She couldn't think of any other reasons.

Looking at the woman sitting across from him, Jiang MingYuan felt slightly better. He believed that her decision would be in his favor

Sure enough, when Cheng Huan looked up a while later, she looked much calmer than she did before.

She returned the DNA report back to him, parted her lips, and said in a low voice that it was up to him.

That meant she was no longer against it.

Jiang MingYuan let out a sigh of relief and was somewhat happy. He stood up and extended his invitation. "The view in their yard is quite good as well. Would you like to take a look at it?"

"No, that's alright." Cheng Huan wasn't exactly fond of this man who'd be competing with her for the attention of her son in the near future. She walked toward the exit as she said to him, "I am going to take off now. I have other matters to attend to."

Speaking of matters to attend to, Cheng Huan suddenly recalled the incident about the payment for demolition that she meant to ask but was distracted by him and had forgotten.

Cheng Huan stopped in her steps and turned around again to look at the man. "Have you given me money? Over the demolition compensation?"

Jiang MingYuan was stunned a little. He hadn't expected her to bring that up. He paused for a little and, before he could speak, Cheng Huan asked again, "And that storefront. Were you behind that?"

She had already had an idea and it'd be too insincere to deny it at that point, thought Jiang MingYuan. He nodded and said, "You have done too much on your own already."

For some inexplicable reasons, Cheng Huan felt relieved when she saw his nod.

She pursed her lips and said, "You and I are not related and I shouldn't have taken your money. But I have already spent a portion of it and won't be able to pay you back right away. See if you will be okay if I repay you in installments."

"You don't need to repay me." In Jiang MingYuan's mind, it made perfect sense for him to spend money on the mother of his child. "Consider it child support."

"That's way too much for child support."

"It's fine." Jiang MingYuan had forgotten all about it had Cheng Huan not brought it up. He said to her, "As XingXing's father, it's my responsibility to pay child support."

"I will deposit money into your account monthly from now on. Let me know if you need more," he said.

"It really isn't necessary..."

"It's alright. You can accept it." Having already made up his mind on his end, Jiang MingYuan had no intention to continue with this discussion. He said to Cheng Huan, "Let me give you a ride back?"

Was it really true that rich people look at thing differently? He would just hand over several million yuan to her just like that? She felt that she was about to give in to all the money!

She wavered for a little and finally resisted the temptation and said, "XingXing is XingXing. I am me. The money wasn't spent on XingXing so I will pay you back."

Walking behind Jiang MingYuan, Cheng Huan shared with him her decision of repaying him. Jiang MingYuan did not comment on it. He said to her after they had reached her destination, "Ping'an Village was going to be demolished regardless. Every family there received a lump sum. You weren't the only one. I merely moved the timeline up was all. You don't need to feel that you owe me anything."

Having said that. He bid Cheng Huan farewell and rolled up the car window.

***

Even though Jiang MingYuan said that he wanted to get to know his child better, but Cheng Huan hadn't heard from him again. She had paid particular attention every time she dropped XingXing of at school but never noticed any suspicious car around them.

That went on until Friday and Cheng Huan received a call out of the blue.

It was from a number that she didn't recognize. Cheng Huan has an idea when she picked up the phone. A melodious male voice came from the other end.

"Hi, Miss Cheng. This is Jiang MingYuan."

Sure enough.

Cheng Huan didn't even want to ask where he got her phone number from. She told him that she was doing fine and then asked, "What can I do for you, Mr. Jiang?"

"I am wondering if you are available tomorrow." Looking at the information in hand, he was relaxed. "If you are available, let's take XingXing to the amusement park tomorrow."

That wasn't a bad idea. All kids like amusement parks. XingXing would be very happy going out for some fun. He had never been to the amusement park before.

Cheng Huan felt a bit guilty when she thought about it. Even the instant father was more thoughtful than she was. So she agreed with alacrity. "Sure. Where are we going?"

"I have it all planned out already. I will come and pick you two up tomorrow morning." Having said that, Jiang MingYuan told her that he had other matters to attend to and hung up the phone.

That night, Cheng Huan told XingXing about going to the amusement park the next day. Just as she had expected, the little kiddo was ecstatic.

"But it's not just the two of us tomorrow. There will be another uncle there as well." Cheng Huan leaned down and said to her. "Do you still remember him? It's the uncle who taught you how to play with the Rubik's cube."

"I do remember." XingXing nodded. Then he asked her, "Mom, why are we bringing uncle with us? Doesn't he have a mom?"

Cheng Huan, "..."

Of course he did. His mom was your grandmother at that.

Cheng Huan grumbled to herself but ignored the little kiddo. She rubbed him on his head and sent him to bed.

XingXing was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep at all. All night long he rolled around in bed and finally stopped after Cheng Huan smacked him a couple times on his bottom before he quieted down, curled up under the blanket and went to sleep.

They went to bed so late that the mother and son duo didn't wake up till 8:30 AM the next morning.

Yesterday Jiang MingYuan only said he'd come and pick them up in the morning but didn't say what time. Cheng Huan wasn't in any rush. She took her time in getting ready before she started preparing breakfast.

Jiang MingYuan arrived before breakfast was ready and rang the doorbell.

The doorbell only rang once before XingXing rang to open the door. He paused a little when he saw the person outside. "Uncle?"

"Mmm." Jiang MingYuan pinched his son's little face and walked inside. He had just taken a step when he saw Cheng Huan with bowls and plates in her hands.

Cheng Huan was perplexed when she saw him as well. "You are here so early. Have you had breakfast yet?"

Of course Jiang MingYuan had already eaten. He woke up at 6 AM, worked out for two hours, and came after he had breakfast.

"Oh okay. Then wait for us." Cheng Huan felt a bit awkward. He was, after all, a stranger to her. She looked away and put the stuff that was in her hands onto the table before she called out to XingXing. "Come over here and start eating."

XingXing responded with a "Oh." He walked over to his designated chair and, just when he was about to climb up to it, Jiang MingYuan had reached out and picked up him and placed him on his chair.

XingXing turned his head and said to Jiang MingYuan sweetly, "Thank you, uncle."

He then sat down properly and waited for his mother to put the food down in front of him.

Breakfast today was no different than breakfast from any other day. The only difference was that there was another person there watching them eat.

Cheng Huan felt very awkward but, remembering that she had already promised to let him have some father-and-son time, she decided to put up with the awkwardness.

The three of them started on their way after breakfast.

It was an hour's car ride to the amusement park that was located in the countryside.

Jiang MingYuan's car has been customized and the back was very spacious. He even has a child's safety chair there and XingXing was latched in the minute he got inside of it.

The little kiddo was quite curious at the beginning and touching and looking at this and that, asking Cheng Huan nonstop, "Mom, what is this?" Most of the time Jiang MingYuan would field the questions for her.

XingXing's super strong curiously stopped some 10 minutes after he had gotten into the car. The child's safety seat wasn't all that comfortable and XingXing felt restrained. He cried out loudly that he wanted to get off.

Neither one of the two adults agreed to it. This was the first time that Jiang MingYuan was able to spend time with the child legitimately so he really wanted to leave a good impression. He patiently held XingXing's hand and tried to reason with him.

Yet XingXing was just a child. He wouldn't really reason with you but would just cry when he didn't get his way. Jiang MingYuan was a bit stumped and looked to Cheng Huan for help.

Seeing his look, Cheng Huan's lips twitched a little and she gave XingXing a look.

The little kiddo could read his mommy's look very well. He stopped crying as soon as he saw her look. Feeling unjust, he pouted and said to Cheng Huan. "Mommy, I want to get out of this seat."

"Sure," Cheng Huan nodded. "But then we won't be going to the amusement park anymore."

XingXing paused for a little and, studying his mother's look closer, he knew that she wasn't kidding and finally kept his mouth shut.

He debated long and hard between getting out of the car versus going to the amusement park. Finally his desire to go to the amusement park won over.

XingXing wiped his eyes and said to Cheng Huan, "Okay, I won't get off then."

"Mmm."

Seeing how Cheng Huan was able to resolved that with just a few words, Jiang MingYuan let out a sigh of relief. Looking at Cheng Huan, he said to her. "You are so much better at this."

The amusement park was packed with visitors on the weekend. Most of them were families.

The three of them walked down the path and XingXing, being in the middle, held onto both his mom's and the "uncle"'s hand. They looked very much like a family of three. XingXing didn't feel that anything was wrong about it. Both his heart and soul were completely on the amusement park. He pointed at a tower structure and said loudly to Cheng Huan, "Mommy, look! It's the Magical Tower!"

"Does XingXing want to go inside of it?"

"Yes!"

"We can go inside soon," said Jiang MingYuan to him.

Jiang MingYuan had purchased the tickets in advance and now they could just go inside of it. XingXing ran straight toward the Magical Tower as soon as he got inside of the amusement park. Naturally with Cheng Huan and Jiang MingYuan following behind him.

The Magical Tower was a 7-level tower with each level telling a different story.

One didn't need to walk inside of this tower, they just needed to ride on a little train. The workers there gave them their supplies. XingXing put his glasses on, steadied it with his little hands, before he turned and looked over at Cheng Huan. "Mommy, how do I look?"

Even with the kid's glasses, they were still a bit big on him and it covered up half of his face. All one could see was his mouth. Cheng Huan took a look and said in a perfunctory way, "Looks great."

"You look great too, Mommy." XingXing responded right back. Turning his head and noticing Jiang MingYuan, he gave him the same spiel. "You look great too, Uncle."

The little train started as he spoke. Feeling the movement from the train, XingXing quickly turned back around.

The scenery changed in front of their eyes. The tower that was dark inside had turned into a different world.

Cheng Huan saw a flower bud in front of her eyes. It has giant leaves and there was a drop of petrichor on its pedal. An insect climbed up on it from the ground, all the way to the tip of the pedal and accidentally fell into the petrichor.

The flower opened up right away and they could smell the flower in their noses. The moment that the flower opened up, a roar from some sort of beast came from afar and a giant foot came over and squashed the flower in the matter of seconds.

XingXing let out a "Oh!", obviously startled.

Cheng Huan reflexively reached out to pat him on his back but, as she reached her hand over, she felt someone else's hand. It was warm and the fingers were long and slender.

She had no idea how she could think that about someone else's fingers in such a fleeting amount of time. Cheng Huan removed her hand and she could see Jiang MingYuan turned and look at her from the dim light. She nodded at him and curved her lips upward a little.

He seemed to have given her a smile as well.

When the little train finally went all the way up to the 7th level then came back down. XingXing had experienced dozen or so stories and he was so excited that his little face had turned red.

After walking out of the Magical Tower, XingXing pointed at a different building.

"Mommy, let's go do that one next!"