He picked up Yu Ning, who was waving her little hands in the crib, and kissed her. He noticed her diaper needed changing after the night.
While changing Yu Ning's diaper, Xiao Xiao ran in, wanting to hold his hand and say, "Daddy, it's time for breakfast."
He avoided Xiao Xiao's outstretched hand and said, "You go eat first. I need to take care of Yu Ning. We'll go to the dining room after Mommy comes."
Xiao Xiao glanced at Yu Ning and left with a hint of disappointment.
After he finished changing Yu Ning's diaper, Yu Ning started to pout, seemingly hungry, but Lan Yu hadn't appeared yet.
He had to go find Lan Yu. As soon as he opened the nursery door a crack, he heard Xiao Xiao impatiently say, "I told you I don't want eggs, why do you keep cooking them for me?"
"Be good, eating a boiled egg every day is nutritious," said Lan Yu.
An Jing peeked through the door crack and saw Xiao Xiao throw a peeled egg into the trash can. "I don't want it, I hate you! You're not my real mom!"
"You child, even if you don't want it, you shouldn't waste food," Lan Yu gently chided her, not daring to say anything harsher.
Xiao Xiao, refusing to back down, deliberately swept a milk bottle filled with milk off the table with her hand. "It's none of your business. Now that you have your own daughter, you won't really be good to me."
Lan Yu looked at her, both angry and wronged, but she held back, picked up the milk bottle, washed it in the kitchen, and prepared milk for Yu Ning again.
An Jing quietly closed the door. He realized Xiao Xiao was bothered by not being their biological child.
When Lan Yu came to the nursery with the milk bottle, An Jing knew he had wronged her, but he pretended not to notice anything.
He hugged Lan Yu and said, "You've worked hard. The nanny should be here soon. I have a meeting at the group today, so I'm heading to the group."
"Aren't you eating breakfast?" Lan Yu asked busily.
An Jing feigned haste and said, "No, I'm not."
He walked out of the nursery and told Xiao Xiao he had to rush to work, not staying to eat breakfast with her.
He left home like this early in the morning. He then remembered Su Su telling him that Xiao Xiao didn't listen to Lan Yu much at home, which he now understood.
He twirled the pen in his hand, contemplating if he was being selfish.
If Xiao Xiao could return to her biological father, would she not have these emotions, and would Lan Yu not have to endure such grievances?
He had always thought that finding Xiao Xiao would lead to everyone being happy, and their family of four could live together joyfully.
Now, it seemed this was just his own wishful thinking. Because Xiao Xiao lacked love since childhood, she had a strong dependence and possessiveness towards him, inevitably leading her to reject Lan Yu and her daughter.
What he considered happiness and harmony was maintained by Lan Yu's forbearance.
An Jing finally made a decision, and the pen he was twirling flew out.
Although he was very reluctant to part with Xiao Xiao, he decided to have that man and Xiao Xiao undergo a paternity test first to confirm if they were related.
At this moment, the secretary pushed the door open and saw the pen on the floor. She picked it up for him. "Mr. Xiao, Mr. Qin is calling for you."
"Okay, I know." An Jing placed the pen back in the pen holder. It seemed Tian Yi had found a solution.
After the secretary left, he proactively contacted Alva and arranged for a paternity test to be done that weekend.
Alva was overjoyed when he received An Jing's call, feeling his trip hadn't been in vain.
...
Zhan Jiayi had been recuperating in the hospital for these days. Her blood pressure was controlled, and the fetus was also normal.
She didn't want to stay in the hospital any longer and insisted that Xie Zhendong arrange her discharge. She returned home and found that the online attacks against her had subsided.
Her constantly worried heart finally felt a bit better.
Although Xie Zhendong had given her a formal promise while she was in the hospital, she only considered it him comforting her.
She didn't believe he could divorce Feng Rou. Although the Feng family's financial situation was not as good as before, they were still considered a prominent family.
She still had psychological trauma after returning home. During the day, she asked the nanny to draw all the curtains.
When she was alone, she would stand behind the curtains, peeking through the gaps to watch for any movement outside, afraid someone might be plotting something around the house.
She didn't expect that by secretly watching outside like this, she would actually notice something amiss. Someone was indeed loitering outside the house.
It wasn't a large group like last time, but one or two people were always around the house, which made her a little scared. She quickly told Xie Zhendong about it.
"Zhendong, are you busy?"
Xie Zhendong put down what he was doing and said, "Not busy, what's wrong, tell me."
"I've noticed these past couple of days that there are still ill-intentioned people lurking around our house. I'm a little scared," Zhan Jiayi said nervously.
Xie Zhendong rubbed his forehead and asked, "Did you get a clear look at who it was?"
"It's a man, dressed very ordinarily, as if he didn't want to attract attention," Zhan Jiayi said with certainty.
Xie Zhendong said, "How about this, I'll hire some bodyguards to guard the villa for now. Don't worry, nothing will happen."
"Okay, okay. I've asked the nanny to lock both main doors, and I won't go out either."
"Yes, you just stay home. We'll discuss anything that happens when I get back tonight."
"Okay." Zhan Jiayi didn't disturb him further and hung up.
Xie Zhendong leaned back in his chair irritably, thinking it was probably Feng Rou hiring private investigators or something similar.
He had been busy with group matters and wanted to postpone dealing with Feng Rou's issues. It seemed there was no longer any affection to consider. If he didn't make Feng Rou completely give up on harming Zhan Jiayi, he wouldn't be able to do anything with peace of mind.
He pondered for a moment, then picked up his phone and called Feng Rou.
"I was a bit hasty with my words last time, you're not angry, are you?" he began gently.
Feng Rou thought Sasha had already explained to him, and he knew he had wronged her, so she didn't argue with him. "I understand you value the child in that woman's womb, and it's for the future of the Xie family. I, I won't argue with you anymore, and you don't have to keep avoiding me."
"Thank you," Xie Zhendong said, seemingly touched. "I've made you suffer these times. I'll send the driver to pick you up at noon, and we'll have lunch together. Consider it my apology."
"It's good that you know this has wronged me. After so many years of marriage, you should know my personality. I don't want to harm anyone, but some things you've done are just too much. Not only can I not stand it, but Sasha..."
"Alright, I've been wrong in many ways. After the child in her womb is born, I will break up with her and won't wrong you anymore." Xie Zhendong didn't want to listen to her nagging and interrupted her, saying what she wanted to hear.
"Really?"
"Let's not talk too much on the phone. We'll talk when we meet," Xie Zhendong said decisively.
After that, he hung up.
Feng Rou held her phone, feeling very pleased. It seemed Sasha knew how to talk. She wondered how Sasha had explained things to Xie Zhendong to make him change his mind.
She quickly went upstairs to her bedroom to get dressed up.
Not long after, Xie Zhendong's driver arrived to pick her up.
As she got into the car, she looked at the street scenery outside the window, recalling the sweetest days of her marriage to Xie Zhendong.