An Meijun was eating with determination, hoping to win some prize money. She heard her sister-in-law, Yin Shujin, calling her to console a crying child. She felt a bit reluctant but couldn’t refuse openly because Yin Shujin was Yin Yunqiu’s younger sister, the beloved daughter of the Yin family. She might need her help in the future to support her and her daughter. So, she reluctantly went over.
She put on a gentle smile and said to Yin Yunqiu, “Yunqiu, the baby has been crying for a while. Let me hold him.” As she spoke, she reached out her arms to take the child, but her eyes involuntarily darted to the pocket of his red Tang suit. As expected, it was full of red envelopes, all tucked into his clothing, and they were almost falling out as he held the crying child.
Yin Yunqiu was comforting the child and hadn’t noticed yet. As An Meijun reached out to hold the child, she was promptly pushed away by a small chubby hand. The child buried his face in his father’s neck and continued to cry loudly, shaking his little head vigorously, clearly showing that he didn’t want to be held by his mother.
An Meijun’s face stiffened. Being rejected by her own child, especially in front of a large gathering like this, was embarrassing.
During her three years in the Yin family, she hadn’t held Yin Minglu much. But he was a well-behaved child, soft and cuddly. When her husband was present, she would symbolically hold him for a while to show some maternal affection. When Yin Yunqiu was gone, she would put the child aside, and he wouldn’t resist. Instead, he would babble and call for her to come back and hold him, seemingly fond of her comforting embrace. He was quite attached to her, but she had never been patient enough to hold him for long.
So, technically, this was the first time she had been rejected by the child. Moreover, it happened in front of everyone at the family gathering, including Yin Yunqiu. The strange looks from the people made An Meijun uncomfortable, and she was seething with anger. She had to force a gentle smile and say, “Yunqiu, the baby must be crying too much. He’ll hurt his throat if he keeps this up. Since there are so many guests here, I’ll take him upstairs to rest. You stay here and entertain the guests.”
Her suggestion seemed reasonable, appearing both gentle and considerate of everyone’s feelings. However, upon closer examination, it sounded like something a hostess would say.
Many of the distant relatives of the Yin family who didn’t know the situation assumed that this young and beautiful woman standing next to Yin Yunqiu was the legitimate hostess, and they saw her words as a sign of her hospitality.
Little did they know that An Meijun had ulterior motives. By taking the child upstairs to “rest,” she was planning to spend the night there. Originally, Yin Yunqiu had only wanted her to meet the child today and didn’t intend for her to stay the night. After all, despite the child, they were not married yet, and it would be awkward for them to live under the same roof. However, if she stayed the night, it would create speculation. Even if they didn’t share the same room, it would still raise questions about their relationship. An Meijun was not an inexperienced girl; she had thought this through.
Yin Yunqiu was entirely focused on his child and didn’t notice her hidden agenda. He declined her suggestion, saying, “No need. I’m here as the father. I’ll take Minglu upstairs to sleep, and you can continue to eat. Later, I’ll have the driver take you home.”
This meant that, in order to take care of the child, he was willing to ignore the guests. As expected, after Yin Yunqiu finished speaking, he adjusted the child’s position to make him more comfortable, and then nodded apologetically to the guests present. He got up from the table and left first.
This made An Meijun’s heart race with surprise at Yin Yunqiu’s deep affection for his child. But for now, she couldn’t tell whether his love was for their shared bloodline or for Yin Minglu as an individual. If it was the former, she could use various means to conceive and have a second child or bring Mingqin back in the future, and Yin Yunqiu would still love them both. But if it was the latter, it would be more challenging. What position would she have when her daughter returned? Would she still have a place in Yin Yunqiu’s heart? However, if it were the latter, then why hadn’t Yin Yunqiu accepted her as the mother, especially when she had already repented for her past mistakes?
An Meijun’s thoughts were scattered, but her attention was soon drawn to Yin Yunqiu’s next words. She momentarily forgot her worries because Yin Yunqiu had no intention of letting her stay the night and said he would have the driver take her home. If she left, would she still be able to come back on the second day of the New Year? She had already met the child, so what excuse did she have to return? If she directly asked Yunqiu to reconcile with her, she would probably receive his cold, disapproving gaze, and it would be difficult to meet him again in the future.
On New Year’s Eve, before returning to the ancestral home, Yin Yunqiu had given almost all the local employees a day off. He drove alone with his child and An Meijun, while the large Yin family gathering had only a few old employees in attendance. One of them had been assigned to An Meijun specifically to take her home.
To outsiders, this was an enviable privilege that only close relatives with high status in the Yin family could enjoy. Others had to drive themselves to and from the gathering. As a result, people looked at An Meijun with special admiration. However, she saw it differently, feeling that they were trying to get rid of her. She could have stayed overnight, but they chose to send her home!
Furthermore, the person assigned to take her home was the assistant she disliked the most, Assistant Chen. The last time, at Yunqiu’s request, he had investigated her thoroughly, exposing everything about her, big and small. He even dug into her professional school, spreading rumors about her being excessively materialistic. The news of her bragging about getting married the next year but suddenly falling silent had made the rounds. She was ridiculed by many classmates.
If Yin Yunqiu hadn’t limited Assistant Chen’s investigation time, he might have discovered more and exposed the matter of Mingqin, which was a source of great concern to An Meijun. Thinking about this, she still felt uneasy. So, when she saw Assistant Chen’s expressionless face, she couldn’t help but clench her teeth and wished she could eat him alive.
But she pretended to be understanding and said with a sigh, “Oh, Assistant Chen, I’m not in a hurry to leave. It’s New Year’s Eve; you should eat more. Let’s have a drink together.” With that, she picked up a glass of wine and poured it for him, pushing it toward him, attempting to use her charm to tempt the young man into clinking glasses with her.
But it seemed like trying to seduce a blind man with a wink. Assistant Chen seriously declined, saying, “No, thank you. I’ll have to drive you back later, so I can’t drink.”
An Meijun couldn’t help but twitch her lips in frustration. In a place where no one could see, she bit her lip in irritation. But this plan failed. She saw a big pot of chicken soup on the rotating glass plate and quickly came up with a second plan.
She stood up slightly and, with one hand holding onto the rotating plate, reached for a spoon, pretending she wanted some chicken soup. However, due to her unstable posture, she accidentally knocked over the pot of soup.
She exclaimed in shock and immediately stabilized the pot. So, the people farther away only heard the sound of bowls and chopsticks clattering, thinking it was just another mischievous child knocking over some utensils. They glanced over briefly and then resumed their conversations, paying no more attention to it.
An Meijun’s table, on the other hand, was in a bit of a mess. Most of the chicken soup had spilled onto her and Assistant Assistant Chen. She hurriedly grabbed some tissues and began wiping him, looking genuinely guilty. She repeatedly apologized, saying, “I’m sorry, Assistant Chen. It’s all my fault. I’m so clumsy, and I even got your clothes wet.”
“I’ll take care of it myself, Miss An. You should clean your own dress first.” Assistant Chen’s face turned unpleasant, and he quickly stood up to stop her. He began brushing off the ginger and other food ingredients stuck to his suit. His entire suit was soaked, and it carried a strong, savory smell of chicken, greasy and unpleasant.
There was no way he could get into the car like this, and since he was a guest, the boss’s house probably didn’t have spare clothes for him to change into. He would have to stay the night temporarily at the boss’s house and send his clothes for dry cleaning, wearing them again the next day. The immediate priority was to change out of these smelly clothes. Miss An’s dress was also soaked, and it seemed like they both would have to stay the night at the Yin family.
With this thought in mind, Assistant Chen suddenly snapped out of his confusion. Could it be that Miss An did this on purpose?
He was about to go upstairs to report to the boss and, before leaving, glance at Miss An, who was now apologizing to those affected by the accident at the neighboring table while wiping her wool coat and long skirt with tissues, looking remorseful. She occasionally bit her lip and cast her eyes down, seemingly uneasy about her own actions.
So, he thought, maybe I shouldn’t assume the worst. After all, she is the biological mother of the little master. He couldn’t be certain about her intentions, so he decided to explain the situation to the boss in detail.
The young man with dark hair, who could see through the entire performance and the calculations in the woman’s eyes, raised a cold and mocking smile on his handsome face. He looked at the empty high chair next to him, which was clearly not intended for him. There was no need to think twice about whose seat that was.
He was very clever, and upon witnessing his little brother being slapped away by their mother, and An Meijun’s pretentious behavior, he easily understood the relationship between mother and son. He immediately thought of his own situation. If his mother had been as resolute when she handed him over to the Yin family, it would have been much better. He should have seen through the false mask of that woman’s pretended love for him earlier, rather than believing her tearful pleas, thinking that she truly loved him. He had believed that she abandoned him because of the Yin family’s pressure, because their high threshold prevented her from marrying into it.
It wasn’t until he heard about An Meijun’s upcoming wedding with Yin Yunqiu and saw his grandfather’s angry but helpless expression that he realized what was really going on. She cared more about her reputation and status in the entertainment industry, where she had been building her career, than her own child. Despite achieving success and even winning the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress, she had kept her pregnancy and child a secret from her fans. She had even coquettishly stated on variety shows that if she had a child, she would want a daughter because daughters are like intimate little cotton jackets.
Daughters are like intimate cotton jackets. What about the son he had wholeheartedly planned for her? Just a pet that could be summoned and dismissed at will, a tattered sweater to be worn when needed and cast aside when not? The young man sneered and tore up all his arrangements, even making a phone call to divert resources to her competitor.
As expected, he received a barrage of insults from her shortly after. Her expression at the time, and the way she resembled An Meijun, made him realize that he and his little brother had similar fates. Otherwise, why would children like them, in the eyes of these women, be like obedient “pets” that wouldn’t turn against their owners? It must be because the owners had mistreated the “pets” first, almost maliciously, causing them to grow cold and eventually lash out at their owners.
The young man lowered his eyelids, his expression inscrutable, and silently ate dumplings, hoping to get another lucky coin and apologize to the tearful child the next day. He was sure that such an adorable child would forgive him.
Upstairs, Assistant Chen stood hesitantly at the door of the room, looking awkward.
“You both got wet?” Yin Yunqiu furrowed his brows. How could this happen?
The man sat on the edge of the bed, where a sleeping child lay with an innocent sleeping face, still damp from crying earlier, with wet eyelashes. He smelled the familiar scent of chicken and moved his legs under the blanket, puckering his lips, unintentionally causing a smile.
Yin Yunqiu tucked the child in slightly and, seeing that he wasn’t awakened, carefully got up and left the room.
Having the assistant and the child’s mother stay overnight at the old Yin family mansion was not a big deal, and Yin Yunqiu didn’t really mind. He even returned to the room midway to check if the child had drawn on the bedsheet. However, as he turned a corner, he ran into a man with a strong smell of alcohol, looking slightly intoxicated, with a handsome face bathed in the blue glow of his phone. He looked even more striking with his dark hair.
But from his overall appearance, it was evident that this was a man whose body had been ravaged by indulgence in alcohol and women.
The man had similarly narrow phoenix-like eyes as Yin Yunqiu. Yin Yunqiu raised an eyebrow and spoke with a cold tone, “What are you doing upstairs when you should be entertaining the guests downstairs?”
The man snorted, “You went upstairs to take care of the child, and you told me to go downstairs and do the dirty work. Do you know, the moment you left, those people swarmed me, each demanding a five million investment like they thought I was made of money? If I refused, they took turns trying to get me drunk, thinking I’d be more cooperative when I’m tipsy. Do they think I’d get drunk after a few drinks? This is how they try to impress me at the dinner table. These people really lack courage!”
Hearing the man’s profanity-laden speech, just a room away from where his little son was sleeping, Yin Yunqiu remained calm and said, “Please restrain yourself; Minglu is sleeping.”
“Oh, is Minglu asleep? I haven’t held my precious nephew today. Let me take a look at my adorable little nephew.” Hearing this, Yin Zhongyuan, with a sudden burst of enthusiasm, confidently approached the large bed. When he saw the soft and fragrant baby, he praised, “Such an adorable baby.”
He knew his elder brother’s temperament. Once he had made up his mind, he would see it through. Initially, three years ago, he had advised his brother to simply raise the child as a secret, providing him with resources when he grew up and considering it a fulfillment of their father-son relationship. He had never expected his brother to change his mind after a single hospital visit, insisting on giving the child a legitimate birth.
He had scoffed at it at the time. A legitimate birth? Was his brother planning to marry that woman? As if he was going to buy one and get one free, bringing that woman back with him? But his brother had been serious. At the time, this decision had confounded many old, prestigious families, and they had criticized Yin Yunqiu for making a foolish choice. They said, “You’re young and successful, having accumulated considerable wealth. If you casually marry someone, you’ll have to split your assets in half when you divorce. Isn’t this stupidity rather than kindness?” Everyone thought, “You’re so successful at such a young age, and you’ve amassed so much wealth. Marrying someone so easily? When you divorce, you’ll probably have to give away half of your assets. Isn’t that foolishness rather than benevolence?”
So Yin Zhongyuan had always been full of speculation and disgust towards the rumored mother and son pair, until the news of the canceled wedding came, which relieved him somewhat. He had also heard from his younger brother about the child, who was described as good-looking, clever, bright-eyed, and talented in both business and painting. The praises he heard seemed endless, and it was hard for him to believe that a three-year-old child could possess such talents. He thought to himself, “Even if he has talent, who knows if he’ll end up like ‘Shang Zhongyong’1idk what this meant but I guess another Yin Zhongyuan who is as you can see, a degenerate(?)? Aren’t there plenty of examples around us where ‘when young, clear-minded; when old, not necessarily talented’ applies?”
However, today, the child seemed just as lovable as the rumors suggested, at least in terms of cuteness.
Just look at that face, so tender. When you press a finger against it, it dimples slightly, like a block of soft and elastic tofu, even more delightful than some of his girlfriends.
Yin Zhongyuan squinted comfortably and couldn’t resist pinching the child’s cheek again.
Seeing that his hard-earned efforts to put the child to sleep were about to be disrupted, Yin Yunqiu’s expression turned cold. He promptly ushered Yin Zhongyuan out of the room, and once outside, he asked, “Why did you come upstairs?”
He didn’t believe that a man in his thirties would come upstairs just to complain about the elders downstairs or to check on Minglu. He knew his younger brother’s nature all too well. Yin Zhongyuan always pursued instant pleasure but had an extremely cold and calculating personality.
Fortunately, the child2Yin Jiyu was nothing like him.
“Oh, I remember now. I came to see if you have a green halo above your head3an idiom that signifies that the person is being cuckolded.” Yin Zhongyuan lazily smiled, looking carefree.
Yin Yunqiu furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
“It’s about your little lover. She’s quite daring, you know? She’s been flirting with three or four men at once, not including you, and she’s been playing the field with all of them. She’s been keeping it steady without any accidents until today. Can you believe it? I don’t have the guts to do what she’s doing, even as a man. She’s been toying with the four young masters of the capital, Wei, Gu, and Song, in addition to you.” Yin Zhongyuan whistled lightly, his tone filled with schadenfreude. He raised his phone and shook it as if showing a familiar chat interface. “After all, even if I were a woman, I wouldn’t have the courage to juggle Wei, Gu, and Song, the three young masters of the capital, at the same time.”
The other two involved might be smaller figures without much background, but they were not to be underestimated. In this circle, if a woman accepted gifts from a man multiple times, it could be considered as them dating. These young masters of the capital had been rivals, so they rarely interacted with each other. It was only today that the situation had been exposed by a model who knew about it.
It all started because An Meijun often boasted about her extraordinary charm to her circle of friends, along with chat records. Today, she even posted a status update on her social media with a picture of a man holding a child with a towering figure, suggesting that she was getting back together with her ex-boyfriend.
This immediately aroused jealousy and resentment from some people who disliked her. They compiled her chat records and shared them, spreading the news. The news spread like wildfire. The influential circle in the capital was not large, so it didn’t take long for everyone to know about it, bringing some lighthearted entertainment during the dull New Year period.
When the involved men finally realized what had happened, they felt humiliated and thought they were being made fun of. They were furious, feeling like they had green halos above their heads. It was said that they had already prepared their weapons and were planning to confront An Meijun’s family, demanding that they return everything they had received. One of them had some shady connections, so it was rumored that violence might be involved.
Now, it all depended on the Yin family’s stance. If the Yin family wanted to protect An Meijun, the young hot-blooded masters could only hold back for now. Whether they decided to take action later would depend on the Yin family’s continued attitude. Would they eventually settle the issue in a few months?
Yin Yunqiu took the phone, glanced at it briefly, and quickly understood what had happened. His dark eyes flashed with a cold light, and his lips tightened. He said coldly, “It has nothing to do with me.” Reconciliation was even less likely, and he didn’t even know when that photo had been taken. The child’s entire face had almost ended up in the frame.
He didn’t mind the child’s exposure to the public eye on regular occasions, as he had grown up like that himself. However, whether it was a positive or negative exposure mattered. Considering An Meijun’s recent social media update, it was clear that the child’s image was being spread in the context of a scandal. If she truly loved Minglu, as she claimed, how could she not notice the potentially harmful impact on the child?
He felt no disappointment toward this woman in his heart. He just pitied his little son for possibly never receiving a mother’s love.
When Yin Zhongyuan heard his elder brother’s statement that it had nothing to do with him, he instantly understood. This was a way of indirectly showing his stance, clearly indicating that he was distancing himself from An Meijun’s family. Previously, he might have been slightly considerate due to the child, but now he seemed to have lost interest altogether.
Meanwhile, An Meijun had just emerged from the steam-filled bathroom. She was wearing a bathrobe, her bare feet stepping on the fluffy carpet. Her mood was both sweet and anticipatory. After admiring herself in the mirror for a while, she quickly applied her makeup, using her excellent skills to create a natural look that would make her seem like a woman who didn’t need makeup. Then she intentionally loosened her neckline and shoulder area, revealing just enough to be alluring.
She was busy with her preparations and didn’t notice the numerous missed calls and messages on her phone.
—
Author’s Note: Whew, here’s the update! Thanks for the support from all you lovely readers~
Love what you read? A little donation can go a long way!
