I Became the Mother of His Child

Song Yuanhuan deliberately interrupted, shattering Ye Hua's imposing aura, which nearly bristled with unchecked aggression, yet the air was still filled with the lingering tension between Ye Hua and Xu Xiuxiu.

Xu Xiuxiu, a person who knew when to stop while she was ahead, had all but made her threats: "I think you should consider my proposal. Collaboration means a win-win situation, which is actually pretty good for both you and me." Seeing Ye Hua a bit annoyed, Xu Xiuxiu shrugged her shoulders to ease the atmosphere, then fixed her gaze on the spicy crabs on the table, "Yuanhuan, I want to eat crab." Xu Xiuxiu casually picked up the chopsticks and beckoned the attentive Song Yuanhuan by her side.

Upon hearing this, Song Yuanhuan immediately deftly picked up a spicy crab for Xu Xiuxiu: "Crab has a cooling effect, so eat less of it." He didn't want Xu Xiuxiu to miss out on her cravings, yet he couldn't bear the thought of her eating too much and harming her health; truthfully, Song Yuanhuan was indeed experiencing quite a contradiction in his thoughts.

"Alright." Back in her previous life, Xu Xiuxiu especially loved eating crabs. Each year around the Mid-Autumn Festival, when Yangcheng Lake's hairy crabs came into season, she could always indulge until her mouth was sore. After suffering from violent menstrual cramps due to her cold constitution, she learned her lesson and subsequently developed a habit of not being greedy. Now, as a mother nursing two children every day, she dared not indulge too much – everything in moderation, nothing in excess.

"Where's Chengguang?" Xu Xiuxiu asked while eating the spicy crab, noticing that Song Chengguang had disappeared without a trace. The child was totally restless now, treating Sichuan Pavilion as if it were an amusement park, much to his delight. Moreover, since all the staff knew him and indulged the young master, he was enjoying himself tremendously.

"Si Ya took him out to play."

"Oh, has he had his meal then?" Xu Xiuxiu had previously been engaged in a tense back-and-forth with Ye Hua, leaving the three children to the side. Now that things with Ye Hua were out in the open, Xu Xiuxiu naturally relaxed and began to inquire about the children's meals.

"He ate a little." Song Yuanhuan answered, glancing at his watch, "Little Baby and Little Moon must be hungry by now; I'll go prepare some formula." Saying this, he took the formula and bottles from the twin stroller next to him and left the private room.

After Song Yuanhuan left the room, the long-silent Ye Hua spoke once more: "Xu Xiuxiu, you should know that merely threatening me will not persuade me."

"What if I told you that I know where there is a hot spring, and I can even pinpoint the exact location of the natural spring?" Having visited the wasteland in the suburb today, Xu Xiuxiu had already roughly determined the site. If managed properly, the benefits from this natural hot spring could be immense. Therefore, when Ye Hua asked, she casually revealed her trump card.

This was her last way to convince Ye Hua, and it was quite a risky move too because she wasn't certain whether or not Ye Hua was already aware of the hot spring. If he already knew, her trump card would only be mildly enticing, sparing him some trouble in locating the hot spring. But if he didn't know, Xu Xiuxiu was confident that Ye Hua might be willing to ease up and collaborate. After all, the number of tourists attracted by a natural hot spring would be substantial. By telling Ye Hua, she was essentially alerting him; otherwise, the hot spring might not have been discovered at all. Following the original historical trajectory, it was very possible that it would be found during development. However, as a reincarnated individual, Xu Xiuxiu had to be cautious—butterfly effects could change the path of destiny.

"Natural hot springs?" Ye Hua tapped the dining table lightly with his hand, his expression not becoming any more relaxed.

He indeed did not know that there were natural hot spring sources beneath that barren land. He had originally planned to use the land to build a factory or a holiday villa. Building a factory would be relatively cheap in terms of land cost, and the labor was not expensive, but the profits that could be gained from the factory wouldn't be very high. As for the holiday villa, he was quite interested since he had never been involved in that industry before. With the country's rapid development, tourism and holiday villas were definitely lucrative businesses, but such ventures required a high initial investment, and he wasn't entirely confident about it.

However, after hearing Xu Xiuxiu mention the natural hot spring sources beneath that piece of land, he firmed up his decision—building a holiday villa wasn't a bad idea.

"Can you confirm the location of the spring source?" Ye Hua trusted that Xu Xiuxiu wasn't someone who boasted without substance, but he still harbored doubts about what she said. Confirming the location of the spring source—had she had someone conduct geological surveys already? It seemed that Xu Xiuxiu had indeed put in a lot of effort.

"I'm sure," Xu Xiuxiu nodded with utmost seriousness.

"Alright then, we'll partner up. Forty percent for you, sixty for me," Ye Hua was not a stingy person. As a wealthy individual, he was actually very generous, and towards partners that he liked, as long as his basic interests weren't violated, he was willing to give away some benefits. The profit he was giving up could be seen as a reward for Xu Xiuxiu revealing the hot springs.

"Sure," Xu Xiuxiu agreed readily, not one to turn down money that came knocking at her door: "But Ye Hua, I must remind you beforehand that the initial investment for a holiday villa is not small. Are you prepared for this?"

"I, Ye Hua, never do anything unprepared," Ye Hua was very confident in his decisions.

By the time Song Yuanhuan finished preparing the milk powder for the boy and girl twins and returned, Xu Xiuxiu and Ye Hua had already discussed the basic terms of their partnership. They agreed to sign the partnership contract the following day and settled the specific amount for the initial investment. Xu Xiuxiu felt Ye Hua was being too generous with her, with investment sums of fifty thousand and five hundred thousand respectively. In an era where ten thousand yuan households were extremely rare, fifty-five thousand was enough to build a luxurious palace. Xu Xiuxiu, someone who knew how to play her cards right after gaining an advantage, was aware that she had gotten the better end of the deal and was thus even more willing to put in all her efforts in the subsequent matters.

On the third day, Xu Xiuxiu and Ye Hua prepared the initial funds. Foreseeing a busy period ahead, Xu Xiuxiu discussed hiring a nanny for the twins with Song Yuanhuan. Song Yuanhuan, who doted on Xu Xiuxiu, knew that once Xu Xiuxiu signed the partnership agreement with Ye Hua, she would undoubtedly be incredibly busy, perhaps even more so than her. He had even thought of hiring a nanny a day before Xu Xiuxiu brought it up. When Xu Xiuxiu mentioned it, he provided two candidates for nannies. Xu Xiuxiu chose Aunt Luo, who was honest, dressed cleanly, and was reliable in her duties, to help take care of the boy and girl twins.

The fourth day, Song Yuanhuan's leave ended, and Xu Xiuxiu threw herself wholeheartedly into the affairs of the holiday villa, even making use of Song Yuanhuan's position to buy the suburban land. Here, Xu Xiuxiu couldn't help saying that the old saying, "It's easy to do things with somebody backing you up," was damn appropriate. For Ye Hua, successfully securing that plot of land in the suburbs of City Z was a tiresome and bothersome task, just inviting those leaders to meals and dragging out the submission of the development proposal, he would've had to grind away at least ten days to half a month's time. But for Song Yuanhuan, it only took one phone call to get it all sorted.