The Brat
“What’s wrong?”
Gu Jingchen was only halfway dressed. The morning sunlight fell across his shoulders, highlighting the defined lines of his muscles beneath his shirt.
Qin Mingzhu swallowed hard and said with admiration, “I didn’t expect that even after ten years, your body is still this good!”
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Gu Jingchen buttoned the last button of his shirt and, with a puzzled look, checked Qin Mingzhu’s forehead for a fever.
“I’m not sick!” Qin Mingzhu bit him angrily. “If this isn’t time travel, someone explain to me who the child downstairs is!”
She thought she’d woken up with ten years of memory gone and suddenly become a mom without any pain!
“That’s Aunt Li’s child,” Gu Jingchen said, a bit speechless. “You went to sleep last night, so you didn’t know.”
“He’s not going to stay here forever, is he?” Qin Mingzhu asked cautiously.
She definitely did not want to live with a child.
“No, just temporarily,” Gu Jingchen said helplessly.
He hadn’t expected Aunt Li to act so fast, and hadn’t even had time to give Qin Mingzhu a heads-up.
The two of them went downstairs. The little boy immediately sat up straight and politely greeted them, “Hello, uncle. I’m Li Chengming, eight years old.”
Qin Mingzhu’s mouth twitched.
She had suspected Aunt Li’s son wasn’t an easy kid, and sure enough, he ignored her completely, mirroring his mother’s attitude.
Suddenly, Gu Jingchen took her hand.
Qin Mingzhu was startled, then heard him say in a deep voice, “And you haven’t greeted Aunt Li yet.”
Li Chengming hid the disdain in his eyes, wiggled his little legs reluctantly, and said, “Hello, Auntie.”
Qin Mingzhu’s heart raced. She curved her lips into a smile and squeezed Gu Jingchen’s hand in hers, feeling delighted inside.
Alright, this little brat wasn’t so unbearable after all.
After breakfast, Gu Jingchen had to go to work.
Qin Mingzhu, freshly married, took on the role of dutiful little wife, awkwardly escorting him to the door, almost wanting to wave a handkerchief with tears to bid farewell.
“…Do you have any plans today?” Gu Jingchen asked, turning back.
“Uh…” Qin Mingzhu thought for a moment, then said solemnly, “I just got married. I’m on my honeymoon, and I don’t need to work.”
Gu Jingchen, also newly married but without a honeymoon: “….”
Tears welling up, Qin Mingzhu said, “Work hard today.”
Gu Jingchen closed the door expressionlessly.
Happiness and sorrow are not shared evenly between people.
The spacious living room was left with only the two of them one adult, one child.
Li Chengming impatiently tapped on an empty plate. “Hey, stupid old lady, I’m not full! Make me more!”
“Are you talking to Aunt Li?” Qin Mingzhu covered her mouth in shock. “How can you call your mom an old lady?”
“Are you blind?! There’s only you here! I’m talking to you!” Li Chengming pointed at her nose with his fork, full of swagger.
“Don’t try to act like some fancy lady in front of me. Without Uncle Gu, you’re nothing!”
Of course, the child didn’t know any better; Qin Mingzhu could guess he had been fed these phrases by Aunt Li.
She wasn’t angry. Smiling, she mirrored his tone, “Without Gu Jingchen, your mom is nothing either.”
“You… you dare insult my mom!” Li Chengming’s small face flushed red. He clenched his teeth, threw down his plate, jumped off the chair, and charged at Qin Mingzhu like a cannonball.
The eight-year-old boy was like a young calf no brains, but plenty of strength.
Qin Mingzhu stood upright across half the living room. Just as the kid was about to crash into her legs, she swiftly pulled out a metal pot lid from somewhere.
“Duang!”
A loud bang, like an explosion.
Li Chengming’s eyes went wide in disbelief as he slowly touched his injured forehead.
“Oh, sorry, it’s swollen,” Qin Mingzhu said with a cheeky grin.
Li Chengming’s tiny hands finally reached the swollen bump, his childish features twisted, and he burst into a wail.
“Waaah… Mom! The nasty old lady bullied me! I want Mom! Waaah, waaah…”
He cried, swinging his fists wildly, trying to hit Qin Mingzhu.
Qin Mingzhu wasn’t about to let him succeed.
When she studied abroad, she had trained in self-defense, and now she applied it to the brat, finding it thoroughly amusing.
Every punch he threw missed her and instead slammed against the pot lid. He hurt himself and clutched his hand, wailing all the more.
Aunt Li, thinking her son was unruly and violent, initially saw this as a way to get back at Qin Mingzhu. But now, hearing his cries from the garden, she ran back, panicking. “Oh, my precious son, who did this to you?”
“Mom! This mean old lady wouldn’t feed me and even pointed at my nose to scold you! Waaah, she hurt my head!” Li Chengming wailed into her arms.
Aunt Li was fuming. “Qin Mingzhu, how can you be so vicious? Even a child is fair game for you?!”
“Mrs. Li, it’s fine to be rude with food, but not with words. I didn’t hit him; he crashed into the pot lid himself,” Qin Mingzhu protested innocently, shaking the metal lid.
Li Chengming shouted in panic, “I didn’t want to hit the pot lid! I wanted to hit you! Why did you block me with it?!”
“Mrs. Li, listen to your son!” Qin Mingzhu clicked her tongue. “He kicked and hit me first. I was just defending myself!”
“Defense?! My son’s head is all swollen, and I think you did it on purpose! Qin Mingzhu, you’re so sneaky!” Aunt Li cried, snot and tears streaming. “I… I’m telling Jingchen! I can’t stay in this house another day!”
She scooped up Li Chengming and hurried out, cooing, “It’s okay, my baby. Mom’s taking you to the hospital now.”
Qin Mingzhu lazily leaned against the door. “Mrs. Li, if you leave, who’s making lunch for me today?”
Aunt Li glared back at her with hatred, teeth clenched, muttering, “Qin Mingzhu, if anything happens to my son at the hospital, I swear I’ll go after you!”
This was her one-and-only precious son, the “dragon seed” the Li family had waited for all their lives. If he ended up damaged like this even for Gu Jingchen’s sake Qin Mingzhu wouldn’t be spared!