Shanshan wasn’t the least bit shy.

She tugged on her father’s large, sturdy hand.

"Daddy! Horsey! I wanna ride!"

As she spoke, she pumped her short little legs and dashed toward the carousel.

Shanshan sat on a little pink horse, her hands gripping the pole tightly.

When she looked up, she saw the mother-daughter pair, Liu Yingzi and Cao Jiajia, standing across from her.

Cao Jiajia was glaring at her, her small face tense, her eyes looking ready to pop.

Shanshan didn’t even bother to look back.

She hopped off the horse and ran straight to Ling Anxun.

Cao Jiajia watched as Ling Anxun knelt to wipe the sweat from Shanshan’s face.

He gently patted her on the back and asked in a low voice,

"Are you tired? Do you want some water?"

Cao Jiajia had long since forgotten what it felt like to be held by her father.

In her memory, her father was always in his military uniform, his back ramrod straight, and he rarely ever held her.

Her dad had taken her to the amusement park before, too.

But back then, she always stood in the crowd with her shoulders hunched, not daring to laugh too loudly or run too far.

But now, watching Shanshan, she suddenly realized something.

’So this is how loud a child can laugh, how happy they can be, how adored they can be by their father.’

"Mom, why isn’t Dad home yet? He hasn’t played with me in so long... I don’t even get to see his picture anymore."

A pang shot through Liu Yingzi’s heart.

She immediately knelt and pulled her daughter into her arms.

"He’s busy with an important mission. Once this is over, he’ll definitely bring you here to play. Okay? Mommy promises."

Of course, she had also seen the unreserved way Ling Anxun doted on Shanshan.

It was something she had never seen from her own husband.

That look in his eyes, those gestures—they filled her with a bitter jealousy.

Still, she gritted her teeth and swallowed it down.

She couldn’t let her child think her father didn’t love her.

After returning home, she immediately picked up the phone and dialed the contact number for his unit.

After confirming that Cao Daqiang had no off-base missions in the next two days, she quickly changed her daughter’s clothes, slung a small bag over her own shoulder, and led her out the door.

"Daqiang, you’ve been working so hard."

"Jiajia misses you every day. She cries herself to sleep at night, and nothing I say helps. I had no other choice, so I brought her to see you."

The words sounded foreign even to Liu Yingzi as they left her lips.

She would never have shown such weakness before, let alone used her child as an excuse to seek a man’s attention.

But now, she had no choice but to bow her head.

Cao Daqiang was taken aback, clearly a little surprised.

He remembered they had just had a huge fight over trivial matters a couple of days ago, and he still hadn’t completely cooled off.

But the Liu Family could still be of use to him.

That matter back home still required his father-in-law’s connections to smooth things over.

Gazing at his daughter’s red-rimmed eyes, he ultimately couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

"You’re here? Jiajia, come, give me a hug. Have you been eating well lately? Are you being a picky eater?"

"Yes! I’ve been eating a lot!"

Cao Jiajia immediately threw herself into his arms, her small hands clutching his clothes tightly.

’Daddy is so gentle today, not like before when he always had a scowl on his face or would frown the moment he walked in the door.’

But strangely, as she hugged her father, the image of that little girl named Shanshan kept popping into her mind.

’When I rushed to Dad just now, was I just like Shanshan rushing to her dad?’

The father and daughter snuggled together, talking for a long time.

After a while, Cao Daqiang finally looked up at his wife, who was sitting across from him.

"Yingzi, you’ve worked so hard holding the family together by yourself all this time. You’ve managed everything, inside and out, and taken good care of our child. I... thank you."

Liu Yingzi was stunned.

’Those words...’

He had never said anything like that before.

"It’s... it’s not hard. You’re the one who’s truly exhausted. Rushing around out there, you have it the hardest."

"You know as well as I do, I have no position and no backing right now. If I want to climb the ladder, I have to work ten times harder than anyone else. What others can accomplish lying down, I have to do on the run. What others can solve with connections, I can only trade for with my time and sweat."

Cao Daqiang continued.

"I’ve been running around so much lately just to make sure the leadership sees me and remembers me. This bit of money, it’s from bonuses and subsidies for my missions. It’s not from some shady source. Take it back for household expenses, buy Jiajia some nice treats. Don’t be frugal."

As he spoke, he got up, walked to a cabinet, and bent down to pull a small metal box from the bottom shelf.

He opened the lid, revealing a neat stack of cash inside.

Liu Yingzi’s eyes widened.

"Where... where did you get so much money? You... you haven’t done anything illegal, have you?"

"Didn’t I just say? I’ve been taking on a lot of jobs, and this is all from extra subsidies from the unit. The more I work, the more I get. I’m keeping two bills for pocket money; you take the rest."

Cao Daqiang grinned.

"I meant to send it back sooner, but I kept putting it off. I’ve let you both down."

He pulled out two hundred-yuan bills, then thrust the rest of the stack into Liu Yingzi’s hand.

This gesture completely softened Liu Yingzi’s heart.

’He’s finally willing to humble himself and truly put our daughter and me first.’

’Maybe...’

’Has he really changed?’

Liu Yingzi’s eyes grew warm.

Cao Daqiang frowned.

He was silent for a moment before finally raising his hand and patting the back of hers.

"I have things to do tonight, so I can’t stay long."

"Take our daughter home. Buy her some new clothes, get her some snacks, whatever. As long as she’s happy, I don’t care how much it costs. Just don’t let her feel wronged."

"Mm, I know."

Liu Yingzi nodded gently.

She didn’t say much more, nor did she press him about his affairs. She simply lowered her head and looked at her sleeping daughter in her arms.

Then, she hugged her daughter tightly and turned to leave.

At the main gate, Cao Daqiang stood in place, his gaze following them until they got into a taxi.

After the car drove off, Liu Yingzi gently set her daughter down from her arms and took her little hand.

’I don’t believe a word of what he just said.’

’Don’t let her feel wronged?’

’It’s all lies.’

Cao Daqiang had never been a soft-hearted person.

He only gave her money today because he was afraid of a scandal, afraid it would affect his laughable prospects.

She had seen right through a man like Cao Daqiang long ago.

From the days he couldn’t hold his head up in the village to his present arrogance in a military uniform, she knew his true colors better than anyone.

She never should have emptied her family’s savings back then, pulling strings and using connections to grease the wheels for him at every level.

If not for her Liu Family giving their all, that Cao Daqiang would have been buried in the mud long ago, never to get back on his feet.

’And now?’ 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’She just hoped her family would act quickly, use their real power, and completely block his path to promotion.’

’Don’t let him take another step forward, not even half a step up.’

’Once a man like that climbs up, gets real power, and finds a backer, she and her daughter would never have a peaceful day in their lives.’

’He would never let them go.’

’It would be best if he were trapped in this base for the rest of his life, unable to move.’

’That way, she could still rely on the Liu Family’s remaining influence to reclaim the life she once had, one of being flattered and respected.’

But what she didn’t know was that Cao Daqiang was no longer the nobody that others could easily manipulate.

He had Gu Jiajun backing him.

That influential senior leader, a heavyweight in both circles, had long ago designated him as a key prospect to be groomed.

With such a great tree to lean on, the mere Liu Family could no longer hold him down.

「Today was the elementary school’s autumn field trip.」

The campus was bustling early in the morning, with children carrying their backpacks and chattering excitedly as they gathered on the athletic field.