In front of a lawn at the Wetland Park, there were several claw machines. The both of them were passing by when Chen Yiran stopped.

Li Linlin also halted. She looked at him and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Give me a minute.” After Chen Yiran said this, he walked to one of the claw machines. He scanned the QR code using his phone and it started moving. Li Linlin walked up curiously and stood on the side to watch him.

Whenever Li Linlin goes to shopping malls, she usually plays with claw machines if she sees one, but she rarely catches any prize. Chen Yiran had clearly done the same thing as her. It seemed like he just casually moved the controller, but the stuff toy was firmly clamped and it accurately fell into the pit.

Chen Yiran bent down to take out the stuff toy and then handed it to Li Linlin. “This is for you.”

What he has in his hand was a white dog, which looked similar to the Samoyed that rubbed against Li Linlin on the road just now. The white puppy was sticking out its tongue and had a cute blush on its face. The white fur was long and soft and felt great when touched.

“So cute! Thank you, Brother Yiran!” Li Linlin liked this stuffed puppy very much and her mood was no longer as low as before.

The corners of Chen Yiran’s lips hooked up into a smile as he looked at Li Linlin. “This puppy won’t grow old, be sick or die. It will always be by your side.”

Chen Yiran’s words were like a warm current, soothing the pain in Li Linlin’s heart. Assistant Wu told her last time that Chen Yiran wasn’t that insensitive and it was indeed true.

He always had this unique gentleness about him.

“Thanks.” Li Linlin smiled at him. “I’ll take good care of it. Oh, let’s give it a name.”

Chen Yiran suggested, “How about calling it Marshmallow?”

When he saw it for the first time, he thought it resembled one.

Li Linlin’s eyes sparkled. “Yeah! But Marshmallow is alone. It will be lonely, so let’s get it some friends!”

Chen Yiran: “……”

Chen Yiran got back in front of the claw machine and tapped on his mobile phone to scan the code again.

“I want that pink bunny on the side. Yes, that one.” Li Linlin stood next to Chen Yiran and pointed the ones she wanted. As if he had divine assistance, Chen Yiran managed to get them every time and before realizing it, Li Linlin already held a large pile in her hands.

She placed the stuff toys Chen Yiran had given her on the grass next to her and counted them one by one. “Gosh, there’re actually eight of them! You’re so awesome, Brother Yiran.”

“I’m not bad.” Compared with Li Linlin’s excitement, Chen Yiran appeared extremely relaxed, as if this was a normal thing.

“How are you so good at this?” Li Linlin believed that if Chen Yiran had enough patience and time, he could empty the whole machine.

Chen Yiran said, “I’ve been playing these since I was in primary school. Actually, as long as you get the hang of it, it’s quite easy.”

“Oh, then can you teach me?”

“No. Since they’re tricks of the trade, I can’t tell it to others.”

“Tch……”

Chen Yiran walked up to her and patted the top of her head. He smiled and told her, “If we come across another claw machine, I’ll get them for you.”

“Alright!” After being happy, Li Linlin faced the row of stuff toys on the grass and was a little troubled. “But how can I take these all back?”

“Let’s each take half.” Chen Yiran bent down and picked up the larger stuffed toys, leaving the remaining four smaller ones to Li Linlin.

Li Linlin walked briskly with the stuffed toys in her arms and without realizing, she had followed Chen Yiran to Yinwan.

“We’ve here, Brother Yiran.”

“Hmm.” Chen Yiran nodded and asked her, “Do you want me to walk you up? It’s not easy to carry all this alone.”

“No need, no need.” Li Linlin was afraid he would discover that Lu Ruizhou and the others were living on the opposite unit, so she quickly refused. “There’s a pull cart at the property management office. I can use it to tow all these up.”

“Alright, then, I’ll accompany you in.”

Chen Yiran walked in with Li Linlin. The person on duty saw them coming and greeted them. “Miss Li, how can I help you?”

Li Linlin said, “I remember you have one of those pull carts, right? I’d like to borrow it for a bit.”

“Okay, just a moment.” The property manager pulled a small cart over from the front desk, and Li Linlin and Chen Yiran put all the stuff toys in their hands inside.

“Alright.” Li Linlin smiled and told Chen Yiran. “All settled. You should go back first.”

This was actually a bit strange to say. Yinwan was originally Chen Yiran’s house. But right now, she and the other girls were living there, and opposite them were Lu Ruizhou and the other guys, so it was really inconvenient to invite Chen Yiran up.

Fortunately, Chen Yiran didn’t insist on going up and sitting for a while. He nodded towards Li Linlin, but just as he was about to say something, he heard a child’s voice, “Sister Linlin!”

Li Linlin and Chen Yiran looked over together and saw a young boy who looked like a primary school student running towards them.

Li Linlin’s heart jumped and she thought, ‘It’s over, it’s over, how did we run into little friend Lu Yuxuan?!’

“Sister Linlin.” However, human beings’ joys and sorrows weren’t the same. Little friend Lu Yuxuan greeted Li Linlin cheerfully, “You’re back?”

“U-um……”

“Wow, you bought so many stuff toys? They’re all cute!”

Chen Yiran looked at the little kid that had suddenly popped up and asked Li Linlin, “You know this child?”

Li Linlin quickly said, “Oh, he lives across from us.”

“Neighbor?” Chen Yiran said, pondering.

Lu Yuxuan looked up at Chen Yiran, then asked Li Linlin, “Sister Linlin, is this uncle a friend of yours?”

Chen Yiran: “……”

Why was he one generation higher?

“Y-yes.” Cold sweat dripped down from Li Linlin’s back. People really shouldn’t do bad things. “He’s Xixi’s older brother.”

“Oh, it turns out to be Uncle Chen.” Lu Yuxuan lifted his little head to look at Chen Yiran greeted him, “Hello, Uncle Chen.”

“……” Chen Yiran, who was used to being called Mr. Chen or President Chen, was extremely uncomfortable with the new title.

He reluctantly greeted Lu Yuxuan back and left Yinwan. Li Linlin watched him walk out and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Yuxuan said, “Sister Linlin, let’s go up.”

“O-okay.”

“Let me help you pull the cart!”

“No need, no need, I can do it myself.”

“It’s okay! I can do it!”

Lu Yuxuan pulled Li Linlin’s cart and followed her into the elevator. Li Linlin swiped the card and looked at Lu Yuxuan beside her. “What were you doing down there just now?”

Lu Yuxuan said, “I was playing table tennis with someone. Sister Linlin, do you know there’s a table tennis room there?”

“Oh…… I think I heard Assistant Wu mentioned it before.”

“You can call me if you want to play table tennis! But I’m only free on Fridays and Saturdays.”

“It’s fine.” She didn’t play table tennis anyway.

After the elevator arrived at the 23^rd floor, Li Linlin took out a small box of chocolates that she had bought at the Dingou Hotel, and gave it to Lu Yuxuan. “Thank you for helping me with the cart, this is for you.”

The packaging of the chocolate was very exquisite and it didn’t look cheap. Lu Yuxuan was too embarrassed to accept it. “No need to be polite to me, Sister Linlin. I just help you pull the cart in passing, it’s not tiring.”

Li Linlin smiled and stuffed the chocolate into his hand. “Helpful children must be rewarded. This chocolate is tasty, it has jam filling!”

Lu Yuxuan was immediately tempted by her words. “Really?”

“En, there are four different flavors, you’ll definitely like it!”

“Then…… thank you, Sister Linlin.”

Li Linlin touched his head and told him, “You’re welcome. I’ll go back first then.”

“Okay.”

Li Linlin pulled the cart towards the door and unlocked it. Lu Yuxuan also took the chocolates and returned to the opposite side.

———

In Chen Yiran’s car, he was still thinking about the matter of the neighbor.

“Assistant Wu, who’s the owner of the house opposite mine in Yinwan?” Chen Yiran asked as they passed by a traffic light.

Assistant Wu sitting in the front row thought for a while and replied, “It should be President Luo Yu of Hongsheng Group.”

Chen Yiran tapped his fingers on the armrest and said, “I remember she have two sons. One just went abroad to study last year and the other is in still high school.”

“Yes.”

Chen Yiran pursed his lips slightly and said nothing for a while. The little boy he met in the lobby today didn’t looked like he‘s in high school yet. If he wasn’t a child of Luo Yu’s relative, could he be…… her illegitimate son?

This kind of thing was nothing new in the wealthy circle. Chen Yiran wasn’t interested in other people’s private lives, so he didn’t ask any more questions.

Once he returned to Xinghai Garden, he still didn’t invite Assistant Wu up and went inside alone.

After coming out of the shower and putting on his pajamas, Chen Yiran took out an old photo from the bedside drawer.

It was from his second birthday, the last photo he had with his mother.

Linlin’s words that night made him think of his mother again. When his mother passed away, he was just over two years old. Logically speaking, his memory of that time should be blurry, but Chen Yiran remembered it especially clearly.

Two-year-old children were mischievous and always need someone to take care of them. His mother had to work during the day and was only at home at night, so she hired an auntie to look after him during the day.

The auntie who took care of him praised him for being obedient and sensible, saying that she had never seen such a well-behaved child. But Chen Yiran remembered that at that time, he already knew that his mother was working hard, but because he was too small and couldn’t help her, he could only behave himself to alleviate her burden a bit.

However, a child’s body was really fragile. Despite trying to be careful, he still gets colds and fevers from time to time. Whenever he had a fever, his mother had to stay up all night to take care of him and have to go to work at the company the next morning.

By then, his mother’s physical and mental health had probably collapsed to the breaking point.

If he hadn’t been sick that time, his mother might not have had a car accident due to fatigue.

When Chen Yiran was young, he would often blame himself for what happened. After Chen Zui found out, he properly talked some sense into him, which greatly reduced his guilt. Having Chen Zui as his uncle was the luckiest thing that happened to him in his childhood.

Now that he’s an adult, he would no longer fixate on every little detail, but tonight, he recalled that feeling again. If he hadn’t been sick that time, would his mother still be healthy and by his side today?

In the photo, the tiny him and his mother were smiling happily. There’s a children’s cake on the table and the candles were burning with warm yellow light. Under the candlelight, Chen Yiran held a small building block figure in his hand. It was a birthday gift from his mother.