Chapter 768: A Million Times for You (130)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
An Xiaoning was sitting in between Jin Qingyan and Jin Yiheng on the couch while having her bowl of dumplings. Both father and son vied with each other for her attention and demanded her to feed them.
In the end, she only got to have a morsel of the dumplings for she had fed the rest to them.
“Mommy, you don’t have to feed him anymore, he’s already had his breakfast!” Jin Yiheng protested.
“You’ve already eaten too, haven’t you?” Jin Qingyan bellowed, warning him not to be a troublemaker.
“I’m not full yet. Mommy, look, he’s glaring at me!”
“…”
“Auntie Chen, please prepare another bowl of dumplings, we don’t have enough…”
“Alright.”
After breakfast, An Xiaoning decided to bring Jin Yiheng to the Gu, Jin, and Lin families’ homes to pay them a visit to celebrate the New Year. However, Jin Qingyan instructed her to leave first and meet up with them at a later time outside.
“What’s the difference?”
“The difference is huge, come with me.” Jin Qingyan grabbed her wrist in a bid to pull her away. Yet, An Xiaoning was stopped by her son, who pulled her other wrist.
“Daddy, where are you taking my Mommy?”
“Let go,” Jin Qingyan said sternly.
“No.” Jin Yiheng closed his eyes, pretending not to notice his expression.
“Yiheng, I have to go settle something with Daddy. Wait for us here, we’ll meet again later,” said An Xiaoning.
Jin Yiheng then let go of her and watched as his father brought his dearest mother away.
Jin Qingyan took An Xiaoning to the wine cellar in the house.
“What are we here for?”
He smiled and kept quiet. He then gave one of the shelves a little push, after which an opening to a pa.s.sageway appeared all of a sudden. Jin Qingyan held his torchlight up and led her inside.
They made their way down the stairs slowly and An Xiaoning discovered that there was a whole new world in the bas.e.m.e.nt.
It was a secret pa.s.sageway.
Anyone could tell.
“Where does this pa.s.sageway lead to?”
“Outside of Wei Ni Estate. No one else knows about this secret pa.s.sageway. You may come in from here when you miss me in the future.”
“Who’d miss you?”
He was in high spirits and felt as if their relations.h.i.+p had returned to the way it was during their blissful days.
An Xiaoning followed closely behind him as they paced out of the pa.s.sageway.
After about twenty minutes, they finally made it out.
He gave one of the bricks in the seamless wall a little push to open the hidden door, which led to a washroom that was used as a facade.
However, the washroom was dead silent and required a pa.s.scode to be accessed.
If she didn’t witness it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have known that the washroom was an opening to a secret pa.s.sageway.
After exiting the washroom, An Xiaoning scanned her surroundings to see that it was extremely near Sanqiao Estate. We must’ve walked for such a long distance because we had to pa.s.s by Wei Ni Estate , she thought to herself.
The washroom was facing the main road.
An Xiaoning walked back to her mansion to change into a fresh set of clothing and put on some makeup. Jin Qingyan then drove to Sanqiao Estate again, bringing Jin Yiheng along this time.
He left again after dropping his son off.
An Xiaoning proceeded to bring him out to visit her G.o.dparents.
She first headed to the Gu family’s home, followed by the Jin family, and, lastly, the Lin family.
Despite having already prepared herself mentally beforehand, she could not help but feel emotional when she showed up at the Lin family home again using her true ident.i.ty.
“Great timing, we’ll have lunch together when s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ and Gucheng arrive later,” said Madam Lin.
An Xiaoning felt like turning the offer down, but she did not have a suitable excuse.
“Shouldn’t they be coming home on the second day of the New Year instead?”
Madam Lin smiled and said, “Well, they’ve decided to come home today because Gucheng has something important to attend to tomorrow. s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ called to tell us that she wanted to invite you to the Autumn Palace to accompany her, but that didn’t work out. It’s great that you happen to be back today. You haven’t seen each other in a long while, it’s time you have a good chat and catch up with each other.”
“Alright, I was initially planning to drop by again tomorrow because I thought that they wouldn’t be home until then. It’s great that they’re coming home today,” An Xiaoning answered with a grin.
At past eleven o’clock, the butler eagerly reported, “Sir, Madam, they’re home. Their car has arrived.”
The entire family proceeded to welcome them at the entrance.
An Xiaoning tagged along with Jin Yiheng.
She had no choice but to go with the flow. However, she chose to stand all the way at the back instead.
Tuoba Gucheng alighted from the car, immaculately dressed in a formal attire, which made him look extremely das.h.i.+ng. On the other hand, Lin s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ alighted from the other side of the car slowly while supporting her baby b.u.mp.
There were professional photographers who had come along with them.
Extremely concerned about his image, Tuoba Gucheng walked toward Lin s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ and held her hand before proceeding to greet his parents-in-law and send them his good wishes. Tuoba Gucheng lit up with joy when he casually glanced at the back of the crowd and caught sight of An Xiaoning.
The photography and videography team took several photos and a few video clips of the festive occasion before calling it a day.
No one dared to continue filming once they stepped foot inside the living room.
The Lin family could finally feel much more relieved.
After all, no one would feel comfortable with a camera facing them all day, especially since they were aware that the content would be splattered across the news.
Tuoba Gucheng had already noticed Jin Yiheng earlier on, though he couldn’t catch a clear glimpse of his features. Tuoba Gucheng took a seat and s.h.i.+fted his gaze onto Jin Yiheng before asking An Xiaoning in slight disbelief, “This kid is really handsome. Is he your son, Ms. An?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, he is my son,” An Xiaoning answered calmly.
He let out a chuckle that sent s.h.i.+vers down An Xiaoning’s spine.
“He’s already so suave now, I bet he’s going to be a heartthrob when he’s older,” said Lin s.h.i.+s.h.i.+, who was leaning against the couch to ease her pregnant self into a comfortable position.
An Xiaoning did not quite know how to answer and, thus, said, “He’s still young. Who knows what he’ll look like in the future?”
Lin s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ smiled and said, “Sis, don’t say that. He has inherited both yours and his father’s genes. He wouldn’t look too bad when he’s older. When I heard about your return earlier, I initially wanted to come home together with Gucheng to visit you, but I couldn’t since I was pregnant. I’m so glad you’re safe and sound, Sis. You have no idea how devastated we all were when we first heard about your mishap. Gucheng was rather helpless too since the parliament wouldn’t support his decision.”
Having already seen through everything, An Xiaoning answered, “I understand. Besides, aren’t I alive and kicking now? I was blessed and fortunate to have escaped the ordeal.”
“We were terrified at the start, but it’s all good now. Where are you staying, Sis?”
“I bought a mansion in Sanqiao Estate and I’ll be living there for the time being.”
Lin s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ nodded and said to Madam Lin, “Mother, please get the kitchen helpers to serve lunch, I’m hungry.”
“Alright,” Madam Lin agreed with a nod and quickly stood up to enter the kitchen before returning again soon after.
Everyone proceeded to take a seat around the dining table. Noticing how prim and proper the obedient Jin Yiheng was compared to other children his age, Lin s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ remarked in surprise and awe, “I’ve seen other children his age misbehaving and throwing tantrums all the time. Yet, he’s so obedient and not in the least bit mischievous at all. I can tell that you raised him well to be a good-mannered child.”
“He’s very mischievous sometimes, he’s just being shy right now because he hasn’t met you guys before,” said An Xiaoning, who felt rather uncomfortable, especially because of Tuoba Gucheng’s overbearing presence, which made her feel suffocated and oppressed.