I Became the Rich Family’s Stepfather and Couldn’t Stop Laughing - Chapter 21

The words had barely left his lips when the child across from him choked on the congee he was halfway through swallowing: “Cough, cough, cough!!!”

Nanny Bai immediately stepped forward to wipe the child’s mouth and pat his back.

Seeing that the child, despite his face turning red from the coughing, had quickly recovered, Xi Ling turned his head back to face Huo Siyi.

He secretly lamented that everything about “Brother Wei” was hitting all his personal preferences (XP) it was practically against the rules. Seeing it in person at close range was even more “wow.”

Speaking of which, he still liked Huo Siyi’s deep-sea-like cold eyes best, though they were too cold, making it hard to handle… Eh? Why am I getting picky?

After a brief moment of distraction, Xi Ling awkwardly touched the tip of his nose and began to find an excuse: “I meant… would you like to try the Chinese breakfast? The taste is also quite good.”

“Um…” He pointed to the small fennel fritters, cleared his throat, and said, “Sorry, I lost my grip. It won’t happen again.”

Xi Ling’s eyes were large and bright; his features were vivid. When he smiled, he looked clear and pure. Right now, with his tail-end drooping slightly in suppressed guilt, he looked like a little white rabbit trying hard to act well-behaved.

Huo Siyi swept a faint glance at him. At the same time, the nanny replaced the plate with a fresh steak.

Xi Ling let out a sigh of relief. So he was waiting for a fresh steak. He told himself that, of course, Huo Siyi wouldn’t waste extra time on someone like him.

Naturally, Huo Siyi didn’t adopt Xi Ling’s suggestion; Xi Ling even suspected that the man hadn’t let the words into his ears at all. He picked up the new knife and fork and continued to cut his steak in a leisurely manner.

Xi Ling peeked at him with his peripheral vision. His every move was elegant and noble another perfect image worth “liking” and “subscribing.” Slurp.

After a quick appreciation, Xi Ling really didn’t trust himself a veteran of “uniform-control,” “hand-control,” “Adam’s-apple-control,” and “jawline-control” so he pulled his eyes away and concentrated on his breakfast.

I have to say, the chefs in the manor were talented. They could make the father and son “pig out” at every single meal.

Thus, for the rest of the time, while Huo Siyi was methodically cutting his steak, chewing slowly and swallowing, Xi Ling and the cub next to him were performing a live-action show of “stormy inhaling” of their food.

Small yellow croakers, fried to a crispy, golden brown: “Crunch, crunch, crunch~ Mmm~ so fragrant!”

Braised chicken feet, stewed until soft, glutinous, and tender: “Nom, nom, nom~ Ow~ so good!”

Crab-roe buns, thin-skinned and full of savory soup: “Slurp, slurp, slurp~ Ah~ hiss-ha!”

They had been cautious at the start, but as they ate, they became more high-spirited, and the cub eventually returned to his usual “rice-shining” state.

The crab-roe buns were eaten by the father and son in synchronization. After finishing and being blown away by the flavor, they immediately picked up another bun in sync, did a “cheers” in mid-air, and then each started slurping away.

Under normal social distances, the sounds Xi Ling and the cub made would have been very subtle.

But Huo Siyi was not only close by, he also had excellent hearing. It was as if there were two professional food-bloggers standing beside him, and as they ate, there was a continuous stream of mouth-watering aromas wafting over. It was essentially a holographic mukbang.

Huo Siyi had never been one to care about the pleasures of food, but he didn’t know if it was because the father and son were eating so deliciously, but the more he ate, the more he felt like he was chewing wax.

Even so, he finished his steak, picked up the napkin at his side to lightly press against his lips, and then got up to leave.

His peripheral vision glanced subconsciously to his side, noticing that the dishes on the table had been mostly eaten by the two of them.

It wasn’t that Xi Ling and the cub were huge eaters; it was just that the plates were large, the portions were small, and what had been laid out was exactly the daily consumption for him and the cub.

When Huo Siyi got into the car, his eyes were still slightly out of focus. Like… and yet not like…

Huo Siyi was completely clear-headed today; his thinking had become clear and rigorous again. He could feel the change in Xi Ling from his eyes to his temperament just as distinct as when he had first woken up in the hospital bed.

According to the psychologist’s explanation, if the teenager in the abandoned warehouse who resembled that person was “Personality 1,” and the one he saw in the hospital after his narrow escape was “Personality 2,” was the current Xi Ling a new personality generated by the fusion of 1 and 2?

He closed his eyes slowly. In his memory, the little boy had a bright smile and clear eyes, like a spring jumping through the mountains fresh, lively, and forget-the-worries.

Although Huo Siyi desperately hoped for that person to return, his reason told him that his “Little Feather” could never show such ugly, lust-driven expressions…

It was more likely that everything was Xi Ling’s meticulous imitation. After all, the other person had already spent two years with him; it wasn’t impossible that he’d had a sudden epiphany and guessed something.

Huo Siyi pressed his brow. Until Secretary Dong got into the car mid-way and sat in the passenger seat, those cold, deep blue eyes didn’t open again.

Secretary Dong had just finished dealing with the news of Daju Entertainment’s expose. He didn’t have to care before because Huo Siyi didn’t care, but this time it involved Xi Ling the person his boss detested the most. The twisted report claimed a violent fight had broken out, while the truth was that Huo Siyi had really moved into the manor.

Although, based on Dong Xi’s understanding, there must be another reason, Daju Entertainment had publicly stated they would follow up with reports. According to the gossip media’s talent for weaving stories, they wouldn’t stop until they concocted an affair that didn’t exist between Xi Ling and Huo Siyi.

Just as Dong Xi was planning to ask for instructions, Huo Siyi suddenly spoke: “Go and pull out all of Xi Ling’s video and audio records from the past two years.”

Dong Xi: “?”

Secretary Dong, who was gradually being assimilated by the iceberg, barely managed to keep his composure. He tried to manage his expression, but finally, he just gasped abruptly: “Cough, the Madame’s… all of them?”

Huo Siyi lifted his eyes to look at him, his brow furrowed as if asking when he had become a parrot.

Dong Xi lowered his head immediately: “Yes, President Huo.”

Huo Siyi’s breathing paused: “Also, the manor’s surveillance, send it all to me.”

As Dong Xi answered, his thoughts spun. The words that were on the tip of his tongue were adjusted accordingly: “Media are following us near the manor. The news that you are staying there…”

“It doesn’t matter.”

This matter couldn’t be kept under wraps, nor was there a need to. The Old Madam wouldn’t suddenly shove someone over; that kidnapping case was something she had planned for many years. She wouldn’t do anything so conspicuous.

Dong Xi turned back after reporting everything, looking ahead and quietly bracing himself.

As Huo Siyi’s head secretary, he needed to grasp his boss’s latest preferences and leanings.

He hadn’t been there when the cars collided in the garage, but he already knew Huo Siyi hadn’t been angry on the spot. He also knew Huo Siyi had taken Xi Ling and his friend to the hospital, waited outside for Xi Ling to finish, and returned to the manor together… He didn’t care about the news entanglement anymore, and now he wanted all of Xi Ling’s video data from the past two years!

Whoa! This is getting interesting.

Xi Ling had spent the whole morning playing wildly with the cub and inhaled a lot of carbohydrates. The father and son played marbles in the main hall to help digest their food, but when the drowsiness became too much to handle, they headed back to their rooms to catch up on sleep.

Xi Ling fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, and once again, he fell into the same dream as when he was playing with the mud this time, he was building a snowman in the dream.

In the dream, he was still very young, but the snow was falling even heavier than last night.

He was wearing only a thin, padded jacket, and his coarse cloth pants seemed a bit short, revealing a small section of pilled socks enough to make anyone looking feel cold.

However, he was working vigorously in the snow. As if he couldn’t feel the cold at all, he quickly rolled two round snowballs. The tiny figure ran back and forth, eventually using bottle caps and dead branches to assemble the snowman’s facial features.

In the dream, he was smiling happily, walking around the snowman several times before leaving, satisfied. In the blink of an eye, it was the third night, and he was anxiously waiting for something at the entrance of the nursing home.

It was very late at night, and he was still wearing his tattered, thin clothes. Just as he was about to leave in disappointment like the previous day, he suddenly heard the sound of a car horn.

Soon, another familiar little boy stepped out of the car.

The disappointment that had accumulated for two days was wiped away in an instant. The thin, tiny him rushed up in one stride, looking up with an excited, smiling face, unable to wait: “Little Master! I’m taking you to see the snowman!”

He grabbed the little boy’s hand and ran. What was magical was that the little master boy, who had been freezing cold the last time, actually let him grab him this time.

The miniature version of himself was a chatterbox, rambling on along the way about how bitter it was to wait for him, how he was afraid the snow wouldn’t last this warm winter, and that he was afraid the snowman he promised to show him wouldn’t be visible…

“Didn’t you say you’d come on the fifth day?”

The little master didn’t answer. It was only after a long time that he whispered an apology. The “sorry” was only halfway out before it was blocked by the talkative chatterbox: “It’s—fine! I’m not blaming you. The snow on the fourth day was especially clean; if you had come earlier, we could have built one together. It’s just two days late, I’m just happy you’re here!”

The miniature him wasn’t just a chatterbox; he smiled so widely his teeth were nearly visible, looking very joyous. The little master’s cold, stern face softened quite a bit.

However, the faint warmth on the little boy’s face disappeared when he saw that the snowman had been kicked to pieces.

Several little boys who had been following them suddenly popped out: “Yo! Diao Mao (a derogatory nickname), did you build this? Why was it kicked to pieces?”

“Hahahaha, damn, who did such a harsh thing?”

“Oh, what a pity. When I passed by during the day, I thought you built it really well! How did it get kicked like this…”

In the dream, he neither wanted to pay attention to these people who called him by nasty nicknames, nor did he want to confront them head-on, even though he could almost confirm that the snowman had been kicked to pieces by them on purpose.

Instead, the little master beside him clenched his fists. He held the person back and whispered low: “Don’t, I have a way.”

He saw the little boy sniff and wipe his eyes, then pull the little boy beside him and turn to leave: “It’s gone, it’s gone. I’ll build you a new one!”

The slightly choked, immature voice was intentionally shouted loudly. The bad boys around were either booing or laughing out loud.

He dragged the little master all the way home, not stopping until they reached a fire hydrant, then grinned at the little master beside him: “I’ll teach you how to build a snowman. After this, you can build one yourself whenever it snows in the city!”

As he said that, he reached out and grabbed the dirty snow. The little master wanted to reach out, but he pressed him back: “The snow has been falling for too long, it’s very dirty. Don’t touch it.”

The little master didn’t listen to him this time, so he had to direct him. The other person followed his instructions to make the snowman’s head.

He, meanwhile, picked a fire hydrant head that was exposed and, as if his little hands couldn’t feel the cold, shoveled a frenzy of snow in the field, quickly wrapping the hydrant head in pale gray snow, then refining it into a smooth, spherical shape.

The little master’s snowball-rolling motion paused; he instantly understood what he meant.

The thin, tiny he straightened his thin back, looked at the other person with pride, and tilted his little chin: “How is it? Am I amazing?”

“Amazing.”

Facing little Xi Ling’s bright, smiling face, the little master couldn’t help but let a faint curve appear at the corners of his mouth. He mimicked the other person’s smile, looking slightly stiff and unpracticed.

The next day, Xi Ling went to find the little master again, and the two little kids squatted at the base of the wall to peek.

First, a group of bad boys felt smug about finding his snowman again, and these people raised their feet to kick it just like they had destroyed the last one.

Because bullying people had been a great success before, the force this time was even fiercer. Every young, immature face revealed a nearly twisted, ferocious grin.

Immediately after, one after another, blood-curdling screams followed: “Ahhhhhhhh it hurts!”

“My foot! My foot, ow ow ow, it hurts so much!”

“Damn it! This little bastard actually built the snowman on a fire hydrant! I was wondering why it felt wrong, damn, hiss, ahhhhhhhh!”

“…”

Xi Ling woke up laughing: “Hahaha, serves them right…”

Afraid of sleeping too deeply during the day, Xi Ling hadn’t drawn the curtains before his nap. The moment he opened his eyes, he was met with the pale blue sky outside the window.

Xi Ling rubbed his face. The more he savored it, the more he felt that this dream was likely something that had actually happened when he was a child. Who else could have this kind of wit but him?

He had forgotten the previous dream too quickly; this time, he consciously reviewed it in his head before reaching out to pinch the soft, little cheeks of the cub in his arms.

While the cub was still dazed, he seized the chance to trap the little cub: “Mianmian is a good baby, right?”

Huo Xingmian hadn’t even fully opened his eyes; upon hearing he was being praised, he nodded dizzily: “Yes…”

Xi Ling curled his lips and pinched the cub’s little nose: “Shouldn’t a good baby keep his bet and give Daddy a massage?”

The little claws the cub had placed over his eyes immediately stiffened: “…”

Others might treat betting on a massage with a three-year-old as a joke, but Xi Ling couldn’t be more serious.

He felt the cub’s test massage was too light, so he finally had the cub stand on his back and press down hard. After half an hour passed, Xi Ling got up feeling refreshed, while the cub sat there rubbing his own feet with a puffed-up face.

How could there be such a stinky stepfather!

Xi Ling’s daily routine was constantly jumping on the edge of the cub getting angry. However, after provoking the cub this time, he didn’t immediately go to coax him, simply because he was certain that as soon as the cub saw the fireworks, he would instantly turn into his daddy’s well-behaved cub.

As the sky turned dark, the truck delivering the fireworks finally drove into the manor.

Because the open space near the main building was large enough, Xi Ling specifically didn’t let the workers clear the snow, just so he could test-fire the fireworks at night.

As expected, as soon as the fireworks were unloaded, the cub, who had spent the whole afternoon in the study reading picture books, scrambled out, walking and crawling at the same time.

“Daddy, Daddy… what is this?” He tilted his head and blinked, turning back into that ignorant, cute, and adorable little cub.

Xi Ling couldn’t resist giving the cub’s increasingly round cheeks a fierce rub: “There will be a lot of fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Let’s test-fire some tonight, and we’ll order more of the ones you like later.”

Although the cub still didn’t understand what fireworks were, he could guess from the context that they were fun. He let Xi Ling rub and pinch his cheeks, and he remained milkily cute even when Xi Ling pinched his lips into a goldfish shape.

And as for Xi Ling, of course, he wouldn’t let such a good opportunity go and had a grand time rua-ing (fondling) the kid.

Also for the sake of playing, the father and son ate dinner early, and as soon as it got dark, they put on their full set of warm and flame-retardant gear and ran out, also having the nanny turn off all the lights that could be turned off.

It wasn’t just the cub who had never seen the world wanting to play; Xi Ling’s hands were itching, too. After all, spending tens of thousands of dollars in minutes wasn’t something he could have afforded in his past life.

He set his eyes on the sales champion the Gatling gun and he’d even managed to book the upgraded version: the Golden Gatling.

Xi Ling rubbed his hands excitedly, his mouth splitting into a grin.

This thing had a long range and great power. To avoid any accidents, he first put the cub on the stone steps at the entrance of the main building and drew a circle like Sun Wukong: “The thing in Daddy’s hand is very dangerous. If Mianmian stays in the circle and doesn’t come out until I’m done, Daddy will let Mianmian set the next one off.”

The little tot’s eyes instantly lit up: “Mianmian! Behave!!!”

Xi Ling was amused by the cub’s excitement. After giving him two rua-s with one hand, he took out his phone and turned the volume to the maximum.

After turning on the famous BGM for the God of Gamblers, he stuffed it into the cub’s little claws: “Here, Mianmian, hold Daddy’s phone, and don’t press the record button until Daddy gives you the signal.”

After saying that, he walked away with an arrogant swagger, carrying the giant Golden Gatling, leaving behind only the cub with his face twitching, and the extremely imposing God of Gamblers theme music.

After the music finished playing, Xi Ling had just walked to the firing area to light the fuse.

Huo Xingmian pressed the record button and let out a light sigh: My stepfather really has so much drama.

Just when the cub thought he could properly enjoy the fireworks, accompanied by the first sound of fireworks piercing the sky, Xi Ling did a tactical side-roll on the spot and started a one-man gunfight.

Huo Xingmian: “…”

It’s just too hard to watch fireworks in peace.

On the other side, the paparazzi from Daju Entertainment camping at the manor entrance had stayed up all night and worked all morning, only to shoot nothing.

Because a drone jammer was installed near the manor’s main building something Xi Ling, and most people in the manor, didn’t know about, as the original host had secretly installed it after the first time a drone flew in to film them.

He hadn’t dared to mention it because of his guilty conscience, afraid of attracting the attention of Huo Siyi or Secretary Dong.

However, because it was purchased through his agent, Fu Hao, it was charged as a top-of-the-line product, but was actually the cheapest three-no product (no manufacturer, no trademark, no certificate).

The paparazzi had tried all morning and successfully burned the jammer’s internal circuits until it smoked. But it was too late, and they could only watch helplessly as Huo Siyi’s driver drove the car over and left with Huo Siyi.

They had spent a fortune buying the most expensive drone and followed them for nearly forty hours, and the news had already been leaked out. How could the paparazzi be willing to give up?

The paparazzi changed shifts to sleep and waited from day to night again. Hard work pays off, and they finally managed to wait for Huo Siyi’s car again.

Just when the paparazzi were rejoicing, a flash of fire suddenly exploded in the sky above the manor someone was actually setting off fireworks inside!

Godsend!

The paparazzi immediately turned on the night-vision mode of their drone, firmly believing that this firework display would definitely allow them to capture something big!

Xi Ling didn’t let the cub down. The entire firing of the Gatling gun was like a live-action CS confrontation, crazy shooting against countless non-existent enemies in the night sky. He wasn’t idle for even a second.

One firework burned out, and Xi Ling was nearly out of breath. He squatted on the ground and signaled the cub: “Danger cleared, you can come over!”

He was panting, as if he had just finished a fierce fight, and his tone was deep, as if he had fought out a world for the cub.

The cub handed the phone to him with a complicated expression. Xi Ling immediately clicked to view it: “How is it? Did you capture Daddy’s dashing heroic posture!”

Huo Xingmian: “…”

Xi Ling excitedly clicked on the video, only to find that it was completely different from what he had imagined in his head.

He had thought he was a dashing, world-class special forces soldier, but what was actually filmed was him crawling on the ground and acting mentally unstable…

“Tsk, the way you filmed it is problematic.” Xi Ling cleared his throat to save his dignity and immediately changed the subject: “Come, Mianmian, the ones you can set off are in the small box over here. Which one do you like?”

The cub immediately stopped caring about his stepfather’s crazy words, scurried over on his short legs, and ran over quickly.

Xi Ling was still deleting the video while giving himself an excuse he had always been good at moving, it must have been because he was wearing too much and it affected his performance… Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but feel relieved; it was fortunate that only the cub had seen this humiliating scene.

Huo Xingmian picked between the puppy fireworks, the kitty fireworks, and the little chick fireworks for a long time. Finally, he chose the puppy fireworks. Xi Ling felt even more that he’d chosen his New Year’s gift well.

These small fireworks were only the size of an adult’s palm. Xi Ling brought the cub, placed the fireworks in the firing zone, and lit a small, finger-thick incense stick for the cub to hold so he could light the fuse.

The cub’s only knowledge of fireworks was the Gatling gun. Even though the puppy firework in front of him was much, much smaller than the Gatling gun, he was still very nervous.

He was afraid he wouldn’t run fast enough and the firework would explode early, so he didn’t dare to breathe throughout the lighting process. Xi Ling, guarding from the side, was struggling to hold back his laughter.

His little claws held the incense and tentatively approached the fuse. When he was five or six centimeters away, the cub closed his eyes in fear. Seeing the red-hot tip of the incense drifting further and further from the fuse, Xi Ling couldn’t take it anymore.

He quietly crept up behind the cub and suddenly shouted: “Bang!”

The cub thought it had already been lit, so he dropped the incense in fear and took off running. As he turned, he was hugged into Xi Ling’s arms. Xi Ling could no longer hold it back: “Hahahahahahahaha!!!”

“Hahaha, little fool Mianmian, hahahahaha, look at yourself, you didn’t even light it and you ran?”

Only then did the cub realize he had been tricked by Xi Ling the puppy firework hadn’t been lit at all!

This vicious stepfather!!!

In fact, the cub had been prepared for the explosion sound and hadn’t been much frightened by Xi Ling’s simulated “bang.” But the sight of him fleeing in a panic was just too humiliating. Embarrassed and angry, he swung his little claws and started “violently outputting” against Xi Ling.

Xi Ling laughed so hard his gums were about to fall out. Sometimes he’d go hahahaha, sometimes gagaga. He laughed too hard and lost his balance, and when he couldn’t dodge in time, he was truly knocked over by the cub.

As he tipped over, he was choked by his own saliva and started coughing violently. He wanted to beg for mercy but couldn’t open his mouth, while the little cub in front of him, who was “violently outputting,” had gone “crazy,” throwing a barrage of milkily cute little fists.

Xi Ling wasn’t afraid of being hit by the cub, but he was afraid of choking on a breath. He braced his hands on the snow, shifted his butt, and retreated again and again. In the dark, he hadn’t noticed there was a ten-centimeter slope to the side.

He landed on his butt, his body tilted backward, and Xi Ling subconsciously grabbed out in the air.

He knew there was nothing to grab onto there, but his body reacted before his brain.

However, the imagined fall didn’t come, and Xi Ling really had grabbed something…

Through clothing that clearly had body heat and a familiar feel, he vaguely realized that what he was clutching was… Xi Ling’s brain went blank for a second. He opened his mouth, opened it again, but couldn’t make any sound.

It’s too exaggerated. It’s one thing to grab his nuts, but to go ahead and pull out the tree trunk as well!

At the same time, a pained groan sounded above Xi Ling’s head.

Xi Ling couldn’t bear to look. He closed his eyes, but his brain couldn’t stop wandering It’s too exaggerated, is that kind of siz… something a human can have?

“Let go!” Huo Siyi gritted his teeth in the dark, barely managing to steady himself.

“Oh oh oh, I’m sorry, I forgot…” Xi Ling withdrew his hand in a whoosh. He was just about to say it seemed like he’d forgotten something!!!