Upon hearing his voice, the fruit in Dong Manman's hand fell to the floor with a thud.
"Please, feel free to say what's on your mind." Dong Manman swallowed her saliva and forced herself to look calmly at the fruit tray on the table, not at Leng Yuchen's face.
Meanwhile, An Qi placed her hand on Dong Manman's shivering shoulders, then said to Leng Yuchen with slight displeasure, "Look, you've scared Manman. You two just met. What possible misunderstanding could you have with her?"
Leng Yuchen poked at the fried eggs on his plate and asked An Qi, "Well… Isn't the reason for it because of you?"
"Me? Why are you pulling me into this again?" An Qi was puzzled.
Things had been just fine between them when they came down from upstairs. So, she had to wonder… What wrong thing could I have said or done to have annoyed him or caused this tension?
At the speed of light, Sheng Jie retracted his little fork, which he had just pierced into the fruit that was on his plate. Experience told him that there must have been something specific that made Boss Leng feel uncomfortable just now.
Sheng Jie looked at the aggrieved look on Dong Manman's face and could not help but shudder. Even though she was clearly flustered, Dong Manman still looked stronger in character than him.
Forget it, just do it! Sheng Jie chided himself before he finally spoke up, "Boss, what could have already made you angry so early in the morning?"
Sheng Jie had encouraged himself from the bottom of his heart to speak up, but as soon as he started speaking, somehow, he used his familiar timid, appeasing voice. This made Sheng Jie curse himself in his heart with frustration for a long time. It seemed that it would not be easy for creatures of habit to change some things, especially after becoming so familiar with doing them.
Leng Yuchen glanced at Sheng Jie and did not have the intention to reply to him. Instead, he looked at Dong Manman, his eyes revealing a tinge of playfulness.
"When An Qi introduced our relationship just now, she used rather inappropriate words. I hope Miss Dong doesn't mind," Leng Yuchen put down the knife and fork that were in his hands, folded his arms in front of his chest, and explained to Dong Manman patiently.
In fact, for An Qi's sake, his attitude toward Dong Manman had always been polite and good-natured. But, maybe it was because Leng Yuchen's aura was too strong, but every word that he said sounded interrogative to Dong Manman, who had never been in close contact with Leng Yuchen before.
"Ah? Mind? I don't mind." Dong Manman waved her hand carelessly.
After that, she thought to herself that her reply could be misconstrued as being a little perfunctory, so she asked, "Where was the improper use of words? I can use it as a reference and better pay attention to my own speech in the future."
Leng Yuchen was satisfied with Dong Manman's tactful reply, and his body language revealed this as his arms that he was crossing in front of his chest gradually loosened.
He then drew a faint smile and said, "She only mentioned that I was An Yufei's father, but An Qi failed to mention that I was her husband."
Dong Manman was stunned by his words. She refused to believe this, even though the facts were right in front of her.
The large outdoor playground at the Leng Group…
Sheng Jie, while carrying many big and small bags, was following a large group of people, puffing and blowing from the strain.
"Hey, do we need to wait for you?" Dong Manman, who was quite a tall woman, turned back and looked down at Sheng Jie and asked.
"Well, if you had really wanted to help me out, you wouldn't have loaded me down with so many things. Look at all of the sunscreen and numerous tents you brought with you! Even all of Little Yufei's things are not half as heavy as your bags!" Sheng Jie's eyes revealed a tinge of bitterness as he reprimanded Dong Manman for her copious amounts of baggage.
After Dong Manman heard this, she was not annoyed. On the contrary, she felt that Sheng Jie looked rather cute when he behaved this way. She somehow found him much more manly as such!
As early as when she was in school, Dong Manman was particularly fascinated by the exciting, somewhat sadistic plots in love stories, where the man was dominating and somewhat forceful, taking charge in all situations. Unfortunately, she had grown up to be big and tall and had never had the chance to enjoy the pleasure of a man's pursuit, much less his dominance over her.
Later on in her life, after she became a fashion designer, there were more male models around her, but most of them only flattered her because of her fame. Few people were like Sheng Jie, who would jump forward to help her out when she met with any difficulty involving Leng Yuchen.
Though An Qi did not look back, her small ears were always listening intently to the what was being discussed behind her. Therefore, out of the five of them, only Leng Yuchen and An Yufei were completely immersed in the joy of the moment.
"Haha, look at little Yufei. She didn't even want to come here at first, but now she is so happy and playing to her heart's content." After provoking Sheng Jie, Dong Manman gladly ran forward to catch up with them.
While she ran toward them, passersby were constantly asking about the trio. After all, the little family of three did look quite dazzling.
"Yes. Yuchen always thinks that Yufei's character is too strong and lacks some childlike innocence, so he decided to bring her here for training." Maybe it was because An Qi could not stand the stares from the passersby, but she quickly started to chat with Dong Manman to keep her mind off of them.
An Yufei seemed indifferent after An Qi let go of her right hand, as she was still immersed in learning her lessons and whatever else Leng Yuchen was telling her. After taking a glance at An Qi, Leng Yuchen seemed to become a little unhappy.
He then muttered with no expression on his face, "If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have listened to An Qi and would have cleared this place long ago."
An Yufei looked up at her father, who she knew could not leave her mother for a moment, and giggled. As he was walking right behind everyone, Sheng Jie whimpered under the hot sun and murmured inwardly... I want to go back to work already! But… Since we are already late, we might as well skip work altogether!
I wonder if all bosses who are so wealthy are this capricious? If so, I want to be reincarnated as a boss in my next life...
Because of An Yufei's young age, there were many games she could not yet play. Because of this, the group decided to part ways temporarily. At that time, Leng Yuchen took An Yufei to the children's area, as he was the only one in the group that seemed able to cope with the intense questions that his daughter was constantly raising.
Meanwhile, An Qi took Dong Manman's hand and went to the challenge area. Along the way, Dong Manman became very excited at the thought of the challenge that lay ahead.
Sheng Jie hesitated before finally deciding to follow An Qi. After all, little Yufei did not make him carry so many things!
Being away from Leng Yuchen, Sheng Jie felt much less pressured. As such, his power of speech seemed to be reawaken.
Unconsciously, he started walking faster. Even though he was carrying so many heavy things, he was able to catch up with Dong Manman and An Qi quite easily.
When Dong Manman caught sight of Sheng Jie following her, she had started to walk even faster. This made Sheng Jie so angry that he wanted to smash the bags he was carrying on her head!
"Why do I feel that this visit was not made for Yufei's sake, but for you to fulfil your own wishes?" When he finally caught up with them, Sheng Jie naturally wanted to start a speech war with Dong Manman.
"This is none of your business! Just remember to look after our stuff!" Dong Manman stared hard at Sheng Jie as she pulled An Qi forward, forcing her to walk even faster.
This made Sheng Jie even unhappier, so he continued to rebuke Dong Manman, "I think that you should go and ask Boss Leng to give you an annual visitor's pass."
"Why would I need to ask for that? It should be you asking, as you know him better! You should be the one to ask on my behalf!" Before she knew it, Dong Manman had walked right into the trap set up for her by Sheng Jie, engaging full force in this war of words with him.
An Qi rolled her eyes upon hearing their squabbling. She thought about Dong Manman's words and wondered to herself... How are you connected to Sheng Jie in any way that would make him feel the least bit obligated to you? Why must he ask permission of his boss for you to get a visitor's pass?
In fact, it felt horrible for An Qi to be sandwiched between the two of them like this…