Chapter 198 – The “Poor” Little Male Lead (3)
For example, once their relationship had been defined, he put aside all of their past issues. He was so nice to her that even she felt guilty sometimes. Also, he was a bit jealous of Manager Yang and male god Liu in the past, thinking that one of them was the reason that she turned him down but he had no proof of any of it. But he had never taken any actions against them. Quite the contrary, he had been friendly and polite toward them whenever they were around. This was evidence that the boss was a classy man with a bottom line.
As for why he was so maniacally crazy in the novel, she suspected it was a two-way street. As the stepmom and stepson duo had begun the imperial drama the moment they made their way into the family, perhaps the boss was influenced by them over time?
But none of those were the key takeaway now. The key takeaway was that Yan Shuyu was no longer worried about her instant son being close to and reliant on the boss. Now that the male lead and his villain stepbrother had already become the best of buds, and he even voluntarily offered up a gift, what else was there for her to worry about?
Brushing her teeth, Yan Shuyu smiled and told the little kiddo, “I couldn’t because Uncle Zhou was in a rush to get to the airport. He is heading to US for a business trip.”
She thought she’d see disappointment on her son’s face, but he only looked up at her and asked with curiosity in his voice, “Is Uncle Zhou going to be gone for long? Is he bringing Xiao Yi with him?”
Yan Shuyu wasn’t too disappointed that her son did not respond the way she thought he would. She mumbled to him, “He will be gone for a few days. Of course he couldn’t bring Xiao Yi on a business trip with him.”
“Oh, poor Xiao Yi. He has to stay home all by himself.”
By now Yan Shuyu was no longer following the little kiddo’s thought process. She rinsed out the toothpaste in her mouth before she turned and said to him, “I don’t think you need to worry about Xiao Yi. He has a butler and housekeeper aunties at home to take care of him.”
The little kiddo was exceptionally stubborn. “But Xiao Yi has no mommy and Uncle Zhou is not home.”
Yan Shuyu, “……”
Okay, so the little male lead was pitiful from her instant son’s perspective. Mainly because her son had never been waited on by a group of servants at his beckoning. He probably thought of the butlers and housekeeper aunties like teachers at kindergarten. They’d take care of him but not be present around the clock.Yan Shuyu didn’t want to elaborate too much on the male lead’s situation to little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao. The villain stepbrother’s jealousy toward the male lead’s birth status and being born with the silver spoon might be part of the reason why he was so against the male lead and fought him over his father. She worried that if she elaborated too much, she’d accidentally incite her instant son’s jealousy. She might as well let him keep on thinking that the little male lead was pitiful.
Thinking of that, Yan Shuyu nodded decisively and said, “You are right. Little Zhou Yi is pitiful.”
“Aye.” After receiving his mother’s agreement, Zhang Yuanbao let out a very mature sigh and climbed quietly into bed, feeling compassionate toward his little buddy.
Seeing how she was able to quell her instant son so readily, Yan Shuyu gave herself a thumbs up. She had picked the right strategy. Now that the little kiddo found out that the male lead’s life wasn’t much better than his, he felt more just emotionally and wouldn’t be hung up on the issue.
Unfortunately, her happiness was very short lived. After she had finished bathing, crawled into bed, and was about to get to the daily story-telling routine, she suddenly saw Zhang Yuanbao looking up at her worriedly. “Mom, if Xiao Yi is so lonely. Do you think we should spend more time keeping him company?”
Yan Shuyu, “Huh?”
“Maybe we should go hang out with him after school when mommy is off.”
The little kiddo even knew he had to wait till after school. Not skipping school or taking time off to go hang out with the little male lead. That, however, did not appease Yan Shuyu much.
Her not-too-high IQ had just kicked in – She and the boss have only been dating for a few days. They have not talked about marriage yet and definitely were not engaged to each other. Their relationship was nowhere close to her going over to his place. If she was to pick up the little male lead when the boss wasn’t home, who’d believe that she was only doing that because “the little male lead was pitiful”? Everyone would think that she was using the little young master to further her relationship with the boss.
Yan Shuyu didn’t even give it a second thought before she rejected her son’s suggestion. Her reason was simple. “No, we can’t do that. Mommy only has the weekends off now. By then Uncle Zhou would already be back. There’s no need for you to keep Xiao Yi company.”
Zhang Yuanbao nodded understandably but quickly came up with an even better idea. “Then we can pick up Xiao Yi and bring him over to the shop. I can play with him while we wait for Mommy to get off work.”
Yan Shuyu, “……”
The little kiddo even took things another step further by suggesting, “Let’s bring him with us tomorrow. What do you say?”