Xia Sheng carried her son back beside her husband. Yue Qin immediately noticed something off with her emotional state.
“What happened?” Yue Qin took their son into his arms, his brows furrowing.
He looked at his wife’s red eyes, a bit worried.
“It’s okay,” Xia Sheng said. “They ridiculed my dream. I don’t want to go to the performance.”
Yue Qin passed their son to Xia Sheng. “I’m going to find them.”
Xia Sheng quickly latched onto her husband. She didn’t want him to see the horrid scene; it was too ridiculous.”
“Husband, I want to eat rice noodles.”
“Sure, we can have that at home. I’ll add a bit more sour bamboo shoots.”
Half an hour later, President Kang was pinching his nose in his sorrowful mood. He also lived in this world. He knew everyone’s fascination with river snail rice noodles and heard of how stinky it was.
However, he didn’t expect it to be that smelly!
More horrifying was the fact that the two were preparing to eat the rice noodles.
How could they endure such a foul smell?
Xia Sheng slurped her bowl down, finally happy again. She even joked at her son, hiding in a corner and still pinching his nose, “Do you really not want any? Just a bit, a tiny bit. It really doesn’t taste bad.”
“No thanks, Mama. Eat yours slowly,” the kid caringly responded.
Yue Qin said, “Son, just a single taste. It’s super good.”
“I’d rather be dead than have that in my mouth.” President Kang had a big pomelo in his lap to cover the smell. Now, he felt the odor creeping up his nose, so he quickly shut it after he finished speaking.
Those noodles weren’t actually good for children, and they weren’t actually planning to feed him it.
President Kang didn’t have much appetite even through the evening, but he was worried that Xia Sheng might be worried about him, so he shoved two pieces of steak down his mouth. Eating so much was a bit bland.
He really didn’t feel hungry. He couldn’t fall asleep well into the night, either. The more he thought, the angrier he became.
Past midnight, as the house quieted down, a little figure creeped out of the children’s room.
The dark figure paused in the living room because he saw someone on the balcony with a cigarette, the lit end emitting a dim light in the darkness.
President Kang tiptoed to the balcony. The cheap mother was smoking on the balcony under the cold wind. Her slim figure felt as if it was going to dissipate in the wind.
Her expressions in the afternoon were all a facade. In reality, she still couldn’t fall asleep.
President Kang stared dumbly, his heart aching from time to time. It was an indescribable feeling. He had never felt this way before.
President Kang turned around to leave the room, walking down the stairwell with his solid footsteps.
The neighborhood was as quiet as usual, with occasional strange bird chirps. He would have been scared before, but now, he didn’t pay any attention to it.
It was the second time President Kang left his room in the middle of the night. He came to the front of the neighborhood, and just as last time, there were wall-like bushes. The shadow of the tree moved with the wind under the streetlamp, the leaves appearing like ghosts flying in all directions.
However, unlike before, the kid continued walking without taking a single stop.
Every step was taken with confidence. He passed cars upon cars, and when he passed by the garbage can, there were still the same few dogs digging trash around it.
Starving dogs at midnight are probably the most terrifying beings, and it had scared him away last time.
The dogs also sensed the child, but when they raised their heads, they saw the kid leaping at them, as if he were to take a bite out of them.
He was so angry that he had to do something to let out some of his rage.
Even the dogs aggravated him, as if they were trash like President Zhang. He wanted to bite them, too.
The dogs had never seen something like this before, but as ownerless dogs that liked to pick on the weak, they knew that he wasn’t to be messed with, so they immediately fled away.
President Kang finally continued on his way outside the neighborhood.
“Sir, sir, can I borrow your phone?” President Kang headed to the guard post and woke up the deeply asleep security guard.
The security guard opened his eyes to a four-year-old boy in his pajamas asking to borrow his phone.
“I sleepwalked. Can I call Papa and Mama to pick me up?”
The security guard was dumbfounded, even thinking that he hadn’t awoken yet. Are all kids so calm these days? How did he manage to hold back his tears and ask for my phone?
He’s so smart.
The guard quickly unlocked his phone, handing it to him.
The kid tilted his head, asking, “Can I go call over there? All the adults walk to the side when they make phone calls.”
“Sure, go ahead. I won’t eavesdrop on your call.” The security guard laughed.
President Kang walked to the side and dialed in a number on a business card.
It was the one President Zhang had given his mother. He subtly pulled it out.
After a few rings, someone finally picked up.
“Hello.” It was a female voice.
President Kang prepared to lower his voice.
“President Zhang is not here at the moment. What should I refer to you as? You can tell me everything and I’ll pass it on to him once he returns.”
President Kang could tell that the voice was that of President Kang’s housekeeper.
“Pass it on? Is this how he treats the cooperation between us?” President Kang unleashed a burst of anger. “Then tell him that since he doesn’t even have sincerity, our project could be canceled.”
“Wait.” The person on the other side panicked, quickly explaining. “There’s a mistake—President Zhang is injured. He’s at the hospital right now and forgot to take his phone with him. If you’re in a hurry, I can take the phone to him or you can talk to his wife.”
The housekeeper didn’t know who the other person was, but she spent every day around these people. So, no matter his tone or speech, her gut feeling told her that it wasn’t someone to mess with.
“Your President Zhang could get injured? Are you lying to me?” A new idea popped up in his head.
“No, President Zhang was trying out some new things with a couple of friends this afternoon, but the equipment broke and all of them got injured. How could I lie to you?”
President Kang was dumbfounded. He previously thought that he didn’t need to worry about the violent mother, but thinking about the sinister businessmen, he was concerned that his cheap mother was too naive.
Especially when he saw her with her hair all ruffled and her tears all over her face.
He was obviously wrong.
So, he continued to ask. “President Zhang really got hurt? If so, then I’ll pay him a visit tomorrow. Is it okay if I ask where he got hurt?”
President Kang also softened his tone. The person on the other side let out a breath of relief, naturally saying what she knew. “President Zhang broke his nose and leg.”
“Okay, I’ll see him tomorrow and talk about our contract then.” President Kang hung up.
The gloom that had surrounded his heart suddenly faded away.
However, quickly, he began to wonder about another question――
So, what was his cheap mother crying about?
Was it that she had accidentally broken his nose? His leg?
Or was it that she had torn her clothes?
The cheap mother seemed to like the outfit a lot, so it might be because of that.
After all, President Zhang only had a few bits broken, but his cheap mother had lost her favorite coat.
She even threw it in the garbage bin. How cruel would something like that be to a girl who loved her coat so much?
The child audibly smiled, and then let out a big breath of relief.
The child blocked the number and then handed the phone back to the security guard. Seeing how kind he was all the way through, he decided to talk in a sweet voice he had never used before. “Thank you, Mr. Security Guard! You’re such a great person!”
President Kang was overjoyed. He would now be heading back to eat more steak! There was plenty left for him!
The wind was so soft and gentle. The security guard watched as the kid skipped away.
However, after a brief moment, the security guard felt a warm current rushing into his heart. He suddenly felt a surge of responsibility to be a “good person,” so he quickly rushed up to the child and led him back.
“Don’t run away. Just wait here until your parents come to you. You called your parents, right?”
President Kang: “...”