Xia Yu was about to open the door with a key when Lv Wushuang opened it from the inside. Lv Wusuang peaked out and said, "Wait a minute! I definitely hear the sound of a car."
"Don"t look. It"s gone." Xia Yu pushed Lv Wushuang inside.
"Auntie! Auntie Lv and Auntie Wu told me that you were in a relations.h.i.+p with my dad." Jiangjiang asked Xia Yu with great caution while grabbing a corner of her jacket.
Xia Yu took Jiangjiang"s hand and led him to the sofa. She sat down and brought Jiangjiang next to her before pointing at Auntie Yu and Auntie Wu, "Jesus! You guys said nonsense even in front of a child!"
Lv Wushuang hurriedly waved her hands, "No, we have never said that!"
Jiangjiang looked at them and said, "No, you did!"
"Jiangjiang, my sweetie! Tell Auntie, what did they say?" Xia Yu held Jiangjiang"s head and let him face her.
"They said that today Shen Yan would definitely confess to Auntie. My dad is called Shen Yan, so you must be in a relations.h.i.+p with my dad, right?" Jiangjiang whispered to Xia Yu.
"Jiangjiang, the name of your Auntie"s boyfriend is Shen Yan, but he"s not your dad." Lv Wushuang rushed over and explained it to Jiangjiang.
"Auntie"s boyfriend shares the same name as my dad?" Jiangjiang asked while slightly tilting his head. He was so worried that his mom and he would be abandoned by his father if his father was in a relations.h.i.+p with Xia Yu.
"No, your dad"s name is not Shen Yan." Lv Wushuang tried to explain helplessly.
Jiangjiang thought about it with a tilted head for a little while, "That"s weird. My mom said the same thing. But Auntie Yang Ling said that my dad didn"t want me to be with my mom, and mom hated dad for that. That was why she said he wasn"t my dad."
That was how Yang Ling lied to a child! She was not that old. How come her character was so twisted!?
Lv Wushuang brought Jiangjiang to her lap, "Auntie Yang Ling isn"t a kind person! Don"t believe her! Listen. That old lady in the hospital is your grandmother. Her son is your dad!"
Jiangjiang said, "I know she is my grandmother. But mom also said the man who held me that day was my dad."
Jiangjiang was so confused again after a while.
Xia Yu rushed over and held Jiangjiang to her chest, "Let"s not talk about who your dad is right now. You"ll know when you grow up. Let"s talk about your new kindergarten. The teachers and children there are preparing a welcome ceremony with many programs. Have you prepared anything?"
"But I can"t sing or dance. The only thing I know is to paint. What can I do?" Jiangjiang said in a worrisome tone.
"Go ahead and paint something for the children! I"m sure they"ll be very happy." Xia Yu said.
"All right!" Jiangjiang ran to his room to paint.
After Jiangjiang shut the door, Xia Yu said, "Don"t mention Shen Yan in front of him. He"s just a child! He"s very sensitive."
Wu s.h.i.+yu nodded in agreement. Although she didn"t spend a long time with Jiangjiang, she could feel his maturity was beyond his age.
"Poor child! How will he live his life in the future?" Lv Wushuang had always felt that the G.o.ddess of Fortune never smiled at her. Now, she understood that she led such a happy life compared to Jiangjiang.
Although her parents were greedy and preferred boys over girls, she could grow up under their protection and attend a college. But Jiangjiang probably would not enjoy this life and he would either live with his grandmother in the suburbs or be sent to an orphanage.
"This is really an issue!" Xia Yu heaved a sigh and said that Jiang Yayan was indeed pitiful, but she provoked someone who should not be provoked, not to mention the amount she tried to blackmail was huge. Xia Yu really did not know how many years Jiang Yayan would be sentenced.
They lamented for Jiang Yayan for a while. Finally, Wu s.h.i.+yu changed the topic, "Xia Yu, did you meet his parents today?"
Wu s.h.i.+yu and Li Yan saw Xia Yu when they were dining at Ruyi Restaurant. They wanted to say hi but did not do that once they realized Mr. Shen Mo was present too.
"Dear sister! Your imagination is beyond words! Meet parents? Yang Ke"er"s dinner invitation was her effort to show off her relations.h.i.+p with Shen Yan. We ran into Shen Mo who happened to dine with Zeng Mina and Old Madame. So we basically combined the tables." Xia Yu was shaking her head. The second Young Master of Shen family appeared to lead a fancy life but actually he could not have a say in his own marriage.
Last night, Shen Yan swore that he wanted to be in a relations.h.i.+p with Xia Yu. Less than 24 hours later, he brought Yang Ke"er to the company the next morning. Well, Xia Yu didn"t know how long she would keep this job.
"Are you serious?" Wu s.h.i.+yu stared at Xia Yu with widened eyes. "In this situation, why are you going back to Tengfei?"
"I"m thinking about getting a new job since Jiang Yayan asks me to take care of Jiangjiang. It looks like she wants me to keep taking care of him. Let me just leave S city and bring Jiangjiang to somewhere far away." Xia Yu was thinking about living in a new environment.
"Xia Yu, are you serious? Leave S city and cut Young Master Yan out of your life forever? Are you willing to do that?" Lv Wushuang asked.
Xia Yu laughed, "He isn"t someone important to me. It"s not a matter of willingness."
Even if Xia Yu was not willing to let go of Shen Yan, who was not in charge of his own relations.h.i.+p, she had to cut her losses. Xia Yu knew that very well.
"Xia Yu, please think twice!" Xia Yu was willing to save Shen Yan at the expense of offending Shen Mo and Zhang Hanyu. Was it even possible that she didn"t care about Shen Yan?
Although Wu s.h.i.+yu was also angry with Shen Yan"s indecisiveness, she didn"t want Xia Yu"s feelings to die prematurely as the mutual affection was hard-earned.
She knew Xia Yu too well. If she missed Shen Yan this time, G.o.d knew when she"d fall in love again.
"Sister, I know this too well. If Shen Mo was willing to be engaged to Zeng Mina for his own interests, Shen Yan would be willing to be engaged to Yang Ke"er. If it"s not the time to draw a demarcation line with him, then when? The moment they are engaged with each other?" She probably would feel even worse when that happened. It"d be easier if there were never any feelings between them.
"Xia Yu, you"re not the same as me." Wu s.h.i.+yu knew how it felt like too well ‒ that bitterness chiseled deep in her heart. But Xia Yu was too calm which was not like a young lady. Wu s.h.i.+yu didn"t want that for her.
Xia Yu smiled, "Why are we different? All are equal in relations.h.i.+ps. If he"s not willing to do this for me, I"m not confident to bet the happiness of the rest of my life on him."
"Ok, that"s reasonable." Wu s.h.i.+yu stopped giving advice as she knew the ruthlessness of Shen Family too well.
Jiangjiang brought his finished painting to Xia Yu who in turn pa.s.sed it down to Wu s.h.i.+yu and Lv Wushuang. They praised Jiangjiang for a while before Xia Yu took him to take a shower and go to bed.
The next day, Xia Yu first sent Jiangjiang to kindergarten before going to work.
When Xia Yu arrived at the office, she realized that her colleagues" laughter was quite sinister. Xia Yu asked what happened but only met with more sinister laughter. No one answered her question.
Xia Yu took a bewildered look at everyone and pushed open her office door. There, a giant bouquet of roses stood on her desk. Xia Yu patted her head, aha! That was why everyone was laughing like that.
She peaked out of her office door and waved the flowers in front of everyone, "Did anyone know who sent the flowers?"
Everyone nodded, and the laughter grew even more "rosy". They all pointed their fingers at Shen Yan"s office.
Him? Xia Yu pointed too.
Everyone quickly gave an affirmative answer. It was him!
Was he ok? He was full of whispers of love with Yang Ke"er yesterday, and less than a day later he just placed a bouquet of roses on my desk? What was that about?!
Xia Yu knocked on Shen Yan"s office door holding those flowers.
"Come in!" Shen Yan answered.
Xia Yu pushed open Shen Yan"s door. She asked him wearing a warm smile while pointing at the flowers in her hand, "Young Master Yan, everyone said you sent these flowers. May I ask what you meant?"
This girl was slow beyond help! What did you think a bouquet of red roses meant?!
Shen Yan asked with a lopsided smile, "Miss Xia Yu, have you ever received flowers?"
"We can talk about this later. You answer my question first! Who do you want me to send these flowers to? Tell me!" Xia Yu didn"t have time to talk nonsense.
Asked her to send the flowers to someone else? Shen Yan"s face turned green. They were not on the same page!
"Xia Yu!" Shen Yan screamed.
"Here!" Xia Yu spoke with the clearest articulation.
"How old are you? Do you actually need me to teach you how to be in a relations.h.i.+p?" Shen Yan had an impulse to rush over and choke her to death. How many times had he told her to take him seriously by now?
"I"m 25. I have not been in as many relations.h.i.+ps as you did. But anyway, I fell in love before. What does it have to do with the flowers?" Xia Yu gazed into Shen Yan"s eyes with the tips of her lips arching upward.
"Xia Yu! I want to court you. Don"t you know that?" Shen Yan was so angry that he quitted all his temper.
"Why didn"t you say that to Yang Ke"er and your grandmother yesterday?" Xia Yu looked at him calmly.
"Are you ... jealous?" Shen Yan started to laugh suddenly.
"Young Master Yan, it"s not what you think. I just want to remind you that it is ok to court me, but you have to tell your family clearly that you"ll cut off your relations.h.i.+ps with all other women. I can"t stand the fact that there are other women. Do you understand?" Xia Yu threw the flowers in his arms.
Shen Yan took a look at the beautiful flowers in his chest and smiled with his foxlike eyes arching upward, "Aren"t you jealous?"
Xia Yu made a sign of a pulse, "You"re wrong! That"s the basic criterion of courting me. If you meet the criterion, go ahead and court me! If not, don"t even think about it! I just return the flowers to you. Don"t place flowers on my desk at your will in the future so that no one will misunderstand."
Xia Yu immediately turned around and left after saying that.
"Wait. Yang Ke"er isn"t my girlfriend." Shen Yan grabbed her arm.
Xia Yu took a look at the big hand on her arm and pushed it away. She turned around with a serious face, "Why didn"t you say that to your grandmother yesterday? She"s not your girlfriend, but I am? If so, I"ll accept the flowers. "
"No, Xia Yu, you know my grandmother is old. I..." Shen Yan really didn"t have a proper answer for Xia Yu"s pressing questions. The eloquence he"s been so proud of going straight out of the window.
"Young Master Yan, you want me to be your mistress?" Xia Yu smeared, "You"ve known me for a long time. Sorry, I"m not interested."
"No, Xia Yu, I never thought about it. Really." Shen Yan panicked. The more he wanted to explain to Xia Yu, the worse his explanation became.
"Thanks for your respect, Young Master Yan. But your Shen Family is very high up in society, and I doubt that I won"t be qualified to join your family. That"s all what I want to say." Xia Yu pushed the door open after saying that.
"Xia Yu, is our Shen Family so shameless in your eyes?" The voice of Second Madame appeared behind Xia Yu"s back.
She"s here too? Xia Yu was stunned and didn"t know whether to continue walking or to turn around.