23
The meal could be considered a joy for both the host and the guests.
Some people weren't guests, so whether they were happy or not wasn't important.
At the restaurant entrance, Ning Ye held Ning Zhitao's hand and waved goodbye to Jiang Xinghe.
Jiang Xinghe's handsome face gently swept over the two adults and one child in front of him. He could be certain that CEO Bian was indeed the biological father of Ning Ye's child, but their relationship had been in a state of separation for many years.
Objectively speaking, Jiang Xinghe admitted that Bian Xun was a very outstanding human being. But from his experience, Bian Xun was not currently a good father.
"Then I'll see you on Monday," Jiang Xinghe nodded gently to Ning Ye, then bent down and waved to Ning Zhitao. "Taotao, do your best on your performance next week too."
Ning Zhitao's little face was serious as she nodded heavily, "Okay!"
With the family of three left behind, the atmosphere suddenly became somewhat inexplicable.
At this time, it was already late autumn in Jing City. The brief, warm, and sunny autumn days were fleeting, and in the blink of an eye, the chill of approaching winter could be felt.
Ning Ye wore a thick, fuzzy coat and had also dressed Ning Zhitao in a short little down jacket; the two of them were bundled up roundly. But the man next to them looked like he was ready to shoot a magazine cover at any moment. He wore a black cashmere overcoat, thin and slender, and the skin under his broken black hair was coldly white. He didn't look like he belonged in the same layer as the warm, fluffy mother and daughter.
Ning Ye recalled for a moment; so far, this seemed to be the first time the three of them had stood together.
The objective "father, mother, and child" configuration brought about a very closed-off kind of relationship. Standing on the busy street with people coming and going, they seemed to suddenly be isolated from everyone else.
Ning Zhitao, on the other hand, was very content. With her mom and dad beside her, she squatted on the ground to pick up fallen leaves. She picked up three intact maple leaves—large, medium, and small—corresponding to yellow, orange, and dark red, and distributed them to the two adults.
Bian Xun looked down and found that he had been given the largest and reddest leaf. Pinching it between his fingertips, he raised his eyebrows slightly.
This somewhat irregular sequence, ordered from largest to smallest, gave him a sense of familiarity.
This kid had been taught quite well.
Thinking of this, Bian Xun felt a bit displeased again.
He turned his head and asked Ning Ye seemingly casually, "What are you performing next week?"
Her colleagues all knew.
"Oh, it's the kindergarten's parent-child activity day. Parents need to perform with their children," Ning Ye blinked and explained. "Only one parent, either the dad or the mom, needs to participate. I've already practiced with her, so we won't need to trouble you with this."
After all, there were other activities on the parent-child day. It would be fine to trouble the CEO when it came to those.
Oh wait, no, trouble the future CEO ^^
Bian Xun lowered his eyes to look at her, the light in his eyes shifting slightly.
Dad and mom.
She had used this phrasing so naturally and subconsciously, but it inexplicably made Bian Xun feel incredibly satisfied.
This carried a very exclusive meaning.
Surpassing every relationship he had ever had so far.
The man crossed his arms and looked indifferently at the distant Wujiang Building, his breathing even and his breath slightly warm.
There was actually only work to talk about between Ning Ye and him. She remembered something, "Ah right, for the conference in Hang City this time, President Yang from Xinyang Group also wants to attend. What are your thoughts on this?"
Bian Xun's secretly pleased mood came to an abrupt halt as he remembered his money that had evaporated like snow in June.
He looked at Ning Ye with an expression devoid of joy or sorrow.
A person who made him lose money was asking about another person who made him lose money.
Bian Xun: "Unless I die."
Ning Ye: "?"
If you won't allow it, just say so. Why be so extreme?
However, Ning Zhitao, who was squatting on the ground, suddenly raised her head. Her round ears twitched as if she had heard some key words.
She raised her eyes and carefully observed her dad's condition. Feeling that he was still quite a distance away from death, she felt relieved, lowered her head, and continued picking up leaves.
Bian Xun: "?"
Bian Xun: "What does that mean."
It seemed he needed to speed up his progress in learning about children. He currently couldn't understand a child's micro-expressions and body language... Tsk.
Turning his head, he saw Ning Ye trying to hold back a smile.
Because of her restraint, the hair falling over her shoulders trembled slightly. Her porcelain-white cheeks were flushed, looking like pale petals quivering in the air.
After all, in the child's heart, her dad was already someone who had died once.
Looking at the little girl's demeanor just now, Ning Ye immediately had visual hallucinations of kittens she had seen online, who worried their owners would drown and die when they went to the toilet, so they squatted on the ground and raised their heads to observe their owners' condition.
Ning Ye held Ning Zhitao's hand to prevent the child from saying any more words of mourning for her deceased father, preparing for them to go their separate ways home.
Bian Xun gave a faint "Mm."
His heart returned to being cold and hard.
Ning Zhitao finally stood up from the ground. Holding a whole bunch of autumn leaves tied into a flower of leaves in her hands, she raised it up and gave it to the dad who couldn't go home with her and her mom.
Bian Xun looked down. The little girl's round, grape-like eyes looked at him with trust, revealing a sweet smile with dimples.
The colorful hues of late autumn were held together by a child's innocence. A faint sense of happiness enveloped this handful of fallen leaves picked up from the ground—free, and perhaps even a bit dirty to a germaphobe.
Bian Xun froze for a moment, then silently took it.
Leaves and flowers.
He raised his eyes and watched Ning Ye and the child swing their arms as they walked toward home.
A few seconds later, Assistant Zhang, who was at the other end of the same residential complex, received an urgent task.
"Speed."
...
That day, after getting her injection, Song Hua had already told her husband, who had come home from work, about the situation at the scene.
Everyone in the CEO's office knew that CEO Bian had temporarily gone out today without taking anyone with him. Assistant Zhang naturally knew this too, but he never could have imagined that CEO Bian would actually go to a kindergarten??
"So, you're saying...?" Assistant Zhang was stunned.
Song Hua nodded with a look of surprise. "I heard it. Taotao called him Dad."
Assistant Zhang suddenly covered his mouth with both hands, almost collapsing onto the sofa.
Thanks to his kindergarten daughter's connections, he had found out an earth-shattering big secret just like that?
Combined with what he knew about the past romantic relationship between CEO Bian and Miss Ning, Assistant Zhang seemed to be calmly thinking, but in reality, his brain had already filled in a complete plot of running away with a child for many years, only to be caught by him who had now become a CEO, and so on.
Assistant Zhang simply couldn't imagine that his boss, who had always hated children so much, would actually have a daughter!
Then for the parent-child activity day, would CEO Bian also perform a children's program??
Then for future parent-teacher meetings, would he sit together with CEO Bian in a small classroom covered in children's stickers, sitting at the children's miniature little desks and chairs, listening to Teacher Youzi speak?
Then wouldn't he be on equal footing with CEO Bian??
In future kindergarten dad sports meets, would CEO Bian also play educational mini-games with him to snatch prizes worth no more than 50 yuan for the children??
And in the future, when parents voted for the head parent, would he have to betray his master and vote for other outstanding parents?
That night, Assistant Zhang fell into a struggle between his career prospects and his moral conscience as a father. But before he could question his conscience, the CEO's instructions arrived one after another.
Bian Xun demanded that he compile all the precautions for raising a daughter before the age of six.
Assistant Zhang looked at it for a moment, and suddenly a stroke of inspiration hit him. He decisively found a new direction for promotion and a salary raise.
Given his salary, he was on call twenty-four hours a day for the president. That very night, he quickly combined his experience and put together a concise and clear document.
Sure enough, the president must have been quite satisfied. The moment he sent it over online, it was immediately marked as "read."
Assistant Zhang let out a long sigh of relief.
At the very least, now that President Bian had a child, his own usefulness had increased even further.
This wasn't a bad thing. He would be able to gain his boss's deeper trust, and as two men who both had daughters, they would share more common ground.
Thinking of this, Assistant Zhang felt quite high-spirited. He hadn't expected that after working by President Bian's side for five years, he would still have room for such development!
He walked out of the study and asked Zhang Sijie pleasantly, "Yaya, you and President Bian's daughter... no, that doesn't sound right. Xiaohua, what's that child's name?" He turned to ask his wife.
It was better not to let the class divisions and relationships of adults pollute the minds of children. Although kids sometimes compared themselves to each other, compared to the adult world, theirs was still as clean as a blank canvas.
Song Hua replied, "Taotao. The child's name is Ning Zhitao."
Assistant Zhang suddenly felt the name sounded familiar. Why did it feel like this name had been mentioned at home several times?
Song Hua nodded. "They are best friends."
Zhang Sijie looked up. "Daddy, do you know Taotao's daddy?"
"I know him." More than just knowing him.
"Daddy, Taotao said her daddy also works at your company?"
Assistant Zhang fell silent and thought for a moment. "Indeed."
It wasn't wrong to put it that way.
Curious, Assistant Zhang asked, "Do you girls usually talk about your dads?"
"Of course!"
Little Zhang Sijie praised her dad with a thoughtful look on her face.
"I told Taotao that my daddy is a super high-ranking official! He's super amazing in the company! The whole company wouldn't survive without you!"
Assistant Zhang: "???"
Assistant Zhang slumped onto the sofa, his face turning ashen.
He was so careful with his words and actions at the company, yet his daughter was out there talking nonsense.
Assistant Zhang's previously high-spirited dreams of promotion were thus quietly extinguished.
...
Of course, Assistant Zhang had no idea that the information his boss received hadn't even come close to reaching this level of depth.
Children's communication was still deep water for Bian Xun.
Furthermore, Bian Xun realized that if Ning Ye could handle things herself, she almost didn't need his presence at all.
His role as a father was very intermittent.
Ning Ye also noticed that communicating with Bian Xun was extremely troublesome.
It wasn't appropriate to bypass the hierarchy and talk directly at the company, and they didn't have each other's contact information after work. Currently, they relied entirely on running into each other on the street.
If there was something urgent regarding the child that needed discussing, it was very inconvenient.
Seeing that she was about to go on a business trip for a meeting in Hang City, although she could barely manage a round trip in one day, she couldn't leave the child at home alone for the entire day. This matter required discussion with the child's father.
Right at this moment, little Ning Zhitao made her move.
While getting ready to perform at home, she was fiddling with her kids' smartwatch and suddenly let out a "Huh?"
"Daddy's phone number is here."
She messed around with the small screen of her watch for a bit, tapping and swiping. A while later, a new message popped up on the phones of the two adults.
— You have been invited to a group chat by "Little Grape"
Ning Ye: "?"
Bian Xun: "?"
Ning Zhitao delivered two important speeches in this chat group:
"Hello? Mommy."
"Hello? Daddy."
Ning Ye looked at the chat group, suddenly feeling that her child was simply a genius.
It not only solved the difficulty of communicating with Bian Xun but also avoided the subtle awkwardness of private messaging.
Ning Ye actively responded to the little girl's whimsical idea and sent a voice message.
"Received, Taotao."
Bian Xun, however, delayed his response.
The president stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of his large flat, his figure cold and austere, his expression serious. He looked down at the messages in the kids' smartwatch chat group, tapping to play them over and over again.
Before this, he had always been a bystander to the conversations between the mother and daughter, like an outsider.
Peeking at someone else's happiness.
But now, he was included in this atmosphere.
The tiny dialog box suddenly emanated an unusual, bakery-like warmth that made Bian Xun feel a bit dazzled and uncomfortable, yet he couldn't help but draw closer.
A long while later, a new reply appeared in the group chat.
Tapped open, the man's cool voice sounded, "Received."
He lowered his eyes again and noticed that the group chat's name had been changed.
At the same time, Old Master Bian had already caught wind of the news. His private phone number was being frantically bombarded; various members of the Bian family were all emboldened to pry into his situation, asking if he was really raising a child on the outside.
Bian Xun ignored all of this. Instead, his fingertips paused slightly as he lowered his gaze to look at that name.
— Family (3)
Ning Zhitao figured out the camera button in the group and turned on the lens on her kids' smartwatch. The little girl's round, rosy face filled the screen. With her two chubby little paws resting on the table, she imitated the way adults held meetings and nodded earnestly.
"Hello, I am the group owner. From now on, if you have anything, tell me."
Holding her phone, Ning Ye was dying from the cuteness. She completely forgot about the other presence in the group, and her voice sweetened as she sent an audio message.
"Okay! Baby group owner."
A long moment later.
The president, who had been so struck by this unfamiliar sense of happiness that he dropped his phone into the bathtub, expressionlessly picked his phone back up.
Even though it couldn't quite be considered his yet—
Bian Xun: "Okay."
Both babies.
Ahhh friends, I'll update a small chapter first, and I'll try to add another update at midnight.
