Cub's Dad Chapter 44

 Chapter 44

Bo Zai's internal alarm bells were ringing loudly.

He shrank behind Xie Yishu, trying to hide his short, chubby body, his little chubby hands clutching tightly to Xie Yishu's clothes, with only his face peeking out.

Staring at the "stranger" who claimed to be his grandmother, his chubby face was full of vigilance: "Little Dad, Bo Zai doesn't know her!"

Ye Wan was inwardly delighted. She slowly squatted down and gestured with her hands, "Of course you don't recognize me. The last time Grandma saw you, you were this small, still a little baby living in an incubator."

Bo Zai's chubby face wrinkled.

He hadn't expected that scammers nowadays were so clever! They even knew he had lived in an incubator when he was little!

But he wouldn't let the scammer succeed!

"Little Dad, quickly call Dad and let him see if she is really Bo Zai's grandma."

He wanted his dad to expose this scammer!

Bo Zai lifted his little chin, feeling somewhat smug.

He thought his approach was very clever, but he didn't expect the scammer in front of him to be even smarter.

"You are... Xie Yishu, right?" Ye Wan stood up, revealing a wry smile. "Could you please not call my son? I don't want him to know that I came to see you and Bo Zai."

"I came this time without telling him or his father."

Bo Zai: "!"

The chubby little boy nervously lifted his head to look at Xie Yishu, hoping that his mom wouldn't believe the scammer's lies.

But Xie Yishu believed her.

Having a strained relationship with the family and not having contacted the parents for many years... these were things Gu Yanzhi had told him personally.

Moreover, the elderly woman's facial features resembled Gu Yanzhi's a bit, especially around the eyes, which were quite similar.

"Hello, Auntie." Xie Yishu opened the door and invited her in, "Please come in and have a seat. Gu Yan has gone to District 16 for training these past two days and isn't home."

Bo Zai closed his little eyes in despair.

Ye Wan was thoroughly amused by the chubby little boy's expressive face. She nodded and gratefully said, "Thank you."

Xie Yishu, feeling uncomfortable being thanked by an elder, quickly responded, "Auntie, you're too kind."

He opened the shoe cabinet and took out a pair of slippers for Ye Wan, "Please come in, I'll get you a glass of water."

Ye Wan put on the slippers and walked into the house. Seeing the furnishings inside, she almost couldn't maintain her expression.

She hadn't expected her son to be living in such "authentic" poverty.

The peeling paint on the walls in the corner, the faux leather sofa with visible wear and tear, and the dining table, with one of its legs propped up by what seemed to be a piece of advertisement paper...

Following Ye Wan's gaze, Xie Yishu also noticed the advertisement paper under the table leg. He coughed awkwardly and quickly explained, "We don't know why this table ended up like this. We were planning to replace it a while ago, but we just haven't had the time to go to the furniture store to look at new ones..."

It wasn’t that they were short on money, just short on time.

Xie Yishu's explanation sounded unconvincing even to himself. He nervously grabbed at his pants seam and forced himself to change the subject, "Please have a seat on the sofa, I'll get you some water."

After saying that, Xie Yishu was about to quickly walk into the kitchen, but found he couldn't move his leg.

He looked down to see the chubby little boy clinging tightly to his leg as if glued there, and sighed helplessly, "Bo Zai?"

Bo Zai silently lowered his chubby face, pressing his forehead against Xie Yishu's leg without saying a word.

Xie Yishu thought for a moment and suggested, "How about you sit on the sofa with Grandma and keep her company for a while?"

Bo Zai vigorously shook his little head.

If he let go, the scammer grandma would definitely grab him and run.

So he had to hold on tight to his mom and not leave his side for even a moment!

Xie Yishu had never seen the chubby little boy so uncooperative before.

He looked up at Ye Wan apologetically and said, "Bo Zai is a bit shy around strangers..."

Ye Wan shook her head and glanced regretfully at the chubby little boy.

She had been thinking that if she had a chance to be alone with him, she would reveal the truth and tell him that she was his grandmother.

But now it seemed impossible.

"Children, they all have their moments," she said understandingly, kindly adding, "Yanzhi was like this when he was little too."

She walked over and sat down on the edge of the sofa.

While Xie Yishu and Bo Zai were in the kitchen, she took the opportunity to slip a bank card into the crevice of the sofa.

Three minutes later, all three of them were sitting in the living room.

Ye Wan sat alone on the long sofa, while Xie Yishu, with the little chubby boy who insisted on hugging his neck and sitting together with him, sat on the single-seater sofa next to it.

The atmosphere was a bit quiet.

Xie Yishu watched Ye Wan sipping tea from her cup, feeling a bit uneasy, "Auntie..."

He had once rehearsed in his mind the scene of visiting Gu Yanzhi's parents with gifts.

None of them matched the current situation.

Ye Wan put down her teacup and said gently, "Call me Mom."

Xie Yishu hadn't expected her to accept him so quickly. He was stunned for a moment and then said, after a pause, "...Mom."

"I came this time mainly to see you and Bo Zai."

Ye Wan's gaze fell on the highly vigilant chubby little boy, and a hint of helplessness was evident in her tone, "All these years, I've always wanted to meet you, but Yanzhi refused to bring you and Bo Zai to see me."

Bo Zai's little ears twitched slightly.

Ye Wan pretended not to see the "Hmph. Bo Zai caught you slipping, didn't he?" expression on the chubby little boy's face and continued, "You know, these past years, because of the loans and Bo Zai, he and his father have been at odds."

"He inherited his father's stubbornness. Neither of them is willing to take a step back and give the other a way out."

"He wouldn't let me come to see you, and his father wouldn't let me come either. This time, I found out from one of his childhood friends that he went to District 16 for training, so I asked an old friend to pretend to be sick. Using the excuse of visiting her, I came to see you."

Ye Wan, the actress, quickly crafted a script, effortlessly portraying a woman caught in the middle between her husband and son.

She felt that if she asked her daughter-in-law where he had been for the past five years, it would make her seem like an aggressive and malicious mother-in-law. So she pretended not to know about Xie Yishu's five-year disappearance and simply said she wanted to see him and Bo Zai.

Bo Zai didn't know this and thought the big scammer in front of him had slipped up. Excitedly, he wriggled his little body and whispered in Xie Yishu's ear, in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Little Dad, she doesn't even know you weren't here before."

Let's quickly get this scammer out of here!

Xie Yishu patted Bo Zai's chubby little bottom but didn't say anything.

He knew Gu Yanzhi's personality.

Given Gu Yanzhi's character, it was indeed very likely that he would do something like "keeping it from his parents and friends, silently bearing it alone."

He said slowly, "Gu Yan can be a bit stubborn sometimes. When he comes back, I'll talk to him more and see if I can persuade him to make peace with Uncle."

He didn't have parents, so he had always envied those who did.

If Gu Yan was willing, he still hoped that Gu Yan could reconcile with his parents and not have any estrangement between them.

If he could help Gu Yan pay off the loan sooner, Gu Yan and his father might reconcile sooner as well.

He needed to work hard to earn more money. Xie Yishu clenched his fist secretly.

Ye Wan, happy to play along with her husband in the role of an old couple, immediately said, "Alright. Thank you for that."

There was a harmonious atmosphere between Xie Yishu and Ye Wan.

Bo Zai lifted his chubby little face, feeling puzzled when he saw that his mom didn't show the expression he had imagined.

The scammer had already slipped up. Even if his mom didn't directly kick the scammer out, he should at least be a bit suspicious.

The chubby little boy's thoughts were clearly written on his face.

Ye Wan held back her laughter and took a toy car out of her handbag, handing it to him, "Bo Zai, this is a gift from Grandma for our first meeting."

Bo Zai tightened his chubby little face, remaining unmoved.

Xie Yishu had to accept the toy car on his behalf and secretly pinched Bo Zai's chubby bottom, "Bo Zai, quickly thank Grandma."

The chubby little boy felt a bit aggrieved, but he didn't want to disappoint his mom, so he reluctantly said, "Thank you, Grandma."

Ye Wan patted her silly grandson's little head and stood up, "I've met you, and I've given the gift. I'll be leaving now."

Xie Yishu was a bit surprised, "You're leaving so soon?"

"Yes, I still need to catch the 3 o'clock bus," Ye Wan said. She had an evening banquet to attend and had an appointment with her stylist at 4 o'clock.

Xie Yishu quickly said, "I'll see you off."

He remembered a few things in the cupboard and added, "Please wait a moment."

He picked up the chubby little boy and quickly walked into the bedroom. From the wardrobe, he took out some homemade bath bombs and gummy soaps, packed them in a tote bag, and handed them to Ye Wan, "If you don't mind, please take these with you."

There were no suitable gifts for elders at home, and in a moment of urgency, these were the only things Xie Yishu could think of.

The bath bombs were in dreamy colors, and the gummy soaps had dried flower petals inside.

Ye Wan's girlish heart was instantly struck, and for a moment, she even forgot to lower her voice, "What are these?"

Bo Zai, hearing the familiar voice, was stunned, "…Grandma?"

Xie Yishu was also taken aback.

First, because the chubby little boy finally called the other person "Grandma," and second, because... he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that Mother Gu's voice sounded unusually young just now?

Ye Wan also realized her small slip-up. 

But after all, she was an actress, and she remained very calm in the face of her slip-up, looking at Xie Yishu without changing her expression, as if nothing had happened.

Xie Yishu didn't think much of it either. He thought he might have misheard and dismissed his doubts. He explained to Ye Wan, "This ball-shaped one is a bath bomb. It has essential oils in it, and you can put it in the bathtub while taking a bath to help relieve fatigue."

"These soft ones are gummy soaps. The larger ones are for bathing, and the smaller ones are for washing hands. When you rub them, they create foam. They contain concentrated bath and hand wash liquids, which have cleaning properties."

Ye Wan lowered her voice and said kindly, "I understand. I'll use them when I get back."

Looking at the bath bombs and gummy soaps in the tote bag, she sighed, "The things young people use nowadays are really beautiful. I'm getting old, and when I want to use something nice, I don't even know where to buy it."

Ye Wan was genuinely a bit sentimental.

She had always been regarded as a fashion icon within the industry, but now she realized she might be slowly falling behind. Such novel items must have been popular on the internet for a while, yet she was only learning about them now...

Xie Yishu felt a bit embarrassed, "I made these myself."

Ye Wan paused for a moment, "You made these?"

"Yes." Xie Yishu hoped to leave a good impression on his lover's mother and said shyly, "I usually do some livestreaming, teaching people how to make these."

Ye Wan nodded, complimented Xie Yishu a few times, and then looked down again at the items in the tote bag.

She was thinking last night about how to subtly and naturally provide timely help to her son and daughter-in-law, and today she came up with an even better idea.

Xie Yishu and Bo Zai saw Ye Wan onto the bus.

Bo Zai was still immersed in the shock that the "old grandma" before him was really his grandmother. When it was time to part, he didn't resist anymore and obediently let his grandma pinch his little chubby cheeks.

Ye Wan only rode for one stop. When she got off, the driver was already waiting by the roadside.

After getting into the car, Ye Wan took out her light brain and searched for "bath bombs" and "gummy soaps" on the internet. The first related term that popped up was "She Yu's livestreaming room."

She Yu.

Shu.

Ye Wan smiled, took a screenshot of the streamer's personal information page, and sent it to her assistant: 

【[Image]】

【Ye Wan: Have the planning department and the legal department get in touch with this streamer.】

【Ye Wan: Try to secure a collaboration with him.】

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