Life can be so unpredictable. Yan Shuyu thought she would shock Ye Rongchen when she shared with him her secret but, lo and behold, she was the one shocked from what he had told her.

She found the fact that she was transmigrated at birth difficult to accept. Mainly she couldn't believe how she would have allowed herself to get to the point of abject poverty and barely had enough money for food even after she had transmigrated with all of her past memories. Came to think about it though, it did make some sense.

Ever since her transmigration, she had been thinking of the original owner as a stranger and, even though she had memories of most the past, she had always assumed those were the original owner's memories. None of those made any sense.

She knew nothing about the original owner's personality and had no way of imitating her. She couldn't even cook but Zhang Yuanjia never noticed the "changes" in her. Yan Shuyu had assumed that perhaps he didn't notice them because he was still young. Came to think about it, her son was someone who'd be righting the male lead over being the heir and almost succeeded in the future. As young as he may be, would he really be such a Silly, Fair, and Sweet to not noticed anything after his mother, his only family, had been swapped?

All these details forced her to accept the fact that what Ye Rongchen had told her was true. Not to mention that Ye Rongchen had a lot of details about her previous life. How could she still not believe in it?

Yan Shuyu still has a shred of curiosity left in her. If she was the original villainess stepmother, then she couldn't help but wonder how she suddenly lost all of her memories. Was it the lost of morality or the total annihilation of humanity?*

She had always thought that she had transmigrated over the night she bedded the boss, which meant to say that was the point that she had lost her memories. Yan Shuyu's imagination went completely wild. Perhaps her memories of her previous life were never that strong in her previous 20 years that she never made the association when she saw the boss and formulated her plans toward him.

Life had been rough for her. Came to think about it, she didn't even have the chance to apply for college even with her past memories and got to the point where she had to work in a club and earn money with her looks. Everything pointed to the fact that she was way worst off than she had imagined.

Those who had a rough life would, inevitably, be more pragmatic. If she was to earn money with her looks anyway, why not secure herself a "meal ticket" parvenu riche? It'd only make sense that she started making the boss her target. Besides, he was so handsome and exactly her type. Bedding him was no big deal at all.

She probably only thought of the boss as a potential candidate for a long-term meal ticket at the time. Half way through the night, she must have suddenly recalled the plotline and that the boss was the male lead's father and she was the villainess stepmother who'd end up sent to jail by the male lead. Her precious son, on the other hand, was the villain stepbrother whom the male lead would set up and died a horrible death. For someone who only wanted to earn herself a wealthy lifestyle with her looks, perhaps she was unable to handle such horrific outcome which had, in turn, led to the loss of her memories?

Thinking about what a timid person that she was, her speculation was very reasonable.

Why or how she had lost her memories wasn't important after all. She was a happy now and it really didn't make too much difference whether she had transmigrated half-way through or from birth. Yan Shuyu, feeling that she had it all sorted out, decided to stop dwelling on this and placed all of her attention on her husband who showed up out of nowhere. Perhaps it was more apt to refer to him as her ex-husband. She did not, after all, recall all of her memories. Now that she realized that she was original owner, not only did Yan Shuyu wavered about her decision of choosing the boss, the last bit of burden had, in fact, been lifted off of her.

As for the fact that she had given birth to Zhang Yuanjia after being pregnant with him for 10 months, Yan Shuyu actually didn't have too much problems accepting that. As much as she had always referred to him as her "instant son", she had been thinking of him as her real son for a while now. Confronting Ye Rongchen, however, reshaped her perspective on things a lot.

Yan Shuyu had always thought of Zhang Xiaolu was the old lover of original owner and she accepted his re-appearance as a bystander and was happy about it. She thought that now that Zhang Yuanjia has his own father, their odds of avoiding their fates in the original novel was even better. She was, however, unable to forgive him if she was to look at this from the perspective of Zhang Yuanjia's birth mother.

Yan Shuyu could see where Ye Rongchen was coming from. It sure sheer luck that he had survived. His family had saved him in the very last minute and given him a second chance. From where he stood, he should be appreciative of them. That, nevertheless, did not mean that she could forget about what had happened to her and her son in the original novel.

Naturally, she understood that the stepmother and her son brought their fate upon themselves. They had unrealistic expectations and greed. Zhang Yuanjia was envious of the male lead ever since he was a child. He was envious that Zhou Yi had a father from the very beginning. After he had grown up, he was envious that Zhou Yi was the heir of the Zhou's Corporation and was born standing on the top of the food chain. As such, he was determined to fight over everything with the male lead.

But, what if he was to have what the male lead had from the very beginning too? Had Ye Rongchen returned like he did right now, he would have father and his father's company that would go to him as well. Would he still need to go above and beyond to fight over what was the male lead's and finally meeting his tragic end?

Yan Shuyu couldn't get over the original story plotline. It was difficult for her not to think wondered that, had she not lost her memories and went to work over at Shine House; and that she the video of her playing the piano did not become popular and allowed for Ye Rongchen to notice her, would he, much like in the original novel, never showed up again to the very end?

Perhaps, Ye Rongchen was that close to never recalling any of these in this lifetime. He would be a happy Second Generation Official. He would take over his family business in the future and be a winner in life. He would also find a nice girl that was of his status, get married and have children with her and live out his happy life with ever realizing that he had another son somewhere out there - Yan Shuyu knew that she was being extremely double standard right now. She was already planning on accepting the boss's proposal but was still upset when she thought about this.

She thought long and hard and, finally, looking calmly at Ye Rongchen who was looking at her with a very concerned look and said, "Then let me tell you another secret. One that you have no idea about...”

"I have also read this novel in my previous life.It was a classic domineering CEO novel in which the male lead started out as a CEO from a prestigious family from the very beginning. What left me with the most last impression, though, was not the male lead, but his stepmother in his memories. The male lead's stepmother married his father with her son from her previous marriage when he was around 6 or 7 years old. His stepbrother was barely a year older than him but he was a scheming one. He knew to ostracize him ever since he was a child and would set him up in front of his father. Bit by bit, the stepbrother gained his father's trust and fondness. To a point that even outsiders thought they were half-brothers from the same father. Both of them joined the father's company when they grew up and began the battle over succeeding the company... All of these were already in the past at the beginning of the book. The male lead had already gained control of the company. The stepbrother, on the other hand, had a big plan when he started to lose the battle and wanted to plan the death of the male lead in a car accident. Lo and behold, he ended up in the car that had been altered and died a traumatic death. The stepmother, as his accomplice, went to jail for her crime as well.”

"The name of the stepmother was never mentioned but the male lead's stepbrother's name was mentioned a few times. It was Zhang Yuanjia. And the male lead was Zhou Yi."

As she finished what she was saying, Ye Rongchen could not have been paler. Looking at her in disbelief, he said to her, "Yanyan..."

Nobody wanted something like this to happen. Looking at how pale Ye Rongchen was, Yan Shuyu didn't feel redeemed nor did she want to laid more on him. She sighed and said, "As such, can you imagine how complicated it all feels for me?"

They could have been unrelated strangers. As her son's father, they would certainly have a lot of contact with each other going forward. They might even become close friends over time. But now, given their current situation, they just might become enemy to each other any given minute. There was no way they could be friends.

Ye Rongchen, too, remained silent for a long while before he struggled to ask, "Then... are you going to marry him?"

Yan Shuyu replied honestly. "I was on the fence before. Now that you have shown up, it had lent me confidence."

Still the same thing that she had said before. Her not getting along with Yuanbao's father were matters between the adults. Ye Rongchen was still his birth father. She would not feel comfortable marrying the boss without the little kiddo's father being around.

Ye Rongchen blinked and it looked like he was about to start crying any minute. He raised the corners of his lips some and said in a forced cheerfulness. "I guess I am still somewhat of use then."

The man across from her didn't cry but tears started streaming down Yan Shuyu's cheeks. And she had no idea why she was drying.

Perhaps her brain still retained some memories of their past and the tears still remembered them.

Ye Rongchen handed over a tissue to her quietly and said to her in a low voice. "There is something else that I want to discuss with you. I plan to bring Yuanbao back to add him onto our genealogy officially. He will be the only child that I will ever have. The elderlies are old school so we must have him added."

That was such a determination to promise that Yuanbao would be the only child that he would ever have. Yan Shuyu was quite moved when she heard that and she felt less resentful toward him. Thinking about it for a little bit, she still added, "It is fine just to add him to your genealogy. There is no need to never wed and have more children."

Her son lost to the little male lead only because he didn't have the male lead halo. That being said, he did have the villain's halo. Even if Ye Rongchen was to have another 8 or 10 children from different mothers, she was confident that none of them would measure up to Yuanbao. Even if that was not the case, he would still have the boss and the little male lead on his side. As such, it would be fine for Ye Rongchen to be like her and get married and have children should he meet the right person. His determination alone made her half way to forgiving him.

Yan Shuyu didn't know that the look on her had finally relaxed. Ye Rongchen gave her a few profound looks before he looked away and said jokingly, "I am afraid I will never meet anyone as pretty as you. Then I will have to stay single for life."

That made Yan Shuyu happy and she decided to forgive him some more.

Ye Rongchen took the opportunity to bring up another request. "Can we delay your wedding to after we have added him onto our genealogy?"

"Why?" asked Yan Shuyu curiously.

Ye Rongchen tightened his lips some. He couldn't possibly say that he just didn't want things to go that smoothly for Boss Zhou. Finally, he smiled bitterly and said, "I worry that Yuanbao would run off with Boss Zhou."

Yan Shuyu assumed he was traumatized by the story arc and comforted him. "Don't worry. Yuanbao would not change his last name to Zhou if even if you had no reappeared. He has always had his birth daddy in mind."

She had, nevertheless, agreed to Ye Rongchen's request. The whole Ye family's situation sounded like a lot of hassle and she probably wouldn't feel like getting married before that anyway.

Albeit unexpected, but the outcome of their heart-to-heart was very positive. Yan Shuyu, who had reached a consensus with Ye Rongchen couldn't help but stood up and stretched. She thought her herself that the problem of the century that had been plaquing her this entire time could not be considered as resolved, right?

As soon as she had stood up, a light knocking came from the outside and little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao asked cheerfully from the outside. "Mommy, are you two done talking? Dinner is getting cold."

Yan Shuyu looked at the time. It was 6:15 PM, just 10 minutes later than their usual dinner time. How could dinner already be cold. She asked as she walked toward the door. "Where's your Uncle Zhou?"

"Uncle Zhou had been watching cartoons with us."

Yan Shuyu got it now. The boss, who would work instead of sleep, was watching cartoons with the kids? That was obviously not why he did that. She opened up the door, smiled, and asked. "Uncle Zhou had you come and get us?"

Zhang Yuanjia threw himself into her arms passionately and said in a low voice. "Uncle Zhou kept looking at his watch. He didn't want Mommy to get too hungry."

Yan Shuyu almost busted out laughing. The boss was getting cuter and cuter when he got jealous~

Neither Yan Shuyu nor Ye Rongchen said it out loud, but it was understood that the content of this conversation was a secret for just the two of them.

Perhaps when she was really, really old, and was about to die and if she was still with the boss and they were still as happily together as they were right now, she would choose to share this secret with him. She didn't plan on sharing that with him for the time being.

As such, after dinner, after sending the guest away, and after the kids were settled in, Yan Shuyu only discussed with the boss matters about accompanying little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao to Beijing to be officially accepted into the Ye family.

Ye Rongchen only mentioned bringing the little kiddo with him and did not mention Yan Shuyu. Yan Shuyu trusted that Ye Rongchen has his son's best interest in mind and would take good care of him. But she was his real mother and wanted to make sure that he would not be treated unfairly at any given point.

The best way to ensure that was to accompany him. After all, the little kiddo had never been away from her ever.

Zhou Qinhe gave her a disapproving look. "Is that necessary? Yuanbao will be my child after we get married. He can adopt my last name and I will redo the will. He will be treated the same as Xiao Yi."

Being so direct had never been the boss's usual style. His words could not be clearer and left no room for misinterpretation.

Yan Shuyu, too, was very touched after she heard that.

Inferiority complex, in addition to jealousy, might also be part of the reasons why the villainous stepbrother always wanted to compete with the male lead over just about everything. His voluntarily wanted his last name changed to Zhou suggested that he was well aware that his status was different than that of the male lead after his mother married into the Zhou's. Neither did the boss in the novel treated the two children equally. Had he done what he was about to do now and set up the will that they would be equals before the wedding, perhaps the villainous stepbrother would be so touched that he decided to return the favor with the male lead and be good brothers with him.

That being said, the differences between reality and the original novel also gave Yan Shuyu more confidence about the future. With the boss's words, she was even more certain that she and her son would have a happy ending.

Just to be safe, however, she declined the boss's offer and smiled and said to him matter-of-factly, "He is one of the Ye's. That is what is rightfully his."

Zhou Qinhe paused a little and experienced a minorly perturbed feeling.

As the sole heir of the Zhou family, his clan was not something that he took lightly. He wasn't even sure if he would regret that decision but he was willing to risk all that for her. Nevertheless, she had turned him down oh-so-casually. That made him felt that his punch had landed in a bag of cotton. That made him feel perturbed. Her accepting Ye Rongchen's suggestion meant that he would remain in their lives for good.