Chapter 21
Xingxing stared at Huo Junyan with her big, dark eyes, and then said something surprising, "You want to be my dad too?"
Chu Ci almost choked on the ice cream, but could only pretend not to care and discuss the launch of the AI medical software with Huo Zixi.
“I am your father,” Huo Junyan choked, then softened his tone and said patiently, “I am your biological father.”
Xingxing twisted her body, got off his lap, glanced at Chu Ci, and said, "Mommy said my biological father went to heaven, which means he's dead."
...
"Cough cough..."
Chu Ci turned her face away, covered her mouth and coughed for a long time, then dabbed her tears with a tissue.
Xingxing is already four years old, so she naturally asked her father about it. The best explanation seemed to be that Zhou Shaoqing had gone to heaven.
I didn't expect this little guy to understand it so thoroughly.
Huo Zixi lay on the table, laughing so hard he couldn't straighten up.
"You want to be my stepfather, right?" Xingxing's little head was a little confused. "Uncle Zhou also wants to be my stepfather."
Huo Junyan's expression was rather unpleasant.
"What about my dad?" Xingxing asked Chu Ci.
She knew he was asking about Zhou Shaoqing. "Uh, he's not your father, not your biological father."
"But Mommy and Grandma both said that I can only call him Daddy, not Uncle Zhou Daddy."
"...Mommy and Grandma Yao both got it wrong," Chu Ci could only offer a vague explanation.
Starry-faced little boy looked helpless. "Even Daddy can get it wrong?"
...
"Hahaha!" Huo Zixi slapped his thigh, continuing his chaotic antics, "So, who do you want to be your stepfather?"
Xingxing thought for a moment, "Su Yitong agreed to let me call her Dad."
"Su Yitong?" Chu Ci suddenly heard this name again. "Who is she? Your kindergarten doesn't have this name."
After hearing about it last time, I searched through all the kindergarten parents' groups. There was no Su Yitong, but there were parents with the surname Tang, and some whose names contained the pronunciation "tang".
Xingxing pretended to be deaf, turned around and couldn't pick up the shrimp paste with chopsticks, so she used a spoon instead.
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Huo Zixi laughed so hard he slid off the low sofa. "I've even found my father-in-law! Hahaha..."
Huo Junyan's face turned completely dark. He straightened his son and faced him directly, saying, "I am your biological father. I gave birth to you myself."
Xingxing retorted seriously and earnestly, "Absolutely impossible."
Huo Zixi stopped laughing and looked surprised.
Chu Ci frowned and remained silent, her eyes filled with doubt.
We were afraid that this little guy would bring us some more surprises.
Huo Junyan's chest heaved, unsure how to discuss this issue with his four-year-old son.
Xingxing continues to express her opinion: "Only married women can have babies."
The three people had different expressions.
"Did Su Yitong say this too?" Chu Ci was more concerned about who Su Yitong was.
"That's what the teacher said." Xingxing was a little proud. She picked up her chopsticks, poked a meatball, and put it in a spoon to feed herself.
Huo Zixi grinned mischievously, "That's not necessarily true. Look, your mother and Uncle Zhou got married, but you weren't born to Uncle Zhou."
Chu Ci kicked Huo Zixi, but he nimbly dodged it.
"Of course." Xingxing shrugged, a little helpless. She had just said that only married women could have babies, so why couldn't she understand?
He declared loudly and proudly, "I was born of Mommy."
"Oh~ you're your mommy and your real daddy,"
"Shut up."
Chu Ci, unable to bear it any longer, brought this debate between marital ethics and biology to a halt.
Out of the corner of his eye, Huo Junyan took the rice cake from Xingxing's hand.
"Xingxing, Mommy told you that you are allergic to osmanthus rice cake, so you are never allowed to eat it, remember?"
Her voice was a little stern, and Xingxing kept her head down and didn't say a word.
"Why are you saying that about my son?" Huo Junyan frowned.
Chu Ci opened his eyes wide. "Allergies can be a big deal or a small deal; he must remember that."
“You can speak properly.”
"I'm speaking properly." Chu Ci also got angry.
Huo Junyan was surprised. Chu Ci pursed her lips and didn't continue.
"Xingxing, you can't eat foods that you're allergic to, remember?" He gently instructed his son.
Xingxing glanced at Chu Ci, picked up the rice cake again, and fed it to Huo Junyan, saying, "I wanted to give it to Uncle."
Tsk~
Chu Ci: ...
“I am the father,” Huo Junyan corrected.
Xingxing looked at her mother, and Chu Ci nodded under Huo Junyan's increasingly dangerous gaze, "Mm."
“Dad,” Xingxing said without hesitation.
Huo Junyan took a bite of the osmanthus rice cake, his expression lively. He finished a piece in a few bites, and Xingxing took another one. He only took it after a slight hesitation.
"Dad is also a little allergic, but Dad is an adult, so he can eat a piece. You are a child, so you can't eat it."
Xingxing took the rice cake from his hand and put it in Chuci's bowl and plate, saying, "Mommy loves it."
"You just remembered me." He nuzzled his son's nose.
Xingxing walked straight around the coffee table, hugged her, and gave her a kiss. "Mommy, I don't want to eat osmanthus rice cake."
"Sweetie." She affectionately stroked her son.
Huo Junyan hugged Xingxing and said, "You wanted to get rice cakes for Daddy before, but Daddy misunderstood you. Daddy apologizes to you."
Chu Ci's lips twitched, and he snorted.
Huo Zixi ate the osmanthus rice cake and asked, "Uncle, are you allergic to rice cake?"
There were osmanthus trees planted in the yard, and they often drank osmanthus tea with their fourth grandmother, so it was definitely not an allergy to osmanthus.
As for rice cakes, I've never really paid attention to them before.
"No, it's just this osmanthus rice cake. I ate it last time..." Huo Zixi suddenly stopped, picked up a piece and smelled it, "Have you checked it? Could there be any problems?"
"After rice cakes are fermented, they produce a type of functional oligosaccharide. If osmanthus flowers are sprinkled on them while they are still hot, Xingxing will have an allergic reaction to them. They will not have an allergic reaction when they are cooled down."
Chu Ci suddenly remembered something, "You had an allergic reaction last time you ate it?"
Huo Junyan withdrew his gaze and said calmly, "A little bit."
“That’s genetic,” Huo Zixi said, looking at him. “What exactly happens with allergies?”
She turned her face away, pinching her cheeks to suppress a laugh, and after a while slowly turned her face back, pretending nothing had happened, and continued eating.
"ah?"
Huo Junyan's eyes were so cold they could freeze a person to death. "You will die."
Huo Zixi: ...
I'm just asking about an allergy, what's wrong?
-
A few days later, Chu Ci was discharged from the hospital and wanted to take Xingxing home, only to find out that Xingxing had already been taken back to the Huo family.
She felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
It took her a while to come to her senses, and she looked at Huo Zixi incredulously, "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean?" Huo Zixi didn't understand. "Xingxing went home, don't you want him to go home?"
Chu Ci laughed. "Why would my son go to the Huo family?"
“Xingxing is a child of the Huo family, of course she should go back to the Huo family,” Huo Zixi was a little confused by Chu Ci. He thought she would be happy to hear this. “What are you thinking? Do you want to take Xingxing away by yourself?”
"I've always been the one carrying the stars, is there a problem?"
She hadn't thought about her relationship with Huo Junyan yet, but she couldn't accept the Huo family taking Xingxing away without her consent.
"Whose idea is this? The Huo family's or Huo Junyan's?"
Huo Zixi stared at her, puzzled. "Is there a difference?"
Huo Junyan is the heir of the Huo family, and in a sense, he can now fully represent the Huo family's position.
"It was I who persuaded Grandpa and Fourth Grandfather to let Xingxing be recognized as a member of the family, so that those outside who wanted to take advantage of Xingxing would think twice." He had to do this for Chu Ci and for Xingxing.
She was furious. "What's wrong with you?"
“Xingxing should have gone back to the Huo family. If it weren’t for your amnesia, he would have gone home long ago. I’m just doing what I should do.”
Chu Ci gritted her teeth and suppressed her anger, "I don't like others controlling my life, Zi Xi,"
"Do you like it when people treat Xingxing like an illegitimate child?" Huo Zixi roared, his eyes contorted with rage, spitting as he spoke.
She was startled and speechless.
illegitimate child.
Huo Zixi has been called an illegitimate child for nearly thirty years, and he will never be able to shake off this label because his father has a wife and children and will never marry his mother.
This is his obsession.
Chu Ci fully understands Huo Zixi and knows that his efforts to bring Xingxing back to the Huo family stem from his genuine friendship with her.
But she still refused to be controlled.
“…Zixi, I know you meant well, but it was all an accident,”
“Let’s correct this accident now and get everything back on track,” Huo Zixi said firmly. “Chu Ci, I need you. You’re my best friend. If you marry my uncle, you can help me get the Huo family to publicly acknowledge me…”
He suddenly choked up, "Why don't they acknowledge my existence? Just talking about it within the industry doesn't count. What did I do wrong..."
Chu Ci hugged him. "I understand you. I'll think of something."
“You don’t understand,” Huo Zixi said, gripping her shoulders tightly, his expression agitated. “You have no idea what I’ve been through, Chu Ci. You helped me before, and you will help me in the future, right?”
Chu Ci nodded firmly, "Just because you took care of my 'funeral arrangements,' I will always stand behind you, but this matter..."
"Then marry my uncle. Don't let Xingxing end up like me. Her identity has already been exposed. Unless you plan to let her live the life of an ordinary person."
Chu Ci hesitated.
When Xingxing returned to the Huo family, she stood on the shoulders of giants and saw a different world.
My chest felt tight and uncomfortable because I hadn't been persuaded by Huo Zixi.
She doesn't seem like the kind of great mother who would sacrifice herself for her child's future.
Marrying Zhou Yubai was a last resort, forced into a corner, which is why she harbors resentment towards the Zhou family. Even though she once fully believed in her relationship with Zhou Shaoqing, she still disagreed with Xingxing taking the surname Zhou, which was her way of retaliating against the Zhou family.
She didn't want things to come to this with Huo Junyan.
Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her heart, and the thought of giving up Huo Junyan and running away with Xingxing popped into her head.
I was very sad.
This feeling is like an old scar on a rainy day—not so painful, but piercingly painful.
Could it be that five years ago, when she drugged Huo Junyan, it wasn't out of lust, or a momentary lapse of judgment, or as Huo Zixi jokingly suggested, that she had long coveted his uncle's good looks and was annoyed by his repeated disruptions of their gatherings? Huo Zixi said that his uncle always thought she was after him and warned her "don't even think about climbing the social ladder," so she drugged him out of revenge.
She had liked Huo Junyan for a very long time, but because of the vast difference in their social status, she...
It's absurd and heartbreaking.
Chu Ci smiled, blinked, and wiped away the tears in her eyes. "Zi Xi, do you think I might have had a crush on him a long time ago?"
Huo Junyan paused as he put his hand on the doorknob.
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