Perhaps she had spent a little too much time thinking about it. She had a dream in the second half of the night. She dreamt that she was in a small but very warmly decorated room. Sitting on a chair, she was rocking a cradle in front of her. The baby inside the cradle was blowing bubbles at her and it made itself laugh after a little while.

Yan Shuyu, however, did not laugh with him. She looked up and straight ahead.

In front of the little dining area was an open kitchen. The "kitchen" only had an electric stove and not even an exhaust. Luckily, with the electric stove placed in front of the window, the grease from cooking would dissipate quickly. Inside of the little kitchen, there were all sorts of seasonings. A tall and skinny boy was busying himself inside there with his back to her.

After a little while, an aroma filled the little room that she was in and a bowl of chicken soup that was still steaming was placed into her hands. Yan Shuyu felt that she gave the boy a big smile and immediately started on the soup.

All of her senses in her dream were very clear. The thick aroma seemed have enveloped her nose and she could taste the chicken soup well. Yan Shuyu felt that this very simple chicken soup with no good ingredients to speak of was the best chicken soup that she had ever had. Its taste went straight from between her teeth and tongue all the way to her heart.

That was literally chicken soup for the soul.

As Yan Shuyu was enjoying the chicken soup by herself, the boy, Zhang Xiaolu, next to her, just watched her with his mouth cracked open. This seemed to be a regular occurrence between them. The very young-looking Zhang Xiaolu said to her with determination, "If you like chicken soup, I will buy half a chicken every other day from the market and make it this way for you."

She continued to enjoy the soup cheerfully without saying a word. Outside of the dream, Yan Shuyu could feel the sense of happiness and satisfaction that came from the heart. It was as though the bowl of chicken soup was all she would ever need.

The one drinking was happy as was the one watching. Zhang Xiaolu picked the baby up from inside of the cradle and help him up high. The baby giggled. The higher he was tossed, the louder it giggled.

It was snowing heavily outside but the laughter inside of the little house never stopped.

When Yan Shuyu woke it, it was already broad daylight.

She did not feel cheerful the entire day as she was affected by her dream.

The dream seemed normal enough but there was a sinking feeling inside of Yan Shuyu. She figured that her dream was either part of the original owner's memory or one of her strongest desires. Nevertheless, why did it feel so much like she had truly experienced it herself?

That was not important. The fact that she had this dream right after she had decided to have a talk with Ye Ronghcen and to nip any possibilities off in the bud was sure a sign.

As for whether it was a good or bad sign, she would need to revisit the story plotline to be sure.

In the novel, the male lead had recounted his childhood multiple times and each of them it was emphasized that the stepmother and son had tried to pull many tricks since the day they have joined their family. They had systematically tried to exclude him and badmouth him in front of his father.

Truth was, Yan Shuyu had thought about that before. If the stepmother's intention was to succeed the Zhou family, then she ought to aggressively try to have more children. She should know that those in the Zhou family were no fools. They would never let an outsider take over the family business. The more children she had, the better her odds.

Granted, whether the boss would allow her the opportunity to have more children was a different story. In the very minimum, having children was a standard move when it came to power struggle among a prestigious family. As for "Zhou Yuanjia", as long as one of his half-brothers could take over control, his future would also be assured.

The original owner, nevertheless, decided against that option right off the bat. She was very determined to fight for the best for her son as soon as she became a part of the prestigious family. She assisted her son in fighting for the boss's attention at the beginning and later on, after he had grown up, assisted him in the fight to become the heir. Part of that was, naturally, her love for her son. But could she also attribute that to her loyalty toward her late husband.

All in all, Yan Shuyu felt that perhaps the stepmother in the original novel was an evil woman, or that she could be seen a gold digger by others. But she had never wronged her husband or her son in the first half of her life. As such, even if she wanted to have a heart-to-heart with Ye Rongchen, she would not use a change of heart as a reason - even though she was, indeed, choosing the boss over Ye Rongchen. That being said, had it be the original owner who was to make this decision, she would undoubtedly choose to be with Ye Rongchen again.

Meaning to say that, her problem now wasn't the opportunity to talk to Ye Rongchen but what she should be telling him.

Aye. All these problems one after another were giving Yan Shuyu a headache.

Perhaps they had been feigning amicability for too long and even Ye Rongchen was starting to get a bit impatient. Yan Shuyu was still struggling internally when Ye Rongchen suggested to have a private conversation just the two of them.

When they were done taking the children to the amusement park and was about to go and get dinner before they part ways, Yan Shuyu looked to the boss for his opinion before it even registered with her.

Zhou Qinhe gave her a look and smiled magnanimously. "Why don't we just head back and have dinner at our place? We had never invited Mr. Ye to our place before."

Yan Shuyu only felt that the boss was very out of character today. She asked him foolishly, "Are you sure about that?"

As soon as she finished saying that, she realized how unnecessary that was. She was the head of household here as the place was put in her name. She quickly puffed her chest back out again and asked the two children for their opinion. "Are you two okay with that?"

Zhang Yuanjia was still in the fresh phase of all this so, naturally, he did not object to that. Even Zhou Yi quite liked Yuanbao's father as Yuanbao's father would play many games with them and also pick them up and lift them up high.

The two boys held Ye Rongchen's hand to have him go back home with them. They even wanted to share with him their favorite toys and snacks.

An hour later, Yan Shuyu and Ye Rongchen were sitting across from each other in the study. This was just the second time the two were alone with each other. Days of hanging out together wasn't entirely fruitless. Compared to the first time the two of them were alone together, Yan Shuyu felt less distance and unfamiliarity. That being said, the two of them were still wordless for a while.

After a long while, Ye Rongchen was the first to break the silence. Unlike his normally sunny image that he put up in front of the children, his smile was forced and bitter. "I know what you want to say and I think you know what I want to say as well. I have paid special attention in the past few days and Boss Zhou is, indeed, very nice to you..."

Had it not been that dream, Yan Shuyu would have just played along with that and let him know that this was a nonstarter. Nevertheless, she was filled with sympathy for the original owner right now and, looking at the disappointment on Ye Rongchen, she suddenly had a stroke of conscience and blurted out, "You don't need to be so sad. I am not choosing you, but this does not mean it is what Yuanbao's mother would have wanted."

Ye Rongchen's eyes flickered a little, then asked her, relatively calmly, "What do you mean by that?"

Yan Shuyu paused for a little. She had already gone so far. Summoning up her courage, she said, "Perhaps you have heard of transmigration?"

She had gone above and beyond to keep that a secret when she had first transmigrated over. There were many reasons she decided to tell the truth calmly this time. Respecting the original owner's feelings for Ye Rongchen might be the last thing that she could do for her. Besides, they were inside her own study right now and there were not surveillance cameras. She could very well deny that she had said that once they had walked out of this room. Or claimed that she was just joking. Besides, for the sake of little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao, she trusted that Ye Rongchen would keep her secret for her.

But none of those were not the key to her willingness of taking the chance. The key to her was the boss. Her boss was so mighty and omnipotent, Ye Rongchen wouldn't be able to have her sent to a laboratory even if he had wanted to.

The boss was still staying with her after the proposal and the reappearance of her son's real father. By now, Yan Shuyu's confidence in her own charm was inflated to no end.

She had imagined that Ye Rongchen would find her words out there and unbelievable. Little did she expected him to bust out into a smile. It was a smile that was youthful and sunny, much like the one on Zhang Xiaolu in her dream.

"I know. You are a transmigrator."

Yan Shuyu,"

Yan Shuyu was stunned silent. How did he know that?

Seeing the disbelief on her, Ye Rongchen smiled and continued to say, "I also know that your father's name was Yan Dayu and your mother was Zhong Yin. Your family owned three apartments and two storefronts, all of them belonged to you. You are a single child and, oh, you transmigrated right after you have graduated college and your boyfriend's name was Song..."

Yan Shuyu was completely dumbfounded. "How did you know all those?"

"You told them to me yourself." Pausing for a little, the smile on Ye Rongchen disappeared. He gave her a complicated look and asked, "Do you not remember that anymore?"

"I am panicking right now." Yan Shuyu downed an entire cup of tea in order to calm herself but she still found that hard to believe. "So I didn't transmigrate half way through? I am the villainous stepmother?"

She always thought that she represented righteousness, having spent all these years on guiding her villain son onto the right path. It turned out that she was the worst one of them all? Yan Shuyu felt that all of her believes had been crushed to dust.

Ye Rongchen, too, was baffled by the last thing that she had said but he asked anyway, "It was like you didn't have Mengpo's soup.* You were born with memories from your previous life."

Yan Shuyu found that even more difficult to accept. She clutched her own chest and said painfully, "I was born a transmigrator, with my cheat and exceptionally look. So how did I end up where I was and didn't even graduate college?"

I was the worst transmigrator ever Yan Shuyu didn't say that out loud but one could read that clearly on her. He quickly rushed to comfort her. "You are very smart and was always the top student in your class. Every time you family wanted you to quit school, teachers from schools and even the higher ups would come to your house and visit. Everybody knew that you were destined to college. You have also always told me that when we went to college, you would be able to move your household register out from that family and you will be free. They never gave you that chance and forced you to marry before then..."

Yan Shuyu went on painfully, "But that still didn't change the fact that am a transmigrator!"

Ye Rongchen, "...."

***

Mengpo's soup - in Chinese mythology, something that one would drink in the after life before one reincarnates that would wipe one's memories of their past life.