Du Niannian sat upright on the chair and held her two small hands behind her back like an adult. She looked at her teacher with her big black eyes and listened to the teacher telling a story attentively.

When Du Huayue appeared at the door, Ms. Cao turned her head and saw him. She nodded slightly at him and smiled. “Du Niannian, carry your bag and go home.”

Only then did Du Niannian see Du Huayue. She picked up her school bag beside her feet and ran to him happily. “Dad, dad.”

The teacher looked at them in confusion. Du Huayue smiled awkwardly and took Du Niannian’s bag. He put it on his shoulder and told the child to say goodbye to the teacher. Then, he quickly took her out.

Only after they left the kindergarten did Du Huayue scold her. “Niannian, what’s wrong with you? Didn’t I tell you to call me uncle? Why did you call me daddy again?”

Du Niannian pouted. “Today, a chubby child said that I didn’t have a father. So I called you dad.”

Du Huayue didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “This isn’t right. Don’t do this next time.”

Du Niannian snorted. “You allowed me to call you dad last time. Why do you not allow me to do this now? Will you suffer a loss being called my dad?”

Du Huayue said, “I do want to be your dad, but your mother doesn’t agree. Can you blame me? If she hears this, even I will be scolded.”

“She is a paper tiger, what is there to be afraid of?” Du Niannian said casually, “I will not do this when she is with us, is this ok?”

“Don’t do that even when she is not with us.” Du Huayue said, “It’s not good to let Aunt Cui hear it.”

Du Niannian asked, “Are you going to marry Aunt Cui?”

Du Huayue said, “Probably!”

“Then when you get married to her, will you not take care of us?”

Before Du Huayue could say anything, Du Niannian snorted and pushed him hard. “You traitor!”

Du Huayue found it funny and said, “How can I not take care of you! Even though I am not your father, I am still your uncle!” He held Du Niannian’s small hand again. “I will buy you something delicious.”

Du Niannian immediately became excited when she heard that. “Uncle, I want to eat meatballs.”

Du Huayue said, “Okay, I will also buy a roasted chicken leg for you.”

“No, meatballs will be ok.” Du Niannian was sensible. “Mom said that we can’t let you spend money all the time. You need to save money to get married now. If you spend all the money for us, you won’t be able to get a wife.”

Du Huayue felt a little sad when he heard that. He blamed Du Xiaoxian for telling the child these things. He smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I will not fall into poverty because of a roasted chicken leg.”

“No, Mom will be unhappy.”

“Then I will buy two and give the other one to your mom. She is so thin but she works so hard. Should we buy something delicious for her?”

Du Niannian thought for a moment and said, “Alright then. Let mom eat both of them. Meatballs will be ok for me.”

Du Huayue took Du Niannian to the market to buy vegetables. Then they went home. When they saw a stall selling toys by the roadside, he stopped and asked Du Niannian, “Which one do you like? I will buy it for you.”

Du Niannian looked at a toy rabbit with long ears and shook her head. “Mom said that I have grown up. I am already in kindergarten. So I can’t have children’s toys anymore.”

Du Huayue felt funny and angry. He did not know what Du Xiaoxian taught Du Niannian. This child was so obedient. He felt heartbreaking to hear it.

Du Huayue said, “Just see it as a birthday present that I give you in advance. Just choose one. Your mom won’t blame you.”

“Can I really have a gift in advance?” Du Niannian’s eyes lit up, and she looked at the long-eared toy rabbit again.

“Of course,” Du Huayue bargained with the vendor, and Du Niannian also chimed in, “Sir, a little cheaper, please. My uncle needs to save money to marry a wife!”

The vendor laughed. He felt that this child was really cute. So he generously agreed to the price that Du Huayue had proposed.

The two were very happy as if they had won a war. Du Huayue carried her schoolbag and the vegetables. Du Niannian carried the long-eared toy rabbit. They happily walked home.

When Du Xiaoxian got home from work, Du Huayue had already got all the food ingredients ready for cooking. When Du Xiaoxian saw fish, meatballs, chicken legs, and the toy rabbit with long ears that Du Niannian was playing with in the living room, she was a little unhappy. She took Du Niannian to their room. “I have told you not to let uncle spend money randomly for us. Why didn’t you keep an eye on him and why did you let him buy toys for you?”

When Du Huayue saw Du Xiaoxian taking Du Niannian to their room, he immediately ran to help Du Niannian. “Don’t blame the child. I wanted to buy it for her. Look, Niannian is already three years old. But her toys were still old ones. Although the toys in her small wooden box are broken, she can’t bear to throw them away. She didn’t want that toy at all. I took the initiative to buy it for her. Take it as a present for her four-year-old birthday. Isn’t that okay?”

Du Niannian lowered her head and stood silently with her red eyes. She forced herself not to cry. Du Xiaoxian also knew that her daughter had been living a tough life over the years. But with such a difficult financial situation, she had no choice.

“Niannian,” She softened. “Didn’t I buy you a crayon? If you feel bored, you can draw! When I was young, I didn’t even have a crayon! So I would pick up a branch and would draw on the mud. Your condition now is much better than mine when I was a child.”

Du Huayue said, “Niannian doesn’t like drawing. She is frisky. You can’t force Niannian to be like what you looked like when you were a child. Fortunately, she’s different from you. Our Niannian is lively, cute, and sensible. She’s much better than you.”

When Du Huayue said this, Du Xiaoxian did not say anything else. She touched the child’s head and said, “Go and have fun!”

Du Niannian held the long-eared toy rabbit and said softly, “Thank you, mom.”

Du Xiaoxian said, “Why are you thanking me? You should thank uncle.”

Du Niannian then said to Du Huayue, “Thank you, uncle.”

“Didn’t you already thank me? Alright, go and have fun!”

In fact, Du Niannian still felt a little aggrieved in her heart, but she could endure it. She held the long-eared toy rabbit and went to the living room without a word. She knew that her family was not rich. When she saw other children wearing beautiful skirts and having big dolls, she also wanted to have them. But she never said it because she knew that her mother was hard at work. She felt that she had already behaved very well, but her mother still blamed her.

Seeing Du Niannian’s unhappy expression, Du Huayue blamed Du Xiaoxian in the kitchen, “She was originally very happy, but after being blamed by you, her mood was completely ruined. Don’t blame her anymore in the future. Although she is only three years old, she is more sensible than children of five or six years old. You should be satisfied with having such an obedient daughter.”

When Du Xiaoxian saw Du Niannian’s aggrieved look, she also felt uncomfortable. But after using up the money she had earned from selling the paintings, their financial situation became even worse. She had no choice.

In fact, she loved her daughter very much. Back then, when she still had some savings on hand, she was afraid that her child would live a harsh life, so she gave her daughter an affluent environment. She wanted Niannian to live like a little princess. But she did not expect that the savings were spent quickly. At about 2 years old, Niannian had a serious illness. At that time, they did not have much savings. Because Niannian stayed in the hospital for more than two months, not only did Du Xiaoxian use up all her savings, but Du Huayue also had to borrow money from his colleagues.

After that, their life had been hard, and she had not bought the child new toys. Nor had she bought any beautiful clothes for Niannian. She even stopped the milk that she had kept buying for her daughter. Now, she could only work hard to earn money and slowly make her life better so that her daughter could have a better life.

The dishes were placed on the table one after another. Before Du Xiaoxian called her, Du Niannian took the initiative to go to the kitchen and wash her hands. Then, she opened the cupboard and took out three bowls. She piled them together, carefully carried them to the table, and placed them on it. Then, she ran to pick up three pairs of chopsticks from the chopstick container and put them on the table.

Next, she opened the rice cooker. The white steam that puffed up out of it was so hot that she drew her hands back and instinctively reached them out to her ears. Then she picked up the rice ladle and ladled the rice into the bowls. When Du Huayue and Du Xiaoxian brought all the dishes out, Du Niannian had filled the three bowls. Du Huayue patted her head. “Niannian, you are really capable.”

After receiving his praise, Du Niannian was very proud. She raised her little face and smiled at him. Then, she looked at her mother expectantly.

Du Xiaoxian smiled and gave her a big meatball. Du Niannian was even happier after receiving her mother’s reward. She took a bite of the meatball and shook her little head happily. Her small braids swayed on her head, looking extremely cute.

During the meal, Du Xiaoxian brought up the matter of meeting Lu Haochen in the morning and said, “I didn’t expect the boss to be so kind. He let me leave before I finished my work.”

Du Huayue found it a little strange and said, “Could it be that he didn’t let you do it because you didn’t do it well?”

Hearing that, Du Xiaoxian felt worried. “Did he think I didn’t do it well?”

“That won’t happen,” Seeing that Du Xiaoxian was so nervous, Du Huayue comforted her, “Mr. Lu is a kind person.”

Although Lu Haochen was kind, he was a very strict person. So when Du Huayue heard Du Xiaoxian saying this, his first thought was that Du Xiaoxian had not done her job well.

Lu Haochen was a workaholic. He constantly strived for perfection and could not tolerate any flaws. It was because of his strict style that the entire company was well-disciplined and orderly. It often happened in other companies that the employees slacked off. But it rarely happened in the Tianchen Company. If employees here did not do the job well, they would be fired. However, as long as they did their best and worked hard, there would be high salaries and benefits in return.

Although Du Xiaoxian had never seen Lu Haochen before, she had heard of him more or less. When Chen Liyi transferred her upstairs, Chen had specifically told Du Xiaoxian that the boss was a very strict person and she had to be very careful when cleaning his office. Chen Liyi also told her many things she had to pay attention to. Du Xiaoxian remembered them all in her heart. When she saw Lu Haochen in the morning, she thought that he was not as the rumors said. She thought that he was quite approachable. But after hearing what Du Huayue said, she felt that she was wrong. Maybe she did not do well. That was why he asked her not to do it. Although Du Huayue comforted her later, she was still afraid that she would lose this job.

The next morning, she specially sent Du Niannian to kindergarten twenty minutes earlier than usual and then rushed to work at the company. She thought that since she had been so early, she should not be able to meet Lu Haochen!

When she quickly cleaned up Lu Haochen’s office, he really did not come. Du Xiaoxian was relieved and went to clean the corridor, the meeting room, and the toilet. When she finished cleaning and came out of the bathroom, she glimpsed Lu Haochen who was walking to the office from the elevator.

She got panicked and quickly went through the emergency door nearby and walked down the stairs. She only hoped that Lu Haochen did not see her. If he did not see her, he would not remember what happened yesterday. She thought that the boss had a lot of things to do and would forget her when he was busy. This way, both of them would be in peace.