Chapter 86: All-Night Talk

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: All-Night Talk

Jiang Fan glanced at the time and realized it was already eleven-thirty.

Time really flew by.

"You guys go on to lunch. I’ll join you after I finish this up."

He was in the zone, his mind a fountain of inspiration. Ideas and plans were surfacing one after another.

Seeing the fervent look in his eyes, Sun Yanzi said nothing.

When they all returned from lunch, Jiang Fan was still typing furiously at his keyboard, brimming with enthusiasm.

Li Muwan stepped out of her office a few times, and each time she saw Jiang Fan’s tireless drive, an imperceptible flash of satisfaction crossed her eyes.

’The men she despised most were the lazy good-for-nothings who had no real skills to speak of, yet held sky-high ambitions.’

’But then there was Jiang Fan. He was truly capable and smart, and on top of that, he was willing to put in the hard work and effort.’

Time passed like that until the end of the workday. When Jiang Fan finally looked up again, most of his colleagues had already left. Only a few people remained, their heads still buried in their work.

He stretched, then glanced at his phone.

He saw several texts from Yin Ruxue, including a few voice messages from Mengmeng.

He tapped one open and heard Mengmeng’s sweet, lilting voice.

Daddy, when are you coming home?

Daddy, Mengmeng misses you.

I want to eat candied haws. Will you bring some home, Daddy?

Mengmeng also wants strawberries, and hawthorns...

But Mommy won’t let me eat any...

...

Listening to the voice messages, a gentle smile crept onto Jiang Fan’s lips.

’Who could possibly resist such a sweet, well-behaved little sweetheart?’

He glanced at his proposal draft; he still had a good portion left to finish.

Jiang Fan closed his laptop and slid it into his bag.

Slinging the laptop bag over one shoulder, he rushed out of the office building as fast as he could.

On the way home, Jiang Fan made a special trip to buy strawberries, hawthorns, candied haws, and roasted chestnuts.

Many people would say such things were unhealthy and offered no real benefit to a child’s development.

’But in Jiang Fan’s opinion, life was short. Constantly telling a child she couldn’t eat this or that because it was unhealthy did her childhood no favors.’

’As far as he was concerned, if his child wanted to eat something, he should let her have a taste.’

Carrying the bag of treats, Jiang Fan arrived back at the villa.

As he was walking through the neighborhood, Jiang Fan spotted a familiar figure.

Li Xiangyang!

The bruises and swelling on his face hadn’t faded at all. With his face swollen up like a pig’s, he was hurrying away from the villa.

Perhaps it was the old saying about enemies seeing red when they cross paths, or maybe it was just some strange intuition.

The two of them turned their heads at the exact same moment. Their eyes met, and sparks of hostility seemed to flash in the air between them.

A venomous look crossed Li Xiangyang’s face.

If looks could kill, Jiang Fan would have been disintegrated on the spot.

But Jiang Fan remained perfectly calm and unbothered, paying him no mind at all.

He swaggered toward the villa with his bag of goodies.

In contrast, Li Xiangyang scurried away like a beaten dog.

Yin Ruxue was in the living room, helping Mengmeng with her reading. When she saw Jiang Fan walk in with the bag, she was visibly taken aback for a moment, followed by a flash of pleasant surprise deep in her eyes.

"Daddy, you’re back!!"

"Did you bring yummy treats for Mengmeng?"

Like a baby bird returning to its nest, Mengmeng flew into Jiang Fan’s arms.

Seeing the big bag of snacks in his hand, Mengmeng danced with delight. She wrapped her arms around Jiang Fan’s head and planted a big kiss on his cheek.

"Mengmeng loves Daddy the most!"

"Have you been a good girl at home? Did you listen to Mommy?"

"I did! Mommy said that if Mengmeng was a good girl and memorized three old poems, Daddy would come home today and bring me yummy treats."

"Mengmeng memorized four today!"

"And Daddy really did bring treats for Mengmeng! And so many!"

Mengmeng beamed.

"Such a good girl. Go on, have some."

Jiang Fan placed the bag in her arms and ruffled her hair.

"Mengmeng, didn’t you say you were going to recite the poems you learned for Daddy?"

"Now that Daddy’s back, all you can think about is snacks, isn’t that right?"

Watching Mengmeng, who was sitting beside her, a gentle smile graced Yin Ruxue’s lips.

"Let her eat first. There’s no rush."

Jiang Fan pulled up a chair and sat down, quietly watching his daughter.

"Daddy, have some of this."

Mengmeng took a bite of a candied haw, her eyes squinting in delight.

Then she offered it to him.

His eyes crinkling with a smile, Jiang Fan opened his mouth and took a bite of one of the haws.

The next moment, his expression contorted.

Mengmeng burst into laughter and spat out her own piece of the candied haw.

"You little rascal, you tricked me."

Jiang Fan quickly gulped down some water and rinsed out his mouth.

’He wanted to find the old man who sold these and throttle him. How could they possibly be this sour?’

"Be a good girl, Mengmeng. Let’s throw this away. Don’t eat it. Daddy will buy you new, sweet ones later."

Jiang Fan took the candied haw stick from Mengmeng’s hand and tossed it in the trash.

"Okaaaay~"

Mengmeng agreed in a sing-song voice, then picked up the small basket of strawberries and ran into the kitchen.

"Daddy, I’ll wash some strawberries for you!"

"Okay, you’re such a good girl, Mengmeng."

Jiang Fan called back his approval. But as he and Yin Ruxue sat together in the living room, the atmosphere grew quiet.

Yin Ruxue was the one to break the silence. "She’s always at home, hoping you’ll come back. If you have time, could you try to visit her more often?"

"Mhm," Jiang Fan answered softly.

The chilly atmosphere lingered until Mengmeng ran back in after washing the strawberries.

She picked out the biggest, reddest strawberry and held it up to Jiang Fan’s mouth.

"Here, Daddy, eat this."

Jiang Fan took a bite. "Anything my little treasure feeds me is sweet. You can have the rest..."

But before he could finish, Mengmeng stuffed the other half of the strawberry into Yin Ruxue’s mouth.

"Mommy, you eat the strawberry butt!"

’Isn’t this basically an indirect kiss?’ Yin Ruxue blushed.

She then shot a subtle, almost imperceptible glance at Jiang Fan out of the corner of her eye.

She saw him sitting there, completely unfazed—not a hint of a blush on his face.

’She couldn’t help but feel a knot of irritation form in her chest.’

But Mengmeng held another strawberry to her lips. "Mommy, eat the pointy tip."

"You’re such a good girl, sweetheart. Why don’t you eat it? Mommy doesn’t want any more."

"No, no! Mommy, eat it!"

Left with no choice, Yin Ruxue could only take a small bite.

But the little imp then took the rest of that strawberry and tried to stuff it into Jiang Fan’s mouth.

"Now it’s Daddy’s turn to eat the strawberry butt!"

Seeing the genuine joy in Mengmeng’s smile, Jiang Fan didn’t refuse. He opened his mouth and ate the rest of the strawberry in one bite.

He then picked up another strawberry, popped it into Mengmeng’s mouth, and had her sit to the side to eat.

"Alright now, be a good girl, Mengmeng. Daddy has to do some work."

Jiang Fan took out his laptop and placed it on the table.