Yanbo and his wife left early the next morning. When Zizai woke up and couldn't find them, he thought his grandparents had gone on another long trip. It wasn't until he saw the flamboyant note that Yanbo had placed under his small cup that he realized his grandparents had gone to play golf with their friends.
Yan Bo and his wife did not give any prior notice and went straight to the director's office upon arriving at the welfare home.
The dean looked at them with great surprise, "Mr. Yan, Mrs. Yan, weren't you abroad?"
"Yes, something came up and I had to come back."
Yan Bo casually responded and sat down with his wife. After the dean personally brought him tea, he took a sip and asked a question.
"Dean, I've come to inquire about a child's situation."
The dean was even more surprised, "Hey, didn't your grandson and daughter-in-law come back?"
It seems the dean misunderstood, thinking the couple came to adopt a child.
"Director, you've misunderstood. We don't want to adopt a child; we just want to inquire about a child's situation."
Yan Bo and his wife have been sponsoring children in the welfare home, and more than half a year ago, before Zizai was sent back, they did have the idea of adopting a child.
Now, of course, there is no need for that.
The dean then suppressed his surprise, "Who is it that has made Mr. and Mrs. Yan so concerned?"
...
When Yanbo and his wife returned to their seaside villa, it was lunchtime. Zizai opened the door himself, and as soon as he saw his grandparents, he happily rushed over to hug and cuddle them.
Sitting in the living room, Yan Shao saw his son looking like a puppy and knew that he was probably still affected by Bai Xiaolu's sudden departure, fearing that his loved ones would suddenly leave him without a word.
The servants brought the food to the table, and Yanbo and his wife washed their faces before taking their seats.
During the meal, the family chatted casually, and no one mentioned the orphanage.
After lunch, Zizai stayed in the living room with his elders watching TV. After only a few minutes, he yawned and reached out his hands to Yan Shao, saying, "Daddy, hug me..."
The implication is that it's time to take a nap.
Yan Shao picked up the little guy, and the little guy blew kisses to his grandparents and mother, saying, "Good afternoon, grandpa, grandma, and mommy!"
Looking at the harmonious figure of her son holding his grandson, Madam Yan sighed with emotion.
“In the past, we all thought that someone with Xiaohan’s personality wouldn’t be a good father, but we never expected that he would be much better than you, Lao Yan, were before.”
Zhu Qianying followed the two elders' gaze and saw that Young Master Yan was supporting the little guy's bottom with one hand and gently stroking his back with the other.
The little guy's head was drooping limply on his shoulder, and it seemed that he had already drifted off to sleep.
"Dad, Mom, you were very busy before, weren't you?"
Actually, Zhu Qianying didn't know much about Yan Shao's childhood.
Aside from the few past events that Yan Shao himself mentioned, there were only a few.
According to Madam Yan and Yan Bo, the young Yan Shao did not appear very frequently during his childhood.
"Yes, back then, my family was going through a turbulent period, and the Yanhuang Group was also in a period of expansion on Lao Yan's side. In addition, Xiao Han's grandparents doted on their grandson so much that they brought Xiao Han back to Beijing when he was just a few months old. If we wanted to see each other, we had to fly back. Speaking of which, when Xiao Han was just learning to talk, he thought his uncle was his father!"
Zhu Qianying had never heard Yan Shao mention this before.
After hearing what Madam Yan said, Zhu Qianying understood why Yan Yuan had said those words to her that night when she was alone at the Yan family home.
It's likely that not only does Yan Shao have a father-like dependence on Yan Yuan, but Yan Yuan also raises and treats Yan Shao like his own son.
"Xiao Huai, do you really have to bring up such a painful thing again?" Yan Bo glared at Old Madam Yan. He, who was usually very good-tempered in front of his wife, was surprisingly a little annoyed.
As Zhu Qianying listened to the two old men complaining to each other, she occasionally chimed in with a word or two. During the ten or eight minutes that Yan Shao went in to coax the little one to take a nap, she actually overheard some childhood stories that Yan Shao had never mentioned before.
After Yan Shao put Zizai to sleep, he returned to the living room, where the two elders were still talking about some old stories from the past.
Yan Shao sat down next to Zhu Qianying and said, "Dad, you two mustn't bring up any old grievances to torment Ying'er!"
Madam Yan raised her hand and swore, "Heaven and earth bear witness, we truly did not!"
The four chatted and laughed for a while before getting down to business.
"The director said that this child had never been adopted before. However, the child did try to stay away from the orphanage every few days for a period of time. He would call back and say that he was going to stay at his uncle's house. But the director said that his parents were dead and he had no uncles or other relatives, which is why he was sent to the orphanage."
"So, the 'parents' he told his classmates might be the same people he claimed to be his uncles at the orphanage?" Yan Shao made this deduction.
"That's possible. The dean will talk to him tonight to see if they can find an answer."
The Yan couple did not explicitly tell the dean why they were investigating the child, and the dean did not ask any further questions.
That evening, Zizai said he would sleep with his grandparents, so after taking a bath, he crawled into Grandma Yan's bed early.
Yan Bo was in the study with Yan Han and Zhu Qianying, waiting for the dean's call.
It was almost ten o'clock when the dean finally called back.
“Mr. Yan, you guessed right. Xiao Hai said he was afraid people would look down on him for being an orphan, so he lied and said he had new parents. However, he said that the uncle really did mention to him that he would come to the welfare home to adopt him during the summer vacation.”
Yan Bo was using speakerphone, so Yan Han and Zhu Qianying could hear the dean's words clearly.
"Does he know the name or address of the uncle who is going to adopt him?" Yan Bo asked, which was exactly the question that Zhu Qianying and Yan Han wanted to ask.
“He didn’t know. He said that every time, that uncle would pick him up from school, take him home, and then send him back to school the next day.” The dean’s answer left the three people in the study full of doubts.
"Okay, thank you!" Yan Bo exchanged pleasantries with the dean and then hung up the phone.
As soon as Yan Bo hung up the phone, Yan Han frowned and said.
"Don't you find this strange?"
Zhu Qianying nodded in agreement, "It is indeed very strange. If the uncle this child is talking about really wants to adopt him, shouldn't he first go to the orphanage to find out about the child's situation? Moreover, this child doesn't even know the uncle's name or where he lives. Besides saying he's stupid, there's another possibility: that the uncle approached this child with a purpose."
Yan Bo and Yan Shao nodded in agreement; clearly, their thoughts were the same as Zhu Qianying's.
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