In the Years When I Was a Father

Chapter 110: Cuckold Dad (3)

When Qi Sheng returned home, it was already close to midnight. The reason he came back so late was to give the three people at home a buffer period.

Based on his memory, before the truth was revealed, the two children had a genuinely good relationship with the original host. Although they occasionally got into trouble, their care and concern for the original host far exceeded that of Zhong Jin, his wife.

But the truth was always cruel. No man could calmly accept that the children he had painstakingly raised were not his own. If it had only been Qi Yuancheng, the original host might not have been so heartbroken. Unfortunately, fate had played a cruel trick—both sons had different biological fathers, and neither was related to the original host. It would’ve been strange if he didn’t go mad.

Even now that Qi Sheng had taken over this body, he still didn’t know how to face the situation.

He wasn’t as mentally unstable as the original host, but if he were to treat the two children the same as before, as if nothing had happened, everyone would probably think he had a mental problem.

So Qi Sheng decided to act as if he didn’t know anything for the time being, to see how the two children planned to deal with things after learning the truth. This way, he could also give them some time to mentally prepare.

At this moment, the house was silent. The lights in the living room and entryway were still on. Qi Sheng first went to take a look in the younger son’s room. Seeing no one there, he went to the older son’s room and, as expected, found the two brothers sleeping together.

Qi Sheng gently closed the door. He didn’t return to the master bedroom he shared with Zhong Jin. Instead, after a simple wash-up, he went straight to sleep in the guest room.

Back when the original host worked overtime and came home very late, he’d sometimes sleep in the guest room to avoid disturbing Zhong Jin. So now, Qi Sheng going to the guest room didn’t seem particularly unusual.

But Zhong Jin, with a guilty conscience tonight, was startled to see Qi Sheng head to the guest room. Still, having hidden things from him for so many years, she had a decent psychological tolerance and quickly composed herself. She thought, Sure enough, Qi Sheng doesn’t know anything yet. Otherwise, the three of us would’ve been kicked out tonight.

She breathed a sigh of relief and, feeling reassured, soon fell asleep. But the two brothers were neither as calm nor as shameless as she was.

They waited until the guest room was completely quiet before they both opened their eyes. Qi Yuanzhe couldn’t sleep alone, so he had crawled into his older brother’s room, and the two of them shared a bed.

Since lying down, Qi Yuanzhe had been silently crying. At first, Qi Yuancheng tried to comfort him, but eventually, he couldn’t hold back his own tears either. The brothers hugged each other for warmth. When they heard Qi Sheng come home, they held back their sobs for fear of making noise.

The guest room was the furthest from Qi Yuancheng’s room, and the soundproofing at home was decent. Seeing that it was quiet in the guest room, Qi Yuanzhe wiped his snot and tears and whispered, “Brother… hic… what should we do?”

As the elder brother, Qi Yuancheng naturally had more to think about than his younger sibling. Besides being heartbroken, he had to figure out how to delay the time before their father found out the truth.

Earlier, he had looked up the sender’s information from the delivery slip, but in the end, he found that both the contact details and address were invalid. Most likely, the sender’s name was fake as well.

Qi Yuancheng couldn’t figure out who was pulling strings behind the scenes, so he would need to question his mom more thoroughly tomorrow. Only she might know which people could be jealous enough to want to ruin their lives.

He wanted to identify and stop whoever was behind this as soon as possible, but he also knew full well—no secret can stay hidden forever. Even if he could stop it now, one day the truth would come to light.

Thinking about the day their dad would find out…

Qi Yuancheng looked at his younger brother crying beside him and couldn’t say a word. Hearing his question, he wanted to ask the same: What should we do?

Even as a boy who hadn’t yet come of age, he knew clearly—if this truth came out, their dad’s reaction would be devastating.

Qi Yuancheng stared blankly at the ceiling and pulled his still-crying brother into his arms. “Stop crying. If your eyes swell, Dad will definitely ask about it tomorrow. While he still doesn’t know, we mustn’t show any signs and let him suspect anything.”

Qi Yuanzhe responded with a soft “mm” and tried hard to hold back his tears. Then he heard his brother speaking—perhaps to him, or maybe just talking to himself.

“People have feelings… Dad loves us so much. If… if we behave, and treat him well, treat him even better, maybe… maybe when he finds out the truth, he’ll still be a little reluctant to let us go?”

Qi Yuanzhe propped himself up and looked at his brother beside him, unable to stop himself from asking, “Brother, do you really think that will work? Will Dad really not want to let us go?”

Qi Yuanchen wanted to say yes, but felt that hope was faint. Looking at his brother’s eyes, so full of desire for reassurance, he could only say, “No matter what, it’s better than doing nothing and waiting until Dad finds out and hoping at that point he’ll still care.”

Seeing his brother was still worried, Qi Yuanchen sat up and explained under his brother’s curious gaze, “I’m going to the fridge to get a few ice cubes. Look at your eyes—like that, Dad will definitely notice something’s wrong tomorrow morning.”

Qi Yuanzhe became anxious. “Keep your voice down, don’t wake Dad.”

Qi Yuanchen replied with a soft “mm,” ruffled his brother’s hair, and walked out of the bedroom. When he reached the living room, he unconsciously lightened his footsteps. It wasn’t until he got the ice cubes and returned to the bedroom that he realized even he had been so tense he was sweating a little on his back.

He gave a bitter smile but still handed some ice to his brother, reminding him, “Tomorrow morning you still have to go to school. I’ll go out with you, and after Dad leaves for work, I’ll come back—I have some things to ask Mom.”

Qi Yuanzhe held the ice to his eye, closed his eyes, and said reluctantly, “I want to stay too. Brother, I really don’t feel like going to school right now.”

Qi Yuanchen shook his head. “No way. If both of us skip school, it’ll be hard to explain when the teacher complains. I’ve skipped before, so Dad probably won’t suspect anything. But not you. You’ve never skipped a day—if you suddenly don’t go tomorrow, there’s no way Dad won’t get suspicious.”

Qi Yuanzhe understood the reasoning, but he still felt unwilling. In the end, under his brother’s gaze, he relented. “Alright then, I’ll go to school tomorrow. But if you find anything out, you mustn’t hide it from me!”

Qi Yuanchen nodded. After icing their eyes for a while, he coaxed his brother to sleep, forcing himself to calm down too. There was a lot to deal with tomorrow—he needed rest to keep his head clear.

But the more he tried to sleep, the harder it was to fall asleep. The brothers tossed and turned for a long time before opening their eyes and looking at each other again.

“Brother…”

“Don’t worry. Just try to sleep.”

While comforting his brother, Qi Yuanchen’s own mind was in turmoil. Eventually, when sleep still wouldn’t come, he whispered to his brother, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. I won’t let you end up without a home.”

“Mm.”

Only when it was well past midnight and exhaustion overtook them did the brothers finally fall asleep. The next morning, Qi Yuanchen was awakened by noises from the living room. Because of everything that had happened the day before, he had slept lightly. Glancing up at the clock on the wall, he saw it was already six o’clock. Looking at his younger brother still asleep, he quietly got out of bed and walked to the full-length mirror. Seeing that his eyes didn’t look abnormally swollen, he finally left the room.

In the kitchen, Qi Sheng was making breakfast. Seeing his eldest son come out, he was a little surprised. “Not sleeping in a bit longer? It’s only six.”

Looking at his father wearing an apron, Qi Yuanchen almost burst into tears. He had never thought much of it before, but now he realized just how good their father really was.

“Dad, you don’t have to make us breakfast anymore. You work so hard with all that overtime and still wake up so early.”

Qi Sheng chuckled. “I’ll go back to sleep after I make breakfast. If I don’t cook, are you two planning to eat bread again or just snack on junk food?”

Qi Yuanchen followed him into the kitchen. Watching his father fry eggs, he picked up a plate and rinsed it under the tap while saying, “We won’t skip breakfast, don’t worry. From now on, I’ll make breakfast. Once you finish frying the eggs, go back to bed.”

Qi Sheng raised an eyebrow. “You know how to make breakfast?”

Drying the plate and then warming some milk, Qi Yuanchen immediately replied, “Why not? I’ve got some cooking skills. I can handle frying eggs and making porridge. Dad, please go rest. You were working late last night and got up so early again—just looking at you makes my heart ache.”

Hearing this, Qi Sheng looked at his eldest son with some surprise. “You’re really going to make breakfast? What’s gotten into you today?”

Qi Yuanchen smiled. “Just worried about how hard you’re working. Alright, the egg’s done—Dad, go rest.”

Qi Sheng, being urged by his son, obediently went back to the guest room to catch up on sleep. As he lay in bed, he replayed his son’s expression in his mind, still curious: What is that child planning next?

Qi Yuancheng hadn’t planned on doing anything grand. He had just suddenly realized how much their father had sacrificed for the family.

He used to complain that their mother didn’t take care of the house, but he wasn’t any better himself. Although he occasionally felt sorry for how hard their dad worked, he rarely did anything about it. Sometimes, making his dad a bowl of noodles when he came home late from work was already the best he could manage—and even then, it was usually when he was feeling guilty for skipping school during the day.

Thinking about how immature he had been, Qi Yuancheng gave a bitter smile. He hoped that before the truth came out, he would have a chance to treat their father properly.

After setting up breakfast, Qi Yuancheng also started a pot of congee in the rice cooker. Only when everything was done did he go back to the bedroom to wake his younger brother.

At first, Qi Yuanzhe still instinctively wanted to laze around in bed. But then he suddenly remembered what had happened the night before, and immediately stopped dawdling. He silently got out of bed and began dressing and washing up.

After they finished breakfast, Qi Yuanzhe saw his brother clearing the table and was briefly stunned. He stood there for a moment before walking into the kitchen as well.

Qi Yuancheng asked, “What are you coming in for?”

Qi Yuanzhe replied, “I’ll help with housework too from now on.”

Qi Yuancheng looked at his now much more sensible younger brother and gave a quiet “mm,” not rejecting the help.

Watching his clumsy little brother trying to help wash the dishes, Qi Yuancheng sighed inwardly. Sometimes, growing up really does begin in an instant or after just one event. They had been so reckless and spoiled, relying on their father’s love to act however they pleased. It wasn’t until they realized they might no longer be worthy of that love that they finally understood just how immature they had been.

After silently cleaning up the kitchen together, Qi Yuancheng went back to the bedroom to grab both of their school bags. Their school wasn’t far—only five stops on the subway. He walked his brother to the school gate, then carried his laptop alone to a nearby internet café.

This early in the morning, only internet cafés were even remotely lively. Qi Yuancheng got himself a private booth, opened his laptop, and began investigating the testing institutions listed on the two reports from yesterday.

He couldn’t find any useful information from the sender’s info, so he had to start with the institutions themselves. Thankfully, with a tech-savvy dad from the IT world, Qi Yuancheng had been learning programming since a young age. Hacking into the official site of such an institution wasn’t exactly a challenge for him.

In about an hour, Qi Yuancheng had the data he needed. Looking at the registration list and contact details, he saw someone named Li Ming, and immediately began a needle-in-a-haystack investigation into him. This time, things progressed faster than expected—but the results were disappointing.

Li Ming was just a private investigator.

Qi Yuancheng frowned and tried to dig deeper into Li Ming, but there was very little usable information online. Then again, it made sense—anyone working as a private investigator would likely have decent counter-surveillance skills. At the very least, any traceable information online had probably been wiped clean long ago.

Qi Yuancheng couldn’t think of any other methods for now and just sat staring blankly at the screen. Why was the person behind all this being so secretive?

Unable to make sense of it, Qi Yuancheng decided to hang around a little longer before going home to question Zhong Jin. Just as he was leaning back in the chair for a short rest, something suddenly occurred to him.

He quickly reentered the data backend of the testing center, and after nearly half an hour, finally made a breakthrough.

On the same day the paternity test was done, his genetic sample wasn’t only compared with their father’s—it had also been compared with another person, listed not by name but by a codename: Mr. K.

The bold characters “Biological Relationship” disgusted Qi Yuancheng just looking at them. If he had a choice, he’d want to see those words next to their father’s name instead.

The person who registered this report wasn’t Li Ming either. The name listed was simply a single English letter: Z. Could this person be the mastermind behind it all?

So… was all of this aimed at him?