Chapter 19

That evening, the coffin shop delivered the custom-made child-sized coffin. The coffin carved with cartoon patterns replaced the crib in the children's room.

An Zimo had been in a foul mood ever since returning home and showed little interest in his new bed.

He went straight into the bathroom and locked the door tightly from the inside.

An Zimo refused to let An Xiang bathe him. Since coming back, he had always washed himself. Although it lightened An Xiang's workload, it also kept her constantly worried, afraid that her son might accidentally get hurt while bathing. So whenever he bathed, An Xiang waited outside until he came out safe and sound.

"Momo." An Xiang crouched outside the bathroom door and called through it. "If you don't want to go to kindergarten, then you don't have to. If you want to go, I won't stop you either. It's entirely up to you."

An Zimo did not answer.

He cupped water in his little hands and washed his face over and over.

Pei Yan had been ruthless. There were quite a few cuts on his face and scalp from being pinched. Fortunately, An Zimo could not feel pain, so he cleaned them without any hesitation.

After finishing his bath, he dried himself, changed clothes, and opened the door.

Hearing the movement, An Xiang immediately turned around.

With a gloomy expression, An Zimo silently glanced at her, then walked back to his room on his short little legs and climbed into the coffin using the small step stool.

An Xiang hurriedly carried the medicine kit in after him.

"Momo, let Mommy put some medicine on you."

An Zimo turned over and faced away from her.

She stood there awkwardly for a long while before taking out the antiseptic and using a medical cotton swab to carefully dab it onto the wounds on his face.

He did not resist and kept his eyes closed the entire time.

How should I apologize to my son?

Even if I apologize, he won't forgive me.

I didn't abandon him on purpose...

I'm a bad mommy.

An Zimo's lashes fluttered as he opened his eyes.

An Xiang could not stop herself from overthinking. The words distracted and uneasy seemed written all over her face.

She put away the medicine kit, bit her lip, and cautiously asked, "Momo, are you scared sleeping alone? Do you want Mommy to stay with you?"

He looked away.

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes." An Xiang kicked off her shoes and shamelessly climbed into the coffin.

An Zimo's eyelid twitched as if facing a great enemy. "Hey! Get out!" As he spoke, he viciously kicked An Xiang in the stomach. "I don't want you to stay with me! Get out!!"

The child's kick was hard and hurt sharply when it landed.

She frowned and groaned but did not give up. Using her adult physical advantage, she forcibly squeezed in beside An Zimo and wrapped him tightly in her arms.

"Let go!"

"You're so annoying! Go away!!"

An Zimo resisted to the bitter end, but no matter how he struggled, An Xiang refused to let go.

Once he ran out of strength, he resigned himself to turning away and sulking alone.

My stomach hurts so much, boohoo. My son's little feet are so strong.

An Xiang rubbed her stomach and silently wept in her heart.

"I... I just wanted to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to you." An Zimo was cold and merciless. "You're annoying."

"But there are only the two of us at home. I don't have many friends either, and besides you, there's no one else to talk to." An Xiang felt a little wronged. She had never had many friends growing up. When she was fifteen, a girl had wanted to be friends with her, and she had been overjoyed, only to find out it had merely been a game those people were playing.

Why were the people in this world so awful?

Her son must have been teased like that too, which was why he did not want to play with other children.

The mother and son were very close together. Hearing every thought, An Zimo suddenly stopped resisting.

It seemed that someone had once wanted to play with him. He had tried to offer his sincerity too, but in the end... that person had only treated him as a tool for doing homework. Not only had his mother beaten him afterward, but that person had spread the story everywhere.

He became a laughingstock.

"What do you want to talk about?" An Zimo asked softly despite himself.

"I want to tell you..." An Xiang pressed her lips together, gathered her courage, and said those three words. "I'm sorry."

An Zimo's pupils trembled, and his nails instantly dug into his flesh.

He had once held expectations for his mother. As long as she said one word of apology, he would choose to forgive her. But she never had. Even after his spirit died and his body perished, he had never received an apology.

An Zimo had left this world filled with hatred, with not the slightest emotion left for his so-called mother.

After his brief shock, An Zimo's heart turned once more into a bottomless dead sea.

"What do you mean?"

"You were born, and I threw you into the village. You must blame me terribly."

All of An Zimo's current resistance had been caused by her, his mother.

At the time when a child needed love most, she had made him a left-behind child, alone in the deep mountains.

An Xiang had clearly experienced such days herself, yet for her own selfish reasons, she had turned him into the person she once was.

"But Momo, your life has only just begun. No matter how things were before, they will get better in the future. The world is so big. One day, you'll find friends who truly care about you. So, Momo, you can try taking that first step."

An Xiang did not want her son to become a cold and indifferent creature. She did not want him to live alone in this world.

When she left someday, how pitiful would he be all by himself?

When he heard those final words, An Zimo abruptly opened his eyes.

He wrapped himself tightly in the blanket and found it laughable.

This vicious woman really saw herself as some savior. She should hurry up and leave so that she could finally have some peace herself.

An Zimo did not want to hear those nauseating thoughts anymore. He muted Mind Reading, curled into a ball, and shut his eyes tightly.

Early the next morning.

An Xiang examined the wounds on her son's face. Half of his genes came from the Vampire Clan, and his healing ability was three times that of an ordinary person. After one night, only faint red marks remained.

An Xiang applied medicine to him again, packed up her things, and took a taxi to the milk tea shop.

An Zimo kept yawning in the car. He had been running around with An Xiang these past few days, so he must have been tired too.

Looking at her sleepy son, An Xiang wondered whether she should sell the house here and buy a secondhand home near the milk tea shop.

But no one would probably want a place this remote.

And the apartment was in a prime downtown location. Even if she managed to sell this house, she probably could not afford even a bathroom over there.

It would be great if the place got demolished for redevelopment.

An Xiang daydreamed the whole way there.

After arriving at the shop, she began cleaning. Afraid An Zimo would get bored, she found a cartoon on the television for him to watch.

"Momo, Mommy needs to keep making juice. If you hear the bell, remember to call Mommy, okay?" An Xiang knew her son would not answer. Asking was pointless, so she treated his silence as agreement every time.

After saying that, she tied on her apron and opened the refrigerator.

Overnight, the ingredients had been replaced with fresh fruits and vegetables, and there were even some new items. Whenever ingredients ran low, the refrigerator automatically replenished them, so she did not need to worry about running out.

Yesterday's Customer Number One had already been successfully researched. Today, she was going to make—Oolong Tea-flavored great-grandpa!

No, great-grandpa-flavored Oolong Tea!

An Xiang took out the Oolong Tea and carefully recalled Pei Yizhou's scent.

Perhaps because humans had such changeable personalities, every person's blood carried two or three different scents. Some were foul, some fragrant, some sweet, and some sour. But... Pei Yizhou seemed to have only one scent.

That meant he was a very dull, boring person with no sense of fun.

Plain unsweetened Oolong Tea probably would not sell well...

An Xiang brewed herself a cup first and slowly tasted it while holding it in her palms. The tea fragrance was very light, with a lingering aftertaste and a rather pleasant flavor.

There were not many customers today. An Xiang considered registering with a food delivery platform, but being too busy would not be good either. Then there would be no one to look after her son.

The day remained quiet. Just as she was preparing to close early and go home, a customer arrived.

"Good afternoon, Sister!"

Outside the door, Pei Chen, dressed in his school uniform and carrying a backpack, waved and greeted An Xiang with a smile.

An Xiang was not surprised in the slightest. After all, other than Pei Chen, no one else would come to this shop.

"Come in first."

Pei Chen nodded and stepped aside. "Nuo Nuo, Yanyan, come in."

Nuo Nuo?

Yanyan?

An Zimo, who was sitting on the sofa, suddenly raised his head, and his gaze collided with Pei Yan's.

Both of them froze. The next second, Pei Yan lunged at An Zimo like a vicious beast, shoved him onto the sofa, and began wrestling with him.

Pei Chen was utterly stunned. Who started fighting the instant they met without saying a word?

"You little brat, what are you doing?!" Pei Chen threw his backpack onto the floor and rushed over, lifting him up like a baby chick.

Pei Yan was still unwilling to give up and continued clawing at An Zimo.

He practically hated An Zimo to death. After going home yesterday, he had inexplicably gotten scolded, been punished to stand against the wall for half an hour, and had not even gotten to eat his delicious snacks that night!

No matter how he thought about it, it was all An Zimo's fault!!!

"Come on!! I'm going to fight you to the death!!"

An Zimo panted as he climbed off the sofa. He lowered his head to smooth out his wrinkled clothes, then expressionlessly glanced at Pei Yan's ferocious face. With a soft snort, he spat out two words. "Childish."

Pei Yan exploded. "What did you say?! Say that again!"

An Zimo said, "Stupid."

He could not be bothered with this little brat. Leaning lazily against the sofa, he continued watching the cartoon.

Pei Yan was so angry he was nearly crying. His eyes reddened, and his lips trembled as he remained speechless for a long time.

An Xiang's head hurt.

How could she be so stupid?

Pei Chen had clearly said that he had a younger brother and sister attending kindergarten, and they were both surnamed Pei.

That meant... President Pei was also Pei Chen's great-grandfather.

Thinking of the man's handsome and striking face, An Xiang found it even more unbelievable.

How fertile must the elders in his family have been for him to be such a senior generation?

"Pei Chen, take your younger brother and sister to sit down first. I'll make juice for you." With that, she went behind the counter.

"I don't want to drink the juice here! Brother, let's go somewhere else! I don't want to see that stinky brat!"

Pei Yan lay on Pei Chen's shoulder and kept throwing a tantrum, yelling that he wanted to leave.

Pei Chen's handsome face flushed scarlet with embarrassment.

He had originally planned to bring his younger brother and sister here for juice and wait for Great-Grandpa to get off work, but he had never expected his brother to walk in and immediately beat up the owner's son.

Damn!

Could An Zimo be the one who had fought with Pei Yan yesterday?

Pei Yan had complained to him the entire way yesterday. Pei Chen had not taken it seriously then, but now it seemed very likely!

Ahhh! What a terrible sin!

The more Pei Chen thought about it, the angrier he became. He viciously pinched his younger brother's butt.

"Why are you pinching me?" Pei Yan stopped yelling, covered his butt, and protested pitifully.

Pei Chen lowered his voice, bent down, and viciously warned, "If you don't shut up, I'll beat you to death."

"..."

The shop instantly fell silent.

Pei Chen tossed his brother aside, ignored them, scratched the back of his head, and walked over to the counter.

An Xiang was focused on squeezing juice inside and had not been affected by the little commotion.

Looking at her tranquil face, Pei Chen felt even more at a loss.

"Sister An Xiang, did my younger brother fight with Zimo yesterday?"

He was a little afraid.

Vampire bones developed differently from those of ordinary people. When his younger brother went crazy, even he could barely restrain him, let alone An Zimo, who was just an ordinary human child.

"It's okay. But Momo knocked out one of your brother's teeth." An Xiang asked with concern, "Was he okay after he went home? If there were any other symptoms, make sure to tell me."

Knocked out a tooth?

Pei Chen froze and could not help looking back at Pei Yan. "Didn't you say you knocked your tooth out by yourself?"

"..." Pei Yan's lie was ruthlessly exposed. He immediately had no face left to show anyone, hugged his head, and hid beneath the table, refusing to come out for a long time.

Pei Yan's original words were: I beat that little brat until he cried for his mommy and daddy. If I hadn't lost a tooth, I could've fought another three hundred rounds! Proudly puffs out chest.

An Zimo: Your grandpa will always be your grandpa.

There will be another update tonight.

There are still five hundred red envelopes for this chapter.