When the Male Lead Finds Out I’m the Transmigrator Trying to Win Him Over - Chapter 44

Yun Ruo and Meng Tingmo were upstairs in the office, talking with the school staff. Han Qi waited downstairs in front of the building, standing with Meng Feihan.

“Are you sad?” Han Qi put his arm around Meng Feihan.

Meng Feihan answered honestly, “Better than before.”

Before Yun Ruo came back, his sadness was as vast as the sea. After her return, it became just a lake. As he grew older, that lake would eventually shrink little by little—until nothing remained.

Meng Feihan understood that his family wasn’t like other children’s.

He had a father and a mother—just that they weren’t together.

Han Qi thought for a moment, then pulled out his phone to browse a model website and let Meng Feihan pick one he liked. Han Qi would give it to him as a reward for winning first place in the sports meet.

Some things couldn’t be comforted with words.

When Meng Tingmo and Yun Ruo came down from the office, they saw the scene: Han Qi holding Meng Feihan in his arms while the boy excitedly pointed at something on the screen. Finally, he said, “I want this one.”

It looked just like a real father and son. Meng Tingmo’s anger flared at once.

“Meng Feihan.” His face hardened. “What are you doing?”

Meng Feihan immediately went quiet, a little startled.

“You’ve really got guts. Daring to sneak around and ask someone else to take part in the sports meet with you.” Meng Tingmo gave a cold laugh. It was the first time he had ever spoken to his son with such sharpness. “If I hadn’t come today, I wouldn’t even have known you’d swapped me out for another father. What’s next—are you going to follow some outsider home? Do you think I treat you so badly? That the first man you see, you’ll just call ‘dad’?!”

Meng Feihan’s eyes reddened.

“Meng Tingmo!” Yun Ruo couldn’t listen anymore. Today, the one who suffered most was Feihan, and yet Meng Tingmo was still saying these things. “It’s us as parents who’ve been unfit. All Feihan wanted was to take part in a sports meet with his parents. You couldn’t make it yourself—so you won’t even allow someone else to accompany him?”

“What do you mean, accompany? Did I not arrange someone for him?” Meng Tingmo shot back, his words running out of control. He knew Meng Feihan had been wronged, but he couldn’t accept the boy calling Han Qi “dad.”

Feihan was all he had left.

“If I could come, why would I want your assistant in my place?” Yun Ruo frowned. Why hadn’t she realized before that this was the kind of father Meng Tingmo was? Where was the so-called “encouragement-based parenting”? The way he looked now, he seemed like he might hit the child at any moment.

Emotions flared on both sides, neither willing to back down.

Han Qi, holding Meng Feihan’s hand, was about to step forward to calm things down. After all, today’s trouble had started because of him, so it should also be ended by him.

But Meng Feihan didn’t move.

For the first time, the boy felt angry.

Clearly, it was Meng Tingmo who hadn’t been able to come. And yet he blamed him for calling someone else “dad.” Just now, he had only said, “My dad is here.” He hadn’t even called Han Qi directly. Meng Tingmo was the one being unreasonable.

He looked up at Han Qi. “I’d rather you be my dad.”

Han Qi froze.

Yun Ruo and Meng Tingmo, who were on the verge of another fight: ?

Meng Feihan’s eyes were misted with tears. “You play with me. You know what I like. You build models with me, go to my sports meet, and lift me high up. You’d make a better dad.”

At least you wouldn’t scold him.

At least you’d actually have time to be in his life.

Meng Feihan didn’t realize just how deeply his words struck the three adults standing there.

Han Qi stared at him for a long time. Suddenly, he felt… it wasn’t impossible. If he and Yun Ruo were together, then Yun Ruo’s son would naturally be his son. Of course he should call him “dad.”

He reached out and ruffled Meng Feihan’s hair. “Alright. I can.”

【Current Target Affection Level: 83%】

Meng Tingmo finally came back to his senses.

Immediately, he pulled Meng Feihan to his side. But that didn’t feel safe enough—so he picked him up outright. “Han Qi, you’ve got some nerve. The kid spouts something thoughtless and you dare to take it seriously? You miss having a child so badly you’ve gone crazy.”

Meng Feihan struggled in his arms, wanting down.

Han Qi only smiled. “As long as the person himself is willing.”

Meng Tingmo’s expression froze. Almost without thinking, he glanced at Yun Ruo beside him. She too looked stunned—but she hadn’t said anything to refute it.

Fine. He couldn’t stay here any longer.

Meng Tingmo decided the priority was keeping his son safe. He pressed Feihan’s head into his chest and carried him off with his assistant, striding away: “We’ll talk about this another time.”

Yun Ruo tried to stop them, but couldn’t.

Han Qi lowered his head, shoulders shaking. No need to look to know he was laughing.

Yun Ruo sighed helplessly. “Do you find teasing Meng Tingmo so amusing?”

“Amusing.” Han Qi finally looked up, having laughed his fill. The sunlight fell just right, warm but not hot, as he stretched lazily. “Besides, it’s not like I was just teasing.”

Yun Ruo didn’t quite follow. Han Qi said it outright: “Aren’t you pursuing me? If you succeed, then of course he should call me ‘dad.’”

His dark eyes settled on her. “Don’t you think so?”

Yun Ruo shuffled two steps to the side.

Just now, when Feihan had said “dad,” Han Qi’s affection level had jumped. It wasn’t necessarily only because of Feihan—maybe it was because the title “dad” gave Han Qi a sense of family. And in that family, the role of “wife” would belong to her, Yun Ruo—the very person he loved.

She pretended her hair was messy and fussed with it instead of looking at him. “Legally speaking… yes, that’s how it would be.”

Han Qi only took it as shyness.

The sports meet had taken just the morning. The two of them went to lunch first, and Yun Ruo was already thinking—maybe they could go on a date in the afternoon.

“A date?” Han Qi carefully picked the bones out of a piece of fish and set it aside. “How does Miss Yun want to date?”

Whenever it was about pursuit or work, he called her “Miss Yun.” That always made her feel like “Yun Ruo” and “Miss Yun” were two different people. As “Yun Ruo,” she could relax more.

“You pick the place,” she said quickly, then hurried to add, “Just not anywhere too expensive.”

A private club for one night’s consumption would equal her monthly salary. Sure, she was pursuing Han Qi—but she still had to leave herself some living expenses.

She couldn’t very well go borrow from He Xitong either. If she said, “I’m dating and ran out of money, please support me,” He Xitong would definitely roll her eyes and say, “If you’re broke, don’t play sugar mommy.”

Sugar mommy? Yun Ruo suddenly burst out laughing.

Han Qi pushed the fish over to her. “What are you laughing at?”

Yun Ruo shook her head. She couldn’t possibly say that. She quickly changed the subject. “The fish is for me?”

Han Qi nodded.

Yun Ruo had just been about to thank him when she remembered. A few months ago, when she and Han Qi ate together, he had also deboned a piece of fish but never ate it. She had asked him why, and he’d said, “Next time.”

So—had “next time” been meant for her?

That was when she had just gotten divorced, and she had told him she wanted to pursue him.

Had Han Qi already been waiting for their relationship to move further?

Thinking of the kiss in the office, Yun Ruo bowed her head. Yes, their relationship had indeed gone further.

“Cough, Han Zong,” she asked, unable to hold back, “I remember before, when you invited me to dinner, there was also something about the fish. Don’t tell me you already had feelings for me back then?”

Han Qi finished with the fish, then calmly started serving soup, as unhurried as ever, showing no surprise at her question. “If you got to know me a bit more, you’d probably know the answer.”

The implication was—you don’t know me well enough yet to understand if I liked you earlier.

Yun Ruo didn’t dare say she had a cheat tool that made Han Qi’s feelings clear as day.

In the afternoon, Yun Ruo successfully dragged Han Qi off on a date. Unfortunately, all the arrangements were made by him. He said they’d go to a stand-up comedy show. Yun Ruo protested that tickets were long sold out online. Han Qi pulled two out of his pocket.

Not just tickets—front row, VIP seats.

“So you’d already planned this?” Yun Ruo sat down still in disbelief. Had he arranged this since yesterday, after Feihan called her about the sports meet? That was way too efficient.

“Just happened to have tickets,” Han Qi said casually. In truth, he had planned it last week. The performer was a college friend of his, and when the tour came to Bincheng, of course he’d been given tickets. He had agreed since work was light lately.

But he’d asked for two tickets.

When he heard yesterday that Yun Ruo was going to Feihan’s sports meet, he had thought it was a pity she wouldn’t be free in the afternoon. Luckily, the sports meet had only lasted the morning.

Yun Ruo pulled her jacket tighter.

She had never been to a live stand-up comedy show. People around her weren’t into it. Back in college, she had only ever watched one or two episodes of televised stand-up. She had been too “busy” in those years—too little time for fun.

So her knowledge was shallow. But there was one thing she knew—sitting in the front row was for extroverts.

That meant the performers would interact with you. She was a little nervous.

So many people… She glanced around. Surely they wouldn’t call on her?

Han Qi’s presence drew much more attention than hers anyway.

She relaxed a little.

But a moment later—

Good news: They didn’t call on her. They called on Han Qi.

Bad news: Every question was about her.

The performer had a sly grin, like he was ready to watch the show unfold. He held out the mic. “Brother, who’d you come here with?”

Han Qi pointed at Yun Ruo.

“And what’s your relationship?”

The crowd behind them was all watching gleefully.

Han Qi glanced at Yun Ruo, who was huddled into her coat like a turtle. His brow lifted slightly. Fine—don’t blame him for what came next.

“More than friends.”

“Ohhh—!” The crowd roared.

The performer grinned wickedly. Determined to dig something out of his long-single college buddy, he pressed, “Friends are friends, couples are couples. What do you mean ‘more than friends’? Step-siblings?”

Han Qi almost laughed. He definitely didn’t want to be siblings. “She’s pursuing me.”

The performer’s smile grew filthier. “Oh~ she’s pursuing you? Who’s chasing who, then?”

Han Qi glanced again at Yun Ruo, still turtle-like. He answered directly: “She is.”

“Ahhhh—!”

“Ohhh—!”

The crowd’s excitement doubled. Nobody had expected that. They had all assumed the man was chasing.

The performer sized Yun Ruo up. No way. How could such a beautiful girl go for this guy? “So, did she buy the tickets for you?”

The tickets were from him, of course.

Han Qi said no: “I invited her.”

The performer’s grin got even dirtier. “She’s the one chasing, but you’re the one doing all the inviting? Brother, who’s chasing who here?”

“Good point.” Han Qi nodded in agreement. Crossing his legs, he didn’t even look at Yun Ruo. “Maybe I like her a little too.”

“Ahhh!”

“Ohhh!”

The noise in the room was deafening. Yun Ruo never thought Han Qi would say something like that. Just at lunch, he’d refused to give her a straight answer.

Her heart suddenly sped up.

Now the performer turned the mic to her. “So tell us—he’s not lying, right? You really are the one pursuing him?”

Yun Ruo nodded.

“Hey!” The performer ruffled his hair, then glanced at Han Qi’s amused face, baffled. “And it’s willing, right?”

At that, Han Qi’s smile faded.

He remembered Yun Ruo’s reason for saying she would pursue him—“because it’s profitable.” He had told himself not to dwell on it, not to care.

But hearing the question asked so bluntly—he realized he did care.

He didn’t want this relationship to bring her nothing but pain. Not something forced on her by circumstance.

The noise of the crowd receded. In his world, everything grew quiet.

It was like he was waiting for a long-delayed verdict.

At last, a voice reached his ears.

“Willing.”

“In fact… I feel like I should’ve pursued him sooner.”

Support