Chapter 6
Aunt Song said everything she wanted to say. The gist was that she had wanted to resign for a while now, but didn't feel at ease leaving Zhengzheng. Now that Madam's condition had improved so much, she felt reassured about leaving.
"Why does Aunt Song want to resign?"
"Oh, I almost forgot to mention, my daughter-in-law is seven months pregnant and about to give birth soon. As the mother-in-law, I need to be there to take care of her."
"It's okay, Aunt Song. Don't worry about us. We'll take good care of ourselves."
"I've taken care of Zhengzheng for two years, since he was born, watching him grow from an infant, learning to walk and talk. Leaving him now, I can't help but feel reluctant."
"It's not like we'll never see each other again. Feel free to come back and visit whenever you miss us."
In the afternoon, Xu Xiuhe told Liu Assistant to deposit 200,000 RMB into Aunt Song's bank account. He then asked Liu Assistant to find a reliable nanny.
Shen Yin was now familiar with this world. She took another look around her room and found her bank card and ID card in the closet.
Xu Xiuhe drove to Shen Yin's doctor's office.
"Hello Dr. Ji, I'm Xu Xiuhe, Shen Yin's husband." Xu Xiuhe reached out his hand.
Dr. Ji Qingyan sized him up and shook his hand.
"I came to consult you about my wife's condition."
"Mr. Xu looks quite familiar. I often see you on magazine covers."
"No, no."
"Let me put it this way. Your wife's condition has greatly improved. Since she was last here, I noticed her yearning to return to normal life again. Her change in mentality is key. Did something happen for you to come today?"
"I'll be frank. I was considering divorce not long ago. But she has changed tremendously lately. She even cooks and shows care for our child now. I'm wondering if this change is some kind of scheme."
"Mr. Xu, you should know Shen Yin didn't want this marriage. If she knew you wanted a divorce, she wouldn't have made a fuss."
Dr. Ji Qingyan told Xu Xiuhe her opinion. After a word of thanks, Xu Xiuhe left.
From her recent interactions with Xu Xiuhe, Shen Yin could see he had no feelings for her. But he clearly cared deeply for Zhengzheng.
She felt relieved knowing that divorce was common nowadays. It would be easier than in ancient times. She planned to become more familiar with this world first. Once she gained a foothold, she would divorce Xu Xiuhe.
There was a lot of money in her WeChat and bank account that she didn't know how to check the balance of.
In one of the bags she found a diploma written in English. From her search, she gathered that the original owner was a fashion designer.
Shen Yin could also design clothes. The clothes she wore in her past life were designed by her and were able to lead trends in the capital.
While organizing these things, Shen Yin heard her phone ding.
[Meet at the usual place]
Seeing this text, Shen Yin had no memory of a "usual place."
Shen Yin checked the time. It was 3 pm. She needed to make dinner in two hours.
She figured two hours should be enough time. After tidying up, she prepared to head out.
Downstairs, she saw Aunt Song playing with Zhengzheng in the living room.
"Madam, there's something I need to tell you."
"Just go ahead, Aunt Song."
"Madam, I told Sir two days ago that I want to resign. My daughter-in-law is due to give birth soon, so I need to go back and care for her. I'll be leaving tomorrow."
Hearing this, Shen Yin roughly understood that Aunt Song probably wanted to brief her on some matters before leaving.
She sat down on the sofa and casually replied to the text she just received.
[I'm not free today]
"Madam, Zhengzheng is two years old now. He still walks a bit unsteadily and can only say some simple words. He's a bit behind other children his age in development."
"He usually needs to be coaxed to sleep around 8 pm. He wakes up at 7 am, so he's still quite regular."
"Ever since he was little, he's only drunk one brand of milk. Now that he eats solid food, he drinks less milk, just one bottle in the morning."
"His room is inside Sir's room. Sir takes care of putting him to bed at night."
"Also when giving him a bath, he doesn't like getting his hair washed first. You need to put bath toys in the water."
"Most importantly, Zhengzheng takes after Sir in that he's allergic to mangoes. That fruit must not appear in the house."
Aunt Song briefed Shen Yin one thing after another as she took mental notes. After they finished, she couldn't help but sigh at the difficulty of raising children.
"Alright, I've said everything I needed to say. I'll be leaving tomorrow."
Shen Yin still felt a little sad. Although Aunt Song was unfriendly to her at first, she later helped Shen Yin with everything from cooking to showing her how to use the appliances. With her leaving, it somehow felt like something was missing.
Her phone received another text.
[Tomorrow morning, 8 am, Blue Mountain Café]
"Hug hug." Little Zhengzheng got tired playing on the floor and reached out his arms for Aunt Song to carry him.
"Madam, it's your turn. Get used to it early since I need to go pack."
Before Shen Yin could think about the meaning of the text, she picked up Zhengzheng.
The little milk baby in her arms pouted.
Shen Yin was instantly at a loss.
"What's the matter, Zhengzheng?" Shen Yin gently asked.
"Flower flower"
Flower Flower was a big dog Xu Xiuhe had raised for years. After the original owner married over, she extremely opposed it. The dog was chased from the house to the yard outside.
But Zhengzheng liked the dog and liked going out to find Flower Flower. Shen Yin was also afraid of dogs, but remembering the martial arts Uncle taught her in her past life, she instantly became fearless. Carrying Zhengzheng, she went out to the yard.
Aunt Song watched this scene from the window and felt completely satisfied.
Inside Blue Mountain Café, Shen Yin sat on a chair. She arrived early, half an hour before 8 am. Not long after, a woman came over and sat down.
Shen Yin recognized this person, Yang Cui, Xu Xiuhe's stepmother. Shen Yin had always detested stepmothers.
"How's it going with the thing I told you to do?"
"You haven't started yet, have you? If you still won't make a move, I'll do it myself and you won't accomplish your wish." Yang Cui spoke viciously.
"Oh, what wish is that?"
"Aren't you trying to divorce him and run off with Zhou Manyuan?"
"Tell me, how will you help me succeed?"
The original Shen Yin had been lovesick and foolish. But Shen Yin was no fool. How could she possibly believe the words of a woman like this? She could only slowly draw out information from this woman.
"As long as Zhengzheng is gone, Xu Xiuhe won't have an advantage over Xu Zhengyang in his father's eyes."
Hearing this, Shen Yin nearly cursed. How could there be such vicious women, comparable to her own stepmother! She actually wanted her to harm her own child.
Although the original owner disliked Zhengzheng, it would still be difficult for her to personally make a move. No, Shen Yin suddenly thought, the original owner truly detested Zhengzheng. She had already abused him. She was close to taking action.
Fortunately the original owner had died.
"You only care about your own child. Yet you want to harm a less than two week old baby. I'm also Zhengzheng's mother. Don't I care about my child too? I was foolish before but that doesn't mean I still am. If you dare hurt Zhengzheng, don't blame me for what I might do!" After speaking, Shen Yin picked up the untouched coffee on the table and splashed it directly on Yang Cui's face.
"You crazy woman! Do you want a miserable life? Just you wait!" Yang Cui stood up and grabbed at Shen Yin's hair.
Shen Yin pushed down Yang Cui's head. With a shove, Yang Cui plopped down on the ground, screaming and shouting like a shrew.
"Remember what I said. Don't set your sights on me, or I won't let you get away easily."
Shen Yin didn't understand why the original owner had promised to help such a vicious woman back then. She must have been out of her mind.
"Sir, Madam went out today?" Assistant Liu gave his usual report.
"It was after Madam returned that the driver sent Aunt Song to the train station."
"Where did Madam go so early?"
Assistant Liu handed the tablet over to Xu Xiuhe. The video was shot by Xu Xiuhe's man.
In the video, Shen Yin could be seen pouring coffee on Yang Cui's face, then pressing Yang Cui's head down to the ground.
The cameraman was far away so no audio was captured. Xu Xiuhe played the video again from the start, pondering the relationship between Shen Yin and Yang Cui.
"What are you watching so intently?" Chang Zhiyuan walked in to see Xu Xiuhe concentrating hard on the video on the tablet.
Xu Xiuhe looked up to see Chang Zhiyuan's disgusted expression. "Why do you keep entering without knocking?"
Chang Zhiyuan waved his hand in response: "What kind of relationship do we have? There are no women in your office. Besides Liu Bo, I'm the only one who comes into your office."
"That's right, Liu Assistant," he deliberately asked Liu Assistant to prove that what he said was right.
Liu Bo realized the problem had shifted to him, and immediately reacted, knowing full well who paid his salary.
Liu Bo smiled and replied, "We're not the same. I have the president's permission, but you broke in on your own."
Chang Zhiyuan was rendered speechless. He quickly changed the subject, "What are you watching so intently? Let me see too."
He then stuck his head out, "Wow, two women together is always exciting. But these two seem very familiar to me."
Xu Xiuhe was still concentrated on the video, unwilling to respond to Chang Zhiyuan. Liu Bo answered his question: "It's the Madam and Yang Cui."
Chang Zhiyuan, Xu Xiuhe and a few others had been good friends since childhood, so they could barge into each other's offices without worry. Of course Chang Zhiyuan knew about the relationship between Xu Xiuhe and Yang Cui, and he also knew there were no feelings between Xu Xiuhe and Shen Yin. So seeing these two women together was quite intriguing.
"Old Xu, what's going on between you and Shen Yin? Many women in Rong City want to marry you. You don't like her and she doesn't care for you either. Why bother and exhaust each other? Weren't you planning a divorce earlier, how come there's no news now? Wouldn't it be better to marry an obedient wife who loves you?"
Xu Xiuhe frowned, "You think everyone has as simple a mind as you."
"Hey, why the personal attack?" Chang Zhiyuan didn't want to discuss whether his mind was simple or not. He earnestly said, "I actually have business with you. My company is shooting a drama and needs a child actor to play my son. Can Zhengzheng help out?"
Even as he spoke, Chang Zhiyuan was nervous inside.
Who was Xu Xiuhe? In just a few years, he had grown his business tremendously, even surpassing many family enterprises. No one in Rong City's business circle did not know of him. At the mention of "Xu Xiuhe", people would praise him and size themselves up against him.
So how could Xu Xiuhe possibly allow his two-year-old son to act?
Sure enough, Xu Xiuhe declined: "Aunt Song resigned. We haven't found a new nanny yet. Zhengzheng is being taken care of by Shen Yin now. Do you think Shen Yin would take Zhengzheng to the drama set?"
Chang Zhiyuan considered this. Indeed, who was Shen Yin? The young miss of the prominent Shen family in Rong City. How could she be willing to go to a drama set?
Suddenly, Chang Zhiyuan realized something else: "Shen Yin? Shen Yin is willing to bring my godson along? Didn't you plan to divorce her? Besides, she dislikes you so much, she probably ignores Zhengzheng too."
Chang Zhiyuan had only met Shen Yin twice, once at their wedding and once at Zhengzheng's one month celebration. But both times, Shen Yin had looked unhappy and ignored everyone. Their unhappy marriage was common knowledge, since Shen Yin never appeared in public. That was why outsiders felt they were incompatible as a couple, and many women hoped to replace her.
Xu Xiuhe asked, "Why must it be Zhengzheng?"