Chapter 84 - He Only Had Two-Pack Abs Left
Ji Liao smiled brightly, his eyes forming crescents, and pushed the exam paper in front of the other boy while urging, “Write!” Within three minutes, he wanted to know how to solve the problem!
He Cheng Ming let out a “tsk” sound, picked up the blue pen and bent his head over the problem. After looking at it for a few seconds, he started to write out the formula.
Ji Liao looked at him and felt that he was especially handsome at that moment. That earnest expression made him unable to look away and his body seemed to be radiant and so dazzling that it moved his heart.
“If you look at me like that, how am I supposed to write?” He Cheng Ming threw the pen aside and slumped back against the chair, looking at him with a faint smile.
There was a trace of embarra.s.sment on Ji Liao’s face and he used some effort to pull him up. “Okay, I wouldn’t look.”
He Cheng Ming continued to work his brain. Although he much preferred physical activity, seeing how motivated Ji Liao was and not wanting to interfere, he just went with it.
His splint had been removed after almost a month. During this period, He Cheng Ming often went over to the Meng family home, calling out Auntie happily. Xu Ai Wen treated him like as if she was raising her own son, stewing spareribs and simmering chicken soup, unexpectedly feeding He Cheng Ming until he had grown another two centimetres!
Ji Liao had also fattened up by one or two kilograms, and even Meng Yao Yao’s face became round!
That day when Meng Yao Yao looked in the mirror, she was surprised to find that a double chin had almost appeared. That night, she refused supper from Xu Ai Wen and threw herself into losing weight!
This was Xu Ai Wen’s interest — using all sorts of ingredients to prepare culinary delicacies. When Meng Yao Yao refused, she thought of He Cheng Ming. That child could eat and he didn’t refuse anything. Moreover, he didn’t get fat, so he was the best feeding target for her!
So she told Ji Liao to ask He Cheng Ming over for a meal whenever he was free. From what Meng Yuan had said, that child had fallen out with his family. He surely didn’t eat well living alone and it was really distressing to think about.
Ji Liao appeared reluctant and looked like he wanted to say something, making Xu Ai Wen wonder, “What’s the matter? Have you fallen out?!” Ji Liao was gloomy. “That’s not it.” But did the other boy have to eat some more?!
Previously, he had two pecs and six-pack abs. Recently, he was unable to exercise due to his arm injury, and at the same time, he was eating and drinking all sorts of things. The last time he was in close contact with He Cheng Ming, he realised it wasn’t that he didn’t fill out, just that it couldn’t be seen when he was wearing clothes. Once his clothes were off, he only had two-pack abs left!
“This boy… are you still jealous of Xiao He?”
Now, Xu Ai Wen had started to call He Cheng Ming Xiao He, which showed that the relationship between the two of them had grown by leaps and bounds.
Ji Liao grimaced. “Of course not.” What was that old saying? The more the mother-in-law looks at the son-in-law, the better he looks.
He felt that Xu Ai Wen was like that. In addition, He Cheng Ming always pretended to be good in front of her, always sending her skincare products. He heard that they were customized according to the skin and the prices were horrifying.
There were no women who did not love beauty. Although Xu Ai Wen said not to buy them again, she was really happy. She was even more satisfied when her skin improved after using it.
After Ji Liao conveyed his mother’s decree, He Cheng Ming laughed and quickly replied, “Okay, I’ll go over tomorrow.” He had just hung up the phone when his mother Zhao Mei Lan came to the door.
Zhao Mei Lan was sulky on the way there. Today, she went to the store to get customized skincare products and heard that He Cheng Ming had recently been there quite often. She pretended to know about it and tricked the shop a.s.sistant to show her the customer list. Only then did she find out that the person who was causing her son to go so often was Xu Ai Wen!
Zhao Mei Lan felt that the name was a little familiar. It took a long time for her to remember that it was Ji Qing Wen’s wife, Ji Liao’s mother.
The relationship was causing money to be spent on the mother-in-law!
Zhao Mei Lan felt it was extremely unfair. That was her son. Never mind that he didn’t spend money on her, but he went so far as to spend on others!
She immediately took a taxi to He Cheng Ming’s community.
He Cheng Ming looked at the person at the door and said coldly, “Why are you here?”
Zhao Mei Lan pushed him aside and walked in. She had pushed his left arm. Although the splint had already been removed, the injury had not recovered completely. He Cheng Ming endured the pain and frowned.
Zhao Mei Lan noticed his strange expression and asked immediately, “Are you hiding something from me?!” He Cheng Ming said nothing and turned to enter the living room. He burrowed into the sofa and grabbed a book to read.
Zhao Mei Lan was ignored and felt aggrieved. She walked over to sit beside He Cheng Ming and said in a soft voice, “Xiao Ming, I’m your mother. How can you treat me like this?!”
Did he really hate her that much?
He Cheng Ming raised his eyelids slightly and his tone relaxed a little. “Why did you come over today?” He knew very well that she always had an ulterior motive when visiting.
“Can’t I come to see my son?!” Zhao Mei Lan was reluctant to admit anything.
He Cheng Ming looked askance at her and she instantly lost her confidence, withdrawing her neck.
“You’ve been on good terms with Ji Liao recently, right?”
He had bought such expensive customized skincare products for his mother, so it shouldn’t be bad.
He Cheng Ming was most afraid to hear Ji Liao’s name coming from her mouth. He put down the book immediately and stared at Zhao Mei Lan. “Why are you asking about this?” Zhao Mei Lan saw that her son was being defensive against her like as if he was guarding again thieves and said with an ache in her heart, “How can you look at your mother like that? Can’t your mother ask about you?” He Cheng Ming said coldly, “You know clearly in your heart what you have done before.”
It had almost made Ji Liao leave him. If Ji Liao hadn’t chosen to forgive him at that time, he didn’t dare to imagine the consequences.
And all of it was due to Zhao Mei Lan.
Zhao Mei Lan felt guilty. She avoided He Cheng Ming’s eyes and said reluctantly, “Mom is sorry about that incident, but can’t you give me another chance?”
It had already been so long since that incident, moreover, wasn’t he now on good terms with Ji Liao?!
He Cheng Ming had not expected Zhao Mei Lan to apologize so his att.i.tude improved. He picked up the book again. “This is something you should be telling Ji Liao.”
Zhao Mei Lan didn’t answer. There was no way she would apologize to the little male demon!
But she also realised that her son was already obsessed. He would only have a good att.i.tude towards her when she had a good att.i.tude towards Ji Liao.
Rambling on, she talked about the recent situation in the He family. He Yue Jin seemed to have gotten even busier after his retirement. The finance weekly publication had asked him to work on a special feature and the economics channel had invited him onto a program. In any case, he was out all day.
But it seemed like he had broken up with the little vixen from before as she had not smelled that perfume scent recently.
“By the way, did you know that your sister-in-law is pregnant?!”
Zhao Mei Lan’s face was alit with gossip. It was because of Jiang Qi’s pregnancy that He Yue Jin had started to come back frequently as he kept thinking about his grandson.
He Cheng Ming’s eyebrows rose. He was wondering why Jiang Qi had been so contented recently, not teasing Ji Liao anymore. As it turned out, she was pregnant! He Cheng Ming narrowed his eyes. His brother’s speed at making babies was really something.
“Oh.” He made a perfunctory remark.
Zhao Mei Lan sighed and said tentatively, “I don’t know whether I’ll be able to hold my biological grandson in this lifetime.” With just a word, she had excluded He Mu Sheng’s child.
He Cheng Ming was expressionless. “You should give up on that hope as soon as possible.” Zhao Mei Lan choked and couldn’t say anything in that instant.
“It doesn’t matter. As long as you’re happy, Mom is happy.” She grudgingly smoothed things over with a bleeding heart. Although she still wanted to hold a biological grandson, her son was grown-up now. She couldn’t afford to provoke him, so pacified him instead.
He Cheng Ming heard this and sneered.
Zhao Mei Lan was stung by his sneer but was unable to retort. She had to compromise and said, “Xiao Ming, Mom doesn’t care about you and Ji Liao anymore, but when you have time, you have to come home to see Mom, okay?”
She was so lonely in the He family home although it was slightly more lively after Jiang Qi came over.
But she was He Mu Sheng’s wife after all. She wasn’t close to He Mu Sheng, so how could Jiang Qi be close to her? What’s more, after Jiang Qi became pregnant, He Mu Sheng treasured her so much that he would skip work and run home every day. She was worried that He Mu Sheng would bankrupt the He group.
“I know.” He Cheng Ming didn’t agree or disagree and just replied like that.
Seeing this, Zhao Mei Lan’s delicate face was filled with unspoken disappointment and she stood up reluctantly. Looking at her son, she said, “Then Mom will go off first?”
He Cheng Ming turned the page of his book and without even glancing at her, he gave a cold “um” sound.
Zhao Mei Lan left sadly and went back to the He family home. Just then, she b.u.mped into He Mu Sheng who was coming back from work early. She thought of He Cheng Ming’s left arm and asked, “Was Xiao Ming injured recently?”
He Mu Sheng paused, then relented and told her about the incident.
His heart had probably softened after having his own child. In fact, after so many years, he understood that although Zhao Mei Lan was selfish, she wasn’t a bad person. Her intelligence was average and sometimes she could do stupid things, but she couldn’t live up to the label of a cunning wh.o.r.e.
His mother had been forced away by her, or maybe she had just brought forward the inevitable. He Yue Jin was promiscuous. Even if it wasn’t Zhao Mei Lan, it would be someone else. It was better to leave early.
Now that he had Jiang Qi, he had somewhere to call home, so his previous resentment, pain and disappointment was gradually disappearing from his heart.
Having just found out about this matter, Zhao Mei Lan’s eyes gradually reddened and she thought about how distant her son had become to not even tell her that he was injured. She knew that she was wrong but couldn’t bear to admit it.
“Next time it happens again, let me know.” She said humbly towards He Mu Sheng.
He Mu Sheng was surprised and nodded before going in. Jiang Qi was sitting in the living room watching television. She was laughing excessively and it scared He Mu Sheng who quickly walked over to turn off the television.
Jiang Qi looked at him in confusion. “What are you doing?!”
He Mu Sheng said solemnly. “The doctor said that pregnant women shouldn’t get too excited.”
He was about to glare at Jiang Qi when he quickly swallowed his words. They had reached an agreement that for the benefit of prenatal education, they couldn’t say any curse words in future. “No, the doctor also said that I have to maintain my happy mood. Happy mood, do you understand? Now, you’re making me angry!” Jiang Qi propped a hand on her waist with the self-satisfied appearance of a world number one.
He Mu Sheng walked over to listen to her stomach, feeling happy even though he didn’t hear anything. He kissed Jiang Qi’s face and said with a smile. “I didn’t. I wouldn’t dare.”
Jiang Qi smiled sweetly and using her index finger to prod at his forehead, she said like a queen, “I bet you wouldn’t! Turn on the television for me!” He Mu Sheng turned on the television obediently and received a kiss from his wife.