Mom

Early morning.

Feeling a soft presence in his arms, Ye Shuang, whose consciousness was still groggy, twitched his fingers. He thought it was Bai Yuyou and subconsciously reached out to stroke the back of her head, only to find that the head felt quite small.

Ye Shuang: "..."

Opening his eyes, he found a little girl with a mushroom haircut nestled in his arms. She was curled up, sleeping soundly like a delicate doll.

Why was Yezi here with him?

Ye Shuang looked at her, then searched around for Bai Yuyou. He finally concluded that this girl had run over here by herself last night.

After a few seconds of silence, Ye Shuang once again pulled up the window to check her information—

[Character: Ye Xiaoyu

Tsk.]

Hmm?

The information had indeed updated, but why was it so strange this time?

Although it wasn't a question mark anymore, it still left Ye Shuang a bit baffled. He even felt as if his system was throwing a tantrum.

"...Forget it." Ye Shuang held his forehead. Just as he was wondering if he should quietly get out of bed to wash up, Yezi slowly opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing her eyes with her little hands.

"Good morning, Daddy."

"Yezi, do you remember anything?" Ye Shuang asked softly.

"..." Yezi shook her head.

"Alright."

Looking at the little girl in front of him, Ye Shuang patiently continued asking, "Why did you run over here last night? Couldn't you sleep over there?"

"I wanted to sleep with Daddy." Yezi looked at Ye Shuang first, then said, "It's been a long time since I slept with Daddy."

"A long time?" Ye Shuang was stunned for a moment. "So you remember Daddy?"

"Daddy is Daddy."

Ye Shuang: "..."

Forget it. This child's memory is probably a bit muddled.

Ye Shuang didn't dwell on it. Instead, he took Yezi to brush her teeth. The large and small figures standing in front of the mirror truly looked like a real father and daughter.

After brushing, Ye Shuang looked at Yezi, whose mouth was covered in bubbles. He grabbed a towel, bent down slightly, and helped wipe her face clean. Yezi narrowed her eyes slightly, looking very happy.

"By the way, Yezi, do you have any impression of the name Ye Xiaoyu?"

"Little Yu." Yezi thought for a moment, seemingly considering it seriously. "I know this name."

"Really?"

"Mhm, it's a name to commemorate someone," Yezi said.

"Is that so?" Ye Shuang pressed further, but upon realizing that Yezi didn't know anything else, he had to give up asking.

He was being too impatient. After all, even the nurse had said it would take some time for her to recover.

"Let's go, I'll make you some breakfast," Ye Shuang smiled.

"Okay!"

At this time, Bai Yuyou and Keke had not yet woken up. When Ye Shuang took little Yezi downstairs, he found a familiar figure sitting on the living room sofa, holding a coffee cup in her hand.

The person sitting on the sofa was naturally Chen Qin, wearing a simple plain dress and looking at some documents on a tablet.

"Ye—" Seeing Ye Shuang coming downstairs, Chen Qin immediately gave a sweet smile. But soon, her gaze was drawn to the girl following behind him. With just one glance, she froze.

They looked too similar. Why did this little girl look so much like Ye Shuang when he was a child? Especially her eyes and eyebrows—they were practically cast from the same mold.

Chen Qin had grown up with Ye Shuang since childhood, so seeing Yezi made her unavoidably overthink things.

"Ye, she... is your..." Her hand trembled unconsciously. Chen Qin gathered her composure, placed the coffee cup on the side table, and asked.

"Yeah, it's her."

Ye Shuang nodded, but in the next second, Yezi suddenly shouted loudly, "Mommy!"

Under the shocked gazes of Ye Shuang and Chen Qin, Yezi's tiny body threw itself right into Chen Qin's arms!

"Ah? Eh, what?" Chen Qin subconsciously supported Yezi, only to find the girl burying herself deep into her embrace. Standing to the side, Ye Shuang rubbed his chin and said helplessly,

"Her memory seems to have some issues. Yesterday she even called Yuyou 'Mommy'."

"Is that so? Little one, I'm not your mommy, you know." Looking at Yezi in her arms, Chen Qin reached out and gently patted her back. Who knew Yezi would continue to say,

"Mommy is Mommy."

Seeing that Yezi refused to let go no matter what she said, Chen Qin had no choice but to shoot a pleading look at Ye Shuang.

"Take care of her for a bit while I make breakfast. What do you want to eat?"

"Clear noodle soup with a poached egg."

"Sure."

While Ye Shuang was preparing breakfast, Chen Qin began to carefully observe Yezi's appearance. To be honest, judging from her looks, Yezi seemed even younger than Qiaoqiao. If she really was Ye's child...

He would have been eighteen or nineteen at the time.

Could it be Zhao Mengyao's...

Impossible.

"Was there someone else?!" Chen Qin's beautiful eyes widened.

She reached out and pinched Yezi's cheek, asking softly, "Say, Yezi, why did you call me Mommy?"

"Because Mommy raised me since I was little," Yezi said.

"Is that so?" Chen Qin continued asking, "Then what about your daddy?"

"Daddy... Daddy was put in a tiny little box. No, wait, Daddy is cooking." Yezi seemed a bit confused, as if there were many things she couldn't remember. Chen Qin tilted her head and thought about it.

Do children lie?

Actually, they do. Not only do they lie, but their lies tend to be wildly imaginative.

If one were to ask how Chen Qin knew this, it wasn't as if she had grown up in a vacuum. Wouldn't she know whether she herself lied as a child?

In kindergarten, she accidentally broke her daddy's vase and claimed that an earthquake had caused it to fall on its own.

At the time, her daddy looked like he was trying hard to hold back his laughter. Thinking about it now, it was still a bit embarrassing.

"So there really is a problem with her memory?" Chen Qin stopped dwelling on it. However, looking at Yezi, she couldn't help but show her affection. For one, she looked somewhat like Ye Shuang, which made Chen Qin love her by association. Secondly, Yezi was genuinely very cute and belonged to the type of child that people naturally adored.

Soon, Ye Shuang finished cooking the noodles and brought them out. To make Chen Qin's meal more nutritionally balanced, he had added some lettuce and pan-fried some all-meat sausages.

"Come eat. Yezi, I cooked some noodles for you too."

At this moment, Bai Yuyou and Keke seemed to have woken up and were coming downstairs.

"Ah, Sister Chen Qin." Keke was surprised that Chen Qin was here. Did she come back last night?

"Sister Chen Qin," Bai Yuyou also greeted her, but she noticed Yezi sitting on Chen Qin's lap and spoke up, "Yezi, you disappeared last night."

Upon seeing Bai Yuyou, Yezi didn't seem to have the same clinginess as yesterday. Instead, she buried her face into Chen Qin's chest.

Bai Yuyou: "..."

"Ye Shuang, our child is gone," the young girl said to Ye Shuang.

"Huh?"