I Became the Rich Family’s Stepfather and Couldn’t Stop Laughing - Chapter 16

The toiletries the child was currently using had also been changed at Xi Ling’s wave of a hand, replacing all the products that used to cause allergic rashes with all-natural ones.

After his bath and hair wash before bed, the child was covered in a milky, coconut-like fragrance. Xi Ling found the scent incredibly addictive and buried his head right into the side of the child’s neck.

While patting the child to help him sleep, he ended up soothing himself to sleep as well.

The child, however, kept his little lips pressed shut and his eyes wide open, entering a state of high alert due to the sudden news.

Mother Tian had said more than once that Huo Siyi didn’t want him at all because he was nothing but a bastard born from some prostitute who crawled into his father’s bed; he was a stain on Huo Siyi’s honor.

Even though he carried the Huo surname, he couldn’t even touch the gates of the main family estate. He was a low-born illegitimate child who couldn’t even make it into the family genealogy. The only reason he was still being raised as a “young master” was that Huo Siyi didn’t have any other children yet.

His father was not even thirty years old yet; in the future, he would have many more children, each of whom would be cleaner, healthier, and more outstanding than him. The Huo family giving a sickly child like him a meal to eat was already the greatest mercy. Otherwise, they should have just left him to die with his prostitute mother.

Huo Xingmian didn’t want to believe Mother Tian’s malicious slander, but ever since he was handed over to her, he had never seen his father again.

At first, he had held onto hope, wishing that his father would take him away to escape Mother Tian’s abuse. However, what he got in return was an even more vicious stepfather.

He racked his brain, trying to scrape together any memories that could refute Mother Tian’s words, but he had been too young before he was sent to the manor.

In the scattered fragments of his memory, he only recalled the smell of pungent medicine and the sight of stark white everywhere. His hands and body were covered in tubes, which matched exactly what Mother Tian had said.

With his health at birth, he wouldn’t have survived in a normal family. It had cost an astronomical amount of medical expenses just to keep him alive until today. As a child who was already discarded, his father had already done his absolute best. He should be grateful and try not to cause any more trouble, and certainly shouldn’t try to find his father again…

At the beginning, he understood many things only half-heartedly, but he could interpret the emotions conveyed through Mother Tian’s tone and expressions. Through her repeated torture and threats, he learned to read the hidden meanings.

Mother Tian was a bad person; her words were not to be trusted. But now, he could be certain that his father truly did not like him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ignored him entirely, letting Mother Tian bully and abuse him.

But why did his father suddenly want to see him now?

The change in his stepfather… could it be because of this?

Huo Xingmian’s small body trembled uncontrollably, and a chill swept through him.

After a long while, the “frozen” child chose to snuggle closer into Xi Ling’s embrace.

Mother Tian had been locked away, and his stepfather had started to treat him well. He didn’t understand the reason, and he was afraid he might lose it all again… This little bit of warmth was all he had to hold onto.

The child called out in a voice so faint it was almost imperceptible: “Daddy…”

As the father and son fell asleep one after another, the commotion on the internet continued.

After Xi Ling posted his statement, Secretary Dong immediately arranged for the PR team to follow up, making sure to flood the trending searches before Yaxin could pull any more tricks.

#XiLingDeniesLivestreaming# #FuHaoEmbezzlement# #XiLingRecordingEvidence# #XiLingSuesAgent# #XiLingLivesAndDiesForChuangsi# ……

Secretary Dong’s intention was clear: to keep the boss from getting annoyed, he had to keep Yaxin’s presence to a minimum.

Spending a little money was nothing; it wasn’t coming out of his own pocket anyway. Conversely, if the boss got angry, he would be the one caught in the crossfire, and that would mean a cut to his salary.

The netizens, however, didn’t know this. Seeing the trending list almost completely dominated by topics related to Xi Ling’s clarification, they were simply amused:

[Hilarious, Xi Ling’s desire to survive is written all over his face.]

[Good grief, how much money did he pay the platform? It feels like the whole Weibo feed is just Xi Ling yelling at Yaxin to get away from him, haha!]

[Looks like he was just screwed over by his agent. Have to say, Yaxin has dirty tactics; they really managed to leach off him… With this reaction, the divorce rumors from before must be fake, right?]

[The divorce rumors are extremely credible, okay? This is clearly Xi Ling having some kind of agreement in place and not daring to provoke them.]

[Whether he was actually set up or just passing the buck, it’s hard to say. First the nanny goes to jail, now the agent is going to jail. Doesn’t it feel like everyone around Xi Ling is a bad person, and he’s the only pure white lotus? So fake…]

[Hahaha, I wonder if it was discovered that they were drilling loopholes in the divorce agreement after that ‘Fluorescent Big Green Pepper’ incident hinted that President Huo was cheating?]

[Looking at Xi Ling’s reaction, I bet he got a huge payout in the divorce agreement.]

[Correction: It’s an epic payout (Lemon)(Lemon)(Lemon). A discarded rich man’s wife can still live in a manor, drive supercars, and bring his kid shopping. I won’t say who’s jealous (tears)…]

Bored in the middle of the night, many people dug up Xi Ling’s past scandals to gossip further. The more they looked, the more curious they were about how the divorce agreement was signed, and why Xi Ling was still able to take the Huo family kid on a parenting variety show.

A well-known entertainment influencer used a burner account to analyze it with all the seriousness of a detective: [Because the ‘Fluorescent Big Green Pepper’ incident made things very unpleasant between Xi Ling and his wealthy ex-husband, everyone knows the tricks the rich use. The first step is to cancel the credit cards. Xi Ling didn’t have the money to pay the breach of contract fees, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet…]

[After signing the divorce agreement and getting what he was owed, he naturally has to take Chuangsi’s side. As for the variety show, he’s been bragging about his wealth so happily; I guess he’ll keep doing it. Mianmian is very cute, but he is indeed Huo’s illegitimate child. Huo doesn’t care about him at all, so it’s no big deal to let him be a little tool for Xi Ling…]

The gossip-mongers found this very convincing, while elsewhere, Xi Ling—who had already been branded as a “discarded rich man’s wife”—was sleeping soundly while holding his “discarded rich kid.”

He had no dreams that night and woke up feeling refreshed.

As soon as he woke up, the little ball in his arms moved too. Xi Ling looked down and met the eyes of the child who was rubbing his own: “Good morning, Baby Mianmian~”

The child paused, his soft milky voice a bit muffled: “Daddy, good morning…”

Xi Ling’s head was full of plans to dress the child up as a cute little red envelope. He scooped him up and headed to the bathroom, only to notice that the child’s eyes were slightly red: “Oh, Mianmian, why are your eyes red? Does it itch?”

Huo Xingmian blinked in confusion: “Doesn’t itch, don’t know.”

Xi Ling leaned in closer to take a look. It didn’t feel like the conjunctivitis he’d had before; it looked more like eyes that had been swollen from crying, but not quite that swollen. He decided to keep an eye on it. Fortunately, by breakfast, the redness had almost completely subsided.

Xi Ling ate quickly. After finishing, he curled up on the sofa to browse for places to go shopping. While the mall they visited last time was okay, he wanted to try something new.

The child was used to chewing slowly, and his appetite had increased, so he always took much longer to eat than Xi Ling.

Before, he wouldn’t have been in any rush, carefully savoring the hard-earned food. But this time, seeing that Xi Ling had left the dining room and was nowhere to be seen, he couldn’t wait to tell Ms. Bai that he was full, put down his half-eaten breakfast, and jump off his chair.

Huo Xingmian had some psychological trauma from before, so he didn’t dare to walk too fast. He followed Xi Ling to the sofa and then spoke up in his cute, milky voice: “Daddy, hug.”

“Why did you eat so fast today?” Xi Ling reached out and scooped him up, only to find that the child hadn’t even wiped his mouth—his chin was still greasy. He laughed and pulled out a wet wipe to clean the child’s face first.

Huo Xingmian obediently lifted his little face and asked in a soft, sweet voice: “Daddy, what are you, looking at?”

Xi Ling tossed the wipe away and curled up into the sofa again while holding the child: “Picking a place to go shopping. Seeing where I can buy pretty clothes for our Mianmian.”

Huo Xingmian nodded and then stared intently at the screen, which he couldn’t quite understand.

A moment later, Huo Xingmian reached out with his little claw, grabbed the sleeve of Xi Ling’s robe, and shook it gently. With his eyes downcast, he asked in a muffled voice: “Not buy, pretty, clothes, okay?”

Xi Ling swiped through his phone and replied casually: “Why is that? We have to wear pretty clothes to see your dad today, right?”

Huo Xingmian swallowed, trying hard to pronounce every word clearly: “Then, don’t go, see him.”

Though the little boy was very smart, the things he could learn from Mother Tian were very limited. At his age, he couldn’t understand why his father had suddenly appeared.

But he instinctively felt that the changes the other person would bring had many possibilities, and every one of them pointed toward him losing the warmth he currently had.

Xi Ling’s thought process wasn’t exactly in sync with the child’s they were worlds apart. He laughed and hugged the child tighter, thinking to himself that since the “Huo-surnamed ATM” never cared about the kid, and even his own biological son didn’t like him, he deserved it.

Xi Ling pressed his face against the child’s chubby cheek to soothe him: “Be good, Mianmian. With Daddy here, I won’t let anyone bully you. Besides, we’ll have a super big meal after shopping. We’ll just ‘check in’ at your dad’s reunion dinner and then leave.”

He believed his ATM husband certainly wouldn’t want to see them either. The reunion dinner was just for taking a few photos and making a big splash in the news, so it was best to get it over with quickly so no one would be bothered by the other.

Hearing Xi Ling’s response, the tiny glimmer of light in the child’s eyes went out with a pop.

Xi Ling was extremely meticulous about his outing this time. The high-end shopping district he chose was perfect for shopping and featured three-star Michelin restaurants, and it wasn’t too far from the evening’s reunion dinner venue.

As a result, just as he finished putting the festive red outfit on the child, Secretary Dong informed him that the reunion dinner had been canceled.

Xi Ling frowned: “Then… what about Yaxin?”

Secretary Dong was also in a difficult position. He hadn’t expected that whether it was the “family of three” having a reunion dinner, watching the drone and fireworks show at the AI Plaza, or participating in the plaza’s completion ceremony every single plan had been flatly rejected by his boss without hesitation.

The man’s stern expression was still fresh in his mind…

After rejecting them one by one, he had explicitly told Secretary Dong that he would not meet with Xi Ling to manufacture any news, nor did he want to see Yaxin’s name in the headlines.

Huo Siyi had put down his fountain pen, his right hand habitually resting on his left wrist. From his gaze to his expression, everything was as cold as ice, yet his movements as he rubbed the watch dial remained gentle.

Secretary Dong had been by Huo Siyi’s side for nearly two years and knew that this custom-made watch was his boss’s prized possession.

However, rich people collecting famous cars and watches was standard practice; this was the first time he had seen Huo Siyi wear only one watch and never change it.

And although it was said to be custom-made by a master, he didn’t feel there was anything special about the watch. The irregular little pearls inlaid in the center of the dial were a unique design, but they looked too ordinary in terms of size and quality…

Having received an uncapped PR budget, Secretary Dong started throwing money around. His PR strategy was clear: anyone could hit the trending list, but not Yaxin.

After notifying Xi Ling, Secretary Dong tapped the back of his neck in exhaustion. He really couldn’t understand why his boss was so resistant to Xi Ling.

It was obviously a problem that could be completely solved just by meeting up and taking a photo, yet he insisted on wasting so much PR budget… And if he truly hated him to this extent, why on earth had he agreed to marry him in the first place?

Xi Ling, having confirmed that Secretary Dong would handle everything properly, finally relaxed and let himself have fun.

He lifted the child, who was dressed like a little red envelope, and spun him around: “Mianmian! The reunion dinner tonight is canceled!~”

It wasn’t just the child who didn’t want to go; if it weren’t to keep Yaxin from acting up and annoying the ATM, he wouldn’t want to go either. The smile on his face right now was as genuine as it could be.

He grinned, revealing a row of little white teeth, his eyes sparkling so brightly that the sales clerk nearby kept glancing over.

Huo Xingmian was dressed very festively, the bright red highlighting his complexion wonderfully. However, he had been somewhat depressed along the way. It wasn’t until he heard that they didn’t have to go see his father that the little lightbulbs in his eyes lit up again: “Re-really?!”

“Of course it’s real!”

Since they didn’t have to see the ATM, the father and son could enjoy their Little New Year even more happily.

Xi Ling ended up choosing a pre-matched set: a dark red V-neck sweater layered over a black turtleneck, paired with camel-colored trousers. It matched the black coat he was wearing perfectly.

Xi Ling also bought a pile of cute, festive accessories for the child before taking the happy little one to the pre-booked three-star Michelin restaurant.

In the mind of “penniless” Xi Ling, these top-tier restaurants were not only expensive but also hard to get a seat at. He hadn’t expected to book it so easily just one day in advance.

Once he arrived, he discovered that this kaiseki restaurant cost five thousand yuan per person. At that average price, the father and son would “gobble up” the equivalent of a large gold bracelet in a single meal.

Moreover, the top-tier set menu cost 8,888 yuan and didn’t even seem to have many dishes. Xi Ling strongly suspected that it was so easy to book only because rich people thought it was too expensive.

But thinking about how they had an “ATM,” Xi Ling suppressed his surprise and, with a subtle silent thank-you to his “sugar daddy,” waved his hand and ordered two top-tier set menus.

The restaurant’s interior was tastefully decorated, with large areas of pale natural wood exuding elegance. As the waiter in a kimono softly introduced that the teaware was hundreds of years old, Xi Ling was actually thinking: How can such a high-end place not have private rooms?

His turtleneck seemed a bit too small; he felt like it was choking him after sitting down. If they were in a private room, he could have just taken it off.

The child opposite him was immersed in the joy of not having to see his biological father and was being exceptionally patient with the waiter’s flowery, “prestige-boosting” introduction.

Xi Ling, on the other hand, was poking his head around, searching for the restroom. He didn’t see the bathroom, but he did catch a glimpse of a tall, imposing figure walking past the window.

Holy crap! Those shoulders, those legs, that side profile! It was exactly the level of a top-tier male model he used to drool over!

Just as Xi Ling was inwardly marveling at the sight, the man was personally ushered in by the restaurant owner’s wife, who was wearing a pale blue kimono. Xi Ling was even more stunned when he saw the man’s full face.

Black hair, pale skin, a high nose, and deep-set eyes… his pupils were an ink-blue color, just like the deep ocean…

Xi Ling gulped, calling out in his heart, just like he used to when watching male model compilations on Bilibili: I CAN!

When the man glanced over coldly, Xi Ling thought it was just because his gaze had been too heated.

That was until the spoon in the hands of the “food-gobbling” child opposite him suddenly fell, and he stared blankly, calling out: “Father…”

Xi Ling: ?

What, what, what??

Isn’t the ATM old and ugly???

Xi Ling went from “driven by lust” to “purified and ascetic” in a split second. Nothing was more important than maintaining his perfect, current status quo!

Moving forward or backward could trigger a butterfly effect, and as witty as he was, he naturally chose to stay perfectly still. For the sake of the Little New Year reunion dinner, he had specifically binged on a bunch of the original host’s variety shows where he acted all lovey-dovey yesterday.

Remembering how the original host had called him a sickeningly sweet “my husband” in the shows, Xi Ling took a deep breath, pinched his voice to make it higher, stood up with a flutter, and took the initiative: “Ah-Wei, I’ve missed you so much!”

He couldn’t bring himself to call him “Husband,” so “Ah-Wei” should be affectionate enough, right?

Xi Ling gave himself a thumbs-up in his heart for his quick wit: Xi Xiaoling, you really are something!