After lunch, the family of three settled in the living room. Mu Yichen was responsible for reading to the mother and daughter, who cuddled together and eventually fell asleep while listening.
When Mu Yichen put down the book, he turned to see Huanhuan asleep in Qin Mu’s arms, and as he lifted his gaze, he saw the tender image of the woman also sleeping, reflected in his soft eyes.
At that moment, he couldn’t help but smile, feeling incredibly warm.
He got up, first carried Huanhuan away from Qin Mu’s embrace, and after putting Huanhuan back in her room, he went downstairs to carry Qin Mu, who murmured in a hoarse voice, "Do you still have to go to work later?"
Mu Yichen replied, and looking down at her with her eyes still closed, he didn’t say anything more.
Afterward, the three of them fell asleep together in bed, and then father and son went out to play, leaving Qin Mu to continue sleeping at home by herself.
Her current state was what people call ’the more you sleep, the sleepier you get,’ and so, her day was pretty much wasted.
When Qin Mu woke up again, it was already evening, and one look in the mirror scared her with the image of a woman with disheveled hair looking like a ghost.
Was this still her, Qin Mu?
She gripped her hair tightly with her hands and then patted her heart forcefully before hurrying to take a shower.
In the evening, at Qin Haiming’s request, she went to the Qin Family home alone.
After Qin Haiming came downstairs, he saw Qin Mu sipping bird’s nest soup in the living room and unconsciously curled his lips into a smile, then went to sit on a separate sofa diagonally across from her.
"Yichen knows you’re here, right?"
Qin Mu put down the bowl and spoke to him in a low voice.
"Today, I wanted to talk to you about your dowry. If you have any special requests, you can put them forward," Qin Haiming suggested, watching her.
"There’s no need to trouble yourself with the dowry, Mu Yichen said we don’t need any of that pomp," Qin Mu relayed to Qin Haiming what Mu Yichen had told her beforehand.
"Hmm, he may not care about my things, but that’s his business. As your family, how can we not prepare a dowry for you? Since you don’t have any requests, then I’ll just get something ready. I don’t have many good things here, but there are still a few," Qin Haiming said, smiling as he spoke.
Seeing his insistence, Qin Mu didn’t say anything more. After the incident last time, Qin Mu was mostly silent towards Qin Haiming, not knowing how to interact with this father of hers—there was still a river separating them.
"What do you think of Su Zhen’s intention?" Qin Haiming decided to bring it up after some thought.
"She can’t change the status quo between Mu Yichen and me. Of course, she is indeed a troublemaker," Qin Mu replied.
"Let me take care of this issue for you," Qin Haiming offered.
Qin Mu looked up at him, and Qin Haiming smiled gently, "I’ve dealt quite a bit with her father over the years."
Qin Mu lowered her gaze, "Then I’ll trouble you with that!"
He smiled slightly; she still didn’t call him ’dad’. Every time she would say ’I’ll trouble you with that’, a formal politeness that pained his heart, but he just laughed it off.
"There’s no trouble between us, father and daughter!"
"Finish the bird’s nest soup; we don’t keep these things at home normally, it was all prepared for you," Qin Haiming added.
Qin Mu then picked up the bowl of unfinished bird’s nest soup and continued to drink it.
The housekeeper came out with a platter of cut fruit, "Miss, this was also bought for you today on the mayor’s orders. Are these all your favorites?"
Qin Mu smiled at the housekeeper after a glance.
The housekeeper understood her meaning, knowing that there was a rift between the father and daughter, she didn’t say more and left.
After Qin Mu left, Qin Haiming picked up the home phone and made a call to D City.
"Old Su, I hear your precious pearl has come to work in Rong City?"
Su Zhen’s father, on the other end, chuckled at the topic, "Yes, indeed! The girl studied hotel management, and you know, even the best hotels in our city don’t have much clout. Recently, Mu has been working on a cooperation project with our city, so I asked him to let the girl go over and learn a thing or two. Why? Has she caused any trouble over at your place?"
"So that’s the situation. There’s a decent hotel in Beijing, and I happen to know the president there. If you don’t mind, why not consider my suggestion? I assure you, the opportunities there will not be any worse than here in our city," Qin Haiming pondered, each word carefully weighed.