Qiao Wanqing and Gu Yanqing were both amused and exasperated.

Their son unexpectedly hid and sneakily ate some ice cream while their parents weren’t paying attention.

When caught red-handed, Koukou grinned foolishly at his mother and obediently handed over the ice cream cup, saying, “Mom, here.”

Qiao Wanqing took the ice cream cup from him while Gu Yanqing pulled him out from under the table, brushing off the dirt and couldn’t help but kiss his cheek, saying, “Does my baby really like ice cream?”

Koukou glanced at his mom sneakily and seeing her looking at him, he lowered his head, playing with his fingers, looking a bit pitiful.

Qiao Wanqing: “…”

What’s with this pitiful look of being mistreated?

Gu Yanqing said, “Let him eat, he can’t get much anyway.”

Since he was told not to use his hands, which were dirty, he obediently ate with a spoon.

He wasn’t even good at using a spoon, which was just a piece of straight wood, so he couldn’t really get any to eat.

The ice cream melted quickly, and he could only scoop up a little juice and lick the taste.

Qiao Wanqing said, “You’re spoiling him now. He sees this trick works, so next time he’ll find another way.”

“Autumn is here, so why worry?”

Gu Yanqing meant that as the weather gets colder, ice cream will gradually disappear from the snack scene, so there’s no need to worry.

Actually, Qiao Wanqing also felt sorry for Koukou.

Seeing his pitiful look made her feel like she could pluck the moon from the sky for him.

But at the same time, she thought that this kind of education, where a child gives in when feeling wronged, wasn’t right.

Just as she was conflicted, Gu Yanqing reached out and flicked her forehead, saying, “Koukou is still young. There’s no need to strictly educate him with those rules. Actually, he’s already quite good compared to other kids his age. When he’s older, he’ll understand a lot of things just with a few words from you.”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Wanqing chuckled and said, “He just wanted to eat some ice cream, and here we are with all these philosophical musings. Give it to him.”

After dawdling for a while, it was time for lunch.

To avoid drawing attention, the family didn’t go to the company cafeteria but instead took the private elevator to B1 and drove out to eat.

As they were leaving, Qiao Wanqing’s WeChat kept buzzing with messages from Mr. Zheng and Ms. Chen.

Mr. Zheng mentioned that a solution had been found and suggested that Hong Jie switch to a different team.

The team Qiao Wanqing was about to join was mostly like her, just trying to get by day-to-day.

There was only one person who wanted to achieve results, but in such a team, where everyone was lazy, achieving success was like trying to move forward in a quagmire—extremely difficult.

He didn’t dare tell the organizers about this, and Mr. Zheng had found out through his own inquiries.

This solution pleased both Qiao Wanqing and Chen Yu.

Mr. Zheng clearly supported them this time, probably not wanting someone as unreasonable as Hong Jie to hold them back.

So Mr. Zheng arranged for them to attend classes in the afternoon to make up for the missed morning session.

They were currently in an important learning phase, and missing even one class was detrimental.

Gu Yanqing ordered the dishes and listened as Qiao Wanqing talked about work matters with someone over there.

He waited until the food arrived before she finished her conversation and summarized what she had said, asking, “Had a disagreement with someone?”

Qiao Wanqing nodded and briefly described today’s events to him.

“There are annoying people like that everywhere,” Gu Yanqing commented after listening. “But is Mr. Zheng really interested in you?”

“…” Qiao Wanqing sighed helplessly. “Come on,Mr.Gu, your jealousy is getting more absurd.”

Gu Yanqing certainly wasn’t absurdly jealous.

He had just heard that guy sending voice messages to Qiao Wanqing with a gentle and smiling tone, even offering to help them catch up on classes.

Internally, he was starting to feel a bit annoyed.

Plus, Hong Jie had an outsider’s perspective; maybe she was onto something.

Qiao Wanqing knew Gu Yanqing had a strong possessiveness, a trait set by the original author of the book.

Of course, in the book, he wasn’t married, and his possessiveness extended to other things, like not allowing others to touch his belongings or enter his personal space.

Even in terms of familial affection, he could be possessive towards the male lead, hence the “evil stepfather” script.

However, he was probably still relatively young.

Gu Yanqing’s possessiveness now seemed to focus mostly on her, which wasn’t too bad.

Thinking this, she picked a piece of fish head meat and put it in his bowl, saying, “I’m not exactly a heartthrob. I’m not loved by everyone. Be good and eat some fish head to nourish your brain.”

Gu Yanqing: “…”

They finished lunch close to 1 PM.

Qiao Wanqing didn’t go back to the office with him but directly returned to the training center.

Gu Yanqing had Chen Feng drive her there slowly so she could take a nap in the car.

Otherwise, she might feel sleepy in the afternoon.

Gu Yanqing, who started work at 2 PM, took Koukou back home for their lunch break.

His office was equipped with a small rest area because during the early days of his entrepreneurship, he often worked late and slept in the company.

So, he made sure there was a place where he could rest properly when needed.

Gu Yanqing lay down with Koukou on the bed.

Koukou had a habit: the later he slept the night before, the more energetic he was the next day.

If he didn’t nap properly at noon and was coaxed into sleeping, he might pretend to sleep and then start causing trouble again shortly after.

By evening, due to lack of sleep, he might even start dozing off during dinner.

Gu Yanqing tried to coax Koukou to sleep until 1:30 PM, but Koukou still wasn’t sleeping.

Exhausted, Gu Yanqing could only give in and let him play.

Fortunately, the rest area was small, with just a bed and no other furnishings, so he didn’t worry too much about Koukou getting into trouble.

However, he soon realized he had underestimated Koukou’s mischievous capabilities.

While Gu Yanqing dozed off groggily, Koukou played with toys nearby.

When Gu Yanqing finally drifted off to sleep, Koukou climbed onto the bed and reached out to try to pry his dad’s tightly closed eyes open.

Gu Yanqing was immediately awoken by this, sleepily pulling Koukou into his arms and patting him on the back, saying, “Good boy, go to sleep.”

Koukou quieted down in his father’s arms for a moment, but soon crawled up onto his dad’s waist, happily exclaiming “giddyup giddyup” as if riding a horse.

Gu Yanqing: “…”

“Why did he have to have such a little troublemaker!”

But Gu Yanqing, despite being able to sleep soundly, was disturbed by his son.

He turned over and continued to sleep.

Koukou climbed on top for a bit but found his dad ignoring him, so he got bored.

He pouted, climbed off, and entertained himself by playing with his little feet and giggling while biting his hand, staring at the ceiling.

Gu Yanqing wasn’t bothered by him and slowly fell back asleep.

But less than ten minutes later, the little troublemaker ran back to his father’s side, gnawing on his face and leaving him covered in saliva.

“Baby, let Dad sleep a bit,” Gu Yanqing wiped his face, now covered in drool, and reluctantly reached for tissues on the bedside table to clean up.

“Daddy, daddy.”

Gu Yanqing thought he was calling him and rubbed his head, “Daddy’s sleeping.”

“Koukou, daddy, poo-poo.”

Gu Yanqing: “…”

After a quiet moment, Gu Yanqing helplessly got out of bed and changed his son’s diaper.

By the time he finished fussing, it was past 2 AM.

Unfortunately, after changing Koukou’s diaper, he started feeling sleepy and finally fell into a deep sleep after holding him for a while.

Gu Yanqing: “…”

He put Koukou back on the bed and helplessly rubbed his little nose, “You must be the little demon sent by heaven to torment Dad.”

Since last night, nothing has gone smoothly for her.

Qiao Wanqing returned to the startup center.

When it was time to start work, Hongjie indeed came over, packed up her things, and left.

Before leaving, she gave Qiao Wanqing a fierce glare and said, “Just you wait!”

“…,” Qiao Wanqing shrugged.

Qiao Wanqing thought Hongjie’s “just you wait” was just a face-saving threat, but turns out she meant it.

With a new person in charge, their work became more harmonious.

Everyone focused on their tasks, and they started getting orders soon.

Though it was just a few orders a day, it covered costs and even increased visitor numbers slightly.

Before they knew it, it was the National Day holiday.

Madam Gu was going home with Gu Jingzhi for a vacation abroad.

Gu Yanqing asked if Qiao Wanqing wanted to join them, but she had promised Grandma Qiao to go home for the holiday and promised to go with them next time.

After so long, Dongyang Village remained unchanged, except now it was autumn, with ripe fruits in the mountains and fields, creating an atmosphere of harvest everywhere.

Huang Daxian probably knew they were coming back and had already met them on the way.

Qiao Wanqing expected the chubby man to have gained weight during their absence, but miraculously, he had lost weight.

“Is Ah Huang sick?” Qiao Wanqing asked Grandma Qiao with concern when she saw him.

Grandma Qiao, holding Koukou whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, replied, “Probably not… You know Aunt Li’s house has a mother cat. That cat has grown up, black and white, very beautiful. Last time Aunt Li visited, that cat and Huang Daxian hit it off. Aunt Li said Huang Daxian has been pestering the cat every day lately, but the cat ignores him, so he’s lost weight.”

Qiao Wanqing: “…”

Is this interspecies love?

She used to worry that Huang Daxian might bring a female yellow weasel back and have litter after litter, which would be difficult to handle.

But now, it seems like she won’t have to worry about that anymore…

She used to only see news about dogs falling in love with wolves or dogs getting along with cats, and she would just smile and pass it off as a curiosity.

She never thought she’d witness it firsthand.

Could it be that wild yellow weasels are becoming rare, and Huang Daxian, facing difficulties in domestic sales, had to consider other species?

Qiao Wanqing had seen Aunt Li’s cat—a beautiful rural cat with black back fur and white fur on its belly and around its mouth. It was elegant and attractive, not losing out in looks to those noble breeds.

If it weren’t for fearing the cat might harm Koukou, she would seriously consider getting a similar one to raise.

So, their Huang Daxian really has good taste.

Gu Yanqing said, “So it’s lovesickness?”

“Maybe that cat found it too chubby and wanted it to lose weight,” Qiao Wanqing replied.

Huang Daxian was a true “homebody,” a bit chubby, but love seemed to have changed it.

Now that it had slimmed down, it looked noticeably more refined.

When they returned this time, they brought Huang Daxian a lot of delicious food.

Qiao Wanqing used to think it only ate chicken, but it turned out to be an omnivore.

It loved meat; it just preferred vegetables grown by Qiao Wanqing and ignored everything else.

Qiao Wanqing fed it a piece of vacuum-packed rabbit meat, cooked to a soft texture, which it really liked.

Normally a glutton, Huang Daxian’s eyes would light up at the sight of food and gobble it down.

But today, it ran off with a rabbit leg in its mouth.

“This darned love triangle!” Qiao Wanqing sighed, feeling like she had just been fed dog food by her own pet.

“Why can’t this Huang Daxian bless someone else? Why doesn’t it bless itself to win over Aunt Li’s cat?” Qiao Wanqing suddenly mused.

Gu Yanqing, not believing in such things, casually joked, “Maybe it wants to win the other over with sincerity.”

“… What kind of sincerity is that?” Qiao Wanqing wondered.

They both thought Huang Daxian had a one-sided crush and was still in the courting stage.

But in less than 15 minutes, Huang Daxian returned home proudly with Aunt Li’s cat in tow.

It even pushed the meat Qiao Wanqing had placed in its bowl earlier toward the cat for it to eat.

“…,” the whole family was left stunned.

“Cat, cat!”

Koukou wasn’t used to seeing cats and was excited to see one up close.

Qiao Wanqing, fearing he might get scratched, taught him not to touch cats or dogs and to stand and watch from a distance.

Huang Daxian squatted down on the ground, allowing Koukou to observe as if it were proud.

Seeing them like this, Gu Yanqing chuckled lightly, “We might need to consider getting a cat tree for our home.”