The little male lead's mother's personality was about as floaty as her style. After finding out that Zhou Qinhe was cold and wasn't moved by her at all, Ms. Lin had a pretty good idea that even if she had a change of heart, she wouldn't be able to get the kind of love that she was looking for from him. As such, she didn't hesitate much before she left for overseas again.

And that was exactly how chic a girl who put love above everything else was like. She was quiet when she left and didn't even come by to say goodbye to her own son.

Yan Shuyu only found out about it when Secretary Lu came by their place to drop off some urgent documents from the boss two weeks later. Secretary Lu gossiped more than just that with her. She even told her that Ms. Lin came by the office looking for the boss before she had taken off. The boss was too busy to meet up with her and, after waited for a long time to no avail, she finally left disappointed and with reddened eyes.

Ever since she had found out about the little male lead's mother had tried to steal the boss away from her while looking down on her, Yan Shuyu's impression of her had took a steep dive downward. She had been very kind and understanding at the beginning and didn't even look at Lin Surong with contempt as the third person in this relationship even after she caught her red-handed trying to seduce the boss. After all, she might be sitting on the pot, but she surely had no intention to take a dump.* It was not her place to blame others for being too aggressive. Not to mention that Lin Surong was the boss's ex-wife and the two of them even had a son together. There were a lot of ties between the two of them. It only made sense that Lin Surong wanted to get back together with the boss and Yan Shuyu could totally understand that. But it was uncouth that she for her to use her as a stepping stone while trying to steal the boss away from her.

Ego was important to Yan Shuyu and, naturally, she was displeased and had announced to herself that Ms. Lin was now her enemy.

If they really were to get down to the bottom of it all, it was hard to say which one of them was the classier one. She, at the very minimum, had never cheated on the boss.

Owing to her disgruntlement toward Ms. Lin, Yan Shuyu was shameless pleased about what had happened to Ms. Lin after Secretary Lu had gossiped with her.

After chatting for a little while, Secretary Lu got her fill and left happily. Yan Shuyu, on the other hand, didn't quite had enough. She didn't care that the boss was taking care of work stuff in the study but pushed open the door and walked inside with a smile on her. "Dear, I heard that your ex-wife has left the country again?"

The boss was replying to an email and didn't even look up. "Who told you that?"

Yan Shuyu paused for a little. She knew that it wasn't easy for Secretary Lu to gossip to her about the boss's ex-wife behind his back. She must follow the code of honor and not betray Secretary Lu. As such, she didn't address his question but stuck herself in front of him and said, "Just tell me whether it is true or not."

"Why would I know anything about her?" Zhou Qinhe typed some more casually before he finally looked up at her.

By now, Yan Shuyu had already move from behind him to in front of him and her face was short of touching his. That didn't seem to bother the boss, however. As long as his line of sight wasn't blocked. He merely corrected her nonchalantly, "She has a name. If you can't recall it, you can also refer to her as Ms. Lin."

Yan Shuyu understood that was the boss not wanting to have anything to do with her.

Right at this moment, Yan Shuyu felt that she was a seductive tramp whose sole purpose was to cause issues between the male and female leads. On top of that, she had succeeded. That made her happy. She wrapped her arms around the boss's neck from behind the back of the chair and asked, smiling, "Alright, then did Ms. Lin look you up before she left the country?"

Boss Zhou turned around and asked the obvious, "Secretary Lu was the one who told you that?"

Yan Shuyu, "Ugh.."

Most of Yan Shuyu's complacency disappeared quickly and she felt guilty for betraying Secretary Lu so quickly. That being said, knowing how smart the boss was, once he had it figured out, there was no point in lying anymore. Her only option now was to say good words for Secretary Lu trying to salvage the situation. "She told only me because I bugged her for a long time. Perhaps you can pretend that you didn't know about it and not blame her for it?"

"Why shouldn't I blame her for it?"

Yan Shuyu thought about it for a little bit and said, "Secretary Lu has been very nice to me. This is not the way to repay her."

Secretary Lu had been slipping her gossips about the boss behind his back. What a wonderful person she was!

As they were chatting, Zhou Qinhe had already finished up with his email. Leaving his computer on, he pulled his hands back and turned around. Yan Shuyu was very closed to him so their noses almost touched. Zhou Qinhe asked casually, "And why is she so nice to you?"

Yan Shuyu, "...."

What was up with the boss and all of his questions today? He was even more curious than the two little kiddos at home. Yan Shuyu felt a pang of headache and she didn't have an answer for the boss's question. She couldn't real Secretary Lu's mind so how would she know why she was being so nice to her?

All in all, she had already been co-habiting with the boss for over six months now and the few employees that were closest to the boss such as Secretary Lu or Robin, would come by from time to time. Sometimes to delivery a document and other times to get him to sign something. Sometimes they would even come to give him progress reports or even have a conference. They would always greet Yan Shuyu when they were over and chitchat a little bit and, over time, they have become more familiar with each other.

Yan Shuyu couldn't remember the exact day when Secretary Lu, who used to always have a solemn look, gossiped with her oh so naturally. If the boss insisted on having an answer, then all she could confidently told him was, "We've became good friends with each other over time. Do we need to have reasons to be good friends?"

Looking at the righteous look on her, Zhou Qinhe finally let out a helpless sigh. He had always known her to be heartless but the level of her heartlessness continued to surprise him.

The slowness of Yan Shuyu made the boss feel blue. Naturally, she wasn't going to get any deets from the boss that she was interested in hearing.

That being said, Yan Shuyu never had high hopes that the boss would high-five her the way that Secretary Lu would. She only came to brag to the boss because she was too happy. Whether the boss played along with her or not would not disappoint her.

Madam Lin came oh so lightly and brought with her nothing when she left. Yan Shuyu had not heard anything about her for a long time after she had left the country, as though she had never been there at all.

Yan Shuyu had an inkling that Madam Lin, much like it said in the book, would not show up in their lives again in the next few years.

Having bid farewell to the little male lead's mother so thoroughly, Yan Shuyu welcomed the second winter since she had transmigrated.

Looking at the time, she had already been co habiting with the boss for almost a year. Per her plan a year ago, she should be looking for a new place and also started with packing up at the same time. This move would be nothing like the last one. The new clothes for her and her son combined would be enough to filled two counters. They would need to hire a moving company for it.

Nevertheless, Yan Shuyu had been quiet and had no plans to move. That was because she had inadvertently come across a document in the boss's study a while back. Specifically, it was a title along with some other documents. It was her name on the title and the property was the one that they were currently living in.

It was only after she had seen these documents before Yan Shuyu suddenly realized that the boss was, after all, the boss. Just like all other wealthy folks, he would never fall as low as to need to stay in a rental.

The boss had bought this place before they have moved in and, in fact, had put the property under her name.

Yan Shuyu was dumbfounded by that fact that she was already a homeowner without her even evening knowing. Before she could even rejoice in the joy of home-owning, she reflexively went to ask the boss why he did what he did. She had no idea since when had she picked up this very straightforward habit when it came to the boss.

This time, however, she did not get a clear answer from the boss when she asked him about it point-blank. She had allowed him to muck it up because took the lower stance voluntarily and told her with a smile that she was now the "head of household" and not to bully him.

All sorts of ideas of how she could bully the boss flashed through her mind and distracted her and, as such, she missed the opportunity of asking him why he did it.

It could also be that she was going further and further down the path of depravation. Just like a normal person, the bottom line was moved back bit by bit. Ever since Yan Shuyu had moved in with the boss and receiving gifts from the boss had become as frequent as drinking and eating. She had slowly lost herself in the sugar-coated capitalism. Once she had accepted the tens of millions of yuan worth of shares, what's another house on top of that?

And, just like that, Yan Shuyu had accepted that fact that she was now a homeowner.

Now that the boss had confirmed that she was the "head of household", Yan Shuyu voluntarily stepped up to the role. Take the utilities and HOA for example, it had crossed her mind to split them from the very beginning but the boss said there was no need for that. Neither did he take care of those himself. They all gone through Secretary Lu along with everything else.

Yan Shuyu didn't know Secretary Lu very well at the time and felt awkward to reach out to her directly and finally this subject was dropped.

Things were a little bit different now and that the house was under her name. She should be the one to pick up the bills and, as such, she had no problem reaching out to Secretary Lu.

"You've noticed?" Secretary Lu sent a gossipy emoji in WeChat and, without further ado, sent over the cost of all of the expenses along with the instructions for the payments.

Yan Shuyu was now truly the steward of the household.

And, now that she owned the house, it was no longer necessary for her to move.

Truth was, even if she could, it would be difficult for her to move. And it was difficult in all sorts of ways. She did not want to part with the aunties who were great cooks and also great at housework; the decors that was exactly how she would have wanted them; Marshal, the boss's German Shepard; and, of course, the handsome boss and the little male lead who was becoming more and more handsome by the day.

As such, it was a blessing that she didn't need to move.

Yan Shuyu didn't say it out loud but she was secretly happy for a long time. All the way until Christmas when she was stunned by the abrupt proposal from the boss.

To be precise, the proposal took place on Christmas eve, not Christmas day and it took place at Sunshine House. The scene was quite grand but Yan Shuyu had no idea beforehand at all.

Yan Shuyu felt that it wasn't that she was slow but there really was no signs at all ahead of time. She thought it would just be the four of them spending their Christmas eve together except that the boys said they had plans with Tongtong and that they would be going to another little buddy's place. They wanted to celebrate on their own with no adults. She figured that the boys had all gown up and reached the age where they wanted to get rid of their parents and have their own fun. Her heart ached a little but she understood and agreed to it. As such, it was down to just she and the boss on Christmas eve.

Even though it was just going to be the two of them, they didn't really have anything romantic planned. It wasn't so much that they didn't care about it but that Manager Yang had gave her a call very early on that it was important for her to show her face on Christmas eve and that Yan Shuyu, as a major shareholder, could not just stay out of it. She should at least go in and perform a couple of pieces to ramp up the festivity at the shop.

Even though her popularity on the web had died down but the loyal customers of Sunshine House would still come to show their support and many new customers would also ask the servers when Yan Shuyu would be there. It meant that even though Yan Shuyu wasn't over at Sunshine House all the time, but she was still their biggest attraction.

Manager Yang had put in a lot of work in the past six months. He had always been a not so-ambitious Second Generation Rich but, possibly due to, being pushed by Boss Zhou, he had opened up three chain shops since he had received the investment. He had also went and stayed for over two weeks at the capital not too long ago and had all paperwork completed and the shop location and employees arranged before he had a chance to come back for a breather during its remodeling.

That was why when Manager Yang suggested for Yan Shuyu to contribute some to their business, Yan Shuyu found it difficult to turn him down. As such, she brought the boss with her to the coffee shop instead of having any plans lined up.

While on their way to Sunshine House, Yan Shuyu figured that they could go to a movie or something if they have time afterward. Nevertheless, she had a bad feeling the second she stepped foot into the blingbling coffee shop.

Manager Yang had insisted her for to be there this specific night to drum things up and provide better customer service. Yan Shuyu had witnessed how busy the shop was on Christmas Eve a year ago. There was no reason that as Sunshine House's popularity grew, the place would be empty on a festive day like today.

There were no customers there but the place was festive nonetheless. There were a lot of faces that Yan Shuyu was familiar with. There were Manager Yang and her cute little buddies from the coffee shop and there were Yan Shuyu's current colleagues such as Liu Cui and Lin Shuwen, etc. They were all looking at Yan Shuyu and the boss with smiles on them. What surprised Yan Shuyu the most was the two little kiddos who said they would be over at their friend's place were both their, in their impeccable tuxedo with bow ties looking like two elegant little princes. Zhang Yuanjia was sitting in front of the piano and Zhou Yi playing the cello seriously.

The moment that Yan Shuyu walked upstairs with the boss, she could hear the lovey melodies coming from their fingertips. As a piano teacher with many students, she could tell just from the prelude alone that it was the world renowned For Elisethat they were performing.

It in and of itself did not stand out but yan Shuyu recalled that Elise was also her English name and the boss was the one who came up with it. The boss had asked her if she wanted to have an English name when they travelled to England saying that it would make it easier to introduce her. Yan Shuyu didn't object to it and had the boss helped her pick one out. Granted, she liked the name a lot. Elise sounded exactly like the kind of names that were made for a little fairy~

The music along with the current atmosphere gave her a bad feeling. And, her inkling was proven right when the boss suddenly got down on one knee and presented her with a sparkling diamond ring amidst the applause.

Yan Shuyu was stunned silent.