In the Years When I Was a Father

Chapter 65: Movie Star Dad (3)

After school in the afternoon, Qi Rui had to refuse his classmates several times before he finally managed to get them to head home obediently. Unfortunately, just as he reached the school gate and saw the annoying guy waiting for him in the car, Qi Rui secretly thought to himself, This is bad.

Sure enough, the classmates who hadn’t gone far out of curiosity followed him and peeked into the car. Seeing the familiar figure inside, they couldn’t help but get excited.

“Hello, Uncle Qi!”

A few boys and girls happily greeted Qi Sheng. Qi Sheng, seeing his son roll his eyes dramatically, smiled and returned the greeting, “Hello.”

Several girls, upon seeing their idol in person, couldn’t help but get excited and started expressing their admiration to Qi Sheng. Seeing this, Qi Rui quickly tried to chase them away. “Hurry up and go home! You’re already so old and still fangirling, aren’t you ashamed?”

The girls glared at him but still politely said goodbye to Qi Sheng, “Goodbye, Uncle Qi!”

“Goodbye. Be careful on your way home,” Qi Sheng replied.

After the car windows were rolled up, Qi Rui was still sulking. Seeing the annoying guy still smiling, he couldn’t help but complain, “You know you’re so eye-catching, yet you still insist on showing up instead of staying quietly at home.”

Qi Sheng chuckled and ruffled his son’s hair. “It’s not like your dad is some shady figure. What’s wrong with coming to pick you up from school?”

Qi Rui mumbled a couple of words but didn’t argue further. After dinner that evening, just as the boy was about to go play games, he was dragged into the study by Qi Sheng before he could even turn on the computer.

“Come on. Starting today, I’ll accompany you to do your homework every night.”

Qi Rui stared at the desk and then at his dad’s serious face, looking completely incredulous. You’re actually serious!?

“I… I can do it myself. You’re so busy, I wouldn’t want to bother you,” Qi Rui said flatteringly, trying to slip away.

But Qi Sheng wasn’t going to give him a chance. He grabbed him firmly and said with a deliberately stern face, “Stay here and study properly. If you don’t, don’t even think about leaving this room tonight.”

The kid, looking very unhappy, forcefully pulled out his textbooks, expressing his protest through actions against Qi Sheng’s forced tutoring.

Knowing he couldn’t completely suppress him with force, Qi Sheng softened his tone and said, “Alright, be good. If you behave and study properly during classes, Dad will take you out to have fun on the weekends — anywhere you want to go.”

Qi Rui felt that the temptation wasn’t that strong. When you weren’t around, I could go out and have fun every day anyway.

Seeing through his son’s thoughts, Qi Sheng tapped his head lightly. “Students should focus on studying. All you think about is playing. If you study hard now, after your entrance exams, you can go anywhere you want, and I’ll agree. Deal?”

“You’ll come along too?”

Qi Sheng nodded, “Of course. I said I’ll properly stay by your side.”

Reluctantly, Qi Rui agreed and sat properly, first opening a Chinese practice paper and working on it for a while. Later, seeing his dad sitting there looking too relaxed, he deliberately pulled out a math test. Staring at all those incomprehensible problems, his motivation to study instantly disappeared.

“Dad, I don’t know how to do any of these!”

Qi Sheng had been watching him closely the whole time. Seeing his reaction now, he smiled, took out a pen, glanced over the questions, and carefully wrote down the step-by-step solutions. Then he began explaining each problem in detail.

Qi Rui was a bit surprised. He thought his dad had just gotten lucky with one problem, but to his amazement, the annoying guy solved question after question with ease. Qi Rui stared at him in disbelief, “Dad, how do you still remember junior high school knowledge?!”

Wasn’t he supposed to have forgotten everything? How could this annoying guy still explain such ancient material so skillfully?

“It’s all for you. I specially reviewed it today,” Qi Sheng said with a fawning tone.

Hearing that, Qi Rui felt a little sour in his heart. Watching the annoying guy so seriously explaining lessons, he couldn’t help but ask, “When are you leaving?”

Qi Sheng looked up and immediately caught the reluctance in the boy’s eyes. He rubbed his head and said, “I told you, I’ll stay with you. Stop overthinking. Now, hurry up and focus on understanding this topic.”

Hearing that, Qi Rui glanced at him again but didn’t say anything else. He obediently sat there and listened carefully.

After finishing the math test paper, Qi Sheng realized his son’s foundation was too weak. So he simply pulled out the math textbook and started explaining each concept to him one by one.

During this time, Xia Li came over once. Seeing that the atmosphere between father and son was just right, she dropped off some fruit and milk before returning to her room to rest. As usual, she opened her phone to browse gossip news. However, when she saw headlines about Qi Sheng supposedly being ambiguously close to some female celebrities, she merely curled her lips, shut off her phone, and picked up a book from her bedside to read instead.

“Hey, Qi Rui, what have you been up to these past couple of nights? We’re planning to team up and hit the internet café today — you in?”

A friend from another class hadn’t seen Qi Rui the past few days and was puzzled. Now that they ran into him, he couldn’t help but try dragging him along to play games.

“I have something to do, not going,” Qi Rui replied honestly.

“What could you possibly be up to? Don’t tell me you got yourself a girlfriend,” joked two other boys who often played with Qi Rui.

Qi Rui shrugged helplessly and said, “Tutoring.”

The three of them burst out laughing when they heard that. One of them said, “Come on, don’t kid us. Weren’t we just ditching classes to hang out not long ago? What’s gotten into you? Come on, let’s grab a bite nearby, then go have a good match!”

Qi Rui shook his head again and said, “My dad is personally tutoring me at home. I can’t escape.”

“Uh, shouldn’t the Heavenly King Qi be busy filming out of town right now?”

“Maybe he got scared by that news the other time. Now he’s determined to mold me into a success.”

Truth be told, Qi Rui couldn’t really figure it out either. That workaholic annoying guy was actually willing to stay home and accompany him now. Other than not being able to play during study hours, it actually wasn’t bad having him around.

The three boys were all a bit stunned after hearing this. Qi Tianwang had been in the entertainment circle for so many years — could such minor scandals really scare him?

On the weekend, Qi Rui was finally able to sleep in. Ever since the annoying guy came back, he had to get up at six-something every morning, and it was pure torture — he had wanted to rebel so badly. Today, if that guy dared to wake him up again, he was determined to go on strike!

Fortunately, Qi Sheng knew he couldn’t push the child too hard. After working out and having breakfast in the morning, he noticed there was still no movement from Qi Rui’s room and reluctantly went to knock on the door.

Qi Rui, his hair sticking up like a bird’s nest, looked grumpy at the annoying guy who wouldn’t even leave him alone on weekends. “Didn’t you say I could do whatever I wanted on weekends?”

“Didn’t we agree to visit your grandparents today? You forgot after just one sleep?”

Upon being reminded, Qi Rui suddenly remembered and quickly said, “Give me a sec — I’ll be ready soon.”

After that, he dashed off to get dressed and wash up at lightning speed.

Qi Sheng also went back to change his clothes. Seeing his wife already dressed and ready, he came up behind her and hugged her, whispering, “After visiting my parents, let’s go on a date.”

It had been years since Xia Li went on a proper date with him. Now, seeing how much more devoted to family and tender he had become, she was so overjoyed that she turned around and kissed him.

Unfortunately, the kiss didn’t deepen before it was interrupted by their son outside the door: “There’s still a minor here, you know! You guys could at least close the door…”

Qi Sheng turned and glared at him. “Haven’t you heard of see no evil?”

Qi Rui pouted. Tsk, always bullying me.

When the family of three arrived at the retirement home, they saw the old man playing chess while the old lady was arranging flowers with a group of her friends. Seeing all three of them come together, both elders were slightly surprised.

The old man was so eager to spend time with his grandson that he immediately abandoned his chess game, left his chess buddy behind, and dragged Qi Rui inside, completely ignoring Qi Sheng’s existence.

Qi Sheng rubbed his nose awkwardly. Last time, he had been too rough disciplining the kid and almost got chased around by the old man with a stick. The old lady wasn’t any more forgiving — she completely ignored Qi Sheng and went inside with Xia Li.

With no one paying him any mind, Qi Sheng could only greet the people outside before following them inside.

“Mom, let me help,” he said, trying to win back some goodwill.

In order to refresh his image, Qi Sheng diligently started making tea, all while the little rascal looked on with a face full of schadenfreude.

At this moment, the grandson was the treasured one, while the son was just grass. Qi Rui, who had previously been at the bottom of the food chain, had climbed back to the top, enjoying peeled oranges and sliced apples from his grandparents while smugly watching the annoying guy labor away making tea.

Unfortunately for Qi Rui, Qi Sheng wasn’t about to let him be so smug. Smiling, he said, “Come here, I’ll teach you how to brew tea.”

Qi Rui didn’t really want to, but the annoying guy gave him a sharp glare, so he had no choice but to shuffle over with a face full of grievance.

Seeing him like that, Qi Sheng couldn’t help but give him a light smack. “Quit fooling around and hurry up.”

Qi Rui immediately put on a smile again and, curious, complained a little: “So much fuss just for a cup of tea.”

Seeing his interest, Qi Sheng couldn’t resist explaining the history and methods of tea drinking. One talked, one listened — the atmosphere between father and son was very harmonious.

Seeing the two getting along so well, the elderly couple finally softened their attitudes toward their son.

The next afternoon, the three of them returned home. Thinking that the kid had been obedient enough these past two days, Qi Sheng decided to give him a break.

“Tonight you can arrange your time freely, but if you’re going out, make sure you’re back before eight.”

Qi Rui nodded happily and immediately rushed off to the gaming room — it had been so long since he could team up and unleash himself.

Pumpkin: Yo, little Qi Rui, you haven’t been holed up studying these past couple of days, have you?

Pumpkin: Front row seat to witness the birth of a new academic genius!

Water God: +1 [applause] [applause] [applause]

Wolf Head: [munching melon.jpg]

Qi Rui immediately replied to them with a “Scram, you bunch of slackers!”

They were all gaming buddies, so they didn’t waste time chatting and quickly formed a team to start playing.

By the time Qi Sheng and Xia Li returned, it was already ten at night. Xia Li had drunk a little, so Qi Sheng helped her back to the bedroom to rest first.

After checking the time, Qi Sheng went to look for his son.

“Xiao Rui, it’s late. Time to rest,” he said. Finding the bedroom empty, he headed to the gaming room — sure enough, the kid was there.

“Dad, just one last match, ten minutes, I promise!”

Qi Rui, eyes blazing with excitement, shouted back without turning his head and focused again on his game. Unfortunately, despite his efforts, he was overwhelmed and killed right at his base entrance.

“Dad, dear Dad, just one more game, I swear this will be the last one!”

Neither Qi Rui nor his teammates could accept the defeat, so they begged for another round.

Qi Sheng had been standing by, observing them for a while now. Watching these rookies swing wildly without any strategy or technique, he couldn’t help but be amazed at how passionate they remained despite being so… bad.

Seeing that Qi Rui was so excited, Qi Sheng didn’t have the heart to immediately scold him and just quietly stood to the side.

But no matter how fired up the rookies were, enthusiasm couldn’t change the outcome. Ten minutes later — another crushing defeat.

Qi Rui and his teammates were still unwilling to give up and looked at Qi Sheng with pitiful faces. “Dad, this time it’s really the last round!”

Qi Sheng had already run out of patience. Even if you play another round, you’re still going to lose anyway, he thought.

The only thing Qi Sheng found strange was that the opponents were still willing to keep playing with them.

The kid still wouldn’t give up, looking at him with such pitiful eyes that Qi Sheng finally relented and said, “Move over. I’ll play for you.”

“Huh?”

Qi Rui reflexively moved aside and stared in shock at the annoying guy sitting down at the computer. “Dad, you know how to play games?!”

Qi Sheng ignored him and focused on the battlefield, controlling the character to move.

Fifteen minutes later, a big victory banner filled the entire screen.

Before Qi Rui could even cheer, a message popped up from the opposing team:

“Losers! Couldn’t handle losing so you even brought in a hacker!”