Today, the couple came to the same mall where Nian Suian had previously bought clothes and had dinner with Cen Xi.
Nian Suian told Gu Junxing, "Last time, we bought your clothes at this mall." Unfortunately, Gu Junxing had recently started working and had gone back to wearing his usual three outfits.
"Didn't we say the cake here was delicious last time? Shall we buy some today?"
"Sure. Let's get it before we leave."
Gu Junxing checked the time again and asked Nian Suian, "How about we have dinner out today before going home?"
Nian Suian turned to look at him, "Aren't you going to the office?"
"I'm not going today. There's no urgent work."
"Comrade Gu Junxing, is your work attitude becoming a bit problematic lately? Leaving early is one thing, but now you're skipping work entirely. Don't let my shares depreciate, okay?"
"You can rest assured about that. It definitely won't happen," Gu Junxing said, then looked at Nian Suian teasingly. "Why don't you come work at the company? You could be in charge of monitoring the CEO's attendance. How about that?"
"Not interested."
Work? She couldn't work at all.
"I'll pay you. How much monthly salary do you want?"
"That's an abuse of power, giving preferential treatment! Be careful, or your employees and other shareholders will accuse you of being incompetent and tyrannical."
"If I'm incompetent and tyrannical, then who are you? Yang Guifei or Daji?" Of course, the salary would come from his personal account. Gu Junxing was just joking with Nian Suian.
Nian Suian was speechless. "Those two didn't have very good endings. Don't jinx me."
The couple arrived at the store and quickly chose the latest model of phone. They then handed over the old phone for repair, as it could still serve as a backup even if it wasn't completely broken.
"What do you want to eat?"
Nian Suian immediately said, "Chicken hotpot! I had it last time with Zhijing's homeroom teacher. It was delicious."
"Alright, let's go."
"Have you ever eaten this kind of food outside?" Nian Suian thought that tycoons probably only ate Western food or home-cooked meals when dining out. She had never seen a domineering CEO in any novel eating chicken hotpot.
"I have. Liu Jian loves it. I've had it a few times when dining with them."
"Oh!" Well, she had forgotten that Mr. Gu wasn't an ordinary domineering CEO.
"Junxing?"
"Uncle? Aunt? What are you doing here?"
Nian Suian didn't recognize the elderly couple speaking, but Gu Junxing clearly did.
She thought to herself that this mall was really something special, running into acquaintances every time they came.
"Uncle, Aunt, this is my wife, Suian," he said, then introduced Nian Suian, "Suian, these are Zhijing's maternal grandparents."
So they were the former in-laws!
Nian Suian was slightly surprised internally, but she still smiled and greeted them politely.
Running into the parents of your ex-wife while shopping with your current wife – it was bound to be a somewhat awkward scenario.
However...
"You must be Suisu! I held you when you were little!"
Huh?
This statement might not seem problematic on its own, but the issue was that it was said to the current wife of their daughter's ex-husband, which made it quite strange.
The problem was that the elderly couple was all smiles, showing no signs of awkwardness. Gu Junxing, on the other hand, looked rather shocked. He truly hadn't known about this connection.
"Your mother's name is Shu Lan, if I remember correctly?"
Nian Suian nodded, "You know my mother?" After the incident with her father, she had come to terms with the fact that her mother shared the same name as the original Nian Suian's mother.
Zhijing's grandmother smiled, "Yes, I do. Your mother liked to take you everywhere, even to gatherings. I held you several times. You look just like your mother."
"Uncle, Aunt, weren't you staying at Zhijing's uncle's place?" Gu Junxing asked.
"An old friend's child is getting married, and we were invited to attend the wedding. We're also taking the opportunity to stay here for a while."
Zhijing's grandmother smiled kindly and patted Nian Suian's hand. She then said to Gu Junxing, "We have dinner plans with friends tonight, so we'll be going now. Another day, bring Suisu and Zhijing over for a meal at our place."
Even after they left, Nian Suian still felt a bit dazed...
This wasn't what she had imagined. Although Gu Junxing and his ex-wife had an amicable divorce and weren't at odds with each other, this level of harmony seemed a bit strange!
Sensing Nian Suian's confusion, Gu Junxing said, "Don't find it odd. Their family has always been like this. Though I didn't expect us to have such a connection. Who would have thought?"
"You mean the fact that your former mother-in-law held me when I was little? You call that a connection? You city folks sure have some modern ideas."
Gu Junxing chuckled, "I was just thinking, since your mother often took you out, maybe I held you when you were little too."
"That doesn't prove we have a connection. It just proves you're old," Nian Suian teased Gu Junxing.
After having dinner together, they returned home. When Nanny Zhang learned that they had eaten out together, she couldn't stop smiling.
She even took the opportunity to whisper to Gu Junxing while Nian Suian was upstairs changing clothes, hinting about giving Zhijing a little sister.
Nanny Zhang had worked for the Gu family for many years, and usually, Gu Junxing didn't treat her as an ordinary servant. But today, when he heard her say this, he immediately became serious.
"Nanny Zhang, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, and you should pretend you never said it. Don't mention this again, and especially don't say anything to Suian about it. This isn't something you should be concerned about."
Seeing Gu Junxing so serious, Nanny Zhang realized she had said something wrong and immediately promised never to bring it up again.
"Don't mention anything about brothers or sisters in front of Zhijing either."
"I understand. Don't worry, sir."
Gu Zhijing didn't know about these things and had never thought about having siblings. As soon as he got home from school today, he happily went to find Nian Suian, having something to tell her.
However, Nian Suian wasn't in her room at the moment. Knocking on the door didn't find her, but instead brought Gu Junxing out of his study.
"She's upstairs, in Tangyuan's Room."
"Oh!" Gu Zhijing was about to go upstairs, but then thought better of it and turned back to bring Gu Junxing along. "I have something to tell both of you."
Gu Junxing realized that his son was now almost as tall as him, which made him feel a bit nostalgic.
"We ran into your grandparents at the mall today. Give them a call later, and we'll go have a meal with them this weekend."
Gu Zhijing was surprised to hear this. "When did Grandma and Grandpa come back?"
"Recently. They're staying for a while. You can go play with them, but don't accept any money from them."
Gu Junxing had always forbidden Zhijing's grandparents from giving him money. Even when Lin Qingwei gave him money, it wasn't given directly but put into an account for him to access when he came of age.
In middle school, Gu Zhijing had spent tens of thousands on game skins. When Gu Junxing found out, he gave him a beating and started strictly controlling his money.
"Alright, I got it." Gu Zhijing inwardly groaned, wishing he hadn't been so extravagant before. Now he felt so poor.
Gu Junxing then asked his son, "What did you want to tell us today?"
"It's about Wang Jiayao and Li Yaxin."