Chapter 57: I’m Empty! I’m Lonely…
Shou Jiaxun knew very well how to deal with stepparents, because in his past life, his family had this exact structure. Both parents were alive, and both stepparents were alive too.
His Omega stepfather in this life was over ten years younger than his biological Alpha dad, and over ten years older than Shou Jiaxun. His personality was easygoing and not hard to get along with. As long as Shou Jiaxun acted a bit enthusiastically upon meeting, the two sides could naturally get along harmoniously.
Peng Pei hadn’t worked since marrying Shou Yulong, and in the early years, to consider Shou Jiaxun’s feelings, he hadn’t had children either.
When they lived in Beijing in the past, the little stepfather’s life centered entirely on taking care of the Shou father and son. There was somewhat of a flavor of being a wealthy family’s accessory.
At that time, their family was extremely wealthy, but Peng Pei wasn’t happy. On the contrary, after Shou Yulong lost heavily on investments and they fled to Yangcheng to hide from debts under assumed names, this young stepdad finally seemed to find his own life.
So his attitude when facing Shou Jiaxun was quite awkward. There was early resentment, later guilt, and most importantly… he was actually very resistant to Shou Jiaxun appearing in his new life.
But he had to do his utmost to hide this resistance.
On the surface, it looked like this: Although he warmly invited Shou Jiaxun to his home for a meal, he was unwilling to cook personally. Instead, he bought a table full of pre-made dishes from outside, simply heated them up, and plated them. It looked a bit like the fast-food stir-fries sold in home-style restaurants.
He enthusiastically got slippers for Shou Jiaxun and invited him in, but didn’t call Peng Peng, who was running around playing in the room, to come over and say “Big Brother.”
Their three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment couldn’t be called lavish, but the decoration was fine, detailed, and clean. It was just right for a family of three, and they could even spare a small room for Peng Peng to put a desk, a piano, an easel, and pile up toys.
Before officially sitting at the table to eat, Shou Jiaxun and Liang Bo were invited to tour their residence. Because the place wasn’t large, it took less than three minutes to walk from the inside out.
During those three minutes, Shou Jiaxun constantly praised his Omega stepdad for knowing how to live and manage a household, saying his biological Alpha dad was very blessed.
He tirelessly coaxed his family to be happy.
Consequently, the atmosphere at the dinner table became even more harmonious and joyful, and little Peng Peng happily called out “Brother” a couple of times.
Peng Pei touched on the heavy topics lightly as he told Shou Jiaxun the whole story of their departure from Beijing. He said that Shou Yulong actually planned to return to Beijing and reunite with Shou Jiaxun after making a comeback in a year or half a year. That was why he hadn’t taken Shou Jiaxun with him, primarily not wanting to affect his senior year of high school studies.
But their subsequent “comeback” process wasn’t smooth. It kept getting delayed, and they couldn’t go back.
Because of Shou Yulong’s massive debt issues, Peng Peng was originally registered under Peng Pei’s name, but his full name was supposed to be Shou Pengpeng.
Because Peng Peng was starting primary school next year, and the private school they had their eye on needed to check the credit records of the child’s parents, and Shou Yulong also hoped his youngest son could “return to his ancestors” as soon as possible, they went onto the judicial website to check the debt. They planned to make a repayment plan and find a way to plug the hole.
As a result, they wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t checked, but checking gave them a massive fright. Their debts had actually been cleared half a year ago.
Shou Yulong thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He and Peng Pei searched repeatedly before they dared to confirm their debts were indeed settled.
They called the bank to ask for the repayment account and found out it was Shou Jiaxun who paid the money, feeling even more disbelief.
After five years, both Shou Jiaxun’s and his biological dad’s phone numbers had changed long ago, and they couldn’t reach him immediately. After thinking it over, his dad recorded an earnest real-name family-seeking video himself and posted it on the message wall of “Little Red Flower.” Afraid no one would see it, he even spent a few thousand yuan to run a Beijing regional feed ad.
As a result, the next day when Uncle Guo went online, he saw this “ad” and hurriedly forwarded the video to Shou Jiaxun to confirm.
Peng Pei rambled on so much primarily to express that they hadn’t intentionally abandoned Shou Jiaxun back then. Everyone had a hard time these past few years, and they hoped Shou Jiaxun wouldn’t blame his biological dad.
Shou Jiaxun listened intently, but intentionally or unintentionally avoided past regrets. Once his stepdad’s recollections ended, he immediately smiled, turned to Liang Bo, and sighed with emotion, “I never imagined ‘Little Red Flower’s’ regional self-media was so badass! A few thousand yuan can make the whole of Beijing see a push notification. We can definitely try this more in the future!”
Liang Bo thought to himself, Of course that’s not it! “Little Red Flower’s” feed pushes had a data algorithm. Because Father Shou mentioned the three characters “Shou Jiaxun” in the video copy, that message would actually only be pushed to people who had mentioned this name in previous comments.
That was why Uncle Guo saw the “ad” immediately. This was called “Targeted Precision Marketing.” Because the actual coverage rate was low, it was cheap.
But rounding it up, it could be considered “using good steel on the blade’s edge”… For micro and small users, it was still quite affordable.
“Little Red Flower · Liang · Imperial Grandson · Bo” had a rich inner monologue, but his face only showed a foolish, accompanying smile. “Yeah, yeah.”
After everyone reminisced about the “past” at the dinner table, the next step naturally was to look toward the “future.” Shou Jiaxun talked about his current situation, his core purpose being to feel out his dad’s intentions.
He said supporting his family now was definitely no problem, though there was still a distance from great wealth and prosperity. He asked if Shou Yulong had any thoughts of returning to Beijing to stage a comeback, or going back for retirement. Additionally, Beijing’s educational resources were good. If they went back, they could buy a residence similar to their Yangcheng apartment in the No. 4 High School district to settle down.
Liang Bo rested his chin on his hand and smiled, sighing inwardly, Why bother? It’s better to just live well separately.
Although he didn’t say it out loud, Shou Yulong seemed to have telepathy with him, though his attitude was a bit more tactful. He first asked Shou Jiaxun, “How much is a square meter for a school district house near No. 4 High School now?”
How would Shou Jiaxun know? He turned to consult Liang Bo. “You know, right? Don’t you have a house over there?”
“Uh…” Liang Bo raised his eyebrows and recalled for two seconds. “Before I went to university, it seemed to be 120,000 per square meter. I asked my dad if we should sell it, and he said to hold onto it a bit longer. I don’t know now.”
Shou Yulong pulled down the corners of his mouth and frowned. “That was four or five years ago. Housing prices have been speculated fiercely these past few years, I’m afraid it might be up to 200,000 per square meter, right? A hundred-square-meter house plus deed tax would be over twenty million. Sigh… Can’t afford to go back, can’t afford to go back.”
His train of thought didn’t even turn toward the idea of a “mortgage.” Of course, it was also possible he had a psychological shadow from owing debts. In short, his attitude was already clear: his life now was very comfortable, and he didn’t want to move again.
Shou Jiaxun smiled and nodded in agreement. “Yes, yes. Beijing’s housing prices are so absurd it’s like they aren’t meant for humans to live in. Yangcheng is still better—prosperous, bustling, a capital of gastronomy… it really is very suitable for retirement here.”
Liang Bo really wanted to tell him that, actually, compared to romantic love, family affection required a two-way street even more. Relying on your unilateral effort to maintain it would only give the other party a psychological burden.
The key was that a “scumbag dad” and a “scumbag man” were different. With blood ties acting as a bond, it was hard to sever completely. Besides, Shou Yulong wasn’t a thorough “scumbag dad.”
His action of leaving Shou Jiaxun behind back then was at most irresponsible. His refusal to return to Beijing now was likely partly due to genuinely not wanting to add to his son’s burden.
So Shou Jiaxun’s “family reunion” trip today should be considered a complete success, but having spoken up to this point, it had basically reached its end.
Peng Pei stood up at this time, saying he had to take Peng Peng to sleep, so he couldn’t see Shou Jiaxun out later. He asked where Shou Jiaxun was staying tonight. If he hadn’t booked a hotel yet, he could consider the business hotel next to their complex. It was just across the road after exiting the complex, and he could come over for breakfast tomorrow morning.
Shou Jiaxun also stood up. “Yes, I booked exactly there, but I won’t come over tomorrow morning. I want to sleep in, and then go directly to Hong Kong for my business trip.”
Peng Pei gladly raised his eyebrows. “Ah, it’s just across the sea over there, very close. Make sure to come sit at the house again when you come back.”
Shou Jiaxun smiled awkwardly. “Next week I’m flying directly to North America from there. I’ll see how things are when I return.”
Then he hugged his stepdad and biological dad goodbye respectively, parting ways happily.
While they were changing shoes at the door, Peng Pei, who was supposed to be coaxing the child to sleep, chased after them with a bank card. He said they had saved some money over these past few years, over six hundred thousand… he wanted to return a little to Shou Jiaxun first.
Shou Jiaxun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “We’re family, don’t be like this…” He waved his hands repeatedly in refusal, as if afraid the money would bite him, pulling Liang Bo and hurriedly fleeing out the door.
He didn’t gradually slow his pace until they were almost out of the residential complex.
Liang Bo dragged two large suitcases by himself, and when he caught up, he could only nudge Shou Jiaxun’s arm with his elbow. “Hey, are you okay?”
Shou Jiaxun stopped and shook his head, raising a hand to press his forehead, slowly running his fingers through his bangs. Although there was no smile on his face, it couldn’t be called disappointment or sadness either.
If he had to describe it, it was probably ninety percent “emptiness” combined with ten percent “bewilderment.”
Liang Bo tilted his head and asked playfully, “Are you feeling very empty right now?”
“Yeah, a little.” Shou Jiaxun exhaled softly. “Actually, it’s okay… it’s quite good.”
“Let me tell you…” Liang Bo leaned in closer mysteriously. “I don’t know why, but right now, even though I’m clearly with you, I feel incredibly lonely.”
Shou Jiaxun didn’t know what he was trying to express and raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.
Liang Bo also raised his eyebrows, his expression full of implication. “Do you know what is the most suitable thing for an empty person and a lonely person to do together?”
Shou Jiaxun raised an eyebrow meaningfully. “Make……….. love?”
“Tsk! It’s beer, drink beer together.” Liang Bo frowned, correcting his boss’s unhealthy fantasies. “This is Yangcheng! Mantis shrimp, raw marinated seafood, meat crabs, chicken hotpot, food stalls… You can’t miss it if you walk past, hey!”
President Shou promptly withdrew the iron fist he had already raised mid-air, a smile finally blooming on his face again.
“And then!” Assistant Liang continued grinning. “And then… we can… do that.”
The iron fist Shou Jiaxun had already lowered ultimately swung onto the back of Student Little Liang’s head. “Keep dreaming! You unlucky brat.”
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