Chapter 357: Son, I’m Your Father (11)

“Since you don’t agree to it, we won’t give you a second name then. We’ll maintain the status quo.”

“How are you going to answer when others ask about why your son doesn’t share the same last name as you?” asked a delighted An Youqing.

“I’ll decline to answer.”

“No, you must. How are you going to answer?” An Youqing insisted.

“I’ll just say that my son and his mother both refuse to let him take my last name. What else can I do?”

A gleeful smile formed on An Youqing’s face as he said, “So don’t let Mommy cry again in the future.”

“Did she cry a lot when she was abroad with you?”

“No, but you made Mommy cry for a very long while last night. Don’t think I don’t know.”

Last night? Did she? Jin Qingyan wondered in puzzlement as he recalled the events which took place the night before.

“Why didn’t I know about that?”

“You still refuse to admit it. I went to your bedroom this morning and there were so many clumps of tissue paper on the floor. Wasn’t it because Mommy cried a lot?”

Jin Qingyan was momentarily speechless.

“Um… that… that really wasn’t because your Mommy cried…” Jin Qingyan stuttered, unsure of how to explain the situation.

“Don’t think I’m ignorant just because I’m young. I know everything. Forget about deceiving me.”

“Daddy’s not lying to you. Think about it, it took me so much effort to woo your mother and you back. Why would I let Mommy cry? Well, about those tissues… um… those are because Daddy and Mommy are trying to give you a little Brother or Sister. Son, tell Daddy, would you like to have a younger brother or sister?” Jin Qingyan asked in all seriousness.

His question had managed to distract An Youqing.

“I want both.”

“What if you can only choose one?”

“I can’t decide. I’ll have whatever you give birth to,” said An Youqing, appearing to be stuck in a dilemma.

“If you want a younger sibling, then I’ll need your cooperation, Son.”

“How can I cooperate?”

“You’ll have to sleep alone in your room from now on.”

An Youqing turned to face him and said, “I still want to sleep together with Mommy.”

“That’s impossible.”

They soon arrived at the hair salon.

It was a salon Jin Qingyan frequented. Upon sight of him, the owner of the salon quickly greeted him warmly with a smile, “You’re here for a haircut, Mr. Jin?”

“Not me. Please give him a nice haircut.”

The owner looked down at An Youqing and was momentarily stunned. “Mr. Jin, this is your…”

“My son.”

“No wonder he resembles you so much. How secretive of you, Mr. Jin. Your son is already grown up yet this is the first time I heard of his existence.” The owner then handed a hairstyle catalogue to Jin Qingyan and said, “Pick one. These are all hairstyles that are suitable for children.”

Pointing at one of the hairstyles, Jin Qingyan said, “This one.”

“Alright. Come, take a seat here please, Little Sir.”

—

By the time An Xiaoning completed an hour of yoga and a 30-minute bath afterwards, Jin Qingyan and An Youqing were still yet to come home.

Thus, she decided to lie in bed to catch up on some reading.

She had long finished reading the two books given to her by old Mr. Gu and had in fact memorized their content by heart.

At the moment, she was reading some books about law and justice. She felt that doing so would give her an advantage since she ought to be well versed in the country’s laws and regulations in order to perform her task as a police investigator well.

Knock! knock!

“Ms. An, you have an urgent mail,” said Auntie Chen, who was knocking on the door outside her bedroom.

“Alright.” An Xiaoning put down her book and got out of bed to open the door.

After taking the letter from Auntie Chen, An Xiaoning could tell at one glance that the name of the sender was fake. It was simply too obvious.

She could not help but be reminded of the case of the dead rats perpetrated by Jin Qingyue back then.

After closing the door, An Xiaoning tore the envelope open to find that there was only a square piece of white paper inside.

There were a few lines written in black, which were obviously typed out and printed onto the paper.

The message was rather short and brief.

“I heard about you and your exceptionally accurate fortune-telling skills a few years ago. I’ve been waiting for the day to have a duel with you. An Xiaoning, please tell Jin Qingyan that I’ll make the Jin family pay for all the suffering and torment they have brought upon me! This is only the beginning of the war.”

Upon reading the message, the first thing that struck An Xiaoning’s mind was the photo of the little girl she found in Jin Qingyan’s bookshelf in the study. The nameless little girl who was Jin Qingyan’s half-sister from another mother.

An Xiaoning did not know why the girl crossed her mind.

The girl who had gone missing all of a sudden when she was twelve years old.

Was she seeking revenge now?

An Xiaoning had no clue as to who and where the sender was.

Besides, they were in the open while the anonymous sender was obscured under a cover.

Although An Xiaoning could empathize with how Jin Qingyan’s half-sister felt, she could not sit back and watch Jin Qingyan, Youqing, and herself be embroiled in this dangerous war.

The fact that the letter was sent to her just went to show that the sender had included the three of them in her plan for revenge.

She was ready to do everything in her power to deal with what awaited her.

A brief moment later, the father and son returned.

“Your hairstyle looks great. I like it,” An Xiaoning praised smilingly, delighted to see her son’s suave fresh cut.

“I think it looks great too.” Noticing that An Youqing was about to enter the master’s bedroom, Jin Qingyan quickly stopped him, “Go back to your own room to sleep.”

He then closed the door on An Youqing, leaving him outside the room.

“Have a look,” said An Xiaoning as she handed Jin Qingyan the piece of paper containing the letter.

“What’s this?”

“An anonymous sender mailed it to us. I was the receiver. But the sender wanted me to relay the message to you.”

After perusing the contents of the message, Jin Qingyan said, “Why do I feel like this is…”

“Sent by your half-sister…” An Xiaoning finished his sentence.

“Yes! But we can’t confirm if it’s really her at the moment,” said Jin Qingyan, clutching the piece of paper tightly.

“Forget about trying to investigate from this note. You won’t be able to find anything.”

Jin Qingyan ripped the piece of paper into shreds and dumped it into the bin before saying, “No matter who it may be, I won’t be afraid of anyone who’s here to look for trouble. Xiaoning, why don’t we let Youqing be homeschooled instead of letting him attend kindergarten?”

“Letting him be homeschooled will only isolate him from other children and hinder him from learning how to be independent. The kindergarten Wenlun and Xiaoxi go to is pretty good. I heard from Yangyang that the security there is really tight. After all, the fees are expensive for a reason.”

“I don’t feel safe. I’ll send some bodyguards to protect them at school.”

“That’s fine, but don’t let the children know about it. Otherwise, none of Youqing’s cla.s.smates would dare to play with him.”

“Got it,” Jin Qingyan agreed, finding that she did make sense.

Gazing at her covering her body under the duvet while lying on the bed, Jin Qingyan lifted the duvet to find that she was scantily clad. He let out a chuckle and said suggestively, “Wait for me, I’ll go take a shower. Be right back.”

“Who’s waiting for you?”

“You of course.”

He then zoomed towards the bathroom.

Before he even reached the bathroom, the door of their bedroom opened and An Youqing popped his head in through the crack.

“Where did you get the keys?”

“I asked Uncle s.h.i.+xin for them,” said An Youqing, showing Jin Qingyan the keys in his hands.

“Do you want to take a shower?”

“With you?”

“Come in if you’d like to take a shower. Otherwise, go outside,” said Jin Qingyan as he pushed the door of the bathroom open.