CH 10

Mo Jingxuan brushed his nose, “Let me think about it first.” Although it would be easy to scare her, ghosts and the like alone would not be enough to drive her out of the house. “How should we do this…?”

Xiao Ying blinked, “Why do you have to think so hard? Xuan, just do what you want and I’ll protect you!”

The corners of Mo Jingxuan’s eyes curled up as he cunningly taught the young boy, “Don’t be rash. You need to learn to kill people with an invisible knife first, once you get older I’ll let you protect me, okay?”

Xiao Ying was puzzled, “An invisible knife?”

Mo Jingxuan nodded, and was there any better knife than Xiao Ying’s father? It would be much more cost-effective to file a complaint about today’s matter, and then….he rubbed the boy’s head. All you need to do is act like a good son in front of Xiao Yao.”

He frowned, not agreeing just yet to what Mo Jingxuan was saying, “You are not allowed to throw me aside, I will participate in everything you do!”

The child’s possessiveness stunned Mo Jingxuan, he wanted to continue to spoil him while he was young, but thinking about the possible hidden dangers in the child’s spirit, he could only swallow his words and accede as Xiao Ying wished, “Of course, baby will also participate, your task is just different from mine. You have to act as a good child, um…..good enough that your father will feel distressed for what he’s done.”

The dissatisfaction on Xiao Ying’s face was wiped away as he listened to Mo Jingxuan, “You don’t need to think too much, just do as I say when the time comes. And remember the most important part, act cute!”

Somewhat understanding that his Xuan was not just placating him, Xiao Ying perked up, “Yeah!”

“I’ll go and see if the housekeeper is on his way, the food should be ready by now.”

Xiao Yao didn’t come back until the two of them had finished their dinner. One child and one shadow were only able to give up on their revenge for the night, rest up, and gather energy to begin the next day’s trials.

The next morning—————–

Xiao Ying, who woke up naturally after sleeping, was carried downstairs to eat by Xiao Yao himself. This time, the mother and son pair were at the table and didn’t seem to have any intentions of leaving halfway.

With Xiao Yao around, Zhao Lingjun restrained herself, but she was, after all, still the same person, and not once did she show a kind expression when facing Xiao Ying.

Hugging Yixiu into her arms, she handed a spoon to him as he reached for a bun with his hands, “Didn’t you say you wanted to serve porridge to dad?”

“I want to eat meat buns, mom please give me meat buns.”

Mo Jingxuan glanced at Xiao Yixiu in disgust, feeling that his baby was much more sensible. He knew to eat by himself without bothering others and could do so while staying so clean and cute.

The woman smiled awkwardly at Xiao Yao, who was looking over, “Yao, look at my son. He forgot what he said he would do after he saw the meat buns, the little glutton.” There was no expected trace of blame in her tone, but Mo Jingxuan saw her nails digging into her palms underneath the table.

Waving his hand, Xiao Yao did not care about the two of them, “That’s fine, don’t bother me and eat well.” He picked up a small steamed bun for Xiao Ying, crushing the smile on Zhao Lingjun’s face before it had the chance to appear.

As she watched on like an outsider, her lips were frozen, hanging in a distorted expression.

However, if she was unable to bear just this, she would not be the madam of the Xiao house, and she laughed quickly while thinking of more opportunities to clean up Xiao Ying. There was no reason to trouble herself now if she could ruin him just as easily in the future. “Aunt Li, bring me another spoon,” she ordered.

Mo Jingxuan sensed her attitude and floated over behind the woman.

Zhao Lingjun took Aunt Li’s spoon and reached to put it back into the bowl of porridge but could not control her hand and jabbed her son hard.

“Wahhh—” Yixiu cried out loudly and reached up to pull Zhao Lingjun’s hair angrily, “Mom is bad! That hurts!”

“—It hurts, Yixiu quickly let go; you’re hurting mom!” The woman didn’t have the capacity to think as she raised her free hand to grab at her son. Mo Jingxuan was waiting, though, and once she released her hair from his grasp, he grabbed her arm so that she pushed Yixiu down off his chair. 

With just a little force, he collapsed on the ground, and Xiao Yao called out, “Yixiu!”

“Wahhh— Daddy!” Yixiu was crying even louder than before now. Although he wasn’t truly in much pain, he had never been wronged like this before and only knew to express his emotions by crying.

His father hurriedly bent down to grab Yixiu, “What did you do!” Xiao Yao yelled, “If you can’t take care of Yixiu, I’ll have someone else be brought to do so! Don’t embarrass me like this again!” 

Zhao Lingjun heard what he said and was anxious for her future, “Husband, I—I didn’t do it on purpose, my hand was grabbed by someone….I couldn’t control it, that’s all! We….our family isn’t….” the woman would not shut up as she continued to ramble to herself, no one paying enough attention to catch what she was saying.

“Be quiet.” Xiao Yao was not in the mood to put up with her, “If you still feel the need to talk so much nonsense, go up to your room to calm down.”

The woman was in shock, suddenly feeling a little desolate. This was her husband, the father of her son. And he really didn’t have even the slightest affection for her. She couldn’t help but question her past choices, marrying this man for the sake of profit instead of love. Drugging him to get a share of the Xiao family property and forcing a child. After everything had been said and done, it was no surprise that this man did not care about her. He had always been indifferent but tolerated her existence for Yixiu, now that he had the son from that woman….No, Zhao Lingjun shook her head; how could it be so easy to hand over everything in the Xiao family to a bastard son? Everything in the Xiao family belongs to her Yixiu, and one day it will all belong to her.

She took a breath before adjusting her expression, “I think I am a bit tired,” she glanced at Xiao Ying. “There is suddenly a new child in the family, I haven’t adapted yet.”

Xiao Yao frowned and did not speak, tacitly accepting her explanation.

Xiao Ying looked at him and clutched his arm, “Don’t be angry,” he pleaded as he pushed the basket of steamed buns towards him, “Eat some of these, I just tried some and you’ll definitely feel better if you’re full.”

The man instantly softened as his son doted on him; although he still wasn’t being called father, at least he was cared for. As expected, Jun Ying’s son was the best, “Oh, Xiao Ying tried it? What put you in a bad enough mood to need some delicious buns?”

Glancing at the woman knowingly, Xiao Ying was given a warning look and shook his head quickly, “Nothing!” before looking back over at Zhao Lingjun with a cautious expression.

Watching his son dance on eggshells in front of him, Xiao Yao didn’t ask any more questions and directly called Housekeeper Qin over. “What happened yesterday?” 

Housekeeper Qin continued, “Yesterday madam had all the food for dinner brought upstairs for her and Yixiu, so I went to make dinner for Young Master Ying….and, Fuck—Madam, she also….she also slapped Young Master Ying across the face!”

“Bang!” Xiao Yao slapped the table and stood up, the tableware vibrating with his anger.

Zhao Lingjun trembled; it was the first time she had seen anyone so angry.

“Zhao—-Ling—-Jun! Who gave you the guts to touch my son!? I didn’t care what you did all these years and you really thought that you were the mistress of this house, huh?” He stared at her, looking into her eyes as she shook in fear, “The reason for our marriage, have you forgotten? The things that you have done to me and my family? When we were wed, I told you my thoughts very clearly, as long as you remained within your boundaries and acted as a happy couple with me when needed I wouldn’t have cared about the rest. And this is how you decided to interpret that?!” He pointed at Yixiu, “You drugged me! You kept the child behind my back!” He approached her quickly in his fury, Zhao Lingjun retreating to the wall behind her, “I don’t care what you’ve done in the past, but from now on I will be watching you carefully. Don’t even dream of touching mine and Jun Ying’s son!”

Suddenly collapsing in tears of laughter, Zhao Lingjun wept as she struggled to form the words in her mind, “Hehe—heh, look, this is such a sight! I finally see a hint of emotion in your eyes, and it’s because of that woman again!” Giving up, the woman smiled, “Even if you want to kill me, it’s impossible. I’m telling you right now that it is impossible for you to drive me out of this house, I am your lawfully wedded wife, and I merely slapped the son of an outside woman. Not a single person will stand on your side, not one!” She finished speaking and staggered up, heading upstairs without looking back along with her son.

Mo Jingxuan looked on as she left, smiling slightly where no one could see; it’s not over yet…

Xiao Yao was watching her leave as well, an ominous feeling hitting him. He turned away to see his well-behaved son behind him and pinched the bridge of his nose. No matter what, he would definitely protect Jun Ying’s son. As for the Zhao family his wife was so confident in, the Xiao family had never been afraid of anyone, let alone such a small family that has to marry for power. He would not mistreat Yixiu, he was still his son, but he no longer cared about him as before.

He ordered the housekeeper to make their breakfast again, not willing to eat the food that had been so tarnished by that woman’s presence, and the first meal that the new father and son shared had to be clean. They quietly ate their food, skirting around the falling out between Xiao Yao and Zhang Lingjun.

Upstairs in her room, Zhao Lingjun was lying limply on the ground, having exhausted all her willpower to say those words earlier. Time passed, and as she held her son in her arms, the milky scent emanating from him calmed her down eventually.

He had fallen asleep in her arms, and she picked him up to place into his bed; he stirred as she moved, and she held his hand gently, “Mom will never let you lose anything you deserve.” She picked up her phone from the desk beside the bed and slowly dialed a number that she knew by heart. As the beeping tone sounded, Zhao Lingjun’s heartbeat accelerated.

I hope that everyone has enjoyed this novel so far; it’s one of my more favourites! I uploaded so many chapters these past few days because I personally do not begin to pick up a novel until there are more chapters… I like to be able to get a sense of what I am reading before I commit to trying it, but now that I have reached the round number of 10, I plan on updating only 3 a week. I hope you enjoy!