They finally saw the liveliness and happiness that children should have in Xiaoxiao, and it wasn't until past ten in the evening that they each took their children home.
When they parted, Xiaoxiao was reluctant to leave Xiao Xingxing, looking forward to playing with Xiao Xingxing again next time.
On the way back, Xiao Xingxing kept chatting with Susu about Xiaoxiao in the car, calling her "Sister Xiaoxiao" here and "Sister Xiaoxiao" there.
Susu joked, "It seems you really like Sister Xiaoxiao. How about when you grow up, I'll let Xiaoxiao be your wife?"
"Mom!" Xiao Xingxing was immediately embarrassed and rolled his eyes at Susu, saying, "I don't want a wife."
Susu said with a laugh, "Boys grow up and have to get married. What kind of wife do you want?"
"I don't know." Xiao Xingxing pouted and turned his head to the side.
Susu smiled and said to Tianyi, "Look, your son is even shy."
Tianyi just smiled. Although he knew Susu was joking, it was still too early to talk about such things with the children.
However, deep down, he didn't want Xiaoxiao to be his daughter-in-law. After all, Xiaoxiao's birth mother was Shu Yan, and there were too many unresolved grievances between them and Shu Yan.
An Jing wanted to raise Xiaoxiao, and he didn't object because Xiaoxiao was just a child.
Seeing that the father and son had the same cool expression when they were silent, Susu stopped joking about it.
"Tianyi, why don't we ask An Jing and Lan Yu to bring Xiaoxiao to the villa next time? It will be more lively if the children are together more."
"Okay, then you and Lan Yu can arrange a time." Tianyi did not object.
Susu hugged Xiao Xingxing, leaned against Tianyi, and hummed with a happy expression.
...
Susu had been in a good mood for the past few days, and the previous gloom seemed to have dissipated.
Lan Yu told her that Xiaoxiao had become more cheerful after playing with Xiao Xingxing last time and could talk to her properly now.
As for the rumors about Qin Yaxuan's cause of death, they had also subsided. There was no longer any news about it online.
The police had published a clear clarification in the newspaper stating that Qin Yaxuan had committed suicide and that the key evidence for her suicide had been found.
Susu felt that she had finally cleared her name and breathed a sigh of relief from the bottom of her heart.
The shadow of being wrongly accused in the past made her terrified of such things, but fortunately, she was no longer alone.
She had Tianyi, the children, and many good friends... everyone was concerned about her.
Such things would not happen again.
However, Sophie had become different from before in the past few days. She no longer approached Susu proactively at the studio and spent all day alone in her office.
When she returned home, Sophie would lock herself in her room after dinner, not playing with the children, nor chatting with her and Tianyi.
Susu had asked her once, "What's wrong lately?"
Sophie replied with a calm expression, "I'm busy with the design for my personal fashion show. I'm afraid the ready-to-wear clothes I design won't be good, so I want to revise them more."
Susu encouraged her, "Don't be too nervous. Believe in yourself. With your design skills, your usual level is more than enough."
"Okay, I won't disappoint you." Sophie said so, but she still nervously shut herself in her room.
Susu couldn't do anything about her and could only let her be.
It was normal for Sophie to be like this for her first personal fashion show, right?
When leaving the studio today, Susu left alone. Sophie said she was going to meet a sponsor and didn't leave with her.
As soon as Susu reached the ground floor of the building, she saw Xu Shishi's back.
Xu Shishi got into a car, and the car looked very familiar. It was clearly Huo Zheng's car.
She didn't expect their relationship to progress so quickly that they were already dating separately.
Susu watched Huo Zheng's car drive away and smiled knowingly.
Now that everyone had their own things to be busy with, she was the most idle.
She had transferred quite a few clients to Sophie, and she only had one or two designs left to work on. She hadn't been this free in a long time.
Just as she was about to drive her car home, Tianyi appeared out of nowhere and said to her solicitously, "Excuse me, beautiful lady, would you like to go on a date with me after work?"
"I'm sorry, I already have plans." Susu said with a smile, pretending to be proud, and looked up at the sky, not at him.
Tianyi put his arm around her waist and asked, "With whom?"
"With my little handsome guys, Xingxing and Hengheng." Susu burst into laughter and tried to push him away, saying, "We're already an old married couple, and you're still playing this game. Don't you think it's childish?"
Tianyi leaned closer and said, "Am I childish, or are you childish, wanting me to compete with my two sons?"
Susu pouted and said, "You have the nerve to be jealous of the children."
"Don't change the subject. Who do you have plans with?" Tianyi was still asking this question.
Susu gave in and explained, "I'm just going along with what you said, joking."
"Is it Huo Zheng? That kid is asking you out again. He really knows how to take advantage of loopholes." Tianyi said disbelievingly.
Susu said with a laugh, "He has a girlfriend. I just saw him picking up Shishi from work. What are you guessing about here? Stop messing around, let's go home."
Tianyi wrapped his arms around her, completely engulfing her in his presence, and said, "You don't have to work overtime tonight, and I'm free too. Why don't we have some time alone?"
"Where are we going?" Susu asked inexplicably, but seeing his expression, she knew he had already made arrangements.
Tianyi took Susu's hand and said, "Of course, to a good place."
Susu didn't ask him. Since he had made arrangements, she would just follow him.
The warmth of his palm melted her heart, and her eyes, full of love, followed his footsteps.
Tianyi had Xiao Lin take her car keys and personally drove her to a restaurant decorated like a garden.
The flowers and plants in the restaurant were relatively simple and elegant, without gaudy varieties.
Their dining table was surrounded by greenery, making it feel like they were in a forest.
"The design here is so unique." Susu happily looked around.
"Do you like it?" Tianyi said, having achieved the effect of surprising her. "The table I booked is called 'The Secret Garden'."
"I like it, it's like dining in the countryside." Susu smiled charmingly.
She couldn't help but recall that it had been a long time since they had gone out to enjoy nature. They had gotten used to staying in this city of concrete and steel.
They had been so busy that they had forgotten to take the children to places with beautiful mountains and clear waters.
Tianyi introduced her, "The dishes here are all healthy and nourishing. Choose whatever you like."
Susu opened the menu, ordered her food, and then said, "How long has it been since we took Xiao Xingxing for an outing? When can we take the children to a place with mountains and water for a vacation?"
"Okay, but I can't spare the time recently. I'll have to wait until I'm done with this busy period." Tianyi said with a smile.
Susu asked curiously, "What big project does your group have recently? You and An Jing are both swamped."
"Yes, it's a big project, but we haven't secured it yet. We're trying our best to win it."
"You've always been so confident. Are there times when you're not sure?" Susu saw his rare humility.