Chapter 13

An Zimo wanted to get away from this lunatic as soon as possible, but breaking free completely was easier said than done.

First, he was still a child. Second, earning money required identification and a bank card. Of course, with a computer and some funds, getting identification was not impossible. So his first step now was to earn money, and earning money required identification...

He was stuck in a vicious cycle.

An Zimo suddenly felt that the road ahead was bleak. He sighed mournfully and closed his eyes, deciding to work all this out another day.

The next day.

An Xiang's milk tea shop, which did not sell milk tea, officially opened for business. She could not leave her son at home alone, so she brought him along to the shop.

Naturally, a shop that had just opened, was tucked away in an out-of-the-way location, and had received no publicity had no customers. In the empty milk tea shop, An Xiang sat at the counter with a paintbrush, drawing business cards one by one. Each card featured a different little chibi figure.

She was not actually as worthless as her mother had said.

During the countless days and nights she had spent imprisoned, An Xiang had taught herself little hobbies to get through the boredom. Drawing was something she had learned then. She had little grounding in it and certainly could not call herself a professional, but her drawings were not too terrible. When she posted them online, people called them cute, and gradually, she had even started receiving commercial commissions.

After drawing a few dozen cards, An Xiang began to feel tired. She put down her brush, straightened up, shook her aching wrist back and forth, and looked at An Zimo.

He was watching television. The financial channel.

An Xiang was silent for a while, then suddenly wondered whether her son would get too bored staying here with her every day. Once business gradually picked up, she would probably become busy too, and then she would not be able to look after him every moment.

So... should she send him to kindergarten?

An Xiang had the idea, but she was also afraid that her son, with his wooden expression and rather slow little head, might get bullied.

After fretting for ages, the foolish mother took some paper and a pen and sat on the sofa. "Son."

An Zimo glanced over out of the corner of his eye, looking quite indifferent.

"Would you like Mommy to teach you to read?" Holding the pen, she neatly wrote the character An on the paper, stroke by stroke. "Look, this is An. It's our surname."

"Zi is very simple, but Mo is a little complicated. You write Mo like this..." An Xiang had just written the "black" component when she suddenly got stuck. She dotted the pen against the paper for ages but could not write the remaining component.

"Pfft." An Zimo folded his arms and scoffed without sparing her feelings.

An Xiang's face instantly flushed scarlet. "I-I know how!" She stiffened her neck as she spoke. "I just don't write by hand often, so I forgot for a moment. I really do know!!"

She really did, but her son's eyes clearly showed that he did not believe her.

As they spoke, the doorbell rang.

An Xiang looked over. Could they have customers?!!

At that thought, An Xiang sprang off the sofa and hurried to open the door.

"Hello, welcome!"

Two boys of fifteen or sixteen stood outside in school uniforms. The one in front was very tall, probably around six feet. He was good-looking too, with fair, smooth skin, delicate features, and the youthful innocence particular to his age in his eyes.

Clutching a strap of his schoolbag with one hand, he stared at An Xiang with unblinking, upturned eyes, as though he had frozen.

"Hello, we wanted to ask about Momo Cat..."

Before the boy beside him could finish, he shoved him behind him with one hand. The boy stepped forward twice and lowered his head to gaze at An Xiang's face, a strange flush creeping over his ears.

"D-do you sell milk tea here?"

An Xiang shook her head honestly. "We don't sell milk tea."

"But it says on your door..."

"Milk tea is too much trouble, so I switched to juice." An Xiang pointed down toward her feet. "Turn left after leaving this apartment building. There's a place selling milk tea there."

"Hey, Pei Chen, we agreed to go to the cat café..."

His companion began urging him again. The boy named Pei Chen knitted his brows, looking impatient, and turned back with a fierce glare. "Cat café, my ass." After snapping at his companion, he looked back at An Xiang, his earlier irritability replaced by gentle shyness. "Th-then what do you sell here?"

An Xiang thought this boy was very strange. She paused before saying, "Juice."

"Okay, then we'll have juice." He walked past An Xiang into the shop. "Do we need to take off our shoes?"

"No, no. Just come here to order."

An Xiang hurried behind the counter. Because she had opened so suddenly, many things were still unprepared. Even the menu was something she had hastily made from stiff card, with only two items on it-

Son: 18.

Purified water: 2.

Pei Chen glanced at the menu and said without batting an eyelid, "I'll have a cup of son, less sugar and extra ice." Then he looked beside him. "Yin Dongyu, what do you want?"

Yin Dongyu looked so conflicted that he seemed constipated. In the end, he said weakly, "...I want to go to the cat café."

"Cat, my ass," Pei Chen cursed under his breath, slapping the back of his head before telling An Xiang, "Get him a cup of son too."

These two boys were strange, but she was lucky to have any business at all.

An Xiang asked them to sit and focused on making the juice.

They put down their schoolbags. Pei Chen stretched out one long leg casually, propped an elbow on the table, and kept stealing glances at An Xiang.

The girl working behind the counter could absolutely be described as lovely.

Lazy, gentle sunlight danced over her soft hair. With her fair skin, pretty face, and serene features, she was just the right amount of innocent and cute.

More importantly, she smelled wonderful.

The moment Pei Chen entered, her scent had drawn him in. It was not some tacky perfume, but a sweetness coming from her blood.

Fuck!

His fangs were about to show.

Pei Chen hurriedly looked away and clamped a hand over his mouth, commanding under his breath, "Go back... go back..."

"Pei Chen, what are you doing?"

"Nothing." Pei Chen coughed lightly and lowered his hand. He casually surveyed his surroundings, then noticed An Zimo sitting nearby.

The little boy sat ramrod straight, staring motionlessly at the television like a puppet.

Pei Chen turned his attention to the boy's face. His thick brows and big eyes were very cute, but...

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Pei Chen looked away and unconsciously covered his chest. It felt a little tight.

Understanding dawned on Yin Dongyu. "Your tits hurt?"

"Get lost! Your tits hurt!"

The two began fooling around across the round table.

"Hello, here are the two cups of son you ordered. Enjoy." An Xiang set the finished juice in front of them and was about to leave with her tray when Pei Chen suddenly called her back.

"Did this shop just open?"

An Xiang nodded. "We only opened today. You're my first customers." She had thought no one would visit for the next month, so she had not expected to get an order this soon.

At the thought, she could not help smiling.

Her smile was sweet, with a little dimple. Pei Chen was almost dazzled senseless, his ears turning even redder than when he had first come in.

"Enjoy your drinks, then. Call me if you need anything." An Xiang returned to the counter and began tidying up.

Pei Chen took a sip of juice and said dazedly, "She's making eyes at me. Do you think she likes me?"

Before Yin Dongyu could answer, a small, rather indistinct scoff reached them. "Moron."

Pei Chen listened carefully and confirmed that he had not misheard.

That kid was insulting him!

He was just about to flare up when he met An Zimo's calm, almost gloomy gaze. Those eyes overlapped with someone's in his mind, and a chill instantly rose from the soles of his feet. He slowly shrank back, lowered his head, and sipped his juice.

"Yin Dongyu, why aren't you drinking?"

Yin Dongyu took out his homework and started working through problems. Without looking up, he said, "I can't stomach drinking son."

The juice's name was so bizarre that no normal person would want to drink it.

Pei Chen pursed his lips, then had a sudden inspiration at the sight of the workbook on the table.

Setting his juice aside, he opened his schoolbag and pulled out an exercise book he had not written a single word in, his eyes following An Xiang.

The boy's schemes were written all over his face. An Zimo idly changed channels and said, in a voice only the three of them could hear, "Forget it. She can't."

"Huh?"

An Zimo leaned back leisurely against the soft sofa, his dangling little legs swinging from side to side. His childish voice was slow and unhurried. "She can't do advanced math."

Pei Chen: "..." His campaign had died before it even began.

Still unwilling to give up, Pei Chen took out a Chinese test paper.

An Zimo laughed again, a cold laugh. "If she knew Three Hundred Tang Poems, she might be able to teach you a couple lines of classical poetry."

Fuck!

Pei Chen slammed the table, beating his chest and stamping his feet in frustration. This little brat had such a fucking vicious tongue!!

He was exactly like his great-grandfather!

Even after finishing their juice, the two showed no sign of leaving, quietly bending over the table to do homework.

Before she knew it, the clock on the wall pointed to seven. An Xiang felt anxious and conflicted. Because home was so far away, and she had Zimo with her, she had planned to close at five thirty and go home. But customers had finally come, and simply driving them out would hardly be nice.

After agonizing for a long time, An Xiang finally approached, bent down slightly toward Pei Chen, and deliberately softened her voice. "We're getting ready to close."

Pei Chen's ears twitched. He hastily shut his exercise book, which was covered in little doodled figures, and kicked at Yin Dongyu. "Dongyu, get up. We're going home." He picked up his schoolbag and tried to look composed in front of An Xiang, but his neck, flushed with shyness, still gave him away.

Looking into her eyes, he stammered, "Y-your son tastes really good."

An Zimo, who had been treated as invisible all this time, raised his head, then lowered it again, pretending he had heard nothing.

"Do you have a business card, miss? I can send my friends here."

"Yes." An Xiang hurriedly handed over a card. "If you liked it, please come again."

Pei Chen looked down. The hand-drawn rabbit on the card had an adorably goofy pose and a cute expression. Beside it, two characters were written in delicate handwriting-An Xiang.

"Is this your name?"

"Yes."

"Y-your name sounds nice..." Pei Chen flushed slightly and suddenly grew bashful. "I-I'll bring my friends this weekend."

An Xiang paused, then smiled. "Okay."

Pei Chen put on his schoolbag, carefully tucked the card into his pocket, and reluctantly left the apartment building with his companion.

The two parted ways at the intersection. Pei Chen leaned against a wall, quietly waiting for his ride.

Just then, his phone sounded with a message-from Pei Yizhou, who did not particularly want Pei Chen calling him Great-Grandpa.

[Where are you?]

Pei Chen replied: [Across from your office.]

He sent no further messages, which was very much in character.

Pei Chen had just tucked his phone back into his schoolbag when a black Maybach slowly drove along the curb and finally stopped beside him.

The window slid down, revealing part of the man's face. Judging by his eyes, he was not in a very good mood.

"Get in."

Somewhat cowed, Pei Chen ducked his head and climbed in.

Pei Yizhou sat with his long legs crossed, unsmiling. His icy presence alone left Pei Chen unable to speak.

"Your school called me today."

"W-wait, never mind school." With no fear of death, Pei Chen interrupted him, craning his neck to ask, "Seventh Great-Grandpa, do you believe in love at first sight?"

"..."

The atmosphere inside the car turned strange.

Pei Yizhou's eyes were deep and dark. After staring at him for a few seconds, he smiled. "Do you believe you're going to die today?"

Pei Chen fell silent and hung his head with a miserable expression.

As the car drove away, two figures, one tall and one small, emerged from the apartment building, missing them by the narrowest margin.

Pei Chen: I fell in love at first sight!

Pei Yizhou: That's your great-grandmother.

An Zimo: I'm your grandpa.

Pei Chen: ???

Here's the son with less sugar and extra ice you ordered in yesterday's comments, delivered today (doge face.

Their vampires live long lives and can have lots of children, so the family generations are pretty tangled. Any generational relationship is possible, so it's not a plot hole. Pei Yizhou belongs to a fairly senior generation and is a brother of Pei Chen's actual great-grandfather. Pei Yizhou is the youngest of six brothers.

D-does that make sense?!

It's okay if it doesn't. Honestly, I can't keep all this straight either. Just remember he's the ancestor!!

Actually, I'm pretty high up in my family's generations too. My two nieces are seven and five years older than me, and they call me their youngest aunt. Now that they have children, those children have to call me great-aunt.

Lastly, don't laugh at Xiangxiang for not being able to write Mo. I hardly ever write by hand these days either, and... there are lots of characters I can't write either QAQ, but I really do know them!!

Red envelopes for the first hundred comments.