78 Vive la résistance

“I can do that but you know very well that you must have something better to offer me because by returning this map I will be losing face. That old man won’t let me hear the end of it so.... what do you have to offer?” said the Marshal while sitting in a relaxed posture with his thumb resting on his chin and his index finger rubbing his upper lip.

Yi Chen had clearly thought through this thus he didn’t waste any time saying, “In return, you can have one request that I can’t refuse..... As long as it’s not too excessive I will do it.” When Yi Chen made this offer he hadn’t accurately considered the future. This blank cheque right here would become his greatest regret in the future.

Marshal Yi stared straight at his son as though gauging his attitude. It seemed this was indeed very important to Yi Chen so he agreed.

“Fine, I will send it back tomorrow, okay?” he said before getting up, “Just drink some honey water before you go to bed. I don’t want you to have a hangover tomorrow.” They had agreed and Zi Feiji would be getting his map back.

Zi Han had no idea how much sacrifice someone had gone through just to get that skirt off him. And no..... I don’t mean get it off him as in getting naked. I mean you know..... argh, never mind. You get it.

He was fast asleep when his window was suddenly opened from the outside. Zi Han appeared vulnerable while sleeping but in truth, his sense was as good as his mother’s.

He was as vigilant as a meerkat thus as soon as that window opened he grabbed a dagger from who knows where and with a loud shing he had the tip of the blade right at the intruder’s carotid artery.

His eyes were as fierce as a tiger exuding suffocating killing intent. If it weren’t for the familiar scent from the intruder’s body he might have stabbed them in the neck.

“Too slow,” said Zi Xingxi that’s when Zi Han felt the cold chill on his abdomen. It was the tip of a smart pistol slanted at such an angle that if she pulled the trigger his heart would be burnt to ashes leaving no chance of survival.

.....

Zi Xingxi chuckled and she took back her smart pistol. Zi Han withdrew his blade and his expression turned to that of grievance. “I thought you forgot you have a son?” he complained placing the blade on the bedside pedestal.

“I thought you forgot you had a mother, and by god why are you shirtless again? No socks, no shirt.... what do you think you are? A bodybuilder?”

Zi Han sighed as he turned to go back to bed. “Did you climb up my window just to criticize me?” he said but Zi Xingxi wasn’t at all upset about his attitude.

“No, but how can I not when you keep doing stuff like this?” she said while walking to the closet to pick a pyjama top. “Here, wear that.”

Zi Han was suddenly hit by a pyjama t-shirt in the face. He hurriedly sat up and put it on before lying back down. Zi Xingxi was still in his closet doing who knows what.

Zi Han could tell at a glance that his mother wasn’t herself. It seemed like something was weighing heavy on her shoulders but like always she would never talk about it. No matter how he probed in the past she wouldn’t say anything.

He had already developed a habit since he was young that is if his mother was upset he would find ways to cheer her up. Thus when she walked out of the closet he said, “I missed you..... a lot,” which was the truth.

He was so used to living with Zi Xingxi and found it very difficult separating from her. Every night he suffered from separation anxiety thus he would always write messages to her.

Zi Xingxi froze with a prickly feeling in her eyes but she averted her gaze so he wouldn’t see her emotions threatening to burst out. “En, I missed you too,” she said before walking to the bathroom with a set of pyjamas in her hand.

That’s when Zi Han realised what she was planning to do so he sat up and said, “I missed you but I didn’t miss you that much. You can’t stay here?”

“Ha, since when can you tell me what to do?” she said before closing the bathroom door. Soon the sound of water came from the bathroom and Zi Han kicked his quilt a little frustrated.

If he shares a bed with his mum again he surely won’t have a good night’s sleep. One might think he got his bad sleeping habits from his father but Zi Han knew the truth. It had to be her. It was only on the spacecraft that he wasn’t kicked off the bed. That’s because then she had an agenda that is his light brain.

Zi Han was certain in her exhausted state he would wake up on the floor tomorrow. Thus he started to come up with excuses to kick Zi Xingxi out of his room. Unfortunately, Zi Xingxi was so determined that she refused to barge. After she was done with her shower she asked him to move but Zi Han had spread out his four limbs protecting his territory.

“You must have a bedroom in the penthouse. Mum, you should go sleep there,” he said with his fingers grasping the edge of the bed tightly.

“Okay, okay I see. You have grown a little and now you won’t let me sleep here? I gave birth to you yet I can’t even have a sleepover. Those painful twenty-four hours by myself..... wuwuwu I thought I was going to die,” she said with crocodile tears. Phase one which was emotional blackmail had been implemented but unfortunately, she had played the painful birth card so many times that it had become less effective.

“Not gonna work lady. I still stand by my words,” he said liking this feeling of rebellion. He suddenly wanted to shout ‘Vive la résistance’ for all the children out there who had suffered such injustice. Unfortunately for him, the resistance didn’t last. His mother shut the rebellion in a matter of seconds. It involved pushing, shoving and a pillow fight which Zi Han lost.

A minute later Zi Han was obediently lying on the other half of the bed. In her defence, she really wanted to talk to Zi Han and find out what had been happening while she wasn’t around. This way she could also distress from the chaotic assignment hanging over her head.