When Fu Chengyan returned, Shi Nuan, Pei Huan, and Bao were playing in the living room. Pei Huan seemed to be on the phone with He Beiting, while Shi Nuan was running around in the living room carrying Bao. The sight that met Fu Chengyan’s eyes when he opened the door was one of perfect harmony. His gaze turned all the more gentle upon spotting that eye-catching smile on Shi Nuan’s face as she held Bao.
Shi Nuan was the first to hear the sound of the door opening. Turning around with Bao in her arms, she saw Fu Chengyan taking off his shoes at the door with bags of stuff in his hand. “Yan!” Shi Nuan put Bao down and walked over holding the little one’s hand. “Bao, this is your uncle.”
Bao peeked at Fu Chengyan timidly and tilted his head, looking so cute that Shi Nuan’s heart melted in an instant. “Yan, this is Huan’s son, Bao!”
“Ah.” Fu Chengyan looked at Bao tenderly. “Hi, Bao, I’m your uncle!” Fu Chengyan put his things down on the floor and reached out to hold Bao. “Where’s Huan?”
“She’s on the phone!” Shi Nuan pointed at Pei Huan in the corner of the living room. Then, she patted Fu Chengyan on the shoulder. “Keep Bao company. I’ll start cooking.”
“Alright!” Fu Chengyan walked to the living room holding Bao as Pei Huan had just hung up the phone. Seeing Fu Chengyan holding Bao, she was briefly stunned before flashing him a smile. “Hi, Chengyan.”
“Hey.” Fu Chengyan nodded in acknowledgment as he placed Bao on his lap and played with him. However, he then stared at Pei Huan so intensely that it made her feel he could see right through her. “This kid…” He rephrased, “May said that you are married.”
“May?” Pei Huan was baffled.
“I mean Shi Nuan, my wife.” As Fu Chengyan spoke, his eyes were locked on Pei Huan. “To whom are you married?”
“Why are you suddenly taking an interest in my life?” Pei Huan smiled and added, “Bao, have you called your uncle?”
“Uncle!”
Bao did not reject Shi Nuan, and it was obvious that he liked Fu Chengyan very much as well because the boy did not mind being held by him.
It came as a surprise to Pei Huan because Bao was a little autistic, which was why she had been keeping Bao by her side. But she realized that Bao didn’t seem to reject either of them after spending time with them today.
“What’s the matter?” Fu Chengyan noticed something unusual about Pei Huan. “Are you hiding something from me?”
“I…”
“Have you seen Li Heng?” When Fu Chengyan mentioned Li Heng, he noticed that Pei Huan froze a little before her expression turned gloomy. She replied, “Can you not talk about him? I know you guys are buddies, but my relationship with him ended three years ago. Back then, you—”
“Huan, I didn’t want to interfere in your relationship with Li Heng at first, but I didn’t even hear a word from you for three years. Do you know we’re very worried about you?” Being the elder brother, Fu Chengyan reproached Pei Huan, who turned slightly pale because of his words. “I… Chengyan, I…”
“In order to hide from Li Heng, you have kept your whereabouts from us for the past three years. If Aunt Ning hadn’t fallen sick, do you plan to never come back?”
“Chengyan…” Fu Chengyan’s words were like a knife that plunged into Pei Huan’s heart. How could I not miss my own parents for the past three years? It’s just that… ”I emailed my parents, but they didn’t reply!”
“Email? They didn’t receive anything. In the past three years, Aunt Ning has fallen sick several times. I’ve also searched for you for three years but had no news of you at all. Can you tell me where exactly have you been all this time? Who were you with? Or rather, who is so capable of hiding you that even I failed to locate you?”
“I… How’s this possible?” Pei Huan’s face was drained of color. “It’s impossible!”
“Impossible?” Fu Chengyan chuckled and then put Bao down on the floor. “Bao, can you go to Aunt Nuan?”
“Okay!” Bao seemed to be in a very good mood. After getting off Fu Chengyan’s lap, he ran to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Fu Chengyan got up and said, “Come to the study with me!”
Pei Huan felt a little nervous because what Fu Chengyan said was the same as what Shi Nuan had said during the day.
Pei Huan also knew that it was easy for Fu Chengyan to find a person’s whereabouts, but somehow he claimed that he could not find her at all.
“Look at this!” Fu Chengyan took out a yellow leather bag from the drawer and handed it to Pei Huan. “These are some clues I have found while searching for you in the past three years. They show that you have been to countless countries, and my men went looking for you in all these countries. Who do you think could be so powerful to trick me and Li Heng for three years?”
“I…”
“If I hadn’t resorted to certain means this time, I’m afraid that you wouldn’t have known if something happened to Aunt Ning.”
“Chengyan, umm…” Pei Huan couldn’t believe her ears. “This is impossible. I didn’t go anywhere. After I left Jiang City three years ago, I went to C Country directly, and—”
“And you got married and had a kid?” Fu Chengyan’s stare turned slightly cold. “Who are you married to? He Beiting?” Fu Chengyan sneered, “Is he also from Jiang City?”
“I…” Pei Huan hesitated for a moment. “He’s very good to me and he helped me during my darkest hour.”
“What does he do for a living?” Fu Chengyan interrupted Pei Huan, “Are you really married to him?”
As Pei Huan fell silent, Fu Chengyan went up and patted her on the shoulder. “Since you’ve come back, you should just think about what you have been doing in the past three years.” He paused momentarily and added, “Your foster father…”
“He’s passed away.” At the mention of her adoptive father, Pei Huan teared up. “He hasn’t been in good health. I failed as a daughter as I couldn’t be with my biological parents, and now even my foster father is… He still wanted to return to Jiang City the moment before he died!”
“What about his body?”
“It’s been cremated. I brought it back with me and planned to bury it in his hometown after my mom’s surgery.”
Fu Chengyan nodded. “Meanwhile, you can live at Wutong Residence and get Shi Nuan to help take care of Bao.” Seeing Pei Huan in this state, a glint flashed across Fu Chengyan’s eyes. “Think about it carefully, and then tell me who the hell He Beiting is!”
After dinner, Shi Nuan cleaned up the guest room and arranged some things for Pei Huan before she heading to the study.
Fu Chengyan seemed to be still working. When he saw Shi Nuan coming over with a cup of tea, he waved at her, asking, “Where is Pei Huan?”
“She’s tucking Bao in.” Shi Nuan smiled as the mere mention of Bao softened her expression. “Bao is so cute! And did you notice that he and Li Heng—”
Fu Chengyan nodded his head. “Yeah!”
“So you think they look alike, too?” Shi Nuan grinned happily. “Huan said that he’s not Li Heng’s son, but I think he really looks like Li Heng when he’s not smiling! He’s so cute that it melts my heart!”
“Do you like Bao so much?” Fu Chengyan noticed the gleam in Shi Nuan’s eyes when she talked about Bao.
Shi Nuan nodded. “Yes, I like him very much. Don’t you like him? His face is so soft and bouncy. By the way, I pinched his cheeks a few times when I was in the kitchen just now. It’s so addictive!”
“Look at you!” Fu Chengyan pinched Shi Nuan’s nose affectionately. “You will scare Bao.”
“No. He’s adorable, and he likes me very much!” Shi Nuan said. Putting the cup on the desk, she looked at the documents lying around and knitted her brows slightly. “Do you still have so much work to do?”
“Yes!”
“Umm… Regarding what I told you during the day, you’d better check it out. I have a hunch that what Huan said isn’t true. You have no idea how excited she was when she saw Li Heng. When Li Heng and I were at the airport, Pei Huan looked so hostile the moment she saw me.”
“Huh?” Fu Chengyan raised his eyebrow. “Are you telling on her?”
“I’m serious!” Shi Nuan gave Fu Chengyan a dirty look. “She seems to have misunderstood me and Li Heng. You have no idea how angry she was when she talked to Li Heng; she even gave me an attitude. I think she must still have feelings for Li Heng. As for her claim that she is married… well, you should look into it!” Shi Nuan patted Fu Chengyan on the shoulder as if she were entrusting him with a challenging task.
Fu Chengyan found Shi Nuan’s precocious behavior amusing and slapped her lightly on the arm. “I have already asked Zhou Zheng to get on it. By the way, does Li Heng also know about Bao?”
Shi Nuan gave a slight nod. “Yes. When Li Heng first saw Bao, I thought that he could no longer hold back his emotions.” Shi Nuan recalled the look on Li Heng’s face when Pei Huan asked Bao to call him “uncle” at the airport.
“But then Li Heng actually held Bao… Uh, this is something that I’ve never expected. I thought he would be very angry, as Pei Huan said that Bao isn’t his son after all. So I thought he would at least take out his anger on the kid…”
“Li Heng isn’t that kind of person.” Fu Chengyan shook his head; he was very sure of this.
“But what if Bao is really not his son? Then, he—”
“As long as it is Pei Huan’s child, he will be okay with it.” Fu Chengyan took Shi Nuan into his arms. “You still don’t understand him. He loves Pei Huan very much!”
Shi Nuan nodded her head. “So what should we do now? Although Pei Huan is back, she rejects Li Heng. Even when her son looks like Li Heng, it seems like there’s nothing we could do if Pei Huan denies it.”
“Well, leave this to me.” Li Heng certainly wouldn’t do these things himself.
He and Li Heng understood Pei Huan very well. Once she was driven into a corner, she would probably leave again as she did three years ago.
“Okay. I also think that Pei Huan is quite a character. She’s not someone who could be handled by ordinary people.” Although Shi Nuan had only been in contact with Pei Huan for one day, some of Pei Huan’s actions felt domineering to her.
Fu Chengyan chuckled. “You realized that in just one day?”
“Oh, you should’ve seen the way she glared at Li Heng…”
“Yeah.” Fu Chengyan carried Shi Nuan and brought her to sit on the sofa. “Don’t go to the office for the time being. You should keep Huan and Bao company.”
“Alright!” Shi Nuan nodded her head. “What about that He Beiting?”
“I’ve already asked someone to look into this man.” Fu Chengyan frowned slightly. For some reason, he thought that the name sounded very familiar, but he couldn’t recall anything. Considering that He Beiting could take Pei Huan away under their noses and leave no clue to him and Li Heng, Fu Chengyan believed that the man must be someone powerful.
If this man is doing everything purely for the sake of Pei Huan, there is nothing to worry about. But if he has ulterior motives, then this He Beiting is definitely a tough character.
“Don’t worry about this. By the way, don’t let Aunt Ning and Uncle Heng know!”
