Zhou Ying took out another gift, an exquisite music box.
As the lid of the music box was opened, a crisp and pleasant melody of "Swan Lake" floated out.
In the center of the music box, a princess dressed in a pink tutu was rotating gracefully.
Anni's eyes widened, and her face was full of surprise as she looked at the music box.
She couldn't help but clap her hands and shouted excitedly, "Wow, this is so beautiful, I love it!"
Seeing that Anni was satisfied with the gift, Zhou Ying secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She gently tapped the base of the music box with her fingertip.
She said to Anni, "This music box has a special feature too; it has a recording function. When you usually practice the piano, you can record your performance, and then this little dancer will rotate according to your musical rhythm."
"Ah, really?" Anni opened her mouth in surprise. "Then I'll go record something as soon as I get back!"
After happily playing with the music box for a bit, Anni suddenly tugged at Zhou Ying's sleeve.
She asked, "Sister Zhou Ying, do you know how to play 'Minute Waltz'? Our Teacher Li—I don't think she plays the 'woof woof' parts very well."
Hearing this, Zhou Ying covered her mouth and chuckled.
"I really liked that piece when I was a child." After saying that, Zhou Ying casually used her chopsticks to tap out a string of lively notes on a glass: "Is it like this? Woof! Woof woof!"
An Xin, who was on the side, fixed her gaze on her daughter and saw Anni looking at Zhou Ying with some admiration.
She couldn't help but sigh inwardly; this girl, who was only nineteen years old, actually possessed such delicate thoughtfulness beyond her years.
In these short few minutes of contact, she found that Zhou Ying not only conducted herself with poise and generosity...
...but also appeared exceptionally tactful when giving gifts, making one feel no discomfort whatsoever.
What surprised her even more was that Zhou Ying was actually able to make Anni like her in such a short amount of time.
Truly not simple.
A woman like this, if she were a few years older, would definitely become a very outstanding figure in the future.
One should know that at the An Family home, during holidays and festivals, the stream of people coming to deliver gifts was endless.
Those who wanted to curry favor with Anni were even more numerous.
Anyone with even a minor position in the company would try every possible way to please Anni whenever they saw her.
However, besides Jiang Cheng, An Xin had never seen Anni like this before.
So happily and closely interacting with another stranger.
"That's too generous. You're so good to Anni, I must treat you to this meal." An Xin handed over the menu with a smile and said warmly to Zhou Ying, "See what you'd like to eat?"
Zhou Ying originally wanted to say some words of refusal.
But seeing how sincere An Xin was, she no longer acted overly modest.
Instead, she briskly took the menu and said with a smile, "I saw this restaurant online before. I heard the food here is very delicious!"
As she spoke, she quickly ordered two dishes and then handed the menu to Jiang Cheng, who was sitting next to her.
Jiang Cheng took the menu, glanced at it, and then spoke up, "Then let's order a few more spicy dishes, and some steamed dishes suitable for Anni."
Hearing the word "steamed," Anni's expression instantly turned a bit sour.
She pouted her lips and said dissatisfiedly, "I don't want to eat steamed food, I want to eat..."
However, before Anni could finish her sentence, she was ruthlessly interrupted by Jiang Cheng: "Objection overruled!"
Anni's little mouth pouted even higher, and she secretly lamented in her heart.
If An Xin had said those words, she would definitely have used all her skills to act spoiled and cute to get An Xin to order other dishes for her.
But facing Jiang Cheng, Anni knew her "acting spoiled" tactics definitely wouldn't work.
So she could only helplessly purse her lips and stop talking.
Looking at Anni's defeated look, An Xin couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"This child really listens to you."
Hearing this, Zhou Ying naturally picked up the conversation: "Jiang Cheng really likes Anni; I feel like he should be a good father in the future."
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng coughed and asked with a double meaning, "Only in the future? I think I should be a qualified father right now too, don't you think?"
Aside from Zhou Ying, who understood the implication...
...it was clear that Anni and An Xin both didn't understand.
An Xin even thought Jiang Cheng's words were meant to test Zhou Ying.
"Ah, why? Brother Jiang Cheng, aren't you not married yet? Whose father are you right now?" Anni asked innocently.
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng gave an embarrassed dry cough.
He really wanted to tell Anni that he was many people's "daddy."
But obviously, both his age and the occasion were not suitable.
At this critical moment, the Waitress appeared just in time like a savior.
She steadily delivered the food to the table.
The first to arrive was the signature Truffle Abalone that Jiang Cheng had ordered.
This restaurant used lacquer boxes to serve this dish.
The wood of this lacquer box looked very heavy and substantial.
The server gently lifted the lid, and the mist created by dry ice overflowed slowly like celestial fog along the exquisitely carved cloud patterns of the box.
Beneath the abalone, a piece of real gold leaf was even laid out.
Seeing this, Jiang Cheng quickly pretended to be busy and picked up the serving chopsticks, first placing a piece of Truffle Abalone for Zhou Ying.
Then he quickly served two shrimp to Anni, the movement fluid and natural, directly avoiding the previous topic.
After that, Jiang Cheng acted as if it were just convenient and also served a piece of Truffle Abalone to Anni.
It was a perfect interpretation of what it meant for the rain and dew to fall equally.
If it were before, An Xin would definitely have thought nothing of Jiang Cheng's action.
But she knew that Jiang Cheng was merely using the gap of serving Anni to openly serve her as well.
Although An Xin didn't say anything, when she turned her head to take care of Anni's meal, a trace of a smile curled at the corner of her lips.