A Single Father’s Troubles - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Jealousy

Guagua was a natural-born foodie.

Seeing others having alcohol with their barbecue, he followed suit and pestered Lin Tingwan into buying him a carton of chocolate milk.

One bite of pork belly, one sip of milk it was incredibly satisfying.

Lin Tingwan silently glanced at the child’s round belly. Before climbing the stairs, it was only the size of a muskmelon; now it had become a watermelon.

Lin Tingwan Page knelt down and adjusted the child’s clothes with transparent intent, trying to prevent the belly from sticking out too much. He asked, “Baby, let’s head back. Are you cold?”

Guagua was covered in sweat from eating the skewers; he wasn’t cold at all. However, he got sleepy once he was full. Hearing Lin Tingwan’s question, he obediently reached out his arms to be carried.

Lin Tingwan unzipped his jacket. He was very thin and had intentionally bought his clothes a size too large. When the child curled inside, he could zip the jacket back up.

Guagua wrapped both arms around Lin Tingwan’s neck, his bottom resting on his father’s arm as he leaned securely against his chest, eyes closed and dozing off.

Holding the child, Lin Tingwan walked slowly through the night toward his electric scooter.

The wind by the river was quite strong, causing ripples to form on the water’s surface, and the tall trees on both sides of the road rustled loudly.

In just over four hundred meters, Lin Tingwan’s soft bangs were blown into a mess, finely blocking his eyes. He had to reach out a hand to adjust them. Under the night sky, his fair fingers were frozen a bit red, and his ears were flushed from the wind. They were very eye-catching in the darkness.

Lin Tingwan reached his electric scooter. Supporting Guagua’s small bottom with one hand, he expertly unfastened the safety helmet and put it on Guagua before patting his son.

Guagua adjusted his posture, standing firmly between his father’s legs. Facing Lin Tingwan, he continued to sleep while standing and hugging his father’s waist.

This was a new skill Guagua had practiced through daily electric scooter rides.

After confirming he was standing steady, Lin Tingwan started the scooter. The milky-white little electric bike glided along the scenic belt and finally disappeared into the night.

Behind a tall camphor tree, a man with a gloomy expression stepped out. His face was darker than the low-hanging sky.

Kuang Ye stared in the direction where the scooter had disappeared, the image of Lin Tingwan’s messy hair, red nose tip, and crimson earlobes floating in his mind. Kuang Ye wore a foul expression and cursed under his breath.

Is that man a corpse? It’s bad enough letting them come out alone, but making Lin Tingwan ride an electric scooter in such cold weather does he even know how to take care of someone?!

He then cursed Lin Tingwan for having such poor taste, picking some green boy who was “too young to have hair on his lip and too unreliable to handle things,” bringing suffering upon himself!

The more Kuang Ye thought about it, the more irritable he became, his chest tight with suppressed fire. With a scowl, he returned to the barbecue stall.

The others were still drinking.

Shen Zhidong noticed his bad expression and wondered, “Didn’t you go for a smoke? Why do you look like you went to pick a fight? Your face is so terrifying.”

Kuang Ye ignored him. His gaze swept across the table and landed on the plate of uneaten leeks. They were as green when he left as they were now.

Kuang Ye irritably tossed his lighter onto the table with a sharp clack. The drinking group was startled, their eyes turning toward him.

Kuang Ye pointed at the plate of leeks. “Who ordered this?”

The moment Hu Fan saw him like this, he knew Kuang Ye’s “illness” had flared up. He swallowed hard, his eyes darting around before silently landing on Shen Zhidong.

Shen Zhidong was about to ask if Hu Fan had an eye cramp, as the winking was quite disgusting.

Kuang Ye’s gaze swept over and landed sharply on Shen Zhidong. “Finish it!”

“I’m not eating it, it’s cold.” Shen Zhidong felt very wronged. The leeks were soaked in cold oil; eating them would surely lead to diarrhea.

Kuang Ye: “Boxing or eating leeks. Pick one.”

“What kind of madness is this now…” Shen Zhidong, looking like a mistreated young wife, picked up his chopsticks piteously and stared at Kuang Ye.

Kuang Ye remained unmoved. Shen Zhidong had no choice but to resign himself to eating all the leeks.

Only after that stinging patch of green was gone did Kuang Ye feel slightly better. He got up, paid the bill, and left.

Shen Zhidong frantically drank two bottles of water. Once he caught his breath, he glared at the people around him. “Which one of you provoked Brother Ye? Why did the fire burn me instead?”

The others all said they didn’t know.

Hu Fan looked at Kuang Ye’s empty chair and gloomily slammed his glass onto the table. “I don’t know why Brother Ye is unhappy, but ever since that Lin Tingwan appeared, Brother Ye hasn’t been happy for a single day! He’s just a disaster!”

Shen Zhidong quickly covered his mouth. Seeing that Kuang Ye had already walked far away, he slapped Hu Fan hard on the head. “It’s a good thing Brother Ye didn’t hear that, or you wouldn’t even know how you died!”

Hu Fan brushed his hand away and grumbled, “Why can’t I say it! Who is Lin Tingwan to you that you’re protecting him so much!”

There was one sentence he didn’t say out loud: Kuang Ye and Lin Tingwan only dated for three months. No matter how deep the feelings were, how deep could they be? After four years, it should have been over.

“Lin Tingwan and I have jack shit to do with each other! But you’re my f**king brother!” Shen Zhidong rolled his eyes.

Childhood friends are different; in this group, only Shen Zhidong had grown up wearing the same pair of pants as Kuang Ye. By the time Hu Fan met them, they were already in their teens, so Shen Zhidong understood Kuang Ye better than the rest.

Kuang Ye was different from others; his level of devotion was unimaginable. However, no one would believe it if he said it. Shen Zhidong vaguely dropped a sentence: “Anyway, anyway, Brother Ye feels differently about Lin Tingwan. Don’t go meddling blindly.” With that, he ushered everyone to disperse.

Running into Lin Tingwan made Kuang Ye exceptionally irritable.

When he was looking for him, he had searched heaven and earth and found nothing, as if the man had vanished into thin air. Just as he was about to give up hope, the man appeared and started flickering in front of him every few days.

Kuang Ye didn’t know what the f**k was going on.

He rubbed his face violently, trying to stop thinking. But even after getting home, his mind was still filled with the image of Lin Tingwan riding the electric scooter with the child, and he inexplicably remembered those ears turned red by the wind.

Kuang Ye looked at himself in the mirror and felt like slapping himself. “Someone else is caring for him, what does it have to do with you?”

Even though he said that, Kuang Ye still felt uncomfortable. After showering, he threw on a bathrobe and stood on the balcony to smoke. The strong scent of the cigarillo was domineering, drifting away with the night wind.

Kuang Ye leaned against the railing and dazed off for a while, feeling the warmth of his body gradually dissipate, becoming increasingly exhausted. He extinguished the unsmoked cigar and turned toward the bedroom.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a sliding door track moving next door.

The Luhu compound was over ten years old, built when the European style was in vogue. The builder had a romantic streak; regardless of the unit size, every home had a large arched balcony. The white marble railings paired with the light gray exterior were very beautiful and not outdated even today.

Back then, there was no concept of floor-to-ceiling windows, and arched balconies were hard to seal. Open balconies, though aesthetic, had poor noise insulation. If a corner unit and a middle unit were on their balconies at the same time, even a cough could be heard clearly.

“Daddy, why does the air smell stinky?” A crisp voice drifted over with the wind. Kuang Ye froze, feeling it sounded inexplicably familiar.

Then came the gentle male voice that Kuang Ye knew better than anyone: “Baby, it’s the smell of smoke.”

“Oh, Daddy, who is smoking?”

“Probably a neighbor.”

“Daddy, why does the neighbor want to smoke? Smoking is so stinky, I don’t like it. Daddy, do you also dislike the smell of smoke?”

“That’s right, Daddy doesn’t like the smell of smoke either.”

Kuang Ye crushed the unextinguished cigarillo in his hand and pressed his lips thin.

Then came the child’s voice again.

“Haha, I guessed right!”

“Baby is so great! How did baby guess that Daddy doesn’t like the smell of smoke?”

The child’s voice was particularly cheerful. Although he couldn’t see him, Kuang Ye instinctively imagined the child swaying his head.

“Because I am Daddy’s baby! What I don’t like, Daddy doesn’t like either!”

“Oh, that makes sense. Why didn’t Daddy guess that? Good boy.”

“Haha, Daddy, you have to try harder next time!”

“Okay, okay, Daddy will definitely work hard.”

The December night was very cold, and the two overlapping sets of footsteps soon receded.

Kuang Ye stood there for a while, ears perked, but heard no further movement. Expressionlessly, he tossed the mangled cigarette into the trash. His mind was a mess of thoughts.

Why did Lin Tingwan move to this compound? Is he living with that man?

Unbearable jealousy left Kuang Ye, who had slept less than four hours today, with no desire to sleep. His body was extremely fatigued, but his spirit was more active than ever.

Two fires burned in Kuang Ye’s eyes, yet he was incredibly steady. He took out his phone and called Feng Xu.

“Hey, Xu-zi, do me a favor. Help me check who the owner of the unit next to mine is. The address is Dinghai District, Luhu Original Villa, Building 2, 1103.”

“Small thing. I’ll have someone check and tell you tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks.”

“Saying that makes us strangers, doesn’t it?”

After hanging up, Kuang Ye gripped his phone and sat by the entryway, his face ashen. His handsome features looked a bit frightening.

At 6:30 AM, his biological clock woke Lin Tingwan punctually.

He light-footedly picked up Guagua, who was lying on his chest sleeping like a little pig, and placed him on the warm bed. He lifted the quilt, put on his slippers, and went to the kitchen first to steam the eggs, corn, and the dumplings he had wrapped himself before going to the bathroom to wash up.

After handling himself, he went back to the bed to dig Guagua out. Guagua’s hair was like a bird’s nest from sleep; his eyes were closed and his mouth was pouted enough to hang an oil jar. He looked quite huffy.

Even after being dressed, Guagua’s “wake-up grump” hadn’t dissipated. During breakfast, he was like a toy with a broken spring, exceptionally silent.

After finishing the meal, Lin Tingwan picked up Guagua’s small backpack and stood at the entryway waiting for him to pick his own shoes.

Guagua chose those green frog shoes he just bought a few days ago.

These shoes were quite hypnotic stepping on the ground would produce a frog’s “Gua” “Gua” sound. Guagua had loved them to death at first sight and begged Lin Tingwan to buy them.

Seeing the shoes, Lin Tingwan’s expression was complicated, but seeing the little kid sticking out his bottom and huffing as he worked hard to put them on, he silently swallowed his words of persuasion.

If people stared on the street, let them stare. Guagua’s happiness was most important.

Guagua put on the shoes and hopped twice on the floor. Hearing the two wonderful croaks, his wake-up grump finally vanished. “Daddy, let’s go!”

Lin Tingwan took his hand, checked his keys and phone, and ensured all of Guagua’s things were ready before heading out.

As Guagua walked along, the shoes kept calling out, “Gua-Gua,” “Gua-Gua.”

Kuang Ye, who was dozing off leaning against the cabinet, was startled awake by the frog sounds. He looked around in a daze.

He was at home, that much was right.

What kind of f**king family raises frogs at home!

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