Xu Tang changed his clothes, then drove back to his parents’ place. Today Xue Zhou rarely had free time and called him back home for dinner, so he just happened to have no arrangements and readily agreed.
As soon as he entered the house, Xu Tang called out, “Ge, I’m back!”
The words had just fallen when he heard Xue Bai Jun, who was sitting in the living room, cough.
Only then did Xu Tang realize his parents were also at home. This was even more rare. He smiled and said, “Dad, Mom, you’re also home? Where’s my brother?”
Xue Bai Jun: “……”
Su Ling: “……”
As a mother, Su Ling’s mood was even more complicated than Xue Bai Jun’s. Other children, when they come home, ask “Where’s mom?”, but in their family, Xu Tang comes back either looking for his brother or sister, and the most common line is “Where’s my brother?”
At this moment, Xu Tang’s second sister Xue Wan came downstairs and smiled. “You’re back? Big brother is in the study. Go upstairs and find him.”
“Okay.” Xu Tang responded and went upstairs.
“This child……” Su Ling truly didn’t know what to say. It was also true—after Xu Tang turned one, she had not really taken care of him much. It was all Xue Zhou and Xue Wan who raised him, so Xu Tang naturally became closer to his brothers and sisters.
Su Ling had always been a woman who prioritized her career. If she had married Xue Bai Jun, she could have lived in comfort like other wealthy wives, playing cards, buying bags, and attending noble social gatherings and banquets, but that was not her life goal. Compared to those, she preferred to persist in her own career.
She was not the biological mother of Xue Zhou and Xue Wan. When she married Xue Bai Jun, Xue Zhou was six years old, and Xue Wan was two years old. At that time, Xue Bai Jun’s business was in crisis, and his financial situation was very bad. The children’s biological mother, a year earlier, because Xue Bai Jun’s business kept declining and looked like it was going to go bankrupt, afraid of living a hard life and being dragged into debt, proposed divorce. Xue Bai Jun was a responsible man and did not want to drag his wife down, so they completed the divorce procedures. The day after the procedures were completed, his ex-wife left with someone else, saying she went abroad, and the details were unknown.
Xue Zhou and Xue Wan were thus abandoned by their mother. Xue Bai Jun had to think of ways to save the company while also taking care of his two children. Life was in complete chaos.
After more than half a year of such days, Xue Bai Jun met Su Ling. Su Ling had already heard of his situation. At that time, people even joked that Xue Bai Jun might have been cheated on and just didn’t know it.
After a period of contact, Su Ling developed feelings for Xue Bai Jun and also felt that he was indeed a responsible man. Even in such circumstances, he did not give up easily. So she took the initiative to confess and helped him connect resources. After half a year of effort, the company finally returned to normal, and the two of them eventually got together.
Su Ling did not dislike children. Xue Zhou and Xue Wan were also very sensible and obedient, and she liked them very much, feeling like she had gained two children for free, which was perfect. She also understood that as a stepmother, if she had her own child, it would inevitably make the stepchildren feel neglected. She did not want them to experience another feeling of abandonment in their already abandoned childhood, so she never planned to have a child.
And Xu Tang’s birth was completely an accident……
After finding out she was pregnant, Su Ling thought for three days, then called Xue Zhou and Xue Wan over and told them. Since the child had come, she could not end this life, but at the same time she did not want the stepchildren to be sad, so she wanted to talk properly with them and understand their thoughts, so that after her child was born, they would not feel hurt.
But what surprised her was that both children were very looking forward to the birth of the baby in her belly. This made Su Ling feel warm and moved, and she also decided she would treat these two pure-hearted children even better in the future, as this was a gift from heaven.
After Xu Tang was born, she, as a mother, could be said to be not very competent. After the confinement period, she returned to work. One year later, after Xu Tang was weaned, she hired a nanny to take care of him. But Xue Zhou and Xue Wan were more responsible than her. They played with Xu Tang, supervised whether the nanny was taking care of him properly, and even taught him to read and memorize Tang poetry. In short, from childhood to adulthood, Xu Tang was full of the shadow of his brothers and sisters. As for parents…… to him, they were just guardians responsible for signing his exam papers and attending parent-teacher meetings.
Before, Xue Bai Jun still felt that at least he and Su Ling had something Xue Zhou and Xue Wan could not replace—money. But reality proved otherwise. When Xue Zhou had not yet started earning money, Xu Tang had very little concept of money. When Xu Tang began to understand money, Xue Zhou also started earning money and giving him pocket money. So to Xu Tang, his parents were not even the ones who gave him allowance……
Xu Tang knocked on the study door. After hearing Xue Zhou say “come in,” he pushed the door open.
“Big brother.”
“You’re back? Wait a moment, I’ll finish this email and then we can eat.” Xue Zhou’s eyes stayed on the computer.
Xu Tang was used to it and sat obediently on the sofa without disturbing him.
About ten minutes later, Xue Zhou closed the computer and looked at him. But his brows immediately furrowed.
“Why do you look thinner after a few days?”
“No, maybe it’s the clothes.” Xu Tang quickly denied it. “If my weight changed, Sister Kang would definitely remind me.” As an artist, weight control was strict.
Xue Zhou looked at him again. Seeing that his complexion was fine, he was not too worried. He sat beside him and asked, “I heard you accepted the guest mentor invitation for ‘The King of Heavenly Sounds’?”
“Mm. Sister Jia asked me. Sister Kang felt it was a good opportunity, so we didn’t refuse.” Xu Tang said.
Xue Zhou nodded and reminded him, “Don’t overwork yourself. In a few days there will be a fan meeting. Keep your condition stable.”
Xu Tang would occasionally hold small fan meetings, usually in small venues with at most one hundred fans, lasting about forty minutes. He would sing a few songs and chat with fans.
“Got it.” Xu Tang smiled in response.
Looking at him, Xue Zhou’s expression became a little more serious. “I have something to tell you.”
“Go ahead.” Seeing his brother’s seriousness, Xu Tang also became serious.
“I’m together with Zong Yi now.” Xue Zhou announced.
“Huh?” Xu Tang could not process it for a moment.
Zong Yi was Zong Xuan’s second brother, three years younger than Xue Zhou, a fashion designer and also a perfumer.
After a moment, Xu Tang looked at him and asked, “Big brother, did you do something irresponsible?”
“Don’t think nonsense!” Xue Zhou kicked him unhappily. “Am I that kind of person?”
“No need for responsibility just because he’s a man?”
Xue Zhou massaged his temple in frustration.
“There’s nothing like that. It was a normal relationship.”
“Oh.” Xu Tang finally relaxed.
……
After dinner, Xu Tang returned home.
Not long after, the internet exploded again.
The cause was Luo Mei posting on Weibo—
“Just because I am a woman, does all the public opinion have to point at me? As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. I was clearly the one being seduced, so why is everyone blaming me while the other person is fine?”
As soon as this post appeared, combined with her recent divorce announcement, it immediately triggered heated discussion.
Zong Xuan’s fans were the most furious.
Zong Xuan posted on Weibo five minutes later:
“I don’t have that kind of taste.”
Although he did not name anyone, fans treated it as a response.
Comment sections exploded.
Zong Xuan read the comments but did not reply.
He liked being in control. If the other party occasionally acted wild and cooperated, that would be perfect. But right now he was just a single man living alone, so all this talk meant nothing.
And as for what kind of person Xu Tang was……
He actually kind of wanted to know too……