Chapter 37

On the way back, Dong Qi did everything he could to persuade his grandparents not to take that so-called miracle medicine. They promised they wouldn't, but after they got home, he went to the bathroom and came back to find the medicine box open, with two pills missing.

Seeing Dong Qi staring at the box, Jiang's father coughed awkwardly and hurriedly put it away.

That wasn't the only thing that sent him into a tailspin. At noon, Jiang's mother got a call from Jiang Li.

"Mom, is Qiqi at your place?" Jiang Li asked calmly.

As far as Dong Qi had imagined, his mom should have been panicking and sobbing by now. Once she found out he was at his grandma's, she should have apologized and said she'd come get him right away. But none of that happened.

Jiang's mother was quite blunt with her daughter. "What's the deal with Xiao Dong's daughter? She's only been back a few days, and she's already bullying our Qiqi! And how are you supposed to be a mother? Your son's been gone this long, and you're only looking for him now!"

Jiang Li knew she was in the wrong. She would have been worried before, but Liu Mumu was there now. She'd told Jiang Li that Dong Qi was staying with relatives, so Jiang Li hadn't been concerned.

Aside from her parents, the only relatives she had in Qingcheng were Jiang Jia. Even if he really had gone to Jiang Jia's place, the boy wouldn't be mistreated.

"Mom, this has nothing to do with anyone else." Jiang Li glanced around and lowered her voice. "Qiqi really went too far this time. He made a fake report card and used it to fool me and his dad. His dad told him to stay home and study during the break, but he ran off behind our backs and took the Zhangs' kid next door with him."

"Really? It wasn't Xiao Dong's daughter who cooked this up?" Jiang's mother asked, unconvinced.

"Of course not," Jiang Li denied immediately.

"Even so, Xiao Dong can't hit a child. So what if Qiqi's grades aren't great? The whole Dong family will belong to him someday. He won't even have to go out and find a job." Jiang's mother sounded perfectly justified.

Her husband glanced over, and Jiang Li irritably rubbed her temples. "Mom, don't say things like that again."

Her daughter's complaint reminded Jiang's mother of how she'd only asked her for a little money to tide them over last time, but her son-in-law hadn't given her a cent. Instead, he'd sent them two pots of cacti to rub it in. Her expression immediately turned cold. "Forget it. It's not like I get to spend any of your family's money anyway, so I don't need to worry about you. When are you coming to pick up Qiqi?"

Jiang Li looked toward the dining table, where Liu Mumu was fiddling with some coins, and answered with difficulty, "I've already talked to Zhang Yang's family. Let the two kids stay with you for a few days. Old Dong's still angry."

Dong Zhenghao wasn't really that angry with his son. An hour or two of anger would have made the point; after that, he'd definitely come get him.

But Liu Mumu said the runaway kid ought to get a taste of how harsh the world could be. There was no need to overdo it—just freeze his cards and let him stay out for a while.

Jiang Li wanted to say that this was their home and of course her son could come back, but Dong Zhenghao only hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

The couple even went outside to argue about it, since they were afraid Liu Mumu might hear them if they stayed inside. It was downright miserable.

Jiang Li angrily insisted Liu Mumu was just petty. Since Dong Qi had treated her badly, she was finding ways to torment him and get revenge.

Dong Zhenghao had a sound rebuttal: his daughter was a master fortune-teller. How could anything a master said count as revenge? Every word was pure wisdom—and she hadn't even charged extra. He was getting an incredible deal!

Jiang Li was so angry she didn't want to speak. In the end, when she returned to the table and faced "Master Liu," she gave in too.

Anyway... their son was only staying at his maternal grandparents' for a few days. Hardship forged strong men, and if he suffered a little, his mom's life would be easier, wouldn't it?

And so Dong Qi was left there.

That afternoon, Dong Qi didn't get to see his parents. All he got was the news that every one of his cards had been suspended.

It was a complete tragedy.

That night, he dreamed about Liu Mumu over and over. One of them pointed at him and said, "You didn't step with your left foot. Your leg's broken."

Another pointed at him and said, "Your report card is fake."

Then his dad picked up a forty-meter-long rolling pin and brought it crashing down on him.

Dong Qi felt a pain in his chest and burst into angry tears in his dream. That man definitely wasn't his real dad!

When he finally came to his senses, he realized his chest hurt because Zhang Yang, who was sleeping beside him, was kicking and punching in his sleep. He'd just swung an arm into Dong Qi's chest.

Dong Qi kicked Zhang Yang in disgust, but Zhang Yang didn't wake up. He seemed to be having a nightmare; his face was twisted into a fierce grimace, his teeth clenched as if he were fighting someone.

"Annoying." Feeling thirsty, he sat up in bed and turned on the bedside lamp. When he didn't see a glass of water on the nightstand, he remembered he was at his grandma's, and his mom wasn't there.

Then he remembered the dream he'd just had and decided his parents probably weren't his real parents after all.

Angrily, he kicked his slipper toward the door. Then, bothered by the cold floor, he padded over barefoot to put it back on before opening the door and going out to get himself some water.

As he passed his grandparents' room, Dong Qi heard voices inside. He pushed at the door, which wasn't locked, and it opened a crack.

The room wasn't too dark. Jiang's parents hadn't drawn the curtains, and moonlight lit the room, making the outline of the people on the double bed easy to see.

They were both lying in bed, apparently talking.

But the sound Dong Qi had made pushing the door wasn't quiet, and they didn't acknowledge him at all.

Dong Qi already felt something was off. Just as he was about to leave, he heard his grandma say, "What's wrong with being a mistress? Once he gets divorced, our Xiao Li will be the proper wife. He can give us ten thousand a month for living expenses from then on. My daughter can't be his mistress for nothing."

Then he heard his grandpa say, "Why is it another girl? The Jiang family line ends with me."

After saying that, he started sobbing.

Dong Qi shivered, realizing his grandparents were sleep-talking.

He hesitated, but in the end he didn't dare go in and wake them. Instead, he closed the door.

After drinking his water, he didn't go back to the room he'd been sleeping in. He found another guest room and went to bed there.

He kept dreaming after he fell asleep. His dreams were a jumble of things happening at home: his dad saying he'd kick him out if he didn't come in first in the whole school; his dad saying his grades were so bad that he'd leave the entire family fortune to Liu Mumu and not give him a single cent. In short, it was all nightmares.

The next morning, Dong Qi woke up sometime after nine. His grandparents, who should have finished breakfast ages ago, seemed to have only just gotten up too.

They didn't look well. His grandma was cooking while his grandpa muttered outside, apparently scolding her for getting up late and making him wait for breakfast.

Zhang Yang came out of the room yawning and asked Dong Qi, "Why weren't you sleeping in the room last night?"

"You were snoring and woke me up, so I slept in another room," Dong Qi said without missing a beat.

"Really? I don't snore." Zhang Yang scratched his head in confusion.

Dong Qi stayed at Jiang's parents' house for four days. At first, he'd only thought the place was too small and that he wasn't used to it. Later, he didn't even have the energy to fuss over little things like that.

Having nightmares every night was bad enough, but everyone else in the house was acting strangely too. At first, Zhang Yang had just kicked and punched in his sleep; later, he started crying and screaming like a slaughtered pig.

Yesterday had been even scarier. His grandma had sleepwalked into the kitchen and started chopping a tomato. It couldn't have been more terrifying.

Dong Qi, who had played all kinds of games, figured his family's strange behavior might be a sign that they were about to turn into zombies!

He couldn't stay here any longer. If he did, he'd be done for.

Back at the Dong family home, Zhang Shijing had returned from his business trip. He brought gifts and came with his wife to thank the Dongs.

Dong Zhenghao hadn't gotten home yet, so Jiang Li politely invited the couple to chat in the living room.

Zhang Shijing was in his forties. He looked ordinary, but carried himself like a scholar. Jiang Li had heard he used to be a teacher before quitting to go into business.

His wife was around the same age. She was rather thin and didn't look well, but she was pretty, and spoke in a soft, gentle voice.

The couple seemed to get along well. Every so often, they exchanged a tender glance.

Liu Mumu and Dong Yue were in the living room too. While they chatted, Zhang Shijing asked Dong Yue about her grades and offered her some study tips.

As for Liu Mumu, he had a vague idea who she was, but since Jiang Li hadn't formally introduced them, he didn't feel it was appropriate to say much. When he noticed her looking at him, he smiled warmly.

Liu Mumu was actually a little curious. He and his wife seemed to have a good relationship, but did he know that his mother had slapped his wife in public?

The Zhang family matriarch's behavior that day had genuinely shocked her. From what Jiang Li had casually mentioned over the past few days, the old lady hadn't treated her previous daughter-in-law that way.

About half an hour later, Dong Zhenghao finally came home. Seeing that they had guests, he warmly shook hands with Zhang Shijing and exchanged pleasantries. Then Zhang Shijing finally explained why they'd come.

It was mainly because the children had been away for four days and the elderly at home missed them. He planned to bring Zhang Yang back from Dong Qi's maternal grandparents' house.

Jiang Li looked at Dong Zhenghao hopefully. She wanted to bring her son back too.

"Sure. Let's go pick up the kids now," Dong Zhenghao replied readily.

While Dong Zhenghao was getting ready to pick up his son, Dong Qi was already plotting to run away from his grandparents' house.

He'd managed to get five hundred yuan in pocket money from his grandpa. After calculating for a long time, he figured it probably wouldn't be enough for even one day's expenses. He stood outside his grandma's house, scratching his head in worry.

Maybe he should go home and apologize to his dad?

But then he'd have to make up his studies, and Liu Mumu would get to laugh at him. Just thinking about it made Dong Qi feel awful.

While he was hesitating, he suddenly saw someone standing by the road not far ahead, looking in his direction. The person seemed a little familiar.

The moment their eyes met, Dong Qi recognized him. Wasn't this the professor who'd given that lecture the other day?

What was he doing here? Had he just happened to pass by, or had he come looking for them?

Dong Qi's heart lurched. When the man actually started walking toward him, he scrambled to shut the gate and rushed inside.

Seeing the boy look terrified and run off, Xu Yonglin stopped in his tracks.

He had followed his gu here. Only after finishing his lecture that day had he realized that someone had taken the gu he kept outside. It wasn't particularly harmful, but he'd gone to a lot of trouble raising it, so he had to get it back.

He hadn't told his big brother about it. He'd kept the gu by the entrance to the third floor, and if his brother found out, he'd assume someone had snuck up there. He might even kill them to cover it up.

So he planned to come take a look himself first. If it was just an ordinary person, he'd retrieve the gu and leave it at that.

He hadn't expected to find traces of the gu on this boy—and the boy had looked at him as if he'd seen a ghost.

Xu Yonglin was troubled. As he considered whether he should knock on the door, two cars pulled up outside the house.

He hesitated, then stepped back, planning to come back later.

After four days away from home, Dong Qi finally got to see his dad.

At first, he'd planned to show his dad how angry he was, but when he saw the calm look in his dad's eyes, he quietly lowered his head and decided not to hold it against him.

Zhang Yang had been quite happy when he saw Zhang Shijing, but the moment he noticed his stepmother had come too, his face darkened.

"Yangyang, Dad's here to take you home. Did you miss me?" Zhang Shijing didn't seem to notice anything strange about his son and opened his arms to him.

"I did." Zhang Yang threw himself into his dad's arms, then glared viciously at his stepmother behind him.

Dong Zhenghao noticed, but it wasn't his business what happened in someone else's family. He only needed to bring the boy home.

He carried the various gift boxes Jiang Li had insisted he bring into the house, chatted briefly with Jiang's parents, and then left with the others.

Before leaving, Dong Qi turned back to remind his grandparents, "Grandma, don't keep taking that medicine."

"Got it. Be careful on the way," Jiang's mother said from the doorway, waving to her grandson.

As for the miracle medicine, there was no way they could keep taking it, because they'd already finished it.