CH 17

Yu Le was cooking vegetable soup in the kitchen.

This is the dinner for him and Lele tonight.

Throwing the accumulated vegetables from the refrigerator into the soup pot, the boiling water slowly turned green as his mind began to wander.

Lele had run away from home again.

This time, it was a father-son conflict.

He regrets very, very much now that he shouldn’t have softened his heart for a moment and allowed the little chubby into his house.

He glanced at his phone.

Just as he was taking the vegetables out of the refrigerator, the silver-haired grandmother had sent him a message, asking if her grandson was with him.

He naturally had responded that yes, he was.

The grandmother was very reasonable and agreed to let her grandson stay over, even sending many roses and smiley faces in her texts to thank him.

In the end, she even ended up begging Yu Le to help her persuade Lele while he was there.

[Xiao Yu, Lele really likes you. I’m getting old, and he doesn’t want to listen to what I have to say anymore. If you could help me talk to him, it’s really not that his father doesn’t like him. He’s just so busy providing for the boy.]

Really, things just kept getting more and more troublesome.

Coming back to his senses, the vegetables in the pot had boiled into a rotten mess, and the soup was green and oily with a thick skin overtop it.

He found a big bowl and transferred the soup out of the pot.

At this time, Lele was occupying his sofa as he watched an idol drama with great interest.

Looking more closely, it seemed to be called “Hello Lover,” one of Yu Youzhi’s plays.

Pursing his mouth, Yu Le put the vegetable soup on the table and knocked on it with a spoon, “Hey, it’s time to eat!”

Lele came running over, only to recoil as the smell hit him, “Why is it vegetable soup?!”

“Because I only have vegetables left in my refrigerator.”

He took two smaller bowls out, one for each person.

Begrudgingly, the little chubby made a face pierced with displeasure but still took the spoon obediently, “I hate vegetables the most, but since you also hate vegetables, let me see you eat with me!”

As Yu Le took a sip of his, Lele swallowed a spoonful of his own before spitting it out onto the floor, “Why is it so bad?! It’s worse than the vegetables I usually eat, a hundred times worse!”

Yu Le was a little unhappy, “Even if it was a thousand times worse, you’d still have to eat it.”

“It’s just for tonight…I can do it!” Lele held his nose as he braced himself for another mouthful and was barely able to choke it down, “No! I can’t! It’s not drinkable!” He put down his utensils with a puzzled expression, “Brother, you obviously don’t like vegetables, why do you put so many in your kitchen?”

Thinking about it, Yu Le replied with a mentality of teaching the younger generation, “It’s not good to be a picky eater, this way, I can be sure to have a balanced diet even if it might not be to my taste sometimes.”

“But you are obviously an adult! You can do whatever you want!”

“You don’t understand Lele, sometimes adults also have to follow the rules and pretend to be happy.” He thought for a moment and took the opportunity to say, “Look, you don’t like vegetables, but if you want to grow up healthy you have to eat them anyways. Sometimes things you really hate are what you have to do, so the best thing is to learn to endure from a young age so that when no one is left to enforce the rules, you can do it yourself.”

Lele stirred his soup silently, and the more he stirred, the more congealed it became. After a while of staring into his bowl, he asked, “Are you saying that even if I hate my dad, I still have to try my best to put up with him?”

Yu Le nodded, “Yes.”

He reacted after a while, “My grandma asked you to talk to me?”

Yu Le nodded again, “Yes, she asked me to persuade you.” He continued after a short pause, “Besides, you can only stay with me for one night, I won’t take you in for forever, no matter what you say.”

Lele couldn’t help rolling his eyes, “You are so great.” The sarcasm was dripping from each word.

But Yu Le’s skin was tough enough to bear this much as he steadfastly agreed, “You’re right. I actually think so too.”

The boy’s glaring face was the only response given to that statement.

“Stop messing with your soup and eat it!” His face was curious as he said, “Tell me, what’s going on between you and your father?”

The little fatty avoided his gaze, “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Okay.”

He wasn’t interested enough to dig into scars the boy wanted left hidden. Taking his bowl, Yu Le got up as he walked to pour it out.

“Actually,” Lele spoke up, “it’s not a big deal. It’s just that my dad is an asshole, complete scum.”

“Huh?” He stopped and looked back at his small figure.

Under the light, the little boy sat alone at the table with a desolate expression, “My dad is very bad. Before my mother was sick, he was promiscuous outside every day; after my mother was sick, he became even more rampant. She eventually couldn’t stand him and filed for divorce. Before she left, she said that every time she saw me, all she could think of was how bad my dad was…Then she left without looking back even once and went abroad alone. She never came back. Later, my dad said that she died outside and would never come back to see me…I know my mom thinks I’m a burden, and so does my dad. That’s why I’m always left alone…”

“Do you hate your father?”

Little fatty didn’t answer.

“That’s why you ran away from home?”

Lele nodded with a gloomy expression, “Well…Actually, yesterday was my birthday and he clearly promised to take me to the amusement park weeks ago. He promised he’d fix his schedule so that nothing would interrupt us. And then, he changed his mind and told me he was going to discuss business.” He looked up with almost wet eyes, “Brother, it would have been fine if there was a work emergency. I’m old enough, I would have understood. But, I heard him. He asked the secretary sister to order flowers for him and went to a hotel!”

Listening, Yu Le wanted to curse this bastard who didn’t deserve to be a parent!

Pursing his lips, Lele smirked, “Then, I called the anti-pornography emergency number to report him.”

“…”

This was really a good pair of father and son.

He took Lele’s bowl with him as he made his way to the kitchen, “So, you didn’t run away from home, but rather came to seek refuge, huh?”

The little fatty looked at him pitifully.

“How bad is your father?” He asked suddenly.

“Uhh, narrow minded, vengeful, and loose…in short, horrible.”

“Then,” Yu Le narrowed his eyes, “have you mentioned me in front of this horrible person?”

Lele blinked in confusion, “…Not yet.”

“Well,” Yu Le smiled with satisfaction, “if you still want me to take you in in the future, make sure you don’t ever mention me in front of him, I don’t want to get involved in your affairs. If I am hated by your father, you will be finished!”

Lele immediately heard his subtext.

Excitedly taking a deep breath, his mouth seemed to be smeared with honey as he ran over for a big bear hug, “Thank you brother! I love you brother! Brother, you are the most handsome person in the world!”

Yu Le slapped him on the back of his head, “Well then, listen to this handsome brother of yours and go brush your teeth! It’s time for bed. Also, I will be sleeping in the bed, you can have the sofa.”

Pulling off the little boy, who was as sticky as a koala, another half an hour later, Yu Le helped him get adjusted on the sofa.

His face was so animatedly excited, but as soon as he touched the cushions, drowsiness hit him, and he fell asleep in seconds.

Apart from being a little fatter, a little sneakier, and a little cunninger than average, this kid was actually quite to his liking.

Watching the little kid trapped in his own world of dress with drool slipping out of his small mouth, Yu Le gradually relaxed.

It had been a long day.

[Lele fell asleep.]

It was quite late by the time he sent a message and photo to Lele’s grandmother, assuring her that everything had gone well.

He walked into his room like a snail.

Putting on his pyjamas, he lay down on his bed and snuggled deep into the blankets. And just like that, he spent another ordinary and boring day in this world of books.