CH 20

Ye Lanting was having a bad time these days and even her delicate makeup couldn’t hide her tiredness.

There were rumors that Pei Minghong had an illegitimate child outside. She was unwilling to see the faces who seemed to care but actually had prying eyes, so she temporarily reduced her dealings with this group of women.

However, Ye Lanting didn’t stay home all day. She often left early and returned late. She even neglected to discipline Pei Yan.

It was because she went to Pei Minghong’s apartment in private and also found a private investigator.

She didn’t fully believe Pei Minghong’s explanation. Ye Lanting was well aware of this man’s obsession and pursuit of money and his career in the past 20 years of their marriage, but in the future of the rumor about her son’s future status, even the most familiar person would become untrustworthy.

Ye Lanting asked the most professional private investigator to carefully investigate Pei Minghong’s whereabouts in recent years. However, the high fee only resulted in a long list of records of Pei Minghong flying around the world for meetings. There was no hidden woman or children.

Long, bright red nails pinched the tedious investigation note and eventually crumpled it into a ball in exasperation.

Pei Minghong was too obsessed with his career and such a flawless schedule looked like a disguise.

Ye Lanting didn’t give up. She asked the private investigator to start with investigating Pei Qingyuan, whom she hadn’t seen for a while.

In the rumor that Qin Yujie said he saw personally, the child followed Pei Qingyuan and affectionately called him brother.

This time, the investigation made progress.

The private investigator told her that there was indeed a three year old boy around Pei Qingyuan who would eat breakfast with him every day.

Ye Lanting heard this and excitedly asked what happened next. As a result, a complicated expression appeared on the private detective’s face and he shook his head in an embarrassed manner.

“Then he disappeared… I’m sorry, I couldn’t find out the identity information of this child or manage to extract any biological test materials that could be used for blood identification. He seemed to appear out of thin air and only appears next to the target object and some people he is close to. I didn’t dare contact him rashly, lest I startle him.”

Ye Lanting seemed to be listening to a fantasy story.

How could there be someone whose identity couldn’t be found out?

Pei Minghong actually hid this child so well and didn’t even hesitate to send people to Pei Qingyuan, who she would’ve completely forgotten about!

It was no wonder why he had no objection when she said she wanted to send Pei Qingyuan back to the Luo family. It turned out she had such a purpose.

An indescribable anger and hatred welled up in her heart.

When Pei Qingyuan was still by her side, Ye Lanting had mastered his life in every detail and she was sure he didn’t know such a child at that time.

When did her husband make an agreement with this false son?

Ye Lanting suddenly remembered how her husband had arranged a job for Pei Qingyuan’s uncle from the Luo family. At that time, he said it was to monitor Pei Qingyuan so he didn’t mess around. Now that she thought about it, was this really the case? Was it an exchange with Pei Qingyuan?

In the doubts that spread like ripples, her originally peaceful and beautiful days were instantly covered with cracks.

The only good thing was that Elder Pei, who just returned to China this week, unexpectedly didn’t get angry after learning about Pei Qingyuan’s life experience and his current whereabouts. He just raised an eyebrow at her.

It seemed that even the old man who once loved Pei Qingyuan very much couldn’t pass over this hurdle of a blood relationship.

Ye Lanting dealt with Elder Pei, who had a lot of opinions on her, and also worked hard to investigate the issue of the illegitimate child. Once the private investigator expressed his helplessness, she decided to personally come to Pei Qingyuan to ask what happened.

She couldn’t bear it when something in her life was completely out of control.

Then as soon as she got out of the car, she was startled by the noise coming from the bakery in front of her.

The store was crowded, noisy high school students were eating cheap pastries and a sweet scent poured into her nose. Ye Lanting frowned deeply.

Pei Qingyuan was actually reduced to working in such a place. She didn’t even want to condescend to go in.

Soon, customers in the store noticed the woman outside who seemed out of place with the surrounding environment. Pei Qingyuan finished taking a photo for his friend and looked up. Then his expression changed slightly and he took the initiative to walk outside the store.

Ye Lanting’s frown slightly relaxed and a burst of sarcasm flashed in her heart.

Pei Qingyuan used to always be disobedient in front of her. Now he had tasted poverty and knew how to please her.

Sure enough, people only grew up when they fell.

She took off her sunglasses. There was a cold expression on her face as she was about to speak, but she was preempted by Pei Qingyuan, who walked up to her.

“Are you here to buy croissants?”

This was the voice she had listened to for 17 years. It was extremely familiar but at this moment, it was slightly unfamiliar.

Ye Lanting didn’t immediately react to the question and unguarded astonishment flashed in her eyes.

Thus, Pei Qingyuan asked again politely. “If it isn’t a croissant, do you want to buy other pastries?”

His gaze was calm and clear, as if he was looking at a stranger who had nothing to do with him.

Ye Lanting clearly remembered the welcome party for Pei Yan not long ago. At that time, Pei Qingyuan stood alone in the center of everyone’s gazes and stared at her with completely different eyes.

At that time, there were very complicated emotions in his eyes such as nostalgia, confusion, hope, resentment… it was what a child who had just been abandoned by the whole world should look like.

Now there was nothing left in them.

Ye Lanting blurted out in a slightly flustered manner, “What are you talking about—”

Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Pei Qingyuan.

“Since that isn’t the case—” The boy’s eyes turned cold. “Please don’t park your car in front of the store. It will affect other customers.”

He was about to turn around and walk back to the store, but Ye Lanting instinctively stopped him. “You stop!”

She thought the child didn’t know her reason for coming and that he was deliberately showing a type of indifference to his former mother in order to hide his weakness.

However, once Pei Qingyuan stopped and looked back at her, there was a stinging sarcasm and ridicule in his eyes.

“Do you feel like your life is out of control?”

He poked at Ye Lanting’s current biggest weakness with a normal tone.

Just as she was well aware of the child’s stubbornness and indomitability, he clearly knew his mother for many years.

Pei Qingyuan accurately guessed Ye Lanting’s current situation.

His voice wasn’t loud but his words were cold. “There is more than one thing for you to worry about, right? Is Grandpa back? Is his health well? It is a pity that I don’t have the identity to visit him any longer.”

“But it’s okay. Perhaps Grandpa will see another cute child soon.” His voice rose slightly. “A child who keeps you up at night, right?”

“You!” Ye Lanting was so angry that his mind was blank. He was speechless.

Pei Qingyuan stared at her expression. A faint smile spread on his handsome face, as if to comfort her. “Don’t worry, your husband has no illegitimate child. Pei Qingyuan has never even seen that child.”

He was telling the truth.

It was only after he turned around that he spoke words that seemed to be just for himself.

“But you don’t even believe your husband’s words… how can you believe my words?”

These words made Ye Lantin’s kin hurt.

She naturally didn’t believe him.

Due to everyone’s denial, she was completely convinced of the existence of that child.

The luxury car finally drove away.

Ji Tong, who had been holding his breath the whole time, couldn’t help speaking the moment Pei Qingyuan started to serve a customer again. “Host, you obviously told the truth but she seems more suspicious.”

Pei Qingyuan flatly replied, “She has been such a person since I was a child.”

The little robot scratched his head while wondering how there could be such a mother.

Fortunately, the host left the Pei family.

Ji Tong remembered the unknown person the host had just mentioned. “Do you have a good relationship with your grandfather? Why didn’t he show up all this time?”

“Grandpa isn’t in good health. Due to a conflict with Pei Minghong, he went abroad to recuperate a few months ago.” Pei Qingyuan explained. “Grandpa has loved me since he was a child, so they will definitely hide this from him. He should’ve just returned to China and perhaps he doesn’t know yet.”

Ji Tong was relieved for some reason after hearing that the host with poor parental relations hadn’t been hurt by his grandfather.

He suddenly had a flash of light. He remembered a face and called it out from his database.

“By the way, Ruan Ruan, what does your grandfather look like?” He searched through the image archives and tried to describe it. “Does he wear a pair of reading glasses and dress in an ordinary manner, like an old grandfather who can be seen anywhere on the street?”

Ji Tong disliked himself for speaking a bunch of nonsense without any value.

However, Pei Qingyuan’s movements stopped. “How do you know?”

It was actually the host’s grandfather.

The little robot cheered and immediately said. “Yesterday, I detected him wandering outside the store for a long time. He kept looking inside the store and I felt that something was abnormal, so I recorded his image in the database.”

Ever since meeting Qin Yujie at the hospital, Ji Tong strengthened his observation of the host’s surrounding environment and people. He couldn’t miss an opportunity to play with any of the rich second generations.

Yesterday when the host was busy in the store, he noticed there was a kind-looking grandfather outside looking into the store. His expression was very rich and changed from time to time. He even took off his reading glasses to secretly wipe his tears one time.

The other person obviously didn’t have any malice so Ji Tong didn’t tell Pei Qingyuan, who was busy entertaining guests.

This old man looked too ordinary and was completely different from the style of Pei Minghong and his wife. His face was full of emotions and relief that ‘I didn’t expect that selling bread in such a place could have such achievements’. This caused Ji Tong to mistakenly think that he was the fate of the bakery owner He Shiwen and that he specially ran over to see his son’s suddenly rejuvenated bread business.

The more Ji Tong thought about it, the happier he became. He immediately vividly described to the host the change in his grandfather’s expression throughout the process. “Grandpa must’ve found out that the host can maintain a good attitude in adversity, making him feel sad and happy. He was afraid of disturbing the host so he didn’t take the initiative to come in.”

“Next time I see Grandpa again, I will definitely treat him to a croissant.”

Ji Tong nagged for a long time before finally concluding, “Host, is it good to have someone who loves you back.”

The patiently listening Pei Qingyuan responded softly, as if agreeing to his words.

His brow furrowed as he stared instantly at the freshly baked exploding custard croissant. He gently wrapped it in a paper bag, just like when he wiped off the crumbs from the corners of his younger brother’s mouth.