Su Jiaobai’s words undoubtedly struck a chord with Gu Xingmo and aligned with his parenting philosophy.
Therefore, Gu Xingmo did not refuse.
He also did not suspect her sudden change in attitude, merely assuming that the grievances she suffered at Lu Ting’s place had further ignited her maternal love.
“Okay, wait for me.” Gu Xingmo said as he stood up, “I’ll go change my clothes.”
Su Jiaobai then picked up her chubby son and called out to Sister Zhou, “My son and I are planning to take Jun Zai to the nearby mall. Please pack the things we need.”
Sister Zhou had just been helping Liu Ma wash dishes in the kitchen. When she turned around and heard the news, she was overjoyed. “I’ll pack them right away.” Although she was well-paid and took good care of Jun Zai, even the most professional nanny couldn’t compare to the child’s biological parents.
Mr. Gu and Teacher Su are willing to spend time with Jun Zai together; this is something she gladly welcomes.
Soon, Sister Zhou came out with a mommy bag, packed with Jun Zai’s usual essentials for going out. She took them out one by one and told Su Jiaobai where each item was placed so it would be easy to find when needed.
Upstairs, Gu Xingmo had just changed into casual wear and was about to go downstairs when he received a call from Lin Zhou, his special assistant at the company.
“Mr. Gu, is it convenient to talk now?”
Because the boss was at home, he was worried that Mrs. Gu might be nearby. If Mrs. Gu found out about this matter, it might cause unnecessary conflict between her and Mr. Gu.
As a seasoned assistant, he had this level of caution.
Hearing his question, Gu Xingmo roughly knew what he was going to say.
“Go ahead.”
With that, Lin Zhou said, “Jiang Heng has ended his academic exchange early and is already on a flight back to the country.”
Jiang Heng was the first love of his wife’s student days. Gu Xingmo had always known about this.
He not only knew he was her first love, but he also knew that they had met again at school later.
After Jiang Heng obtained his doctorate, he took a position at a university in the city. And the middle school where his wife worked was the affiliated middle school of that university. They met again at a social gathering.
From what he understood, his wife had been in frequent contact with him for a period after giving birth to Jun Zai. They had even had private dinners and watched movies together.
He would not interfere with his wife’s normal friendships, but if the relationship with a friend clearly took an unhealthy turn, he would not turn a blind eye.
Therefore, two months ago, he had used his connections to directly send Jiang Heng abroad for academic exchange, temporarily separating the two who were in an emotional state, so that they could both calm down.
However, he hadn’t expected time to pass so quickly, and it was already time for him to return to the country.
But considering the recent changes in his wife, Gu Xingmo didn’t want to rush to continue interfering in this matter.
If she could figure it out herself and proactively end the relationship, that would be best. If not, it wouldn’t be too late for him to intervene.
He hoped she would figure it out and not do anything out of line.
“No need to worry about it for now,” Gu Xingmo instructed.
Lin Zhou was an assistant with professional ethics and followed orders without asking unnecessary questions.
When Gu Xingmo came downstairs, Su Jiaobai had already prepared everything and was waiting for him.
The man walking down the stairs was wearing a simple gray T-shirt and khaki shorts. His hair was not styled with hairspray but fell loosely, softening his naturally chiseled facial features, making him appear inexplicably more approachable.
Dressed like this, he looked much like an ordinary dad taking his child to the mall.
The difference, perhaps, was his striking appearance.
In fact, apart from his unremarkable education, Gu Xingmo was otherwise a perfect catch.
Rich, handsome, and tall.
He also had a good physique; she had seen it unintentionally – he had abs.
Perhaps due to starting his career early, his personality was relatively mature for his age. In his early thirties, he was as mature as a man in his forties.
She didn’t truly know him yet and didn’t know what he was like on the inside. But from their daily interactions, he appeared to be a very mature and emotionally stable man.
Perhaps he had experienced too much in his early years, forging an indestructible heart.
Before, she thought his composure was feigned, an attempt to please the Shanghai elite like Lu Ting. But now, it seemed he genuinely didn’t dwell on things and was truly calm and indifferent.
Su Jiaobai felt that she still had much to learn about society.
“All the things we need to bring are packed. Shall we drive there?” Su Jiaobai proactively discussed the travel plan with him.
Even for a simple outing, anyone with a child knows that unless you’re just strolling in your own yard, if you go any further, you need to bring things like a water cup, diapers, wet wipes, etc.
Now they were going to the mall. What if he suddenly got hungry? She had already stopped breastfeeding, so there was no milk. Therefore, formula, bottles, and warm water for mixing the milk all needed to be brought.
Also, sweat towels, bibs… all needed to be packed.
Looking at the bulging mommy bag, Gu Xingmo proactively reached out to take it, then took his son from his wife’s arms.
“You drive.”
Su Jiaobai: “?”
“What? I drive?” Seeing Gu Xingmo heading towards the door, Su Jiaobai quickly followed. “Are you sure?” Although she had a car and a driver’s license, she had only driven at the driving school and hadn’t touched the steering wheel since.
She had originally planned to wait until her BMW was delivered and then practice slowly in her spare time before driving on the road.
But she hadn’t expected Gu Xingmo to let her practice now.
“Go ahead and drive.” Gu Xingmo’s face showed no hesitation. For him, this was a good opportunity to get familiar with driving.
Gu Xingmo himself was a person of strong execution. In his opinion, since the car had already been bought, and he would have to drive it for commuting in the future, he had to seize every opportunity to practice driving on the road.
Su Jiaobai was not a person of indecision either. Since Gu Xingmo had suggested she practice and was willing to let her practice in his luxury car, she wouldn’t repeatedly back down.
“It’s good, but you have to teach me first.” The car she drove in driving school was a manual transmission, and that was several years ago.
Although driving an automatic car was like riding an electric bike, there were many functions in a high-end car that she didn’t understand.
The first time, Gu Xingmo had to teach her hand-in-hand.
Gu Xingmo handed Jun Zai to Sister Zhou, and he went to the garage with Su Jiaobai.
As Su Jiaobai got into the car, Gu Xingmo directly opened the passenger door.
As he sat there, Su Jiaobai suddenly felt a sense of returning to driving school, and her heart involuntarily quickened.
She first fastened her seatbelt and then asked, “What next?”
“Start the engine first.” Gu Xingmo reached out and pointed to a spot.
Seeing her reach out to press it, Gu Xingmo reminded her again, “Press the brake.”
“Ah?” Su Jiaobai was bewildered. Should she press the brake or start the engine?
Gu Xingmo: “Press the brake and start the engine.”
“Oh, oh.” So she carefully placed her right foot on the brake. Fortunately, she still knew which was the brake and which was the accelerator, so she didn’t have to ask about that.
After starting the engine, after a short while, Gu Xingmo told her to shift gears.
Fearing she wouldn’t know which gear to shift into, he specifically emphasized, “Shift to R gear for reversing. Back out first.”
Then, Su Jiaobai shifted to R gear and slowly backed the car out of the garage.
Fortunately, the road here was wide enough. If the road were narrower, it would have taken more time to back up.
The car drove onto the road and stopped. Gu Xingmo got out of the passenger seat.
Seeing that Mr. Gu was really letting Teacher Su drive, Sister Zhou looked worried. “Why don’t Mr. Gu sit in the passenger seat and watch Teacher Su drive? I’ll hold Jun Zai in the back. When we get there, if you need me to follow after parking the car, I will. If you don’t need me, I’ll just find a place to sit and contact you when you leave.”
Before Gu Xingmo could speak, Su Jiaobai immediately agreed to Sister Zhou’s suggestion.
Gu Xingmo didn’t object either, so he let Sister Zhou bring Jun Zai into the car, and then he sat back in the passenger seat.
Although she was nervous with him sitting next to her, she was terrified if he wasn’t sitting next to her.
She didn’t dare to joke about her life safety, so even if Gu Xingmo scolded her to her face for driving poorly later, she could accept it.
However, she had once again underestimated Gu Xingmo’s magnanimity and emotional stability. For the entire drive to the mall, she drove extremely slowly, accelerating and stopping abruptly each time, making the ride experience extremely poor… Gu Xingmo did not show the slightest impatience.
In fact, he spoke little on the way, only telling her what traffic rules to pay attention to when necessary.
Only once, because a car next to them cut them off, and the two cars almost collided, Gu Xingmo, unable to remind her in time, directly touched her steering wheel.
Su Jiaobai was terrified at that moment. Knowing it wasn’t her fault, she indignantly complained to the man beside her, “What’s wrong with that car? He cut me off just now, didn’t he?”
Gu Xingmo remained as steady as a rock, his body not moving at all. He only slightly raised his dark eyes, gazing at the car that had just overtaken them unscrupulously.
“Don’t mind him. You drive your car,” Gu Xingmo said.
But he probably understood what was going on. It was likely that seeing a woman driving a luxury car poorly, someone wanted to show off their driving skills.