Nan Chen wanted to ignore the message, but seeing Dabao and Erbao’s photo put him in a good mood so he replied, “Good morning.”
Erbao was delighted to see the response so she sent another message over saying, “I want to meet up.”
Without Dabao’s instructions, Erbao’s actions became impulsive. She simply wanted her mommy and Uncle Nan Chen to meet as soon as possible so that they could become friends quicker, and Uncle Nan Chen can be her mommy’s boyfriend.
The child’s mind was innocent when sending that message, but Nan Chen felt annoyed the moment he saw those four words.
So she WAS using her kids to get to me! How despicable!
He tossed his phone aside and ignored it.
On the other end, Erbao waited patiently but never received Uncle Nan Chen’s reply so she quickly deleted all previous messages and placed the phone back into the room.
When Ning Ran woke up, she didn’t realize that her phone had been moved.
By the time Ning Ran got ready, the breakfast was already on the table. Breakfast was simple – porridge, eggs, and fried buns.
“Huh? Why has the standard of living dropped all of a sudden?” asked Ning Ran sarcastically, “You guys had such expensive meals yesterday and brought back so many delicacies that I thought you won the lottery, Xiangyun.”
“This isn’t good enough?” teased Cheng Xiangyun while grinning, “A small toad like you weren’t fantasizing about eating swan, were you?”
“You’re the ugly toad,” Ning Ran teased back, “I just thought it was weird that someone as cheap as you would be willing to spend so much money on yesterday’s dinner.”
“I’m cheap?” said Cheng Xiangyun as she glared, “Doesn’t it hurt your conscious heart to talk like that? Or do you have none?”
“You know, I sensing that you’re avoiding the subject of yesterday’s dinner,” said Ning Ran before she pressed on, “Where did the three of you go and how much did you spend? Why were the meals so delicious?”
Cheng Xiangyun couldn’t really answer because she didn’t know either.
They brought back two servings of food. Cheng Xiangyun thought it was insanely delicious too when she had her portion but when she asked the kids where they went, they weren’t able to answer because they didn’t pay attention to the restaurant’s name.
“Don’t worry about where we ate. I’m just glad you liked it. If you really want to know, I’ll take you there myself when we’re free, but you’re paying,” said Cheng Xiangyun.
Ning Ran didn’t press on after hearing that she had to pay for the meal. As delicious as the food was, she didn’t want to waste her money on that.
Cheng Xiangyun’s cooking may not be as good, but it’s free!
……
Nine a.m., Nanshi Corporation
Jiang Zhe walked into the CEO’s office all happy and excited.
“Mr. Chen, the result is here. It’s a match!”
Nan Chen looked up and used his glare to show how unhappy he was with Jiang Zhe’s gibberish report.
It’s not like Jiang Zhe’s style to neglect telling Nan Chen what report he was talking about because Nan Chen’s secretary must be one of the brightest and smartest people in the world to keep up with Nan Chen and read his gestures.
Jiang Zhe had been working for Nan Chen for quite some time now, and he didn’t get to his position by luck.
Regardless of whether they were dealing with official or private matters, Jiang Zhe had always been able to read Nan Chen perfectly and respond accordingly.
As Nan Chen did not like to converse, Jiang Zhe had always helped express Nan Chen’s thoughts and Jiang Zhe had always done so perfectly which made his performance that day rather annoying to Nan Chen.
Jiang Zhe rarely acted this way because he was the manager who had always been meticulous and smart and could explain everything in under three sentences. After all, Mr. Chen would be impatient if anything took more than three sentences.
After calming himself down, Jiang Zhe uttered a single sentence, “the DNA result showed a match so the two kids are members of the Nan Family.”
Even though he had expected it, Nan Chen was still extremely excited which reddened his pale, emotionless face.
“Good. Good. Good!” exclaimed Nan Chen three times.
“Congratulations, Mr. Chen, you have a boy and a girl,” said Jiang Zhe.
“They are Nan Xing’s kids, my niece and nephew! They’re our family!” said Nan Chen before he waved his hand to get Jiang Zhe to leave.
Nan Chen personally dialed Nan Xing’s number, but it kept going to voice mail.
Then it hit Nan Chen. The difference in time zones meant that it was 4 in the morning on the other end of the line, and a lazy oaf like Nan Xing wouldn’t be up yet so Nan Chen sent a message saying, “Call back as soon as possible.”
After that, Nan Chen went for a meeting. For someone like Nan Chen, most of what he did was to have meetings – meetings with the managers, meetings with the collaborators, etc. – and through those meetings, he was to determine the position the corporation was in and make decisions.
Nan Xing finally called back in the afternoon. “Brother,” said Nan Xing and yawned like he wasn’t actually awake yet, “why were you looking for me that early in the morning?”
“I have important news.”
“What news? Are you getting married?” asked Nan Xing.
“Remember when I told you that there were two kids who looked just like you?”
“Then they must look just like you too since we look alike.”
“The DNA report is out. They’re yours,” said Nan Chen.
“Really? Holy! That’s amazing! I’m a dad! If that really is the case, then I’m definitely going back to see my son and daughter! We’ve been apart for far too long!”
“You know, my dearest brother, I’ve been training here in Africa for quite some time now, maybe…. well, you know what I’m trying to say,” said Nan Xing.
“Come back, and go visit them,” said Nan Chen.
Nan Xing was so happy that he jumped then said, “Thank you, brother, and I thank you on behalf of my son and daughter too!”
Nan Chen hung up and didn’t speak a word again.
After rejoicing, he suddenly felt a little upset and that feeling kept weighing down on him no matter what he did.
He was confused. A boy and a girl had been added to the Nan Family’s next generation, and as an uncle, he should be happy so why was he so sad?
That sadness kept badgering Nan Chen which made him feel guilty for having these feelings.
Jiang Zhe entered at that moment and said, “Mr. Chen…”
Nan Chen cut Jiang Zhe off before even hearing what Jiang Zhe had to say. “Cancel my appointments for the rest of the day,” ordered Nan Chen, “There’s something I need to do.”
“But…” Jiang Zhe wanted to say more, but Nan Chen waved his hand again to stop him.
“Understood, Mr. Chen, I’ll have the driver pull up the car.”
“No,” said Nan Chen. “I’m going alone.”
“Mr. Chen, that is ill-advised, your safety…..”
“I said no!” shouted Nan Chen all of a sudden.
Nan Chen had always been strict, but he had never raised his voice before.
Even Jiang Zhe couldn’t remember the last time Nan Chen yelled like that so he was startled and left quickly without uttering another word.
Nan Chen texted Qin Lan, “I’m heading over soon.”
“Okay,” replied Qin Lan.
