When Lu Qin came upstairs carrying a plate of boiled fish, he found his chair placed at the head of the long dining table—the seat of the family patriarch.
Yet Pei Rong and Dundun sat directly opposite, flanked by his parents, who had cozyily closed the circle. Only Lu Qin was left isolated, stranded at a distance.
His status in the family had suddenly become Schrödinger’s.
Lu Qin: "…"
Butler, please replace this with a round table immediately.
If this keeps up, He’ll have to fight for a seat every meal—and as the cook, he would always the last one to the table. What a raw deal!
Madame Jiang fussed over Pei Rong with warm concern. Lu Qin is utterly useless—only now do I finally get to talk to Pei Rong as family. I’ve been holding back for ages.
“The first year with a child must have been so hard, right?”
"Not at all, not at all. He just eats, sleeps, and repeats."
"You've taught him so well—Dundun can do so many things. He always surprises me."
"No, he learned on his own."
Pei Rong, who was constantly exasperated by the little guy, was now being praised as some parenting expert. He felt deeply guilty and said sympathetically, "You must have put a lot of effort into raising Lu Qin."
Though Madame Jiang wanted to find more common ground with Pei Rong, she answered honestly, "When Lu Qin was little, his father and I were both busy with work. The butler and nannies took care of him most of the time—haha, we went through two nannies every three days."
Pei Rong couldn’t help but think: No wonder Madame Jiang is so enthusiastic about doting on her grandson—she never suffered the hardships of raising a kid herself.
***
In S City, Lu Qin couldn’t just skip work without reason to stay home with his wife—Pei Rong wouldn’t allow it anyway.
After sending their little troublemaker off to "work" at the construction site, Lu Qin begged Pei Rong to come with him to the Lu Corporation headquarters.
"My office has a lounge—you’ve slept there before. It’s really comfortable."
Pei Rong: "No. Too lazy to go out."
First dragging their son to work, now his wife—couldn’t this man go to the office by himself?
"You can just lie around in the lounge."
No matter how much Lu Qin cajoled, the beauty wouldn’t budge. So he simply rolled Pei Rong up in a blanket and carried him to the car.
"You won’t have to take a single step."
Pei Rong thought about it—in a few days, he’d be leaving for filming anyway. Let Lu Qin have his fun while it lasted.
Lu Qin worked diligently at his desk while Pei Rong lounged on the plush sofa nearby, serving as a very decorative background.
Pei Rong had always known that Lu Qin was captivating when focused—calm, composed, even a little cold when reviewing contracts.
When he noticed Lu Qin frowning at one, he couldn’t help asking, "Something wrong?"
The moment he spoke, he regretted it. Wasn’t this basically admitting he’d been stealing glances at Lu Qin this whole time?
Even if there was a problem, it wasn’t like he could help.
Lu Qin: "Reviewing the West District development contract."
The very site where Dundun drove his excavator. The contract specified the construction timeline, scale, and delivery deadlines—with penalty clauses for delays.
He pulled out another document: the contractor’s agreement.
Every phase of a large-scale project requires massive inputs of materials and manpower, so scheduling each team's mobilization time is crucial.
Spread before him were documents already reviewed by the relevant departments and verified by legal—all he needed to do was sign.
Once the contract was signed here, all parties would mobilize in an orderly manner, and halting operations wouldn’t be easy. If DunDun didn’t get his fill of fun, finding another construction site for him would be troublesome.
Lu Qin said seriously, "I want to postpone all these delivery deadlines by a month—let Dundun play for another month."
Pei Rong: "..." So you can also play with me for another month?
Pei Rong: "Not happening."
Lu Qin: "It’s no big deal. Lots of developers delay when funding falls through—some leave land vacant for a whole year after bidding."
Pei Rong: "Keep spoiling him, and next thing you know, he’ll want to drive a garbage truck. See how you handle that."
Lu Qin set the contract aside just as his secretary knocked and entered, carrying a cake. "President Lu, the dessert you ordered."
On her way out, she collected the already signed contracts from his desk to arrange for delivery. Glancing at the unsigned ones, she wondered—given Lu Qin’s usual efficiency, these should’ve been done long ago. Maybe there was an issue with the terms?
Pei Rong had a bad feeling. "Why did you order cake? Just sign the contracts properly."
Lu Qin tapped the documents. "Once I sign, construction starts immediately."
Once work began, inspections from various parties would follow, and for safety reasons, Pei Dundun would have to leave the site.
Their "couple time" would be cut in half.
He pulled Pei Rong into an embrace, adopting an academic tone. "About that 4D ultrasound we discussed—I think whipped cream would work better than honey as a coupling agent. More realistic simulation."
Pei Rong: "..." But your "ultrasound probe" is anything but realistic. Put it away, thanks.
Lu Qin’s voice turned rough. "C’mon, if I’m signing, I should get something out of it."
Pei Rong: "I’m not the contractor—"
Lu Qin’s voice grew muffled. "That year you were pregnant… I went to the hospital a few times. Passing the OB-GYN wing, I always saw husbands accompanying their wives for ultrasounds. For the anomaly scan… were you nervous going alone? If I’d been there with you—"
Pei Rong closed his eyes. Here we go again. Addicted to emotional blackmail, huh?
Damn it. And it worked on him.
***
Several hours passed before President Lu got his way. He hadn’t scheduled any work today and was just about to sign the contract in front of his wife when he suddenly received a call from the construction site.
"Mmm... got it." Lu Qin set down his phone and said to Pei Rong, "Let’s not sign the contract after all."
Pei Rong’s eyes widened. In that moment, it was as if the spirit of a disgruntled contractor possessed him, and he was genuinely furious.
How could he have forgotten Lu Qin’s history of freeloading without even getting a membership card?!
Lu Qin, in a complicated mood, explained: "They dug up an ancient tomb at the site. Preliminary estimates suggest it’s very old."
Pei Dundun had randomly drawn a circle and asked the excavator operator to dig him a pond.
Lately, the operator had been addressed as "Master" in a sweet, respectful voice by a certain little brat. The kid had a knack for this kind of thing, and the flattery had gone to the operator’s head. Eager to show off his skills, he started demonstrating how to dig the deepest possible pit with an excavator.
And then they hit something.
Forget starting construction—the site had already been temporarily taken over by the government.
Luckily, nothing much had been set up yet. The only initial investments were two excavators and a truckload of sand. Discovering this force majeure early had minimized the losses.
As for those contracts with their sky-high penalty clauses? Well, they hadn’t been signed yet.
That little guy really had learned a thing or two.
