Sixty-Four: What’s wrong with being fat? It’s not like he ate your family’s rice.

Chapter Sixty-Four: What’s wrong with being fat? It’s not like he ate your family’s rice.

Ten days after that chaos, at noon on March 9th, the Cheng family, who had always kept a low profile, set up 100 tables at HongSheng’s five-star hotel, HongJing, and officially invited family and friends, plus famous celebrities and the major media representation of the capital, to the introduction of the Cheng family’s male daughter-in-law, Ji XiaoYu. Also, they would introduce the love product child who, through some kind of secret high-end technology that would be difficult for outsiders to replicate, was born of Cheng YuTang and Ji XiaoYu – Cheng PaoPao.

Therefore, this is a wedding feast for a gay couple and also celebration of the first time the two husbands’ precious baby son would meet the public.

It had just been a rumor before and all the people who had heard about it had just talked about it privately, but now the Cheng family was properly putting it all on the table so the meaning would take on seriousness.

This news was like a ground-blasting land mine, shaking the entire upper circle of the capital. Those who were qualified to eat at the banquet flocked in, struggling to enter, and the one hundred tables couldn’t seat them all, so they could only add eight more tables.

Most people had the same thought in mind before they arrived: what was the secret, exclusive, high-end technology? It was said so mysteriously but it must have been Cheng YuTang secretly taking a wife on the side. The Cheng family had a huge business company that they couldn’t give up because of a man, so they had to have made the best of the situation. In the end, this was the best way to do it – to whitewash over the situation and preserve their reptuation. So, many of the people sympathized with the male daughter-in-law before arriving at the banquet, having to rank lower than the woman and having to raise the son of someone else as his own with a smile on their face.

But then again, it was quite rare for gay people to get to this step. The Cheng family had such a good reputation and was opening this up to the world in such a high-profile why. It could be said they were doing this to give face to the male daughter-in-law, so even if some aspects were unsatisfactory and he’d have to suffer a few grievances, this would make his life worth it.

After the event began at 11:30am, everyone couldn’t focus on all the scents and sights of the feast, they were all looking forward to the appearance of the Cheng husbands and Cheng PaoPao.

At noon sharp, a table of guests close to the aisle whispered, “They’re coming, they’re coming!”

The guests’ spirits trembled in anticipation and they all stretched their necks and looked towards the stage.

The man walking in front was over 30, wearing a pair of frameless glasses, refined and elegant, suave and dignified; he was the current head of the HongSheng Group, Cheng YuTang.

In his left hand, Cheng YuTang was holding a six-month-old little baby who was as fair as a jade carving and with his right hand, he held the hand of a young man in his early 20s, with phoenix eyes and red lips, who was beautiful, vivid, and lively.

The two adults and the child were wearing the same custom-made style from the hands of a famous designer and they were pleasing to the eye as they stood together.

The mood of the guests could be called complicated, they didn’t know if they were disappointed or surprised, because anyone who wasn’t blind could see it, the little baby looked like both Cheng YuTang and like Ji XiaoYu, a combination of the couple in one person.

Under a thousand watchful eyes, Cheng YuTang stood in front of the microphone and succinctly and with incredible solemnness introduced Ji XiaoYu and Cheng PaoPao. At the end, the two husbands exchanged a kiss with a sort of tacit understanding and intimacy and then together they kissed the chubby little face of Cheng PaoPao.

The shutter sound of countless cameras and phones sounded, the flashes interweaving into one bright light.

Then something on Ji XiaoYu’s left hand ring finger twinkled in that light, a ring of light radiating all around, blinding the eyes of almost every single dog there.

“Wow, look at it! What’s on the Cheng wife’s finger? It’s a real-life pigeon egg!”

“Oh heavens, how is it so big! That’s actually just a crystal ball, right? You can buy one for up to 50,000 yuan!”

“Heehee, I’ll give you 500,000 yuan, so how about you buy me 10 of those crystal balls? That’s the pigeon egg diamond that was sold at the January XXX auction this year at the highest price in the history of China. According to reliable sources, the mysterious buyer was the mighty President Cheng of HongSheng, who gave the pigeon egg as a token of love to his gay spouse!”

“Dizzy, dizzy, dizzy. My eyes have really been opened today. Cheng Zong is really such a heavy hitter!”

“It turns even though he’s high-profile, Cheng Zong was hiding information that could be used against him. Now it seems that he’s really love with a male wife!”

“Wuwuwuwu, it’s so beautiful. When will I find such true love, someone who will give me a pigeon egg like this?”

“Just fantasize about it, it would be a little faster……”

The family of three showed up for just ten minutes and soon they left the envious and spiteful guests.

This was because Cheng PaoPao pooped again, so the two husbands could only leave the scene before the odor spread.

As soon as they were out of sight, Ji XiaoYu took the little lightbulb that had made countless people go crazy with envy off his finger and put it in his pocket – he’d rather go without it, because that thing was too big and heavy, too inconvenient to wear.

The sight on the stage had been for other people to see, but off the stage, comfort was the most important.

In the afternoon, Ji XiaoYu joined Cheng PaoPao in their room for a nap and the Cheng family received some guests.

Mother Qiao tugged on the hand of her youngest child, Qiao JingXuan, and said with a little embarrassment, “Cheng-jie, sorry to bother you. At the lunch at HongJing, JingXuan kept begging to play. I couldn’t win over him, so I had to bring him here.”

Although their last get-together hadn’t gone well, Mother Cheng still said generously, “It’s fine, welcome, welcome.”

“Thank you, Auntie Cheng!” Qiao JingXuan thanked her with a sweet, authentic smile. After entering the courtyard, he looked around and asked after a while, “Auntie Cheng, where’s the chick who pecked me the last time I came here? Can I play with it a bit?”

“Uh, that is…….” Mother Cheng was tongue-tied for a moment.

Cheng YuTang came out of the study and took over the conversation, “JingXuan, that chick was a sample of a bionic machine made by our company. Because the technology wasn’t perfected enough, it’s been recycled, so it’s not here.”

“Ah, really?!” Qiao JingXuan was both shocked and sad and his eyes got a little red, “But, but I thought it was a real chick, how could it have been a man-made machine?”

Cheng YuTang didn’t explain anymore, he just patted his shoulder.

Mother Qiao couldn’t stand being looked down on anymore and said, “JingXuan, since the chick is gone, let’s go back.”

“No,” Qiao JingXuan stubbornly refused to leave. He asked again, “YuTang-dagege, what about the didi you and XiaoYu gave birth to, can I play with him?”

Cheng YuTang replied, “No, he’s taking a nap.”

“Then can I look at him?” Qiao JingXuan bit his lip, saying, “I promise I won’t wake him up!”

Cheng YuTang didn’t think it would be good to refuse again, so he could only agree. He led him into the bedroom.

Ji XiaoYu woke up when the Qiao mother and son came in, but he was too lazy to move, so he just kept lying next to the crib, watching his son sleep. When he saw Qiao JingXuan come in, he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.

Qiao JingXuan called out ‘XiaoYu-gege’ in a clever little voice and then he ran to the crib and got up on the bed rail to look in. His eyes were a little bleak when he looked back up, but his words were full of disgust, “How is he so fat, just like a piglet.”

You’re the piglet, we’re superior pheasants, okay?! Ji XiaoYu turned a blank eye to him, “What’s wrong with being fat? It’s not like he ate your family’s rice.”

Qiao JingXuan replied solemnly, “It’s okay to eat my family’s rice, we have a lot.”

Ji XiaoYu: “……”

This Qiao family is really annoying. Really, really focused on his own unilateral willingness, making me remember someone who shouldn’t be remembered; this little one is so obnoxious, provoking who he shouldn’t provoke, no discernment at all!

As this discussion was happening, Cheng PaoPao opened his eyes and woke up. He found that there was an extra little boy who he seemed to have met before at the head of his bed, so he turned over and sat up, staring at him with vigilance.

Qiao JingXuan looked at him and started to feel as if he were craving something like a snack. He couldn’t help but want to reach out and pinch that chubby face that had just been asleep. As he stretched out his hand without thinking, his index finger was caught by Cheng PaoPao and stuffed into his mouth, then he took a hard bite.

– He wasn’t a toothless child anymore. He had grown two lower incisors, like little raw rice grains, which looked very cute, but when he bit hard, it didn’t feel so cute.

This scene was exactly the same as the last time. Qiao JingXuan was shocked and in pain and he screamed out “ow”.

Ji XiaoYu gloated and just stood idly by, thinking, kid, you risked your hand again, you deserve this.

Mother Qiao was originally speaking with Mother Cheng in the courtyard, but she immediately ran towards the room when she heard the son’s scream, “JingXuan, what happened?”

Cheng PaoPao was biting Qiao JingXuan’s finger and not letting go, unwillingly to abandon trying to bite his finger off. Cheng YuTang quickly rubbed his chubby little face to coax him, “Is PaoPao hungry? Do you want to Father to get you milk?”

When Cheng PaoPao heard the word ‘milk’, he finally loosened his jaw and, drooling, reached up his chubby hand to hold his father’s.

When Mother Qiao entered the room, she saw two red teeth marks clearly imprinted on her son’s finger. His skin had almost been broken. She couldn’t help but feel angry and anxious. “My child, why don’t you have any long-term memory?”

Qiao JingXuan felt both wronged and embarrassed, silent but tearful, thinking in his heart, why did the Cheng family chick not like me and their family’s didi not like me either? I’m always praised and loved wherever I go.

Mother Cheng was also speechless, but she said in a tepid tone, “JingXuan, Aunt just baked some muffins, do you want to taste them?”

Qiao JingXuan sniffled and said, “I-I don’t want to eat, I want to play with my didi.”

“What play, that guy can’t even talk to you.” Mother Qiao was really angry, “Come on, let’s go home!”

She spoke a few words of farewell to Mother Cheng to barely maintain a sense of decency and then she immediately pulled Qiao JingXuan’s hand and walked away with a belly full of anger.

The Cheng family is really evil, raising such a fierce chick, raising such a ruthless baby, we won’t go back again in the future!

……

Two days after the banquet, Cheng YuTang took a private jet and brought along his husband to leave the capital and return to Ning City.

He had stayed at home for over a month, so it had been long enough. Telecommuting could cover most of his work, but there were some things Cheng Zong had to handle in person.

Father and Mother Cheng were a hundred, no, a thousand times more reluctant for not just their son, but their male daughter-in-law and eldest grandson to leave, but there was no other way. HongSheng’s headquarters were in Ning City and there were so many employees to support. There couldn’t be such a long period with no one to oversee things, it was out of the question for him not to go.

The older couple originally wanted to go to Ning City to help the young couple, but they were rejected by the two husbands. The older couple had been working hard for most of their lives, so they should enjoy the fruits of their labor more. How could they continue to work hard? However, they promised to take time to return to the capital as much as possible to comfort the older couple’s yearnings for their grandchildren.

Anyway, now that they had a private jet, it would be much more convenient to go back and forth. If they left in the morning, they could hold a family reunion for lunch at noon.

When Ji XiaoYu returned to the villa, he found that the household had changed greatly. In the originally empty backyard, a small children’s playground had been built, with a slide, swing, carousel, and whatever; it had everything. Most of the floor in the house had been carpeted and the corners of all the furniture were covered with baby bumpers. The sharp objects had been put away and the second bedroom next to the master bedroom on the third floor had been transformed into a warm, childish baby room.

He knew without asking that Cheng YuTang must have ordered the work when they left Ning City to go to the capital for the Spring Festival,

A big, shining smile stretched across his face. “My child’s father, how are you so amazing!”

Cheng Zong hugged Cheng PaoPao and smiled, saying, “To be as our son likes.”

With a loud cheer, Ji XiaoYu didn’t even bother to drink a sip of water and instead turned and rushed to the playground.

Whether our son likes it or not, I don’t know. But I like it a lot anyway. I grew up without ever riding a carousel, but I’ve been wanting to try. I was too embarrassed to ride one in public, but now I can ride one without hesitation in my own home!

When Cheng PaoPao saw his dad run anyway, he got anxious and he screamed while waving his little arms.

Helpless, Cheng YuTang could only go to the playground with his son in his arms, to play with his child’s dad.

—

Footnotes:

1. unilateral willingness (一厢情愿): aka one’s own wishful thinking, unrequited love; basically self-absorbed