Chapter 81 - She loves you

Meanwhile, Tian Le, Xiao Lei, and Lu Ziyan had arrived back at their apartment.

When they arrived at their floor, Tian Le asked, "Sister Xiao Lei, are you done with moving? Do you need any help? I'm pretty free until dinner time."

Xiao Lei thought about it for a moment before she shook her head. "No, but thanks for your offer. I don't have that many things anyway, so most of my stuff is already unpacked."

"Oh… Then are you doing anything? Do you want to play games with us? Brother Ziyan is such a bad gamer that it gets boring…" 

"Hey… Stop dissing my gaming ability!" Lu Ziyan said in an annoyed tone without turning around. He stopped outside their unit before he turned around. With a gentle smile, he said to Xiao Lei, "You're welcome to join us, Xiao Lei. It must be bored since you just moved here." 

"Normally, I wouldn't accept a man's invitation, but since Tian Le is so cute..." Xiao Lei smiled and nodded. "I have to call my son first, but once I'm done, I'll come over." 

"Are you saying that I'm not cute?" Lu Ziyan faked a frown before he broke into a smile. When he saw Xiao Lei smiling, he said, "See ya soon... Don't worry about bringing anything. We have lots of food."

"Great, a new player!" Tian Le said with a grin. "See ya later…" 

They then went into their respective units. When Xiao Lei entered into her house, she changed into a pair of cut-off shorts and an old washed-out T-shirt before she sat down on the couch. 

As she looked around the place, she still found it hard that she could live in such a luxurious condo ever again. When she decided to give up her past, she had thought that there was no way she would ever be able to have a luxurious lifestyle ever again, but now...

Everything from the couch to the door, from the flooring to the lighting… Everything was made from the best quality…

As she lay down on the couch with her legs crossed, she took out her phone and called her son.

.....

At this moment, Zhihao was at Murong Yu's office where he was being treated for a large bruise on his face. 

Murong Yu looked at him with a complicated expression as he applied ointment on Zhihao's scr.a.p.ed knees. "Don't you know how to run? Or are you secretly an M?" 

"I did run…" Zhihao grumbled. He winced when Murong Yu applied the ointment on his exposed skin. "That's why I fell and scr.a.p.ed my knees…" 

"Keep that ice pack on your eye unless you want to see out of only one eye for the next few days…" Murong Yu said sternly when Xiao Zhihao tried to take away the ice pack that was placed on his face. 

As he looked at the boy, Murong Yu frowned while he thought, "Yanqing is not a clumsy woman… How can her son be so clumsy?"

When he found out that "Yanqing" was now "Xiao Lei", he thought of bursting into her house and take her away. Then he found out that she was married and had a son. 

Murong Yu started to think, and in the end, he decided to mess around with her kid instead. 

Using his connections, he infiltrated Imperial Secondary. When he sent his goons over to her place, he had expected her to escape. After all, how could the woman he fell in love with be so weak as to be captured by those two idiots? 

He had merely wanted to see what was her next move and if she would pull her son of this school and run again. Or if she would come and find him to end things once and for all.

To his surprise, she merely went into hiding... by herself! 

If not for her son, he would have thought that she pulled another disappearing act again. His men had not found her location yet, but with her son still at school, it would not take him long to find her. 

Looking at Xiao Zhihao, Murong Yu thought with a roll of his eyes, "How can that dumb woman give birth to such a smart son like you?"

When he noticed that Xiao Zhihao was looking at him back, he then asked sternly, "Who is the boy that hit you?"

As he watched his teacher helped him rolled his leg pants down, Xiao Zhihao sighed as he muttered, "I don't even know that guy, but I'm pretty sure he's a senior…"

"Next time, get his name."

"Well, of course," Xiao Zhihao said mockingly. He placed the ice pack down and made a funny face as he said, "Dear Mr. Bully, before you pummel me, can I please have your name? Yeah… that would go well…"

Xiao Zhihao was telling the truth. He did not know who that older boy was. However, he figured that the boy was probably working for his real bullies--the trio idiots that loved to harass him.

He had had his suspicion that the party invitation came with a nefarious reason, and he knew that those three were probably angry at him for not going. He probably foiled their plans to prank him or something. 

Did they really think that just because he was poor, he would jump at any chance that would help him rise? 

Xiao Zhihao rolled his eyes at his dumb classmates. "Not only are they bad in studies, but they are also bad in life," he thought as he put the ice pack back on his bruised eye.

As he looked at the boy, Murong Yu smirked. He leaned back against his chair before he said, "Smart a*s. There, we're done. You're lucky I'm still in school. Even the nurse only comes in for half a day on weekends." 

"Thanks… Come to think of it, don't you have a life outside of school? What are you doing here on a weekend?" Xiao Zhihao asked curiously.

"None of your business, kid."

Xiao Zhihao's pocket vibrated at that moment, and he took out his phone. After a brief glance at the caller ID, he muttered to Murong Yu, "It's my mum. I'll answer this outside." 

Instead of replying in words, Murong Yu merely waved a hand nonchalantly. 

Once he's outside Murong Yu's office, Xiao Zhihao picked up the call. "Hey, Mum…" 

"Hey, my handsome son. How's school?" Xiao Lei asked as she did some light stretching on the couch.

Hearing his mother's voice, he smiled as he replied, "Same same… Why did you call? Are you done with your move?" 

"Yeah, and this place is pretty cool!" Xiao Lei said with a bright smile as she looked at the huge flatscreen TV in front of the couch. "There's also a bathtub and I have my own bathroom! There's one in your room too! I can't wait for you to come home next week. Oh, they gave me a preloaded debit card as well. I'll transfer some to you. We don't have to go hungry anymore." 

Xiao Zhihao laughed softly at his mother's excitement. Xiao Lei did not know that Xiao Zhihao's room at the school was better than the one he had at home. He had already experienced what it was like to have his own bathroom. 

Still, he would give up that dorm room if he could just move back with his mother. 

"I've never starved myself… Worry about yourself instead. I'm good, so don't worry about me. Now that we are no longer dirt poor, don't eat expired food anymore. Don't worry about me. I have enough money for food. Go and get something healthier for yourself. Didn't you say you want to try Korean BBQ? We can go there when I'm back."

Xiao Zhihao leaned against the wall as he chatted with his mother. Both of them actually felt lonely without each other, but they would never say it. They wanted each other to be strong, and they did not want to make the other person felt as if they were a burden, and hence, they kept everything to themselves.

After about 20 minutes, Xiao Zhihao finally hung up. He then went back into Murong Yu's office. With an apologetic smirk, he said, "Sorry about that. My mum called earlier than expected."

"She calls you often?" Murong Yu asked curiously.

"Just once a week. Twice, if there's a holiday on weekdays."

"She loves you…"

Instead of being embarrassed like what kids his age prone to be, Xiao Zhihao nodded proudly.

"Yeah, I know… She's a great mum, but she gets clingy whenever I'm home," Xiao Zhihao complained, but he had a smile on his face. "My mum got a new job lately, and we could finally get a new place, so she's pretty excited about it."

"Oh? What's her old job?" 

Xiao Zhihao hesitated for a moment before he said in a whisper-like voice, "A cleaner."