Yang Nuannuan had been thinking clearly ever since she had come to a realization.

Yang Rou hesitated for just a moment, and Nuannuan noticed.

She couldn't help but lift her head and looked at the woman who was nominally her mother.

Then she asked, "Mom? What's wrong..."

Hearing her daughter's voice, Yang Rou came back to her senses.

She suppressed her own thoughts, hurriedly smiled, and said, "Nothing's wrong. Nothing. I was just thinking the house must be quite messy."

Yang Nuannuan hugged her, whispering, "Let it be messy. That's what makes it feel like home."

After saying that, she added, "I thought you didn't want me to come back home."

Yang Rou's heart skipped a beat, saying, "How could that be?"

"Why wouldn't I want you to come home?"

Yang Nuannuan smiled, "Maybe mom has fallen in love. There would be no room for me at home."

Having been in business for twenty years, Yang Rou felt a sudden chill down her spine.

She looked down at Yang Nuannuan.

Nuannuan seemed to be just casually speaking and was still leaning on Yang Rou's shoulder, eyes closed, seemingly enjoying herself very much...

Yang Rou carefully observed her for a few seconds, then softly sighed in relief after confirming there was nothing unusual, thinking perhaps she was overthinking...

And because of Yang Nuannuan's interruption, she also forgot to think about how exactly she would coordinate the time between Chen Yan and Yang Nuannuan...

...

Meanwhile, inside the office.

Chen Yan, unaware of the mother and daughter's situation outside, was on the phone.

Lu Man's small gathering was tied to his future "happiness."

So, naturally, he was concerned.

Leveraging Yang Rou's emotional moment, he had persuaded her and was considering contacting He Mengxue and Zhao Ying to arrange for them to meet.

Of course, compared to the independent-minded Yang Rou, He Mengxue and Zhao Ying were much easier to "handle."

One was blindly in love with Chen Yan, while the other was somewhat naive.

Chen Yan thought he only needed to sway them a bit, and they would agree.

While thinking this, Chen Yan picked up the landline phone from the desk and called He Mengxue first.

"Dial... Dial... Dial..."

The internal line connected quickly and He Mengxue's serious voice came through, "Hello, this is He Mengxue."

Hearing her words, Chen Yan smiled and then said, "Mengxue, it's me, Chen Yan."

He Mengxue, who was clearly busy with work, paused upon hearing Chen Yan's voice, then without missing a beat, joyfully exclaimed, "Chen Yan, are you calling me?"

She paused, glanced at the phone, and then commented, "Huh. Why are you calling me from a landline?"

Chen Yan coughed and replied, "I'm at the office, just picked up the landline."

He didn't continue on this topic but instead started talking about work, "How's the investment company doing recently?"

He listened to Chen Yan start on serious matters, and He Mengxue switched back to her business-like demeanor, "It's doing very well right now."

"Having Headline Technology as a cornerstone, we have a core competitive edge."

"Many small or startup companies are very interested in the traffic from Headline Technology."

"So, even when we offer slightly lower terms than the market, they prefer to choose us."

Hearing He Mengxue's words, Chen Yan hummed affirmatively and asked, "How's Headline Technology itself doing?"

He Mengxue said, "Over the past two or three months, Qin Ming has managed to streamline the company."

"He has continued pushing forward with Zhang Yonghao's plans for the last couple of months."

"However, recently, he started to gradually adjust the company's positions and strategies."

He Mengxue hesitated for a moment, calculating her words, "Well, from my level and perspective, I see no issues."

Listening to He Mengxue's words, Chen Yan couldn't help but smile and then said, "Okay. When you have time in the next few days, prepare a report for me, and I'll have a look."

He Mengxue readily agreed.

Clearly, any chance to interact more with Chen Yan was a happy occasion for her.

Afterwards, Chen Yan and He Mengxue exchanged a few more words and he showed some concern for her.

Then… he finally moved on to the main topic.

"Mengxue, the thing is, I have something to discuss with you."

Having just had a pleasant conversation with Chen Yan, He Mengxue unhesitatingly said, "Go ahead."

Chen Yan coughed and said, "Lu Man wants to meet you."

He Mengxue was about to agree when she suddenly realized the implications of Chen Yan's words.

So, there was a moment of silence on the line.

After a moment, she somewhat timidly asked, "Lu Man... wants to meet... us?"

Chen Yan hummed affirmatively.

He Mengxue was aware of Lu Man's "catching cheaters" incident.

After all, she was one of the people involved.

So, she asked softly, "What does she want to do?"

This question caught Chen Yan off guard.

He hesitated for a moment before smiling and saying, "Well, it's a good thing, I guess."

Hearing Chen Yan's laughter, He Mengxue immediately understood his implication.

Simultaneously relieved and slightly indignant, she spat out, "It's a good thing for you, isn't it!"

Chen Yan chuckled, not denying it.

The line fell silent again.

After a bit, He Mengxue softly said, "Chen Yan, I can meet her."

"I have gradually come to accept some things."

"But... you know, I'm not alone, my family..."

Her words trailed off, but Chen Yan understood her meaning.

He reassured her, "Don't worry. Leave it to me. I'll talk to the old man when the time comes."

Receiving such a response from Chen Yan, He Mengxue felt conflicted. She muttered softly, "Just talk to my dad?"

"I thought you planned to cut ties with others."

Chen Yan chuckled awkwardly, not knowing how to respond.

Hearing no response from Chen Yan, He Mengxue once again understood his true intentions.

She sighed softly and then said, "Okay then. Give me the time and place, and I'll be there."

Chen Yan was satisfied and hung up the phone.

After chatting with He Mengxue, Chen Yan wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Everyone saw only his happy life with several women.

But who knew the torment he suffered being caught between them!

It was simply the most excruciating thing in the world!

So, to spare others such pain, Chen Yan was willing to bear it all himself...

After hanging up on He Mengxue, the only person Chen Yan needed to notify was Zhao Ying.

This time, Chen Yan picked up his cellphone and made a call to Zhao Ying.

Compared to Yang Rou's thoroughness and He Mengxue's conflicted nature, Zhao Ying was much more lighthearted.

Hearing Chen Yan asking her to return briefly, her first response was, "What? Go back? I don't want to go back!"

She said, "The people here are all very interesting, and I'm having a lot of fun here!"

"I really love it here!"

Chen Yan: .....

He responded frustratedly, "You're not playing; you're working!"

"If it's work, there are necessary procedures!"

"You've been in Tiandu for so long, you need to come back to report as required!"

Half-understanding, Zhao Ying responded, "Oh," then inquired, "So what's this gathering about?"

Chen Yan explained, "It's a chance for you executives to exchange ideas."

"It's also organized by the company."

"Anyway, if we're asking you to come back, you should come back."

"Come for the gathering, then you can go back to Tiandu."

Hearing Chen Yan say this, Zhao Ying finally relented, begrudgingly saying, "Alright, alright, fine, I'll come back."

After chatting with Zhao Ying and hearing a few inside scoops only known internally, Chen Yan finally hung up the phone contentedly.

With three women taken care of, Chen Yan couldn't help but lie back in his chair, stare at the ceiling, and daydream about the future, "Ah~ this is the life!"

...

A day passed quickly.

In the evening, at Yang Rou's home.

After Yang Nuannuan had spoken that day, Yang Rou couldn't find a way to refuse.

Although she knew it was risky to let Yang Nuannuan return home, after all, Nuannuan was her daughter.

A grown child wanting to return to her side was something many parents long for...

So, that afternoon, Yang Rou took leave, hired a moving company, and moved everything back home with Yang Nuannuan.

Returning to the long-missed home, Nuannuan's eyes reddened slightly.

Back then, many misunderstandings had created a rift between mother and daughter, driving her from this home and keeping her away.

Having lived on her own, she had come to understand what 'home' and 'companionship' mean.

But because of the knots in her heart, she had always been unable to face her own feelings, unable to face Yang Rou.

And now, everything was over.

She had finally come home...

After the moving company left, Yang Nuannuan gently hugged her mother, leaning against Yang Rou's soft chest, and whispered softly, "Mom. When I've earned enough money, I'll buy this apartment and give it to you."

Hearing Yang Nuannuan's words, Yang Rou was stunned for a moment, then gently hugged Nuannuan back with a tender expression, "Alright..."

The mother and daughter hugged for a while, enjoying a moment of warmth that was just theirs.

Afterward, they began to clean up the house.

While Yang Rou was quite capable in corporate management, she was truly clueless about housework.

So, without Nuannuan, her home was always in disarray.

Being more motherly than her mother in this aspect, Yang Nuannuan, who had level 10 housework skills, finished what would have taken Rou three to four hours in just half an hour.

After they were done, both mother and daughter, out of breath, prepared to sit on the sofa to rest.

That was when...

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Hearing the sound of the doorbell, Yang Rou's heart began to 'thump-thump' violently.

At that moment, Yang Nuannuan reflexively got ready to get up and open the door.

Yang Rou couldn't let Nuannuan open the door.

She quickly got up and put her hand on Nuannuan's, saying, "I'll go open the door."

Nuannuan looked up at Yang Rou with confusion.

Fortunately, Yang Rou's expressions were never very rich and appeared cold, so it didn't make Nuannuan suspect anything.

Seeing her daughter's gaze, Yang Rou tried her best to suppress her panic.

She said coolly, "You've been tired for so long, let me go open it."

Although Nuannuan found her mother's helpfulness unusual today, she didn't detect any other issues and nodded in agreement.

Having handled Yang Nuannuan, Yang Rou got up, went to the door, and as she placed her hand on the doorknob, she looked back at Yang Nuannuan.

After confirming that Nuannuan wasn't paying attention, she pressed down on the doorknob.

Yang Rou was so nervous, fearing that Chen Yan would come looking for her in the middle of the night.

Turns out, it wasn't Chen Yan outside the door at all.

A delivery guy from SF Express, holding a package, said, "Does Nuan Nuan - the Best in the World live here? Please sign for this."

Hearing the screen name, Yang Rou was taken aback.

But she quickly reacted, coldly affirmed, "Yes."

Having said that, she took the pen, signed as Yang Nuannuan, and then took the package.

After closing the door, Yang Rou was a bit amused.

Feeling ridiculously paranoid about reacting so strongly to a delivery, she decided that to sleep peacefully tonight, it might be best to communicate with Chen Yan.

Thinking this, Yang Rou returned to the room, handed the package to Yang Nuannuan, then excused herself to the bathroom and sent Chen Yan a WeChat message explaining the situation.

Chen Yan wasn't planning to visit Yang Rou during this time, so he quickly agreed to her request.

This finally allowed Yang Rou to find a balance between her love and her daughter...

A quiet night passed.

The next day, Chen Yan contacted Lu Man to confirm the time and place of the gathering.

It was tomorrow night.

The location... wasn't anywhere else but in the presidential suite of the Twin Towers Hotel.

Lu Man had asked for this room from Chen Yan.

Chen Yan didn't know what she wanted with the room but... it was definitely more reliable than a yacht or the like.

At least "dumping a body" or something would be much harder.

To prevent the women from actually fighting, Chen Yan also arranged for the hotel staff to remove all sharp objects from the room.

In a flash, another day went by.

Finally, the day of the gathering for the four women arrived.

Whether it was a coincidence or something else, the three women all took leave from work without prior arrangement.

Only Zhao Ying was "working overtime," diligently traveling back to Qin Island from Tiandu by high-speed rail.

This made Chen Yan hardly in the mood for work.

So, at 6 PM, Chen Yan took out his phone, ready to ask if the women needed any help from him.

He picked up his cellphone first and dialed Lu Man's number...

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