Ruan Danchen’s hands started to tremble under stress and just could not buckle up the seatbelt even after endless attempts.

Just when Ruan Danchen became anxious, suddenly a clean and elegant hand with short and tidy nails came before her eyes, and Qi Chenglin grabbed her hand before she could react. His grip was strong and firm, and he guided her to buckle up her seatbelt.

He then released her hand and started the engine, leaving Ruan Danchen’s hand warm and numb. At that instance, she felt her hand was not a part of herself anymore.

Ruan Danchen curled her hand into a fist and hid it below her bag. She then turned her head towards the window and started to have palpitations.

Qi Chenglin took a peek at Ruan Danchen’s face from the side, admiring her light makeup which made her fair and beautiful.

When Qi Chenglin was engaged with Shen Zhijing in the past, he kept postponing the engagement as he wanted to wait until the baby was born. He wanted to do genetic profiling of the newborn but the Shen family did not feel fear or worry about it.

However the Shen family did not know that Qi Chenglin did not want to perform a paternity test, he wanted to do a maternity test instead to check if Shen Zhijing was the newborn’s biological mother. The result came back as incompatible in the genetic coding.

Qi Chenglin went straight to the Shen manor after acknowledging the result and threw the report right on Shen Jialiang’s face, then he took Youxuan away with him.

Qi Chenglin did not ignore the fact that there was a new face in the Shen manor whom he did not notice the first time he was there.

To be honest, Qi Chenglin never stepped into the Shen manor since the copulation conspiracy until the maternity test report came out, so he paid extra attention to the woman named Liu Ronghua after he left the Shen manor.

He did some investigations into Liu Ronghua afterwards and knew that she had a daughter named Ruan Danchen.

Qi Chenglin had some memories of what happened on that night. He remembered the fragrance she emitted and the feelings when he hugged and kissed her, but he just could not recall her face.

Qi Chenglin suspected Ruan Danchen could be the one in bed with him on that night thus he investigated further into her after finding out that she was Liu Ronghua’s daughter.

Ruan Danchen really raised suspicions as Liu Ronghua moved to the Shen manor straight after the incident, even though Shen Jialiang did not marry Liu Ronghua until now and Ruan Danchen never visited her mother since then.

Ruan Danchen paid for her tuition fees herself and she had financial issues for quite some time but all of those improved after she started working.

If the woman with him that night was really Ruan Danchen and she was not doing it for cash, was she doing it just so Liu Ronghua could move into the Shen manor?

It was until not long ago when Qi Chenglin fetched the drunk Ruan Danchen home after Qi Chengzhi’s wedding where he heard her mumbled ‘I’m sorry’ and he was stunned after hearing that.

He recalled the moment when the woman with her that night kept repeating ‘I’m sorry’.

He could not remember anything about her appearance before, but all of that came rushing to his brain after Ruan Danchen said ‘I’m sorry’. It was like someone just unlocked his hidden memories and all of a sudden his brain was flooded with her repeatedly saying ‘I’m sorry’ and her change in mind as she did not want him to get framed.

It was at that moment when Qi Chenglin realized the woman was indeed Ruan Danchen.

Inside the car, there was a pin drop silence, as Ruan Danchen kept quiet due to nervousness while Qi Chenglin was immersed in his own train of thoughts.

Qi Chenglin parked his black Mercedes-Benz near Ruan Danchen’s house, and she said before leaving the car, “Wait here for a while, I’ll come back down after getting the present.”

“…” Qi Chenglin felt speechless and stared at Ruan Danchen. “I’d like to use the washroom.”

“…” Now it was Ruan Danchen’s turn to be speechless.

In the end, Qi Chenglin entered Ruan Danchen’s house.

Ruan Danchen stayed alone in a single-bedroom apartment with a small living room which she also used it as a dining room, so her house basically appeared cramped up.

The initial cramped up house became even packed the moment Qi Chenglin entered the house.

Ruan Danchen noticed that Qi Chenglin was studying her house instead of going to the washroom, so she could not help but ask, “Young Master Lin, I thought you said you wanted to use the washroom?”

Qi Chenglin then nodded slightly and went to the washroom and he did not even close the door. He just simply washed his hands and came out.

“…” Ruan Danchen was at a loss of words.

“I’ll get Youxuan’s present,” Ruan Danchen said and went into her room, leaving Qi Chenglin alone in the living room.

She took out a big plastic bag from the wardrobe as there were presents inside it.

Ruan Danchen was stunned and speechless when she came out of the room.

She had no idea when Qi Chenglin took off his suit and tie, and one of the buttons on his formal shirt was unhooked. His tie was put under the lapel and the buttons on his sleeves were released too. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing his muscular forearms.

His arms felt solid hard and every move radiated strength and power just by looking at them.

He was sitting casually on the couch reading a magazine about home refurbishing that was placed on the coffee table previously with his suit laid beside him.

Ruan Danchen walked towards Qi Chenglin and stopped one step away from him as she did not dare to go any nearer to him. She then let out a dry cough to get his attention and said, “Young Master Lin, these are for Youxuan.”

Qi Chenglin gave the presents a glance and noticed that the big plastic bag was full with boxes. He did not need to count and knew straight away that there were six boxes inside the bag.

“Have you had your dinner?” Qi Chenglin did not accept the bag. He simply shifted his gaze from the magazine towards her and asked calmly.

His voice was not loud but somehow was a little croaky which made Ruan Danchen blushed.

“I thought you were rushing for the presents?” Ruan Danchen said petulantly as she partly blamed Qi Chenglin for her lost of opportunity to dine in at such high standard buffet. She would not be able to afford such high quality buffet based on her current financial status.

“…” Qi Chenglin curled his lips and said, “I haven’t had my dinner too.”

“Then why didn’t Young Master Lin leave after dinner?” Ruan Danchen became frustrated.

“…” Qi Chenglin was really speechless at Ruan Danchen. He took out his cell phone and dialled his home number. “Aunt Chen, is Youxuan asleep? Oh, really? Let Youxuan answer the phone.”

While Qi Chenglin was waiting for Aunt Chen to look for Qi Youxuan, he explained to Ruan Danchen. “Aunt Chen said Youxuan missed me, I’m going to talk to him for a while.”

“…” Ruan Danchen remained silent as she did not know why was Qi Chenglin explaining to her.

“You’re not a baby anymore, in just a brief moment of my absence and you’re already missing me?” Qi Chenglin spoke on the phone.

“Dad, what are you talking about?” Qi Youxuan said while picking his nose with his white, chubby finger.

“Ask Chauffeur Xiao Yang fetch you over if you miss me,” Qi Chenglin ignored his son’s question and continued his drama.

“Dad, what do you want now? I’m still watching cartoons, if there’s nothing else then I’ll hang up the phone,” Qi Youxuan said impatiently as the cartoon was just at its climax when Aunt Chen called him over.

“Yes, I’m at Aunt Ruan’s house,” Qi Chenglin continued to ignore his son and said.

Qi Youxuan got surprised and there was a twinkle in his eyes. Just when he was about to yell in excitement, he suddenly stopped his movement and quickly investigated his surroundings.

Qi Zhongxun and Guan Liya were watching a replay of a palace struggle series very attentively as the series was getting intense, so they did not notice the commotion on Qi Youxuan. Aunt Chen left after she passed the phone to Qi Youxuan too so he did not attract their attention from the show.

Qi Youxuan covered the phone and his mouth with his chubby hand and whispered, “Dad, you said you’re at Aunt Ruan’s house, do you mean I can come over too?”

The angle of Qi Chenglin’s mouth raised slightly as if giving a slight smile and peeked at Ruan Danchen. “Yes.”

“I’m going! Quick, contact Chauffeur Xiao Yang and ask him to come and fetch me!” Qi Youxuan got a little too excited and forgot to lower his voice. His sudden loud voice attracted Qi Zhongxun and Guan Liya’s attention.

Guan Liya was curious and asked after Qi Youxuan hung up the phone. “Where are you going at this late hour?”

Qi Youxuan was happy when he thought about Ruan Danchen. He gave a little happy dance and said, “Dad wants Chauffeur Xiao Yang to fetch me to a place but I don’t know where it is.”

He had not been to Aunt Ruan’s home so it was normal that he did not know about her address.

Guan Liya still felt worried so she called Qi Chenglin to confirm that he did instructed to fetch Qi Youxuan off, then she said, “Then bring the child back earlier, I don’t care if he goes back home or come back here but don’t forget that he has to go to the kindergarten tomorrow morning. Let him sleep earlier.”

Qi Chenglin hung up the phone and talked to Ruan Danchen. “Youxuan said he missed me and insisted to come over. Since he had dinner, we should have something to eat now too.”

Ruan Danchen forgot the unhappiness just now and instantly became really excited, almost in a panic state when she knew that Qi Youxuan was coming over. “Youxuan is coming now? I don’t have any snacks now, maybe I should go and get some.”

“…” Qi Chenglin was displeased and groaned, “He is on a diet now, no snacks for him.”

“Oh, that’s true. I don’t have any fruits to serve too so should I go and get some? I should at least serve some food when he comes here,” Ruan Danchen recalled Qi Youxuan’s chubby appearance and felt that he really should be on a diet too.

She remembered Qi Youxuan loved food and was not a picky eater too. He was easy to entertain as long as the food was nice and delicious.

Qi Chenglin pursed his lips and said, “I’m still hungry.”

“…” His words made Ruan Danchen speechless.

“I’ll fetch you to the mall and buy fruits after you cook some food for me,” Qi Chenglin said while his complexion paled with annoyance.

Ruan Danchen had no idea what Qi Chenglin was annoyed about. Qi Youxuan was his son and he had no idea that she was Youxuan’s mother too. Did he just feel unhappy with her being kind to Youxuan?

“Alright then,” Ruan Danchen could not do anything but to agree and went to the kitchen.

To be honest, there was nothing much that they could eat at home. She normally would work overtime and she chose not to go out and eat as she wanted to save money. She would usually eat instant noodles with ham and sausage provided by her company.

Ruan Danchen would only go to the mall and buy packaged vegetables for meal preparation when she did not work overtime.

Although those delicate packaging of vegetables sold in the mall was more expensive than those sold in the market, but the quantity was lesser in comparison which suited Ruan Danchen the most as she could just cook all of them for a meal and there would not be any wastage. If she bought in the market, there would be leftover vegetables and inevitably became waste as she did not know if she was going to work overtime the next day. Thus, it was more cost-effective if she bought at the mall.

Ruan Danchen just worked overtime last night and she planned to enjoy herself in the buffet tonight so she did not purchase any ingredients, and now there was only a few packets of instant noodles left at home.

Ruan Danchen felt displeased when she recalled that Qi Chenglin made her lose the opportunity for a high quality buffet, so she threw packets of instant noodles into the pot.

However she thought of Qi Chenglin’s smugness and him appearing calm and noble with an outstanding temperament despite sitting in a tiny living room. She did not know if he had consumed any instant noodles in his lifetime. She imagined that maybe he ate high quality food delivered from Dynasty whenever he worked overtime.

This instant noodle was really incompatible with Qi Chenglin’s temperament. Ruan Danchen already felt sorry for him when she imagined the scene of him eating instant noodles.

After some considerations, Ruan Danchen took two eggs from the refrigerator and made two poached eggs.

The house which Ruan Danchen rented was not big so with Qi Chenglin sitting at the couch, soon he detected a fragrance travelling from the kitchen. However, he became suspicious as he realized the scent was probably from instant noodles.

Just when the thought popped out in his mind, he saw Ruan Danchen held a bowl of hot soup out and put it in front of him.

“…” Qi Chenglin was at a loss of words.

It really was instant noodles and there were two poached eggs on top of it, so should he thank her for that now?

“You’re cooking this for me as dinner?” Qi Chengzhi looked at the instant noodles in disgust and raised his eyebrows in annoyance at Ruan Danchen.

“…” Ruan Danchen returned his gaze with an annoyed stare. “If possible, I’d like to try the high standard buffet too. There is a huge difference between instant noodles and buffet in case you didn’t realize. Do you think I have all the ingredients needed for your dinner?”

“…” Qi Chenglin’s lips twitched. “Shouldn’t you tell me if don’t have any ingredients? We can go out and buy them! Why don’t you just mention that you have no ingredients as well when you said you’re gonna buy fruits for Youxuan? Didn’t you think that we could buy ingredients along with fruits?”

This woman did this on purpose!

“…” Ruan Danchen kept quiet.

Qi Chenglin was stunned when she turned around without saying a word and went into the kitchen. Did she just got angry?

She was afraid of him initially but now she got enough nerve up to be angry with him?

Ruan Danchen came back a moment later holding another bowl of instant noodles which she just cooked and gave Qi Chenglin an annoyed stare. Did he really feel reasonable that he made her lost the opportunity to dine in a high standard buffet?

She felt annoyed at him eating instant noodles with her in the house.

Qi Chenglin could not do anything but finish all the food that was in his bowl. To be frank, the instant noodles tasted delicious but it was not healthy at all.

“Let’s go to the nearby mall and buy some fruits for Youxuan after we’re done with our dinner,” Ruan Danchen said.

“Not going,” Qi Chenglin was displeased at the double standard she employed on Qi Chenglin and Qi Youxuan.

“…” Ruan Danchen stared at Qi Chenglin. “I thought you said you’re going to fetch me to the mall just now?”

“My appetite wasn’t satisfied so I don’t have much energy now,” Qi Chenglin said coldly.

“…” Ruan Danchen was speechless and said sarcastically, “Do you want another packet of instant noodles?”

“…” Now it was Qi Chenglin’s turn to be speechless.

Qi Chenglin’s anger reached a peak and chose to keep quiet, then he left the bowl on the table after the instant noodles were consumed.

Ruan Danchen tidied up the table and washed the bowls. Afterwards she took her keys and wallet and said, “Young Master Lin, I’m going to buy fruits now so wait for me here.”

“Alright,” Qi Chenglin really chose not to fetch her and turned on the television with a remote control. He did it like he was at his own house and simply changed to a finance channel and watched.

There was a shop selling fresh fruits nearby her housing area. She used a little more than half an hour to walk from her house to the shop, bought some fruits and returned home.

Chauffeur Xiao Yang just brought Qi Youxuan to Ruan Danchen’s doorstep after she reached home a moment ago.

Ruan Danchen saw Qi Youxuan standing on the doorstep with Chauffeur Xiao Yang carrying a twenty inches luggage bag when she opened the door.

“Miss Ruan,” Chauffeur Xiao Yang addressed Ruan Danchen politely.

Ruan Danchen started to feel anxious when she felt a warm presence behind her. It was Qi Chenglin who was almost touching her from the back and she had no idea since when he came up behind her.

“Young Master Lin,” The chauffeur greeted Qi Chenglin politely.

Ruan Danchen then brought Qi Youxuan in and asked when she saw Chauffeur Xiao Yang carrying the luggage bag into the house, “This luggage is for…”

“Inside the luggage are my personal belongings,” Qi Youxuan blushed and said in embarrassment.

Qi Youxuan started to notice a savory smell of instant noodles lingering in the air soon after he finished speaking.

“Dad, did you just had dinner at Aunt Ruan’s house?” Qi Youxuan asked unhappily as his own father ate alone at Ruan Danchen’s house without asking him to join them.

“I ate instant noodles only,” Qi Chenglin said with disgust.

“Look at you feeling disgusted and all. If Aunt Ruan cooks instant noodles for me, I will gladly accept it,” Qi Youxuan gave Qi Chenglin a dumb look and grabbed Ruan Danchen’s hand with his fair and chubby hand.

Ruan Danchen felt happy and warm when Qi Youxuan grabbed her hand and she squeezed his hand firmly in return. “Aunt Ruan, I want to eat too.” Qi Youxuan said.

“Instant noodles aren’t nutritious and full of preservatives, they are not healthy. Are you hungry?” Ruan Danchen asked softly.

“If he eats then it’s not healthy. Why don’t you say this when you let me consume a full bowl of preservatives just now?” Qi Chenglin narrowed his eyes in disapproval and asked coldly.

“…” Ruan Danchen felt speechless.

“You’re on a diet. Why do you want to eat instant noodles at this late hour?” Qi Chenglin spoke harshly to Qi Youxuan.

“But I am not full yet even though I had my dinner,” Qi Youxuan gave his belly a little tap.

“Do you want me to call your grandmother and ask how much have you eaten tonight?” Qi Chenglin raised his eyebrows and asked.

“…” Qi Youxuan kept quiet. He pursed his lips and lowered his head like a child not getting what he wanted, feeling unhappy. He whispered, “I hate you, dad.”

Ruan Danchen could not bear the sight of Qi Youxuan feeling down and in sorrow, so she kneeled down and said softly, “Aunt doesn’t have any ingredients to prepare meals for you. If you’re not famished then wait for me, I’ll go buy some ingredients and prepare supper for you.”

Qi Youxuan was happy when he heard Ruan Danchen. Just when he was about to agree on her suggestion, Qi Chenglin’s mellow but unhappy voice travelled to their ears. “Just cook instant noodles for him if he’s hungry. It is late now and the mall is about to close soon, where else can you buy ingredients?”

Qi Youxuan was about to protest but he kept quiet when he saw Qi Chenglin’s angry stare and shook Ruan Danchen’s arm. “Aunt Ruan, instant noodles are fine for me as long as you’re the one cooking it.”

His childish voice was soft and slow and one would feel pity for him when his voice was heard.

Ruan Danchen wanted to go out and buy ingredients for him but looking at the time, all the malls would be closed by now. She did not have a choice but to agree on it. “Alright.”

Qi Youxuan immediately put on his happy face and pulled the luggage into the living room, being overly familiar just like his father. “Aunt Ruan, where is your bedroom?”

Ruan Danchen was taken by surprise by Qi Youxuan’s over familiar attitude and could not help but wonder that he acted exactly like someone she knew. After a while, she found the answer. He was similar to Grandmother Qi who adopted the same attitude that made you unable to refuse her requests.

However, Ruan Danchen really could not refuse whatever Qi Youxuan requested as she would always be soft-hearted to his every action. She did not think much and simply pointed at one direction, then Qi Youxuan carried the luggage straight into her bedroom.

Qi Chenglin followed closely behind like he was one of the house owners and said, “Don’t simply touch anything when you enter the room.”

Qi Chenglin appeared as if he was supervising Qi Youxuan.

Ruan Danchen had no choice but to follow them, then she saw Qi Youxuan placed the luggage bag on the floor and opened it. Inside the luggage bag was his pillow, a set of pajamas, an ultrasonic toothbrush and a cup for it, a Johnson face cream for kids, and a teddy bear.

Qi Youxuan’s cheeks were flushed pink when he noticed Ruan Danchen’s stare and said, “I looked at the time and thought that it would be late when I arrived, so I brought all these in case I fell asleep.”

chapter-307
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