My Wife Is Going To Great Lengths/Putting In A Lot Of Effort To Turn Me Gay - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Goodnight

While waiting at the traffic light, Xu Zhi could feel her phone vibrating in her bag intermittently.

Her mother never messaged her like this.

Xu Zhi knew who was sending the messages and felt a slight headache, but she couldn’t get distracted. As soon as the light turned green, she quickly cycled home.

Although the delay wasn’t long, she arrived home close to 9 PM.

Xu Zhi had no choice but to heat up her food and eat it in her bedroom, but after a long while, she still hadn’t heard the sound of her mother returning from work.

After eating, Xu Zhi went into the kitchen to wash the dishes and put them in the sterilizer.

Just then, the sound of a car came from downstairs.

Xu Zhi slightly pulled back the curtain and looked down.

A sleek black Bentley was parked next to the streetlamp. The car model looked ordinary and low-profile, but the license plate was local, and the number faintly seemed to be five eights.

The windows were tinted, so she couldn’t see anything inside.

She could only see the light inside the car was on.

Are there residents in their small community who drive such luxury cars?

Xu Zhi didn’t like to gossip and was about to drop the curtain, but the next moment, the front passenger door opened, and she saw a familiar figure.

Mom?!

Xu Zhi froze in place.

Zhou Weixiang got out of the passenger seat.

Someone in the car called her name, so she didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she leaned over slightly, speaking to the person inside, and then smiled.

A moment later, she leaned into the passenger seat again.

Xu Zhi saw her mother kneeling on the passenger seat, leaning her entire body forward, clearly engaging in some very intimate interaction with the person in the driver’s seat.

But maybe she was overthinking it…

Until the Bentley drove away, Xu Zhi still hadn’t seen who the person in the driver’s seat was or what they looked like.

Xu Zhi dropped the curtain, suppressing the complicated emotions in her heart, and returned to her bedroom.

She picked up her pen to work on a practice test.

The questions flashed before her eyes without sinking in, yet her hand unconsciously wrote down the correct answers.

Who was that?

Mom’s admirer?

Driving a Bentley, he must be a very rich man.

But, would a rich man’s pursuit be serious? Don’t let him be a scumbag who’s either keeping a mistress or lying to Mom that he’s single when he’s married.

Or maybe that luxury car was rented, specifically used to trick her mother.

Xu Zhi’s mind was a mess. She thought, If he’s lying, what’s the angle? To take advantage of their dirt-poor situation and mountain of debt?

Impossible.

Then it must be for her mother’s body.

Xu Zhi frowned. The pen tip pressed down hard, tearing the test paper.

Zhou Weixiang opened the door and entered the house. The living room light was on. She changed her shoes while calling out, “Zhizhi, Mom is home.”

“Okay—”

Xu Zhi answered as usual, but unlike usual, she didn’t stay in her bedroom.

Xu Zhi opened the door, pretending to know nothing, and asked, “Mom, why are you home so late tonight?”

“Mm.” Zhou Weixiang subconsciously avoided her daughter’s gaze. She put down her bag in the entryway and said, “A student’s parent came back from a business trip, and I chatted with her for a while longer.”

“Is that so…” Xu Zhi smiled slightly. “You must be tired, Mom. Get some sleep early.”

“You too. I’ll warm up some milk for you later.”

“Mm.”

Xu Zhi returned to her desk in the bedroom, picked up her pen, pursed her lips, and swiftly wrote the answers to half a page of the test paper in one go.

Zhou Weixiang went back to her room, locked the door, grabbed a change of pajamas, and entered the bathroom.

The hot water ran for a while, creating a foggy vapor.

Zhou Weixiang took off her top and skirt.

Fresh hickeys dotted her smooth, fair chest.

Zhou Weixiang lowered her eyes, lightly stroked them with her fingers, but quickly shook her head, closed her eyes, and began a simple shower.

Before bed, Zhou Weixiang routinely brought her daughter warm milk.

After watching her mother leave, Xu Zhi drank it quickly, packed all the homework and test papers on the desk into her backpack, and got up to wash.

When she came out, she saw her phone screen light up again on the desk.

She had turned the vibration off.

But some people just have a way of being noisy even when silenced.

Xu Zhi was in a bad mood. She picked up her phone and opened the chat window that had been continuously bombarded with over a dozen messages.

Xu Zhi: [Not sleeping yet?]

The reply came quickly—

YaoYao: [Zhizhi, you replied to me? I thought you found me annoying and blocked me!!]

Xu Zhi: [You know you’re annoying?]

Qi Yaoyao was unhappy. She pouted, about to type.

But then she saw a new message from Xu Zhi.

Xu Zhi: [Thank you for reminding me that WeChat can block messages]

YaoYao: […]

YaoYao: [You can’t!!!]

YaoYao: [Xu Zhizhi, if you dare to block me, I’ll run to the bar to find you every day!!]

Xu Zhi looked at the rows of text and exclamation points, as if Qi Yaoyao’s arrogant and willful appearance was floating right in front of her.

What couldn’t be denied was that she was also lively and spirited.

Annoying, but suddenly not so annoying.

At least her attention was diverted, and the inexplicable irritation in her heart correspondingly lessened.

Just as she thought this, Xu Zhi received another message.

YaoYao: [Little Zhizhi, are you in a bad mood?]

Xu Zhi replied with a question mark.

Xu Zhi: [?]

YaoYao: [We were fine when you went back tonight. But just now you suddenly spoke to me so fiercely. Wuwuwu Cat Crying.jpg]

Xu Zhi didn’t know how to respond yet.

Another message came from the other side.

YaoYao: [Zhizhi, you like kittens? I couldn’t tell! You’re cold on the outside but warm on the inside! You like fluffy things!!]

Xu Zhi: [I don’t like them.]

YaoYao: [Then why is your avatar a cat?]

Xu Zhi: [Someone said the default system avatar was ugly, so I just randomly picked one from the emojis.]

YaoYao: [“Someone”? Who???]

Xu Zhi: [A classmate]

YaoYao: [Male classmate or female classmate?]

Xu Zhi was about to reply, but she felt this topic was utterly trivial, and talking like this felt like it would never end.

Xu Zhi thus returned to the original topic.

Xu Zhi: [Aren’t you sleeping yet?]

YaoYao: [I’m actually lying in bed now~! My mom just got home and seems to be in a very good mood, because this afternoon she scolded me and even said she was going to exile me to No. 1 High School to study!]

Xu Zhi: […]

YaoYao: [Oh right, people like you who didn’t go to school early to work probably don’t know about No. 1 High School. It’s our key high school in Lihai, but it’s incredibly dull. It’s nothing but studying and exams, with no recreational activities at all. Anyway, I absolutely will not go to the same school as those bookworms!]

Xu Zhi: [They probably wouldn’t want to go to the same school as you either.]

YaoYao: [??? Xu Zhizhi, what do you mean?]

Xu Zhi: [Nothing. It’s very late. Goodnight.]

YaoYao: [Aw, alright.]

YaoYao: [Goodnight-night!]

Xu Zhi saw these two messages from Qi Yaoyao and knew the conversation had finally ended, so she turned off her phone and placed it by the pillow.

But the next moment, the screen lit up again.

YaoYao: [Zhizhi! Say goodnight to me!!]

Xu Zhi, seeing this message: “…”

YaoYao: [Quick!! I know you’re looking!!!]

Xu Zhi endured the silent frustration and typed: [Goodnight]

YaoYao: [Got it. Your princess is going to sleep now.jpg]

Xu Zhi looked at the emoji, let out a soft sigh, turned off her phone, and could finally try to sleep soundly.

However, her sleep was anything but peaceful.

Xu Zhi had a dream. In the dream, her mother was shopping in a mall with a middle-aged man with a beer belly. Suddenly, a fierce woman appeared out of nowhere, grabbed her mother’s hair, and shouted about catching a mistress, catching a fox spirit.

Everyone in the mall gathered around.

Her mother couldn’t resist, crying and covering her face. Xu Zhi wanted to rush up to protect her mother but was repeatedly held back by others. Just as she was burning with anxiety, she saw the cheating scumbag quickly slip away through the crowd.

Xu Zhi woke up, furious!

She had no appetite for breakfast and felt indigestion.

Xu Zhi got up to wash the dishes. When she came out, she saw her mother applying her everyday work makeup with a small mirror. Xu Zhi suddenly said stiffly, “Mom, I want to go visit Dad after school this afternoon.”

Zhou Weixiang’s hand paused for a moment, then quickly resumed. “Why do you suddenly want to go?”

“I dreamed about Dad last night. He said he was broke underground and being bullied by other ghosts,” Xu Zhi fabricated. “He told me to burn some paper money for him.”

Zhou Weixiang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She put away her brush and said, “Alright then. After school, I’ll go with you, so your dad won’t be bullied.”

Xu Zhi’s gloomy mood finally eased a bit, and she smiled. “Mm!”

Then Xu Zhi messaged the bar boss, asking for a day off due to a sudden personal matter.