A little embarrassed, Ning Ning cutely touched his head and laughed, hoping he could brush it off. Were his thoughts so sophisticated that he was able to immediately make the connection?
Ning Ning wanted to wait for a few more days, at least until his mommy woke up, before admitting it. He could neither say nor admit to anything, and communicating with him in this way on the internet was not a bad idea.
What a pity…
Sigh…
In the hospital, he even said that he did not know they were father and son. It was all good now. He would be able to warmly call his daddy on the internet.
This feeling of shooting himself in the feet was… terrible!!
“Tell me, yes or no?” Ye Chen asked deeply with a look of excitement on his face. He took the KFC family bucket and coke in a single hand and said, “No answer, no food!”
Ning Ning was stunned into silence.
Wow!
‘Daddy, you are too talented!’
‘No answer, no food?’
‘Are you sure you are not acting in a childish manner? Are you even sure you are an adult?’
He remembered that when he was in preschool in the United Kingdom, two children were fighting with each other whilst another child cheered on as he held an ice pop in his hand. He was screaming, “Whoever wins gets to eat! The loser does not get to eat!”
His daddy’s behavior was uncannily similar to that child’s behavior.
Perhaps his daddy had lost his composure because he was too excited. He should have been empathizing.
Uh, he couldn’t laugh!
It was immoral to laugh.
Ye Chen also seemingly realized that his actions were not befitting of him as a third young master and gently coughed twice. He then calmly and politely took his hands away from the KFC family bucket.
Ning Ning frowned. Uh… Was he allowed to eat?
The young boy reached out and took a chicken drumstick as he looked at Third Young Master Ye. He was secretly wondering whether Third Young Master Ye would grab his chicken drumstick and not allow him to eat it.
Ye Chen’s face was slightly flushed, unsure whether it was out of shame or out of embarrassment. He tilted his head and saw the attendants looking at them, father and son, obsessively. He regretted bringing him to such a place.
“Is it actually a yes, or a no?” Ye Chen asked again in a much calmer manner. Ye Chen thoroughly regretted acting like an idiot earlier and could not be even more eager for Ning Ning to temporarily lose his memory and forget what he had just seen.
He wanted his child to remember him as a heroic and powerful person.
“Don’t you already know?” Ning Ning pouted as he took a bite from the chicken drumstick and drank his coke.
“I want to personally hear you admit it!” Ye Chen insisted.
He was surely insistent.
“I think I have an internet username that goes ‘The world is big but Mommy is the greatest’!”
Although he was mentally prepared, Ye Chen felt a surge of joy through him. He suddenly rushed over and embraced Ning Ning as his most direct expression of his excitement. Ning Ning was caught off guard and almost dropped the chicken drumstick in his trembling hand.
‘Uh, Daddy, please do not get too excited!’
‘Calm down, calm down!’
Ye Chen tightly hugged Ning Ning. Excitement and gratefulness surged through him. He was ecstatic. He was simply ecstatic.
Excitement was written on Ye Chen’s typically gloomy and cold face.
As Ye Chen felt joy in his heart, his hands slightly trembled.
He had long admitted in his heart that Ning Ning was his son. He, however, felt uneasy as there was no confirmation. If it had merely been a coincidence, Ye Chen would have been utterly disappointed. When it came to one’s attitude toward kinship, Ye Chen was more cautious than anybody else.
He was careful not to invest his feelings, for he was very afraid of losing people around him again.
But after encountering Ning Ning in the hospital this time, he had the thought of Ning Ning being his son and not leaving him come what may.
He wished Ning Ning was his son.
He prayed to the heavens above. All along, he only got a tenth of the love and care other people received.
After all those years of darkness and hatred, surely it would be fair for him to receive some warmth, no?
Before he received Cheng Anya’s confirmation, Ye Chen prayed to the powers which he did not believe for their blessings.
He knew the silliness in what he did, but there was no other way out. The gods were the only hope for men before their hopes completely crumbled.
Nobody was different.
Whether they were weak or strong.
Receiving Ning Ning’s affirmation was akin to receiving Cheng Anya’s confirmation.
This child was a genius who controlled a substantial portion of global internet trading from behind the scenes. He was decisive and cold in his decision-making, and such a person would not call out for his daddy on the internet without rhyme or reason.
While they had not conversed much, Ye Chen could discern how genuine the conversations were.
He could also feel that his son had taken a liking to him.
That was great!
That was really great!
The happiness and fortune came so suddenly it caught people off guard and defenseless. The softest part of the heart had seemingly taken hard, repeated blows of happiness.
Happiness was indeed this simple, like a dove flying over and leaving in its trail a scent of hope.
Happiness was so abundant it was about to breach that thin membrane in his heart and excitedly proclaim its presence.
Ye Chen felt that his entire life’s honor and fortune, even if added together, were not as much as the joy the young child he was hugging had brought him.
Was this the so-called saying ‘Blood is thicker than water’?
An involuntary acceptance of one’s love and doting.
“You are strangling me! It hurts!” Ning Ning said as he tapped Ye Chen’s shoulder. Third Young Master Ye’s violently heaving chest, to Ning Ning, was a sign of how ecstatic he was right now.
It was, however, one thing to be ecstatic, but another to hurt.
His little stature could not endure his daddy’s strong hug, and he did not wish to be manhandled into two.
The attendants not far away kept on watching both father and son.
As the young lady saw the father and son together, hearts seemingly bubbled out of her eyes. There was love, so much love, as the father and son expressed their love for each other. How ‘moe’ that scene was… and a series of impure thoughts crept into her mind.
As she saw Ye Chen hug such a cute child, that she had not changed her mind of touching, her fists tightened and she burned with an intense inner rage. ‘I curse you, I curse you…’
‘Ah, what a kawaii child!’
To be despised countless times over a meal of KFC… Oh, poor Third Young Master Ye!
“Sorry, sorry…” Ye Chen eased his hugging, his gaze still a faint red from earlier excitement. “Did it hurt?”
Ning Ning shook his head and looked at his daddy deeply. He then took a brief look at the tasty chicken drumstick and asked, “Seriously, are you that happy?”
“Aren’t you happy too?” Ye Chen nervously asked. He was deeply afraid that the young boy harbored the slightest unhappiness toward him.
‘Image! Image is very important!’
“Happy!” Ning Ning said. His eyes seemingly formed the shape of a crescent moon as he nodded eagerly. He was happy, very happy!
Ye Chen’s heart which was in suspense was suddenly relieved. Like a grown-up child, he broke into a smile. Recalling his daddy’s past, Ning Ning was touched and heartbroken at the same time. Although he had yet to investigate his father’s past, he was certain from the conversation in the group that his father had suffered a lot in his youth.
