The very next day, my dad stubbornly called in sick to avoid Uncle Lu. Even when Uncle Lu showed up in person to coax him, bringing up their old days at the orphanage, my dad dug his heels in and refused to budge.

That afternoon, Lu Gongming picked me up from school with the gloomy, heartbroken look of a man whose world had just ended. I let out a heavy sigh, seeing right through my father’s defenses. “My dad clearly has feelings for you, but he’s been struggling for so long that he’s terrified. He’s scared he’s not good enough, scared he’ll just be abandoned again.”

I yanked on Uncle Lu’s sleeve and whispered a quick plan into his ear. The light snapped back into his eyes instantly.

The following morning, I dragged my dad to the mall under the guise of buying new shoes. As we strolled through the corridors, I let out a dramatic, gasped exclamation: “Whoa! Dad, look over there! Isn’t that Uncle Lu? The girl next to him is so pretty!”

My dad froze, his eyes locking onto the cafe nearby. Lu Gongming was sitting beside a gorgeous young woman, the two of them looking like a match made in heaven. I dragged my dad straight over. “Uncle Lu! Is this pretty lady your girlfriend?”

The color drained from my dad’s face. The woman proved to be a natural actress; she offered a dazzling smile and extended her hand. “Hello, I’m his fiancée.”

Seeing that the stage was set, I immediately pulled the “fiancée” (who was actually an actress Uncle Lu had hired) away, giving the two men some space. The second we were out of earshot, my dad grabbed Lu Gongming and yanked him to his feet, his eyes red with fury.

“You already have a fiancée and you still came to mess with my head? You bastard!”

“Ah Shu… are you jealous?” Uncle Lu asked in a low, gravelly voice.

“Who’s jealous?! I just despise men who play with people’s feelings! I completely misjudged you!” My dad bristled like a furious little cat, all his fur standing on end.

Lu Gongming stepped forward and pulled him into a tight embrace from behind. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. But apart from you, everyone else is just an act. I was miserable the whole time you were avoiding me.”

He gently turned my dad around and pressed his forehead against his. “I love you. I’ve loved you since we were kids. Please don’t ignore me anymore, okay?”

My dad’s face turned bright red all the way to the tips of his ears. “Wait… have you really been into me for that long?”

Lu Gongming slid an arm around his waist, lowering his head with a soft chuckle. “When we were little, you used to crawl into my arms every night to sleep. You’d wrap your arms around my neck, call me ‘Big Brother,’ and tell me you were going to marry me when you grew up. You forgot, but I remembered every single word.”

“I was just a kid back then!” my dad protested, his eyes wide.

“Well, I don’t want to be your big brother anymore. I want to be your boyfriend.” Uncle Lu gazed down at him with such intense, melting devotion that it sent my dad’s heart racing.

After a brief, petty argument over who had kissed whom first when they were drunk, the normally terrifying CEO suddenly turned suspiciously submissive. “It’s only because I love you. You can do whatever you want with me. If you don’t like the fake engagement, I’ll go home right now and tell my grandfather to call it off. Alright?”

My dad lowered his head, his voice barely a whisper. “Why are you asking me about your own business…” But the corner of his lips betrayed a helpless smile.

Watching the two of them standing forehead-to-forehead without making a move, the “fake fiancée” couldn’t take it anymore and shouted from the side, “Oh, for heaven’s sake! Lu Gongming, do you even know how to kiss?! A single kiss solves everything!”

In the very next second, my dad grabbed Uncle Lu by the collar, shoved him down onto the sofa, and leaned in to kiss him. The actress let out an excited cheer while I silently marveled at the scene: I was watching a real-life romance drama play out right in front of my eyes.

Once their relationship was out in the open, Lu Gongming shamelessly moved into our apartment, using the excuse that he had been “kicked out by his family and needed a place to crash.” The fearsome titan of the business world suddenly transformed into a model homemaker, cooking breakfast in the morning, doing laundry at noon, and peeling fruit in the evening.

Life was peaceful until one day, the Lu family came knocking. A stern, white-haired old man walked through the door. Lu Gongming immediately stepped in front of my dad. “Grandfather, I’m not going back to marry anyone.”

But the old man ignored him completely. He walked straight past his grandson, pulled me into a tight hug, and said in a trembling voice, “So alike… this child looks just like my granddaughter. You’re my great-granddaughter!”

Just like that, a massive secret was unravelled: the original girl’s mother, the woman who had abandoned us years ago, was actually the long-lost granddaughter of the prestigious Lu family. In other words, I had direct blood ties to this ultra-wealthy empire, and Lu Gongming was… my mother’s cousin.

Grandfather Lu wanted to take me back to raise me as the heir to the family fortune. My birth mother (who had transformed from a runaway wife into a wealthy heiress) also showed up, weeping and begging for a family reunion.

My dad wrapped his arms around me tightly. “She’s a Pei! She’s my daughter!”

“That doesn’t matter, she carries Lu blood!” the old man declared with overwhelming authority. “I won’t meddle in two men being together, but the child must carry the Lu surname!”

To calm the situation down, I, possessing the soul of a former college student, stepped in to broker a deal: I would take the Lu surname to inherit the family fortune, but my dad would remain my primary guardian. When I grew up, Uncle Lu could take over running the company, while I used the Lu family’s vast fortune to take my dad on a trip around the world. A flawless plan!

My mother had originally intended to rekindle her old romance with my dad, but after seeing how deeply devoted he and Lu Gongming were to each other, she instantly pulled a complete 180 and became their number one fangirl, shipping them even harder than I did.

A few months later, my dad sat across from me, his face flushing as he asked softly, “Sweetheart… if your new stepmom… turned out to be a guy… would you mind?”

I gave a serious shake of my head. “Not at all, Dad. You go right ahead and marry, er, I mean, get married without a single worry!”

On their wedding night, I stood outside their bedroom door, faintly catching the sound of my dad’s teasing voice: “Good boy… how about calling me ‘husband’ a few times?”

Followed by Uncle Lu’s low, husky reply…

The next morning, my dad was so embarrassed he couldn’t even bring himself to look me in the eye. I took a sip from my box of milk, smiling in complete contentment. My grand mission to get my dad hitched had finally succeeded. He didn’t have to break his back doing delivery runs anymore, I had a powerful CEO “stepmom” backing me up, and most importantly, our little family of three was going to live happily ever after.