Hearing that, Minjuan's expression turned bitter. "Honestly, I'm not sure if Master plans to stay in Zhonghai any longer. We've traveled through the whole of China in half a year and I've been asking him about settling down so that Lanlan could get into a good kindergarten. He mentioned that he would arrange matters appropriately. After that, I didn't press on."
"Not having a stable environment to grow up in might harm her mental development. She's just a child. Is it alright if I talk to her grandfather when he comes back?" Lin Ruoxi asked.
Minjuan was surprised. She then asked a question which she probably should have asked a lot earlier. "Miss Lin, pardon me for my straightforwardness but why do you care so much about Lanlan? I remember Lanlan telling me that you chased and rescued her from some human traffickers."
Lin Ruoxi wasn't expecting that. She then questioned herself. Why do I care so much? she thought.
It felt as if it was her duty.
The feeling put Lin Ruoxi a little on edge, pumping a bit of fear into her.
"Maybe… our fates are intertwined." She let out a meek smile.
Minjuan was starting to become suspicious but let out a sigh of relief. "Take this with a grain of salt but if you were Lanlan's mother, she would be the happiest child in the world…"
Bdump! Bdump!
Lin Ruoxi's heart hammered against her chest.
The impact was so violent that she felt that it nearly jumped out of her chest!
She couldn't help but let out a low groan, clenching her chest as she turned pale.
"Miss Lin?!"
Minjuan screamed for help for she did not know what was going on.
Lin Ruoxi felt her heart palpitations intensify. The throbbing in her head became too much for her to bear!
Countless images flashed before her eyes. They were blurry but somehow still recognizable.
She couldn't tell what happened in each of them but she felt every single one of them!
"Elder Sister! What's wrong?!"
Lanlan noticed that something was wrong with Lin Ruoxi. She quickly hugged her waist and pressed her cheeks against her abdomen.
When their eyes met, an odd flash gleamed Lin Ruoxi's dark eyes, filling her with complicated feelings.
A diamond-like ray shot out of her eyes, reflecting off different colors as it hits Lanlan's face!
Gazing at Lanlan's innocent face, her heart palpitations, headaches and tension eased miraculously.
"Lan—Lanlan…" mumbled Lin Ruoxi in a daze.
As Ruoxi calmed down, Lanlan became increasingly moved.
"Mama… Mama…"
That brought the woman back to reality.
But Lanlan had no plans to stop. She kept repeating herself over and over again.
"Mama… Mama… Elder Sister, you are my mama."
The nanny was shocked. She quickly stepped in and attempted to correct her. "Lanlan, don't do that. Miss Lin is not your mama. You need to call her Elder Sister."
Lanlan vehemently denied. "No! Elder Sister is my mama! I recognize Mama!"
Lin Ruoxi was confused. She wasn't sure why her head was overflowing with memories that weren't hers and why she couldn't recall any of them properly. The only thing she had remembered was that her heart pounded painfully twice.
Glancing down at the child who desperately insisted that she was her mother, her heart clenched tightly. It was painful.
Seemingly by reflex, she bent down to hold Lanlan's face gently between her palms. "You can call me Mama if you want to. I'll be your mama from now on, alright?"
It was Minjuan's turn to look surprised.
She couldn't, for the life of her, fathom why Lin Ruoxi would accept Lanlan just like that. How could she just allow Lanlan to call her mother without any reason?!
The indication behind that was severe. It was bound to attract misunderstandings. It'd be a possible threat to Lin Ruoxi's reputation!
But Lin Ruoxi showed no signs of regret.
Seeing Lanlan wrap her chubby little arms around her neck, then calling her 'mama' in that sweet innocent voice of hers filled the elder woman with delight.
Lin Ruoxi took a big sniff of the child's light milky scent and was comforted for a second before having some thoughts. If Lanlan's parents were not around anymore, would that permit her to adopt her? How would she explain this to Yang Chen?
Could her man accept a stranger's child as their own when she had not birthed a child or two for their own family? Lin Ruoxi felt her heart sink as she thought about the incoming storm.
Well, why would that matter? Anything she had decided is none of his concern. The man had no position to comment on this for Lanlan was now her daughter and no one else's!
Deciding not to dwell on her thoughts at the moment, Lin Ruoxi broke into a genuine smile.
"Mama, I knew you would come back for me."
Lin Ruoxi was saddened, but she quickly nodded. "Yeah, Mama will never leave you again. I'll always be here for you."
"Promise?"
"Promise," answered Lin Ruoxi firmly.
Lanlan's lips were pressed into a tight line. She was holding back her tears. And without warning, she placed a firm kiss on Lin Ruoxi's cheek. With that, the new mother-daughter pair gazed at each other deeply, as if enjoying their touching reunion after centuries.
"Lanlan, let me bring you to the mall. You should exercise more after eating so much." Lin Ruoxi was already in-character.
Lanlan nodded but went silent for a bit before requesting. "Mama, I want a giant panda!"
"A giant panda?" Lin Ruoxi was puzzled.
Minjuan, who was still confused about the whole ordeal, spoke up through her daze. "Lanlan was intrigued by a giant panda plus.h.i.+e and begged Master to buy it for her. However, the stuffed animal was imported from Germany and was ridiculously huge. It was the only one of its kind in Zhonghai and cost fifty thousand! That's why Master was reluctant to get it for her. Miss Lin, please don't take this to heart, Lanlan is still a child."
Lin Ruoxi beamed at that. "That's alright! I'll get it for you!"
The little girl cheered, giggling as she snuggled into the crook of Lin Ruoxi's neck.
Minjuan was left without words. Was it her? Or was it the world that had gone crazy?
Helplessly, Minjuan started praying for her Master's return. This situation was spiraling out of control. If this continued, who knows what might happen?
After Lin Ruoxi settled the bill, she took Lanlan's hand in hers and exited the premise. The panda bear Lanlan wanted was in another shopping complex quite a distance away from here. Unsure of what to do, Minjuan tagged along. She was tasked to look after Lanlan after all.
Lanlan's safety was the least of Minjuan's concern. Minjuan was the one who would require her protection.
It wasn't long until the three were in the empty car park bas.e.m.e.nt that Lanlan noticed something. As Lin Ruoxi unlocked the car for the girl to enter, she noticed Lanlan staring at a thick water pipe not far from them with a tilted head.
"Lanlan, what's wrong?" she asked with concern.
Lanlan replied, "Mama, are the uncle and sister over there your friend?"
"Uncle and sister?" Lin Ruoxi looked around her in confusion. "Where are they?"
Lanlan seemed to understand something from her reaction, quickly transporting herself to the side of the water pipe that was twenty meters away in a second!
Lanlan pointed to the two Caucasians dressed in shorts and a singlet. She threatened the two in that childish voice of hers. "Speak! Why are you following Mama?! If you're bad guys, I'll kill you!"
The two were members of the Sea Eagles, tasked by Yang Chen to protect Lin Ruoxi.
Captain Molin did mention something about this scarily powerful child named Lanlan but the two weren't expecting her to be this intimidating!
Before they knew it, Lanlan had exposed them. It happened so fast that they barely had the time to respond!
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