q Soon after, the two cuties arrived.
Erbao had put on some weight, as her face looked chubbier when she threw herself at Nan Chen, âNan Chenâ¦â¦ Uncle Nan!â
Nan Chen hurriedly opened his arms and caught her, âYouâve gotten fatter.â
Erbao buried her head into his chest in embarrassment, âI didnât get fat! This is what wealthy looks like!â
Nan Chen felt his heart melting as he carried the chubby Erbao in his arms.
Dabao looked calm as usual. He stood there looking at Nan Chen from afar. Although he didnât jump into Nan Chenâs arms like Erbao, his eyes were still filled with surprise.
Nan Chen was the only person in this world that could make Dabao feel warmth.
Yet, at the same time, Nan Chen was the one that everyone felt most distant from.
Nan Chen waved his hand, gesturing Dabao to come over.
Dabao slowly walked towards Nan Chen. Nan Chen reached out and brought Dabao into his embrace.
He then rubbed his chin on his head.
Dabao responded by lifting Nan Chenâs head with his. This silent method of greeting was the only one this cold duo knew.
Erbao saw them doing that and thought it was fun so she tried to join in as well, but it ended up feeling uncomfortable as her movements were not in sync with theirs.
Erbao then noticed the huge variety of snacks prepared for them beforehand, and shouted in joy as she ran towards the pile of snacks.
Dabao walked over to Nan Chenâs bookshelf and raised his head as he looked at the books on display.
But he was too short, so he couldnât see some of the books on top even when he lifted his head all the way.
Nan Chen came over and hoisted him above his shoulders, so he could see the books on top.
âThere arenât many books here. The private library at home has a hundred times more books than this.
If you live there, you can read even more books.â Nan Chen told Dabao.
Only in front of the kids was he this talkative.
âWhere is your house?â Dabao, who usually doesnât speak, responded quickly.
âAt the Commoner Residence. Thatâs where grandpa and grandma live. Your daddy and I stay there too, sometimes.â Nan Chen explained seriously.
âCommoner Residence?â This name sounded very new to Dabao.
âCommoner Residence is the name of our house. Commoner refers to the citizens without official positions. Officials back in the past would wear finely made clothing. Those who didnât have these fancy clothes and were dressed in rags, were known as commoners. It also refers to those who quit their positions as officials and joined the common folk in the city.â Nan Chen explained patiently, and Dabao seemed to understand.
Regardless of whether he understood it, this was a very warm exchange between the two.
âAre you willing to come home?â Nan Chen asked the critical question.
âTo your house or daddyâs house?â Dabao asked.
Nan Chen knew Dabao mustâve had some deep meaning behind his question.
âWhy do you ask?â Nan Chen asked.
Dabao kept quiet.
What he actually meant was, If itâs your house, then Iâm willing to go. But if itâs daddyâs house, then Iâll have to consider it first.
But he knew it was inappropriate to say that, so he remained silent.
âDaddy and I both share that house. Itâs a very big house. Weâre just staying together, not living together. We have a lot of personal space to ourselves.â Nan Chen explained.
Dabao didnât say anything.
He had never seen such a big house before, so he couldnât fully understand what Nan Chen said.
With the childrenâs limited knowledge, staying together was like at Aunt Xiangâs house where everyone shared the same living room and slept in different bedrooms.
But what Nan Chen meant by staying together was living alone in separate buildings. The only thing they shared was the garden, swimming pool and other public spaces.
Their exchange was not very successful, and they fell into silence once again.
Erbao noticed the silence and quickly rushed over with some snacks, âWhat are you guys talking about?â
âI was asking your brother if he would like to stay with us.â Nan Chen told Erbao.
Erbao looked at Dabao.
Dabao kept quiet.
âBrother doesnât seem willing to.â Erbao explained.
âWhy?â Nan Chen couldnât understand.
âBecause heâs worried that we canât stay with mommy.â
They were twins, after all. Erbao was the one who understood Dabao better than anyone else.
Nan Chen was shocked too. These kids sure had high IQ and EQ, bringing up the main problem so quickly.
Nan Chen had planned to bring them home and hire the most professional nanny and the best teachers to harness their strong talents.
Nan Chen was not about to let that power-hungry, scheming woman into the Nan family.
She was unworthy of it.
If he let these kids stay with the woman, she might lead them astray in life.
Dabao stared at Nan Chen who kept quiet.
Dabao needed Nan Chen to give him an explanation.
Nan Chen realized he had gotten himself into an awkward situation. He still couldnât answer give Dabao a clear answer.
He decided to not talk about this for the moment.
Besides, Nan Chen was also aware that it would not be easy to separate the kids from their mommy.
Not only would doing so provoke retaliation from their mommy, but it would cause the kids to object as well.
Itâs incredibly important to be mindful of the methods used in handling these things, especially when facing such genius kids. Otherwise, the outcome could be very terrible.
âGrandpa and grandma have never seen you two before and really want to, so they hope that you can stay with us, and had me ask your opinions, thatâs all.â
Nan Chen pushed the blame to grandpa and grandma.
âWe go wherever mommy goes.â Dabao stated his views clearly.
So Erbao was right, Dabao was concerned about not being able to stay with mommy.
Nan Chen was a little relieved that he did not reveal his intentions; otherwise he wouldnât be able to play with these kids happily anymore.
Nan Chen dared not bring up that matter throughout the remaining time with them.
He just talked about other things like their daily life.
Dabao hardly spoke, while Erbao was a chatterbox by default. From what Erbao said, Nan Chen found out a lot about Ning Ran.
Nan Chen could make out that Ning Ran had went overseas after getting pregnant and hadnât returned throughout those years.
This woman went overseas and gave birth to the kids without informing the Nan family, and now she has brought them back to Flower City.
For such a long time, she had plotted and remained hidden, and chose to show up at the Nan family doorstep now.
Nan Chen would never believe that she was without ulterior motives.
Next Chapter q