In the Years When I Was a Father

Chapter 108: Cuckold Dad (1)

When Qi Sheng regained consciousness again, he was just walking out of his office, ready to get off work. But thinking about the plot he had just received, he immediately turned around and went back in.

“Boss, why are you back again?”

Qi Sheng replied, “Just remembered something I need to deal with. You guys go ahead—nothing major, I can handle it myself.”

“Oh, oh, okay. Boss, you’ve worked hard. If anything comes up, give us a call anytime.”

After sending his subordinates off, Qi Sheng returned to his office. Considering what might be about to happen next, he couldn’t help but make himself a cup of coffee to calm his nerves.

As the old saying goes: If you want to get through life, how can you not wear a bit of green on your head?

So many seemingly happy families are torn apart once harsh truths come to light. That’s why people often say, It’s a blessing to be muddle-headed.

Qi Sheng understood the logic—but expecting any man to feel reassured while carrying a vast green field on his head? That was asking for a miracle.

Not to mention, the original owner of this body in this world was pitiful to the extreme.

Thinking of what was about to unfold, Qi Sheng steadied himself and picked up his phone to call his eldest son. On the other end, Qi Yuancheng had just arrived at the neighboring middle school to pick up his younger brother from school. Receiving a call from his father at this time struck him as a bit unusual.

“Dad? I’m picking up Xiao Ze right now. We’ll be home soon. Did you want me to buy something for you?”

Qi Sheng said, “No, just letting you know that I’ll be working overtime today and might be home late. You take your brother out for dinner—order whatever you want. I’ll reimburse you when I get back.”

Qi Yuancheng muttered in dissatisfaction, “Overtime again?”

But he also understood the nature of his father’s job. It was the IT industry, after all. Even though his dad was a technical director, he still couldn’t escape the fate of working late. Sigh.

He felt bad for his dad for a second, then turned around to remind him, “Got it. Just make sure you eat something too.”

Qi Sheng replied with two quick “Got it”s. Remembering the main reason for the call, he added, “I’ve got a package coming—help me pick it up later. I’ll send you the pickup code.”

When Qi Yuancheng heard that his dad had a package, his first thought was that his mom had bought something online again. He complained, “Did Mom buy more stuff again? She already has way too much! Still buying…”

Thinking of his wife’s shopping habits, Qi Sheng soothed his son, “You know how your mom is. This time it seems to be perfume. Just be careful when picking it up, don’t drop it.”

Qi Yuancheng chided his father, “You really let her get away with too much. She already has more perfume than she can store, and you let her keep buying. You’re seriously spoiling her!”

Qi Sheng chuckled and continued to comfort his son: “It’s not that expensive. Besides, your mom has toned it down a lot lately. Alright, eat well and don’t forget to pick up the package.”

Qi Yuancheng could see his dad still planned to indulge her and didn’t say much more. He just replied with an “okay,” hung up, and then let out a humph—his mom was really something…

Although his dad always said that with three men in the house and only one woman, they should spoil her a bit, Qi Yuancheng couldn’t help sighing when he thought about how his mom never acted like a real mother. Annoying!

Dad was just too nice and spoiled her too much, which was why she had become more and more willful.

She was never home during the day—either out shopping, at the salon, or playing mahjong. Occasionally, she’d join her girlfriends on trips and shopping sprees. She was living it up, never even looking at what kind of lives the three men in the family were living.

He and his younger brother had basically never eaten a home-cooked meal by their mom or felt her warmth while growing up. Thinking about it, their dad had it the worst—busy at work every day and still had to come home to cook. Just watching that made Qi Yuancheng’s heart ache.

While he was still brooding over the unfairness toward his dad, Qi Yuanzhe had already walked out of school.

“Bro, I’m here!”

Qi Yuancheng waved at his brother, and once they met up, he relayed the phone conversation with their dad.

“Come on, we’re eating out again today. Got anything you’re craving?”

Unlike his older brother, Qi Yuanzhe didn’t overthink things. When he heard their dad was working overtime, he grumbled for a second and then started considering what he wanted to eat.

“Bro, I want hot pot.”

“Let’s go then. There’s a new hot pot place that opened near home. Not sure if it’s any good—let’s try it today.”

Qi Yuanzhe beamed. “Mm! If it’s good, we’ll bring Dad next time.”

Qi Yuancheng ruffled his little brother’s hair, and the two of them headed home together.

Back at the office, after hanging up the call, Qi Sheng felt a headache coming on.

According to the original plot, this delivery wasn’t actually something his wife, Zhong Jin, had ordered—it was two paternity test reports.

Yes, you read that right—two.

The original Qi Sheng wasn’t just unlucky—he was tragically pitiful beyond words. Neither of the two sons was biologically his. That kind of real-life tragedy would break anyone.

As the saying goes, a gentle person pushed too far can be explosively destructive. The original Qi Sheng, deeply scarred by this top-tier betrayal, completely broke down and cut ties with everyone.

Qi Sheng couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy thinking about everything the original had suffered, and how he eventually became so heartless and cold.

While the original did deserve some pity, the two kids had also suffered because of his later indifference. One ended up being manipulated and met with tragedy, while the younger, at such a tender age, was left displaced and wandering. It was heartbreaking.

Thinking of the Kang family—the ones who had exposed the truth—Qi Sheng frowned.

Meanwhile, Qi Yuancheng had already taken his brother to the hot pot restaurant. The two boys were eating while venting about their mother.

“Bro, what’s Mom doing today? She won’t even pick up the stuff she orders. All she knows is how to spend money without lifting a finger. Only Dad can put up with her.”

“Probably out shopping again. She must’ve shopped her way through every mall in Hang City. I can’t believe she still enjoys it every single day. I’m seriously speechless.”

Qi Yuanzhe, too, was amazed by his mom’s patience and perseverance. While chewing on the beef in the pot, he shuddered at the thought of her personality. He swore to himself that in the future, he’d never marry someone who was beautiful but had no other redeeming qualities!

This little guy was only thirteen, yet because of his mother, he was already carefully considering the character of his future girlfriend. Let alone Qi Yuancheng, who was four years older—he had long decided to stay far, far away from women like his mom. Unlike their father, neither of them had that kind of patience or good temper.

After the two finished their hot pot meal, Qi Yuancheng retrieved the package using the pickup code Qi Sheng had sent him. When he saw the package looked more like it contained documents, he was puzzled.

“Didn’t Dad say Mom ordered perfume? This doesn’t look like it.”

Qi Yuanzhe took the package label and glanced at it. “The recipient is Dad. Maybe someone sent it to him, and he doesn’t even know?”

Qi Yuancheng nodded in agreement. “Probably. Let’s just bring it home first. I’ll tell Dad about it when he gets back.”

Hugging the package, Qi Yuanzhe was curious. “What is this? Feels like a book.”

Qi Yuancheng took it and weighed it in his hand, but still couldn’t guess. “We’ll just open it at home. It’s probably just documents or a book—typical Dad stuff.”

Qi Yuanzhe nodded in agreement. Once home, he immediately grabbed scissors and cut open the outer packaging.

“There’s another layer? What is this, why’s it wrapped so tightly?”

While he spoke curiously, his hands kept moving. He tore off the extra layer, and when he saw the document with black text on white paper, he subconsciously read it out loud: “Haishi XX Judicial Appraisal Center, Forensic Biological Evidence Examination Report.”

He asked instinctively, “Bro, what is this?”

As soon as he opened the cover and saw the first page, his eyes widened in shock and he froze.

“B-Brother, come here quick!”

Qi Yuancheng, who had just walked in and was putting away their schoolbags, heard the abnormal tone in his brother’s voice and rushed over. “What’s wrong, Xiaozhe? What happened?”

“Bro, look—Dad actually did a paternity test for me and him! What does this mean? Wuwuwu…”

Just reading the first page made Qi Yuanzhe burst into tears. Dad had always doted on him so much—why would he suddenly do something like this? Did he think he wasn’t really his son?

Seeing his brother cry, Qi Yuancheng quickly tried to comfort him. “Maybe Dad didn’t do it. He didn’t even know what the package was—he thought it was perfume Mom ordered.”

While consoling his brother, Qi Yuancheng instinctively flipped to the second page. When he saw the red-stamped seven characters, he froze on the spot.

“No biological relationship confirmed.”

How could this be? How could Xiaozhe not be Dad’s child?!

Qi Yuancheng anxiously flipped through the report again, still in shock and disbelief. He didn’t even have time to comfort his brother, who had seen the same words and was heartbroken. With trembling hands, he reached for the second report.

Qi Yuanzhe, terrified and upset, noticed the other envelope and hiccuped through his sobs, asking curiously, “Bro… there’s another one?”

At this point, Qi Yuancheng couldn’t even speak. Despite not wanting to believe it, he still flipped open the second report. When he saw the same seven characters on the second page, his mind went blank.

When Qi Yuanzhe saw that his brother’s test result was also “no biological relationship,” he stopped crying. Now he simply refused to believe it was real. “Bro, could this be someone’s prank?”

A thought suddenly came to him, and he was just about to seek his brother’s agreement when he noticed Qi Yuancheng staring off in a daze.

“Bro… Bro, don’t scare me. Say something!”

“…What?”

“Bro, this has to be a prank. There’s no way we’re both not Dad’s kids. You can’t fall into someone’s trap!”

Listening to his brother’s serious voice and staring at the two paternity test reports, Qi Yuancheng nodded unconsciously. “Yeah, you’re right. It must be a prank—it has to be!”

Clinging to that hope, Qi Yuancheng clenched his jaw and said angrily, “If I find out who did this—!”

The door suddenly opened, cutting him off mid-sentence. Thinking it might be their dad, Qi Yuancheng quickly hid both reports behind his back on instinct.

But it wasn’t Qi Sheng—it was Zhong Jin, who had just come back from shopping. She walked in and immediately took off her sky-high heels, rubbing her feet while complaining without looking back: “Hey, where’s your dad? Don’t tell me he’s working overtime again? Every day he’s late—it’s unbearable!”

“If your dad’s not home, where did you two eat? You didn’t even tell me. I haven’t eaten yet!”

“Xiaocheng, Mommy’s hungry. Go make me a bowl of noodles.”

After speaking, she noticed that neither of the boys was moving and turned around in confusion—only to see them both staring at her intensely without a word.

“Qi Yuancheng, Qi Yuanzhe, what’s wrong with you two? Why are you staring at me like that this late at night? You’ve lost your minds or something?!”

The brothers exchanged glances. Qi Yuancheng looked at the one person who surely knew the truth. Even though he wanted to believe the reports were just a prank, he couldn’t help but feel worried and scared—he needed confirmation.

“Tell us the truth—are Xiaozhe and I really Dad’s children?”