In reality, there was no need to ask anything further.
Lian Jue’s little face was one she had flipped back and forth through on her computer screen countless times over the past few days; she could recognize at a single glance that he was the person she had been talking about nonstop all week.
“Hello, Auntie, my name is Lian Jue,” Lian Jue greeted politely.
Immediately afterward, he watched Bai Yishu’s expression undergo a subtle, stealthy transformation, to the extent that she even reached out to grab Lian Jue’s hand.
Awkwardly stiffening in place, Lian Jue stole a sideways glance at Chen Xingjian.
What does this mean? Why is Madam holding my hand?
Chen Xingjian’s gaze landed on their intertwined hands, his usually steady expression cracking slightly as he barely managed to keep his composure.
“Ahem, Lian Jue, is it? You stay behind for a moment; Chen Xingjian, you can make yourself useful elsewhere.” Bai Yishu gave a couple of light coughs before speaking.
Lian Jue:
Stay behind me?
Chen Xingjian makes himself useful elsewhere, while he stays?
Not a single soul among those present dared to speak up, each striving to shrink their presence down to the absolute minimum.
Looking around and finding that Chen Xingjian had no intention of leaving, Lian Jue murmured softly, “Aunty, President Chen actually wanted to spend a bit more time with you.”
“Lian Jue! Are you really getting carried away”
“Alright! You’re a grown man, and you’re getting hot-headed and throwing a tantrum just because you got called out?” Bai Yishu interrupted Chen Xingjian directly, refusing to spare him even an extra glance. “If you want to stay, you can stay.”
The crown of “longing for his mother” was thus firmly clamped down on Chen Xingjian’s head, leaving him without even a shred of justification to argue back.
He watched helplessly as Lian Jue fluttering his wings like a genuine little canary—followed Bai Yishu straight up to the second floor, while he was left behind without the dignity to follow them up and eavesdrop.
“Little bastard, don’t come crying to me and begging me to back you up when you get scolded into a pulp by Bai Yishu.”
Casually pushing open the tearoom door, Chen Xingjian poured himself a couple of cups of tea.
Assistant Zhao offered a suggestion: “Shall I send you back first, sir? When Mr. Lian comes back and sees you aren’t here, he’ll surely realize you were angry.”
Chen Xingjian said nothing, merely casting a cold glance at Assistant Zhao.
Understanding dawned instantly on Assistant Zhao: it wasn’t that President Chen was truly angry; he had simply put on a cold face and sworn an oath never to care about anyone ever again—no different from when he was a little boy swearing to become a cold-blooded study machine.
Following Bai Yishu upstairs, Lian Jue felt his heart hammering nervously the moment they rounded the corner of the staircase and Chen Xingjian’s figure vanished entirely from their view, causing Bai Yishu to halt abruptly in her tracks.
Trailing right behind her, Lian Jue’s heart fluttered with panic.
Could it finally be time?
High-society feuds, treacherous plots, undercurrents surging.
Is she going to fling a check for ten million right into my face and tell me to leave Chen Xingjian, or is she going to deliver a direct slap and warn me never to show my face around Chen Xingjian again?
While a stormy tempest raged within Lian Jue’s mind, Bai Yishu turned around and offered Lian Jue a gentle smile.
“You can just call me Auntie Bai from now on.”
“Huh?”
Once she calmed down, Bai Yishu was actually a very gentle woman. Passing close by her, one could catch a faint, pleasant fragrance of jasmine, and simply lingering in her presence naturally put people at ease.
Lian Jue’s tensed nerves unconsciously relaxed.
Walking ahead to lead the way, Bai Yishu suddenly asked, “What kind of relationship do you and Xingjian have? I rarely ever see Xingjian bring anyone close to him, let alone beg me to pull strings for a backdoor favor.”
Lian Jue’s relaxed nerves instantly tightened back up.
He couldn’t find the right words to summarize his relationship with Chen Xingjian.
Flipping frantically through his once-abundant vocabulary database from start to finish failed to turn up a single suitable term.
In the end, he stammered out a squeezed-out phrase: “I, I usually just do odd jobs for President Chen.”
Fortunately, Bai Yishu seemed to notice Lian Jue’s difficulty and spared him from pressing further questions.
The two of them entered Bai Yishu’s personal studio.
Unlike the art-filled, opulent grandeur of the main hall, Bai Yishu’s studio was much simpler, featuring many personal touches. Sitting dead center on the office desk was a pair of tiny red handprints alongside a framed family portrait.
On the photograph, a young couple embraced a youthful Chen Xingjian, looking warm and complete.
“Actually, neither you nor Xingjian needed to go this far. You are exceptionally talented; even without this layer of connection between you and Xingjian, I would still have chosen to keep you.” Turning her gaze back to Lian Jue, Bai Yishu’s eyes brimmed with unvarnished appreciation and praise.
Lian Jue felt as though his heart had been gently, delicately plucked. Ever since he was a little boy, he had received countless gazes cast in his direction.
Obsession, lust, disgust, hostility.
Yet complete appreciation and praise—gazes entirely untainted by self-interest were given to him by Bai Yishu.
A sudden warmth welled up in the corners of Lian Jue’s eyes, and he nodded in a chaotic flurry, lowering his head slightly.
“However, my head accidentally got hurt, and I’m afraid I won’t make it in time—”
Only then did Bai Yishu drop her gaze to the top of Lian Jue’s head, offering him a generous round of comforting words.
The two of them put their heads together and eventually brainstormed a solution.
Let Lian Jue participate wearing a hat.
“Aunty, wouldn’t that be a bit too casual?” Lian Jue asked in disbelief, utterly failing to imagine that the problem which had plagued him for so long could be resolved this easily.
Looking entirely innocent, Bai Yishu countered: “What’s casual about it? The rules don’t state anywhere that you aren’t allowed to wear a hat.”
Exchanging a glance, the two of them burst out laughing, their voices ringing loud enough to carry all the way downstairs.
Clutching his teacup, Chen Xingjian glanced toward the second floor.
“It looks like Madam and Mr. Lian are getting along quite pleasantly,” Assistant Zhao observed with a gratified smile.
“Do I lack ears?” Setting his teacup down, Chen Xingjian slammed the jade bracelet in his hand onto the tea tray with a heavy clack, nearly chipping it in the process. “Bonus for this month is canceled.”
“Please don’t do that, President Chen!”
Assistant Zhao wailed in wretched grief, though his lamentation failed to sway Chen Xingjian’s heart in the slightest.
Like a statue carved from stone, Chen Xingjian sat waiting in the tearoom.
The tea in his cup was refilled several rounds, stretching from afternoon until dusk began to fall.
By the end of it all, far from having his grandson-status drilled into him by Bai Yishu, Lian Jue and Bai Yishu practically walked out arm-in-arm, looking far closer than they did with her actual biological son.
Like a chirping little sparrow, Lian Jue flitted around Bai Yishu asking questions: “Oh right, Aunty, why does President Chen wear a jade bracelet on his wrist? It doesn’t seem to match his personality at all.”
Without a hint of anger, Bai Yishu curved her eyes into crescents and good-naturedly explained: “When Xingjian was little, he walked very fast and was always tripping and falling”
Chen Xingjian’s patience hit its absolute limit. If the two of them kept talking, his entire history of climbing trees to rob bird nests at age five was going to be dug up next.
“Mother, it’s getting late, I’m taking Lian Jue back.” He wedged himself straight between the two of them and spoke up.
Clearly, Bai Yishu was still finding the conversation too short, and Lian Jue felt the exact same way.
Exchanging a fleeting look, Bai Yishu gave a light cough: “Xingjian, if it’s convenient for you, drop Lian Jue off at Yuan He. Work is work after all; it’s all just doing jobs, so what difference does it make whether he’s working for you or for me? If you miss Lian Jue, you can always drop by Yuan He to check on him.”
Drop by Yuan He to check on him?
He pampered Lian Jue, built connections for him, coaxed him with tiny diamonds whenever he got upset, and had to carve out time to reply to those bizarre, bottomless WeChat messages of his only to find out he had been relegated to an outsider?
A fire raged straight to the top of Chen Xingjian’s head. Though maintaining a calm surface, he shot Lian Jue a smiling-yet-cold glance: “Doing jobs? Is that what Lian Jue told you?”
Lian Jue felt his legs go so weak he nearly dropped to his knees right on the spot. He swore that the only time he had ever seen such a terrifying expression on Chen Xingjian’s face was when that gold-digger boss had tried to cross him.
Looking somewhat perplexed, Bai Yishu glanced over at Lian Jue: “Yes, isn’t he doing odd jobs?”
“Then did he tell you that the two of us signed a marriage agreement? That we are legally wedded husband and wife right now?”
Chen Xingjian’s words exploded like a heavy bomb right in front of everyone. Lian Jue’s scalp went completely numb, and a buzzing ring started up in his ears.
Evidently feeling he hadn’t dropped enough chaos yet, Chen Xingjian continued spewing outrageous statements, driven entirely by the goal of detonating the entire room because he was unhappy inside:
“You’re taking him away from me who am I supposed to sleep with at night? Do you want me to sleep alone in an empty room?”