Chapter 3 – Just who is this woman?
Now Xie Heng couldn’t help but look back.
Many girls would openly declare themselves as his girlfriend, but this was the first time someone pretended to be his parent. What kind of new tactic was this?
It had to be said, it successfully caught his attention. Xie Heng turned back with disgust, but froze the moment he saw Lu Xi.
She… How could she look so… alike…?
Seeing Xie Heng startled by her, Lu Xi had expected this reaction and felt a subtle relief in her heart. It seemed that despite his rebellious nature, he at least recognized his own mother’s appearance. Moreover, he was handsome, though he always wore a stern face, resembling a domineering school bully. Now, his startled expression appeared somewhat naive. Lu Xi suddenly felt an urge to ruffle his head.
But she resisted. Now wasn’t the time.
She lowered her eyes and coldly stared at Song Ji, “What did you put in his drink just now?”
Song Ji was already feeling guilty. His face twitched, and he slammed his hand on the table, shouting, “Nonsense! Who do you think you are? Don’t think I won’t hit a woman!”
Lu Xi remained calm and pulled out her phone, waving it at him, “I recorded it. Shall we go to the police station together?”
After saying this, as if afraid he would destroy the evidence, she swiftly snatched the drink from him.
Song Ji, furious and ashamed, disregarded the consequences and stood up to strike. He was a thug after all, capable of anything.
Lu Xi was unfazed. She had bodyguards nearby, sitting at the next table, ready to act at any moment.
Of course, she wasn’t going to just stand there. Subconsciously, she took a step back.
Unexpectedly, someone stepped in front of her before the bodyguards!
Xie Heng grabbed Song Ji’s wrist, stopping his movement —
Though only a first-year high school student, Xie Heng was already 1.85 meters tall, towering over Song Ji and quite strong. Song Ji found himself at a disadvantage for a moment.
“What are you doing? Are you actually believing this woman’s nonsense? Who is she to you?” Song Ji couldn’t believe it. This woman couldn’t be more than twenty, spouting nonsense about being Xie Heng’s parent. At most, she could be Xie Heng’s older sister… but he hadn’t heard about Xie Heng having an older sister!
Xie Heng was slightly taken aback. He was stumped by the question.
Who was she, indeed? He didn’t know her at all. Why did he suddenly believe her? Clearly, Song Ji was his friend.
As he hesitated, his grip loosened, allowing Song Ji to break free and leap onto the table, preparing to escape. Little did he know, two burly men appeared out of nowhere and restrained Song Ji, causing others in the booth to back away, and girls to scream in fright.
Xie Heng : ?????
What on earth was happening?
The two bodyguards handled things professionally; one subdued Song Ji while the other explained the situation to the bar security rushing over.
There was a police station just ten minutes away. Lu Xi had Song Ji promptly taken there.
As a law-abiding citizen, Lu Xi didn’t mind cooperating with the police. However, her current identity was awkward. If they checked her information, would she have to provide her old ID number? What if they found out it belonged to a deceased person? Would they treat her like a criminal?
Though it would ultimately be resolved smoothly, just thinking about it was troublesome.
She originally just wanted to come and see her biological son she never met, and planned to leave as soon as she saw him and then go home to sleep. Who knew this whole thing would escalate from a family reunion program to a legal affairs segment… But thankfully, she came.
Otherwise, the consequences of drinking that stuff would have been unthinkable.
This troublesome child really doesn’t let anyone relax!
Thinking this, Lu Xi couldn’t help but give him a disapproving look.
Caught off guard by Lu Xi’s sudden glare, Xie Heng looked bewildered and annoyed, asking, “Why are you glaring at me? What did I do wrong?”
And he has the nerve to ask? Lu Xi didn’t hold back, speaking sternly, “You, a minor, drinking alcohol isn’t wrong? That aside, you don’t even know not to drink unattended drinks at a bar. You feel wronged by a glare?”
Xie Heng struggled to maintain his indifferent expression, but he was actually extremely embarrassed.
He really didn’t know!
Moreover, Song Ji is his friend. Why would he think so much about it? He couldn’t help but glance at Song Ji, who immediately lowered his head guiltily, avoiding eye contact with him. Thinking back to Song Ji’s panicked reaction just now, Xie Heng’s heart sank halfway. He wanted to argue back, but couldn’t find a reason.
After a few seconds, he begrudgingly said, “But that’s none of your business.”
“Get in the car, I’ll take you back to school,” Lu Xi said curtly, unwilling to waste any more words.
Xie Heng simply replied with an “Oh” and followed her with long strides.
But after walking a few steps, he suddenly realized something was wrong. Wait!
Why should he obey her orders? He wasn’t going to listen to her.
“I’m not going with a stranger. And how do you know I’m a high school student?” Xie Heng said cautiously.
Lu Xi showed her first smile of the evening.
Good, this kid isn’t completely clueless after all. Lu Xi looked at his face, so similar to her own, young and naive. She sighed, “You’re in Class Three, Grade One at Mingli High. Your dad is Xie Yizhao, his phone number is 189XXXXXXX, and you live in Building A1, No. 1 Jiangwan. Need me to call your Dad to confirm?”
Xie Heng immediately frowned. Indeed, his Dad had sent someone to watch over him!
“I don’t need you to manage me. Tell my Dad not to send anyone to follow me,” Xie Heng said, turning to leave.
Lu Xi : “…”
In the end, her mental age was only twenty-two. Despite knowing Xie Heng was her son, seeing him so tall and grown, she couldn’t immediately slip into the mother role.
Besides, they were both inexperienced in this. Why should she yield to him?
Running out of patience, tired and sleepy, she grabbed the boy and flicked his forehead sharply with her fingers, making a crisp *pia* sound.
Not bad, it sounded good!
She dragged Xie Heng towards the car. “Stop talking nonsense. If you dare delay my beauty sleep, I’ll really get mad.”
The sudden flick left Xie Heng dumbfounded, forgetting to resist.
A minute later, as he sat in the back seat of the car, Xie Heng suddenly realized : ???
What’s going on?
How did he inexplicably end up obediently getting into the car with this woman?
Also, why did she suddenly start hitting him? And then she threatened him… Isn’t it absurd that he actually backed down then?!
Mind you, he’s almost as tall as his Dad now, while she’s about 1.65 meters, slender. How could he be intimidated by her?
Honestly, if he didn’t recognize the driver as being from his family, he would’ve almost mistaken Lu Xi for a human trafficker with that hit just now!
Xie Heng was utterly frustrated, with a head full of questions he wanted to ask.
But Lu Xi didn’t give him a chance. After she got into the car, she closed her eyes and seemed on the verge of falling asleep, looking like she’d been gaming all night. Xie Heng couldn’t help but yawn too, feeling infected by her.
When they finally reached the school gates and the car stopped, Lu Xi opened her eyes sleepily and asked, “Is the dormitory door closed?”
“No.”
“Then why are you just standing there? Hurry up and get off.”
“…”
Xie Heng keenly felt her impatience and disdain. Just as he got off, standing at the intersection in the early autumn chill, he felt slightly disheveled.
Wait, whose car was this anyway? How was she more bossy than him?
In a daze, he returned to his dorm, took a shower, and lay in bed. Amidst the continued snores of his roommate, Xie Heng couldn’t sleep at all.
Tonight’s events were too bizarre; his mind was in a mess. After dawn, with all his roommates asleep, he quietly got up and went to the bathroom to call Xie Yizhao.
“I’m begging you, could you stop having people watch over me all the time? I’m not a kid anymore!” Xie Heng lowered his voice, but couldn’t suppress his anger.
Xie Yizhao was overseas due to a business issue that needed him to resolve it personally after a problem arose in their cooperation. He just got out of an important meeting, so he remained in work mode, sounding serious. “Only kids keep saying that.”
Xie Heng choked up for a moment, thinking of something, and said even more angrily, “Anyway, don’t think finding a woman who looks like my Mom can control me. Even if she helped me today, I’m not grateful.”
Xie Yizhao knew Lu Xi was meeting Xie Heng today but didn’t know what had happened between them. Judging by Xie Heng’s attitude, it must have been unpleasant.
“She’s not someone I sent. And from now on, you better treat her better.” Xie Yizhao’s tone grew even more serious.
Xie Heng was stunned.
Wait, she’s not his subordinate? Could she be… the stepmother that Grandma Wang mentioned?
“Who the hell is she? Why does she have the right to manage me?”
There was a moment of silence on the phone, as if considering. After a while, Xie Yizhao spoke softly, “We’ll tell you about this matter in a few days when you come back on Sunday. We’ll talk face to face.”
Xie Heng sarcastically smiled, “Rest assured, I’ll definitely come back this time.”
So now it’s ‘we’?
Actually, he had never opposed Xie Yizhao remarrying. Many of his classmates had parents who quickly remarried after divorce, and compared to them, his father staying single for so many years was already rare. When Wang Ling called him, he had thought that whatever stepmother he had was none of his concern; he lived at school and didn’t bother with his Dad’s affairs.
He wouldn’t attend their wedding ceremony; he didn’t have the time.
But now everything was different. His Dad had actually found a woman who looked so much like his Mom to be his stepmother. This was just too much.
He absolutely wouldn’t agree.
After a sleepless night, the next day, Xie Heng went to class with dark circles under his eyes. During morning self-study, he didn’t care that the teacher was watching and just lay down to sleep.
Suddenly, a girl at his table dropped her book, right by Xie Heng’s feet.
Xie Heng raised his head to see her, his cold eyes glancing sideways. The girl was startled. She had just transferred to this school and ended up sitting next to Xie Heng. She had heard plenty of scary rumors about him and had seen him get into fights—so fierce that even teachers were afraid of him. Now, waking him up from his nap would surely earn her a scolding.
But Xie Heng didn’t think much of it. His long arms effortlessly picked up the books for her.
“Th-thank you.” The girl blushed, reaching out her hand. But Xie Heng hesitated to hand over the books to her.
“The Substitute Lover After the Death of the White Moonlight…” Xie Heng read the title with a puzzled expression. He asked, “What’s this book about?”
The school bully was actually curious about something? The girl felt surprised and found it a bit amusing. These were indeed topics that straight guys didn’t understand. She suppressed a laugh and explained the details to Xie Heng.
Xie Heng listened with a dumbfounded expression. His face couldn’t hide his increasing embarrassment and darkening complexion.
What a messy story. Why did it resemble his family affairs so much? Even the characters matched up.
Undoubtedly, the boss was his biological father.
The early deceased White Moonlight was his biological mother.
And the substitute lover was his stepmother.
“…” Xie Heng awkwardly cleared his throat and, expressionless, spoke to his deskmate, “Can I borrow this book to read?”
Deskmate : ?
The aloof school bully was interested in melodramatic romance novels?
Of course, Xie Heng himself couldn’t possibly enjoy reading such novels.
It’s just that he noticed his biological father seemed to be playing some kind of twisted and worldview-destroying game, so he needed to study it carefully.
The girl generously lent him the book and said he could read it whenever and return it whenever.
“Thanks,” Xie Heng said and then sternly warned, “Don’t tell anyone.”
The girl nodded quickly.
After delivering his stern words, Xie Heng focused on reading the book, foregoing his nap.
He rarely read novels. As a bottom-ranked student, he got headaches from dense texts. At most, he skimmed through cultivation novels. This kind of romance novel, judging from its title, seemed very hard to read.
He casually flipped open the first page and read a few chapters. He almost couldn’t help but frown as he focused on reading the text.
How did the author come up with such a melodramatic plot? The male lead was trash, good-looking and wealthy, but with an extremely bad personality. Everything he did deserved to be on a legal TV show.
The female lead was infuriatingly weak, love-struck, and subjected to emotional and physical abuse. The male lead treated her worse than he treated his own pet dog, yet she couldn’t leave him. It was beyond belief.
From disdain at the beginning to gradually becoming engrossed, Xie Heng didn’t notice that the English teacher had been staring at him for a while.
Yesterday, it was the same elderly English teacher who called him out to stand outside for punishment. A stubborn man in his sixties, despite knowing that Xie Yizhao, his Dad, had donated a building to the school, the old man still wouldn’t give him face. The old man scolded and punished him as necessary.
As Xie Heng read further, the female lead discovered the truth of being a substitute lover and finally grew disheartened with the male lead, deciding to leave him.
Seeing this, Xie Heng wanted to cheer for her. Her love-struck brain had finally cleared up, escaping from the scumbag!
He couldn’t wait to see what happened next in the plot and was engrossed, inadvertently making the teacher watch him for a long time.
Suddenly, someone took the book away from him.
The elderly teacher stood beside Xie Heng, his face stern. “Reading random books in class, ignoring me for so long. What kind of novel is so interesting?”
He directly closed the book and solemnly recited the title: “The Substitute Lover After the Death of the White Moonlight…”
Meu Deus! Que cena hilária lol
Obrigada por sua ótima tradução 🙂