The project under the Tang Enterprise and Ye Corporation's supervision were surprisingly back on its right track after Tang Moyu sent the new teams as well as the personnel Elder Gu had assigned to help them.

  Meanwhile, Lu Tianxin and Ye Xiaozu decided to let the project finish first before they would start planning their impending marriage. However, Ye Xiaozu had moved into her place and had started living with her and Luo Luo.

  Lu Tianxin wasn't sure at first how her son would take the news of her relationship with his biological uncle, but surprisingly, Ye Xiaozu and Luo Luo got along and seemed to enjoy spending time with each other.

  Since Luo Luo was already aware of the fact that she had adopted him after his mother, Ye Yimei, passed away not long after his birth, the boy understood how Ye Xiaozu was related to him by blood.

  "Do you really love my Mommy?" He once asked Ye Xiaozu, his unexpected question surprising Lu Tianxin one morning.

  "When a man loves a woman, he would willingly do his best to move heaven and earth just to be with her. It might sound cheesy, but we've known each other for a long time, even before my sister had you."

  Luo Luo slightly nodded his head and didn't make a fuss about the sudden change in his life.

  "As long as you promise that you wouldn't make my Mommy cry. A man needs to be strong and capable to have her." The boy said with such seriousness that amused the two.

  "Is that so?" Ye Xiaozu asked the boy.

  Luo Luo hummed before swallowing his pancake.

  "That's what Uncle Ji told me and Xiao Bao the other day. He said we better make sure no one can bully or make our Mommies and sister cry. Strong men don't make a woman cry unless it's tears of joy in her eyes."

  Lu Tianxin laughed.

  "Well, I think your Uncle Ji is right," she said nudging Ye Xiaozu's side, wiggling her brows at him.

  Ye Xiaozu huffed before adding a couple of sugar cubes to his coffee. Who would have thought that the devil had a romantic streak in him? If he hadn't seen how the devil interacted with the fallen empress, he would've assumed that Feng Tianyi was a faking it.

  He didn't peg the devil as a wife slave to the empress but still, a single mistake on his part might have angered the devil again, so Ye Xiaozu knew that he had to be careful when dealing with Tang Moyu and her company.

  Who knows what could happen if the empress shared her grievances with the devil. He definitely didn't want to get on Tang Moyu's bad side if it meant being obliterated by the fuming devil behind her.

  While Tang Moyu had silently admitted that she held feelings for Feng Tianyi, it was still difficult for her to place her trust in him no matter how much she tried to convince herself that he wasn't anything like his brother.

  It was only natural for Feng Tianyi to feel frustrated that she was doubting him, after all he'd done for her. However, he decided not to hold it against her as she truly hadn't acknowledged that he would soon become a significant part of her life, whether she liked it or not.

  "Moyu, is this why you haven't given to him your answer?" Li Meili asked when the empress dropped by her place to clear her mind. "When did you find out he's Feng Tianhua's brother?"

  "Just recently," she admitted to Li Meili. She then proceeded to narrate Feng Tianyi confession, purposely omitting the part where they shared a kiss under the weeping cherry tree.

  They were on the balcony of Li Meili's home, overlooking the busy streets and tall buildings of Shenzhen.

  Tang Moyu was holding a can of beer in one hand, leaning forward on the glass railing while Li Meili was lazily seated on one of the loveseats, staring at her friend in confusion.

  "What a small world," she commented. "So what now? Are you going to shut him down like the others or are you willing to overlook this fact and be with him?"

  "It feels surreal to me, to be honest, Meili." Tang Moyu confessed. "I have long accepted that romance and love isn't for me, my mother and my elder sister made sure I understood that ever since I was very young."

  Li Meili scoffed at that. Tang Moyu's mother was a piece of work that she would never understand. It was surprising that her best friend had managed to grow up as a decent person despite having parents who had only forsaken her all her life.

  "We both know that your mother has some loose screws in her head, Moyu. Have you ever wondered if she truly is your birth mother, you know, by the way she treats you?"

  Of course, she had. Tang Moyu thought. Several times, in fact. Since she was young, she wondered why her mother had treated her in such a way when other mothers treated their children like treasures and gems. She had hoped that by being the perfect, filial daughter, she would be able to win their affections, but alas, she never did.

  "Here's the thing, Moyu," she heard Li Meili say. "None of us had it easy to begin with. We all suffer from something. So, when you meet someone who is willing to stay committed to understanding you and actually wants to be with you, don't let some stupid and lame shit like your pride or fear get to you." Li Meili opened another can of beer for herself.

  "I'm sure that for Feng Tianyi to voluntarily confess this to you, he must truly hold you in his heart."