Chapter 3
Chapter 3
"Did she say anything else?" asked Xu Xiuhe.
"She said that it wasn\'t the Shen family\'s driver who took Madam to see the doctor today, but Shen Lv\'s older brother," Liu Assistant replied.
"Alright, take the documents out with you," Xu Xiuhe continued instructing.
The spacious office was left with only Xu Xiuhe again. He took out his phone and dialed.
"Hello, Chairman Shen. I heard you personally took Shen Lv to the hospital today," said Xu Xiuhe.
"Oh, Chairman Xu\'s information is indeed well-informed," Shen Lv\'s voice over the phone was mocking.
"Let\'s be serious. How is Shen Lv\'s condition?" Xu Xiuhe\'s expression was solemn.
Shen Lv also became serious and relayed the news Ji Qingyan had just given him.
After listening, Xu Xiuhe still couldn\'t quite believe it. He didn\'t notice Shen Lv\'s condition improving, nor did he believe she could recover after a few more treatments.
Still not understanding, Xu Xiuhe nevertheless decided to go home and see for himself. He put on his coat, picked up his briefcase, and headed out.
"Liu Assistant, I\'m leaving," said Xu Xiuhe.
Liu Assistant thought he was leaving briefly for something and didn\'t have time to ask if he needed anything prepared. Just as he was about to ask,
Xu Xiuhe saw Liu Assistant\'s confusion and said, "No need to prepare anything, I\'m going home."
"Yes, boss," Liu Assistant replied, but he was already shocked 180 times over. When did the CEO ever leave work at 3pm?
"On second thought, give me the keys. I\'ll drive myself home," said Xu Xiuhe, taking the keys from Liu Assistant\'s hands and leaving.
In the Weiyuan Group work chat:
[Did I see wrongly? Did the CEO just go home?]
[But why didn\'t Liu Assistant leave too?]
[Could it be the CEO went back to handle extremely private matters?]
[Why didn\'t he bring Liu Assistant? I totally ship them! Liu Assistant is super meticulous, the CEO is so domineering!]
[Ahem ahem, watch your words. The CEO is a married man.]
[Speaking of which, what does the CEO\'s wife look like? Is she pretty?]
[Liu Assistant has probably seen her since he often goes to the CEO\'s house to pick him up.]
[Who\'s close with Liu Assistant? Can someone try asking him sometime?]
Liu Assistant had previously joined this chat under a pseudonym. Seeing the messages becoming more outrageous and being dragged into it, he had to defend himself with the pseudonym:
[Don\'t you guys think Liu Assistant is also very handsome? And very coldly arrogant.]
Right after sending it, the message got flooded away. No one agreed with his opinion at all.
Annoyed, he went out directly to monitor them working diligently.
Xu Xiuhe had already arrived home. After parking the car and going inside, he saw Shen Lv sitting on the living room sofa watching TV again.
Xu Xiuhe went into the kitchen and saw Aunt Li washing vegetables. "Auntie Li, why aren\'t Aunt Song and Ziyue in the living room?" he asked.
"They were at first, but after Madam came back, Young Master saw Madam and cried again. So Aunt Song took Young Master upstairs," explained Aunt Li.
Xu Xiuhe went upstairs to play with Ziyue for a while before going to the study to continue working.
But when he turned on the computer, he couldn\'t get into a working mood at all. He might as well go accompany Ziyue instead.
Carrying Ziyue to the living room, Xu Xiuhe was about to put him down on the carpet when Ziyue saw Shen Lv sitting on the sofa and clung to Xu Xiuhe in fear.
Shen Lv didn\'t understand why the baby was so afraid of her. Could she have done something before to traumatize him?
But the baby was so cute. She wanted to pinch his chubby little cheeks.
"It\'s okay, Ziyue. Daddy\'s here," said Xu Xiuhe, patting Ziyue\'s head.
Ziyue looked at Shen Lv again before feeling assured enough to play with his toys on the carpet.
Xu Xiuhe built blocks with Ziyue on the carpet while Shen Lv sat on the sofa watching TV. The family of three presented a harmonious and beautiful scene in the living room.
Watching them, Aunt Song standing in the kitchen doorway felt a little dizzy. If only it could always be like this, how wonderful would that be?
In the kitchen, Aunt Li had started cooking more dishes since Xu Xiuhe came home early today.
Sour and spicy cucumber strips, scallion oil lettuce, shrimp and winter melon shreds, fish head beancurd soup, sweet and sour pork ribs, and brown stewed chicken. All were ordinary home cooked dishes.
Not having eaten all day except for some fruit after seeing the doctor and returning home in the afternoon, Shen Lv was starving by now.
"Sir, Madam, dinner is ready," Aunt Song called out from the dining room.
Shen Lv got up and walked to the dining room, looking over the dishes on the table. She didn\'t pick up her chopsticks until Xu Xiuhe and Ziyue were seated in the dining room.
Xu Xiuhe noticed this detail. Indeed, Shen Lv was no longer the sort to only think of herself yet be extremely decadent, as Shen Lv had said.
Ziyue\'s little voice kept asking for "meat meat" as usual.
"Ziyue, you\'ve already eaten a lot of meat. Eating more greens is good for your health," said Xu Xiuhe with a serious expression.
Standing by the side, Aunt Song felt distressed again, wanting to just let Ziyue eat as much as he wanted. But the master and mistress were present so she didn\'t dare speak up.
"Aunt Song, who usually cooks?" Shen Lv put down her chopsticks and asked.
"It\'s Aunt Li. She\'s in charge of buying groceries and cooking usually. I mainly take care of Young Master," Aunt Song replied.
"Aunt Li, this lettuce is stir-fried quite old and bitter. No wonder Ziyue doesn\'t like eating it," said Shen Lv, looking towards Aunt Li who had just come out of the kitchen.
Xu Xiuhe didn\'t know what Shen Lv was thinking, but since she was willing to manage these things it was for the best. He focused on eating.
"Also, for buying groceries, isn\'t it always Aunt Li? How come you\'re buying all these less fresh ingredients now? They\'re quite expensive," Shen Lv questioned again.
Aunt Li was flustered now. She had never liked Shen Lv in the first place, shirking her wifely and motherly responsibilities every day, throwing tantrums about not eating, and putting on airs to everyone. She disliked her even more now.
"Madam, these are all fresh. Since you don\'t go out, you may not know, but I buy the best at the supermarket," Aunt Li replied.
Shen Lv didn\'t know what to do next. Xu Xiuhe had stopped eating as soon as he heard the ingredients weren\'t fresh. He had also picked out all the dishes for Ziyue.
"Aunt Song, calculate Aunt Li\'s pay and find a new cook. What should we do with these dishes?" said Xu Xiuhe.
"Should we dump them?" asked Aunt Song.
"Yes, dump them," said Xu Xiuhe. Then picking up Ziyue, he added "I\'m taking Ziyue out to eat. Are you coming or not?"
Shen Lv was nearly frenzied internally. She hadn\'t eaten all day and was starving to death. Now the food was being dumped while he was asking if she wanted to go out to eat instead of directly taking her along. Shen Lv got up from her chair, not wanting to humor this man. She walked towards the front door to get her shoes on.
Xu Xiuhe also went out carrying Ziyue.
Only Aunt Song and Aunt Li were left in the kitchen.
"Auntie Li, your pay isn\'t low, is it? Why are you still trying to skim money from buying groceries? How could you be so unwise?"
"Sister, please help me. I beg you. I feel like the ingredients weren\'t spoiled and were cheap. Please help me just this once. I won\'t do it again," pleaded Aunt Li, grabbing Aunt Song\'s arm.
"The master is good to us, providing food and lodging. You brought this upon yourself. I can\'t help you. Pack up and get ready to leave," said Aunt Song resolutely.
Outside the villa,
"You wait here. I\'ll bring the car around," said Xu Xiuhe.
Carrying Ziyue, Xu Xiuhe went to the garage and picked a car with a baby seat. He secured Ziyue in the baby seat before driving over.
He stopped the car next to Shen Lv and opened the passenger door for her to get in.
This was a villa district with only 5 villas. Not many people lived here, just one supermarket selling daily necessities. It was a city built specifically for Ziyue Manor residents. The entire district was very big with even better green spaces and facilities than a public park.
Xu Xiuhe drove for quite a long time before stopping at the opening of an alleyway. Carrying Ziyue, he walked into the alley.
Shen Lv didn\'t know where this was and silently followed behind father and son. After making a turn, she saw a sign for "Private Cuisine".
Ziyue had just learned to talk not long ago and many words were still pronounced inaccurately.
"We\'re eating here," said Xu Xiuhe.
"Eat, eat food," said Ziyue, clapping his little hands.
Seeing this scene, Shen Yin felt a little emotional. Her father must have held her like this when she was little too. But why did he treat her like that afterwards? She was his dear daughter whom he had cherished for so many years. How could he bear to do that? If he had stopped Xu Zhen later on, would she not have jumped into the water? Would she not have come to this unfamiliar place so different from everything she knew before?
Tears actually flowed from her eyes. This was the first time Shen Yin had cried since coming to the modern era.
"Shen Yin, come in," Xu Xiuhe still did not understand what this woman was thinking. She was crying just standing outside the restaurant door when he hadn\'t mistreated her at all.
Xu Xiuhe got a private room and handed a menu to Shen Yin.
Shen Yin took the menu and looked at the words on it. She found the writing of this era was similar to Dasheng\'s, and some characters were even simpler than Dasheng\'s.
"Order whatever you want," the man said and then rattled off a long string of dish names to the server.
When they were almost done with the meal, a man came in. From the way he greeted Xu Xiuhe, it was clear the two men were very familiar.
"This must be sister-in-law. I\'m Chen Siming. No wonder Xiuhe doesn\'t bring you out to introduce to everyone. You\'re too pretty. He must be reluctant to share you," Chen Siming teased while looking meaningfully at Xu Xiuhe.
"Weren\'t you at our wedding?" Xu Xiuhe replied calmly.
"How can you say that? We brothers went through so much trouble to get you drunk that day. Fortunately Shen Lv and some of his friends were there to help out."
Shen Yin smiled. "I\'m Shen Yin."
Very few people knew that Xu Xiuhe and Shen Yin were married, let alone that they had a child together. Apart from the Shen family and Aunt Song and a few others, no one else knew the status of their relationship.
Listening to their casual chat, Shen Yin gathered one piece of information - this restaurant belonged to Chen Siming. That was why Xu Xiuhe received preferential treatment here.
She was bored. Much of what the two men talked about was currently beyond her comprehension.
Zheng Zheng sat in his high chair having just finished gnawing on an ear of corn. Now he wanted more meat.
Preoccupied with his conversation, Xu Xiuhe didn\'t hear him. Shen Yin picked up a shred of meat and put it in Zheng Zheng\'s little bowl.
Perhaps this was the first time Zheng Zheng had seen Shen Yin\'s face without a fierce expression on it. She had given him meat too. He stared at Shen Yin for a long, long time.
On the way back, Xu Xiuhe could no longer restrain himself and finally spoke up.