A Month
With a gentle voice, Lin Ruoxi replied to her, “Minjuan, whatever it is, you can tell us.”
Minjuan gave her a grateful smile. She thought to herself, Sir has chosen the right candidate to take care of Lanlan.
“Sir left in a hurry but he told me that if he wasn’t back within a month, Lanlan will be under your care officially as your daughter.”
“Really?” Lin Ruoxi‘s face lit up. But the whole situation still seemed highly irregular to her. “Is he doing something dangerous?”
Minjuan shook her head helplessly. “I don’t know about that, I’m not allowed to ask about his matters.”
Yang Chen’s heart sank slightly when he saw her delighted expression. It certainly seemed like she was hoping for Lanlan’s grandfather to never return.
Nonetheless, Yang Chen couldn’t understand why she valued the girl so much to the extent where she would treat her like she was her own daughter.
On the other hand, Lanlan sipped on her orange juice quietly as the adults talked. She didn’t interject and had already finished the whole cup by the time they were done talking.
Lin Ruoxi stroked her hair and thought that she was getting cuter and cuter. She couldn’t stop herself from pinching her cheeks and Lanlan returned the gesture with a sweet grin.
Just when she was about to ask if Lanlan needed more food, her cellphone rang.
Lin Ruoxi picked it up and looked at the number before telling Yang Chen, “It’s home.”
Yang Chen nodded and replied, “Why are you telling me this?”
Lin Ruoxi blushed. She wondered why she even told him that, it was as if she was worried he would misunderstand her.
“Hello, Mom? What’s wrong?” Lin Ruoxi answered the call.
“Ruoxi, you’re with Yang Chen right?”
“Yeah, we just finished dinner. Mom, I have to tell you something…”
“Now’s not the time for that. Hui Lin’s back and the famous director, Yu Shuo is here too. He wants to discuss something with you guys.” Guo Xuehua sounded cheerful.
It didn’t sound like a bad thing so Lin Ruoxi relayed the message to Yang Chen.
“Hui Lin’s back? Her tour’s over?” Yang Chen asked.
Lin Ruoxi counted the dates and replied to him, “I think so. I remember that her concert’s in Japan and the USA were canceled due to some conflict of interest.”
Yang Chen nodded his head, he saw the news occasionally and they did mention the conflict between Japan, USA, and China over the territorial waters. It wasn’t suitable for Hui Lin to have concert tours there since she was one of the most popular artists in China.
This was trivial news to him. As long as war did not break out, there was nothing for him to worry about.
He would be happier if a war were to break out. After all, he had stocked up lots of weaponry that would come in handy. Yang Chen could earn a lot of money with it and as long as he wasn’t involved in the war, he wouldn’t mind the idea of it.
Minjuan sounded excited. “Really? Miss Hui Lin? The singer?”
Lin Ruoxi nodded. “You know her too?”
“Of course I do! I thought she looked very familiar the last time I saw her but I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought about it when I got home and I realized Miss Lin’s the president of Yu Lei International and Miss Hui Lin’s from the Yu Lei Entertainment! I regret not asking for her signature!” Minjuan became teary-eyed at the thought of it. “When she sings sad songs, it reminds me of the time when I was back at home and it made me cry a lot.”
Lin Ruoxi exchanged glances with Yang Chen. They didn’t know Hui Lin was so popular that even a nanny knew her songs.
“I’ll ask her to sign for you when we get back. But promise to not make it awkward for her. She’s part of our family.” Yang Chen chuckled.
Minjuan nodded hurriedly. She already felt blessed enough to be able to meet her idol.
It took them nearly forty minutes to reach home because of the traffic jam.
When they entered the villa, Guo Xuehua and Wang Ma were already chatting away with Director Yu Shuo in the living room. On the other hand, Hui Lin was chatting and giggling with Zhenxiu.
Even though the semester had already commenced, they were still undergoing military training. Since Zhenxiu stayed in Zhonghai, she only needed to attend the training during the day and then return home at night.
Yang Chen was reminded that he didn’t even visit her university when the semester had already commenced. She took care of everything herself and as her ‘guardian’, he should really check on her soon. She might get bullied by others like last time since she was so gullible.
Guo Xuehua and others were surprised to see them, they didn’t expect to see Lanlan and her nanny, Minjuan again so soon.
Guo Xuehua was especially surprised, throwing a confused glance at Yang Chen. She hasn’t met Lanlan yet as she was in Beijing the last time Lanlan was here.
Yang Chen shook hands with the director and Lin Ruoxi gave him a simple nod as a greeting before sitting down together.
Yu Shuo thought their reaction towards the little girl’s appearance was a bit weird but he didn’t say anything about it. He grinned and said, “Please forgive me for visiting at night. I didn’t want to miss out on a good opportunity like this so I came here to talk about a movie collaboration.”
Yang Chen remembered this. He wanted to film a movie about deities and warriors. Yu Shuo was awarded the best director award in the Cannes and Tokyo Film Festival, so naturally his movies would receive a ton of recognition.
“Director Yu, do you wish to have Hui Er in the movie?”
“How did you know that, Mr Yang? You’re right. I’ve been busy trying to cast the female lead character and Miss Lin Hui is the most suitable one by far. But she’s been busy with her world tours so when I heard that her tours in Japan and the USA had been canceled, I came over immediately. Miss Lin Hui said I didn’t have to go through the agency, she only needs both of your approval,” Yu Shuo said.
Yang Chen looked at Hui Lin and asked with a smile, “Do you like acting in movies? It’s all up to you.”
Hui Lin blinked and hesitated before saying, “I’m not professionally trained and I don’t know how movies work. I’m afraid I’ll mess things up.”
“I watched your concert and you are already halfway there. You just need to channel it towards your character. Besides, your aura matches the main character, I’m sure it’ll go smoothly!” Yu Shuo persuaded her.
Hui Lin struggled to answer and tossed a helpless glance towards Lin Ruoxi.
Lin Ruoxi voiced up, “If that’s the case, it would be best to accept. I’m sure he won’t blame you even if it doesn’t work out.”
“Yeah.” Yang Chen nodded. “But let me be frank with you. I expect decent compensation for this.”
Lin Ruoxi rolled her eyes at him. Things hadn’t been settled yet and he was already talking about the pay.
Yu Shuo smiled bitterly. Based on her popularity, he knew he couldn’t give her a basic payout. He wouldn’t dare to invite her without a minimum pay of at least ten million dollars.
After a simple discussion, it was finally settled and the contract could be signed after the details were discussed with the agency. The filming for the movie was scheduled to start in the mid of September so Hui Lin still had time to prepare and familiarize herself with the script.
Once Yu Shuo had left, Guo Xuehua who had been quiet this whole time couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Yang Chen, Ruoxi, whose child is this?”
Back when the adults were talking, Lanlan sat on Minjuan’s lap obediently. She stroked her full belly and dozed off, having eaten a full meal.
Wang Ma explained it to her while the others sat quietly. “Xuehua, her name is Lanlan. You didn’t know this because you weren’t around at that time. Miss is going to adopt her.”
“Adopt her?!” Guo Xuehua’s jaw fell.
Guo Xuehua sounded troubled after hearing the whole story from Wang Ma. “Ruoxi, this doesn’t seem like a good idea. You’re still young and you’ve only been married for less than two years. People will gossip if you adopt a five-year-old kid before giving birth to your own.”