Chapter 372: Dad, Are You Thinking of Eloping with Aunt Ruan?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Qi Youxuan then stared at the picture for a long time and burst out saying, “You’re also fat when you were young, Dad. Why are you always calling me fat now!”
Qi Chenglin felt regretful. If he knew that he looked like that when he was younger, he would never have let the two of them see it
He turned to look at Ruan Danchen and saw her looking at him with a beaming smile. Her look was that of affection and was exactly the same as when she looked at Qi Youxuan.
“Ay, this is your father’s picture when he was five-years old. When he turned six—which is your age now—he slimmed down,” Guan Liya said. Fortunately for Qi Chenglin, she did not continue to denigrate him.
She flipped the album to the middle and it was Qi Chenglin at six-years-old. It was a photo of him when he was already in elementary school, and he did look quite slimmed down. Despite having some baby fat, his handsome features made a faint appearance.
Qi Chenglin breathed a sigh of relief and straightened his posture. Feeling more confident, he told Qi Youxuan, “That’s why you need to continue slimming down.”
Qi Youxuan was disappointed, but not by much. By seeing his father’s younger pictures, at least he had the confidence that he would turn out very handsome when he was older.
Since they were already there, they made no rush to leave. It was a perfect time for Guan Liya to spend some time with Youxuan since things had been rather busy after Youxuan went to elementary school.
During his kindergarten days, he would come back ahead of schedule, but it was not that big of a deal if he did not want to stay too long at kindergarten. With elementary school, it was different as none of them wanted him to miss a single class.
Jixia Elementary School’s syllabus was different from other elementary schools. It leaned toward schools from outside of the country, with less homework and more of a hands-on approach. Their focus was on the all-round development of students.
Other elementary schools would not teach a foreign language during Year One, especially not when their students had yet to master the national language. Jixia Elementary, however, taught English and Mandarin right from the get-go. Other than the conventional subjects in the syllabus, there were also many other classes like pottery classes, skiing lessons, archery, and Wushu.
Once students reached senior high, they would also learn hunting and rock climbing.
That was the reason why plenty of Jixia High School’s graduates did not enroll into universities within the country. Most of them would go directly to renowned overseas universities. Even if there were those that went into the local universities, they would not do so via an entrance exam. Instead, they would be invited by renowned local universities to fill in the quota needed. Some sponsoring would also be required to be channeled into the school. The basis for that was because they could not stand a chance against others if they did participate in the entrance exam.
Even though that was the kind of syllabus, the Qi family still placed much importance to it. In the future, they would want Qi Youxuan to attend some extracurricular piano classes to train his mental disposition. The boy’s temperament and personality needed to be enhanced.
Although some of the great families would send their kids to Lanshan Institute, the Qi family was afraid that their own children might suffer there as it was very unbearable. The children would have to stay in T City for an extended period of time and it was very far apart from the parents.
Due to that, Jixia decided it was better to cooperate with Lanshan Institute for Wushu classes. They invited a trainer from Lanshan Institute to come over and give classes once a week.
The Qi family did not expect Qi Youxuan to be incredibly skilled; it was enough that it kept him fit and enabled him to deal with some small-time thieves.
As a result, Guan Liya and Qi Zhongxun had fewer chances to see their grandson. Qi Zhongxun originally thought that Qi Youxuan would not be coming over, so he had left to play golf, but would be back before dinner.
Everyone decided to have dinner there before leaving.
Before dinner, they watched the news and heard that it was the flu season. Hospital pediatricians and pediatric centers were filled to the brim with kids.
Ruan Danchen was not quick enough to pay attention to it. On Monday, Qi Youxuan went to school and came back with the flu.
Fortunately, there was no fever, just a constant stream of nasal mucus and repeated sneezing.
The boy was much more afraid of needles than eating medicine, and Ruan Danchen had to go to great lengths to convince him that he would not need a shot unless he got a fever. She coaxed him to eat his medicine, but when the second day came, he began coughing.
Ruan Danchen gave him some sweet orange with a bit of salt, as well as some cough syrup. Qi Youxuan was still coughing madly nonetheless, and even his appetite was lost. Ruan Danchen was worried sick, and she accompanied Qi Youxuan while he slept on the bed.
The incessant coughing, however, made his throat feel pain, and Qi Youxuan struggled to fall asleep. In the end, he even vomited out what little food he had had earlier that night.
Ruan Danchen called Qi Chenglin back immediately. She covered Qi Youxuan in thick fleece clothing, carried him up into the car, and went to the hospital.
Qi Youxuan was suffering terribly, so even if he was afraid of the needle, he did not have any more protests. He did not look at the needle and skittishly buried himself in Ruan Danchen’s embrace.
Ruan Danchen felt heartbroken and consoled him endlessly. The sight of him being listless, unable to sleep, painful in the throat, and letting out tears made her wish she could bear all that suffering on behalf of him.
After measuring his temperature, he was deemed as not having a fever, so the shot given was to reduce inflammation. It worked like a charm as Qi Youxuan stopped coughing and his throat did not hurt anymore. Since he had been so tired for about half the night, he fell asleep immediately after going home and laid his head on the bed.
The next day, Ruan Danchen told Qi Chenglin to apply medical leave from school so Qi Youxuan could rest at home for one day. It saved him the trouble of going to school with a weak body and dark circles around his eyes since he had only slept for about three hours throughout the entire night.
Lack of rest would lower the body’s immune system, and since Jixia Elementary School’s kids could not escape the flu, the cross-infection would make his sickness even worse.
Ruan Danchen applied for leave too so she could take care of Qi Youxuan at home.
When Manager Zou heard that she wanted to stay home and take care of Qilin’s Little Master, he immediately agreed and asked if one day was enough.
Ruan Danchen cared deeply for Qi Youxuan but she would not let him stay home for too long. She figured that a day’s rest would be enough, so she said yes to Manager Zou.
Qi Youxuan lay on the bed, and Ruan Danchen decided to just accompany him in his room.
When lunchtime came, Qi Youxuan was feeling much better. He said, “Aunt Ruan, I wanna eat noodles.”
Ruan Danchen immediately went and cooked him a bowl without saying anything further.
Qi Youxuan ate and ate, but all of a sudden, he turned to look at her with teary eyes.
“What is it? Do you feel terrible again?” Ruan Danchen touched his forehead immediately. “Do you feel worse?”
Qi Youxuan shook his head. “Whenever I was sick last time, Aunt Zheng was the only one who cared for me like this. It feels wonderful to have you taking care of me.”
“I’ll always take care of you in the future,” Ruan Danchen smiled and said. If it was not for the bowl that she held in her hand, she would have immediately pulled Youxuan into her embrace.
A child who lacks a mother may receive love and care from others but it would never be the same thing.
The one thing she simply could not stand looking at was Qi Youxuan’s desolate-looking demeanor.
“Will you get married to Dad?” Qi Youxuan looked up and asked, still somewhat apprehensive.
“As long as it’s possible, I will.” Ruan Danchen did not want to lie, because there may still be a possibility that the Shen family may cause it to fail. She did not want the boy to feel disappointed.
“Back at Uncle’s house, Dad said that he will marry you. He said he will definitely succeed,” Qi Youxuan said. Although he and Qi Chenglin sometimes traded banter with each other, the boy still trusted his father very much.
“Yes.” Ruan Danchen nodded.
Qi Youxuan felt as though a large rock had been lifted from his heart. It was then that he continued eating his noodles.
…
…
Qi Chenglin came home at four in the evening, and by then Qi Youxuan’s condition had already improved.
Seeing Qi Chenglin enter, Ruan Danchen looked at him in surprise. “Why are you back so early?”
“I’m worried that you’ll be too tired alone at home,” Qi Chenglin said.
“I’m not alone. Aunt Yang is with me, isn’t she?” Ruan Danchen took the black wool coat that he had taken off. “But you, did you rush your work at the company just so you can come back home earlier?”
She was spot on with that guess, because he even had to skip a dinner party.
Qi Chenglin would never admit to it and simply said, “No, I didn’t have much work today to begin with.”
Ruan Danchen tentatively believed it.
“How is Youxuan?” QI Chenglin asked.
“He’s more energetic.” Ruan Danchen draped Qi Chenglin’s jacket over her arm and followed Qi Chenglin into the room. Once Qi Chenglin changed his clothes, they went to see Qi Youxuan.
Qi Youxuan was seen to be eating a soup of white fungus, lotus seeds, and rock sugar that Ruan Danchen had boiled for him. As he drank, he held a comic and was reading it. He looked very comfortable and it seemed that his vitality had increased exponentially.
Hearing the door swing open, Qi Youxuan looked up and called out in shock, “Dad, you came back so early! Are you worried about me?”
Qi Chenglin actually wanted to go home to help Ruan Danchen with everything, but when he saw the little boy’s joyous expression and beady huge eyes, he could not bring himself to disappoint his son. He simply responded with a simple, “Mm.”
“Really, Dad! You’re worried about me but you’re still embarrassed?” Qi Youxuan misunderstood Qi Chenglin’s reaction.
Qi Chenglin was speechless.
“Youxuan, what do you want to eat tonight?” Ruan Danchen asked.
“I wanna eat sweet-and-sour pork ribs, braised prawns, fried chicken wings, and meat skewers.” The image of all that food floated in QI Youxuan’s mind as he mentioned all that, and it was like he could smell the aroma already. He began salivating almost immediately.
Qi Chenglin blinked couple of times and twitched his lip. “Looks like you’re all good, and since that’s the case, you can go to school tomorrow.”
Qi Youxuan, “…”
“I have a headache.” Qi Youxuan threw his comic book and placed his tubby hand on his head.
Qi Chenglin, “…”
“Get up,” Qi Chenglin said. “Xiao Yang went to school to take down everything that was taught today. He’ll teach you tonight. Make sure you study. You can’t fall behind on your work.”
Qi Youxuan could not do anything about it. He placed his bowl down, came down unwillingly from his little bed, then took the bowl and went out.
…
…
When dinner came, Ruan Danchen did not cook not all of the dishes that Qi Youxuan wanted. He was still sick, so he could not be eating so much heaty things. Ruan Danchen could only cook the sweet-and-sour ribs, and the rest were all blander and less heaty.
…
…
The next morning, Qi Youxuan’s energy had returned completely, but Ruan Danchen was the one who got infected by his flu.
She felt lethargic when she got up, and at the time, Qi Chenglin was still asleep. She wanted to wake up quietly, but an itchy nose caught her by surprise and she sneezed loudly, thereby waking Qi Chenglin up.
Ruan Danchen could feel that her nose was blocked completely. It felt sore, itchy, and she could not stop sniffling.
“What is it? Did you get a cold?” Qi Chenglin sat up straight and massaged his face. Once he was slightly more awake, he looked at the sniffling Ruan Danchen beside him.
“I think so. My nose is sore, and I feel like my body is hot,” Ruan Danchen said. Her nose was feeling incredibly uncomfortable and she struggled to keep her eyes open.
Qi Chenglin held her forehead immediately to gauge if she was having a fever.
“How about you take leave today and not go to work?” Qi Chenglin said. It did not occur to him that the elder one in his home would get sick just barely before the younger one got better.
“No need for that. It’s just a flu. I’ve already taken leave yesterday. It won’t be good if I don’t go again today,” Ruan Danchen said. She had just started working and already taken two days’ worth of leave.
Qi Chenglin could not pressure her either, so he could only accept it although he wanted to take better care of her body in the company.
He told Aunt Zheng to get some flu medicine so Ruan Danchen could bring them with her.
When she left the house, Ruan Danchen and Qi Youxuan both wore masks respectively. Ruan Danchen wore her mask rather normally, but Qi Youxuan’s mask had a picture of a pig’s nose. Wearing it made him look like a little, whimpering piglet.
Qi Chenglin could not help but smile upon seeing that.
He first sent the boy to Jixia Elementary School, then Ruan Danchen sat in the front passenger seat. Qi Chenglin looked at her sufferable, heavy-eyed expression and said, “The on-site survey in the north side of the city is scheduled for tomorrow. How about we change the dates?”
“It’s already been decided, and you’re so busy. If we change the dates, it’ll throw off all your earlier plans. I’ll be fine,” Ruan Danchen said.
Qi Chenglin was not required to personally make the visit to the city’s north side and survey the property. However, Ruan Danchen’s relative newness in Qilin would make her an easy target to denounce if she did not do any work.
Ever since Ruan Danchen was in Chengshi, Qi Chenglin had already decided to give that project to Ruan Danchen. Whichever company it may be that Ruan Danchen worked in, the project would still follow her wherever she went.
Nevertheless, it was impossible for him not to follow her to the northern district if she went. From Qi Chenglin’s point of view, it was either they both went or did not go.
If they did not go, however, it would not look good when the contract came and had Ruan Danchen’s name on it.
Ruan Danchen sniffled again and sucked on a lozenge. She turned to him and said, “You don’t really need to go.”
Qi Chenglin looked at her and reached for her hand with his slender fingers. “We don’t get much time to be alone together. This is the only time we have. Most of the time, Youxuan is this high-wattage lightbulb that comes between us. It’s difficult for us to find a moment where we can spend alone.”
“…” Ruan Danchen thought about how he said that Youxuan was a high-wattage lightbulb, but since they were on a business trip, they would have so many colleagues around them. How high would the wattage be then?
The wattage would not only be high, but the number of lightbulbs would be plenty too.
…
…
When noon came, Ruan Danchen seized a moment when no one was looking and sneaked into Qi Chenglin’s office.
She had no appetite due to her flu, so Qi Chenglin specifically ordered some bland dishes for her. Ruan Danchen looked at the table full of veggies and said, “Is this enough for you?”
“If I’m still hungry, I’ll get someone to order takeout,” Qi Chenglin said. He had already handed her the chopsticks.
After the meal, Qi Chenglin paid attention to the time and gave Ruan Danchen her medicine, after which he let her sleep in his office for some time. Drowsiness was prevalent whenever one took flu medicine, so the hazy Ruan Danchen soon fell asleep.
Before she slept however, she made a point to set an alarm to ring just before lunch break ended. She left the office but was shocked to see a couple of people from the secretary’s office, all of which had just come back from lunch. They were quite shocked to see Ruan Danchen coming out of the general manager’s office.
Fortunately, Jiang Lai reacted quickly. He took a stack of documents and shoved them to Ruan Danchen, saying, “I’m so sorry to call you over for work at the last minute.”
“It’s fine,” Ruan Danchen speedily took advantage of his help to get her out of the situation and subsequently went down.
Those from the secretary’s office retracted their shocked gaze and went back to their office.
Ruan Danchen flashed a grateful smile to Jiang Yuan. In response, he returned the smile and nodded. Ruan Danchen then made her way to the design department.
As soon as the second half of the working day was underway, Manager Zou came in.
He audibly clapped his hands twice to draw in the attention of the employees. He said, “Let me make an announcement regarding the on-site survey trip tomorrow with the general manager. The general manager has chosen three designers and I’ll announce the name list.”
Everyone’s ears perked up and they all wanted to vie for that opportunity.
Ever since Qi Chenglin mentioned it the last time around, everyone in the office began secretly currying favor with Manager Zou.
“On this occasion, Senior Du will lead the group. Chen Siyu and Ruan Danchen will be going along,” Manager Zou said.
Those who were not selected frowned. They had no objections with Senior Du and Chen Siyu, but Ruan Danchen was a newbie at Qilin. She may be the good friend of the director’s wife, but surely it was unacceptable to do all that?
“Manager Zou, why does a newcomer like Ruan Danchen have the chance to get such a big project within such a short span of time?” None of them voiced out their objections and Yao Jingfei was the first to speak up. “Does the general manager want to suck up to her simply because she has a good relationship with the director’s wife?”
Manager Zou cocked an eyebrow and twitched his lip. “You’re a board member’s daughter, but do you see me trying to suck up to you? Why does everything have to do with you? No one’s even said anything about it yet. Why are you, an assistant designer, nitpicking on other people’s business? If everything’s unfair to you, then resign immediately. I don’t need you bringing all this negativity into this department!”
Yao Jingfei’s face reddened from Manager Zou’s chastising. She then heard him say, “You complain that Danchen has no work to do, but now that she has work to you, you still complain. Will you only stop complaining if she stops working here?”
Yao Jingfei’s face turned a greenish shade. She felt that Manager Zou was continuously finding fault with her.
“Let me put it on record that our department doesn’t pay its worker to be idle. I’ve been looking for a job to give Danchen and this is a good opportunity. We can’t just let her stay idle without doing anything right? Besides, she’s not the only one doing the designing and won’t be the only person to complete this project. She will be cooperating with Senior Du and Chen Siyu. In the meantime, I’ll use this as an opportunity to assess Ruan Danchen’s capability. If she’s not up to the task, I might replace her with someone else midway. I’m not just directing my words at Ruan Danchen; I’m directing it to every single one of you,” Manager Zou said.
With that, no one else had any objections anymore.
That was only a brief episode. When Friday came, Ruan Danchen, Senior Du, and Chen Siyu brought came with their luggage bags on them.
Before they left the house in the morning, Qi Youxuan saw the two luggage bags that the adults had placed at the front entrance. All of a sudden, he had a rather bad feeling.
“Dad, are you thinking of eloping with Aunt Ruan?” Qi Youxuan held on tight to Ruan Danchen’s clothes and showed no sign of letting go. He was afraid that the two grown-ups would just silently leave him behind.
That was unacceptable—he already had no mother and could not possibly lose his father too.
He still remembered the one time he was watching movies at his grandma’s house. The movie depicted a young woman who was abducted and sold off to a family in a remote village. She became the family’s daughter-in-law and attempted to escape. She failed in the first attempt, and soon after, she became pregnant with that man’s child.
The woman utilized her gestation period to begin hatching an escape plan. Once she gave birth to the child, she secretly made a run for it.
In the movie, the woman’s packed her stuff silently, and Qi Youxuan felt as though the same scenario was unfolding before him.
The corner of Qi Chenglin’s eyes twitched. “What kind of nonsense movie did you watch again?”
Qi Youxuan pouted without saying anything. He leaned deeper into Ruan Danchen. “If you’re eloping, can you bring me too? I promise not to cause trouble for the both of you and I’ll just eat less in the future.”
“Stop thinking all that nonsense.” Ruan Danchen patted Qi Youxuan’s head. “We’re not eloping. We’re going on a business trip.”
Qi Youxuan blinked rapidly, seemingly unconvinced.
“It’s true.” Ruan Danchen then began explaining, “We’re in the same company, aren’t we? Coincidentally, we’re going on a business trip together. We’ll be back tomorrow.”
“We won’t be back tonight, so Xiao Yang will pick you up tonight and send you directly to Grandpa’s house,” Qi Chenglin said.
Qi Youxuan turned to look at the two luggage bags as though still skeptical of the veracity of their words.
Ruan Danchen pointed at the luggage bags and said, “See, we didn’t bring too many things. No one elopes with such few items on them. Our toiletries are just enough for tonight and tomorrow, and we only brought a set of clothes to change tomorrow. Nothing else.”
Only then did Qi Youxuan believe her, albeit with some doubt. He remained that way until they sent him to school. Qi Youxuan got down from the car and looked at the back seat, with no one being able to guess what he was thinking about.
…
…
In the afternoon, Manager Zou sent word to the three employees—including Ruan Danchen—who were tasked to go to the northern district of the city. A little over four o’clock, they brought their luggage bags and gathered in the lobby.
As Ruan Danchen reached for hers, she let out an abrupt sneeze.
Senior Du passed by her and said caringly, “Is your body feeling okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine, it’s just a normal flu,” Ruan Danchen shook her head and said.
Yao Jingfei lips twitched. “Came down with flu, but still stubbornly wants to join.”
Senior Du noticed that Ruan Danchen took the liberty of wearing a mask so she had no objections to it. No one was bothered with Yao Jingfei and they all carried their luggage bags down.
On that particular business trip, Qi Chenglin joined and so did Luo Yushu.
Luo Yushu felt that he was quite fated with the Qi family’s significant others. In an earlier business trip, the director got together with Song Yu. Although the general manager and Ruan Danchen were already together during the present trip, only he, Jiang Yuan, and the general manager himself knew about the situation.
When Ruan Danchen and the two others reached the ground floor, Luo Yushu was surprisingly already waiting for them there.
Upon seeing them, Luo Yushu stood up and smiled warmly, “Everyone’s here. Sit, sit, sit.”
Luo Yushu seamlessly and voluntarily took Ruan Danchen’s luggage from her hands and vacated his seat for her.
Not long later, Qi Chenglin and Jiang Yuan came and sat down as well.
Senior Du and the others immediately greeted him with much courtesy, “General Manager.”
They did not usually report directly to Qi Chenglin, and the most they would interact with him was when they greeted him in the company. They never interacted that closely with him before, and that caused them to be slightly nervous.
Although Chen Siyu did not have any improper thoughts toward Qi Chenglin, his positive character and grounded demeanor prompted her to sneak a few peeks at him.
Ruan Danchen followed suit and greeted vaguely “General Manager.” Qi Chenglin, however, had his attention focused on her ever since he showed up. As ambiguous as she sounded, Qi Chenglin could hear it from him, and at the same time, he looked at her with a tiny hint of sarcasm in his eyes.
“Let’s go,” Qi Chenglin said.
All of them got into a seven-seater Benz that was used for business purposes. Qi Chenglin no longer chose to ride in his own car. The atmosphere therefore became very tense, especially with Senior Du and Chen Siyu, who did not dare to make a single peep.
Luo Yushu smiled and asked, “Anyone here gets carsick? I have some anti-motion sickness medicines here.”
No one there got carsick because it was wintertime. The heat was turned up in the car and the air was rather stuffy, causing the discomfort in Ruan Danchen’s nose to increase even more. She sniffled countless times and narrowed her eyes. Her face constantly looked as though she had the urge to sneeze but was unable to do so.
Qi Chenglin gave Jiang Yuan a look, and the latter immediately took out a small tube of medicine. “Miss Ruan, try this. It’ll clear up your sinuses with a tiny application.”
Ruan Danchen blushed and glimpsed at Qi Chenglin before taking it. With her mask still on, she dabbed it on her nostrils. Jiang Yuan did not take it back from her and simply allowed her to keep it.
Throughout the journey, Ruan Danchen had the feeling that Qi Chenglin kept looking at her. ‘Can he be a bit more low-key?’ She was feeling an immense pressure there.
In the end, she decided to just look out the window, even though there was nothing to see outside. Despite that, her hindbrain was feeling Qi Chenglin’s luminous gaze.
When they reached the destination, her neck was sore and she nearly failed to twist it back to normal.
Everyone proceeded to get off the car, but for some reason, Qi Chenglin was the last to get off. He took the opportunity to disembark with Ruan Danchen when everyone else was not looking.
“Does your neck feel sore?” Qi Chenglin kept a low voice but it was still crystal clear to her. He had directly leaned into her ear when he said that.
She did not realize it but when Qi Chenglin was at the end of the line, Jiang Yuan and Luo Yushu tacitly inserted themselves in front of Ruan Danchen, thereby effectively separating the other women from Ruan Danchen like a screen. Senior Du and Chen Siyu were not tall either, so they were still unable to see anything if they turned around.
Ruan Danchen however, still felt guilty and red-faced. She reacted like a spooked bunny, almost causing Qi Chenglin to laugh.
The ear that he previously blew at became really itchy and she covered it instantly. Her fingers pinched her ear and she said, “Who told you to keep on looking at me throughout the journey. You weren’t even afraid that someone might spread a rumor that you were committing sexual harassment.”
“That’s perfect then. I have a justification to harass you every day then,” Qi Chenglin said smilingly. He even put his words into practice and pinched her on her bum. He retracted his hand incredibly swiftly, as if he did not even do anything at all.
Ruan Danchen nearly shouted. She did not expect him to act in such a way at all. She looked up with a reddened face and glared at him, but all she saw was the side profile of his composed face, as though the one who pinched her was someone else entirely.
His eyes remained as calm as ever and he even looked down at her in bewilderment. Ruan Danchen even began to suspect that he was not the culprit and nearly turned around in search of the ‘true culprit’.
