He unexpectedly becomes a father at the start of his life, and the mother of his child is a national

Chen Hao gently patted his phone, his heart filled with emotion. Whether it was writing novels or painting, these were things he loved to do. He never expected that he could earn so much money from what he loved and still be able to spend time with his daughter. This was probably the happiest thing.

Just as he was feeling sentimental, his phone rang again; it was He Muqing calling once more.

He pressed the answer button and said, "Manager He, I just received a text message. The money has been deposited into my account. Thank you."

"It's good that the money has arrived!" He Muqing said with a smile. "Mr. Chen, please don't be so polite. We should be thanking you."

By the way, Mr. Chen, there's something else I'd like to ask you. Do you have any other paintings coming out recently?

If you have any, you can bring them to us anytime and we'll consign them for you. Don't worry, with your current momentum, your paintings will only become more and more sought after.

It will definitely fetch a good price, and our gallery will do its best to promote it for you, ensuring you don't lose out.

After listening, Chen Hao thought for a moment and said, "Let's wait a while. I have some things to do right now. I'll take the new painting over to you for consignment once I've finished it."

He actually had his own ideas and didn't plan to paint a new picture right now.

"Okay, okay, no problem!" He Muqing quickly replied.

"Then we'll wait for your good news. Whenever you have a new painting, please contact me and I'll come pick it up in person."

"Okay, thank you."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Hao put down his phone, leaned back in his chair, and knew very well why He Muqing was being so enthusiastic.

If a painting sells for 15 million, the gallery can take a 150% commission, which is 22.5. The gallery makes a lot of money from this deal. Anyone would be so enthusiastic.

But he doesn't plan to paint too frequently.

He understands the rules of the art collecting world: the rarer something is, the more precious and valuable it is.

If he puts out a painting to sell every now and then, there will be many of his works on the market, and they will become worthless. The price will naturally drop, and he will end up losing more than he gains.

He'd known the principle that scarcity increases value since he was a child, so he planned to paint another picture every now and then, and next time he could try a different style.

For example, he used to paint in the traditional Chinese style, but now he paints in oil. Changing his style might bring a different effect and make more people like his paintings.

He glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer screen again—4:30 PM.

Upon seeing this, he panicked, jumped up from his chair, and muttered, "Oh no, oh no, Sisi will be home from school soon!"

Sisi goes to kindergarten and gets out of school at 5 pm every day. It's already 4:30 pm. If we don't leave soon, we'll be late.

He didn't want Sisi to wait for him, and he didn't want Sisi to feel sad seeing other children being picked up by their parents while she was still alone.

He immediately grabbed the car keys from the table, hurried out of the study, forgetting to turn off the computer and save the documents.

Reaching the door, he changed his shoes, grabbed his coat, and hurriedly left. He pressed the elevator button and waited anxiously for it to come down, glancing at his phone every now and then, his anxiety growing.

As soon as the elevator arrived, he immediately went inside, pressed the button for the basement, and the elevator quickly descended.

Upon arriving at the underground parking garage, he quickly walked to his car, opened the door, got in, started the engine, and sped out of the garage, merging into the traffic flow at the entrance of the residential area.

It was approaching the evening rush hour, and there were already more cars on the road, causing some congestion. Chen Hao was very anxious, so he could only slowly follow the flow of traffic, and occasionally overtake when he could. Although he looked calm on the surface, he was already extremely anxious inside, constantly checking the time, afraid of being late.

A dozen minutes later, the car finally stopped on the side of the road in front of the kindergarten.

Chen Hao quickly turned off the engine, opened the car door, and walked briskly to the kindergarten gate. He stood with the other parents waiting to pick up their children and waited patiently.

There were already quite a few parents standing at the kindergarten gate, mostly grandparents and some mothers. There weren't many young fathers like him picking up their children.

Several parents who often pick up their children together recognized him and greeted him with smiles and nods. He quickly nodded in response, forcing a smile, but he was still thinking about Sisi and kept glancing in the direction of the kindergarten building.

Finally, at five o'clock sharp, the kindergarten's dismissal bell rang on time, its crisp sound echoing around.

Soon, the children came out of the school building in neat rows. Each row was led by a teacher who was holding a roll call list. As they walked, the teachers called out names and handed each child to their parents. They also reminded the parents to pay attention to their children's safety and to make sure their children drank plenty of water and ate on time when they got home.

Chen Hao stood on tiptoe, craned his neck, and carefully searched for his daughter in the crowd.

He knew Sisi's appearance all too well: a pink coat, two small pigtails, carrying her favorite little backpack with a bunny pattern, and always walking with her hands behind her back, like a little adult or a little scholar, earnest and adorable.

Not long after, he saw Sisi.

She stood in the middle of the line, slowly walking out with the others. Her little hands were behind her back, her head was slightly lowered, and she seemed to be lost in thought. Occasionally, she would look up at the children in front of her, looking incredibly cute.

Chen Hao couldn't help but laugh, waving vigorously at his daughter and whispering, "Sisi, Daddy's here!"

Sisi has very sharp eyes and spotted Chen Hao immediately. A bright smile instantly appeared on her face, her eyes lit up, and she became excited, wanting to run over right away. However, she remembered what her teacher had said: students shouldn't run around after school and should follow the line. So she had to hold back, her little face turning red. She blinked hard at Chen Hao and mouthed "Daddy," looking both cute and anxious.

Looking at his daughter, Chen Hao felt a warmth in his heart and was no longer in a hurry. He stood there, smiling as he watched her, waiting for the group to come over.

Soon, the group arrived at the kindergarten gate. The teacher in charge picked up the attendance book and called out loudly, "Lin Sisi!"

"Here!" Sisi immediately answered loudly, her voice clear and cute. Then she couldn't wait to break free from the teacher's hand and run towards Chen Hao. Her short legs ran very fast, and her schoolbag swayed back and forth.

Chen Hao quickly squatted down, opened his arms, and prepared to catch his daughter. His face was full of gentle smiles. He thought to himself that when Sisi ran over, he would definitely hug her tightly and ask her if she had a happy day at kindergarten and if she had been good.

Just as Sisi was about to run into his arms, a sharp scream suddenly came from the side, piercing the surrounding noise and sounding particularly shrill: "Ah—!"