"Mom, can I tell you about this later? I want to take my two friends to say hello to Grandpa first."
Liu Chen finished speaking and gestured to the two people still standing behind him.
Liu Fang took a deep breath, pursed her lips, and blinked. She glanced at the two "friends" standing rigidly behind Liu Chen, and finally conceded:
"Go ahead. Your grandpa will probably be happy you brought friends home."
"Yeah... I think so too."
With that, Liu Chen led the two directly towards the study. After the three walked around the corner and entered the study, Liu Fang listened to her elder sister's slightly complaining words on the phone.
"I don't know what that kid Chenchen was up to yesterday when he went out. He was out of sorts when he got back, and I thought he'd been rejected when he confessed, so I didn't think much of it. Then this morning, he didn't get up. I felt his forehead, and he had a fever.
We rushed him to the hospital, and the doctor said it was due to excessive shock. You were with Chenchen all day yesterday, and he's in shock...
It's not that I mean anything else, I just want you to pay more attention to Chenchen's health. Don't let the child worry that you're carrying a baby and bottling everything up."
"Sister, you've been talking for a while, but you haven't said what happened."
"I asked Jiang Di, but he wouldn't say! I suspect it might be something he's not allowed to say..."
Liu Fang pursed her lips and began to recall that when Chenchen returned yesterday, Chen Long had picked him up. When he came back, his clothes were all neat. But this morning when she got up, Chen Long helped her downstairs, didn't say much, and then hurried out.
Her elder sister was still talking on the phone, but Liu Fang was no longer paying much attention. Her mind was filled with all sorts of wild speculations.
Frightened by the terrifying conjectures in her mind, Liu Fang abruptly said she had something to do and hung up her elder sister's call.
After hanging up her phone, Liu Fang stood in place and paced for a moment. She didn't know what to do. Thinking of the two strange people from before, she quietly walked towards the study.
-
Meanwhile, in the study, Liu Chen was introducing the two bodyguards arranged by Mr. Shen as his vanguard to his grandfather.
"This is Dong Tian, and this is Xia Tian."
"Hello."
Old Mr. Chen nodded and shook their hands one by one.
"Thank you for your trouble, regarding Chenchen's matter, the two of you..."
The woman called Dong Tian nodded. "We have a general understanding. Regarding transportation, my colleague will be responsible for picking up and dropping off the boss's schedule from now on."
This meant that transportation issues could be resolved.
"After school starts, I will primarily be active within the Shuimu University campus and will usually live in an apartment nearby..."
"We will install surveillance near the apartment. If the boss needs to leave campus, we will be ready to escort him."
Hearing this, Liu Chen nodded, but his understanding of Shuimu University's safety level deepened.
Just as he was about to ask a few more questions, Dong Tian suddenly shook her head, placed her finger to her lips, then pointed outside the door and then to her ear, signaling that someone was eavesdropping.
Liu Chen froze for a moment, then quickly realized it was likely his mother eavesdropping. The voices in the study immediately quieted down.
Both Liu Chen and Old Mr. Chen tacitly agreed not to let Liu Fang, who was in her late pregnancy, worry like they did.
"Then Dong Tian and Xia Tian will be staying here for the next few days. I apologize for troubling you, Grandpa."
Old Mr. Chen waved his hand. "Since they are your friends, there's no trouble. I'll have Old Xue prepare two guest rooms later. You all just stay with peace of mind."
"Okay, thank you."
Dong Tian and Xia Tian nodded. Xia Tian thanked him before turning and opening the study door.
As soon as the door was opened, Liu Chen saw his mother walking quickly down the hallway, holding her belly.
Well, she was walking away from him.
Liu Chen saw his mother walking at a rapid pace. To prevent her from slipping, Liu Chen still had to pretend he hadn't noticed anything.
He took three quick steps to his mother's back, placed one hand on her shoulder and the other around her waist, and said with a smile, "Mom? It's New Year's Eve today, how about we make some dumplings for dinner tonight?"
Liu Fang turned her head, her eyes carefully examining Liu Chen.
After a few seconds, Liu Fang blinked rapidly, turned her head forward, and said, "Okay. What filling do you want? Ask Uncle Chen to bring it back."
In fact, Liu Chen didn't really have anything he wanted to eat. In the decades before his rebirth, he and his mother had spent little time together during the New Year. Most of the time, they both worked overtime for the New Year's bonus.
It was only in the years before his rebirth that Liu Fang, being older, couldn't work continuously as a nanny. She would rest for a few days after each job, and Wang Dong didn't allow overtime at the factory during the New Year. That stingy man had to pay overtime if people worked.
So, mother and son finally had the opportunity to celebrate the New Year together.
But even during the New Year, nothing was particularly different. Mother and son sat in their rented room at night. Their neighbors had all gone back to their hometowns. Only the landlord's family in the first-floor apartment was busy entertaining relatives, having a reunion dinner, and then playing mahjong all night.
He and his mother would sit in their room, watching the Spring Festival Gala on the laptop they brought back from the company.
Every year, they would wait until the landlord's family finished their countdown, and after the fireworks and firecrackers outside began, the Spring Festival Gala on the computer would finally start its countdown.
It was as if, when they were poor, even the countdown to the New Year was a few seconds slower than others.
Therefore, Liu Chen had always harbored a wish to watch the Spring Festival Gala on a television and countdown with everyone.
Last year, he chose to give his mother their own time together over fulfilling this wish.
This year, Liu Chen wanted to eat dumplings made by their family and celebrate the New Year together.
"Then how about pork and cabbage?"
"Pork and cabbage, and also beef with celery? Don't you love beef with celery the most? Last year, when your aunt was pregnant, we didn't have time to make it for you. Later, we wanted to buy it at the supermarket, but they didn't have that filling."
Liu Chen was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "It's been too long, I forgot. Then let's add beef and celery."
"You didn't have it last year, but you had it every year before that. What do you mean 'it's been too long'? You're something else, talking as if you haven't had it for years."
With that, Liu Fang put aside her unease and took out her phone to call, asking Chen Long to bring back dumpling wrappers and filling when he returned.
Liu Chen listened to his mother naggingly instructing Chen Long.
"You must buy the tenderloin for the beef. Chenchen doesn't like fatty meat, not even a little bit. The celery must be fresh..."
Listening to his mother's words, Liu Chen suddenly remembered. Yes, for his mother, she didn't have a system. She just worked hard, avoided the pitfall of his younger sister's guarantee, made the right investments, met love, and seized it.
That's right!
Even without a system, he wouldn't have a bad life! So why did he subconsciously think that Ren Yu liked him because he had a system?!