Chapter 228: Sworn Sisters

It was either excessively salty or bland to the point of death; others had a set standard for adding salt to dishes, but she added salt to dishes entirely based on her mood.

And sometimes it was raw, sometimes it was burnt.

As long as she wasn't making soup, she always had the talent to perfectly miss the optimal cooking time; of course, there were also times when the same dish was half raw and half burnt.

However, even if it looked completely unappetizing and tasted impossible to swallow, she would still "force" him to eat it with a righteous and argumentative air.

But even so.

For five years, at countless moments, he had missed that original taste!

Now that he could finally taste the food she made with her own hands again, no matter what it turned out like, he would eat it.

Shi Youxuan truly had no talent for the kitchen, but she did very well in other aspects.

She took care of him attentively, and Sheng Hanyu was physically strong, so he soon recovered his health.

After his body was much better, Shi Youxuan did indeed keep her word and personally cooked a table of dishes for him to eat.

Not a bit of improvement; it was still just as awful.

Shi Ran watched Alisha eat the entire table of awful food clean, her eyes widening in shock: "Alisha, did you lose your sense of taste after the fever?"

"Slap!"

The little girl received a not-too-light, not-too-heavy smack on the head from her mommy.

"Stinky Xiaozhu, what do you mean?" Shi Youxuan glared at her daughter.

The little girl was young, simple, and spoke her mind: "You cook so terribly, and Alisha can still swallow it; if that's not losing your sense of taste, then what is?"

"Oh! I understand!"

Before Shi Youxuan could argue, Alisha explained, and the little girl "figured it out" herself.

"What did you figure out?" Shi Youxuan asked.

The little girl said: "Alisha has suffered a lot since she was little and hasn't eaten good things, so she treats what you make as delicious..."

Before she could finish speaking, Shi Ran felt a dangerous gaze from her mommy and immediately took off running!

Shi Youxuan chased after her: "Stinky Xiaozhu, if you have the guts, don't run!"

"Mommy, do you think I'm stupid? If I don't run, should I stay and wait to be hit?" Xiaozhu ran fast, laughing as she ran.

This little one was very agile; usually, it wasn't easy for Shi Youxuan to catch her when she ran, and now that she had Alisha as a helper, it was even harder to catch her.

She feigned anger: "The two of you are bullying me, you're both bad people."

The little girl blinked her big eyes: "Mommy, Xiaozhu is a good person, oh; I'm your favorite Baobao, oh."

"And Alisha is even less likely to be a bad person; she is an auntie, she is our family."

At the word "family," tears streamed down Sheng Hanyu's face.

It was indeed family, just not the same concept of family in Shi Ran's consciousness; it was a bond of blood thicker than water, even closer!

"Why is Auntie crying?"

The little one stood on tiptoe, using her small hands to wipe his tears—she couldn't reach!

So he bent down, leaned in front of her, and let her wipe them.

This scene was very beautiful.

The little one earnestly wiped Alisha's tears, and Alisha looked at her with kind and loving eyes!

If Shi Youxuan had wanted to catch Xiaozhu at this moment, it would have been easy, but she didn't move; she watched the two of them quietly, not knowing why her own eyes were also moist.

Zhu Yiwen returned from his business trip.

"Daddy—"

The little one ran over and hugged Zhu Yiwen's thigh: "Daddy, so many, many things happened while you weren't home; Mom and I were almost caught by bad people, luckily Alisha protected us... oh, I shouldn't call her Alisha, Mommy said she is going to become sworn sisters with Alisha, and I have to call her Auntie from now on."

"Auntie is especially good to me, she can also make delicious nougat, even better than the ones bought; but Mommy and Auntie won't let me eat too much, saying if I eat too much I'll get cavities, and both bugs and Xiaozhu like to eat sweet things..."

Shi Ran's little mouth chattered on endlessly; although she was talking to Zhu Yiwen, eight out of ten sentences were about Auntie.

Zhu Yiwen squatted down and interrupted her: "Does Xiaozhu miss Daddy?"

"Yes!"

He planted a kiss on the child's forehead.

No matter who gave birth to her, this was his daughter, the Heir of his Zhu Family.

The little one's words just now made Zhu Yiwen feel a sense of crisis!

He would not allow a servant to have a more important place in his daughter's heart than him.

But on the surface, Zhu Yiwen showed no dissatisfaction and interacted with his daughter calmly.

He asked her if she was scared at the kindergarten at the time?

Was she frightened?

He also had his attendants bring in gifts, the vast majority of which were for his daughter!

All kinds of beautiful figurines and dolls.

They weren't bought in a mall, but were limited editions he had masters custom-make by hand all over the world.

They were all new styles not yet on the market.

In addition, there were things little girls all liked: toys for playing house, tableware, complete sets of doll clothes, dresses, and even little houses.

But Xiaozhu didn't seem to like them very much; she just took a look and then pulled Zhu Yiwen to continue chatting about Auntie.

Xiaozhu didn't like them, but Shi Youxuan liked them very much.

She moved them all into her own room.

Zhu Yiwen also brought her a gift—a bag of diamonds, white, pink, and blue ones.

Diamonds the size of pigeon eggs, just packed in a bag like stones, for her to play with.

Shi Youxuan opened it, took just one look, thanked him just like Shi Ran did, and then excitedly went to fiddle with those dolls!

As for the priceless diamonds, neither mother nor daughter liked them at all.

……

Zhu Yiwen's Study.

Shi Youxuan followed him inside and closed the door; Zhu Yiwen apologized, "I'm sorry, I wasn't by your side when you and your daughter needed me most."

"How can you be blamed for this? No one could have known such a thing would happen," said Shi Youxuan.

When Zhu Yiwen asked her to come to the Study, it was usually for official business or to discuss something very important.

The two were a married couple on the surface, but in reality, they were just partners who appreciated each other!

"There is something I need to tell you. That group led by Feiying has already fled to the United States, and the place they went to is the same state where Jian Yining is. I warned him, but he seemed completely indifferent; it would be better if you spoke to him yourself."

Over the past five years, although Shi Youxuan and Jian Yining both knew about each other's situations, they did not have much contact.

"Alright, I'll call him in a while. By the way, didn't you say A Ning was coming to L Country? When will he arrive?"

When it was first mentioned, it was about a month; calculating the time now, it should be just about right.

Zhu Yiwen said, "I've had a lot to do lately, so I haven't actually asked. Why don't you just ask him when you call him?"

"Alright."

Then the two chatted about some business matters.

On the surface, Shi Youxuan is currently Mrs. Zhu Yiwen, a professional socialite.

But unlike ordinary socialites, she does not just stay at home taking care of her husband and children, or busying herself with flower arranging, tea tasting, and shopping.

Zhu Yiwen's business development over these past few years could not have been achieved without Shi Youxuan's contributions.

It is just that she is in the shadows while Zhu Yiwen is in the light, and others simply do not know.

L Country has many requirements for women; women who show their faces in public and go out to earn money are considered "pitiful people" without men to rely on, and although they do a lot of work, their salaries are pitifully low.

Furthermore, there are no decent jobs available to them; all decent jobs belong to men, and the term "strong woman" is a derogatory term here.

Although Zhu Yiwen is a native of L Country, he does not stick to outdated conventions.

He recognized Shi Youxuan's talent and immediately decided to cooperate with her, which both solved the problem of her not being able to show her face in public and provided him with an invisible source of support.

The two hit it off immediately.

They have cooperated happily for many years!