Buzz… buzz-buzz…
A pale wrist reached out from under the light gray quilt, groping blindly for the nightstand until it found the phone vibrating nonstop.
A fluffy little head popped out from beneath the covers. A dark navy oversized sleep mask covered half his face, leaving only a delicate chin exposed.
“Hello? Who is this?” His newly awakened voice still sounded lazy as he casually took off the mask.
The person on the other end was silent for a moment before giving a light cough. “Xinxin, Aunt Wang has sent Xiaoyu back.”
At the low voice coming through the phone, Chu Xin’s still-drowsy eyes flew open at once, his light brown pupils flashing with a hint of panic.
“O-okay, I know.”
Before the other side could answer, Chu Xin hung up in a fluster.
Staring blankly at the words 「husband」 dimming on the screen, Chu Xin felt a little annoyed with himself. What was he panicking for? Zhou Xingyu was just coming back, that was all.
But the hand that had bunched the quilt into a ball gave away how tense he really was.
Who was Zhou Xingyu?
Nothing more than a gloomy villain in a book, someone who had been abused by his stepfather into becoming twisted and brooding. At ten, he turned around and locked that stepfather in an underground secret room, then tortured him for five full years.
By the time the stepfather was let out, he was already a babbling idiot.
Why was Chu Xin so nervous? Because right now, he was the gloomy villain Zhou Xingyu’s stepfather!
Chu Xin had just been an ordinary office worker in a 996 grind. Who knew that after one night’s sleep, he’d become someone inside a novel?
He didn’t know how long the original owner had been tormenting the villain, and he didn’t even know how old the villain was now.
The original owner’s husband, Zhou Huaijin, had married him not out of love either, but simply because he wanted someone who could take care of his son.
Chu Xin felt he couldn’t just sit here and wait for the worst to happen. He could go stay at the original owner’s parents’ home for a few days and think things through.
With a plan in mind, Chu Xin threw off the quilt and got out of bed. Maybe he moved too quickly, because before he was even steady on his feet, a wave of dizziness hit him and he fell back onto the bed.
“Hiss… that hurts!”
Chu Xin lifted a hand to gently touch his forehead and felt a swollen bump.
He had almost forgotten: the original owner had fallen down the stairs before, and the injury still hadn’t healed properly.
Was it an accident, or did someone push him?
If someone had pushed him, who had it been?
Enduring the pain, Chu Xin found a suitcase. At the sight of all the clothes and accessories in the dressing room, he couldn’t help sighing: rich people really did have a lot of clothes!
Although the original owner and his husband Zhou Huaijin were both men, their clothes were easy to tell apart.
Chu Xin had seen Zhou Huaijin before. When he woke up in the hospital, Zhou Huaijin had been by his side.
That man was tall and imposing, his bearing cold and stern. Those long, narrow, sharp, unfathomable eyes in particular made people instinctively afraid.
As he recalled what had happened when he first came over, Chu Xin packed his clothes.
Suddenly, he felt something catch on the hem of his shirt. Without turning back, he tugged hard, only to feel a patch of warmth.
Chu Xin stiffened with fright. His heart was pounding wildly, and cold sweat even prickled across his back.
That soft, small touch seemed like a child’s hand!
“What is Papa doing?”
Papa?
Chu Xin whipped around and saw a soft, adorable little dumpling standing behind him.
“Is Papa going out to play?”
Seeing that Chu Xin didn’t answer, Zhou Xingyu asked again.
Chu Xin felt like his brain had overworked itself to the point of failure. Was this milk-scented little kid the villain?
Were villains supposed to be this cute?
Chu Xin’s biggest hobby was collecting cute little things, so the moment he saw the soft little dumpling, he wanted to scoop him into his arms and pinch his cheeks.
He had to be fragrant and soft.
But there was a bandage wrapped around the little dumpling’s other arm, and Chu Xin immediately snapped back to his senses.
Could this have been done by the original owner?
Chu Xin only knew the general plot. He had no memories from the original owner.
He also didn’t know how the original owner had tortured his little stepson.
“Papa?”
Chu Xin came back to himself and tried his best to smile gently, but then he remembered that the original owner had been the type who looked mild on the surface but was actually vicious and ruthless. The smile on his face stiffened a little.
“Daddy just wants to go stay at Grandpa’s place for a few days.”
As soon as the little dumpling heard that, he suddenly raised his voice. “You’re not allowed to go!”
Chu Xin froze, his expression tinged with confusion.
The little dumpling seemed to realize his tone was wrong. He threw himself into Chu Xin’s arms and hugged his leg, saying in a soft voice, “Papa, Xiaoyu doesn’t want you to go to Grandpa’s house.”
Held tightly like this, with a faint milk scent at the tip of his nose, Chu Xin hesitated as he stroked the little dumpling’s soft, fluffy hair, then felt that he was losing his mind. The child was clearly just a cute little dumpling, and yet Chu Xin had absurdly suspected him of being an adult.
“Why don’t you want Daddy to go to Grandpa’s house?”
The little dumpling was calling him Daddy and clinging to him like this. Had the original owner not abused him yet?
Otherwise, the little dumpling definitely wouldn’t be this close to him.
“Papa, every time you go to Grandpa’s house, you come back unhappy, and now you even hit your head. Grandpa’s house is bad.” The little dumpling lifted his face, his big watery eyes looking at Chu Xin as he pointed at his own head with a tiny finger.
Had the original owner fallen down the stairs at his parents’ house?
Chu Xin was rapidly trying to figure out why the original owner had fallen when he suddenly heard a rumbling sound. Looking down, he saw the little dumpling pressing his face against Chu Xin’s clothes, his ear tips bright red.
Chu Xin was so charmed his heart practically gave a shudder. He carefully avoided the little dumpling’s injured arm and picked him up. “Come on, Papa will make Xiaoyu something to eat.”
The name Xiaoyu had slipped out so naturally, as if he had always called the little dumpling that.
Chu Xin thought maybe it was an instinctive reaction of the original owner’s body, so he didn’t think any more of it.
Leaning against Chu Xin’s neck, at an angle Chu Xin couldn’t see, Zhou Xingyu had eyes as deep as Zhou Huaijin’s, impossible to read.
But that sort of gaze was definitely not something a four-year-old should have.
Chu Xin had come back yesterday to this home, where the original owner had lived since his marriage, so he was already familiar with the layout. He quickly carried the little dumpling downstairs to the living room and set him on the sofa.
“Xiaoyu, have some fruit first. Daddy will make the meal soon.”
The little dumpling was very obedient. “Okay, Papa.” He even kissed Chu Xin’s cheek.
Chu Xin was instantly so charmed he almost didn’t know his own name. Forget making a meal for the little dumpling: even if he had to make him a red-braised moon, he would find a way to do it!
Just as Chu Xin was about to leave, he suddenly remembered the phone call Zhou Huaijin had made to him and turned back to ask, “Xiaoyu, where’s Aunt Wang who brought you back?”
“Grandma Wang sent Xiaoyu home and then went back.”
Chu Xin found that strange. Why hadn’t Aunt Wang said hello to him before leaving? What if the little dumpling loved to play and sneaked outside?
After all, the little dumpling looked only three or four years old.
Although he found it odd, he didn’t ask the little dumpling. What would a child know?
As soon as Zhou Xingyu saw Chu Xin go into the kitchen, his soft little face suddenly turned serious, as if he had become a different person altogether.
He had been the one to tell Aunt Wang to leave. He still couldn’t fully control his emotions.
He wasn’t really a four-year-old child. He had started slowly regaining his memories a year ago.
He was the villain in a novel. Because of an unhappy childhood, his personality had become warped, until later he met the book’s female lead and was attracted by her bright, cheerful nature.
But his temperament was twisted and he did many things to hurt the female lead. In the end, when it was discovered that he had locked his stepfather in a secret room and tortured him, he was sent to a psychiatric sanatorium.
He had never expected his life to start over, and this time, his life had changed.
Chu Xin, who had originally been his stepfather, had actually become his biological father?!
Even though he had recovered his memories, he still had fragmentary memories from before the age of three. He had once had a happy and complete family.
His father, Zhou Huaijin, was quiet and reserved, with a cold temperament, but he loved Chu Xin deeply and loved his son deeply as well.
His daddy, Chu Xin, really was gentle and courteous, not just pretending to be so in front of others, and his love for him was no less than Zhou Huaijin’s.
Because of this, Zhou Huaijin had often secretly tricked him into doing embarrassing things so that Chu Xin would end up disciplining him.
In order not to let anyone discover his secret, he continued to pretend he had the mind of a four-year-old.
After a year living together, however, his feelings toward Chu Xin had become quite complicated, and he didn’t even know how to face him. Yet Chu Xin still patiently stayed by his side.
Even when he kicked Chu Xin out of spite, or even bit him, Chu Xin still patiently taught him that behavior like that was wrong.
That went on until he realized his own avoidance of Chu Xin was playing into Zhou Huaijin’s hands.
Hah, Zhou Huaijin was also half responsible for the wrongs his 「stepfather」 had done to him!
So the open and hidden battles between father and son began.
Using the kids’ phone watch on his wrist, Zhou Xingyu dialed Zhou Huaijin’s number. After two ringing tones, a man’s deep voice came through: “Xiaoyu?”
“Little Papa is making me food.”
Zhou Huaijin was silent for a moment. Zhou Xingyu was showing off to him.
Chu Xin rarely cooked personally. He only ever did it himself on Zhou Huaijin’s and Xiaoyu’s birthdays or on special holidays.
“Red-braised moon, he’s making it just for me!”
Zhou Huaijin: …
He couldn’t argue with a child.
“Xinxin made me a lunchbox.”
Zhou Xingyu’s little fist tightened suddenly. “Daddy is lying to Xiaoyu.”
How could Zhou Huaijin possibly bear to let the injured Chu Xin make him a lunchbox?
A few seconds later, a WeChat message appeared on the watch screen. Zhou Xingyu opened it and saw a photo of a lunchbox with a balanced mix of meat and vegetables. Even the container was the little rabbit box they had used on an earlier spring outing as a family of three.
Chu Xin had specially bought it for him, and Zhou Huaijin had actually used it!
This round was clearly Zhou Huaijin’s win, and Zhou Xingyu pouted before turning off the call.
Just then, Chu Xin looked over. Zhou Xingyu immediately put on a bright smile, with none of the displeasure from before.
Chu Xin smiled back. It was warm, like the sunlight of early summer.
Zhou Xingyu froze for a moment and felt that Little Papa seemed a little different from usual.
Little Papa usually smiled too, but there seemed to be restraint hidden in that smile. The one just now, though, was completely unguarded.
Zhou Xingyu couldn’t help wanting to get closer to him, to be nearer to him.
Chu Xin heard quick little footsteps behind him and hurriedly turned around. “What’s wrong, Xiaoyu?”
Zhou Xingyu felt a little awkward, and instead of answering, he said, “Xiaoyu wants a lunchbox too. Xiaoyu wants red-braised moon, and it has to be better than Big Papa’s.”
How did the little dumpling know he had made a lunchbox for Zhou Huaijin?
Actually, that lunchbox wasn’t for Zhou Huaijin. He had made it for himself.
He was just an ordinary employee, so he was used to bringing meals to the company. That was why, after coming back from the hospital yesterday and getting familiar with the house, he made himself a lunchbox. He hadn’t expected Zhou Huaijin to have already requested a week of leave for him.
So the lunchbox could only go to Zhou Huaijin.
But hearing the little dumpling’s childish words, Chu Xin finally put his suspicions aside. He had always felt that the little dumpling didn’t seem like a child.
As for a red-braised moon or whatever, he had only been thinking about it to himself. Yet this little dumpling really wanted one, and that made things a bit difficult for him.
Chu Xin bent down and looked at the little dumpling, wanting to explain, but when he saw those big eyes full of expectation, he found he couldn’t bring himself to say no.