Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“…” The leader felt that it was a test of mental fortitude just to try and look after his national treasure.
No one would have expected that the renowned Mr. Ruan Lichuan—their country’s national treasure who did so much to expand scientific knowledge and human advancement—was such a shameless person.
“I haven’t met her for twenty-seven years. My granddaughter misses her grandpa. I can’t just leave after going back. It isn’t good to let her feel sad. You can’t expect me to decline a family reunion just because of a meeting, right?” Finally seeing his assistant arrive, the old man urged him on, “Quick, start the car. I’m anxious to go home and meet my granddaughter!”
The leader was quiet. He twitched his lip and said, “Come back soon.”
The call was subsequently hung up, as he did not want to continue speaking with that old national treasure anymore.
…
The Ruan family did not know that Grandfather Ruan was making his way back energetically. At that time, Qi Youxuan went out of the manor due to boredom, and he intended to head over to any one of the neighbor’s houses to freeload on some meat.
“Youxuan!” A shocked voice called out, causing goosebumps to cover the little boy’s skin.
Turning to look, the voice was discovered to belong to Wu Qiaoyin, who began walking over leisurely once she saw him.
The weather was warm, so she wore a loose pink sweatshirt. She specifically bought a size up, so the collar was a bit loose. Her collar bone was exposed and one wrong step would expose one of her shoulders.
The sleeves were so long that only the tips of her three longest fingers were visible. The lower half of her body was clad in a pair of skintight, washed-out light-grey jeans.
She stood firmly in front of Qi Youxuan and bent down by placing her hands on her knees. She smiled coyly, “Why are you out here alone?”
The little boy hid his impatience and stared at her, saying, “I’m going to play with my friends.”
“But how could your mommy let you come out alone? It’s so dangerous,” Wu Qiaoyin frowned and remarked disapprovingly as if Ruan Danchen was inept at taking care of children.
“Does your mommy know that you came out here to play alone?” Wu Qiaoyin asked.
“Yes,” Qi Youxuan was not that happy to entertain her anymore.
Wu Qiaoyin did not seem to sense that Qi Youxuan was getting annoyed. Instead, she put on a reproachful look and said, “Last time, Big Sister Ruan said she’s not okay with you being outside alone because she’s worried that you’ll meet bad people. Why is she now allowing you to be alone today?”
Qi Youxuan rolled his eyes figuratively and saw Wu Qiaoyin looking suspiciously at him. “You didn’t sneak out without their knowledge, did you?”
“Auntie, did you get into university by pulling some strings?” Qi Youxuan was unable to bear with it any longer. His eyes shot a disdainful glance at Wu Qiaoyin.
“What do you mean?” Wu Qiaoyin’s voice dimmed down; she was not happy.
The little boy pursed his lip. “There’s plenty of people at home. How’s it possible for me to leave without telling any of my family members? Even if I didn’t tell my mom, I’d have to tell Grandma, Grandpa, Great-Grandma, and Great-Grandpa. At least one of them will see me. Do you still need to ask this kind of question?”
Wu Qiaoyin had never seen such an unlikeable kid before. He was nothing but an ignorant kid, yet he was determined to taunt her as if he was some adult. How did Ruan Danchen educate her children!
“See, my Auntie Song Yu is waving at me by the window.” The little guy pointed his stubby finger at the window. Song Yu saw his action and waved at him.
Qi Chengzhi walked over after seeing her wave her hand. “Who’s outside?”
“Looks like the Wu family’s granddaughter.” Song Yu looked out in disdain.
Grandmother Qi’s unhappiness with how Wu Qiaoyin went to fetch Qi Youxuan behind the boy’s parents’ backs was voiced out when all the Qi family women talked amongst each other. Therefore, Song Yu knew about that as well.
Song Yu also bumped into her before when Zhao Fengchun brought her to meet with Qi Chenglin at Qilin.
Despite the courtyard separating them, Song Yu felt that the woman resembled Wu Qiaoyin.
Qi Chengzhi became annoyed. “Why are there so many shameless people nowadays?”
Song Yu giggled. Despite having a child already, Qi Chengzhi would still meet women who would throw themselves at him whenever he had to attend social niceties or deal with work-related matters. Slightly more reserved ones would covertly try to make their feelings known.
In any case, those women came in waves, just like weeds that could never be burnt because a gust of wind would send them sprouting anew. Song Yu maintained the principle that ignorance was bliss since Qi Chengzhi was not going to let them touch him anyway.
Out of sight, out of mind, but if she saw it happening before her eyes, she would still be disgusted. It was exactly how she felt when she saw Wu Qiaoyin having that same intention toward Qi Chenglin.
“I’ll go have a look and stop her from bothering Youxuan,” Song Yu said.
Qi Chengzhi nodded but did not show any intention to follow suit.
It was best for a woman to handle such situations, and he did not want to get involved.
Song Yu understood his thoughts and was amused by his somewhat beleaguered look. She surreptitiously pinched his fingers and saw his ears turn red. His handsomely thin lips perked up slightly and was as refreshing as the spring breeze.
Just like the warmth which ensued after the snow melted, Song Yu looked at him and fell into a trance.
Qi Chengzhi’s face then turned smug, evidently due to his pride at being able to enchant his wife.
“…” His teasing prompted Song Yu to tiptoe. Qi Chengzhi complemented her by lowering his head, allowing her to place a kiss on his lips. She then said, “My man looks handsome when he smiles.”
After saying that, her feet sprang back to place and she left.
Qi Chengzhi, “…”
Xia Wenna came out of the bathroom and saw patches of red behind her son’s nape, near his collar. He was standing still and looking out the window.
When Song Yu went out, she saw Wu Qiaoyin holding Qi Youxuan’s hand. “It’s too dangerous for you to go out alone. How could your family be so carefree about this? I’ll send you back.”
“Auntie, can you please don’t be like this? My family agreed to let me go out and play. It’s just the neighbor’s house. Why must you bring me back?”‘Aren’t you being a busybody?’ he thought.
The little boy was nearly stupefied by that lady’s moronic behavior. All of a sudden, a divine light illuminated his mind and he looked up suspiciously at Wu Qiaoyin. “Are you planning on using me as an excuse to visit my great-grandpa’s house, so you can get close to my dad and work hard to become a mistress?”
Wu Qiaoyin, “…”
Wu Qiaoyin was fuming more and more as she looked at the boy. His thoughts far exceeded the typical thought processes of ordinary seven-year-olds. To have him hit the nail on the head with that statement out in public was equivalent to having her cloak taken off her.
She nevertheless did not admit that her actions were that of a mistress. She believed that she was disregarding everything else in the name of love!
“You… Don’t talk nonsense, I didn’t!” Wu Qiaoyin’s face reddened. She looked left and right, and seemingly realizing that there was no one, she breathed a sigh of relief. “I was just passing by…”
Wu Qiaoyin paused and put on a shocked expression. “Eh? This is the old madam’s home? Such a coincidence! I didn’t know. I…”
Deep down, Qi Youxuan was feeling bitter as he glared at her. He was very unhappy.
He felt tremendous anger after such a nincompoop treated him as though he was the idiot. Did Wu Qiaoyin really think that he was that stupid to fall for her tricks?
Sensing an approaching person from the corner of his eye, he cried violently even though he did not know who it was. “WAAAA! HELP! Don’t bring me away! Don’t bring me away! I have a family! Help me! This is a child kidnapping! I want to go home! Let go of me! You bad person! Help me! I’m scared! Police! Save me!”
Wu Qiaoyin’s eyes widened in shock as she watched the unethical boy cry at the drop of a hat.
“You… You… Don’t say such nonsense!” Wu Qiaoyin was afraid to let go of him. What if he ran home and made wrong accusations against her?
Aunt Ge ran over and slapped away Wu Qiaoyin’s hand. She shielded the boy behind her and said, “Who are you? What are you doing? You’re such a pretty girl and yet you’re doing such a terrible thing!”
“Granny Ge!” The little boy tugged on Aunt Ge’s hand as if he had seen his own family. “I was going to Granny Zhang’s house to play with Zhang Mingming, but she suddenly grabbed my hand and didn’t want to let me go. She said I was in danger and wanted to bring me home! I don’t know her! I’m scared!” he sobbed uncontrollably.
“Danger? We’re all good neighbors with each other here. Everyone knows everyone here and we’re just like family. What danger are you talking about? You, on the other hand, are so brave that you dare to kidnap children right in front of people’s homes,” Aunt Ge said. She then took out her phone. “Youxuan, don’t worry, Granny’s here for you. No one’s taking you. I’m calling the police now. We’ll let the police catch her! Child trafficking is too vile! Such a cute child. You want to take him away from his own house? What kind of sick person are you!”
Wu Qiaoyin saw that the old lady had speedily dialed 110. She was so scared that she covered Aunt Ge’s phone to prevent the latter from placing the phone to her ear.
She was not afraid of a wrongful accusation because she was not a child trafficker to begin with. It was an easy matter to deal with due to her status as the Wu family’s daughter, but it would be unsavory if word got out.
At that time, Wu Qiaoyin saw Song Yu walking slowly out from the Qi manor entrance.
Song Yu heard Qi Youxuan’s words and knew that the little boy would not find himself at a disadvantage. It was beneficial for him to throw a few snarky remarks at Wu Qiaoyin.
Song Yu appeared at the most opportune time.
“Big Sister Song!” Wu Qiaoyin called out emotionally. “Come and explain the situation. I’m not a bad person. I’m not trying to kidnap Youxuan.”
She stomped her foot at Qi Youxuan. “You… You’re a small kid. How could you lie?”
Qi Youxuan froze and his expression turned bleak.
He had always been taught not to lie and he looked down at Chang Jianan’s pathological lying.
At that point however, he realized that he had just lied.
Song Yu narrowed her eyes and looked unhappily at Wu Qiaoyin. She took Qi Youxuan into her arms and asked coldly, “Who are you, Miss? I don’t know you.”
“You…” Wu Qiaoyin was speechless. She was not formally introduced to Song Yu before and had merely met in passing at Qilin. What she heard from others was that this Song Yu was Qi Chengzhi’s wife.
“My mom is friends with Auntie Guan. We know each other!” Wu Qiaoyin said. She felt wronged and her voice was particularly feeble.
“I’m sorry, I’ve never heard my aunt speak of you and I don’t know you either. Please stay away from Youxuan,” Song Yu warned icily. “Otherwise I’ll call the police.”
“You… How could you do that? I’m not a bad person! I really know him!” Wu Qiaoyin’s voice was bordering on crying.
“Youxuan doesn’t know you. Miss, please don’t continue to stay here,” Song Yu requested coldly.
“He… He’s lying!” Wu Qiaoyin was practically jumping in anger.
“Oh my, our Youxuan’s a good kid. He never lies!” Aunt Ge remarked unhappily. “Even good-looking people are criminals nowadays. You dress so nicely, young lady, but why are you doing such terrible things.”
Seeing Song Yu come out, Aunt Ge hung up and chose not to actually make a police report. After all, the Qi family’s issue was best left to themselves to deal with it.
Wu Qiaoyin did not look like someone who knew her place and Aunt Ge was not stupid. She knew that Wu Qiaoyin definitely knew both of them, but since neither admitted it, Aunt Ge understood that something was up and wondered what improper thoughts Wu Qiaoyin had.
The Qi family’s grandsons were all excellent people, especially the eldest and second eldest. Both of them were married, but women still went up to them. That was common knowledge to everyone.
Aunt Ge realized that after seeing how Wu Qiaoyin was pestering Qi Youxuan.
Once that thought occurred to her, Aunt Ge shouted, “Why is a young lady like you kidnapping children? A dog has eaten your heart!”
