Wen Yuechan looked up and stared at her mother in bewilderment.
“You children are still young. As long as you work hard now and make Jin Yiheng fall in love with you, he’ll break off his engagement with that fatso. On top of that, don’t be so oblivious and ignorant. Although his younger brother is adopted, he’s still a member of the Jin family. Take note and try to get closer to him too. Should you end up failing to win Jin Yiheng’s heart, there’s still Jin Rongyan for you to fall back on.”
Wen Yuechan nodded and said, “Mommy, I heard that Long Xiaoxi always runs to the boys’ dormitory in the boot camp at night…”
“Look how hardworking and conscientious she is. No wonder she can get engaged to Jin Yiheng. Why can’t you learn how to take the initiative more often?”
Wen Yuechan hung her head low and remained silent.
Noticing that her daughter had fallen silent, Mrs. Wen added, “From now on, you must learn from that fatso and be more proactive. Yuechan, your daddy has abandoned us, and I’ve pinned all my hopes on you. Whether or not we’ll get to live a life of luxury will depend on you. If you don’t buck up and work harder, I’ll have to find you a stepfather.”
Wen Yuechan looked up and frantically said, “Mommy, don’t get me a stepfather, I’ll do my best.”
Mrs. Wen answered with a nod, “I hope you really will.”
——
The two families sat in the living room of Jin Qingyan’s mansion with the coffee table in between them. They began exchanging their tokens of love.
They were initially supposed to exchanged the tokens during the ceremony but decided to do it privately instead after some discussion.
An Xiaoning placed the token on the coffee table and slid it across gently. “Xiaoxi, Godma and Yiheng picked this out for you this morning. It’s a piece of jade that has engravings of yours and Yiheng’s name. There’s a love knot attached to it at the bottom too,” she said.
Just as Long Xiaoxi was about to touch the jade, Mei Yangyang smacked her hand and chided, “Why are you so impatient? Wait for me to take out Yiheng’s gift before you take a look.”
Mei Yangyang then took out the token of love that was meant for Jin Yiheng. It was a ring that would fit Jin Yiheng when he was an adult. They had decided to select such a size so that they would not have to constantly get the ring resized to fit his growing fingers.
The two children scrutinized the two tokens of love.
“From today onwards, we’ll be in-laws. You have no idea how I’m feeling right now,” said Long Tianze. Placing an arm around Long Xiaoxi, Long Tianze looked at Jin Yiheng and said, “Hey rascal, you reserved Xiaoxi for yourself when you guys are still so young. If you ever dare to bully her, I won’t let you off.”
Jin Yiheng answered without hesitation, “Godpa, Xiaoxi has also reserved me, hasn’t she?”
“You have a point… whatever it is, I hope you two will grow up together happily. I’m waiting for the day that you address me as your father-in-law. This has become a wish of mine.”
“Father-in-law,” said Jin Yiheng.
Long Tianze was dumbfounded. Once he snapped back to reality, he murmured, “This kid is… really… sensible.”
Upon returning home, Long Tianze and Mei Yangyang headed to their bedroom upstairs to get some rest.
The pair were dead beat after attending to guests for the entire day.
They sprawled themselves across the bed, not wanting to move an inch at all.
“How much older is Yiheng compared to Wenlun?”
Mei Yangyang answered sluggishly, “Yiheng was born on the 15th of July while Wenlun was born on the 15th of December of the same year. Xiaoxi is a year younger than Wenlun so she’s almost two years younger than Yiheng.”
Long Tianze expressed assent and said, “Yangyang, I don’t know if I’m just psyching myself out or what but I suddenly feel much less worried than before.”
“You’re just imagining it. It’s all in your head. However, it’s good that we’ve beat Xiaoxi’s potential competitors to it. I heard from Xiaoxi that there’s this girl in the boot camp who lives in the same estate as us. Her name is Wen Yuechan and she’s incredibly fond of Yiheng too. We’ve saved so much trouble by allowing Yiheng and Xiaoxi to get engaged. Xiaoxi is considered to be Yiheng’s fiancée now. She owns the rights to fend off those pesky girls around him.”
“Yeah.” Long Tianze closed his eyes, feeling extremely exhausted after a long day and a sleepless night.
Mei Yangyang remained quiet and stared at him while caressing his face gently. She knew that he had been eagerly trying to get the children engaged, simply because he knew that his precious daughter adored Jin Yiheng to bits.
He really pampers Xiaoxi to no end. Should Xiaoxi ever ask for the moon, I bet he’d do whatever it takes to fulfill her wishes.
She decided to go to bed too since she did not catch much sleep the night before.
On the other hand, the couple opposite was not sleepy at all.
They had had a great night’s sleep.
Long Tianze would be exasperated to know how calm they were about the engagement.
Long Xiaoxi and Jin Rongyan headed outside to play while Jin Yiheng sat opposite his parents obediently, clueless as to what they were planning to say to him.
Jin Qingyan had nothing much to say to him, unlike An Xiaoning.
“My son.”
“Yes, Mommy.”
“I know you’ve always been a sensible and knowledgeable child. Although you’ve inherited our brains and wit, there’s something I still have to tell you.”
“Go ahead and tell me, Mommy,” Jin Yiheng answered while listening to her attentively.
“From now onwards, you and Xiaoxi will be facing each other every day, be it in the boot camp or in school in the future. You must remember to do whatever you can to protect Xiaoxi whenever your godparents are not around.”
Jin Yiheng smiled and said, “Mommy, I know what to do. Rest assured.”
Amused by how profound and mature he sounded, An Xiaoning nodded while smiling and answered, “Sure.”
“Boss, that fellow is calling you again!” An Xiaoning grabbed her mobile phone and saw that it was a call from No. 5.
“Hello, No. 5.”
“Sis, what’s the next step of the plan?”
“Come back first.”
No. 5 asked gleefully, “Sis, we can go back?”
“Yes, come home. I’ll evaluate the results.”
No. 5 said agitatedly, “Sis, Bao’er has grown a lot more obedient than she was at the start. I can tell that she has really changed a lot within such a short period of time.”
“This is a tall order. However, it’s fortunate that she’s yet to become a teenager. It’s much easier to take her in hand now while she’s still young. I’ll need you guys to guide her along whenever I’m not around. No. 5, you deserve credit if we really manage to make her turn over a new leaf.”
No. 5 chuckled and said, “Sis, I do somewhat feel a sense of accomplishment.”
“It’s indeed a tough feat to change someone.”
“Yes. Sis, I’m hanging up now.”
“Sure.”
No. 5 placed his mobile phone inside his pocket. He and Bao’er were currently on a remote mountain in K City.
