192: Chapter 187 Progress

The numbers themselves didn't mean much; what mattered was that Zhou Wanyi had measured it and came back to tell him.

He heard the sound of her swallowing, very softly.

'Continue,' Yu Heng said, pushing the tablet a bit closer to her.

Zhou Wanyi sat back down, her fingers swiping across the screen quickly.

The remaining questions were all about subjective feelings; she chose the shortest options to fill them out and finally clicked submit.

A 'Thank you for participating' interface popped up on the screen.

Zhou Wanyi placed the tablet on the coffee table and stood up. 'I'm going to bed.'

'Wait,' Yu Heng called out to her.

Zhou Wanyi paused in her tracks but didn't look back.

'Tomorrow morning at nine,' Yu Heng said, 'I've arranged for someone from a domestic service company to come for an interview. You should be here to take a look as well.'

'Does Mom know?'

'I'll tell her,' Yu Heng stood up. 'Go to sleep.'

Zhou Wanyi entered the bedroom, and the door closed.

Yu Heng sat down on the living room sofa and clicked on the submitted questionnaire data.

In the usage frequency column, Zhou Wanyi had selected 3 to 5 times.

Three to five times a week.

Yu Heng did the math; it had been about ten days since he gave it to her?

That means she's satisfied with it.

He turned off the tablet and got up to go to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

While the electric toothbrush was buzzing, he heard a faint sound from the master bedroom, like someone turning over, and the bed frame creaked.

After brushing his teeth, he came out and walked into his own room.

The room hadn't been lived in for a long time and had a faint smell of dust.

The bedsheets were newly changed by Zhou Wanyi and felt a bit cool to the touch.

Yu Heng lay down with his hands behind his head.

Zhou Wanyi probably couldn't sleep right now.

What kind of expression did she have when she was measuring just now?

Would her hands be shaking?

How did she handle that thing after measuring? Did she wipe it clean and put it back, or... He rolled over, facing the wall.

Take it slow.

—

At seven o'clock the next morning, Yu Heng woke up.

He got dressed and walked out of the room; there was activity in the kitchen.

Zhou Wanyi was frying eggs, and the frying pan was sizzling.

'Morning,' Yu Heng said as he walked into the kitchen.

Zhou Wanyi's shoulders flinched, and she didn't look back. 'Morning.'

She was wearing loungewear, her hair tied in a low ponytail hanging over one shoulder.

'Xiao Hui isn't awake yet?' Yu Heng asked.

'No,' Zhou Wanyi said, serving the fried eggs onto a plate. 'He should be waking up soon.'

Yu Heng took the milk out of the refrigerator and poured two glasses. The microwave dinged, and he took it out and placed it on the dining table.

The two of them ate breakfast face to face. Zhou Wanyi ate very slowly, keeping her head down the whole time.

'The person from the domestic service company will arrive at nine,' Yu Heng said.

'Okay,' Zhou Wanyi poked the egg yolk with her chopsticks.

At eight-thirty, Yu Hui woke up.

Zhou Wanyi went to dress him and feed him milk; by the time she finished, it was almost nine.

The doorbell rang right on time.

Yu Heng went to open the door. Standing there was a woman in her forties, cleanly dressed, holding a folder.

'Are you Mr. Yu? I'm Sister Li from Anxin Domestic Services.'

'Please come in,' Yu Heng stepped aside.

Sister Li entered, changed her shoes, and seeing Zhou Wanyi holding the baby, she smiled and nodded. 'Is this the baby? How old is he?'

'Ten months,' Zhou Wanyi said.

The three of them sat down to chat. Sister Li was experienced, having cared for several children, and her certifications were all in order.

The salary discussed was 6,500 a month for 10 hours a day.

'Usually, the main task is taking care of the child,' Yu Heng said, 'and doing some cleaning and cooking.'

Sister Li nodded. 'Understood, I have experience with children.'

After chatting for half an hour, Yu Heng decided to try her out for a month first.

He signed an agreement with the domestic service company, and she could start work tomorrow.

After seeing Sister Li off, Zhou Wanyi was still standing in the living room.

'Starting tomorrow, things will be a bit easier for you,' Yu Heng said.

Zhou Wanyi pursed her lips. 'Six thousand five hundred a month, isn't that a bit expensive?'

'It's not expensive,' Yu Heng said. 'Taking care of a child is physical labor.'

Yu Hui was playing with building blocks on the crawling mat, picking them up and stuffing them into his mouth.

Zhou Wanyi quickly crouched down and took the blocks out. 'You can't eat those.'

His phone vibrated, and Yu Heng took it out to look.

It was a WeChat message from Bai Xinran.

Bai Xinran: Good morning, Master. I've finished the draft of the design and sent it to your email.

Yu Heng: Okay.

Bai Xinran: Are you coming back today?

Yu Heng: This afternoon.

Bai Xinran: Okay, I'll wait for you.

Yu Heng put away his phone; Zhou Wanyi was still playing with the child.

She was kneeling on the floor, the neckline of her loungewear was a bit loose, revealing a small patch of her chest as she leaned over.

Yu Heng looked away. 'I'm going back to Tang City this afternoon.'

Zhou Wanyi looked up. 'Oh.'

'Call me if anything happens,' Yu Heng said.

'What could happen?' Zhou Wanyi picked up Yu Hui. 'Didn't you hire a nanny?'

Yu Heng didn't respond; he went into his room to pack his backpack. There wasn't much to pack, just a few clothes.

As he was pulling up the zipper, Zhou Wanyi appeared at the door holding the child.

'That...' her voice was a bit low, 'your business, it's legal, right?'

'Don't worry, it's all legal and compliant!' Yu Heng chuckled. 'Are you worried about me, Sister-in-law?'

Zhou Wanyi's face turned red, she bit her lip and said softly, 'You're the only man left in the family...'

Hearing those words and seeing her expression, the fire in Yu Heng's heart flared up again.

Blushing, biting her lip, eyes darting away—combined with that sentence and her demeanor, it was so damn seductive.

He took half a step forward, closing the distance.

Holding the child, Zhou Wanyi instinctively backed away until her back pressed against the doorframe.

'Sister-in-law,' Yu Heng lowered his voice a bit, 'if something really happened to me, what would you do?'

Zhou Wanyi was stumped by his question. What would she do?

What could she do?

What should she do?

She hadn't thought about it; she just instinctively didn't want him to take the wrong path.

'I...' her throat felt dry, and she lowered her eyes. 'Don't say such unlucky things.'

'Fine, I won't,' Yu Heng went along with it, but he didn't back away.

He raised his free hand as if to tuck a stray hair behind her ear.

Zhou Wanyi's shoulders tensed; his hand didn't touch her hair in the end, but just paused near her ear for a brief moment.

Then it dropped down, picking up the backpack she had placed on the nearby cabinet.

'I should go. I'll transfer ten thousand yuan to you later for the nanny's first month's salary and the rest for daily expenses.' Yu Heng looked down at his phone. 'Tell me if it's not enough.'

—

The car traveled at a steady speed on the highway.

Yu Heng leaned against the seat back. Shen Yueling had been leaning against him sleeping since she got in the car. He took out his phone to check his emails.

He clicked on the design sent by Bai Xinran; the lines were clean, and the annotations were detailed.

This girl is quite creative; it's the Year of the Dog, so she's making a dog one, huh?

Compared to the horse one, the dog one is indeed more common.

Yu Heng zoomed in to look at the details.

He closed the email and sent a WeChat message to Bai Xinran: I've seen the drawing. It's good. We'll talk more when I get back.

Bai Xinran replied almost instantly: Yes, Master.

Yu Heng stared at the screen for two seconds before putting his phone away.

This girl's state has been good lately; she's clearly more relaxed. There's less deliberate pleasing and more natural obedience.

This is a good thing. It means she's starting to truly settle into her role.

On Zhou Wanyi's side, it could also be considered a small step forward.

The nanny is settled, adding an extra monthly expense, but that amount of money is nothing now.

The income from TikTok was even better than expected. By the time he started recording Streamers this month, only about half the month was left; next month's earnings should reach six figures. With more money, more things could be done.

He thought of Lin Yu again.

Would she show up for next week's shoot?

Twenty thousand yuan a week was still a huge temptation for her.

People are like that; the first time is the hardest, but once you cross that line, it becomes much easier.