Chapter 316 We Will Be a Family From Now On

Lu Haochen walked to the window and pulled the curtains open. Shining sunlight poured in, causing him to narrow his eyes. He couldn’t help but raise his hand to block it.

The sunlight was shiningly white, and he felt dizzy after looking outside the window for a long time. The tip of the tall buildings nearby were shining in the sun.

Looking down from such a high place, he felt the mortal world was under his feet. Every day in this city, there were stories of men and women being infatuated with each other. He had always been watching coldly from the sidelines, scoffing at them and disdaining to be one of them. But now…

He lit a cigarette, took two puffs, and laughed at himself. What was the difference between him and those ordinary people now?

He just fell in love with a woman!

It was just a woman. But she made him lose his composure and turned him into a thick-skinned fool.

To him, this was an earth-shaking change. But there was no other way. He liked Du Xiaoxian, so much that… he could tolerate everything, including that child! Yes, standing here, he had already made up his mind. He wanted to be the child’s father!

The little girl was called Du Niannian. She was very beautiful and had eyes as clear as Du Xiaoxian’s. More importantly, she called him Dad.

He waved his hand, throwing the cigarette accurately into the crystal ashtray. He heaved a sigh of relief and walked towards the secretary’s room.

It was still lunch break. There were not many people in the secretary’s room. Most of them were leaning over the table to sleep. Someone saw him and was about to greet him. He made a gesture of silence and quietly walked to Du Xiaoxian.

Du Xiaoxian was also sleeping. Her head was resting on her arm. A few strands of hair covered her face, and there were shallow wrinkles between her eyebrows. It was probably because of Du Niannian. Maybe she was so upset that she even frowned when she slept.

Lu Haochen looked at her for a long time. He suddenly reached out to gently smoothen the wrinkles between her eyebrows. As soon as his hand touched her, she woke up and looked at him vigilantly as if he was a big pervert who wanted to take advantage of her. “What are you doing?”

Lu Haochen pulled the swivel chair next to him over and sat down. He looked at her with a faint smile. “What can I do in broad daylight? Can you not always think of me as a bad guy?”

“Boss,” Du Xiaoxian sat up straight and looked around. She lowered her voice and said, “I have been hiding it from you. It was my fault. Now that you knew it, in the future…”

“We will be a family from now on.” Lu Haochen winked at her mischievously and lowered his voice. “Niannian is better than you. She has already called me dad.”

“She is just a child who knows nothing! But why are you also talking nonsense?” Du Xiaoxian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. When she got out of the car just now, she thought that Lu Haochen would let go of her. She didn’t expect him to be so stubborn!

“We didn’t talk nonsense. It is you who have no sense!” Lu Haochen said, “Everyone thinks that we should be together. But you are the only one who makes things difficult. If you were worried about the child before, then you would have no reason to reject me again now that the problem has been solved.”

“Boss,” Du Xiaoxian was a little anxious and raised her voice a little. “You can’t do this, even if you don’t…”

“Stop,” Lu Haochen raised his hand to stop her from continuing. “It is not the right time to talk about this now. Let’s talk about it in my house tonight.”

“I won’t come.”

“Then please read the contract. The tenth item of article two states that you should go to the house whenever the employer calls you. Otherwise, you will be fined a month’s salary.”

“I won’t come even in that case.” Du Xiaoxian was determined to set herself against him to the end.

“Then I’ll call you once every ten minutes. Every time you refuse to come, you will be fined a month’s salary. If I call you twenty or thirty times a night, do you know how much money you will be fined? I don’t think you have enough money to pay the fine even if you take out the money you have earned from selling your paintings.”

“You!” Du Xiaoxian was so angry that her face turned red. What kind of logic was this?

Unable to outspeak, win, or get rid of him, Du Xiaoxian could only helplessly sigh and give up in the end.

“I will come. Since you want to talk, then let’s have a good talk.” Du Xiaoxian thought. Although she saw little hope for convincing Lu Haochen, she still decided to give it a try.

After work, Du Xiaoxian first went to pick up Du Niannian and went home. On the way back, she naturally scolded her daughter again. Du Xiaoxian had a gentle personality and had never spanked the child before. No matter how angry she was, she would just scold Du Niannian for a while. However, Du Niannian’s personality was the exact opposite. She was firm and stubborn. Anyone who dared to bully her would definitely suffer. Although she was a girl, she was even more terrible than a boy when it came to fighting. Last time, she also pushed a little boy to the ground and got a piece of his skin peeled off. The teacher called to complain. Du Xiaoxian locked Du Niannian in the room and taught her a good lesson. Du Xiaoxian made Du Niannian promise that she would never fight in kindergarten in the future. Unexpectedly, this time, it was even more serious. She bit her classmate’s hand.

Du Niannian jumped around on the way. Du Xiaoxian didn’t know if Niannian had taken her words or not. Du Xiaoxian had always given enough face to her daughter outside. She only got angry when they got home. She carried Du Niannian into the room. “Stand by the wall and reflect on yourself!”

Du Niannian snorted and stood against the wall, raising her head up to look at her mother like a stubborn child!

Du Xiaoxian was even angrier. “Do you still refuse to admit your mistake? Do you think you are right? If you don’t admit your mistake today, you shall not eat!”

Du Huayue happened to hear this as he entered the house. He walked in and said, “What did Niannian do wrong? Why do you not allow her to eat?”

“You ask her.” Du Xiaoxian pointed at Du Niannian angrily.

“Chen Jiahe called me a wild child without a father. So I bit him.” Du Niannian said confidently, “Uncle, you told me to beat anyone who insults me like this!”

“Yes, if anyone insults you like this, just beat him.” Du Huayue went over and pulled Du Niannian into the living room. “We are not wrong. What are you reflecting on? If he still dares to call you that next time, you shall bite him again until he is afraid of you!”

Du Xiaoxian stared at Du Huayue, flabbergasted. “Brother Ah Yue, is this the right way to teach her?”

“What’s wrong with me teaching her like this?” Du Huayue also had a self-righteous look. “I’m teaching her how to protect her dignity. Niannian can’t be like you who endure everything. You are always at a disadvantage and you know nothing about dealing with people! You are a fool!”

“Being at a disadvantage is a blessing!” Du Xiaoxian argued, “Fortune favors fools!”

Du Huayue scoffed, “You have always been a disadvantage, but are you blessed? You even gave birth…” He glanced at Du Niannian and did not continue in the end.

Du Xiaoxian was speechless. In fact, having Du Niannian was a blessing to her, but she could not say it. If she said it, Du Huayue would scold her for being stubborn.

Du Huayue asked Du Niannian in the living room about what had happened.

Although Du Niannian was young, her words were not ambiguous at all when she spoke. She told him the ins and outs of the matter clearly and orderly.

Du Huayue finally understood why Lu Haochen knew that Du Xiaoxian had a child. It turned out that he had already seen Du Niannian.

“Niannian, do you like that uncle?”

“It’s Dad,” Du Niannian corrected Du Huayue. “Didn’t I just say it? He has personally admitted that I am his daughter.”

“Then do you like this father?”

“Yes,” Du Niannian had a big smile. Both her eyes and brows curved into an arc. “Dad is very brave. Although Chen Jiahe’s father is fatter than him, he is not afraid of that man at all. Besides, he is so handsome. Uncle, I am so beautiful. Is it because I look like him?”

Du Huayue pretended to size her up and nodded with a smile. “You really look like him.”

“Dad is also super rich. This is what he did,” Du Niannian imitated Lu Haochen and waved her small arm. “He said, ‘take it, you can write any amount on it!’ It shocked Chen Jiahe’s parents.”

Du Huayue could not help but stroke her head. “Yes, your dad is super rich. But you can’t ask him for money casually. His money is used to do big business, understand?”

“I know.” Du Niannian nodded sensibly, “Dad’s money is used to do big business, and he will make a lot of money back for Mom to use.”

“Little brat,” Du Huayue pinched her little face. “Go play.”

Watching Du Niannian run away happily, he went to the kitchen. Du Xiaoxian was stirring the eggs in a bowl. When he saw that the green peppers were washed and put on the chopping board, he picked up the knife and cut them. He said, “Xiaoxian, I don’t mean to scold you. The boss is really a good person. He doesn’t care that you have a child. Why are you hesitating?”

“Brother Ah Yue, you were the one who told me not to forget the lesson I’ve learned.” Du Xiaoxian said, “Why are you speaking up for him now?”

“He and Gu Nianbin are different.” Du Huayue cut the peppers hard. “The person I think highly of can’t be bad. Believe me, I will not harm you.” He paused for a moment and continued, “To be honest, I was very worried before because the boss and Gu Nianbin have a similar family background and both of them are the only son of their families. I thought his family would definitely oppose you two being together. But my worries are nothing to the boss. He talked to me wholeheartedly and also talked about his family. His parents are very open-minded and his family is richer than you think. You may not know that Tianchen Company is not the business of his family but his own one. It has been established for five years, and has operated very well. His father promised that if Tianchen Company ran well, he would not be forced to inherit the family business. You see, he has such open-minded parents. What is there to worry about? Moreover, I think the boss is very sincere to you. He will never be like Gu Nianbin…”

“Brother Ah Yue, don’t say anymore. Gu Nianbin didn’t let me down. I left him myself. I let him down!”

“You left him to save the Gu Group. How did you let him down? It was him who did not have the ability to protect you. In the end, he had to sacrifice you to save his business. He was not a responsible man!” Du Huayue had always held prejudice against Gu Nianbin. Between Gu Nianbin and Lu Haochen, he was naturally willing to stand on Lu Haochen’s side.

Du Xiaoxian knew that he did not have a good impression of Gu Nianbin. So she didn’t want to make unnecessary disputes with him.

They worked together and the dishes were quickly served. Du Niannian ran to the bathroom to wash her hands and helped to set up the bowls and chopsticks. Then, she sat properly at the dining table and watched Du Xiaoxian scoop rice into the bowls.

“Mom, when will Dad come to our house?”

“Don’t listen to your uncle’s nonsense. He is not your father.”

“He is,” Du Niannian said unhappily, “He said I’m his daughter.”

“He was afraid that you would get awkward, so he deliberately said that to save you out of trouble” Du Xiaoxian said grumpily, “How many times have I told you not to randomly call someone your father? Is it not enough for you to have me?”

“It’s not enough. I want a father. Every child has a father. Why don’t I have one?” Du Niannian pouted. “I want him to be my father.”

“You don’t listen to me, do you? You want to get scolded again, right?” Du Xiaoxian glared at Du Niannian. For this matter, they had quarreled many times. Ever since Du Niannian went to kindergarten, she had been especially eager to find her father. As long as it was a man who treated her well, she would call him father. For this reason, she had made a fool of herself many times.

There was a convenience store at the entrance of the community. The owner was a man in his thirties. Du Xiaoxian would occasionally take Du Niannian to buy salt and soy sauce. They got familiar with each other soon. Every time they went there, the owner would play with Du Niannian and give her some snacks to eat. As a result, Du Niannian called him father, which made Du Xiaoxian feel embarrassed and afraid of causing trouble. No matter how she persuaded Du Niannian, this little girl refused to listen to her mother’s words and still called the owner father. In the end, Du Xiaoxian was so embarrassed that she didn’t go there to buy things anymore.