Wen Qinxi felt a sense of uneasiness the closer he got to the Qie Mansion. It was like having a tiger by its tail but he was unable to extricate himself from this situation.
He didn't know what to expect since the only mum he had lived with was his own. Even in the first world, Madam Lin was the character's mother which made it easier for him to treat her as his mother outside the game.
In the second world, he barely interacted with Madam Qie but in the fourth world, he was meant to live with her. To say he wasn't nervous would be an outright lie.
The vehicle stopped in front of a gorgeous mansion with a magnificent fountain that had Wen Qinxi curious. But he didn't have time to admire it as he had more worrisome things to think about.
Old Lu opened the door for him and led him to the living room with a beaming smile. He had already spent the summer vacation with Su Xin and had a good impression of the man. When he returned from the island he even tried to convince Madam Qie by expressing how much Su Xin had changed. But of course, the madam wouldn't believe him till the day pigs fly and there weren't any piggies in the air right now.
When Wen Qinxi entered the living room, the Qie family adults were scrutinizing Qie Xieling's calligraphy just like master penmen that they didn't immediately notice him.
Qie Xieling on the other hand was just coming from the kitchen holding a can of soda heading back to be grilled by the two critics. Once he saw Su Xin, he gestured for him to keep silent and grabbed his dad's wrist to lead him away before the others notice.
Once the other two notice Su Xin, he would have to compete for attention so he decided on this underhanded method. Unfortunately for him, Qie Ranzhe's senses were so sharp that it didn't take him long to catch wind of Su Xin's presence.
Just when Su Xin's figure tailed off Qie Ranzhe called out, "Xieling!" As to why he called his son's name it was because he knew who had the guts to convince Su Xin to make a break for it. Besides, if he was in the same position he would have done the same thing.
Qie Xieling was forced to stop with a pained expression. He almost got away with it if it weren't for his busybody of a father. Wen Qinxi wanted to laugh but Qie Xieling looked genuinely upset as he dragged him back to the living room.
"I needed help with something in the kitchen so I asked him to help me for a minute. I promise I was going to bring him back," explained Qie Xieling with his body glued to Su Xin's like lego pieces. It would take a little bit of effort to pull them apart.
"Huh," replied Qie Ranzhe with an expression that spelt 'I don't believe you' but he didn't plan on exposing the boy's lie.
"Ahem," said Madam Qie clearing her throat loudly asserting that she was being ignored. She was already deducting favorability points from Su Xin which were already in the negative values.
"Hello Auntie Qie," said Wen Qinxi trying to be as polite as possible. Gosh, the nerd had never been married hence he never interacted with in-laws outside the game. This meant he wasn't sure how to handle such formalities.
It seemed Madam Qie was well aware of this fact and didn't intend to make it easier for him. She was still pissed off about the whole sleeping with her best friend's daughter thing so she didn't conceal the dissatisfaction on her face.
"You do understand that I am the head of the house and if you do anything I deem dissatisfactory, I won't hesitate to kick you out. Do you understand?" she said in an intimidating manner but based on Qie Ranzhe's reaction she seemed more like a paper tiger.
Qie Ranzhe was staring at him mouthing, "She won't," and even went as far as making a barely visible kissy-face at Su Xin. This kind of frivolous version of Qie Ranzhe was too much for this nerd. Because of this action, Wen Qinxi didn't know where to look suppressing his laughter within. It was hard to imagine his boss being like this in the real world.
Madam Qie sensed something was off based on Su Xin's behaviour and the only possible culprit was none other than Qie Ranzhe.
Since her son wanted to play this game, she was left with no choice but to drop the bomb early. "Ahem... I have prepared a room for you on the first floor. It was once a storage room but I had Old Lu clean it up. You will sleep there from now on," she said but the reaction she got was so drastic like she had told Su Xin to sleep outside.
Qie Xieling, "What?"
Qie Ranzhe, "...."
"Nana, I am used to sleeping with Su Xin. No need to trouble yourself. Dad can sleep with me," said Qie Xieling almost on his knees. He knew he couldn't share a room with Su Xin for the rest of his life but for the time being, he was the baby of the family and should get what he wants.
"Excuse me? He's my husband so it's only proper he shares a room with me," said Qie Ranzhe correcting his son who seemed to forget this was Daddy's man. The kid slept over in Su Xin's room for the entire summer vacation and that's all he was getting.
"My house my rules. Tsk, you two are going to stress me to death," she said before storming out just in case they wanted to negotiate. She knew she couldn't restrain Qie Ranzhe and that it would be a miracle if he didn't move Su Xin into his room while she was sleeping but she wanted to hold on to this illusion of power for longer.
Her prediction was spot on because Qie Ranzhe did exactly that. As soon as she switched off her bedroom lights, a door was suddenly opened with the person walking in light footsteps going downstairs. She wanted to catch her son in the act so she waited for him to come back upstairs.
Wen Qinxi was just celebrating his freedom and being able to forgo punishment for not replying to Qie Ranzhe's messages when his door was pushed open. At first, he thought it was Qie Xieling bringing a pillow over just like the kid did at the island Villa but the person walking in the shadows was taller.
"Ran-ge, what the fuck are you doi-, mm mmm," said Wen Qinxi with the latter part coming out as muffled noises because Qie Ranzhe was covering his mouth with a warm hand. He made a shh gesture before carrying him out of the room like a sack of potatoes.
"Put me down," whispered Wen Qinxi with his head dangling upside down but Qie Ranzhe's response to that was smacking Wen Qinxi's butt.
Wen Qinxi, "...."