AM Chapter 3

03 Stepmom

03 Stepmom

When he was in the second year of junior high school, one day when Chen Mo returned home from school, he found that there were guests at his house.

That day, eight strong men stood behind the sofa in his living room. Chen Daxiang, sitting opposite the sofa, looked grave.

Chen Mo thought, these probably aren’t guests, and they’re probably not good people.

Sure enough, the man who hogged the entire long sofa with his legs crossed turned his head, and Chen Mo saw a lollipop in his mouth—it was his lollipop.

Not long after that, Chen Mo had a stepmother.

From the perspective of traditional family values, there is no doubt that Liang Jingren occupies the position of “mom” because he already has a dad, although this dad is not his biological dad either.

His biological parents died when he was nine years old, and Chen Daxiang adopted him.

Chen Daxiang treated him very well, so Chen Mo would call him “Dad” at home, but Chen Daxiang looked average; if his hair were a little thinner, he would look like a wretched old man. Therefore, Chen Mo was reluctant to call him “Dad” outside, especially when there were outsiders present.

Chen Mo really didn’t understand how Chen Daxiang could find a man to be his stepmother. Although the same-sex marriage law had been implemented for a year and a half, society generally still debated this kind of relationship. Moreover, how could Chen Daxiang find a man like a gangster to be his partner? Was he not afraid that the other party would hit him? Or was Chen Daxiang actually an M?

Also, the man who was respectfully called Bro Ren by the eight strong men didn’t look bad either, even one could say he was in the prime of his life, handsome and dashing. How could he have taken a fancy to an old man like Chen Daxiang, who was over half a century old? Was there an ulterior motive?

Probably, Chen Daxiang’s company had been quite profitable in recent years and was in a steady expansion trend.

Chen Mo didn’t dislike the street punks or the gangsters in the dark alleys, as long as they were just strangers to each other and didn’t interfere with his life.

But Liang Jingren interfered. He moved into this Villa and joined this family, and Chen Mo had no goodwill towards him at all.

Fortunately, Chen Daxiang didn’t force him to call Liang Jingren “Mom” or “Dad,” otherwise, he would definitely run away from home.

Liang Jingren didn’t often stay at home. On the day he and Chen Daxiang got their marriage certificate, he took a group of his underlings to Chen Daxiang’s company to report for duty. After that, he also went out early and returned late with Chen Daxiang every day, occasionally not returning at night. In short, Chen Mo rarely met this male “stepmother” in the Villa.

But people at school heard about this from somewhere and spread the word that “his dad married a man to be his stepmother.” During that time, he was subjected to strange looks in class, and his classmates always inquired about the truth in a roundabout way.

Although Chen Mo always dealt with this with silence and never mentioned anything related, and when he spoke to people he was closer to, he would say, “Don’t talk nonsense,” “Where did you hear this nonsense?” Gradually, not so many people took the initiative to come up and ask him, but he could still vaguely hear some quiet discussions. At that time, he really hated Liang Jingren to death, and the second person he hated was Chen Daxiang.

Once, he had a conflict with a classmate in class. He couldn’t remember the specific conflict, but the two of them started arguing and cursing at each other. The other party couldn’t win against him in the argument, so he sang a self-composed children’s song like an idiot. The content was roughly mocking his dad for marrying a man and that he had a male stepmother.

Chen Mo was so angry that he cried. Half the class was present at the time, but no one spoke up for him, so Chen Mo, out of shame, became angry out of embarrassment, and angry on top of angry, he pushed the person to the ground, and then the two of them started fighting each other until someone called the teacher to stop them.

That evening, Chen Mo had his first conversation with his “stepmother,” who caused him to be criticized, that exceeded three sentences—

When he returned home from school, he saw Liang Jingren sitting on the sofa in the living room. He was about to ignore the other party and go upstairs, but before he could take a step, Liang Jingren called out to him, “Come here.”

“What’s the matter?” Chen Mo hesitated and turned his head, his footsteps also stopping, just in front of the coffee table.

There was a first aid kit on the coffee table.

Liang Jingren smiled and patted the sofa, signaling him to come over and sit down, and also feigned concern, asking him what happened at school. Chen Mo was in a bad mood and said, “It’s none of your business.”

Liang Jingren said, “You’re injured, come over, I’ll treat it for you.”

Liang Jingren got up to pull him over, but he was fiercely brushed off, even slapped in the face, “If it weren’t for you, how would I have been beaten! It’s all your fault!”

Liang Jingren looked at him and said, “You just said it was none of my business, and now you’re blaming me?”

Chen Mo opened his mouth, speechless.

Liang Jingren reached out to pull him again, but this time he didn’t struggle, probably because the other party mentioned Chen Daxiang and the teacher: “Your dad received a call from the teacher and asked me to come over. Your dad is on a business trip these days, you know that, right?”

Finally, Chen Mo and his stepmother sat on the same sofa.

Liang Jingren didn’t pretend to ask him about school matters anymore, but just lifted his chin and checked the wounds on his face, then applied the medicine for him without any gentle movements.

The medicine was so spicy that Chen Mo gritted his teeth, but he refused to show weakness and cry out in pain. Liang Jingren saw it, took away the cotton swab, and laughed at him: “Young master is quite tough, do you want me to blow on it for you?”

“Get lost.”

“If I get lost, who will apply the medicine for you?”

“Auntie Wang…”

“Don’t you dislike Auntie Wang’s hands for being dirty? You’re always reluctant when you eat, always clamoring for your dad to replace her.”

Chen Mo didn’t expect Chen Daxiang to tell such trivial matters to an “outsider” in private. He narrowed his eyes and sized up Liang Jingren, saying, “Your hands aren’t any cleaner either.”

At this time, the wounds on Chen Mo’s face and arms had already been treated. Liang Jingren shrugged indifferently and began to organize the medicine box, asking while tidying up, “How did you get into a fight with someone? Your dad said the teacher complained on the phone that you were the one who started hitting people first.”

Chen Mo looked at him and said, “He said bad things about me.”

“Childish.” Liang Jingren didn’t look at him.

“He said my dad is a male homosexual and married a man to be my stepmother!” Chen Mo said loudly.

Liang Jingren glanced at him and said, “Isn’t that the truth?”

Chen Mo got angry, both angry and aggrieved, tears welling up in his eyes. He hammered the back of the sofa while scolding and muttering, “But he’s mocking me! He’s making everyone in the class laugh at me! I didn’t do anything, that idiot ran over to mock me first! You’re not helping me and just saying sarcastic remarks! I told you it’s none of your business! Hurry up and leave after you’re done! Get out!”

Chen Mo hammered the sofa as if an earthquake had struck, but Liang Jingren didn’t budge at all and said extremely calmly, “Then he definitely has a problem.”

Hearing someone agree with him and stand up for him, Chen Mo’s mood improved a lot, but he still felt aggrieved in his heart, and his mouth unconsciously flattened when he spoke: “Then will you help me…”

One second he had just told someone to get lost, and the next second he was asking someone to help him. Even if it was just for Liang Jingren to help him scold the other party a few times, Chen Mo felt that it wasn’t very reasonable, so he didn’t have much hope, and his volume was relatively weak. But unexpectedly, after Liang Jingren hesitated slightly, he actually asked, “How can I help?”

Chen Mo was stunned for a moment, then touched his chin and thought for a moment, and a thought flashed into his mind. He pounced on Liang Jingren, pressing down on Liang Jingren’s hand, and said, “Can you find someone to beat him up?”

Liang Jingren looked at Chen Mo, Chen Mo blinked his two watery, expectant eyes, Liang Jingren opened his mouth and asked, “What do you take me for?”

Chen Mo said without thinking, “My gentle and good stepmother! Chen Daxiang’s kind and good wife!”

“Pfft! Hahahaha!” Liang Jingren laughed so hard that he bent over.

Chen Mo watched the person in front of him laugh for several minutes, and his originally bright eyes gradually dimmed. Who knew that after laughing so hard, Liang Jingren actually reached out and touched his head, saying, “Okay, I’ll consider it.”

The next day when he returned to school, the person who had fought with him took the initiative to walk to his seat and apologize to him. Chen Mo was both surprised and secretly pleased.

Not long after, the homeroom teacher came in and told him to pack his schoolbag, saying that a parent had come to pick him up. The homeroom teacher only said the two words “parent,” and Chen Mo felt a little uneasy. In this uneasiness, his good hearing received some unpleasant whispers.

But before he could explode, an envious exclamation from the window attracted everyone’s attention, and Chen Mo was no exception.

He squeezed to the window and looked down. Outside the school gate, a silver-bottomed, flame-patterned motorcycle was parked. The front of the car was wide and heavy, and the exhaust chimney on one side of the rear looked like a horizontal metal whirlwind, looking cool and stylish.

“Wow, what a cool motorcycle!”

“Whose car is that? Is it waiting for someone?”

Chen Mo recognized the person leaning on the heavy motorcycle and holding a helmet at a glance—it was his stepmother.

“Chen Mo, could that be your parent!?” Someone pointed out with wide eyes, and the people around him looked over, their mouths growing as big as eggs.

Chen Mo ignored them and quickly carried his schoolbag out of the classroom.

Thinking that those guys would soon be showing envious and jealous expressions in front of the window, Chen Mo couldn’t suppress his joy and energy as he ran downstairs. Every time he turned a corner, he wanted to jump directly from the highest step.

In fact, Chen Mo hadn’t not thought about it, hadn’t not worried—could something have happened at home? Otherwise, why would Liang Jingren, his stepmother, suddenly come to school to pick him up? But walking out of the school gate at a time when he should have been going to school, without being sick or in pain, and being watched and envied by so many classmates, it was difficult for him not to be happy. He felt that the entire sky was exceptionally blue the moment he stepped out of the school gate.

“Why did you come?” Chen Mo, carrying his schoolbag, ran happily to the cool motorcycle, looking at it and touching it, as if he didn’t even look at the person who came to pick him up.

Liang Jingren picked up another helmet and handed it to him, saying, “I’ll take you to the amusement park to play.”

Chen Mo’s mind was still drawn to the cool and domineering heavy motorcycle in front of him until the helmet hit his head. He picked up the helmet and looked up at the person who had stepped onto the motorcycle.

Chen Mo had heard what Liang Jingren had just said, but he thought he was hallucinating, so he stared at Liang Jingren for a while.

Liang Jingren’s mouth twitched, and he directly put down the black visor of the full helmet, saying, “Get in the car.”

“Where are we going?”

“The amusement park!” Liang Jingren said, “Hurry up, are you still going or not? Are you worried that I’ll sell you? Get in the car quickly!”

Chen Mo wasn’t worried that Liang Jingren would sell him, only worried that the other party would go back on his word. He fastened his helmet in a few seconds and climbed into the car, hugging Liang Jingren’s waist tightly, “Let’s go, let’s go! Let’s go quickly!”

“Hold on tight, kid!”

“Giddy up!”

“You, ha! Haha! Let’s go! Giddy up!”

Liang Jingren twisted the throttle, and the “horse” began to gallop.

Chen Mo felt that it was the happiest day he had had since starting school. That day, he only attended a few hours of school, and the rest of the time was spent in the amusement park, where he could enjoy the large amusement games without having to wait in line. Even if he later learned that the few seconds of uneasiness and worry that had existed that day had come true, Chen Daxiang really had something wrong—

His adoptive father was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and even with the best medical equipment, he could only live for a maximum of two years.

At the end of the first semester of high school, as soon as the winter vacation started, Chen Mo stayed by Chen Daxiang’s hospital bed, but unfortunately, Chen Daxiang didn’t make it through that winter and didn’t live to see the New Year.

After Chen Daxiang’s death, his assets were donated half to public welfare according to his will, and the other half belonged to his legal wife, Liang Jingren, which even included the company that Chen Daxiang had built up from scratch.

Chen Mo was left with two houses, one left by his biological parents, the mortgage of which Chen Daxiang had paid off, and the other was the Villa where they had lived together, but this Villa was registered in Liang Jingren’s name. According to Chen Daxiang’s idea, this Villa was for Liang Jingren to use to subsidize Chen Mo’s tuition fees.

Liang Jingren promised him, “I will support you until you graduate from college.”

Chen Mo said, “What if I don’t study?”

Liang Jingren said, “You can study for a master’s degree, a doctorate, or study abroad, anyway, you don’t have to worry about the expenses.”

It was an irrelevant answer.

Chen Mo was not qualified to negotiate.