DLRC – Chapter 74 The Days Ahead Are Long

“Husband?”

Yu Wei was momentarily stunned, but she quickly snapped back to her senses after just two seconds. Without explaining anything to the woman, she responded with a calm smile.

“Mommy.”

After lunch, Yu Hui’s little tummy was round and taut. If you lifted his sweater now, you’d find a soft, pale little dumpling hidden inside!

His mouth and stomach were satisfied, but his heart was starting to feel empty.

Lunch was over, which meant Mommy would be leaving to go home. The sadness that had just faded began to creep back in again.

“All done eating?” Yu Wei walked over to take a look. The little panda lunchbox was completely empty—even the glutinous rice ball had been devoured.

“Mm… I finished.” Yu Hui’s eyes clung tightly to her face, unwilling to look away. He cherished every second he had with his mom.

“Alright then, you probably have class coming up. Mommy will head home now and come pick you up in the afternoon, okay?”

Yu Hui looked at her for a long moment before finally speaking. His little head bobbed gently:  “Mommy, come pick me up a little earlier.”

Yu Wei’s smile deepened. She pulled him into her arms and hugged him for a moment.

“Okay, Mommy will wait for you at the school gate early.”

After finishing Mommy’s lovingly made panda bento, Yu Hui’s mood skyrocketed from one star to five stars in an instant.

As Yu Wei left the classroom, Fang Man waved to everyone and called out, “Alright everyone, Hui Hui’s mommy is leaving now. Polite kids, what should you say?”

The entire class of little children turned their eyes to Yu Wei and Yu Hui and shouted in unison:  “Thank you, Hui Hui’s mommy——!”

Just bringing her son a meal and watching him recover from his gloomy state instantly lifted Yu Wei’s mood for the entire afternoon.

Work at the dessert shop picked up again in an orderly manner. Good things really do come in bunches—despite the slow morning, by the afternoon Yu Wei was so busy she couldn’t catch a break. Half of the desserts were sold out, and she had to rush into the kitchen again to make more.

But without her son sitting outside as her little “supervisor,” she had to run back and forth nonstop. Honestly, it was exhausting—just half a day and her old back was already aching so badly she could barely straighten up.

At 3:30 p.m., Yu Wei needed to leave to pick up her son from school, but there were still a few customers in the shop.

After shutting down the kitchen appliances, she walked out to the front to ring up the customers.

“Hi, that’ll be eighty-six cents.”

“Alrighty,” the woman said cheerfully, pulling out some cash.

Yu Wei looked curiously at the three people queuing behind her and asked, “Is there a special event or holiday coming up? There’ve been a lot more people buying cakes today.”

The woman was counting money but beamed when she heard the question: “Of course! New Year’s is in a couple of days, so people are stocking up on cake to enjoy at home.”

So it was almost New Year’s! Yu Wei mentally scolded herself—how could she forget such an important holiday?

Today was December 27. That meant there were about five days left. And if New Year’s was almost here, then Spring Festival must not be far off either.

She didn’t have a calendar at home, and she wasn’t sure if the phone’s calendar was accurate, so she’d check that out later when she got home.

After serving the last customer, she didn’t wait to see if more would come—she shut the door without hesitation and happily went off to pick up her son!

The dessert shop was fairly close to the subdistrict kindergarten where Yu Hui attended, so it took her less than twenty minutes on foot. As she approached, she could already see a crowd of parents gathered up ahead.

It was quite a lively scene—mostly moms or grandparents; there were very few dads.

Even among the crowd, Yu Wei stood out as a striking presence. Her looks naturally drew attention from all directions.

She quietly waited for dismissal in a peaceful corner diagonally across from the school gate. Taking a peek at her phone, it looked like there were still seven or eight minutes to go.

Right on cue, the dismissal bell rang, and Yu Wei excitedly moved with the crowd toward the school entrance. It was her first time picking up her child and she had no experience. She couldn’t compete with these veteran parents. After taking just a few steps, she was completely jostled out of the crowd and ended up who-knows-where.

On the street directly across from the kindergarten entrance, a gray sedan was parked by the roadside.

“Boss, Director Lou came by today about a partnership. Should I take you back first?” Chen Liang was baffled. Normally, Huo Mingwang had either him or Xiao Li pick up Sun Aiying, or the child’s mother would come herself.

But today, the mother had something come up and asked Chen Liang to help pick up the kid—and to his surprise, the boss insisted on coming along.

“No rush.” Huo Mingwang’s eyes were fixed on a beautiful figure not far from the school gate. The woman, flustered from being shoved out of the crowd, looked completely disheveled. A rare smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Chen Liang couldn’t understand what was going on with his boss today. Talking business with Director Lou was a big deal, yet here he was, setting work aside just to help pick up Sun Aiying. It felt… out of character.

Hopefully, Director Lou wouldn’t be upset. Chen Liang secretly broke into a sweat for his boss.

But Huo Mingwang had no idea what Chen Liang was thinking. His gaze remained locked on the woman across the street, who was anxiously scanning the area. His mind kept echoing with the answer he’d mulled over all night yesterday.

He realized he still couldn’t forget her. Couldn’t convince himself to keep punishing her either.

He could still vividly recall how he felt when he saw the paternity test report—that sharp pain, like a needle stabbing into his heart. Like someone had taken his suspended heart and smashed it from a mountaintop into pieces.

He sat frozen for a long time in his cold office, body temperature spiking uncontrollably.

Before the results came out, he had imagined two possible outcomes.

Either the child was his—or he wasn’t.

The result he got was exactly what he expected. But the moment he heard it, he was still overwhelmed with joy.

That intense excitement, the rush of surprise, flooded every inch of him in an instant. The blood in his veins felt like it was boiling. And then he thought of what people had uncovered about Yu Wei’s life after returning to the city.

There was just one thing he couldn’t understand—something that to this day remained a mystery to him.

If Yu Wei had no feelings for him at all, why would she have the child and love their son so deeply?

But if she still had even a trace of affection for him, then how could she have been so heartless as to leave him back then?

He couldn’t make sense of it—not for days. His mind kept looping through memories of their sweet days in that mountain village, the pain they endured, everything they had shared, all tangled up like threads he couldn’t unravel.

The past, distant and shadowed, tormented him so badly it triggered his illness again.

All that he had suffered—he felt that woman deserved a thousand cuts for it. But reality is cruel. The moment he saw her again, the hate was still there… but also the yearning of five long years.

In the end, he gave himself a way out. He comforted himself: Yu Wei had lost her memory now. That, to him, seemed like a solution—a way to free himself from the chains of guilt and resentment.

Huo Mingwang let out a heavy sigh. The beautiful woman across the street had finally broken free from the crowd.

She was on her tiptoes, peering eagerly into the kindergarten, then suddenly waved excitedly toward a spot inside. A moment later, a tightly bundled little figure darted into her arms like an arrow.

That child was his son.

Her son.

Their son.

“We saw each other just four hours ago, and now here we are again.” Yu Wei bent down and poked her son’s forehead. The little guy opened his arms, asking to be picked up.

She helplessly scooped him up. “You’re getting heavier, you little piggy.”

“I’m not a little piggy, Mommy,” Yu Hui protested, clinging to her neck and planting several kisses on her cheek.

At school, Yu Hui pretended to be a cool and aloof little prince. But the moment he stepped out of the kindergarten, he turned into a wild horse off its reins. Some of his classmates who saw him went wide-eyed in disbelief as he dashed excitedly into his mother’s arms.

That excited little expression of his truly revealed that he was just a four-year-old boy.

His small backpack was slung over his shoulders—it was a blue one with a cartoon kitten on it, and a little panda plush toy was hanging from the zipper. To be honest, the panda really matched the new backpack quite well.

This novel style was bought from the imported goods section, and earlier today, a lot of kids had come over to touch it secretly. Their eyes were sparkling with admiration, all saying how jealous they were of Yu Hui.

“Alright, alright, your drool is all over my face.” Yu Wei leaned her head back slightly to avoid him, but the little guy wasn’t ready to give up—giggling, he leaned in to kiss her face again.

“Mama, I missed you so much!”

What mother could resist such an affectionate confession from her dear son? Yu Wei’s heart was completely filled with his sweet words, and she immediately leaned in and planted a kiss on his chubby, fair little face.

“I missed you too, my good boy.”

Yu Hui happily wrapped his arms around her neck, his eyes curving into crescent moons as he smiled widely, his rosy little mouth constantly babbling on about something.

“How was your day at kindergarten? Did you have fun?”

Resting on his mom’s shoulder, Yu Hui looked around at the crowd passing by and replied, “Mm… it was just kinda fun.”

Yu Wei patted his little butt with a chuckle. “Just kinda fun? So how much fun is that?”

“It’s like…” Yu Hui thought carefully, then pressed two little fingers together and held them up in front of her. “Mama, it was just this much fun.”

And even that little bit of fun was only because Mama had come at noon with his panda lunchbox to visit him. Otherwise, he would have been an unhappy little boy all day.

Yu Wei was both amused and helpless. Her son’s way of expressing things was certainly… unique.

Mother and son slowly made their way out of the crowd. The little guy looked down at the people from his elevated perch and suddenly remembered Uncle Huo. If Uncle Huo were carrying him right now, he’d be the tallest kid around!

He had already noticed that many other kids were taller because their dads had picked them up. Their dads were tall—but Uncle Huo was even taller!

But that thought would stay just a thought. He didn’t dare say anything about wanting Uncle Huo to be his dad in front of his mom.

Mama didn’t seem to want to find him a dad. Although that made him feel a tiny bit regretful, it was fine—having Mama was already more than enough.

Maybe because Yu Hui was thinking about Huo Mingwang, just as mother and son reached the middle of the road, a tall and familiar figure suddenly appeared in their line of sight.

That man in the black suit, with his outstanding features and starry eyes, was standing by a small car on the roadside. Under the gazes of many passersby, he stood quietly there, seemingly looking right at them with his deep eyes.

Yu Wei shivered slightly. Every time she saw Huo Mingwang now, her mind would automatically recall what Yu Hui had once whispered in her ear:

“Mama, does Uncle Huo want to be my daddy?”

Yu Wei picked up her pace and tried to hurry past the area where his car was parked. But unexpectedly, he called out to her.

“Yu Wei!”

Another shiver. She wanted to keep walking and pretend she hadn’t heard, but his leather shoes clicked crisply on the ground, and in just three strides, he was behind her—grabbing Yu Hui’s little hand that had been dangling in the air.

It was as if there was some kind of telepathic connection—Yu Hui turned his head and met his gaze, his big eyes full of curiosity.

“Mama, it’s Uncle Huo.” Feeling the man’s warm grip, Yu Hui remembered how nice it had felt to be held by Uncle Huo in the hospital—so warm and cozy.

But more than anything, he was surprised. He had just been thinking about Uncle Huo, and now he’d appeared right in front of him.

Wasn’t that magical?

“Mr. Huo.” Yu Wei had no choice now but to stop. She turned around with her son in her arms and offered Huo Mingwang a polite smile. “What a coincidence.”

Huo Mingwang’s expression didn’t change, but a gentle light flickered in his eyes as he looked at her.

He cleared his throat and gave Yu Hui’s soft little hand a slight squeeze. “What a coincidence. Are you here to pick up your child too?”

The little guy stared at Huo Mingwang in confusion, unsure why he hadn’t let go of his hand yet.

All he could think was that Uncle Huo’s hand was rough, completely different from his mama’s soft one. The coarse pads of his fingers scraped his delicate skin and stung a little.

Yu Wei was at a loss. While the two of them locked eyes, she tried to guess what this man’s intentions could be, taking a small step back—finally freeing her son’s hand from his grip.

Huo Mingwang reluctantly let go.

Looking at Yu Wei’s emotionless face, he felt frustrated and helpless. He didn’t even know where to direct this frustration. Sure, he had kept a cold face in front of her recently—but honestly, it was all an act!

Especially after learning the truth, he knew he could never treat her indifferently again.

Now, he was even a bit grateful that Yu Wei had completely forgotten the past. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to act like nothing had happened.

Seeing him staring at her like a fool, Yu Wei furrowed her brows in confusion. “You’re here to pick up a kid too?”

“Mm.” He responded softly and turned his gaze to Yu Hui.

The sudden attention made the little guy blush. He immediately buried his face into his mother’s neck, inhaling her comforting scent.

But Yu Wei found this odd. He said “too,” like her—so he came to pick up a child? He already had a child?

While she was still trying to figure it out, Huo Mingwang suddenly waved someone over. A tiny figure came running up with short legs.

“It’s Uncle Huo!”

Sun Aiying was so excited she didn’t even notice Yu Wei and Yu Hui standing beside them. “Uncle Huo, you came too!”

Uncle Chen had picked her up earlier, so she figured her mom was busy again—but seeing Uncle Huo was an unexpected surprise.

“Mm.” Huo Mingwang smiled at the corners of his eyes, bent down to pick her up, and then turned to Yu Wei. “I’m just taking her home. Want to come along since it’s on the way?”

Even Yu Wei, slow as she sometimes was, had a vague sense of what Huo Mingwang was getting at.

What the heck? Was this man seriously interested in her? Offering to give her a ride home?

Given his recent odd behavior—not interested? Who would believe that? He wasn’t even trying to hide it. And with that gentlemanly attitude… Was he actually trying to pursue her?

Yu Wei wasn’t narcissistic to the point of delusion, but she could still tell—Huo Mingwang did seem different toward her.

Only now did Sun Aiying notice Yu Wei and Yu Hui. She stared wide-eyed. “Yu Hui?! What are you guys doing here? Were you here to pick me up?”

Oh my god, she was the luckiest girl in the world! So many people came to pick her up today!

Yu Hui lifted his head from his mama’s shoulder. Uncle Huo was still looking at him. Faced with those warm eyes, he surprisingly answered her:

“My mom came to pick me up.” Not you.

Yu Wei ruffled her son’s soft hair, not wanting to get tangled up with Huo Mingwang. She was a single mom, and he—he was a big-shot CEO. Or, well, she didn’t even know if he was single. Either way, someone like him wasn’t someone a regular citizen like her could ever “reach.”

So she didn’t dwell on it. She smiled politely at Sun Aiying, then turned to Huo Mingwang. “Thanks, but there’s no need to trouble you.”

She firmly rejected him. “Actually, it’s not really on the way. I’m not going back to the shop—I’m taking my son straight home.”

Her smile remained polite, but the distance in her tone was clear.

Huo Mingwang hadn’t expected her to turn him down. His arms tightened slightly around Sun Aiying. “You’re closing up this early?”

Yu Wei kept smiling. “Yes, I wanted to take my son home early to rest. I’m not opening the store again today.”

She had originally planned to stop by the store for a bit longer, but now—no way.

After speaking, she thanked him and turned away, taking long strides—twice her usual pace—and quickly walked across the street under Huo Mingwang’s burning gaze.

Behind her, he stood watching her back. On her shoulder, Yu Hui looked back at Uncle Huo, then lifted his small hand and gave him a tiny wave.

Seeing that soft little hand, the darkness on the man’s face seemed to lift slightly.

He chuckled quietly, the corners of his lips curving ever so slightly.

It’s alright. After all, with Yu Wei… there’s still a long road ahead.