Chapter 45 Family

After that day, Fan Wenfeng invited Ren Zhouyuan a few other times to meet with him, clearly trying to make him think about his relationship with Leonid.

Although he was saying things Ren Zhouyuan didn’t like to hear, he knew that Fan Wenfeng’s perspective was from caring for him. That’s why he never resisted his endless ramblings.

For his friend to accept his sexuality after hiding it for so long wasn’t easy, so that each time Fan Wenfeng asked him out to lunch or coffee he would accept happily and return with a smile on his face.

Leonid felt like there was another enemy such as An An competing for attention in the field, and it was someone he never liked much anyways. He had met Fan Wenfeng once when he dropped Ren Zhouyuan off. The two of them had said hi at the door, and at the time he felt that other man harbored animosity toward him.

Day after day he started to feel that Ren Zhouyuan should have another child, so he would be happy to stay at home.

Their last discussion about Leonid’s parents reminded Ren Zhouyuan to accost Leonid on the subject. His family only knew about the “mother of the child”, since he hadn’t told them that Ren Zhouyuan was a man. After that he told them the fact that his partner was a man and that he’d given birth to his child. Shockingly, his brother didn’t seem to oppose it. When he told his parents, they scolded him instantly.

What shocked him was the reason for their scolding. It wasn’t because Ren Zhouyuan was a man, but because he abandoned them for so long, only learning about it once the kid turned five.

Looked like Ren Zhouyuan’s unusual physicality reduced the burden on their relationship. Although he asked his mother Anna whether she cared about the fact that his partner was a man, she only sighed and told him to mind his own business and live a good life.

His family’s reaction made him believe even more in the importance of children. Whether it was to reduce their negative reaction to the situation or keep Ren Zhouyuan by his side, he needed to bump up the priority of this mission.

However, Ren Zhouyuan clearly had no interest in another child. Whether it was wearing a condom before the fact or taking the pill after, his safety measures were perfect enough to make Leonid worry.

He didn’t have many friends to share this with, and even fewer knew their relationship. So at the end of the day his family were the only ones he had left.

During this period of time, Ren Zhouyuan discovered that Leonid was making a great deal of phone calls. One time he bumped into him talking nonstop on the phone, a rare enough occasion. When he saw him there, Leonid immediately reacted with nervousness, frowning and then coughing as he turned away and changed the subject of the conversation. This only pulled Ren Zhouyuan closer out of curiosity.

Sitting near him for a while, he finally realized Leonid was on the phone with his family.

At the beginning he was shocked and nervous, not even sure where to put his hands. But thinking about how Leonid looked when he saw him there, he couldn’t stop overthinking, his mind filling with loneliness.

Thinking back, it seems like since they discussed this topic for the first time Leonid never mentioned it again. He didn’t discuss his family much either.

When he didn’t bring it up, Ren Zhouyuan wasn’t inclined to ask questions either. But that didn’t mean he didn’t care.

He told Fan Wenfeng he believed they could last til the end, and he hoped for Leonid’s family’s approval. No matter how much Fan Wenfeng thought it was impossible, he was transfixed by the idea.

Standing before the truth now, however, he backed down.

He couldn’t tell this to Fan Wenfeng. He didn’t want to hear anything else that might make him waver, so he could only digest it quietly on his own and pretend it had never happened.

Right now, listening to Leonid talk about everything with his family, Ren Zhouyuan felt that the man sitting right there was so far away. He only had one thought on his mind: everything Leonid said before was just to satiate him in the moment. It made sense. He’d always lacked the fortune for something like a family.

To promote their sales courses, many companies had started to throw lavish year end banquets. Vichy didn’t want to back down in that regard either, throwing a big conference before the end of the year.

This conference’s scale was even larger than the last one. Many industry celebrities and relevant people were in attendance, so of course the most important internal guest AnYi. A lot of people were showing up just for AnYi.

That was why Leonid was so busy recently. He didn’t know how his family heard about this. Since he mentioned wanting another child, everyone kept it on their mind. The fact that he spent five years getting to his person, his family started to get restless from thousands of miles away. Each of them wanted to meet the father and son on the day of the conference.

When Ren Zhouyuan went to Leonid’s office, Ron was confirming this with him.

The moment he pushed the door open, all he heard was Ron saying, “So that’s the arrangement for your ‘female companion’?”

Hesitating, Ren Zhouyuan withdrew his foot, slowly closing the door again, trying to overhear what they were saying.

The two didn’t hear what he was doing at all. Leonid glared at Ron. “You have to take care of this. There will be many people present that day, not just my parents but also Alexis and Alexander. Pay extra attention and don’t mess it up.”

He shook his hand. “I got it, I got it.”

They said a few more things about the conference, but Ren Zhouyuan decided to stop listening, going back to his seat quietly.

Before long Ron emerged from the room. When he saw Ren Zhouyuan his expression looked a little off, but Ren Zhouyuan wasn’t paying attention enough to notice his humorous expression. When he told him that Leonid wanted him to go in he nodded mechanically and walked over.

When he made it to the door, he forced himself to get his spirits up, adjusting his mood before walking in.

Seeing that he walked in, Leonid put down the documents in his hand. “During this conference, I want you to use the identity of ‘AnYi’. Can you accept that? If not I can have Ron cancel and you can just attend as a regular employee.”

Hearing this, the little hope at the bottom of his heart was punctured. Ren Zhouyuan just shook his head. “It’s okay, I’ve already prepared myself for this.”

Leonid nodded. “That’s good. Oh, right, there’s something else.”

Ren Zhouyuan’s eyes lit up as he spoke urgently. “What is it?”

“Bring An An too.” Leonid paused, worried he would scare Ren Zhouyuan. He hadn’t told him about his parents coming yet. “It’s good for him to practice attending conferences like this, it’ll make him bolder.”

Thinking how that kid last time clung to him so hard outside but was incredibly bossy at home, Leonid shook his head with a smile.

But Ren Zhouyuan couldn’t smile at all. Whether it was the “female companion” or his family, Leonid had mentioned nothing. He was either “AnYi” or a regular employee.

He knew he shouldn’t care about surface level things like that, but he couldn’t help but overthink.

Taking a deep breath, he responded, “Understood.”

And walked out of Leonid’s gaze with heavy steps.