"Robin, my assistant. Do you still remember him?"

"Sure." Yan Shuyu nodded happily. The boss's two assistants were very memorable, more so than Secretary Lu whom she had met a couple of times. The reason being that both of the male elites were very handsome. Louis, in particular, with his golden framed spectacles and suit, was so outstanding.

Even though she was already in a committed relationship, she still appreciated ogling handsome men. She was still asking happily, "So Robin saw me? Why didn't he say hi?"

As observant as Boss Zhou was, he would not have missed the happiness in her voice. He pursed his lips immediately and stopped talking.

Yan Shuyu didn't notice anything at first. A few minutes later, the car stopped in front of her place. The boss, whose left hand was still resting on the steering wheel, lifted his chin at her casually and said, "Now go home."

Yan Shuyu, who was very slow, finally noticed that something wasn't right. She pulled her hand back from the door handle and asked him, "Aren't you going to come upstairs with me?"

Zhou Qinhe didn't say anything. Even though she couldn't really tell his emotions from his look, she could sense that he was upset.

But she wasn't worried. If the boss was jealous, she would be lighting fireworks to celebrate. What was there to worry about? The fearless Yan Shuyu took the boss's right hand and laced her fingers with his. The two hands joined together tightly, and she shook his hand slightly and said, "Walk me up, pleeeease?"

Boss Zhou pursed his lips and finally showed a sign of a smile, an indication that he was softening up.

But this time, he didn't grant her her wish immediately. He looked down at her and asked out of the blue, "You were shopping at the men's stores?"

That Robin sure has good eyes. She wondered how long he had been watching her. She looked up at the boss, and her smile was even sweeter than before. "Yes. I bought you a Christmas gift."

Zhou Qinhe's eyes flickered, and his look softened completely. "What did you get?"

"I can't tell you now," said Yan Shuyu shamelessly. "It's a surprise."

"That secretive?" Zhou Qinhe chuckled, then he rained on her parade. "What if I don't like it?"

Yan Shuyu was a little shocked. "Then... I am still not taking it back."

Then, there was peck on her lips. Zhou Qinhe, looking at her tenderly, said, "I mean, you are not allowed to prepare surprises like that in the future. We will go pick them out together."

Yan Shuyu retorted, "But you prepared a surprise as well."

"That was because I was on a business trip and you weren't around." Zhou Qinhe paused and smiled. "So we are even now. Why don't we go shopping on Christmas day so you can pick your own gift? What do you say?"

Yan Shuyu really wanted to nod, but she was a little bit embarrassed. "But you have just bought me a gift..."

Boss Zhou had already made arrangements on his own, "We will spend Christmas Eve with the kids and take them to the musical institution on Christmas Day."

Yan Shuyu nodded reflexively. "Okay."

The next day, her instant son also happily brought up Christmas to Yan Shuyu. He said that their class had already started preparing for the Christmas tree etc. and that many of his classmates were also decorating at home.

The little boy looked up at his mother and asked naturally, "Mom, are we going to celebrate Christmas?"

Yan Shuyu didn't notice that the question was loaded and nodded casually. "Sure, if that's what you want to do."

The little kiddo smiled immediately and asked with anticipation, "Then can I invite Xiao Yi over for Christmas?"

Yan Shuyu gave him a surprised look. "Since when are you two that close? It's only been a few days and you miss him already?"

Zhang Yuanbao smiled so much that all one could see were his teeth but not his eyes, as though he had silently admitted to the fact that he missed his little buddy a lot. Yan Shuyu thought to herself that if the two of them could always be so close with each other, she would have nothing to worry about for the rest of her life.

She told him the truth, "I have already made plans with Uncle Zhou. We will be spending Christmas Eve together."

"Yay! Mommy is the best!" Zhang Yuanjia exclaimed happily and threw his arms around his mommy's thigh. Then, he asked with all of his cuteness, "So, will Xiao Yi be staying over at our place too?"

Yan Shuyu was going to say no, but a look at the hopeful face on the little kiddo and she couldn't help but nod. "Em... alright."

Zhang Yuanjia had already bounced up and down three times in front of her to express his excitement. Her instant son cocked his little head and pondered aloud, "How are we going to decorate our house?"

Yan Shuyu finally looked at him. "You want to decorate our house too?"

This little kiddo was not deterred at all by hassle.

Zhang Yuanjia said to her matter-of-factly, "Of course we need to decorate for a holiday. Many of our classmates had already started doing that."

After Yan Shuyu heard that, she lamented how fortunate kids nowadays were. Back when she was going to school, the parents didn't even know what Christmas was. But as her son had already told her that other kiddos were decorating for Christmas at home, then they probably should do the same as well.

Yan Shuyu finally agreed to it. "Okay, you can decorate however you want."

Yan Shuyu had given her blessing generously, but little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao looked at her blankly. "Yuanbao doesn't know either. This is also Yuanbao's first time celebrating Christmas."

Zhang Yuanbao wasn't going to have a Christmas until this year, at 6 years old. That was somewhat sad compared to the other kids his age. Yan Shuyu could understand the reason behind that.

Her instant son had lost his father when he was just 3 or 4 years old, and his birth mother wasn't someone very resourceful. With the exception of some difficult days when she first eloped, she was kept home by her little husband afterward. Life wasn't exactly grand, but at least, she didn't have to worry about food or clothing. As such, when she lost the backbone of the family, the two of them quickly became down on their luck and fell into poverty. The original owner, with no skills to speak of but had to prop up the family, finally decided to do something with her looks.

Even though the original owner made fairly decent income during the two years that she was working in the night scene, that must have been difficult. She wanted to wait for the right person to show up, but she looked down on those less refined bosses that usually visited her workplace. Yan Shuyu could only imagine how exhausting it was to deal with those bosses without letting them take advantage of her. Naturally, she would not have the time to tend to other unnecessary details in life.

When the original owner decided to quit her job as the "model of the night scene" and got her much more Tall, Big, and Classy job at a high-end hotel, the mother and son could finally enjoy a more peaceful life. But, that didn't last too long before she had transmigrated over.

All in all, it wasn't easy to be the adult and being the child was no better. As she thought about all the hardships that her instant son had been through with his mother, Yan Shuyu's compassion overflowed. In the heat of the moment, she volunteered herself. "Okay, I will decorate for you."

***

Christmas this year fell on a Sunday. The boss had already called dibs and made plans to spend Christmas with Yan Shuyu, just the two of them. On Christmas Eve, she was decorating the apartment with the little kiddo.

The mother and son kept themselves busy until after 10 AM before they were done with wrapping ribbons and balloons. They haven't even put on the lights yet when they heard knocking at the door. Yan Shuyu opened the door and looked at the father and son in surprise. "How come you two are here already?"

The boss had not contacted her today, so she just assumed that he'd be working overtime as usual and only come over to join them in the evening.

The boss had not contacted her today, so she just assumed that he'd be working overtime as usual and only come over to join them in the evening.

Zhou Qinhe smiled. Before he could say anything, his son squeezed over very familiarly and greeted Yan Shuyu sweetly, "Good morning, Aunty Yan."

Hearing the familiar voice, Zhang Yuanjia, who had been running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off to decorate the house, came running over. "Xiao Yi, Uncle Zhou."

When he squeezed his way to the front door, he saw the mini Christmas tree sitting next to Uncle Zhou. He was pleasantly surprised. "This Christmas tree is so pretty!! Did you bring it, Uncle Zhou?"

Uncle Zhou smiled and nodded. "Your mom told me that the two of you are decorating the apartment, so I thought this might be helpful."

Boss Zhou was a very thoughtful person. Knowing that their house was not that big, he prepared a mini Christmas tree instead of a full size one. Yan Shuyu could tell that it was probably a custom-made size.

The more he looked at it, the more Zhang Yuanjia liked it. The Christmas tree prepared by Uncle Zhou looked cute and fun! Then, hand in hand, they walked over to find out if they were taller than the tree.

Thinking that the boss had kept it in mind after she had only mentioned decorating their house in passing and even bringing such an appropriate present with him, Yan Shuyu, too, felt very pleased. She smiled and greeted the two of them. "C'mon in. C'mon in. It's cold outside."

Zhang Yuanjia and Zhou Yi were very obedient. The two of them worked together to carry the tree that was the same height as them inside the house. Zhou Qinhe even made way them purposefully and watched his son change into fuzzy cartoon slippers without hesitation and walked inside the apartment with his little buddy. for

The boys happily discussed where to place the Christmas tree as Zhou Qinhe slowly walked inside the apartment and changed out of his shoes into the men's slippers that Yan Shuyu had bought for him from a supermarket nearby.

Once he was inside and closed the door behind him, he felt a warm air hitting him. The heater inside the apartment was on and both Zhang Yuanjia and Yan Shuyu were wearing just a thin layer of clothes. Boss Zhou also casually removed his suit jacket.

The boss came over and took over Yan Shuyu's job. He let the two boys boss him around on how to put the lights on the tree. The two boys weren't shy at all when they both threw out random instructions on what they wanted done. The boss only smiled patiently the entire time.

Yan Shuyu stood around and watched them for a little while. Once she noticed that she was no longer needed, she quickly finished applying her makeup. By then, the boss was also more or less done decorating under the commands of the little boys. Once the decoration was done, the slightly crowded apartment seemed less clutter and had an added feel of hominess and delicacy.

Zhang Yuanbao even closed the curtains so they could better experience it. Under the colorful ribbons and blinking lights, the apartment has a very festive atmosphere. Zhang Yuanjia and his little kiddo friend clapped as they exclaimed, "This is too pretty!"

As they were the one who decorated the place, they felt an even stronger sense of accomplishment.

Compared to the ribbons and the balloons, the kids were fonder of the Christmas tree with its blinking lights. That was especially so when Zhou Qinhe grinned and told them that, "Santa Claus will visit the homes of good little kids on Christmas Eve and put gifts under the tree."

The story was so childish that even Zhang Yuanjia didn't believe it. Even so, the two boys still looked at Zhou Qinhe with anticipation. "Are there really going to be Christmas gifts?"

"Of course," said Zhou Qinhe to them relaxingly. "As long as you are a good kid, you will find your gift tomorrow morning when you wake up."

Even though Santa Claus was just a myth, the kids were still pleased when they found out that the Christmas tree had the "ability" to help them earn gifts. They now enjoyed the tree that they had decorated even more.

Yan Shuyu, noticing that her son already knew how to scam himself more gifts at this age, complimented him in her head. She figured that she had already bought the little male lead a fancy gift so the boss must reciprocate as well.