Ruan Xia didn’t react to those words at first. By the time that Song Tingshen had gone upstairs, she finally reacted by looking at Little Wang. He was playing with building blocks on the play mat. She freaked out a little bit.

  How could she have forgotten? Little Wang was such a clever kid. He was watching her when she sold those roses to the programmer. He had even made inquiries about what she was doing. He was obviously playing out the role of an intelligence officer!

  While Song Tingshen was upstairs changing his clothes, she hastily went over to Little Wang. She asked with a poker face, “Did you tell dad about mom selling those flowers to that uncle?”


  What would Song Tingshen think of her? How would he look at her? He would definitely think she was a slave to money. She blushed for herself.

  Little Wang had long forgotten those details. He thought about it and answered, “Dad called me at noon. I think I told him that.”


  A little kid’s mental capacity was only so big. There was no way that he could remember every little detail. He had no idea that his dad had seamlessly pushed the blame onto him.

  Ruan Xia wanted to tell Little Wang that he shouldn’t share everything with his dad in the future, but when she carefully thought about it, it wouldn’t be good to say that.

  After all, this father and son had a good relationship. In addition, it was the nature of young children to want to share every little detail with their parents.

  Ruan Xia sighed. “Never mind, it’s not a big deal if you tell him.”


  She didn’t feel that she had done anything wrong. From an outsider’s point of view, the best way to relieve herself of anger would be to toss those flowers into the trash…… But, she couldn’t bear to throw money away like that. Anyways, she was doing a good deed by selling those flowers for 500 yuan and donating that amount to buy food for children in rural areas. If Duan Chi sent her flowers again tomorrow, she intended to sell those too. It felt pretty good to do charity with someone else’s money.

  Little Wang carefully asked, “Did I do something wrong?”


  Ruan Xia ruffled his hair. “No, not all. Look, aren’t the flowers that dad bought very beautiful?

  The chubby kid’s attention quickly shifted. Little Wang was young right now. If he was a little older, he would know that he had suffered an injustice worse than Dou E. His dear dad continued to be a calm and lofty flower in the eyes of his mom, while his mom had labeled him as a little intelligence officer. He was so horribly wronged.

  (T/N: The Injustice to Dou E is a Chinese play about a woman that was wrongly convicted. After her execution, three prophesied phenomena occurred to prove her innocence.)

  —


  Ruan Xia didn’t know if Song Tingshen would be working overtime today. After all, it was getting closer and closer to National Day, so the company’s affairs would be increasing. She didn’t want to delay him from going back to work. And so, after dinner, she had the housekeeper aunty take Little Wang out to play. She and Song Tingshen were the only two people left at home.

  Song Tingshen had gone upstairs right after dinner. Ruan Xia was going to ask him for help, so she solicitously cut up various fruits and arranged them into a small fruit tray. She carried the tray upstairs and stopped at the door. Instead of entering the study, she knocked on his door.

  “Come in.” Song Tingshen looked up. When he saw that it was her, he was somewhat surprised.

  He had thought Ruan Xia was the one that took Little Wang out.

  Ruan Xia put the fruit tray down on his desk. She awkwardly laughed a little bit before asking, “You’ve been working late the past few days. Are you very tired?”


  She felt that Song Tingshen spent very little time having fun. He went from home to work and back. He left early to go to work. Although he was very punctual about when he left work, he would go to his study and return to working right after dinner. Most of the time, he would be busy working until 10 PM. During his occasional freetime, he would spend it taking care of Little Wang. If she had to say Song Tingshen had a lover, then that lover was simply his job.