Chapter 18

Editor: SleepyMango123

Proofreader: Lore

Before the new press was released, Han Cheng contacted Zhou Yun.

The public announcement of their marriage was out of protection to their reputation. However, no matter what it was, it violated what the four had previously agreed upon. As Han Cheng was an elder, he didn’t need to beat around the bush when talking to Xia Tian. It was the same for Ruan Sihe. If it were to be according to her intentions, this marriage would long be publicized throughout the whole city. The only one who needed to be explained was Zhou Yun.

Han Cheng felt Zhou Yun was guarding against him since long ago.

But it was not hard to understand. If Xia Tian were his son, Han Cheng would worry about putting him in the hands of a man like himself, let alone living in the same room. He could more or less guess what Zhou Yun’s worries were about.

But nearly two months after the marriage, Han Cheng admitted that he had fulfilled the responsibilities of Xia Tian’s uncle and husband. Even if such a scandal had happened, he was actually a victim. At this moment, contacting Zhou Yun to inform her that he wanted to clarify the scandal, Han Cheng had no psychological burden. He believed Zhou Yun would not disagree.

That was the truth. After hearing Han Cheng’s explanation of how he was going to deal with this issue, Zhou Yun hesitated for a while but agreed.

Han Cheng made the phone call in front of Xia Tian and turned on the speaker. After Xia Tian heard Zhou Yun say “okay”, the dark feeling in his heart brightened upon hearing his successful persuasion and he quietly let out a sigh of relief.

Han Cheng said, “Thank you for understanding.”

“But…” Zhou Yun paused and continued, causing Xia Tian’s heart to accelerate again.

On the other end of the phone, Zhou Yun calmly said, “Han Cheng, this time is a misunderstanding. You can use this method to clarify, but what about next time? Next time, if they have real evidence, what will you do?”

Xia Tian pursed his lips and looked towards Han Cheng. Han Cheng simply replied, “There will be no next time.”

Xia Tian’s eyelashes trembled and Zhou Yun on the phone was obviously stunned. After two seconds, she replied, “Okay. I believe you can handle it. You are not to blame for this matter. You are willing to concern yourself with this… I owe you this favour.”

Han Cheng smiled. “You are willing to let me deal with it this way, I should be the one feeling like I owe you.”

Zhou Yun suppressed her anger. “I was a little hesitant at first, but… Xia Tian’s aunt just called me to comfort me. But her tone was full of cynicism that I couldn’t stand it any more! If Xia Tian had heard it, he would be even more uncomfortable than I was. It may be a good thing that you are willing to clarify these things, so you won’t have to put up with their nonsense.”

Han Cheng looked at Xia Tian with a smile. Xia Tian grinned in response. He was afraid that Zhou Yun would be unhappy at first. He didn’t expect that his aunt’s actions were so powerful that Zhou Yun, who was usually good tempered, became anxious.

Han Cheng and Zhou Yun politely bid each other goodbye and hung up.

Xia Tian looked at Han Cheng, hesitated for a while and asked, “You just said… there will be no next time?”

Han Cheng looked at him. “Why? Do you not believe it, or are you terrified? Afraid it’ll happen again?”

“No, no. Of course, I believe you.” Xia Tian shook his head and smiled, without saying the following sentence.

What he actually wanted to ask was, you just said that there will be no next time. Does it mean with another person, or will they not be photographed again?

In the two cases, the result was the same but the meaning was vastly different.

During Xia Tian’s trance, Han Cheng called his class teacher again and requested a day off.

After the phone call, Han Cheng turned to Xia Tian and said, “When I sent you to school, your teachers and some classmates knew about our relationship. You should avoid the limelight for a day and let the news sink in… I’ve just spoken to your teacher to let him explain. When you go to class tomorrow, no one will look at you as though you’re a monkey.”

Xia Tian didn’t expect Han Cheng to consider every aspect, and beamed. “It’s okay… I’m not that fragile. The scandal will die within a day or two. Even if they know it, they won’t take it seriously.”

“Then wait for the scandal to subside.” Han Cheng checked the time and asked, “I’m going to work, do you want to go with me or stay at home?”

Xia Tian didn’t even think about it and just blurted out, “I’ll go with you!”

The corners of Han Cheng’s mouth turned up a bit. Xia Tian was a little embarrassed and hesitantly asked, “Will it… affect your work?”

“Don’t touch confidential documents, don’t damage public facilities and don’t run and fight in the office area,” Han Cheng listed out to Xia Tian while arranging his tie. “You must abide by these rules. I should be the first one to bring a child to work. Behave and don’t let the employees laugh at me behind my back.”

Xia Tian suppressed his laughter and nodded vigorously. He rushed upstairs in a few steps, sorted out some textbooks and stuffed them into his schoolbag, then went downstairs to head to the company with Han Cheng.

At that time,the updated news had already been released. When entering the company building with Han Cheng, Xia Tian was simply a walking bulletin.

Although the senior executives of the company all knew about Han Cheng and Xia Tian’s marriage, this was the first time they had seen Xia Tian, not including the recent hot news that was all over the internet. Nobody was good at concealing themselves and were all looking at him with curiosity.

Since getting out of the car and walking to Han Cheng’s office, Xia Tian felt frustrated along the way.

“Theoretically,.” Han Cheng said lightly in the elevator, “Half of everything here is yours. Shouldn’t you be more confident?”

Xia Tian’s ears turned red. Han Cheng’s secretary was also in the elevator. He could not say anything to refute and had to admit whatever he said. He faced the secretary’s line of sight and replied earnestly, “You’re right…”

Han Cheng always had a stoic look and it seemed like all the embarrassment and awkwardness had nothing to do with him at all. After stepping out of the elevator, Han Cheng ordered the office secretary to prepare a cup of milk tea and a slice of cake for Xia Tian.

Xia Tian’s fears lingered as he sipped on his milk tea. After calming down, he started to concentrate on reading. The midterm exam was approaching and he was quite anxious about it.

Xia Tian didn’t share the desk with Han Cheng and got close to him like how he was at home. Liang Qingfeng and some other people may come in at any time so he was worried about clinging too much onto Han Cheng.

He sat at a small tea table five or six meters away from Han Cheng. Just like a store owner spreading out items in his stall, he sorted out the wrong questions and wrote related formulas silently.

Han Cheng had to deal with a lot of things today. In addition, he came to the company a bit late. As he was extremely busy the whole day, Xia Tian didn’t want to disturb Han Cheng and rarely made any noise. In the afternoon, the two of them had cafeteria food in the resting room.

It was only at this time that Xia Tian realised that Han Cheng actually had such a simple meal whenever he was busy.

After lunch, Han Cheng told him to play in the lounge area as he had to attend a meeting with the executives. After that, Xia Tian didn’t see him again until it was evening.

At the same time at Mrs. Miao Zhaimiao’s birthday party, Ruan Sihe smiled and said, “Initially they didn’t want their marriage to be high-profile, but since they were being slandered, it was impossible not to clarify.”

Ruan Sihe deliberately apologised to Yan Lihua in front of everyone and smiled sheepishly. “Before this, I knew that you told Han Cheng not to make their marriage known to the public. But this time, we didn’t have a choice. Please forgive me.”

Ruan Sihe glanced at Xia Sisi and continued with a smile, “After all, Sisi hasn’t gotten married and yet her nephew wedded so much earlier than her. I understand that it doesn’t look good.”

Xia Sisi had a cold face and didn’t say a word.

Yan Lihua smiled. “You were too worried. I knew Han Cheng didn’t want to make it a big issue and followed his wishes to keep a low profile. I was worried that Zhou Yun would blame me for this.”

When the news of Han Cheng’s affair first came out, Yan Lihua and Xia Sisi’s gloating faces were too obvious. Zhou Yun was already angry and initially wanted to help and give her a stage to step down from¹To lessen her embarrassment or to give some face., but deep down she became even angrier. She changed from her usual gentle and temperamental self and said sarcastically, “You are worrying too much. It is enough as long as they are happy with their own affairs. As a mother, I didn’t want to pry too much. You shouldn’t feel the need to worry too much as well.”

“How could you…” Xia Sisi didn’t finish speaking as Yan Lihua held her hand and squeezed her wrist tightly signalling for her to stop.

In front of so many people, Yan Lihua couldn’t embarrass Xia Sisi, so she smiled and said, “Yes, as long as they are happy. Have you contacted Han Cheng? One more thing, yesterday… I brought Xia Tian out for a meal. It was actually just because I was missing my grandson, but it seemed that Han Cheng misunderstood something.”

Ruan Sihe didn’t know anything about this issue, so she didn’t say anything. Yan Lihua took the opportunity to explain, “It’s the project that just took off. When I was eating with Xia Tian, I didn’t pay attention and accidentally revealed something. It happened to be heard by Han Cheng and he seemed to have misunderstood and thought I was going to make Xia Tian help me put in some good words about it. Haha, that was not my intention at all. When you see Han Cheng, could you help me explain?”

The atmosphere at the Cantonese restaurant at that time was too stiff and awkward. Yan Lihua wanted to ease the relationship with Han Cheng as soon as possible.

Ruan Sihe could guess what had happened and smiled. “Well, since it’s a misunderstanding, just let it go. You don’t have to think too much about it. Han Cheng has always distinguished between business and private matters.”

Ruan Sihe deliberately emphasised the “public and private affairs” causing Yan Lihua to turn red shamefully and grimace. “Yes. By the way, they won’t be joining us today?”

“They mentioned that they won’t be accompanying us.” Ruan Sihe smiled. “I guess they are enjoying their time alone with one another?”

Ruan Sihe looked at Xia Sisi and smiled gracefully. “I hope they won’t be photographed this time and let those busybodies worry in vain.”

Xia Sisi’s face was red for a moment and white in the next.

The people who were living in their two-person world were in the Han Cheng office, one was dealing with the final work, the other was arranging the contents in his school bag.

After Han Cheng saved several encrypted files, his work was completed. He was at ease after being exhausted from a whole day of work. He smiled at Xia Tian. “Did you regret coming over with me?”

Xia Tian shook his head and smiled. He walked to the desk, hesitated and asked, “Uncle Han… I still want to ask you…”

Han Cheng raised his eyes and motioned for him to continue.

Xia Tian paused and asked softy, “Why did you suddenly… change your mind? You said it yourself, sooner or later you have to get used to this…”

He remembered the look in Han Cheng’s eyes when he asked about this in the morning. He was afraid that he would think that he would be overstepping his boundaries and quickly blurt out, “If you don’t want to say it, then forget it!”

“It’s nothing.” Han Cheng paused and continued, “Just suddenly felt that you don’t have to suffer such hardship.”

While clearing the disk, he continued, “I can clearly help you avoid these slanders. Since I can do it, there is no need to let you be like me and experience everything again.”

Han Cheng looked at him and smiled. “Previously, didn’t I promise you? No matter what our future relationship becomes, even if we get divorced in the future and you don’t want to anymore contact with me, for the sake of a new lover and a new life, what I can take care of, I will take care of for you. No matter as an ex-husband or an uncle, since we had such a fate, I should be responsible for you.”

Xia Tian’s heart suddenly ached.

He was afraid that Han Cheng would see something, and deliberately changed the subject. “I saw your scandals before, but I didn’t imagine that you were so responsible… Sure enough, those were all fake articles.”

“Oh, those scandals…” Han Cheng looked at the monitor and casually said, “They didn’t wrong me. It was true that I didn’t have any sense of responsibility before but it seems that something has changed recently… Are you famished?”

Xia Tian dumbfounded for a while but quickly replied with a smile, “A little bit. Are you done with your work?”

He bypassed the desk and walked to Han Cheng’s side. He looked at the monitor and was suddenly astounded.

On Han Cheng’s desk, there was a small photo frame with his photo framed inside.

Han Cheng followed his gaze and smiled. “The picture of my husband… The only picture that is allowed on my table is yours”

Han Cheng said it so naturally that Xia Tian’s heart thumped unsteadily.

The ambiguous feelings that had been lingering in Xia Tian’s heart for many days finally cleared. Looking at Han Cheng, Xia Tian couldn’t help and almost blurted out a few words.

He likes Han Cheng.

I like him very much.

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  To lessen her embarrassment or to give some face. ↩︎