Who's the Real Schemer?

A white-haired girl with braided pigtails walked onto the rooftop with a piece of bread in her mouth. When she saw the boy standing there dumbfounded, she casually patted him on the shoulder.

He was first in his grade, and she was last.

I don't know if every top student has a bad friend who's a slacker, but for the boy, this girl was one of the few good friends in school he could confide in, because most of the girls around him were infatuated with girls, while this girl... was a yuri.

Coupled with her outgoing personality, the boy quickly became so close to her that they were practically inseparable best friends.

"I lost..." The boy stared blankly at his palm.

The scene of the crushing defeat is still vivid in my mind; I feel like grinding my teeth to dust.

"Lost? Lost what? The game?"

"I lost the duel! I lost to my big stallion daddy!"

Under the girl's astonished gaze, the boy clutched his head and wailed, "How could this happen! That guy who's always so leisurely, only jogs in the morning, partyes every night, and even has long hair, how could he be so amazing! I didn't even touch him once before he picked me up and spanked me!"

After a pause, the boy wailed pitifully, "Spanking! How come at my age, there's still this traditional idea that children should be spanked for misbehaving!"

"Ah... you mean that guy I heard you say was so weak he couldn't even kill a chicken and that he emitted... what was his name...?"

"Pheromone."

"Oh right, is he always sending out that despicable father vibes to the opposite sex every day?"

"Yeah..." The boy leaned dejectedly against the railing, sunlight falling on his shoulders, "My mother said I could take on ten of them by myself..."

"You're really good. I can't beat you even with the Kaslana family's gun-fu techniques."

"You? Forget it." The boy raised his head uninterestedly.

"What do you mean?! This young lady is super powerful!"

"Yes, I know."

"That's too perfunctory!"

After arguing with the girl for a while, the boy got up from the railing and thought to himself, "The plan to run away from home is still set for tomorrow. You must keep it a secret. If my parents ask you, just say you don't know anything."

"No problem! Leave it to me! You come stay at my place, and you help me pursue Mei, it's a deal!"

"I hope you won't make any mistakes..."

The boy shook his head and sighed when he saw the confident girl.

"I'm back."

The boy glanced at his shoes in the mirror. His mother hadn't returned yet, so it would be just him and his father having dinner together tonight.

I hate to admit it, but I have to admit it: my father's cooking skills are better than my mother's. His control over ingredients, cooking time, and seasonings is just right and perfect. Even his casual plating looks like something out of a Michelin three-star hotel.

This trick is probably one of the reasons why those pretty aunties kept sharing it.

Damn it, did this guy save the world in his past life? He's even more of a chosen one than the chosen one himself!

Sure enough, just as he entered the living room, his father brought out the last dish. The sumptuous meal was incredibly tempting, and the steaming heat, with not a drop wasted, made everyone's appetite soar.

The man wearing a black mask untied his apron, tapped on the table, and gestured for the boy to put down his bag and go wash his hands and eat.

Pshaw, he only puts on airs like a father at times like this.

The boy was secretly filled with longing, but he still obediently washed his hands, not wanting the man to notice anything amiss before running away from home.

After washing his hands, the boy walked to the dining table and sat down opposite the man.

"... How's your butt today?" The man asked calmly, watching the boy pick up his chopsticks and then freeze.

"It's alright." The boy lowered his head, feeling both ashamed and resentful, not wanting the man to see his expression.

"Can you tell me why you did that yesterday?"

"..."

The boy had long realized that the man was the type who was very perceptive about many things, but the man usually didn't say much.

This time, however, the man seemed to notice the boy's unusual behavior and asked him a question.

In response to the boy's silence, the man pondered and asked, "Is it because of 'cheating'?"

"Thump!"

The boy slammed his chopsticks on the table and stood up angrily.

"... Since you already know, why did you ask me?"

To the boy, asking a question he already knew the answer to was a provocation.

"I've told you many times, you've misunderstood..."

"I misunderstood? What did I misunderstand! Were the people I saw that day fake? Was Aunt Mobius taking you into the car fake? Was your staying out all night fake? Or were the looks they gave you fake? Was Aunt Sakura's evasive gaze fake?!" The boy blurted it all out in one breath, slumped back into his chair, crossed his arms, and whispered, "Tell me... were these all fake...?"

"..." The man didn't expect the boy's emotions to erupt so suddenly. He was stunned for a few seconds before telling the truth, "It's all true."

"..."

The boy almost couldn't catch his breath.

"So... you're admitting to cheating?"

"No."

The boy stood up silently, turned around, and walked towards his room.

"Qi Jiu, let's eat."

"I won't eat."

"If you don't eat, your mother will come and feed you in a little while."

"..."

The boy walked back with his head down, as if trying to turn his grief into appetite. He devoured the dishes on the table, put down his chopsticks, and went back to his room.

The man sat down, glanced at the mess on the table, then looked at the boy's closed door. After pondering for a while, he picked up the dishes and cleaned up before knocking on the boy's door.

"Qi Jiu, I don't know what kind of 'truth' you want to hear, but for me, this is the first time I've spent time with my own child, so I don't understand your thoughts. If you can, please talk to me again."

"... Didn't you ever have a child before? How could you not know what I'm thinking..." The boy's muffled voice from under the covers drifted through the doorway. "Father, if you had found out about our parents' affair when you were my age, you would have been just as upset as I am. So you must have been in a happy and fulfilling family back then, without any of this kind of mess, which is why you don't understand my thoughts..."

"... I have never encountered such a thing."

"Then there's nothing more to say."

The man stood forlornly in front of the door, his raised hand ultimately lowered.

Chapter Four: Who is the Real Cunning One?

"So... Qi Jiu, you came to see me so late just to talk about this?"

The white-haired man wearing a nightcap put down a cup of hot milk and pushed it in front of the boy who had his head down. He crossed his arms with a detached expression, seemingly unfazed by the chilly evening breeze despite wearing only a thin nightgown.

He was surprised that the boy would come to him in the middle of the night, but that was all he was surprised about.

"Uncle Kevin, besides my parents, you and Aunt Mei are the only two married uncles and aunts I know. And you look a lot like my father, so I wanted to talk to you about this..." The boy explained his purpose and glanced at the white-haired man's face with a hint of expectation, but the other man's expression was as cold as ice, destined to disappoint him.

"First of all, my 'similarity' to your father is only superficial. I don't know how you see us, but Lin's situation is different from mine." The white-haired man explained his meaning clearly, hoping that the child could understand. "Secondly, what I want to say is the same as before: your father is not the kind of person who would do such a thing."

"..."

"I know you're very resentful and feel that your father owes you something, but in fact, that wasn't his intention."

"But he admitted it himself..."

"So you think that if a stranger appears in your house, your father goes out all night with a pretty aunt, and Sakura admits that she's interested in your father, then your father is cheating on you?"

After speaking, the white-haired man paused for a moment, then scratched his head. "It seems that it really is..."

The boy raised his head slightly.

"In short, your father could not possibly do such a thing. He had no interest in women before he married your mother. How could he have changed his mind after just over ten years?"

"..."

"Lin's past is very unusual. He never experienced normal parental love, so he's probably at a loss about how to interact with you. He doesn't know how to act normally with you and just follows his own habits..."

"What did you say?"

"He doesn't know how to talk to you normally..."

"It's the sentence before that."

The white-haired man said in confusion, "He's never experienced what it's like to be normal..."

Tell me more!

"Aunt Vill-V ..."

"Alright, Kevin has already told me why you came to see me." The magician, who was still working late into the night planning his magic tricks while wearing a top hat, put down his props, spun his chair around, and smiled at the boy. "Let me guess... the reason you came to see me is because I don't seem to have a very close relationship with Lin, and I'm not the 'cheating' person you suspect."

"As expected of Aunt Vill-V."

The boy exclaimed in admiration, noting that the magician's logical thinking often made conversations much easier, and that her smile wasn't as sinister and unsettling as someone else's.

"Oh dear... I never expected Lin to make such a mistake. Does having a child really change a person?" The magician sighed. He still vividly remembered the man's once indifferent and rational demeanor, but now he was at a loss over such a simple matter. "So, you must have heard about your father from Kevin, right? What are your thoughts now?"

"... I misspoke. My father probably really doesn't know how to treat me."

"Being able to honestly admit your mistakes is a virtue you inherited from your father. He didn't tell you about some things from the past, which was his oversight, but perhaps it's simply because you didn't ask, so he didn't tell you."

"But that doesn't mean he didn't do those things!"

The magician's face suddenly drew closer, startling the boy. Seeing his reaction, she smiled and said, "Oh... that's how sensitive puberty is."

"W-what?"

"Hehe, it's nothing." The magician casually picked at his nails. "Qi Jiu, I'm going to tell you a secret, but don't go telling anyone."

"Secret?"

"It's related to your father."

Upon hearing that it was related to men, the boy nodded without hesitation. "I want to hear it."

The magician grinned mischievously and said in an enigmatic tone, "Actually... your father's type is someone like your Aunt Mobius."

"..."

This was indeed a surprising secret. As for the boy himself, his mind went blank for half a second when he heard this, and he almost subconsciously retorted, "No, no way."

"Hmm? Weren't you doubting his relationship with Mobius? Why do you think it's unbelievable now? Lin said it himself, and even if you ask him to verify it, you'll get a positive answer."

"..." The boy finally realized what was happening after the magician's reminder, but he still hesitated, "But neither my father nor Aunt Mobius..."

"Marriage? Then we need to talk about something crucial. You've always felt that your mother has been deceived by us and kept in the dark, haven't you?"

"..." The boy swallowed hard. For some reason, he felt that what was about to be said might overturn his impression of his mother.

"Do you know how your father, who practically had a label of frigidity plastered on his forehead, managed to marry your mother?" The magician gave the boy an awkward smile, then lowered his voice to reveal a shocking truth—

"Because she played a trick. While your aunts were still struggling with your father, she secretly and directly proposed to him."

"Proposal?!"

The boy was startled. His mother had never mentioned these things to him, so he thought that it was actually his father who proposed to his mother. Was it the other way around?

"Is it Mobius's misfortune? She's Lin's type, but this type is hard to talk to. On the contrary, your mother understands all of them very well."

"By then, we had done everything we needed to do, and it was time for us to settle down. When your father heard your mother mention marriage, he considered that it was indeed not a problem to get married at that time, and no one else had brought it up with him. So, he got married, as he rarely rejected other people's requests."

"..."

My worldview was shattered.

So, his parents' marriage was... so dramatic?

It wasn't a long-term relationship, but rather a sudden, surprise marriage?

"So, do you still think your mother is being kept in the dark by us? She's much smarter than us. Her favorite thing to do used to be to tease Mobius. You look so confused right now, maybe she already knows and is just waiting to see your cute face when the mystery is revealed."

Logically, the boy should have questioned the truth of the matter at this point, but after considering his father's personality and his mother's character together, he suddenly realized that what the magician said might very well be true.

The boy collapsed onto the chair with a thud.