Chapter 12, Episode 12: "I've never considered you an opponent."...
Even though it was a normal introduction, Meng Ran still felt a little uncomfortable listening to it.
This was the first time Chen Sulin had publicly identified her in front of outsiders.
Teacher Meng Ran nodded and smiled.
The teacher paused for a second.
Chen Miaoying has been attending classes here for almost a year, one class per week. As her teacher, she sees Chen Sulin at least once a month, but she has never seen Chen Miaoying's mother in this year.
She thought Chen Sulin must have gotten a divorce.
Unexpectedly, his wife suddenly appeared today. Judging from her tone, she seems to be Chen Miaoying's biological mother.
As a professional, no matter how much gossip or confusion I have in my mind, I can't show it at this time.
The teacher quickly broke into a bright smile: "Oh, so you're Miaoying's mother! Hello, hello! You're so young and beautiful, I can't tell you're a child's mother at all. At first glance, I thought you were Miaoying's older sister."
Chen Miaoying greeted the teacher and was eager to go inside the field.
Chen Sulin gently patted his daughter's shoulder and said softly, "Go ahead."
Chen Miaoying nodded: "Dad, Mom, see you in a bit!"
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Meng Ran, the teacher went to greet the other parents and children.
Only Meng Ran and Chen Sulin remained around.
Being alone with Chen Sulin already made Meng Ran unconsciously tense, let alone the unpleasantness that had occurred between the two last night.
Meng Ran racked her brains trying to come up with a topic, but perhaps because she hadn't slept well, her brain felt rusty.
Chen Sulin spoke first: "Didn't you sleep well last night?"
Meng Ran was taken aback: "Is it that obvious?"
Chen Sulin: "No, Miaoying told me when I left."
Meng Ran: "...Oh."
Chen Sulin: "There are sofas in the parents' rest area. If you want to rest, you can go there and take a nap."
Meng Ran refused without much hesitation: "It's okay, no need."
Chen Miaoying excitedly invited her to watch her class, but it would be so inappropriate for her to fall asleep as soon as she arrived.
Moreover, with Chen Sulin next to her, she definitely wouldn't be able to sleep.
Chen Sulin: "How about a cup of coffee? There's a coffee shop downstairs."
Meng Ran: "Okay."
Rejecting twice would only make the atmosphere more awkward, so she quickly agreed.
Chen Sulin nodded: "I'll go buy it. You stay here and watch over Miaoying."
Meng Ran replied with an "okay" again.
After Chen Sulin walked away, she suddenly remembered that she hadn't told him what she wanted to drink.
"Forget it," Meng Ran thought smugly. "The big boss has condescended to personally run errands to buy me coffee, how could I possibly be picky?"
Meng Ran found a sofa in the rest area and sat down. She saw that Chen Miaoying had already changed her clothes quickly and dashed into the activity area.
The little girl seemed to be very popular; she was surrounded by several children as soon as she entered.
After watching the little girl's pre-class interaction for a while, Chen Sulin returned.
Meng Ran took the coffee from the man's hand: "Thank you."
Meng Ran's gaze faltered slightly upon seeing the label "Vanilla Flavored Latte".
She didn't have the habit of drinking coffee when she was in school. She only started ordering it occasionally with her colleagues after graduating from university. Her favorite drink is vanilla latte.
Was it a coincidence?
Meng Ran took a thoughtful sip of coffee and concluded: it must be a coincidence.
Normally, Chen Sulin's coffee is prepared and delivered by his assistant. He probably buys coffee himself very few times, so how could he possibly remember what flavor she likes?
The sofa was a two-seater, and Chen Sulin sat next to Meng Ran.
The two were neither too close nor too far apart, but sitting on the same sofa seemed to create a strange sense of intimacy, and Meng Ran straightened her upper body uncomfortably.
The physical education class has already started, and the teacher is leading the children in warm-up exercises.
Meng Ran was getting a little bored, so she cautiously glanced at the seat where Chen Sulin was sitting next to her.
Unlike her upright posture, Chen Sulin leaned against the back of the sofa, her long legs crossed, her posture relaxed, exuding an air of nobility from beginning to end.
She subtly shifted her gaze upwards, and in that movement, she met the man's eyes.
Meng Ran: "..."
This person must have lidar installed in their eyes, right?
How come every time she looks at him, he always happens to look back at her?
Meng Ran turned her head and took a big gulp of coffee.
A deep, pleasant male voice came from beside him: "The physical training class will last for one hour in total."
Meng Ran paused.
Chen Sulin: "So there's no need to sit so upright, it'll get tiring after a while."
Meng Ran: "..."
She said "Oh," and her earlobes suddenly felt like they were on fire.
Relaxation is not something that can be achieved simply by talking about it; the more she told herself to relax, the stiffer her body became.
Fortunately, she soon heard rustling sounds nearby. Meng Ran glanced at Chen Sulin out of the corner of her eye and saw that he had taken out his laptop and seemed to be working.
Meng Ran breathed a sigh of relief, trying to forget that there was someone else next to her, and focused her attention on Chen Miaoying in the arena.
After warming up, the children started various running and jumping exercises.
Meng Ran discovered that Chen Miaoying was extremely athletic. She could perform tumbling and jumping movements very easily and accurately, and she could move swiftly on any equipment.
After watching for a while, Meng Ran felt that Chen Miaoying's athletic ability was probably the best among all the children. This was an objective fact, and it was definitely not because she had a biased view of her mother.
This filled her with a motherly sense of pride: beautiful and cute, popular, and even athletically gifted—how could her daughter be so outstanding?
Meng Ran was completely immersed in this satisfaction and did not notice that the sound of typing on the keyboard next to her had stopped at some point.
Chen Sulin gazed at her, and unusually, a smile appeared in both his eyes and on his lips.
...
As the physical education class was coming to an end, someone called Chen Sulin.
Chen Sulin stood up: "I'm going to take this call, I'll come back to you guys afterwards."
Meng Ran nodded: "Okay."
Not only is Chen Miaoying quick to learn movements in class, but she is also the fastest at changing clothes and rushing out of the venue.
After class, Chen Miaoying was the first to rush to Meng Ran's side.
"Mom!" Chen Miaoying grabbed Meng Ran's hand, "Am I good in class?"
Meng Ran smiled and said, "She's incredibly talented, much more so than Mom."
Chen Miaoying proudly put her hands on her hips: "Hehe, Mom, keep up the good work and try to be as good as me!"
As she spoke, she looked around curiously, "Where's Daddy?"
Meng Ran pointed out the location to Chen Miaoying: "Dad went over there to answer the phone. Shall we wait for him here for a while?"
Chen Miaoying: "Great! I have something I want to whisper to Mom! Mom, can you come a little closer?"
Meng Ran was amused by her serious expression and leaned down to cooperate, lowering her voice: "Okay, what does my baby want to say to Mommy?"
Chen Miaoying whispered in Meng Ran's ear, "Dad's birthday is coming soon, Mom, could you prepare a gift for Dad as a surprise?"
Meng Ran was slightly taken aback.
A few days ago, she checked Chen Sulin's Baidu Baike page, and his birthday is indeed next month.
But at that time, she never thought of preparing a gift for him.
Seeing that Meng Ran didn't react, Chen Miaoying couldn't help but urge, "Is it okay, Mom?"
After a slight hesitation, Meng Ran agreed, "Okay."
Since Chan Miu-ying made this request, it means that Chan Suk-lin must have celebrated each other's birthdays with his daughter in previous years. Receiving gifts on birthdays is a matter of course in Chan Miu-ying's eyes.
If she refuses, her daughter will be heartbroken.
However, although she agreed, Meng Ran felt that this matter was actually quite difficult to handle.
She wasn't close to Chen Sulin, and she didn't know him at all, so how could she choose a gift for him?
After thinking for a moment, Meng Ran asked, "Sweetie, will you also prepare a gift for Daddy?"
Chen Miaoying nodded emphatically: "Of course!"
Meng Ran: "Can you tell Mom what gift you're planning to give Dad?"
Chen Miaoying shook her head righteously and firmly: "No! This is my secret, and I can't tell anyone else beforehand, not even Mom!"
Meng Ran was both amused and exasperated: "So strict!"
Chan Miu-ying: "I'm very good at keeping secrets!"
Meng Ran: "Then... do you know what Dad likes the most?"
Without hesitation, Chan Miu-ying replied, "Dad loves Mom the most!"
Meng Ran: "..."
She cleared her throat: "I'm not talking about people, I mean... what does Dad like to do?"
This time, Chen Miaoying thought for a while before answering, "Dad likes working the most."
Meng Ran lost her voice.
It was an unexpected yet perfectly logical answer.
...
Outside the lounge, a tall, slender man stood by the window.
Chen Sulin's face was expressionless, but his body exuded a cold aura, creating an invisible low-pressure zone that made people hesitate to approach.
Looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the lounge, in the corner of the room, Meng Ran was sitting on the sofa talking to her daughter.
A slightly flippant male voice came from the other end of the phone: "Mr. Chen, how was your weekend? How about chatting with some old friends?"
Chen Sulin withdrew his gaze, his voice cold and deep: "Say what you have to say directly. I don't have time for riddles with you."
Zhao Yanzhou chuckled, his tone slightly mocking: "After all these years, President Chen seems to have lost his patience?"
Chen Sulin: "This is the last time I'll say it, I'm very busy."
He wouldn't mind hanging up the phone if they went around in circles.
Understanding Chen Sulin's meaning, Zhao Yanzhou toned down his nonchalant tone: "I saw her, just yesterday."
Chen Sulin: "..."
Zhao Yanzhou: "She is exactly the same as before, just the way I like her the most. I asked her if she remembered me, and she said she had never forgotten me. The time she spent with me was the happiest time of her life."
Chen Sulin: "Do you think I'd believe that? You weren't in Beicheng yesterday."
Zhao Yanzhou paused for a second, then suddenly laughed: "Chen Sulin, Chen Sulin, admit it, you've already lost your composure after hearing what I said."
“You know very well that she has feelings for me, and you’re not even sure she won’t tell me these things, so you can only refute it by saying that I’m not in Beicheng, right?”
Chen Sulin did not respond.
Zhao Yanzhou became more and more agitated as he spoke: "You're right, I only returned to Beicheng this morning and didn't get to see her. But you know Ranran went to my territory, so I canceled all my meetings to personally go and pick her up, didn't I?"
“You arrived at the underground parking lot at 7:42 and waited for her for a full hour. What were you thinking during that hour? Were you afraid she would think of me, afraid she would know how much I love her, afraid she wouldn’t want to go back to being your Mrs. Chen?”
“She even went to the shopping mall I opened for her, Mengzhao Tiandi. Meng and Zhao, I worked hard for seven years, a full seven years, and this shopping mall finally opened at the beginning of this year.”
"And she just happened to come back this year, Chen Sulin, don't you think it's all fate?"
"Seven years have passed. I am no longer the ignorant Zhao Yanzhou I once was. Now I have the means to compete with you."
“I know I can’t beat you in terms of tactics. You’re a business genius, a ruthless character who can even scheme against his own father. But Ranran loves me, just as I love her.”
"Chen Sulin, I will definitely win this time."
The voice on the other end of the phone was filled with unwavering confidence.
Chen Sulin: "Are you finished?"
Zhao Yanzhou: "What, I hit a nerve, and now you're speechless?"
“You’ve got one thing wrong.” Chen Sulin looked into the lounge again, where Meng Ran was rubbing Chen Miaoying’s head, seemingly smiling.
"I've never considered you an opponent," Chen Sulin said in a flat tone. "You're not worthy."
A note from the author:
----------------------
Verbally: I've never considered you an opponent.
In my heart: I wish people were dead.
----------
66 small red envelopes will be randomly distributed. [Thumbs up!]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com