In the Years When I Was a Father

Chapter 109: Cuckold Dad (2)

Zhong Jin was stunned by her son’s question. She froze for a second, then forced a look of anger as she stared at the two boys. “What’s gotten into you two today, asking such weird questions out of nowhere? If you aren’t your dad’s kids, then whose could you be?”

Qi Yuancheng stared at Zhong Jin intensely, not the least bit reassured by her response. He turned to his younger brother and said, “Go keep an eye by the door. If Dad’s coming back, let me know right away.”

Qi Yuanzhe obediently walked over to the entrance, opened the peephole, and watched the hallway intently.

Only after seeing that did Qi Yuancheng feel a little more at ease. He placed the paternity test reports he had hidden behind his back back on the table and questioned Zhong Jin firmly: “Then what is this all about?”

Zhong Jin had already been baffled by their strange behavior. Now, seeing the large characters on the report cover, she froze in place.

Out of instinctive guilt, she hadn’t even opened the reports yet and was already starting to panic.

Qi Yuancheng saw her fluster and the small glimmer of hope he and his brother had just had shattered instantly. His eyes turned red as he stared at Zhong Jin. “Why are you panicking? You didn’t even read the report. What are you afraid of?!”

At seventeen, Qi Yuancheng already stood over 1.8 meters tall. The sight of him glaring at her with reddened eyes put immense pressure on Zhong Jin.

“Xiao Cheng, you… you have to listen to me. This… this…”

Zhong Jin didn’t know what to say. Faced with her son’s angry gaze and the glaring words on the report, she shakily opened the first report—Qi Yuancheng’s. She already knew the result before looking. Swallowing hard, she opened the second report with trembling hands and saw that Qi Yuanzhe was also not related to Qi Sheng. Her heart instantly sank. It’s over! Completely over!

Even Xiao Zhe isn’t Qi Sheng’s child…

Zhong Jin’s face turned pale with fear, and the last sliver of hope in Qi Yuancheng’s heart vanished.

There was no longer any doubt about the authenticity of the reports. The person who knew the truth best had just confirmed it without saying a word.

He was too stunned to speak. Meanwhile, Qi Yuanzhe, who had been standing guard at the door, couldn’t sit still any longer. Seeing his mother’s reaction, he ran over with red eyes and shouted, “Why did you betray Dad?!”

Both boys glared at her with hatred. Even if Zhong Jin had never been that attentive to them, she still felt flustered and upset. “Xiao Cheng, Xiao Zhe, it’s not what you think… I… I had no choice.”

Qi Yuancheng sneered, “What excuse could you possibly have? So I wasn’t born prematurely after all? You were already pregnant with me before you met Dad?”

Zhong Jin felt aggrieved at his accusation. Remembering the hardship of her pregnancy, she choked up. “Xiao Cheng, let me explain. Your biological father tricked me. I got pregnant, but he didn’t want to take any responsibility. I had no choice, so I turned to your dad.”

Qi Yuancheng didn’t believe a word she said. He gave her a look of utter contempt and asked, “Then what about Xiao Zhe? What’s his story? Another ‘no choice’ situation?!”

“Xiao Zhe… I always thought Xiao Zhe was your dad’s child. I…”

Zhong Jin finally broke down and cried. She wiped her tears and tried to explain, “Xiao Cheng, listen to me. I really didn’t mean to betray your dad. Back then, he was always busy with work and often stayed at the office overnight. During that time, I went out drinking with some girlfriends. I swear, we were just out for drinks. But I got drunk, and something happened…”

“But I took emergency contraception the next morning! I never meant to betray him. I always thought Xiao Zhe was his child.”

She kept crying and explaining, but neither boy felt any sympathy. All they felt was cold disbelief. All her excuses boiled down to “I had no choice”—was she seriously playing the victim?

Qi Yuanzhe, still young, panicked at the thought that if Dad found out the truth, he wouldn’t want him anymore. He began pacing in anxiety, then suddenly exploded, “Why are you crying?! You’ve got no right to cry! If Dad comes home and finds out everything, he’ll never like me again! Waaah…” He started sobbing.

Zhong Jin stopped crying the moment she heard that. “Your dad doesn’t know yet?”

“He wasn’t the one who secretly ordered the tests?!”

Realizing Qi Sheng was still in the dark, Zhong Jin jumped up from the chair and ran to the door to check. Seeing that Qi Sheng wasn’t back yet, she quickly returned to the living room.

“Xiao Zhe, go stand watch at the door. If your dad doesn’t know yet, we need to figure something out fast.”

“He absolutely cannot find out about this. If he does, the three of us will definitely be kicked out of this house.”

Seeing Qi Yuanzhe still hesitating and glancing at Qi Yuancheng, Zhong Jin lost her temper. “Go now! Or do you want your dad to come home and throw you out?!”

Qi Yuanzhe glanced at his brother once more, then ran back to the door to continue watching.

Meanwhile, Zhong Jin had quickly regained her composure.

“First, we must keep this under wraps. These two reports have to be dealt with immediately.”

“Who ordered the tests can be figured out later. Right now, we have to secure our future before your dad finds out the truth.”

“Xiao Cheng, I’ll go check out a new apartment in the next couple of days. Then we’ll convince your dad to buy it for us. In the meantime, come up with a reason to ask him for more money. Didn’t you say you wanted a smart robot? Tell him that’s what the money’s for.”

“And Xiaoze—I’ll talk to him in a bit too. The three of us should ask for more money. That way, even if your dad really finds out and kicks us out, the three of us can still survive.”

Zhong Jin was already planning for the future. After saying this, she couldn’t help but complain to Qi Yuanchen, “It’s all your fault. You insisted your dad take back his bank card. Now look, most of the money is in his hands…”

Before she could finish, she was silenced by the look in Qi Yuanchen’s eyes.

The child in front of her was looking at her with a completely unfamiliar expression. Zhong Jin was suddenly reminded of that man from eighteen years ago—this child’s biological father. He had looked at her with the same cold gaze.

“Xiaochen, Mom is just—”

“Do you act this shamelessly every time you betray Dad? Calculating him like it’s nothing?”

Qi Yuanchen stared coldly at Zhong Jin. Seeing how calm and composed she was earlier, he realized that what he thought he knew about her was only the surface.

“What has Dad ever done to deserve this from you?”

“He never forced you to work, never made you do housework. He even hired a nanny for you. Despite how busy he was with work, he still took care of the household from time to time. And you? What have you ever done for him besides ask for money?”

“And yet you have the nerve to betray him. Mom, you’ve really opened my eyes today!”

Zhong Jin was left speechless by Qi Yuanchen’s accusations, but she still felt wronged. Life had been hard before she met Qi Sheng. That incident back then had truly been an accident. She had been much more well-behaved these years. Besides, Qi Sheng himself had said he didn’t marry her to find a housekeeper. So what if she didn’t do chores? Why did these two kids look down on her like this?

“Xiaochen, I know you’re close to your dad, but the truth now is that you and I are on the same side. No matter how much he loved you before, do you think he’ll still look at you the same way once he knows you’re not his biological son?”

“I’m thinking about our future here. Even if you don’t care about yourself, think about Xiaoze. He’s only in middle school. If we don’t prepare some money now, what will happen to him later?”

Seeing that Qi Yuanchen was still silent and staring at her, Zhong Jin pressed on, “If you really feel guilty towards your dad, you and Xiaoze can go back and be filial to him when he’s old. But right now, what’s important is that the three of us prepare before he finds out the truth. Otherwise, we’ll be out on the streets!”

Qi Yuanchen was now completely disillusioned with this so-called biological mother of his. He had always thought she was just a bit lazy, spoiled, and wasteful. Only now did he realize he had been wrong. This woman was truly heartless. She could betray Dad without a shred of guilt. She never deserved all that Dad had done for her.

“Don’t even think about doing anything you just said.”

With that, Qi Yuanchen picked up the two paternity reports and walked into the bathroom. He filled a basin with water, removed the staples from the reports, soaked the papers until they were thoroughly soggy, and then flushed them down the toilet, bit by bit.

Throughout the process, Zhong Jin tried to persuade him.

“Xiaochen, listen to Mom. Calm down. You’ve never suffered before—you don’t understand how hard life is without money.”

“You’re being considerate of your dad now, but when he heartlessly kicks you out, you won’t think this way anymore.”

“There’s still time. When the time comes and we’re thrown out, you’ll regret not listening to Mom now.”

Qi Yuanchen ignored her the entire time. Zhong Jin, watching the reports go down the toilet, sneered, “If you’re so on your dad’s side, then why are you destroying the reports? If you want to be a good son, take the reports to him and tell him to his face that you and Xiaoze aren’t his biological sons.”

Qi Yuanchen still said nothing. Zhong Jin kept pushing, “What? You don’t dare? Since you plan to keep it from him, what’s wrong with making some preparations for the future?”

Seeing her son unmoved, Zhong Jin sighed in frustration. “Fine, I won’t say anything more. I won’t count on you two to ask for money. I’ll figure out a way to make your dad buy us a house and hand over his bank card. I’ll take care of the money. You don’t need to help, but you better not sabotage me.”

After thoroughly disposing of the reports, Qi Yuanchen returned to the living room, took a photo of the sender information on the envelope with his phone, and when he heard what Zhong Jin said, he immediately turned around and warned her sternly, “You’d better not try anything. I’ll handle this. Let me remind you: if you dare to scheme against Dad again, I’ll be the first to report you.”

Zhong Jin panicked, but then heard the teenager’s icy warning again: “You think secretly transferring Dad’s assets means you can run off with his money? Don’t even dream of it.”

After speaking, Qi Yuanchen walked over to the entryway, opened Zhong Jin’s bag on the coat rack, took out all her IDs, then looked back at her.

“For the time being, you’d better stay home and behave. If I find out you did anything behind my back to betray Dad, I absolutely won’t let you off.”

Standing nearby, Qi Yuandao chimed in, nodding in agreement, “Yeah! If you dare do anything to hurt Dad, I won’t let you off either!”

Zhong Jin was about to go crazy dealing with these two. She looked out the door, saw no one, and couldn’t help but growl under her breath, “Are you two insane? Still thinking only about your dad at a time like this? Xiaochen, give me my ID back! Can you be a little rational? Everything I’m doing right now is for the three of us!”

Qi Yuanchen, seeing she was still obsessed with money, gave her another solemn warning: “You’d better think carefully. Even if you manage to secretly transfer Dad’s assets now, once it’s exposed later, the court will just order everything to be returned. In the end, you’ll get nothing.”

“But let me be clear: if you don’t follow my instructions, you won’t get a single cent now or in the future. And from that point on, neither I nor Xiaoze will take care of you for the rest of your life. You’d better think about the consequences.”

Zhong Jin was finally intimidated by Qi Yuanchen’s warning. She knew that if she tried to transfer the money and got caught, she wouldn’t get anything. She had been pampered like a caged bird all these years under Qi Sheng’s care. If her sons stopped supporting her one day, would she have to go out and work to survive?

Her future now lay in her sons’ hands. Seeing how determined both of them were to defend Qi Sheng, she couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation.

“You two are ridiculous. I’m your biological mother. Fine! Do it your way now. I’ll wait and see if either of you ends up regretting it!”