Translator: Lynn
Not long after Li’s father left that day, Ji Kai received a friend request on his communication app from “Li Changji.”
He ignored it. Within the next hour, “Li Changji” flooded his screen with repeated friend requests.
Feeling the urge to complain, Ji Kai finally gave in: “Does your dad…not have any friends?”
“That’s right, he has no friends,” Li Weidu said coldly. “Who would dare to be friends with someone like him? Just ignore him. Nothing good will come of it. He’s very good at twisting the truth and gaining sympathy. He’s deceived hundreds, if not thousands, of people.”
“…”
“…He’s just a drama queen who thrives on chaos,” Li Weidu muttered, lowering his eyes and pursing his lips. “Just like Zhu Ling.”
Oh, okay. Ji Kai chuckled, nestled comfortably in the passenger seat, and reached out to smooth Mr. Li’s hair, which had grown longer recently.
Alright, I curse the little goblin and you curse Zhu Ling. Darkness suits both of us.
…
In the last days of the previous year, it snowed heavily. Qi Yang, Zuo Yan, and others came over to play, and a group of men built an enormous 1.8-meter snowman in the yard.
The next day, the sun shone brightly, and the courtyard was quiet. Ji Kai opened the window early in the morning to get some air and saw Li Weidu’s old plaid scarf wrapped around the snowman’s neck.
Even the gentlest people have their little acts of love. Looking back at the sleeping man on the bed, his long eyelashes were serene.
It always seemed like this—this man could always touch the softest spot in his heart.
The snow didn’t melt for several days, so the group of friends came to the villa area multiple times to have simulated snow battles, as exciting as real CS:GO. After playing too enthusiastically, Mr. Li unfortunately caught a cold and developed a fever in the middle of the night. He promptly began his last hospitalization of the lunar year and the first of the solar year.
“Are you going to disobey me?”
Ji Kai, lying on the hospital bed after the infusion, took his cold arm and wrapped it around his waist: “When we got home, I told you to dry your hair first. And you insist on staying with me, you’re not serious about taking care of your health…”
“I…cough, it’s just not serious.” Li Weidu’s voice was completely hoarse, terribly astringent, and his face was unusually red, but his spirits were high.
In the warm bed, he used his hands, still aching after the IV removal, to rub a few handfuls of oil on the good places to pinch. When others stared at him, he asked for a kiss with an innocent and fascinated look: “When I’m not serious, who’s getting served so comfortably?”
Ji Kai’s innocent demeanor was gone forever after that.
This family used to have a serious little CEO who didn’t even watch movies, but he’s become wilder and more uninhibited recently.
“…It’s because you’ve been working overtime and your immune system is down, right? Your company doesn’t let anyone rest even during Chinese New Year.” He said this while smoothing his hair with his hands.
Ji Kai really liked Li Weidu’s longer black hair, which had grown soft and was pleasant to touch. He couldn’t stop touching it.
“By the way, until you finish your work, don’t rush back to cook for me every day. How about I make you a lunch box and bring it to your company? Although my cooking isn’t as good as yours, just don’t dislike it.”
“…”
Mr. Li was so delighted.
Even in his sleep, his expression was sweet. Ji Kai couldn’t help but reflect seriously: do I still have room to improve and treat him better, pamper and love him more?
…
Ji Kai didn’t tell Li Weidu that among the pile of friend requests from Li’s father, there was another application.
Goblin. Yes, that little goblin.
After being silent for so long, why did he suddenly focus on him again?
…
“Please, your man has already arranged a divorce with you, and you’re still clinging to me. Isn’t that wrong?”
“For an old and ugly woman like you, please be dignified and give up your seat! Holding on is pointless, or do you want me to send you intimate photos of the two of us so you can wash your eyes before giving up?”
Ji Kai got up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night. In the silent hospital corridor, he suddenly heard a snarky, caustic tone from someone on their phone over by the elevator.
Damn it, what the hell? Visually inspecting the mistress’s aggressive rant?
So arrogant. Oh, wait, that little goblin suddenly joining in wasn’t planning to cause a scene, was he? No, Zhu Ling has already been given up to you, hasn’t he? Could it be that after all this time, he still wants to take Weidu back?
Continuing to walk past the elevator, he was shocked to see it was Aunt Bai, who said she’d go back but didn’t. Leaning against the wall, she answered the phone with red eyes.
The woman on the other end was still cursing, her voice arrogant and very clear.
“…”
“Auntie, shall I handle it?”
He quarreled with Ye Yan last time. This time, I’ll take on Li Weidu’s mother-in-law, who bullied her and won’t back down.
When he graduated from college, Ji Kai almost became a lawyer like Zuo Yan, but he later went to graduate school and stayed to teach. His litigation skills were still sharp. He took the phone and started chatting with the other party, slowly covering their entire lineage, even down to their pre-evolutionary single-cell ancestors.
The whole process was civilized, with all kind greetings and not a single curse word.
A wide-eyed little nurse on the night shift stopped in shock. She had noticed this handsome guy before, dressed tastefully in a long gray trench coat, looking like a low-key, luxurious, successful person without speaking… Of course, now that he had spoken, he proved to be indeed successful and very eloquent!
Seeing that he spoke smoothly, he leisurely took out a cigarette and wanted to light it. The little nurse quickly pointed at the no-smoking sign, and the handsome guy nodded, then walked to the door with his cell phone, holding the unlit cigarette in his mouth, continuing to talk.
At the door, he ran into a small group of gangsters with big gold chains and green dragon tattoos who had just been bandaged.
Listening to the cigarette-smoking guy’s fancy tirades, the gangsters were dumbfounded. Tiptoeing around, not daring to breathe loudly, they floated silently beside him. Which court does this guy belong to? Never seen him before? He’s too intimidating to mess with.
…
“So, it’s really perplexing, right? You’ve already agreed to finalize the divorce with Weidu’s father next Friday, and now she’s scolding me. What’s the deal?”
“And she forgot, right? She actually dared to accuse me of being old? I’m several years younger than her. Huh, that grandma, if you mess with me again, I won’t just let you off! I won’t let her have the upper hand. Let’s see what she does!” Ji Kai escorted Aunt Bai to the taxi, still a bit concerned.
But considering her background—a woman who had been with a wealthy lover, raised a difficult son, and weathered many storms over the years—she shouldn’t be that fragile.
The next day, Mr. Li, who had just recovered from a serious illness, continued to work overtime at the company. Upon returning home, Ji Kai found Aunt Bai sitting on the sofa laughing heartily.
“Hahahahaha, hahahahaha…”
Ji Kai was taken aback. He had never seen the usually delicate Aunt Bai so animated.
“I asked her, why did that woman suddenly curse me like crazy? It turns out, hahaha, she got dumped! Weidu’s father has a new love, and he broke up with her and called off the wedding. She thought I convinced him, hahaha, but now she’s completely dumbfounded!”
“Ji Kai, you don’t know, just now… Hahaha, the wife of Weidu’s father’s business partner called me. She said his new love is a single woman from a large private enterprise. She’s beautiful and capable, but she said Weidu’s father is head over heels for her.”
“He gave her tons of expensive jewelry in my crazy pursuit, bought her a house and a car. But now she just eats with him and won’t even let him hold her hand.”
“I envy her so much. If I hadn’t married so early, I wouldn’t have to work so hard, sigh…”
This sudden twist in the story upgraded to a new gossip version on Aunt Bai’s divorce day.
“Ahaha, hahaha… Both you and Weidu said you wanted to see me off, but I insisted on having you do it. Such a shame you didn’t come to watch, Ji Kai.”
“When we were finalizing the divorce, haha, Weidu’s father brought the mistress, the female boss—but the mistress also showed up, and a group of relatives blocked them, claiming she’s pregnant and demanding an explanation after so many years of youth wasted.”
“Guess what happened next?”
“She said hahaha… ‘If you want, go ahead and have the child. I’ll raise your child as my own.’ Yes, she’s truly a force to be reckoned with in the business world. She made that woman and her whole family seethe with anger!”
“Though it’s all quite amusing, hahaha… But Ji Kai, promise me you won’t meddle in this. Don’t tell Weidu; it would only make him uncomfortable.”
“And now I finally understand why Weidu’s father changed his mind so decisively.”
“That female boss isn’t actually that beautiful, but she has such a great temperament… And most importantly, she looks exactly like Weidu’s biological mother, like they were carved from the same mold!”
…
He spent the winter and watched the snow melt quietly in the warmth of home. As March arrived, the decisive bloom of spring unfolded.
With a new project nearing completion, Li Weidu was consumed with various business trips, overtime work, and even sleeping at the office. Ji Kai often joined him for overtime sessions, but as a teacher, he couldn’t stay overnight. However, on the first day of his return to work, Li Weidu had a particularly hectic schedule and couldn’t pick Ji Kai up as planned.
He felt particularly regretful for breaking his promise and leaving his “baby bear” injured.
…
Ji Kai truly felt his time at University X had come to an end. Last semester, a car accident had prevented him from teaching for the entire term. Now, on the first day back, a pre-school meeting ended at four in the afternoon. Thinking he had time, he went to change in his office before heading to the gym. While trying out new equipment, however, he accidentally strained his thigh muscle!
Immediately, he broke out in a cold sweat from the pain and found himself unable to take a single step.
Should he ask for leave again? His superiors might not be pleased. But then he considered: the freshmen still had to register and undergo military training, and classes wouldn’t start officially for another half month, giving him time to recover.
At the hospital, the doctor recommended traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and electrical stimulation. The result was startling—several large needles inserted into his thigh’s acupuncture points, delivering electric pulses that caused his entire leg to convulse.
“Haha… haha, yes, feel the energy, embrace the ecstasy.”
Li Weidu watched helplessly as Ji Kai endured the treatment, visibly distressed and unsure how to react.
“You really shouldn’t have done this! The construction site is too risky for you!” With no outlet for his frustration, Li Weidu began to argue quietly with Ji Kai in the hospital.
Ji Kai had to defend himself, saying, “Weidu, this happened at the gym, not at work! Remember, you drove me there yourself and carried me out!”
Li Weidu retorted, “If you hadn’t been exhausted from work all day, you wouldn’t have injured yourself exercising. That’s it.”
“Yes, I’ll support you from now on! Remember how you used to admire the paintings and fine arts on my bookshelf? I’ll support your studies, and you won’t have to do physical labor anymore!”
Ji Kai looked skyward. He wanted to reiterate, “I really am a teacher,” but feared Li Weidu might interpret it as some bizarre movie plot twist. With his strained muscle causing him excruciating pain, any strenuous movement felt life-threatening.
…
Never did Ji Kai expect that after a few days of recuperation at home, Li Weidu would not stop talking about how supportive he was.
Please let me know if there are typos/mistakes in the chapter.
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