The car slowly stopped in front of the State Guesthouse, and Zhixi got out, carefully holding the little one in her arms as she stepped onto the snowy ground.
"Xiaobao has fallen asleep?" Gu Bingjun also got out of the car, his voice tinged with a hint of amusement.
"Yes, he fell asleep in the car." Zhixi wrapped her son a little tighter with her scarf, keeping him from catching a cold, "He’s been playing wildly all evening, it’d be strange if he wasn’t tired."
"Let me take him." Gu Bingjun extended his arms to hold Xiaobao, "By the way, you should go look for a house tomorrow. We’re likely to stay in Yangdong City for a while; we can’t stay at the State Guesthouse indefinitely."
Zhixi was slightly startled, "Stay for a while? Weren’t you planning to go back after finishing negotiations on the new energy project?"
"Hmph... That old fox, Zhuo Yuwei." Gu Bingjun snorted, "I expect we’ll have some wrangling over this project."
"Then... How long do you plan to stay in Yangdong City?" Zhixi’s heartbeat couldn’t help but quicken.
"At least a month or two," Gu Bingjun frowned as he pondered.
"A month or two..." She gave a wry smile and bit her lip, unsure whether to be happy or scared.
"Might as well get you married off in the process," Gu Bingjun muttered to himself, "I’ve put the word out, and I expect there’s no shortage of men willing to become my son-in-law."
Zhixi was left speechless.
After returning to the room, Gu Bingjun laid Xiaobao on the bed and then went next door.
Zhixi sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her son’s carefree sleeping face, and couldn’t help but think again of that dark, commanding voice.
She bit her lip, leaned down to embrace her son’s soft body, and her eyes began to sting.
The little one in her arms stirred, suddenly waking up. He rubbed his eyes and said in a tender voice, "Mommy."
"Awake?" Zhixi quickly cast aside her somber mood and smiled as she picked him up, "Let’s go, we’ll take a bath."
With that, she picked up her son and walked towards the bathroom.
The little guy gently clutched her neck and said somewhat reluctantly, "Actually... I quite like Dad."
Zhixi raised an eyebrow at him.
"If... if we lived together, it wouldn’t be too bad," he declared with a haughty air, "But you have to be there with me, Mommy."
Zhixi’s expression darkened slightly, but she said nothing.
"Not just you and Dad, but also Grandpa and Uncle..." he counted off on his fingers, one by one.
She couldn’t help but laugh, "You sure have some idyllic thoughts."
After the bath, Zhixi carried her son back to bed and told him a bedtime story, but this little guy was indeed like her in one aspect - his head would hit the pillow and he would fall fast asleep immediately, so every time her bedtime story only got started before it ended.
Watching her son’s sleeping face, Zhixi smiled, leaned down to kiss his cheek, then returned to her own room.
The night was crisp and cool.
She closed her eyes, emptied her mind, but an imposing dark figure unexpectedly intruded into her thoughts.
She took a deep breath, shifted positions, and continued to empty her mind, tossing and turning several times before finally drifting off to sleep in a daze.