Empress Of The Lost Kingdom - Chapter 236

No matter how many times the twins have blinked their eyes in incredulous disbelief, they couldn’t accept the fact that the woman in the CEO’s seat was their mother.

How’s that even possible? Their mother was supposed to be a housewife who does some trivial jobs to get away from her boring life. How can she lead a corporation that steers the economy of the country?

“My darlings…what happened?” Li Juan was equally surprised by her kids, who silently looked at her with widened eyes. She expected that it will be a bit harder for them to understand, and accept the truth, but leaving the twins dumbfounded wasn’t on her plan.

While exchanging worried glances with Lee Tae Yang, she gently rose from her seat and walked towards the couch. Even after she crouched down and looked at her kids at their eye level, there wasn’t any reaction from the twins as they stood there bewildered.

“Yangyang…did I make a mistake?” She cluelessly looked at Lee Tae Yang before reverting her gaze to the twins. Since they were at an age where they could understand basic worldly affairs, Lee Tae Yang and Li Juan jointly decided to take the kids to her workplace. But looking at their stoic expressions, she couldn’t help but think that her plan was a failure.

“I’m sorry if I-” Li Juan began to apologise, but all of a sudden, her apologetic words got cut off by little Yong, who hugged her, out of blue.

“Sorry, mommy.” He admitted as he wrapped his little arms over Li Juan’s neck, and it didn’t take much time for his brother to follow the suit.

“We are sorry, mommy.” Little Hyun stated in a fragile voice that was about to break into a low sob. Being the talkative person among the two, he was the one who always questioned his mother for being a lazy mother. “We shouldn’t have asked mummy to leave home…we..we.. missed you a lot.” Even though he tried his best not to shed any tears, he ended up crying as soon as he watched his mother apologizing.

“I missed my babies too.” Li Juan warmly replied and embraced the little ones who were holding to her as if she was their most precious possession. “But why are you saying sorry? There is no need for that.” She consoled the little Hyun and gently wiped his tears with her palms. “Mommy, just happy that you are here.”

“Mommy, is this your office?” Little Yong asked in confusion as he looked at the nameplate on the table and read aloud,

“Your name is Bai Yue Ling?”

“Mommy, are you the CEO?”

“If you work here, then why are we living in Jing city?”

Once the teary moment of reconciliation was over, both of them began to bombard Li Juan with their questions without giving her a break.

“Hmm, why don’t we let mommy take a breath and answer your questions later? Lee Tae Yang, who silently watched their interactions, suggested with a smile gleaming on his face. Unlike Li Juan, he was sure that things might turn like this.

“Yes, yes…mommy, come here.” Little Hyun and little Yong made her sit on the sofa and even handed over the drinks which were brought for them.

“Mommy, do you have two names? How can you have two names?” Little Hyun was the first one to ask a question when he saw that his mother was ready to answer them.

“Ah, darling, mommy grew up with the name Li Juan, which was given by my mother. But when I started to live with grandpa Bai and your uncles, they gave me the other name, Bai Yue Ling.” She explained in simple terms, leaving out that it was her official name as the Queen of Yu palace.

“So, this is where you work, mommy? We thought you were just reading books at home and doing nothing.” Little Hyun dropped a truth bomb with an innocent face. “Don’t you like working here? Is that why you always stay home?”

“Mommy wanted to be an archaeologist.” Lee Tae Yang was the one who replied on behalf of Li Juan, and his reply itself left the twins in bewilderment. Thanks to the thick hard books in their home library, they were very much aware of the term ‘archaeologist’, but they never expected that there was a legit reason for those books to remain in their mother’s collection.

“She was part of a research team who found a lost city in the Tu mountains.” Lee Tae Yang proudly stated, “Do you remember the game which uncle Tae Min brought for you? ‘The treasure hunting game, ‘The lost kingdom’ was based on mommy’s expedition.”

“The main character ‘Lily Lewin’ in the game, is that you, mommy?” Little Yong exclaimed when he tried to recall that one of the most popular games worldwide, was actually based on his mother’s life.

“But we have never seen you going for the expedition?”

“Mommy stopped going to field expeditions once we found that two little beans are growing inside me.” Li Juan gently touched the cheeks of her kids and dotingly. Even after she finished her research, she went on field trips to assist as well as to lead several research projects of her juniors. However, the day she found that she was pregnant, she stopped going to field trips to stay away from any possible physical threats. “While you guys were in mommy’s belly, uncle Yu asked me to help him at work. Once you were born, even daddy took leave to stay with us. Now that my babies are big enough to go to school, mommy finally decided to go for work.” She elaborated with a pair of sparkling eyes.

“So mummy wasn’t doing a lousy job?”‘ Little Hyun asked again to confirm his doubts.

“Okay, stop right there.” Lee Tae Yang interrupted his kids, all of a sudden. “First of all, there is nothing called a ‘lousy job’. Every single job got its own dignity. Even if your mother is a housewife or a CEO, you should respect her…In fact, you should learn to respect and treat everyone equally.” He pressed the idea of equal treatment to the twins and turned towards secretary Han who stood there with an agreeing smile.

“Secretary Han, what do you think of your CEO? Is she doing a good job managing her duties?” Lee Tae Yang invited secretary Han to talk in support of her boss.

“Yes, young masters. Your mother is very hardworking and dedicated to her duties and responsibilities as the head of not only one, but two corporations in the country.” Secretary Han didn’t even hesitate to shower Li Juan with praises.

“Two corporations?” As soon as they heard the two corporations, it almost made their jaws drop in shock. Li Juan understood their dilemma one after another.

“Hmm. Lee corporations.” She replied in a barely audible voice.

“Uncle Tae Min’s company?” The twins asked and looked at his father for confirmation.

“Nah…it is one of the companies under Mommy.” Lee Tae Yang casually informed them as if it was not a big deal. When he resigned from the CEO position to lead his career in the medical field, he had to find someone to handle the duties and responsibilities of Lee Corporation’s headquarters in K country along with Lee Tae Min. However, he was having trouble finding an apt person for the Jing city branch, and Li Juan just offered her help for a temporary period. But the employees and the board members who got impressed by the ‘acting CEO’ made a collective request and chose her to lead them.

“So mommy is like the ‘big boss’ with lots of power?” Little Hyun asked to clarify, “Then why does mommy stays home with us when she got important work to do?”

“Because no work is more important than my babies.” Li Juan gently pulled his cheeks and smiled.

“You must have been hungry. Why don’t we go and have lunch? Mommy will answer the questions on the way.”

“Fine.”

“Let’s go,” Li Juan stood up from the sofa and held her kid’s palms as the family of four walked out of the office.

Even though the lunch break was nearly over, the cafeteria brimmed with employees who were discussing the mysterious guests who practically created in the uproar in the headquarters. However, as soon as they witnessed their boss accompanying the guests to the cafeteria, they couldn’t hide their bewilderment.

“Good afternoon, everyone.” Li Juan smiled and greeted them.

“Good afternoon, boss!” All the staff bowed before her and returned her greeting with surprised faces. Everyone knew that their boss prefers to eat in the cafeteria and interacts with the employees without class differences. However, it was the first time she had guests who accompanied her to the staff cafeteria rather than a high-end restuarant.

“We got some guests today. These are my boys.” With a beaming face, Li Juan introduced the three men who stood next to her.

“My husband and my babies,”

As soon as they heard the big announcement from their boss, the employees looked at each other, then at the family.

“Hi everyone, I am Lee Tae Yang. I’m a neurosurgeon at the first city hospital.”

“I’m Lee Tae Hyun. and this is my twin brother.”

“Lee Tae Yong, I hope everyone will take care of our mommy.” Little Treasure introduced him.

“Is this real? They are boss’s husband and kids? God, they look so adorable together.”

“What? Boss was married and had two kids?” A male employee almost shrieked in disappointment.

“I thought she was single. Good lord, she doesn’t even look like a mother of two.”

“Of course. That’s why boss works from home all the time.”

The employees began to ponder the details of the truth their boss had been hiding from them.

Watching everyone being restless, Li Juan cleared her throat and informed them that she would answer all of their questions, but later.

As the employees politely made way for the family to the food counter, the twins proudly looked at their mother, who was being treated with utmost respect and admiration.

It was true, their mother was indeed a great woman.