In the evening, Gu Yanqing returned home to find Mrs. Gu in the living room, engrossed in her phone.

Because he hadn’t come back yesterday, there was a bit of awkwardness between mother and son.

He really had no interest in Miss Tan, but Mrs. Gu seemed quite fond of her, which gave him a headache.

“You’re back. Perfect timing, come here, I want to show you something.” Mrs. Gu greeted him with a smile, as if the discord between them yesterday didn’t exist.

“What is it?” Gu Yanqing handed the clothes he was holding to the butler and walked over.

“Look at this little doll, doesn’t he look just like you did when you were little!” Mrs. Gu showed him her phone screen, displaying a paparazzi photo that had become today’s hot topic on Weibo.

The photo happened to capture Koukou’s face clearly, with the malicious poster not bothering to blur out Qiao Wanqing and Koukou at all.

His son’s adorable face was now unexpectedly exposed to the world.

Gu Yanqing: “…”

“Just a coincidence,” Gu Yanqing teased, glancing at how Mrs. Gu had found the photo, planning to have it deleted immediately!

He wasn’t planning to tell Mrs. Gu about Kouko’s existence yet.

If she found out she had a grandson out there somewhere, who knew how she would react.

Since he had chosen to respect Qiao Wanqing’s wishes and let her raise the child while he found a better solution, he wanted to minimize any complications for her.

“Of course, I know it’s a coincidence. But he’s really nice-looking, very cute. If he were my grandson, I’d be delighted.”

Gu Yanqing knew Mrs. Gu was testing him, and he replied calmly, “Since you like him, I’ll have someone investigate who this person is. We can ask his mother if he needs a dad and grandma.”

Mrs. Gu: “…”

“Why do you speak like this!” Mrs. Gu put away her phone. “You’re getting older. Aren’t you going to hurry up and give me a grandson?”

“Do you not like him?”

“I do like him, but he’s not our family’s child after all.”

“It’s okay. Before our child comes along, you can enjoy looking after him.”

Mrs. Gu was so infuriated by him that she was on the verge of spitting blood. “Why is it so difficult for you to get married and have a child? Or… maybe you actually can’t have children?”

Gu Yanqing’s male dignity was questioned, and his face darkened. “Mom, don’t make baseless guesses.”

“Alright then. I’ve made plans to have dinner with that girl from the Tan family tomorrow. If you find another excuse to skip it, don’t call me mom anymore.”

“I’ve booked a flight back to C City early tomorrow morning. There’s a lot to handle there. I’ve been away for four days already.”

“Well, cancel it for me then. I’ve said my piece. You handle it yourself.” With that, Mrs. Gu picked up her phone and went upstairs with a thud.

Gu Yanqing held his forehead with a headache.

At his age, he was a man who trusted his feelings.

Despite having met many good girls over the years, Gu Yanqing’s heart remained calm like still water.

Now in his early forties, he had no intention of finding a suitable woman to spend his life with.

As he grew older, he became more indifferent to such matters.

He even thought that if he couldn’t find the right one, remaining single for life wouldn’t be so bad.

After all, he already had a son.

Miss Tan was someone I knew when she was young.

She left an impression as a very smart girl.

However, Mr. Gu has unique tastes—he prefers women who are a bit less smart.

Ahem.

…

On the third day, Xu Han was finally able to go home.

She quickly packed her things and headed to the airport.

At the airport, someone recognized her.

She was the main character in a news story that was widely discussed the previous day.

People came over to see her.

Xu Han felt the awkwardness of being a celebrity.

She quickly bought a mask to cover her face and put a little hat on her child, Kou Kou, to avoid being recognized.

After a long journey, Xu Han finally returned home.

For the first time, she felt the warmth of home.

Even the chickens in the yard, making a mess, seemed cute and lovely.

The yellow weasel, Huang Da Xian, was very happy to see her back. It circled around her several times.

Xu Han smiled and reached out to pet its soft fur. Kou Kou also mimicked her and pulled the cat’s fluffy tail.

During this time, Kou Kou and Huang Da Xian developed a “deep” friendship.

Kou Kou loved to pull the weasel’s tail and ears, often with no regard for gentleness.

But Huang Da Xian, usually proud and quick to get annoyed if touched too much, was especially tolerant with Kou Kou, letting the child do whatever he wanted.

Huang Daxian was also quite smart and learned simple human tasks, like helping to cover the child with a blanket, fetching things, and opening and closing doors. Xu Han liked the yellow weasel very much.

After all, it was quite useful.

After Kou Kou and Huang Da Xian had enough fun, Xu Han took out a bag of chicken breast jerky from her bag and threw a few pieces to Huang Daxian.

Huang Daxian happily grabbed the jerky and ran off joyfully.

Grandma Qiao hadn’t seen Kou Kou for two days and missed him a lot.

As soon as Xu Han came back, she hugged her grandson tightly, not wanting to let go.

Xu Han asked her, “Everything okay at home these past two days?”

“Everything’s fine,” Grandma Qiao said hesitantly, “Just one thing, I need your opinion on.”

Xu Han asked, “Oh? What is it?”

“Do you remember Jian Feng, the guy who sells pork in the village? Yesterday he told me about a young man he knows.

This young man is quite handsome, comes from a good family, has a house in our city, and drives a car worth over 200,000 yuan.

His wife passed away in a car accident just after they got married. He doesn’t have any children and doesn’t mind if you have a child, so he asked me to see if you’re interested…”

Xu Han was speechless.

What kind of situation is this?

Xu Han had been away for many years and suddenly returned with a little child.

The people in the village, unlike the distant relationships in the city, saw each other often and naturally became curious.

When people came to ask, Xu Han used the same story she told Aunt Li: that her husband had cheated on her while she was pregnant, so they got divorced.

Gradually, many people knew that Xu Han, a beautiful young woman, was divorced and raising a child alone.

During idle times, they couldn’t help but gossip about her.

But Xu Han had thick skin.

She didn’t care about their gossip since she had little interaction with them.

They could talk all they wanted as long as it wasn’t in front of her.

But now, even matchmakers were coming to her.

Xu Han felt both angry and helpless. Did she look like someone desperate to get married?

And what’s the big deal about a car worth over 200,000 yuan? Why emphasize it so much?

Xu Han said, “Grandma, I’m not looking for a partner right now. Tell them not to waste their energy on me because I won’t appreciate it. If this happens again, just turn them down.”

Grandma Qiao knew Xu Han wasn’t planning to find a partner anytime soon, but she felt it was necessary to mention it since someone had asked.

She nodded and hesitated before asking, “Are you and Mr. Gu…?”

“There’s no chance between us anymore,” Xu Han said, feeling troubled by these things she deliberately avoided, “Oh, Grandma, don’t worry about my affairs. I know what I’m doing.”

“Alright, I’ll go and refuse him then.”

Xu Han rested for a while and then went to the vegetable garden to pick some fresh vegetables for hotpot dinner.

Earlier, she had passed through the town and found some fresh beef for sale.

She bought some beef belly and tripe, along with a pork bone to make the broth.

The vegetables were fresh from the garden.

She picked broccoli, garland chrysanthemum, tender pea shoots, corn, and tomatoes, and cut down a tender lettuce stalk—all perfect for hotpot.

Xu Han made the broth herself.

Since she was still breastfeeding, she couldn’t eat spicy food, so she made a clear broth base.

She took a piece of pork belly from the fridge, removed the skin, and simmered it with the pork bone until the broth turned white.

She sautéed aromatics like green onions, ginger, and garlic, added the broth, then added bay leaves, white cardamom, dates, goji berries, and shiitake mushrooms for more flavor.

She also added tomatoes and corn to enhance the freshness, and seasoned with salt and chicken essence, creating a rich and flavorful simple broth.

Although clear broth isn’t as intense as spicy broth, it has its own unique taste.

Thinly sliced beef cooked in the hotpot was tender and delicious.

The local beef had a firm texture and rich flavor, and the tripe was crisp.

The vegetables, already fresh and flavorful, absorbed the broth and became even tastier.

Although the city offers a variety of gourmet foods, finely cooked and seasoned, Xu Han still found the food at home to be more delicious and natural.

Xu Han ate until she was full, then gave Kou Kou a bath.

After putting him to sleep, she sat down to do some accounting and make a small plan for her future.

The landlord refunded 15,000 yuan.

She had the 50,000 yuan left by Qiao Wanqing, but after her trip back to the countryside, she only had 40,000 yuan left.

The school paid her for two months of vegetables, and she also sold some to Tan Yue and the farmhouse restaurant, totaling about 10,000 yuan.

After deducting daily expenses, she had 63,000 yuan left.

This amount of money might not be small for an average person, but for someone looking to start a business, it’s a drop in the bucket.

Xu Han’s other goal during her visit to Tang Yue was to ask her about how to start an online store, as Tang Yue was involved in e-commerce and knowledgeable about it.

If she could get some advice and open an online store, the delicious dried fruits and vegetables from their farm would surely have a good market.

She thought she could spend 40,000 yuan on a drying machine and potentially make a fortune from it.

Reality proved that she was too optimistic.

Getting the necessary permits wasn’t the biggest problem; the real challenge was that opening an online store wasn’t as simple as she imagined.

She thought that once the store was up and some marketing was done, people would discover how tasty their dried fruits and vegetables were, and sales would naturally increase.

But Tang Yue explained that there were many tricks and rules in running an online store, like fake orders, promotions, and ads, which left Xu Han confused.

In the end, she understood that selling dried fruits and vegetables online wasn’t an easy task and she might end up losing everything without even starting properly.

Ugh…

Just when she was feeling stuck, her phone beeped with a WeChat message.

Xu Han picked it up and saw that someone named “z” had added her as a WeChat friend.

Note: Gu Yanqing.

Why is he contacting me again?

Xu Han held her phone, her elbow resting on the table, staring at the three characters on the screen.

Should she accept or reject the request?

Her initial plan was to cut ties and not acknowledge him once she got back, but he had helped her a lot.

Ignoring him now would seem ungrateful.

Although gratitude can’t be eaten, one should still have some principles.

It’s just adding a WeChat contact, not getting into a relationship.

Thinking this, Xu Han accepted the friend request and added a note to his contact.

Soon, Gu Yanqing sent a message.

Gu Yanqing: Have you made it home?

Xu Han: Yes.

Gu Yanqing: Is Kou Kou behaving?

Xu Han: Yes.

Gu Yanqing probably got annoyed by her cold responses, as it took him a while to reply:

The dried fruits and vegetables you gave to Yuan Yuan taste really good. I’d like to buy some. Do you have any?

Xu Han: Sorry, I don’t sell them. I just made a little for personal use.

Xu Han sent the message with great resolve, though she actually really wanted to sell them.

After all, he could be a major customer.

If he liked them, he might even give them as New Year gifts to his whole company, which would mean a lot of sales.

But she really didn’t want to have any more entanglements with Gu Yanqing. Otherwise, things would get messy.

Did she really want to have a cordial relationship with the male lead?

The male lead likely wouldn’t want to share what he considered his own.

Gu Yanqing, not giving up, messaged again: Could you make a bit more as a favor?

Maybe she should just make it for him since he had helped her, but Xu Han just didn’t feel like it.

After thinking for a moment, she suddenly had an idea and quickly typed a message to Gu Yanqing.

Xu Han: Mr. Gu, if you like my dried fruits and vegetables so much, why don’t I just pack up and move in with you? You can eat whatever dried fruits and vegetables you want, and even eat me if you like.

After sending this, Xu Han was almost amazed by her own cleverness.

Gu Yanqing hated it when she got too close, so she wanted to see how he would respond.

As expected, there was no reply from Gu Yanqing for a long time.

Xu Han smirked to herself: Ha, men!

If you have the guts to flirt with me, have the guts to marry me!

Xu Han put down her phone and ignored him, thinking about her future while doodling on a piece of paper.

The online store route was not viable for now, so she decided to focus on offline sales first.

She planned to buy some relevant materials and courses to learn more about running an online store while continuing her offline efforts.

With taking care of Kou Kou, growing vegetables, picking and delivering them, and now adding learning to her tasks, Xu Han felt extremely exhausted even with Grandma Qiao’s help.

She considered that if the farmhouse restaurant sales really picked up, she could hire someone to help with deliveries.

Having someone help with the farming would be ideal, but Xu Han had a little secret ability she had to keep hidden.

She realized that many villagers couldn’t keep secrets.

They might tell a trusted person, thinking it wouldn’t spread, but that person would tell another trusted person, and within half a month, the whole village would know.

So she decided to think it over some more.

Take it slowly; things would work out in the end.

With this thought, Xu Han felt much better.

Looking down, she noticed her paper was filled with the words “Ha, men!”

She couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time.

She crumpled the paper and threw it into the trash can.

At that moment, her WeChat notification sounded again.

Xu Han, slumped in her chair, reached for her phone and opened it.

It was another message from Gu Yanqing.

Gu Yanqing: I just took a call.

Gu Yanqing: Your idea sounds good. I approve. Come over.

Xu Han: “…”

What was this? Was this really going to be one of those typical CEO novel scenarios where the CEO says, “Woman, you have successfully caught my attention”?

Gu Yanqing: By the way, I’m also curious about how you taste.

Xu Han thought dirtily, You already know what I taste like! Her face blushed as she closed WeChat, deciding to ignore him.