more on less on the same boat as him. As the two kids were sleeping, Yan Shuyu didn’t want to disturb them. Besides, she didn’t have that much to talk about with the boss anyway.

They arrived on the bottom of Yan Shuyu’s apartment in silence. Yan Shuyu pushed open the door and got out. She turned around and noticed that the boss had also gotten out of the car. She was surprised. “You don’t need to go upstairs with me. We will be fine.”

Zhou Qinhe smiled and said, “Yuanbao is asleep. There’s no need to wake him up. I’ll bring him upstairs.”

He looked over at her feet as he spoke. His message was clear.

Yan Shuyu did not go home to change after her date that afternoon. She had her uniform and flats at the shop to change into. She had gone into work in her fanciful outfit and had received a lot of stunned looks from her little buddies.

Pretty, yes. But after work, when she had changed back into her own garb afterwards, her range of motion was limited. Her instant son was undergoing his growth spurt and was getting heavier by the day. She couldn’t even carry him for over two minutes in flats, let alone carrying him home in her heels.

The boss’s suggestion was great except that Yan Shuyu was still a bit intimidated by him right now. “Isn’t that too much trouble? And we shouldn’t leave Xiao Yi alone in the car.”

“That’s alright. I won’t be gone for very long.” Zhou Qinhe had already switched to the tone that he would not take no for an answer and had already bent over to pick up Zhang Yuanjia.

Out of respect for the boss, Yan Shuyu didn’t dare to say more. She followed closely behind him like a little wife.

Zhou Qinhe carried her son all the way inside of her apartment, stopped next to the bed, and turned around, and gave her a look. Yan Shuyu got his meaning right away. She walked up, took off the little kiddo’s shoes and socks, and Boss Zhou was finally able to put him down in bed. He pulled the cover over him gently and never woke the little kid up.

Seeing that they had finally accomplished what they were trying to do, Yan Shuyu oddly felt a sense of relief, thanked the boss sincerely, and said, “Xiao Yi is still in the car, so I should not keep you any longer. Let me walk you to the elevator.”

Zhou Qinhe looked at her for a few seconds as though he was mulling over something, then finally nodded and said lightly, “Okay, then.”

As much as Yan Shuyu was surprised at this response, she dared not think too much about it. She closed the door behind her gently and walked over to the elevator with the boss. After she had pressed the button to the elevator, she suddenly heard the boss’s tender voice, “Yanyan.”

Yan Shuyu looked up and met his smiling eyes.

“Can it just be the two of us on our date tomorrow?”

Without any warning, Yan Shuyu said reflexively, “But I can’t leave Yuanbao home by himself.”

“We can take him back to the musical institution again. What do you say?”

It was theoretically possible except that wasn’t Yan Shuyu’s plan. After she had become a mother, she had become more and more like a mother. As much as she had wanted her son to become a prodigy so she could leech off of him, she still didn’t want him to have a toilsome life. Galaxy Musical Institution hasn’t started officially yet, and this was the only time left for the little kiddo to relax. She didn’t want to force him to work too hard just yet.

But, she didn’t want to go against the boss’s wish either. After all, she should give him some basic respect.

She struggled with it for a bit and finally recalled the cruel faceslapping of the rich woman. Yan Shuyu was intimidated and finally nodded docilely. “Let me check with Instruction Lin tomorrow and see if she’s okay with that.”

Good girl,” said Boss Zhou with a satisfied smile. With a “Ding”, the elevator was about to arrive. As the elevator door was about to open, he stoked Yan Shuyu on her head to show his approval and kissed her on her forehead before he casually walked inside of the elevator.

Yan Shuyu smiled until the elevator doors closed in front of her. She rubbed the area that the boss kissed and went back home. She couldn’t shake the feeling that the boss acted like he was just teasing a kitten or a puppy.

That being said, she didn’t dare to say anything, so she just went back to her little nest feeling a little blue.

Yan Shuyu was busy after parting with the boss. First thing first, she gave Instructor Lin a call and made plans to drop her son off at the musical institution tomorrow. She also expressed that he would be staying there until closing time before she would be able to pick him up.

Luckily, Instructor Lin expressed that Yuanbao was very welcomed. She even smiled and added, “If you don’t have time, we can drop Yuanbao off Sunshine House or at your place.”

Embarrassed, Yan Shuyu declined her offer. “No, that’s alright. I will be able to pick him up myself.”

Having completed the boss’s task, Yan Shuyu set her cellphone aside and brought over a bucket of hot water from the bathroom to clean the little kiddo who was already sound asleep. Then, she put a fresh set of pajamas on him. She was sweating by the time she had finished doing that. Yan Shuyu quickly went to remove her own makeup and shower, followed by her skincare procedures. She went straight to bed when she was all done. Once again, she missed the goodnight text from the boss.

Before Boss Zhou went to bed, he shook his head in resignation as he looked at his WeChat screen. Amused, his lips pulled back a little. He wanted to see how long the attentiveness that she showed today would last.

And the truth was, Boss Zhou’s “how many days” had already overestimated Yan Shuyu. Her respect for the boss didn’t even make it 24 hours. When she got up the next morning, she told her instant son that due to some unforeseeable circumstances, she needed to drop him off at the musical institution. As she was talking, Yan Shuyu had an odd feeling about it – the boss was the kind of boss with chivalry carved into his bones. He had never made a request that put her in a difficult position the entire time that she had known him. So what was up with him last night?

She gave it some more thought and came to the conclusion that she was being too nice to the boss and he was taking a mile when given an inch. He thought he could be the boss of her now.

Never would she have guessed that he could be a jerk like that and learned to take advantage of the situation for his own benefit.

Yan Shuyu immediately felt that she had been taken advantage of. She couldn’t be a pushover anymore. When she was straight up rude to the boss, not only did he not retaliate, he did everything as asked. That went to show that she didn’t need to be tender and thoughtful to the boss. She’s a little fairy, she could be a spoiled brat while they were in a relationship. Perhaps that is exactly how the boss liked it.

Yan Shuyu suddenly felt very confident all over again.

That being said, she had already made a promise with the boss and made arrangements with Instructor Lin. She couldn’t go back on that now. She continued to sweet talk the not-so-happy little kiddo. “If you’re a good kid and go to the musical institution today, Mommy will take you to the amusement park next week?”

The smart little boy had learned to barter. “I need to spend my entire day at the musical institution today, so we get to spend the entire day at the amusement park next time too!”

If they went to the amusement park, of course they’d spend all day there. Yan Shuyu nodded pressure-free. “Okay. I promise.”

That’s when Zhang Yuanjia smiled again and went to change obediently.

It was 9 o’clock in the morning and the mother and son duo were all set to head out. Zhang Yuanjia thought he and his mother would be taking the subway to the musical institution, but as soon as they walked out of their building, they saw the familiar-looking car again. Dear Uncle Zhou standing next to the car smiling at them.

The little kiddo slowed down in his steps and gave his mother a curious look. Yan Shuyu, too, put on a surprised look and asked the boss rudely, “Why are you here again?”

Zhou Qinhe paused for a little. He hadn’t expected her attitude to have a 180 degree change so quickly. She was so attentive just the night before and now she was back to her rude self.

But he was much better at acting than she was. He didn’t let the mother and son duo read a bit of what was going through his mind at all. His smile was gentle and graceful. “I just happened to be in the area. Where are you two going?”

These types of reasons didn’t hold any water at all, but it still worked on a 5-year-old child.

Yan Shuyu, overacting, smiled and said, “What a coincidence? We are heading to the musical institution.”

“That’s on my way. Why don’t I give you a ride?”

“Sure. Why not?” Yan Shuyu quickly walked over to him with the little kiddo in tow.

Baffled, Zhang Yuanjia rubbed the back of his head. Something felt off, but he couldn’t quite figure it out. Nevertheless, he still let Uncle Zhou put him in the car and thanked him politely. “Thank you, Uncle Zhou.”

Life was but a show and all one could rely on was one’s acting skill. Yan Shuyu gave herself a thumbs-up for her incredible acting skill before she, as usual, let herself into the passenger seat and buckled herself up.

After she had tricked her son into going to the musical institution with the boss, Yan Shuyu was happily prepared to go spend some alone time with the boss.

Whether they had been out just the two of them or the two of them with the two kiddos, the attentive, thoughtful, and experienced boss had always arranged for everything and Yan Shuyu never had to worry about anyway.

Naturally, Yan Shuyu assumed that this would just be another day like that. So, after she had waved goodbye to her son and Instructor Liu and returned back to the car, she asked the boss with a look of anticipation, “Okay, done. Where are we going now?”

The boss started the car as usual and for the first time ever, he asked her for her opinion, “Where do you want to go?”

Yan Shuyu, unprepared, paused for a second, “Huh?”

Zhou Qinhe might seem to be a very thorough person, but when it came to experience in dating, it was hard to say which one of the two was the more experienced one.

The family, wait, no, the four of them had gone out for most of the morning the day before but that wasn’t really a date. They had also been to a movie and dinner before, but time was short and they didn’t have to make a lot of plans. So this entire day that was just going to be the two of them was a brand new experience for Boss Zhou.

He had always been a man with a host of problems to take care of everyday. He was so busy that he barely had time for his own son. Now, all of a sudden, he was going to spend an entire day with a woman doing absolutely nothing. Boss Zhou wasn’t interested in spending his time this away at all originally, but now his mentality has changed. He’s dating now and he was the one who pursued her. Perhaps, he should also experience other activities between a dating couple.

That being said, even the almighty Boss Zhou had no idea what to plan for an entire day like this.

Everything was difficult at the beginning. He didn’t have much experience now, but he’d get better with time.

But only he knew that he was stumped on this matter. Zhou Qinhe was still that cool, unaffected, and experienced man in front of Yan Shuyu. Not letting her detect anything out of the ordinary – granted, it wasn’t all his acting, a big part of it was Yan Shuyu’s poor eyesight as well.

Zhou Qinhe did try to hide that just for the sake of preserving his male ego. Mainly he knew his own girlfriend well. Once he showed his weakness in this area, it’s hard to say whether she’d help out, but for sure she’d make fun of him. After all, her reactions were never predictable. He didn’t want to give her more ammunition to tease him with.

Meeting with Yan Shuyu’s dubious look, Zhou Qinhe asked casually, “Do you want to go shopping? Buy some stuff, perhaps?”

He has professionals who take care of his clothes for him and never needed to go shop for anything himself, nor would he ever waste his time on accompanying others to shop.

However, he knew that it was one of Yan Shuyu’s favorite activities. Last time when he ran into her after her shopping spree, she wasn’t just excited, her eyes were sparkling the entire time. It didn’t matter that everything that she bought was very inexpensive. That’s when Zhou Qinhe had noticed that she was no different from any other girls; they all liked shopping.

Which was why he offered it even though he found it boring. What’s one time if he could see her beaming like she did last time?

Zhou Qinhe was so sure what her answer would be but then it came a very unexpected answer. Yan Shuyu rejected his suggestion without warning.

Yan Shuyu was either unpredictable or that she had been single for too long and had lost her touch. She should be pleasantly surprised by his suggestion – the boss was a parvenu rich with hundreds of billion yuan of assets. As much as her values would not allow her to take a check directly from him, she was now the girlfriend of a parvenu rich. It’d only be normal for her boyfriend to pay when she went shopping.