The Slacker Stepmother and the Non-Domineering CEO

Chapter 17

He felt like he\'d become particularly sensitive to the word "old" lately. He used to think that only a 50-year age gap would qualify as an "old man, young wife" situation. He was only in his thirties, considering himself to be in a man\'s prime. How had he become so entangled with the word "old"? Just recently, his gym trainer had even praised him for his good physical condition.

"Hello." Gu Junxing was still looking at the comments in the screenshot Gu Zhijing had sent him when a call came in. It was his college roommate, now both a friend and a business partner.

"Hey, old Gu, what are you up to?"

"Working. You think everyone\'s like you, just collecting rent all day?" Gu Junxing\'s friend, Liu Jian, owned several office buildings. He made money every day without lifting a finger, a level of ease that Gu Junxing couldn\'t help but envy.

"I\'m telling you, your company\'s doing well enough. You can\'t earn all the money in the world. Take a break once in a while. You\'re not getting any younger, yet you\'re still working like you\'re in your twenties!" Liu Jian felt tired just looking at Gu Junxing\'s lifestyle.

Gu Junxing was exasperated. Why was everyone reminding him of his age today? The internet commenters were one thing, but now even his friends were saying it.

"Just tell me, what did you call about?" Afraid of hearing more hurtful comments, Gu Junxing quickly interrupted. They didn\'t usually have much to talk about when they weren\'t face-to-face, so this call had to be for a reason.

"Well, I was thinking it\'s been a while since we all got together. A couple of days ago, Wei was asking me when we could all meet up for drinks."

Hearing Liu Jian say this, Gu Junxing didn\'t suspect anything. He had been traveling for work recently and then busy with projects, so it was true that he hadn\'t met up with his friends in a while.

So he readily agreed, "Sure, I should have some free time in a couple of days. Let\'s set a place then."

"Alright, I\'ll let Wei and Old Chen know. Oh, and why don\'t you bring your wife, our sister-in-law, along? We haven\'t met her yet."

Only then did Gu Junxing realize he had misunderstood. They weren\'t really interested in having dinner with him at all...

"We can have our own get-together. We\'ve never brought family members before, have we? Besides, you and Old Chen are both single. What family members could you bring? Don\'t try to pull this \'the ulterior motive of inviting guests for a feast\' act on me."

"I should be the one complaining! You suddenly say you\'re married, don\'t have a wedding, don\'t even introduce our sister-in-law to us. If I hadn\'t seen it trending yesterday, we wouldn\'t even know what she looks like!" Liu Jian accused Gu Junxing of being a poor friend.

Gu Junxing rubbed his brow, "I was too busy at the time. Didn\'t have a chance to have a wedding."

"Too busy for a wedding, but not too busy for a meal? You just dropped the \'I got married\' bomb on us and scared us all half to death. Old Chen even guessed if you might have gotten back together with Zhijing\'s mom. After all these years, we\'ve never seen any woman around you."

"Zhijing\'s mother has married, divorced, and remarried abroad. That\'s ancient history, why bring it up?"

"Well, isn\'t that all your fault? This time, you must bring your young wife to dinner. Don\'t even think about not coming."

"Alright, alright. You guys set the place, and I\'ll be there." Gu Junxing knew he couldn\'t refuse. Getting married without telling them was indeed inconsiderate. Even though he and Nian Suian hadn\'t married for love, it was still a marriage and shouldn\'t have been handled so casually.

"Good, it\'s settled then. See you!" Having gotten Gu Junxing\'s agreement, Liu Jian didn\'t say much more and hung up.

Gu Junxing was left listening to the dial tone, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. If it weren\'t for Nian Suian, these guys probably wouldn\'t have even thought to contact him.

Putting down his phone, Gu Junxing started worrying about how to broach this subject with Nian Suian. Despite being nominally married for so long, they had barely exchanged a few words. In all these years, apart from clients and business partners, he hadn\'t really interacted much with women, let alone young girls so much younger than him.

Opening his WeChat conversation with Nian Suian, he saw that their last interaction was when he had sent her a red envelope to thank her for attending Zhijing\'s parent-teacher conference. Gu Junxing pondered as he looked at the chat history: She seemed quite happy to receive the red envelope.

As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. Although Nian Suian wasn\'t exactly a ghost to be moved by money, the principle should still apply. Gu Junxing transferred another 20,000 yuan with a few taps.

Nian Suian must have been on her phone because she responded to the transfer notification instantly.

Nian Suian: [?] The sudden transfer left her bewildered.

Gu Junxing: [I might need you to accompany me to a dinner in a couple of days. It\'ll be with a few of my friends.]

Nian Suian: [Why invite me to a dinner with your friends?]

Gu Junxing: [We got married without a wedding and I never introduced you to them. They said they want to meet you.]

Seeing this message, Nian Suian sat bolt upright in bed. She really wanted to say: "Brother, why do your friends need to meet me just because we\'re married? It\'s not like we\'re a real couple." But considering the 20,000 yuan, she didn\'t send that message. Oh well, dinner is dinner. Earning this much for one meal wasn\'t bad.

Nian Suian was about to accept the transfer when she remembered some online advice she\'d seen recently. She promptly returned the money.

Gu Junxing saw the money returned and thought she was refusing, but then another message came in.

Nian Suian: [Transfer it again with a note saying \'voluntary gift\'.]

Gu Junxing couldn\'t help but laugh. He followed her instructions, adding the requested note, and transferred an extra 10,000 yuan.

This time, Nian Suian accepted it immediately. [Let me know when you\'ve set a date.]

Nian Suian exited her chat with Gu Junxing and opened her conversation with Gu Zhijing, transferring him 500 yuan. Well, kids don\'t need too much money, 500 is just right.

Gu Zhijing accepted it instantly.

Nian Suian: [You\'re on your phone during class again! Be careful, or I\'ll tell your homeroom teacher! I\'m in the parents\' group chat, you know.]

Gu Zhijing: [It\'s break time! Don\'t accuse me wrongly. Why did you send me money? Did you strike it rich?]

Nian Suian: [Your dad gave it to me. Considering our relationship, I\'m sharing some with you.]

Gu Zhijing: [Why did my dad give you money? What\'s your relationship? Are you two dating?!]

Nian Suian: [Gu Zhijing, do I need to remind you? Legally speaking, I\'m your stepmother, your father\'s wife. The term \'dating\' you\'re using isn\'t very accurate. Moreover, we didn\'t sign a prenuptial agreement. If I wanted to, technically speaking, I should be entitled to a share of the money your father earns.]

Gu Zhijing: [Haha, I\'m sorry. I\'m not very close to my dad, I forgot he was your husband.]