His mother playfully raised her hand as if to hit him, “Go on, you naughty boy, teasing me like this.” Then she pushed him towards the living room, “I’ll put the things in the kitchen and tidy up a bit. You sit down for a while.”
“Okay, go ahead, treat me like a guest!” Song Li pushed his mother towards the kitchen. Since his mother preferred peace, she said doing some simple chores was a way to kill time, so she insisted on not having a live-in maid, only hiring part-time help.
Song Li sat on the sofa, bored, when his phone rang. He took it out to see it was Cheng Yu calling. Song Li frowned slightly; they hadn’t been in contact for quite some time. He answered, “Yu!”
“Li, where are you?” “At my mom’s, what have you been up to lately? You’ve been out of sight.”
Cheng Yu’s voice sounded a bit strained, pausing before saying, “I’ve indeed been busy with some things. I’ll come to find you, I haven’t seen your mom in a while.” “Sure, come on over.”
Song Li hung up, just as his mother came out, “Mom, Cheng Yu’s coming over!”
“Oh, let him come, I’ve missed him too,” his mother laughed, then added, “Hehe, that kid, I remember when you first brought me here, after a few years apart, you didn’t even know how to talk to your mom. Every visit, you’d just sit there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. Thankfully, Cheng Yu was lively, always cracking jokes and calling me ‘Auntie’ this and ‘Auntie’ that, making everyone talk. Slowly, things got better.”
Song Li recalled the past and couldn’t help but laugh, “You know, I was always itching to give Cheng Yu a beating back then. I felt like you were closer to him than to me. I finally got my mom back, and he took half of her away.”
“Silly child, how could that be? In my heart, no one is more important than you and Xiao Ying,” his mother also laughed, then reminisced, “Speaking of Xiao Ying, I know her thoughts. I even thought for a while about making Cheng Yu my son-in-law, but later, I saw they were a case of ‘the goddess has a heart, the king has no dreams,’ so I let it go.”
Song Li smiled, his thoughts drifting elsewhere. His mother, excited, continued, “The girl I’ve met recently is really something, with impeccable character, looks, and personality. I was thinking of introducing her to Cheng Yu, but then I thought such an outstanding girl must be taken. I might as well take her as a goddaughter.”
Seeing his mother’s enthusiasm when talking about her new friend, even if he wasn’t particularly interested, Song Li played along to make her happy, “Oh? Is she that good? I’d really like to meet her.”
His mother, indeed very pleased, replied, “Of course, you’ll see when she comes over. She’s even better than Xiao Ying and your Liu Yi combined!”
