Yang Liu wore a smoke-gray crewneck sweater. She was so thin that the sweater hung loosely on her, but perhaps because this body had given birth before, she was still quite well-endowed in all the places where she should have curves, giving her a shapely figure. She wore military-green trousers and had braided her hair into two plaits that hung over her chest. She had seen many young girls on the street dressing this way, so she wanted to try it too.
Everyone else had seen this kind of outfit so often that they did not think much of it, but when Yang Liu dressed this way, she looked especially beautiful. Her features already had a pure and innocent look to them, and this outfit made her appear even more innocent.
But Zhao Beichen knew exactly what kind of filthy, despicable heart lay beneath her seemingly innocent exterior.
The man’s gaze turned cold, and he shifted his eyes away from Yang Liu’s face to Niannian, whose hair had been cut into a mushroom style with straight bangs. He said: “Niannian, call me Daddy?”
Niannian looked at Zhao Beichen and said in her soft, childish voice: “I have Mommy~”
“…”
Li Huifang picked up the picture Niannian had drawn and showed it to Zhao Beichen. “Look, she drew it quite well. Her mommy taught her all of this.”
Zhao Beichen showed no reaction on his face, but inwardly he snorted coldly. Her? She could even teach a child how to draw?
Li Huifang could tell that there were serious problems between the two of them, so she urged: “Hurry downstairs and eat. Go over tomorrow’s banquet arrangements with Yang Liu and finalize everything.”
Zhao Beichen said: “Bring the child downstairs too! Aren’t we bringing her along tomorrow anyway?”
Niannian still refused to let Zhao Beichen hold her. Zhao Beichen tossed aside the towel, took a red envelope out of his trouser pocket, and said: “Look what Daddy brought you?”
Niannian licked her lips. “Is it something yummy?”
How did this little one only ever think about food?
Zhao Beichen said: “Yes. Call me Daddy once, and all these yummy things are yours?”
Niannian had been well fed and well cared for at the Zhao Family these past few days. She took a bath every day and had fragrant cream applied to her, and the little girl had undergone a complete transformation. Who would not adore such a soft, sweet-smelling, beautiful daughter?
Niannian hugged Yang Liu’s leg, looked at Zhao Beichen, and said: “No. Mommy is taking me to find Daddy~”
Both Zhao Beichen and Li Huifang looked at Yang Liu.
Yang Liu crouched down, pinched Niannian’s cheeks, and made her look at Zhao Beichen. She said: “Little girl, I’ve told you so many times already. He is your daddy!”
Niannian said: “He’s a big bad guy~”
Yang Liu said solemnly: “He is your dad, Zhao, Bei, Chen.”
Niannian blinked her pair of black grape-like eyes at Zhao Beichen, sucking on her fingers and stubbornly refusing to call him Daddy.
Zhao Beichen was speechless as well. He handed the red envelope to Yang Liu. “It’s for the two of you.”
Yang Liu said: “What?”
Zhao Beichen turned around and left. “See for yourself.”
Li Huifang took the child into her arms and said to Yang Liu: “Open it and have a look. It should be money and ration coupons.” Some places still required coupons when buying things nowadays.
Yang Liu checked and found that there was indeed money and ration coupons inside.
After Zhao Beichen finished eating his noodles, he went to find Yang Liu to discuss tomorrow’s arrangements.
Yang Liu looked at Zhao Beichen and said: “There’s really no need to hold this family recognition banquet. Convince your parents to cancel it, okay?”
Zhao Beichen looked at Yang Liu with a cold expression and icy eyes, then said mockingly: “Isn’t this exactly the result you wanted?”
Yang Liu had no intention of putting up with even the slightest bit of aggravation. She sneered and said: “Young Master Zhao, don’t think too highly of yourself. I made myself very clear as soon as I arrived. I came to deliver your child to you, and then we’re getting divorced.”
Zhao Beichen said: “I don’t care what your purpose is, but since you dared to come here, you’ll have to bear the consequences of coming here. Do you think this is Yang Family Village, where you can do whatever you want? Not only is tomorrow’s banquet going ahead, it has to be done properly. You’d better not harbor any more filthy thoughts.”
Yang Liu said: “I have no problem cooperating with you, but I hope you can listen carefully and let me finish what I have to say?”
Zhao Beichen said coldly: “Speak.”
Yang Liu said: “The only reason I brought the child here to find you this time was because we couldn’t survive in the village anymore. I wouldn’t have cared if it were only me, but the child is different. She’s a girl, and she’s so beautiful. I can’t protect her.
The Zhang Family has never given up on the idea of the exchange marriage. This time, taking advantage of the fact that my sister-in-law is pregnant with a boy, they threatened my father and brothers, saying that if they didn’t send me to the Zhang Family to carry on their family line, they would take their daughter back home. They even threatened to sell Niannian. They drugged me with a sedative and planned to knock me unconscious and send me to the Zhang Family. Fortunately, I didn’t drink the water they had drugged, and that was how I escaped that ordeal.
If it weren’t for Niannian, I definitely wouldn’t have come looking for you, but I have to make sure she’s properly settled. She has her biological father and family.”