I Became the Rich Family’s Stepfather and Couldn’t Stop Laughing - Chapter 18.2

Except in his hallucination, the doors and windows were tightly closed, the floor heating was at full blast, and there was a room full of down jackets for him to choose from.

When a person enters an extreme environment, it is easy to lose their mind. Facing the biting cold wind, Xi Ling’s brain short-circuited, and he directly reached out and grabbed Huo Siyi’s hand.

His hands, which were almost frozen stiff, felt like they’d been dipped in warm water. Xi Ling couldn’t help but exhale: “Wow, hiss~ ha~~”

Huo Siyi opened his eyes in disbelief and met Xi Ling’s complex smile a mix of guilt, sneaky satisfaction, and fawning.

Xi Ling blinked pretentiously: “Your hands are so hot.”

Huo Siyi was sluggish from the effects of the medicine and didn’t pull his hand away for a long time.

He should have thrown Xi Ling’s hand away and pushed the person who was leaning too close further away. However, a sudden, sharp pain in his temples left Huo Siyi completely powerless to deal with the guy who was using him as a hand-warmer.

In Xi Ling’s eyes, however, this looked like Huo Siyi had tried to pull his hand away but couldn’t muster the strength, and then just stopped moving, didn’t that just mean he wanted him to warm up but was too embarrassed to say yes directly?

Brother Wei is actually a kind person with a harsh tongue but a soft heart!

Xi Ling was so excited he almost shoved his frozen-stiff feet over there, too. Fortunately, he still had some reason left, so he just hugged the kid, squeezed over the middle armrest box, and sat in Huo Siyi’s seat, huddling up side-by-side to share the warmth.

Huo Xingmian was doing his best to act like a wooden stake. He knew his father didn’t like him, so he tried to minimize his presence, sitting quietly in his stepfather’s arms without making a sound, even staying still when his stepfather touched his father’s hand.

But he never imagined his stepfather would pull a move like this!

The child’s eyes, like black grapes, grew round with shock. He looked up at his biological father, then turned his head to look at his stepfather. This… this… this is definitely the closest he has ever been to his father’s embrace…

Xi Ling wasn’t satisfied with just holding hands anymore. He latched onto Huo Siyi’s left arm, trying to scrape as much warmth from the man as he could.

This was when the benefit of Huo Siyi wearing so little became apparent the gentle warmth was within reach.

Huo Siyi not only had a splitting headache, but he was also dizzy from the medication and had absolutely no strength in his body. Plus, the seat was packed full with two people and one child, with the armrest box blocking Xi Ling on the other side.

“…Leave me! Right now! Get off me!” Huo Siyi gritted out a warning through his teeth while trying to push him away.

Xi Ling heard the anger in Huo Siyi’s refusal, tucked his bottom, and immediately hugged the child and moved away.

All of Huo Siyi’s strength had been put into pushing Xi Ling away. When Xi Ling moved, he was still disoriented from the medicine and couldn’t control his momentum, falling toward the armrest box. With a dull thud, his head slammed into it.

Xi Ling gasped and immediately reached out to support Huo Siyi: “Are you okay?”

Huo Siyi, dealing with a double-strength headache, felt like his back molars were about to shatter. The moment Xi Ling helped him up, he used all his strength to shove him away.

This shove was a disaster. His brain, which had just been rattled, spun dizzily. His body, completely out of control from the recoil and the centrifugal force of the car turning, swung backward, and the back of his head slammed into the window frame with another thud.

After those two dull sounds, Xi Ling’s head was filled with the thought: A good knock is a good head.

Xiong Bin, acting as the driver, had no idea what was happening in the back. There was a problem with the road planning near the affiliated hospital, and the traffic was incredibly chaotic.

Add to that the fact that a bleeding, crying child was sitting in the passenger seat, and he couldn’t help but be in a hurry. When he finally reached the hospital entrance, he had to slam on the brakes to avoid an oncoming car.

Huo Siyi, who had just regained his balance in the back, was thrown forward by inertia again. Fortunately, Xi Ling reached out in time to stop Huo Siyi’s forehead from getting a third thud. Otherwise, he would have definitely been knocked senseless.

Seeing that they’d arrived at the hospital, Xi Ling reached for the door handle, but he couldn’t help but worry about Huo Siyi, who had just been “thud-thudded.”

He looked back at the man, whose brows were knotted and face was ash-gray: “…How are you feeling? Since we’re here, do you want me to help you inside and have someone check you out?”

Huo Siyi was, naturally, feeling terrible, but that was mainly due to the side effects of the drug. Of course, those two “thuds” had certainly added insult to injury.

He took a deep breath, struggled to lift his eyelids, and stared at Xi Ling’s face with cold, piercing eyes: “No.”

Xi Ling heard the grinding of teeth in his voice, hugged the child in his arms, and whoosh ran away.

After the car stopped, Chu Xinnian had already rushed out with Mingming.

However, Mingming was as sturdy as a little calf, making him difficult for Chu Xinnian to carry. Xi Ling caught up in a flash.

Fortunately, Mingming hadn’t suffered any serious bone or muscle damage. The superficial wound just needed to be stitched up; it wouldn’t affect the future flexibility of the child’s fingers.

After Mingming calmed down, Xi Ling and Chu Xinnian learned that he’d been so happy to get a “phone watch” as a New Year’s gift that he’d tried to copy Chu Xinnian and make him some mashed potatoes. He’d lost his grip on the potato, and the knife had fallen right into his tender palm.

Chu Xinnian felt both heartbroken and touched. Xi Ling was also deeply moved. Neither of them noticed the child in his arms narrowing his eyes thoughtfully after hearing the story

All the other kids have New Year’s gifts, why don’t I have one?

Mingming was too young and needed to stay in the hospital for observation, so Xi Ling prepared to leave with the child first. He left his down jacket behind: “Cover the wound with this when you go out later. Don’t let it get cold right after it’s been stitched. I’ll take Mianmian and just grab a taxi.”

Chu Xinnian thought about how the jacket was covered in Mingming’s blood, and knowing it was easy to get a taxi at the hospital entrance, he didn’t refuse. Before sending them to the elevator, he said “thank you” nearly a hundred times: “I’m really grateful to you today. I’ll look for the Classic of Mountains and Seas when I get home tonight and have it sent to you by local courier.”

Xi Ling grinned, revealing his little white teeth: “That would be great! You’ve helped me out a lot, so there’s no need to thank me.”

Looking into Xi Ling’s purely smiling eyes, Chu Xinnian felt his heart stir. When Xi Ling had apologized and promised to compensate him earlier, Chu Xinnian hadn’t believed a single punctuation mark of it.

Even when the other man had acted completely differently at the cat house, he had assumed it was all an act for the audience.

But this time, Chu Xinnian felt that even if the other person was putting on a show, he had truly and definitely helped him and his child. And facing that bright, sincere smile, Chu Xinnian found it very hard to hold onto his resentment…

Xi Ling hugged the child and ran out of the hospital building, shivering. To his surprise, the business car that had brought them was still parked in the same spot.

He ran over in a few quick steps: “Brother Xiong, why haven’t you left yet?”

“You are too polite, Madame. You can just call me Xiong Bin.” Xiong Bin waved his hand and explained, “Mr. Huo didn’t give the order to leave.”

Huo Siyi was extremely strict with his subordinates. If he didn’t give an order, Xiong Bin naturally assumed that he wanted to stay perhaps waiting for his wife? It sounded a bit ridiculous, but he just did as he was told.

When Xi Ling heard Xiong Bin’s hint that Huo Siyi was waiting for him, his first reaction was that Huo Siyi was waiting for him to finish so he could settle the score. He swallowed and reviewed everything he’d done today…

A moment later, he pushed the car door open, held the “human shield” child tightly, and gritted his teeth as he yanked open the rear door.

The first thing he felt when he sat down was that even the “Cold Cave” where Wang Baochuan waited for eighteen years couldn’t possibly be as cold as Huo Siyi’s car back seat.

Xi Ling summoned his courage, hugged the little human shield to his chest, and turned toward Huo Siyi. Just as he was about to speak, he noticed Huo Siyi looked wrong.

“Huo Siyi?” He tentatively shook the man’s shoulder, confirmed that Huo Siyi had fainted, and immediately pressed the metal button to lower the partition: “Brother Xiong, Huo Siyi has fainted!”

Xi Ling was terrified, worried that Huo Siyi had been knocked unconscious by those two “thuds.”

Xiong Bin, however, didn’t panic. He reached out to open the armrest box, confirmed that Huo Siyi had fainted after taking the emergency medication in the car, and said calmly: “Don’t worry, Mr. Huo occasionally falls into a deep sleep after taking the medicine.”

Xi Ling thought back to those two resounding thuds and still felt the need to summarize the situation for Xiong Bin: “Are you sure we don’t need to go to the hospital for an X-ray?” He’d fainted right at the door!

Xiong Bin frowned and hesitated for a moment: “Let’s have Dr. White take a look. Mr. Huo doesn’t easily agree to go to the hospital.”

Xi Ling couldn’t understand that, but he respected and wished him well.

In the end, because Dr. White lived very close to the manor, and because Xiong Bin was afraid of losing his job if he made the wrong call, Xi Ling simply made the executive decision: “Take him back to the manor first. We’ll decide after Dr. White has looked at him.”

Because he had called Dr. White on the way, the doctor and his assistant were already waiting at the entrance with a stretcher when the car arrived at the main building.

With Xiong Bin and Xi Ling’s help, Huo Siyi was moved onto the stretcher and quickly taken to a guest room on the first floor.

Li Jie, who had watched the whole thing, was shocked and secretly shared the news with the nanny, Ms. Bai, in a low voice: “The young Madame has gone completely crazy. He actually beat Mr. Huo unconscious and brought him here.”

Ms. Bai, while also surprised, didn’t believe such a ridiculous rumor: “Don’t spout nonsense. There’s no way the Madame beat him.”

In the past, even when the young Madame was acting crazy, he wouldn’t have dared to touch a single hair on Mr. Huo’s head, let alone now.

There were plenty of people guarding Huo Siyi, so there was nothing for Xi Ling to worry about. Having been tossing and turning for most of the day, he was starving, so he took the kid to grab a meal first.

After eating his fill, the glass marbles he’d paid someone to buy that morning had just arrived. Any lingering worries in Xi Ling’s mind instantly vanished, and he happily began playing with the kid.

Very few people played with such old-fashioned toys anymore, and Xi Ling was amazed that he’d managed to find them so quickly. Money, indeed, was a wonderful thing!

Xi Ling opened the packaging and explained the rules to the kid. He tried a practice shot and found the wooden floor and tiles were both too slippery.

Finally, he chose the short-pile carpet in the center of the main hall. Although the friction was a bit higher, it was the most suitable place for marbles indoors.

Xi Ling drew a large circle against the grain of the carpet, placed forty-nine colorful glass marbles inside, and prepared to enjoy the pleasure of crushing a three-year-old child.

The rules he chose were simple, similar to billiards. Each of them would get a slightly larger marble, and they would take turns hitting the forty-nine marbles out of the circle. Whoever hit out twenty-five first would win.

The rules were simple, but there were many techniques and tricks. However, Xi Ling’s opponent was a three-year-old toddler with no strength to speak of, it was a pure crushing game.

However, they had only played two rounds when the guest room door suddenly opened.

Xiong Bin looked grave and walked straight toward Xi Ling: “…Madame, Mr. Huo would like to see you.”

Hiss… Huo Siyi is awake?

Xi Ling’s mind automatically replayed the two loud thuds Huo Siyi had made, and he felt guilty all over again.

Even though Huo Siyi had caused those knocks himself, and he had helped him avoid a third one, Brother Wei was not someone to be trifled with… Subconsciously, he reached out to grab his human shield, but this time he reached into thin air.

He looked to the side and found the kid, dressed in his floppy-eared bunny pajamas, had already scrambled ten meters away.

Because he was running too fast and likely to fall, the kid was alternating between walking and crawling, scurrying away as fast as he could without looking back.