Chapter 44: Ideal Partner?

It was a rare double holiday, and most families took the opportunity to travel during the long break.

Li Mu did not understand why one would not rest well during a rare holiday and instead go to crowded tourist spots to suffer.

The entire long holiday was a peak time for tourist attractions; no matter what time one went, it was always packed with people, and any clever timing would be in vain.

Only shrewd families chose to stay home and relax.

For example, Li Mu’s family and the neighbors across the street.

The day after the Mid-Autumn Festival was National Day.

Li Changheng’s long legs were crossed, holding a cup of hot goji berry water, staring at the live broadcast of the flag-raising ceremony on TV with a serious expression.

If one did not notice his round belly, he could almost resemble a domineering CEO.

On the table lay a cut-up large mooncake; Su Wen was eating it with a fork while looking at her phone, and eventually, she found it a bit too sweet and covered it back up.

“How about you take a mooncake to school in a few days?”

“No, too much trouble,” Li Mu replied, sitting on the sofa playing on his phone in the same domineering manner as his father.

“Then let’s eat fried mooncake tonight; we should finish it early and not waste it.”

He could already imagine what the meals would be like in the coming days.

Breakfast would be mooncake with soy milk, lunch would be mooncake with vegetables, and dinner would be fried mooncake, continuing until the mooncake was finished.

Li Mu exchanged glances with his father and noticed a mix of shock, panic, and despair in his father’s eyes.

Well, it seemed he had learned the spirit of a domineering CEO.

Li Changheng was making faces, his face twitching, as if he wanted to write “think of a solution” on his forehead.

How did the five-nut mooncake taste? It was actually quite acceptable; it was just that Li Mu did not like it.

How was Su Wen’s cooking? To put it bluntly, it could rival a 3-star Michelin chef—barely edible.

Combining the two made for a terrifying dark cuisine.

However… his and his father’s cooking skills were even worse; having something to eat was already good enough, and even if Su Wen’s cooking was terrible, they wouldn’t say anything.

Compared to his mother’s dark cuisine, Li Mu suddenly felt that spicy food was not so bad; he had to think of a way to go to Lu Xiaoxi’s house for a meal.

Should he just send Lu Xiaoxi some money? Have her bring him a lunchbox?

In any case, he couldn’t let his mother see; otherwise, he would be nagged about how “his son had grown up and was now rejecting his mother” and “oh, my son is too big to keep.”

He glanced at the wedding photo hanging on the wall for over a decade; even with the frame protecting it, the photo had inevitably yellowed, stained with the dust of time.

His mother, Su Wen, was a great beauty, as could be seen from the wedding photo. As for his father, Li Changheng, he looked handsome, and comparing him to the current version felt like looking at two different people.

It was because of these two people that he existed.

These were all things of the past; Li Mu did not want to dwell on them too much; the present was what mattered.

He had no specific goals; having money and a wife was enough for him. He felt this was not an easy mission; putting money aside, just the wife part was a big issue.

As for the ideal partner—

A height of 1.65 meters, shoulder-length short hair, youthful and lively, both parties finding each other attractive, and the most important point was that the time they had known each other could not be too short; they must know each other well, that was all there was to it.

Hmm?

Isn’t that Little Pig Lu?

No, he and Lu Xiaoxi were not on good terms; they were still quite at odds, so she could not be the ideal partner, at least not for now.

Li Mu quickly shook off the strange thoughts in his mind; his phone was still on the game, and he was a dedicated gamer who should not be distracted by trivial matters; he could not let his teammates down.

The hall was a bit noisy, with not only the sound of the live broadcast but also the sound of short videos from his father’s phone. Li Mu returned to his room, where a relatively quiet environment was much better for gaming.

A faint knocking sound came from outside; Su Wen got up to open the door.

“Hello, Aunt Su.” The girl outside was lively, her smile as sweet as cotton candy, charming everyone who saw her.

“It’s Xiaoxi! Are you here to play with Li Mu?” Su Wen felt pleasantly surprised and smiled.

She didn’t know how it happened, but the frequency of visits in the past few days had increased significantly compared to before.

“Yes, my computer arrived, and I wanted to ask Li Mu how to use it.” The girl was struggling a bit with a large cardboard box.

“Computer? Ask me! I’ve been using computers for twenty years.”

Li Changheng cleared his throat and was about to get up when he suddenly felt as if something terrifying was staring at him. When he looked closely, he met Su Wen’s frightening gaze, and he shivered, sitting back down.

“Ha ha, Li Mu is playing games in his room.”

There was a gap in Li Mu’s door, so Lu Xiaoxi did not dare to enter; she just gently knocked on the door.

Why knock when they were all family? Li Mu felt puzzled, looked up, and did not see her face, but he did see the girl’s slender arms, which instantly perked him up.

He quickly put on his shoes, opened the door, and saw the large cardboard box in the girl’s arms and the familiar logo, “Computer?”

“Yes, it just arrived.”

“Why don’t you come in?”

Lu Xiaoxi looked around, not daring to step inside.

The room was Li Mu’s private space; the small girl was afraid of seeing things she shouldn’t.

“Li Mu, you play with Xiaoxi for a bit; I’m going to buy the ingredients for tonight.”

Su Wen shot Li Changheng a glance; even the wooden Li Changheng understood and nodded, “I’ll go with your mother.”

Even if he didn’t understand, he had to go along; once they reached the market, whether or not to buy ingredients would not be up to Su Wen; he did not want to eat fried mooncake.

The two hurriedly left the house.

“Let’s stay outside for now,” Lu Xiaoxi said, taking a breath; she was scared, like a small cat entering a doghouse, fearing she would be eaten at any moment.

“Suit yourself; should we just open it?” Li Mu closed his mobile game; teammates were ultimately temporary, while Lu Xiaoxi was real, so there was no need to compare.

“I saw online that it’s best to record an unboxing video; you help me open it, and I’ll record the video.”

“Sure.”

Li Mu helped her clear the clutter off the coffee table, placed the large cardboard box on it, and after confirming that Lu Xiaoxi was recording, he carefully opened the box with scissors.

Li Mu’s brows furrowed slightly, looking quite serious, and he was rather handsome.

From her perspective, she could see the attractive collarbone beneath Li Mu’s shirt.

The phone the girl was holding was quite restless, repeatedly pointing at Li Mu’s face, almost causing the computer to slip out of view several times.

What was wrong with this phone? Was it broken? The angle was completely out of control!

The unboxing process lasted ten minutes, from taking out the computer to checking for defects; everything was done meticulously, and once confirmed there were no issues, the recording ended.

All the items were laid out one by one, including the keyboard and mouse.

“You bought quite a lot.”

“Yes, this was a gift with the package, and the parts were bought from the same store.” The girl felt quite clever; she didn’t understand these things, but whenever she saw discounts or gifts, she assumed she had made a profit.

“This is called peripherals; later, I’ll help you test the feel. For now, let’s turn on the computer; you just press this to power it on.”

“I know that part.”

“Okay, let me set it up for you…”

After spending a bit more time, the computer was ready to use and connected to their Wi-Fi.

Lu Xiaoxi’s first time using a computer was at his house.

It had already been half an hour; why hadn’t his parents returned yet?

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