“Lately my stomach’s been iffy—doc says mild food buildup, skip two meals to rest it. Skip two? That’s starvation! I got digestive tablets and probiotics—no issue. Stop worrying.”
Around three p.m., Li Ran said goodbye to Bai Qingqing. She urged him to eat well, not slim down—senior year was crucial; take care.
Before leaving, Li Ran told her he wanted to visit Dad next weekend. Li Ang had pleaded for months—more beg than say.
This spineless man had done nothing major in life, then pulled something so shameless it disgusted normal folk. A lifetime’s atonement might not earn forgiveness.
For a while, Bai Qingqing battled herself and him, forcing him to admit he’d married her as a beard—surely had a gross boyfriend then.
But Li Ang, pale and resolute, denied it. He hadn’t used her as a beard; he’d been normal before.
Bai Qingqing got 5,000 yuan monthly from him—she rejected it as dirty, but he wired it anyway. It piled up now—who knew how much.
Li Ran’s boarding, living, and study fees came from Li Ang. Bai Qingqing managed alone before marriage; now with her own family, she gave little.
“Why visit him next weekend? What’s so great about him!” Bai Qingqing shut the door, whispering harshly at the entrance, malice dripping.
Li Ran said, “But… he’s my dad.”
Even a stranger who’d paid child support for years would earn his gratitude—he’d repay properly.
Bai Qingqing waved irritably: “We’ll talk later. Go. Don’t go without my okay. If you still see me as Mom, care about my feelings. I hate him—if it’d been a woman, I wouldn’t hate half as much!”
At 3:30 p.m., Li Ran boarded the subway with a seat, sitting quietly.
He didn’t play on his phone, nor observe others.
He got home at 6:30.
Li Ran texted Chi Mo he was almost home—no need to pick up.
No reply. Probably busy.
Entering, a stranger’s face jolted him fully awake.
“Looks like my future daughter-in-law. So fresh and pretty.” A glamorous, bejeweled woman smiled warmly, reaching to stroke Li Ran’s cheek.
Some react fast to surprises, dodging in time; others freeze, brain bluescreening.
Li Ran was the latter fool—mind screaming Who is this? Dodge! Dodge!, body rigid, unresponsive.
A hand blocked hers. Chi Mo pulled Li Ran close and said coldly to the woman, “He’s mine. Don’t touch.”
Around seven in the evening, Qi Shan wore eight-centimeter high heels, tied an apron around her waist, and went in and out of the kitchen with Aunt Wu. She didn’t have the slightest air of arrogance as Chi Mo’s mother.
She took off her expensive watch from her wrist and placed it on the coffee table. Her long skirt’s sleeves were rolled up, and her hair was styled in the most beautiful but time-consuming waves, making her appear… plainly elegant with a strangely dignified air.
This formed a stark contrast with her stunning, bewitching face and fiery red lips.
Sitting across from her on the sofa was a refined man dressed in a meticulously tailored three-piece suit, looking as if he had come not to see his son, but to meet an international CEO. His expression was slightly awkward, as if he desperately wanted to find a topic but had no idea what to say.
It was none other than Chi Mo’s biological father, Chi Wei.
“Little Mo, Mom cooked personally today, so you have to eat more,” Qi Shan said as she stepped into the dining room in her high heels to grab something. She held a spatula in her left hand and gestured emphatically with her right toward Chi Mo, hoping he wouldn’t hurt his mother’s feelings.
Aunt Wu in the kitchen had never been so restrained. After cooking for decades, she suddenly had Chi Mo’s rarely visiting parents take over the kitchen tools. She didn’t dare scold them and could only sigh beside them. “Madam Chi, you can’t put too much salt in this dish—it’s already salty enough, and it’ll be too salty later… Why don’t you go rest outside? This kind of work isn’t for you; let me do it…”
Li Ran and Chi Mo sat on the same double sofa, their arms pressed tightly together, thighs touching thighs.
With his bro’s parents coming over for dinner, Li Ran didn’t bother with polite hosting. Instead, he treated them like ghosts, full of vigilance, squeezing Chi Mo into the corner.
Finally, Chi Mo grabbed his hand and sighed. “They don’t eat people.”
Chi Wei quickly flashed a fawning smile at Li Ran, his teeth gleaming white. “Right, Qi Shan and I don’t eat people.”
That smile made him look even more like a villain who loved eating children. Li Ran felt a chill.
Such a refined and proper face became creepy when he smiled like that. Li Ran turned away to look at Chi Mo’s face instead. His eyes received a baptism of happiness, and his hand unconsciously gripped Chi Mo’s in return.
At twelve years old, Li Ran had met Qi Shan and Chi Wei. After glancing at them a few more times earlier, he remembered how he had blocked these two from going crazy with Chi Mo back then, only to get his butt beaten by his mom.
The Qi Shan and Chi Wei in his memories had been domineering and cold, their words mild but carrying an uncompromising ruthlessness.
The current Qi Shan and Chi Wei—Li Ran couldn’t quite describe the feeling. He just thought this couple seemed to have done something guilty and wanted desperately to make amends, so they were acting subservient and low.
Over these past few months, Li Ran had heard Chi Mo take a few calls—Chi Mo never avoided him while on the phone—and coldly reject his parents’ invitations to come home for dinner. Even bringing up Old Master Chi, Chi Mo’s grandfather, hadn’t worked.
When they first arrived, Qi Shan had even mistaken Li Ran for a girl and called him her daughter-in-law.
Over the top!
Li Ran angrily tugged at a strand of his hair and held it up for Chi Mo to see, whispering, “Bro, I just got this haircut two days ago—you went with me. My hair isn’t long at all. Do I not look like a guy?”
The old Li Ran, who would only listen silently to others or at most stew in silence, now dared to throw a tantrum and protest.
He still wanted to be a man.
Chi Mo glanced at him. “Mm, middle-school edgelord.”
A hint of amusement lingered in his eyes, dispelling the deepest coldness.
Li Ran punched him. “You’re the edgelord.”
Chi Mo, who couldn’t be bothered to chat with his own parents, showed endless patience with Li Ran. Chi Wei watched them back and forth, a twisted expression flickering in his eyes.
Dinner started at eight. Qi Shan and Chi Wei sat across from each other at the table, while Li Ran sat with Chi Mo.
“Where are Auntie Cheng and Uncle Ye?” Qi Shan stretched her arm to keep piling food into Chi Mo’s bowl.
She was just being polite; in reality, she had nothing to say to the old folks. It was better that they weren’t home.
Li Ran ate quietly, planning to just be a listener. But Qi Shan’s question caused an immediate cold field.
Chi Mo treated the people across from him as if they weren’t his parents. His ears seemed stuffed with donkey hair—he couldn’t hear them. He treated them like air or as if they were farting.
When eating, he focused only on himself and Li Ran, picking food, pouring water, all in one smooth motion. Whatever Qi Shan picked up, he didn’t eat, his exclusion blatantly obvious.
“…Grandpa and Grandma went on a trip to a nearby city a few days ago,” Li Ran said, unable to stand the awkwardness. He glanced at Chi Mo’s face and saw no sign of stopping him or displeasure, so he finished smoothly.
“Oh, they went on a trip? When did they go?” Qi Shan immediately turned to talk to Li Ran, her attitude eager. She asked when he had moved in, if school was tiring, if Chi Mo’s work was hard…
Li Ran had experienced Shen Shu’s enthusiasm and thought he could handle it, but he was still tongue-tied.
The warmer they were, the more he shrank back.
Under the table, he tugged at Chi Mo’s clothes and whispered, “Bro…”
“Mm, eat,” Chi Mo said to Li Ran without looking at Qi Shan or Chi Wei. Strangely, the table fell quiet.
Qi Shan forced a smile. “Right, eat, eat.”
She kept piling food into Chi Mo’s bowl tirelessly.
When his bowl piled up like a mountain, yet he didn’t move, Chi Wei finally frowned. “It’s from your mom at least—eat a little, Little Mo.”
“Otherwise, it’ll really hurt her feelings.”
Qi Shan immediately chimed in sadly. “Yeah, Little Mo, Mom loves you. I just want to be good to you…”
Chi Mo ignored everyone and did as he pleased.
He looked unbreakable and uncaring, but Li Ran got angry.
Protectively, he muttered, “If he doesn’t want to eat, he doesn’t have to… Why force him?”
It was just like back then when Qi Shan and Chi Wei wanted to take Chi Mo abroad. The ignorant Li Ran had said, “He clearly doesn’t want to go. Why force him?”
Now Li Ran was mature.
