And just like that, as much as it was against her wish, Yan Shuyu must put up the Having-Boss-Zhou-As-My-Guest-It-Was-Such-An-Honor look as she walked toward her apartment one step at a time with the boss following behind her. She slowly fished out her keys to open up the door.

As she was opening up the door, Yan Shuyu thought in dismay. She and her son were happy about their little place with the bay window with sunlight pouring in, the light yellow floral wallpaper, and the spotless wooden floor. It perfectly satisfied their needs as petit bourgeois. But the one-bedroom apartment was less than 50 m2 in size. In the boss’s eyes, it was probably more of a dog house than an apartment.

She transmigrated too early in time. The original owner hasn’t moved into the fancy mansion yet, so Yan Shuyu had no way of knowing what the boss’s house looked like. She was, however, familiar with the boss’s private room at Hotel Dorsett – as the owner of Hotel Dorsett, Zhou Qinhe’s private room was even fancier than the presidential suite.

Never mind about the other amenities, just the bathroom in his room was bigger than the size of her entire apartment. It has not only a spacious shower, but also a two-person size bathtub. There was also a chaise and an end table facing the ceiling-to-floor window. Yan Shuyu could totally imagine the boss taking a tub bath every day and sitting on the chaise with a glass of red wine, overlooking the entire city skyline at night. If his mood was right, he could even summon up someone to give him a massage and enjoy his entranced life.

Even so, Yan Shuyu still wondered if being poor had limited her imagination. Perhaps, she wasn’t even to comprehend what happiness was like for someone like the boss.

And, as far as she knew, Hotel Dorsett was just one of the many places that he visited. One of the original owner’s colleagues had mentioned once that in all chains of Hotel Dorsett, even the ones that the boss had never visited, would have a room like that reserved for him. Meaning to say that these types of “stations” was nothing special for the boss. He probably didn’t even think much about them. Which was to say that the luxuriousness of his actual home would way exceed Yan Shuyu’s imagination. After all, if they couldn’t even convey the grandiosity of such a mansion on TV, she’d have nothing to use as a frame of reference.

But she wouldn’t need to imagine anything. Letting the boss, who was used to the kind of caliber like Hotel Dorsett, visit her shabby little house put a lot of pressure on her, all caused by her own vanity.

Yan Shuyu was a very vain person. Ever since she had that intimate night with the boss, she could no longer view him as a stranger. So the boss, in her mind, was “her ex whom she would never see or talk to again”. And now, the boss acted like he was totally head over heels over her, and in order to be with her, he was even willing to move the story arc two years forward to marry her. She was quite touched by the fact that he had gone from “damned ex” to “an ex who’s head over heels over her”.

After all, Yan Shuyu was always very proud of herself. It was one thing that she was trying very hard to push him away, but having someone as outstanding as the male lead’s dad and someone that she couldn’t dream about as her suitor still stroked her ego very much. Deep down inside, she was very alright with this loyal suitor.

And yet, the boss, for reasons beyond understanding, insisted on going up to her place. Yan Shuyu was troubled by that. What if the boss saw that her residence really wasn’t that delicate after all? Would he be disappointed in her? Perhaps, he might even change his mind and just turn around and leave?

She should be happy to be able to scare away her “most loyal fan” just like that, but if that was the reason for how it came down, she couldn’t feel happy about it either. In fact, she’d feel very distressed. After all, she’d like to have her self-esteem preserved as well.

As she had the burden of being a goddess, her action of opening the door became slower and slower. So slow that the little kiddo on one side had gotten impatient and volunteered himself, “Mom, let me help you~”

He placed his two little, meaty hands on the back of her hand and pushed. And the door was opened just like that.

There was no light in the room, but there was a bay window right in front of them with the curtains undrawn. The street lights and neon signs alone were enough to light up the room. Standing at the door, one could clearly see the narrow walkway, the mini kitchen, and most of the bedroom. Yan Shuyu, carrying her heavy burden, couldn’t help but take a peek over at the boss.

Perhaps, her heads up worked with him. Zhou Qinhe merely scanned over the room once, frowned a little, but returned to his usual look right away. He looked back over at Yan Shuyu and met her eyes.

His look was as calm and composed as usual, as though her place was just as shabby as he had imagined.

The boss was, indeed, the boss. He wasn’t scared off at all. Yan Shuyu wasn’t sure if she should feel happy or sad about that. She spaced out for a little bit before she realized she was caught red-handed peeking at him. She quickly tried to smooth out the situation by saying, “The room is a bit messy, Boss… don’t mind it. Hahaha.”

She had no choice. She didn’t want the conversation on how to refer to the boss all over again. Yan Shuyu decided to reduce the number of times she referred to him as “Boss Zhou” going forward; instead, she was going to use “you” instead.

Boss Zhou, indeed, didn’t mind it. Casually, he added, “It’s fine.”

“Eh?” For a second there, Yan Shuyu wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment or sarcasm. Quickly, Zhou Qinhe explained to her in a friendly manner, “Given how you normally don’t well too much on small things, I thought your house would be like that as well.”

Yan Shuyu, “……”

So he was saying that her place wasn’t messy enough. Now, she truly wasn’t sure what to say to that.

Zhou Qinhe had deadly observations. Yan Shuyu was, indeed, the type who didn’t focus too much on details normally. Before she had transmigrated, she was still a little girl whose clothes were folded by her mother, and her room was cleaned by a part-time maid. Obviously, being transmigrated wouldn’t have changed that right away. Unfortunately, she had become an instant mother after she had woken up. She may not care particularly about living in a place with clothes strewn all over the place, but she wasn’t going to let the child live in an environment like that.

Yan Shuyu slowly started to fold the clothes and make the bed daily and gained good daily habits. As much as she hated cleaning, she’d mop the floor at least once a week, so the room looked relatively clean.

As for tidiness, that could mostly be attributed to how poor she was. She couldn’t even bring herself to buy too many clothes, let alone adding anything else to the apartment. The entire two months since her transmigration, the only “large item” added to the apartment was the electric piano. And that was a gift from Manager Yang. She didn’t even have to spend a penny on it. That ought to show how poor she really was. And since there wasn't a lot of stuff inside the house, naturally the place would seem tidy.

While Yan Shuyu was still struggling for words, she heard a “CLACK”, and then there was light. It was little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao who after helping his mother in opening the door, ran over and turned the light on like a good host. He then stood next to the door and said cheerfully, “Mom, Uncle Zhou, c’mon in already.”

“Oh, change out of your shoes first, darling.” Yan Shuyu quickly reminded him. Weekly mopping was a difficult task.

The little kiddo nodded in a cooperative manner and said, “Okay!”

He immediately bent down with one hand on the wall and swiftly removed his shoes and changed into his fuzzy little slippers. He didn’t even forget to put the shoes that he had taken off back onto the shelf neatly. Taking a few steps back, he blinked his large eyes at the adults and announced, “Okay, I am all done changing.”

It was certainly a good thing that her son was so good at taking care of himself. But after he was all done, Yan Shuyu gave the boss a troubled look. “Oh, I forgot that we don’t have extra slippers at home…”

Zhou Qinhe glanced over at the simple, plastic shoe rack nonchalantly. He had already noticed that when the little kiddo was changing out of his shoes. The shoe rack, just like the little tiny apartment, was quite simple. On it, there were three pairs of women's shoes and three pairs of kids’ shoes. The constituent of the family was quite obvious.

Even if there were men’s slippers, Zhou Qinhe would never wear them. As a man from a prestigious family and was well taken care of by butlers and servants ever since he was a child, he had never, nor would he ever, consider wearing used shoes that had been worn by someone else before him.

Before he was able to comment on that, Yan Shuyu had already suggested softly, “Or, perhaps you can wear mine?”

Zhou Qinhe gave her a nonchalant look and said, “Does Manager Yang wear your slippers too when he comes over?”

Yan Shuyu had no idea why the boss would bring up such a random question all of a sudden, but she replied candidly, “Of course not. The first time Manager Yang visited was the day that I was off. He helped me pick Yuanbao up and I wasn’t even home. He came in bare feet and has had very good self-awareness ever since then…”

She was hoping that the boss would have the same level of self-awareness, but she was worried he would find that offensive. Then, she would have no idea what she could possibly say to him. Yan Shuyu also didn’t want to tell him to just walk right on in. After all, mopping was tiring, and she just did it three days ago. She only offered him her slippers because she wasn’t able to come up with any other ideas.

She wasn’t sure whether Zhou Qinhe got her subtle hint or that he understood her struggle. He quickly lifted his brows and gave her a free and at ease smile, “Then I won’t need slippers either.”

Having said that, he bent over and took off his shoes. The shoe rack was already full, and Zhou Qinhe casually placed his shoes on the side of the rack and walked onto the floor in his socks. He looked down at the little kiddo standing next to him and asked, “Yuanbao, where can I go to wash my hands?”

The bathroom was right behind him, but Zhang Yuanjia happily held his hand and said to him, “I’ll take you there.”

That’s wonderful – right now, Yan Shuyu didn’t have the time to worry about how close her son was to Uncle Zhou nor how pleasant it was for the boss to be in her apartment. Right at this moment, she just felt a great sense of relief. Her problem of the century – how to get the boss to voluntarily take his shoes off – had been resolved.

Yan Shuyu, too, quickly changed out of her shoes and followed them into the bathroom. The three of them took up all the free space in the bathroom, and she quickly said, “Boss Zhou, can you go wait in the bedroom? Yuanbao, go get your own clothes. Mom will draw your bath water for you.”

Both the adult and child acknowledged her request. One again, Zhang Yuanjia picked up Uncle Zhou’s hand and gleefully led him toward the bedroom.

There’s a washing machine inside the apartment, and Yan Shuyu did their laundry quite frequently. Both her and her son change out of their sleepwear every two to three days. Zhang Yuanjia was able to pull out his sleepwear from the closet without any difficulties. He gestured Uncle Zhou to have a seat and pitter-pattered back into the bathroom.

Hearing his return, Yan Shuyu turned and asked curiously, “Did you just change into a clean set of pajamas yesterday? You want to change into a clean set again today?”

The little kiddo lifted his head at her and said, “I like this set better.”

Yan Shuyu didn’t care too much about that. She just nodded, carried him in, and peeled all his clothes off.

Zhang Yuanjia was quite an independent child, but he was still young and had limited strength and the winter clothes were thick and heavy. If she let him take them all off on his own, by the time he was done, the water she had drawn would probably already be cold. Yan Shuyu placed the naked child inside the bathtub and told him to bathe himself instead of just goofing around before she walked out of the bathroom. She has a guest to tend to.

When she returned to the bedroom, she saw her guest casually sitting at the edge of the bed flipping through a fairy tale story book. The corners of Yan Shuyu’s mouth twitched.

Meeting the boss’s very open look, she dared not ask nor say anything. After all, the only chair in the house has two jackets on it that she has yet to put away. The bed was probably the only place he could sit on. Not knowing what else she could say, she asked, “I only have beverages and water at home, what would you like?”

“Water will be fine. Thank you.” The boss gave her a leisurely look before he looked back down and continued to flip through the book, as though checking out what Zhang Yuanjia usually enjoyed reading was truly the purpose of his visit.

Yan Shuyu docilely went to get him his glass of water and also poured herself a glass of juice at the same time to calm her poor heart.

Just like how she didn’t have extra slippers at home, she didn’t have extra cups either. The smart Yan Shuyu decided to wash out her son’s cup and poured the boss a glass of water. After all, her son seemed to be so fond of Uncle Zhou and vice versa. Neither one of them would mind that, right?

She was such a genius~

Zhou Qinhe, as expected, did not decline it. He merely looked at the little frog cup and looked like he had a lot to say, but didn’t know where to start. Then, catching sight of the pink Hello Kitty cup on the table, he let it go immediately and quickly took a sip of the water.

Yan Shuyu nodded in contentment and pulled off a banana from the bundle that she bought a couple days ago, shoved it into the boss’s hand, and felt that she had been a great host. She smiled and said to him, “Go on, have one. We have more. I am going to go check on Yuanbao.”

Zhou Qinhe, with a cup of water in his right hand and a banana in his left, “……”