Chapter 5

Li Yuanhang kicked the door hard and yelled, “Hurry up and come out! I want to wash too!”

Ling Mo didn’t even turn off the water, he finished showering before slowly walking out.

Li Yuanhang glared at Ling Mo fiercely.

At this time, Li Yuanhang’s mom, Ling Mo’s aunt Chen Li, smiled at Ling Mo and said, “It’s raining so hard, didn’t you catch a cold? Dinner is ready, you eat first, then finish your homework early and go to bed early!”

Ling Mo didn’t say anything and went to the dinner table.

There was leftover braised eggplant and potatoes in the dish, but there was a pot on the stove simmering on low heat. You could smell the aroma of braised pork.

She let him eat first, just so he wouldn’t compete with his cousin Li Yuanhang for the meat.

Ling Mo didn’t say anything, he ate all the rice and vegetables.

Chen Li took two ribs from the stove, put them on a small plate, brought them to Ling Mo, patted his shoulder gently, and gave him a motherly smile.

Ling Mo didn’t say anything, nor did he reach for the ribs. Because those were carefully selected by Chen Li, only bones, no meat.

“Next time, Xiaomo, you should let Yuanhang wash first. He’s not in good health, he’s prone to fever and colds if he catches a cold. You’re the older brother! Older brothers should give in to their younger brothers.”

She said it in a gentle and reasonable way, but Li Yuanhang was raised on good food and meat every meal, who knows who’s actually healthier.

Ling Mo turned his head and looked at Chen Li, his eyes were very cold, but the corners of his lips had a faint smile.

As if mocking her, or as if he didn’t care about any of this.

Chen Li felt a strange sense of nervousness, thinking that this child is still so young, what does he understand, even if he does, what can he do!

It wasn’t until later that Chen Li understood that Ling Mo’s faint smile was usually “malicious.” He would watch certain people act like fools as if he were watching a play, and when the time, place, and people were right, he would grab them and make those “certain people” bruised and swollen.

“Auntie, I’m finished, I’m going to do my homework.” Ling Mo took the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen, washed them and dried them, then went back to his room.

Speaking of Ling Mo’s parents’ generation, Qu Yun could grab a handful of sunflower seeds, eat the seeds, and spit the shells onto Chen Li’s couple’s faces.

Ling Mo’s parents were confidential researchers at a certain institute, and they had an accident on their way home from the institute. Ling Mo’s father died on the spot, and his mother, Chen Yuan, who was sitting in the car, was seriously injured and admitted to the hospital.

Before that, Ling Mo’s aunt Chen Li and uncle only had a middle school education. After the resumption of the college entrance exam, they didn’t get into college, and the jobs they found were never very good. Chen Li’s husband also got a job in a factory through his sister Chen Yuan, but he got into a conflict with the workshop director, and he broke the man’s leg. The other party sued, and Chen Li had to sell her house, and then she and her child lived with her sister Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan and her husband often stayed at the institute, so it was a good thing to have Chen Li at home to help take care of her son Ling Mo. But unexpectedly, an accident happened less than half a year later.

When Chen Yuan breathed her last breath in the hospital, she entrusted her son to her sister Chen Li.

Ling Mo’s parents were both scholars who were wholeheartedly devoted to academics, with simple minds and didn’t understand human nature. She never thought that her younger sister, who had lived under her halo since childhood, didn’t know how to be grateful. On the contrary, less than a month after they were buried, Chen Li used the excuse that her son Li Yuanhang and they slept together, affecting Li Yuanhang’s studies, to make Ling Mo move out of his room and live in the storage room where Ling Mo’s parents used to store their papers. Then she used the excuse that their work was not as rich as Ling Mo’s parents, and it was a lot of pressure to raise Ling Mo, to cry poor and act pitiful everywhere. She made Ling Mo’s parents’ colleagues help her husband find a new job with less work and more money than before.

These are nothing, Chen Li really has the potential to be an actress, Qu Yun felt that it was a pity she didn’t become an actress. Chen Li went to the neighbors and said that she had been taking care of Ling Mo with great difficulty, and she had to earn money to support him. Unexpectedly, after he got sick, Ling Mo pretended not to care about the money his parents left behind. Coupled with Ling Mo’s cold personality, the neighbors really thought that Ling Mo was the ungrateful one.

Qu Yun asked Ling Mo: What kind of illness did your ungrateful aunt have?

Ling Mo replied: I heard it was a herniated disc.

Qu Yun laughed, cracking sunflower seeds and said: It’s not a problem with your waist, it’s a problem with your heart – it’s caused by a lack of conscience. I’ll give her a couple of kicks, you believe me, her waist won’t be herniated anymore?

Ling Mo smiled, making Qu Yun feel smug. Because Ling Mo only smiled at him like that. But in fact, every time Ling Mo smiled like that, it was “malicious” towards him. This was something Qu Yun figured out with all his intelligence.

Speaking of which, after Chen Li pretended to have a herniated disc, Ling Mo’s parents’ director Gu came to see him. Chen Li told Director Gu that she was worried that Ling Mo was young and would spend his parents’ savings recklessly.

 It was not good for a child to have too much money, and it should be managed by his guardian. Director Gu thought about it for a while and persuaded Ling Mo to give his parents’ savings and property certificate to his aunt for safekeeping, and asked Chen Li to keep track of how much money she spent raising Ling Mo, and to return the money to Ling Mo when he went to college. Chen Li even pretended to write a guarantee letter at the time.

Ling Mo handed the passbook to Chen Li in front of Director Gu. Chen Li looked at the balance on the passbook, her eyes almost popped out.

After that, he lived a good life for half a month, and Chen Li treated him like a young master, but not long after, the old leader had a stroke and was paralyzed. They say he couldn’t even speak. Without a witness, Chen Li and her husband became unscrupulous.

Qu Yun was so angry when he heard this: You don’t know that giving them money is like throwing a meat bun at a dog, it’s gone forever!

Ling Mo just replied: Only you are stupid enough to put all your eggs in one basket.

Qu Yun tilted his head: What do you mean?

Ling Mo just replied: I have another passbook, enough to support you.

Qu Yun: …

Of course, remembering the past is a matter of the future.

At this moment, watching Ling Mo close his room door, Chen Li seemed to think of something and snorted coldly, “He’s just like his mother, acting all high and mighty.”

Ling Mo opened the window, it was still raining outside. He glanced at his dirty clothes thrown in the basin, went back to his small desk, and did his homework for the day.

After Chen Li fell asleep, Ling Mo picked up the basin of clothes and went to get water to wash them.

Since Chen Li heard her neighbors say that washing machines use more water than hand washing, she deliberately told Ling Mo that Li Yuanhang had sensitive skin, and if he washed his clothes with other people’s clothes, he would get a rash. From then on, Ling Mo washed his clothes by hand.

He washed from ten o’clock to eleven o’clock, it was still raining outside, so Ling Mo could only hang his clothes to dry in his small room.

Just as he opened his room door, he saw Li Yuanhang sneaking around in his room, and his schoolbag was turned upside down and thrown on the floor.

“What are you doing?” Ling Mo put down the basin and looked at him coldly.

Li Yuanhang was holding Ling Mo’s math homework.

“I… I have a problem I don’t understand, I wanted to ask you, but you went to wash clothes, and I didn’t want to waste your time, so I just looked around.”

Li Yuanhang felt a little guilty when he saw him looking.

“Taking without asking is stealing.” Ling Mo’s gaze was still so cold.

“What do you mean stealing! I’m your cousin! I just want to look at your homework! It’s just that you know how to do the problems, you’re amazing!”

“You’re not just looking, you’re copying.” Ling Mo reached out and stopped Li Yuanhang.

“What are you doing?”

“Please give me my homework back, I didn’t say I’d let you see it.” Ling Mo replied.

Li Yuanhang’s eyes widened, “You won’t let me see it, so I can’t see it? You don’t even know who’s supporting you and feeding you in this house!”

He even poked Ling Mo’s chest with his finger.

Suddenly, Ling Mo grabbed his hand and bent it back hard, Li Yuanhang let out a pig-like scream.

“Mom – Mom – come quickly! Ling Mo is going to kill me!”

Ling Mo lowered his head and said next to Li Yuanhang’s ear, “Are you sure you want to copy my homework? You might be in the limelight tomorrow.”

His voice rose slightly, it was a cold mockery.

Chen Li, who was asleep, rolled over and rushed into Ling Mo’s small room. She saw her son being pressed to the ground by Ling Mo’s knee, his arm bent behind him, and he looked like he was about to cry. She slapped Ling Mo hard in the face.

Li Yuanhang got up and punched Ling Mo in the eye socket.

“Ling Mo, what are you doing!” Chen Li raised her voice.

She had endured for so long, every day she had to see Ling Mo’s face, which resembled her sister’s, in front of her, and she cursed countless times in her heart, hoping that one day she would never have to see him again. Even today, when it rained, she hoped that something would happen to Ling Mo so that he would never come back.

But she endured it, and he dared to hit her son.

Ling Mo covered his eyes and stood up, raising his chin, “He stole my homework, he wanted to copy my homework.”

Chen Li was choked.

“I didn’t copy! I just saw you washing clothes and didn’t want to disturb you, so I came in and looked around! I just didn’t understand one problem, so I wanted to see how he did it! Who knows, he insists that I’m copying his homework! Didn’t the teacher write the problems on the blackboard in class, are we all copying the teacher?” Li Yuanhang yelled at the top of his lungs.

Chen Li took a breath, walked over, moved Ling Mo’s hand away, and found that his eye socket was bruised.

She looked distressed and went to get a towel to put on Ling Mo’s eye.

“Xiaomo, it’s not that Auntie is biased, but you’re too impulsive. Yuanhang is your younger brother, even if he did something wrong, you don’t have to hit him! And he just wanted to see how you did it, why did you have to say he was copying? This hurts your brotherly relationship and hurts Yuanhang’s self-esteem. Don’t do this again in the future!”

Ling Mo looked at Chen Li calmly, and there was that faint smile on his lips that made her inexplicably uncomfortable, “Since Yuanhang likes to throw punches, he’ll experience the price of throwing punches tomorrow.”

Chen Li subconsciously swallowed, dryly laughed, “You kid, what are you talking about… It’s getting late, go to bed!”

After saying that, Chen Li pulled Li Yuanhang out.

After Ling Mo’s door closed, Li Yuanhang complained indignantly, “Mom – why did you let him off so easily? He beat me up!”

Chen Li patted her son’s forehead, “Not only did he beat you, I want to beat you too! How can you be so stupid? If you want to hit, hit him, how can you hit his face? Aren’t you afraid of people saying you’re bullying him?”

“Didn’t you also slap him?”

“You’re still saying, wasn’t it because of you yelling? You’re copying someone’s homework and you’re not ashamed, you want the whole building to hear it?”

Li Yuanhang snorted, still holding Ling Mo’s homework.

He copied Ling Mo’s homework, and then tore up his homework, and then deliberately threw it in the living room trash can, just to let Ling Mo see it when he got up in the morning.

“What does it matter if you can do it?”

But Ling Mo, lying in bed, heard Li Yuanhang’s footsteps, and he didn’t care, he slightly curled the corners of his lips and looked at the ceiling with a hint of cunning in his eyes.

The next morning, when Ling Mo got up, he saw Chen Li hurriedly packing the freshly steamed buns into Li Yuanhang’s lunch box.

“Xiaomo! I’m sorry! Auntie got up late today, I didn’t have time to make breakfast! Look in the cupboard, there are some cookies, take some to fill your stomach.”

After saying that, she took Li Yuanhang’s hand and rushed out the door.

Ling Mo curled his lips and smiled.

The cupboard where the cookies were kept was locked. This act Chen Li was putting on was to punish him for hitting Li Yuanhang last night.

Ling Mo put on his schoolbag and walked out the door without a care.

Although the sky was still gloomy, the corners of Ling Mo’s lips were raised higher than usual.

Qu Yun sighed when he arrived at school in the morning. Liang Ru had put two more smoked bamboo shoot and meat buns in his lunch box. Although he could definitely eat them all with his body, he really didn’t want to get any fatter.

More importantly, he had only finished half of his math homework. The other half, about inverse proportional functions… seemed a little difficult, he couldn’t do it.

Two rows away from Qu Yun was Li Yuanhang, who had come to school early.

He was eating the buns his mother had packed for him, shaking his feet.

“Hey, Li Yuanhang, did you finish your math homework yesterday?” A male classmate asked, poking Li Yuanhang’s shoulder from behind.

“I finished it.” The smug look on Li Yuanhang’s face couldn’t be concealed.

“You’re lying, right? The last two function problems, many people can’t do it, you can do it?”

“I can’t do it either, but you forgot who lives in our house?”

“You’re bragging too much, right? Everyone knows that Ling Mo is a guy who doesn’t care about anything, no one can see his homework! Even if he lives in your house!”

Qu Yun was laughing in his heart when he heard this.

“Fatso, what are you laughing at?” Li Yuanhang crumpled a piece of paper and threw it at Qu Yun.

Qu Yun wanted to dodge, but his limbs weren’t fast enough, and he was hit.

“Because you said Ling Mo lives in Li Yuanhang’s house, it’s so funny!” Qu Yun narrowed his eyes and continued to laugh.

“What’s so funny about that?” Li Yuanhang asked back.

“Because the house you live in, Li Yuanhang, isn’t it left by Ling Mo’s parents? So it should be you and your whole family living in Ling Mo’s house, not Ling Mo living in your house!” Qu Yun continued to smile.

Qu Yun had a fat face now, and when he smiled, it looked like a wrinkled bun.

Li Yuanhang slammed the table and was about to get up, intending to beat up Qu Yun. Qu Yun thought, who’s afraid of who, I’m thick now, I’m not afraid of being beaten.

The few classmates behind him pulled Li Yuanhang back.

“Don’t pay attention to the fatso! His brain is full of fat! It’s disgusting to see him laugh, are you lowering your standards by arguing with him?”

At this time, Ling Mo walked in, his left eye socket still had a faint bruise.

Li Yuanhang had just been embarrassed by Qu Yun, and he deliberately said to the few classmates behind him in a not too loud, not too soft voice, “Ling Mo, that deadpan face, really protects his homework like it’s gold and silver! But I just punched him, and he obediently handed over his homework!”

“You’re still the best! We all get cold just by looking at Ling Mo!”

“Why are you afraid of him? He eats at my house, lives at my house, you know, he’s not going to have a good life if he offends me! You know, he didn’t even get breakfast this morning!”

“Yuanhang, let everyone see your homework! Otherwise, we’ll all be scolded by Teacher Ding!”

“I’ll treat you to chili cakes during break!”

“I’ll treat you to gluten!”

“Take it.” Li Yuanhang threw his math homework to them, “Be quick, don’t get caught.”

“Got it, got it!”

Li Yuanhang was surrounded by stars, and he didn’t forget to glance at Qu Yun, meaning that I won’t let you see it even if you want to.

Qu Yun’s peripheral vision caught Ling Mo, although he still had a bruise on his face, his expression was very indifferent, as if what Li Yuanhang said had nothing to do with him.

“Hey, Mo Xiaobai, I copied it, do you want to borrow it and copy it?”

Chen Qiao looked at Qu Yun with his homework in hand.

Little guy, do you think I’m going to beg you?

Even if I beg you, you