Volume 1, Chapter 181: Nice car, care to take it for a spin...

It was still more than an hour before school let out, but since the visitor was the child’s father, the security guard immediately called him.

A few minutes later, Lu Jinnian took Lu Xiaomu from Teacher Tingting.

“Dad!”

It had been over a week since they’d seen each other. The moment he spotted Lu Jinnian, Lu Xiaomu threw himself into his arms. “Why did you come to pick me up?”

Holding Lu Xiaomu with one arm and his backpack with the other, Lu Jinnian looked down at his son. “Does your stomach still hurt?”

Lu Xiaomu blinked.

His stomach had hurt a little after lunch.

But he hadn’t told anyone. How had Dad known?

Was this what the stories meant by a mother and child sharing one heart? No—father and son. Father and son sharing one heart?

“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Lu Xiaomu wrapped his arms around Lu Jinnian’s neck. “I rubbed it like Mom does—three circles to the left, three to the right. It stopped hurting.”

Then he turned to look at Lu Jinnian. “Dad, I talked it over with Mom. From now on, I’ll spend one week with you and one week with her. Mom agreed. Do you?”

“Of course.”

Lu Jinnian nodded without hesitation. “As long as you’re happy, Dad’s fine with anything.”

“Dad, are we going home?”

“Sure… unless you’d rather go somewhere else?”

“I want to eat at Grandpa Ken’s.”

“Okay, we’ll go. But no ice in your Coke. Deal?”

“Of course. Otherwise my stomach will hurt again!”

…

The father and son’s voices faded into the distance. Soon, the Mercedes sped away.

Lou Group Tower.

The alarm rang at four fifty.

This week, to pick up Lu Xiaomu, Sang Wan had been starting work at eight and finishing at five.

She silenced the alarm, saved her files to the cloud, and swiftly cleared her desk. Then she patted Xiaobai on the shoulder. “I’m heading out. Have a great weekend!”

“Have a great weekend, Wan-jie!”

As the elevator descended, Sang Wan messaged Lou Ye: “I’m going to pick up Xiaomu. See you at dinner!”

He replied at once: “Okay!”

Friday afternoons were the peak time for picking up children. Every Friday for the past two years, Sang Wan had walked to the kindergarten to collect Lu Xiaomu.

The two of them would chat as they admired the flowers and greenery along the road, or chase each other around in snowball fights. The ten-minute walk home always passed in a flash.

Knowing that if she drove over now, she would end up stuck at the kindergarten gates, Sang Wan parked at the roadside and walked in.

The younger classes had been dismissed, and then it was the oldest class’s turn. She watched Teacher Tingting lead out four rows of little ones, but Lu Xiaomu was nowhere to be seen.

Sang Wan froze. “Teacher Tingting, where’s Xiaomu?”

Teacher Tingting smiled. “His father came to pick him up at four.”

“Are you sure it was Mr. Lu?”

Sang Wan glanced at her phone. There was no message from Lu Jinnian saying he needed to pick Xiaomu up early.

Teacher Tingting sounded certain. “I handed Xiaomu over to him myself.”

“Thank you!”

Sang Wan turned and headed toward the roadside, calling Lu Jinnian as she went.

He picked up after two rings. “Wanwan?”

In the background, she could hear Lu Xiaomu. “Dad, is that Mom?”

Sang Wan let out a breath of relief. “Why didn’t you tell me you were picking Xiaomu up?”

“I…”

He was about to say that Teacher Tingting must have called her, but she’d been busy and hadn’t answered. Otherwise, the call wouldn’t have ended up going to Lin Zhaozhao.

But before Lu Jinnian could finish, Sang Wan had already hung up, fuming.

Knowing she was driving, Lu Jinnian didn’t call back. Instead, he sent her a message: “I’m sorry! If I need to pick him up early again, I’ll definitely tell you!”

Sang Wan got into her car and merged into traffic.

In barely ten minutes, she understood what Xiaobai had meant by the terrifying rush-hour traffic.

It wasn’t even six, yet it seemed as though everyone in the entire capital had just left work. The roads were packed solid.

She had to wait through three red lights just to make a U-turn.

By the time she finally escaped that sea of scarlet lights, night had fallen completely.

Her phone rang. It was Lou Ye.

Judging by the time, he had probably just gotten home.

Sang Wan answered.

“Wife…”

Just as she’d expected, with 2S meowing in the background, Lou Ye asked, “Where are you?”

“I’m still at the Yannan Road intersection.”

She glanced at the street sign overhead and grumbled softly, “Lu Jinnian picked up Xiaomu without even telling me.”

She and Lou Ye had left just half an hour apart. He was already home, while she was stuck in traffic.

Sang Wan was fuming.

“So that means… we get the weekend to ourselves!”

Lou Ye’s bright voice filled the car. “I’ll have the chef make some nice dishes. Candlelit dinner for two tonight!… Anyway, I’ll let you go. Drive carefully, and take it slow. The roads are slippery in the snow!”

“Okay!”

Noticing a car drawing alongside her, Sang Wan instinctively slowed down.

But the car beside her showed no sign of passing.

It simply kept close against her car.

As if its driver only wanted to see whether the owner of the Ferrari was a man or a woman.

When Sang Wan sped up, the other car stuck right to her tail.

When she slowed down, it slowed with her, creeping along beside her.

Heading east, the traffic gradually eased. Sang Wan seized her chance and shook off the annoying car.

The Hillside Villa was in the eastern suburbs of the capital. Once she’d passed the stretch near the center that had been at a standstill, the roads were much clearer.

But whether it was because it was Friday, or because Lou Ye usually drove—while she either played with her phone in the front passenger seat or sat with him in the back—and she simply hadn’t noticed, the traffic was unusually bad today.

Looking ahead, she saw several large trucks on the road.

When that annoying red sports car pulled alongside her again, Sang Wan couldn’t help honking to warn it off.

The blond driver in the red sports car even brazenly reached out and knocked on her window.

“Hey, gorgeous, nice car… Want to have some fun?”

The window was open just a crack, and his taunting words slipped inside.

Sang Wan knew he had mistaken her for some rich young heiress from the capital’s elite circles. Either he wanted to hit on her, or he was trying to force her to stop.

Vroom!

For an instant, she was back at the ski resort that day, cowering and too afraid to step forward.

Sang Wan slammed her foot on the accelerator.

The red sports car pursued her relentlessly. But no matter how fast she went, the black van on the other side kept pace, shadowing her every move.

Sang Wan suddenly realized something was wrong.

Beep.

The center console was set up for one-touch callbacks.

The call connected after a single ring. “You’re here? I’m coming down…”

“Lou Ye…”

Sang Wan gripped the steering wheel. “I just passed the Zhongnan Road intersection. Two cars are closing in on me from either side.”

There was a one-second pause at the other end.

When Lou Ye spoke again, his voice was calm and light. “Baby, look in your rearview mirror. See that black van behind you?”

The mirror had fogged slightly from the warmth inside the car, but she could still see the vehicle behind her. It was indeed a black van.

Whatever Lou Ye did, the black van forced its way into the lane and pushed forward, making the other van slow down.

She could see the passenger-side window roll down. The two people inside were shouting curses.

Then another black van pulled up and did the same thing to the red sports car, forcing it aside.

Sang Wan let out a long breath.

When she looked up again, she saw that the traffic light at the intersection ahead had turned red. A large truck was barreling toward her as if out of control.