Becoming a Scum A in an Old-School Melodramatic Novel - Chapter 14

Early the next morning, after dropping off the child, Shen Xian hurried back home. She had signed many similar agreements before, so handling this kind of thing was easy for her. In less than half an hour, she had finalized a contract and saved it onto a USB drive, planning to head to a print shop shortly.

Leaving her room, Shen Xian went to find Fang Jinglan.
“Mom, I’m going to move in and stay with Tian Tian and the others for a while.”

Fang Jinglan’s expression changed slightly, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
“Shen Xian, tell me honestly — have you and Qinghan gotten back together?”

Shen Xian gave a helpless smile.
“Definitely not. It’s just that Lin Zhixin keeps bothering Qinghan lately. Last time, he even scared Tian Tian to tears. I’m moving over for a while to prevent him from causing more trouble.”

Fang Jinglan patted Shen Xian’s shoulder.
“Just be careful, don’t get into a fight with Lin Zhixin. If anything happens, call the police. Oh, and do you have enough money?” Fang Jinglan, still concerned, was about to give her daughter some living expenses.

Shen Xian smiled and gently stopped her.
“Mom, I’ve earned a bit of money recently. You really don’t need to give me any. Save it for you and Dad. I’m going out to buy a few things.”

After saying goodbye, Shen Xian printed and bound the contract she needed for the afternoon, went to a store to buy a suitcase, then picked up some toiletries and daily necessities before finally going to shop for pajamas.

The first thing that caught her eye was a matching parent-child pajama set — black and white cow-print ones. The more Shen Xian looked at them, the more she felt her little one would love them, so she decided to buy them.

“Hello, this pajama set you’ve picked is a set for three — two adults and one child. We don’t sell them separately,” the store clerk explained when she saw Shen Xian only picking out two.

“Oh, really?” Shen Xian thought to herself that Lin Qinghan definitely wouldn’t wear matching pajamas with them, but she still paid for the full set anyway.

After shopping, Shen Xian took a cab and used the spare key Lin Qinghan had given her to drop off the items. She had a quick lunch outside, then rushed to the same café from yesterday. She hadn’t waited long before Jiang Xi arrived.

Seeing Shen Xian already there, Jiang Xi smiled brightly, the grin never leaving her face.
“Sis, you’re so early!”

“I just got here too. Here’s the contract — take a look and see if anything needs to be changed.” Shen Xian handed it over.

Jiang Xi cheerfully started reading through it. After finishing, she gave Shen Xian a big thumbs-up.
“Awesome, Sis! I think it’s perfect. Let’s sign it. Sis, I’m counting on you to prove to my dad that I’m not just a salted fish! At least let him know I’m a salted fish with good taste!”

Shen Xian looked at her, at a loss for words. Alright then, so she still wants to be a salted fish… This kid really has some “ambitious” goals.
“Okay. The contract is in two copies. We both need to sign and leave a fingerprint.”

“Got it!” Without hesitation, Jiang Xi grabbed both copies and quickly signed and stamped them. Shen Xian shook her head with a smile and signed her name as well. This kid was lucky it was her she was dealing with — if it had been someone else, who knows how much of that {ten million} would be left?

“Sis, I’ll transfer the money to you now. Which account should I send it to?”

That morning, Shen Xian had already opened a new bank account to handle the {ten million yuan}.
“Transfer it to this one. I just opened it this morning for our financial dealings.”

Jiang Xi took the card and did a flurry of fast, confident taps on her phone. Shen Xian’s phone buzzed with a new message — the transfer had come through. The string of zeros was enough to blind the average person.

Shen Xian held out her hand with a smile.
“President Jiang, looking forward to working with you.”

“Sis, looking forward to working with you too! But it feels weird when you call me President Jiang, hehe.”

“What’s weird about it? If our collaboration goes well this year, we could consider starting a business together next year.”

“Awesome! Sis, I’m counting on you!” Jiang Xi treated Shen Xian like family already, even though she hadn’t made a profit yet.

After leaving the café, Jiang Xi drove her flashy Porsche and dropped Shen Xian off at the mall before heading home.

Shen Xian went into the mall, first buying a laptop, then browsing for a new phone. Her current one was lagging badly. She remembered that the last time she saw Lin Qinghan, her phone wasn’t in great shape either. So Shen Xian simply bought two. This shopping trip alone cost her over ten thousand yuan, but now that she had the funds, making money didn’t seem so hard anymore.

Once everything was done, Shen Xian went to wait for little Tian Tian to get out of school. By now, Shen Tian was used to being picked up by Shen Xian. As soon as she walked out of the school gates, her big eyes scanned the crowd, quickly spotting Shen Xian. Like a little cannonball, she launched herself forward and latched onto Shen Xian’s leg.

Shen Xian quickly bent down to shield the little one, smiling.
“Mommy’s not running away. No need to be in such a rush, Tian Tian. You might fall.”

Tian Tian clung to her leg and whined adorably,
“Tian Tian missed Mommy~”

Shen Xian gently patted her head, smiling.
“Okay. Mommy’s moving in today to live with Tian Tian.”

“Yay! Now Tian Tian will have both Mom and Mommy with her every day!” As she spoke, the two little tufts on her head bobbed around cutely.

While the two of them were talking, Lin Qinghan arrived on her little e-scooter. As soon as Tian Tian saw her, she did the same thing — ran over and clung to her leg. Her little mouth as sweet as honey, she said,
“Mom, Tian Tian missed Mom!”

Lin Qinghan smiled and tapped Tian Tian on the nose.
“You’re such a sweet talker.”

“Heehee! Mommy is sweet too~” Tiantian made sure to drag Shen Xian into the praise as well.

Lin Qinghan placed Shen Tian on the front footrest of the scooter, waved to Shen Xian, and Shen Xian swung her leg over to sit on the back seat of the small electric bike. Holding a laptop bag and a pouch with her phone in one hand, she used her other hand to steady herself by grabbing onto Lin Qinghan — but the grip was unsteady. Left with no choice, she reached further forward and wrapped her arm around Lin Qinghan’s waist.

Lin Qinghan felt a sudden tightness around her waist and looked down at the hand resting on her midsection. Shen Xian usually avoided physical contact with her as much as possible — what was going on today? Did Shen Xian think she had ulterior motives by inviting her to move in? Lin Qinghan turned to glance behind and saw Shen Xian’s other hand was carrying quite a few things. Realizing she was overthinking it, Lin Qinghan let out a small sigh of relief.

Before long, the three of them were back at Lin Qinghan’s place. After Lin Qinghan locked the scooter, Shen Tian bounced happily between the two women, grabbing one of Lin Qinghan’s hands and one of Shen Xian’s, smiling brightly, “Tian Tian wants Mommy and Mom to hold her hands together!”

Shen Xian glanced at Lin Qinghan, then held the little one’s hand as they headed back. With both women holding her hands, Tian Tian was thrilled, chattering nonstop along the way.

As soon as they got home, Lin Qinghan headed to the kitchen. Shen Xian ruffled the little one’s hair and followed. “Qinghan, let me cook. You go play with Tian Tian.”

Lin Qinghan casually refused, “No need. I already took the ingredients out — it’s not much work.”

But Shen Xian ended up pushing Lin Qinghan, who was about to wash the vegetables, out of the kitchen and took over instead. Watching Shen Xian busying herself in the kitchen, Lin Qinghan spaced out a little. If only Shen Xian had been like this before… But she quickly shook her head. There was no going back between them now. Their only real connection was Tian Tian. Without her, she and Shen Xian would’ve long become complete strangers.

Lin Qinghan turned and went to the living room to watch Shen Tian draw. Before long, Shen Xian finished cooking. After the three of them ate dinner, Shen Xian went to tidy up the guest bedroom. Shen Tian happily followed behind to watch her. While tidying, Shen Xian remembered the cow-print pajamas she had bought, found them, and showed them to Shen Tian, “Look, Tian Tian, Mommy bought this for you. Do you like it? It’s a little cow! Mommy has one too!”

Tian Tian hugged the little cow-print pajamas with a big dimpled smile. “Tian Tian loves it! I want to wear it now! Mommy, help me change~”

“Alright, I’ll help you.” Shen Xian took off Tian Tian’s original pajamas and helped her into the cow-print ones, which came with a little hood with horns. The black-and-white cow T-shirt and shorts made her look absolutely adorable.

Tian Tian ran to the mirror to take a look and seemed to really like it. She rushed back, tugged on Shen Xian’s arm, and begged sweetly, “Mommy, Mommy, put yours on too! Tian Tian wants to be a cow with Mommy!”

Tian Tian rubbed against her like a little puppy. Shen Xian couldn’t resist. In her past life, all her pajamas had been dark-colored nightgowns — she’d rarely worn this kind of cute pajama set. But it felt kind of new and fun. Urged on by Tian Tian, Shen Xian changed into the matching cow-print pajamas. Tian Tian hugged her thigh in excitement. “So pretty! Mommy looks just like Tian Tian! Tian Tian loves it! Heeheehee~”

Then Tian Tian spotted another pajama set in the suitcase. Hugging Shen Xian’s leg, she asked, “Mommy, why is there one more cow-print pajama set?” As she spoke, she picked it up and looked at Shen Xian with big curious eyes.

Shen Xian awkwardly rubbed Tian Tian’s little hair bun. “That one’s for your mom, but she probably…”

Before Shen Xian could finish saying “probably doesn’t like it,” Tian Tian let out a loud “Awooo!” and ran off hugging the pajama set.

“Mom, this is your pajama! It’s the same as Tian Tian’s and Mommy’s!” Tian Tian said, dragging Lin Qinghan into the guest room.

The first thing Lin Qinghan saw was Shen Xian wearing the same cow-print pajamas as Tian Tian. Shen Xian’s smile froze — this was beyond awkward. Was the little one trying to socially end her?

But Tian Tian just beamed at Shen Xian and tugged on Lin Qinghan’s arm, saying, “Mom wear it too! Then Mom, Mommy, and Tian Tian will all match!”

Lin Qinghan gently patted her daughter’s head, but her eyes were fixed on Shen Xian. “Childish,” she said.

Then she bent down and coaxed Tian Tian, “Mom will wear it next time, okay? Be good, and Mom will take you out to play.”

Tian Tian was easily pacified by Lin Qinghan’s coaxing, leaving Shen Xian behind, metaphorically scratching a magical fairy tower into the ground in embarrassment. She was a high-powered CEO, and someone just called her childish?

Thankfully, when she looked at the affection level over Tian Tian’s head and saw it had risen to [40], Shen Xian felt the tiniest bit comforted.