He had someone find Gong Ze’s ex-wife and obtained their marriage and divorce certificates. At the same time, he learned that the woman had a cheap son whom she had abandoned for Gong Ze to raise.
Originally, Gao Chun wasn’t interested in the son.
He wanted to use the woman and Gong Ze’s brief marriage to make Feng Yuan dump Gong Ze.
Feng Yuan had a purity complex. If he found out that Gong Ze had been married to someone else, he would be as disgusted as if he had eaten a fly.
But if Feng Yuan knew that Gong Ze had become a host to pay the hospital bills for a poor child he had no blood relation to, it might not make Feng Yuan hate him; it might even make Feng Yuan soften toward him.
Wouldn’t that just be helping Gong Ze?
But then, suddenly,
As if possessed, he thought, what if he concealed the fact that Gong Ze and the child had no blood relation and made a small alteration to this information?
For example, remove the dates of his marriage and divorce.
For example, just say they had a child.
Then, given Feng Yuan’s temper, he would definitely go back and tear into Gong Ze and the little brat. Even if the misunderstanding was cleared up later, Gong Ze would be afraid of Feng Yuan and want to run away…
“Look how much this child looks like him. And—” Gao Chun took out his phone and held it in front of Feng Yuan, who was already furious beyond reason. His face full of regret and sadness, he said, “Just before you left on your business trip, Gong Ze went to secretly meet his son and spent some quality parent-child time with him at the mall.”
“……”
“Feng Yuan… I’m truly heartbroken for you. I didn’t want to say anything. This isn’t good to spread around. But we’re brothers. I saw how much you liked Gong Ze and was afraid you would give him your true heart only to be deceived by him. That’s why I’m telling you… Feng Yuan…”
“SHUT UP!”
A roar echoed in the office. Feng Yuan’s fierce, bloodshot eyes were fixed on Gao Chun.
He wasn’t stupid. He didn’t have time to deal with Gao Chun’s intentions right now, but later, he wouldn’t let it go!
Gao Chun lowered his eyes and put away his phone.
And Feng Yuan, looking at the photo of Gong Ze and his son being affectionate at the mall, felt as if his blood had boiled over. The liquid flowing through his veins felt like lava, burning him so badly that his head ached and his heart felt like it was being torn apart. His vision went black. Feng Yuan squeezed his eyes shut tightly.
Gong Ze… Gong Ze… Gong Ze…
From the initial liking of his face, just playing around, to now — Feng Yuan had to admit he had developed real feelings. Had he, Feng Yuan, treated Gong Ze badly?
He had given him a car, a house, money, and had even let him fuck him!
It wasn’t like he was asking to be treated like dirt!
Feng Yuan could let go of Gong Ze’s past. Feng Yuan knew himself — he couldn’t tolerate a grain of sand in his eye. He was jealous and possessive. He wanted Gong Ze all to himself.
He couldn’t accept his Alpha having been with another Omega, even if it was in the past.
To avoid that headache, he hadn’t looked into Gong Ze’s past.
And what was the result?
Gong Ze had a son that old!
Feng Yuan felt like his chest was about to explode from anger. His veins bulged, his temples throbbed. Beneath the searing pain in his heart was a bitter, sour ache.
That child came from an ex-wife. What did that make him? The stepmother?
Ha!
What right did Gong Ze have to make him a stepmother?!
Feng Yuan had an explosive, straightforward personality. He couldn’t bear it. He pushed past Gao Chun and stormed out of the office. Gong Ze, how dare you make a monkey out of me?
I’ll fucking show you what happens when you betray and deceive me!
“Feng Yuan!”
Gao Chun called out ‘anxiously’ as he watched him leave. Seeing Feng Yuan depart, radiating murderous intent, he smiled behind his back.
……
Gong Ze spent the whole day playing at the mall with the child. At first, the precious son still maintained his little-adult composure, refusing to play.
Later, when other children invited him to join them, the introverted, prematurely mature child gradually opened up and joined the group of kids.
Gong Ze stayed outside the fence with the other parents, watching his precious son, whose smile was as sweet as two red apples, playing hide-and-seek with the other children in the children’s playground.
He noticed the other parents giggling as they recorded their children’s playtime on their phones. After a moment’s thought, Gong Ze also took out his phone and snapped several pictures of his precious son.
When the child was tired from playing in the evening, Gong Ze took Gu Panpan’s hand. After Panpan said goodbye to the other children, Gong Ze picked him up. “Are you hungry after playing so long?”
“No.” The child, whose cheeks still held a flush of red, shook his head.
“Eat something even if you’re not hungry. Otherwise, if you get hungry at night, you won’t sleep well.” Gong Ze carried him to the mall entrance and bought two grilled sausages.
One for each of them. They ate as they walked home.
After they finished, when Gong Ze crouched down to wipe his mouth, Gu Panpan looked at Gong Ze with sparkling eyes. He moved his mouth a few times, as if wanting to say something, but his face turned red and he didn’t.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing… Uncle…”
Seeing that the child had something on his mind, Gong Ze smiled softly but didn’t press him.
Gu Panpan had never had a father, never even seen a father. When he woke up in the hospital, his mother had already left, leaving him alone. It was Gong Ze who told him that from then on, they would be a family. It was Gong Ze who said, “You can call me Dad.”
Even without blood ties, they were still father and son.
…As he spent time with Gong Ze, this unfamiliar father gradually gained recognition in the child’s heart…
The child didn’t talk much, but his affection score kept rising.
Panpan wanted to call Gong Ze “Dad,” but he was too shy to say it out loud.
Gong Ze wasn’t in a hurry.
He picked up the child, who was clinging softly to his neck, and in the leisurely evening breeze, they chatted as they walked toward the hotel, carrying their shopping bags.
By the time they reached the hotel, Gu Panpan had already fallen asleep, his little head resting on Gong Ze’s shoulder, his two small hands tightly gripping the strings of Gong Ze’s hoodie.
Gong Ze’s breathing was very, very low.
When he opened the door, the system flew down and covered the child’s ears with its two wings.
Putting the soft, warm child onto the bed was no less difficult than moving a bomb. The tension and silence made even Gong Ze, a veteran of the Transmigration Department, break out in a sweat.
After the child was tucked in, he made a couple of soft sounds. The adult pulling the blanket froze instantly.
“Uncle…?”
Gu Panpan opened his eyes a crack. Seeing it was Gong Ze, he closed them completely, feeling safe, and curled up in bed, looking incredibly cute.
“Good night.”
Gong Ze said quietly, then walked out and gently closed the door.
Fortunately, he had later changed to a suite, so he and his precious son each had their own bedroom. This way, Gong Ze wouldn’t have to worry about waking the child when he washed up or moved around outside.
“Raising a child is really hard work. Thank goodness I didn’t agree to adopt one with Lu Youling in the last life.”
Even a black-hearted master like him, who was proficient in all skills, ruthless when necessary, and never hesitated to make tough decisions, found a five-year-old child to be a headache.
[When he grows up, you can teach him how to pick up girls, how to fix cars, how to play baseball. That’s how they raise kids in TV dramas!]
Gong Ze scoffed, raising an eyebrow slightly. “Then you must be watching American TV shows. In reality, children in China listen to Beethoven and advanced math in the womb. From age three, they start learning music, chess, calligraphy, painting, dance, taekwondo, arithmetic, foreign languages, public speaking… Even the parents are in a frenzy, doing bilingual households, artistic immersion…”
“If you don’t have a special skill by age five that your parents can post on their Moments to collect likes and win awards, you’re really out.”
“As for the sunrise over San Francisco at 5 AM, kids in China haven’t seen that. But they do see each other every day at 6 AM in the self-study room.”
The system, upon hearing this, exclaimed “Holy shit” and said, [Good thing I’m not human…]
It patted its little chest, scared out of its wits.
Just as the man and his system were chatting idly, there was a knock on the door. They both stopped and looked at the door. “What’s going on?”
[Maybe it’s the police doing a room check? Or room service?]
“…” Gong Ze frowned. His casual, lazy demeanor was instantly replaced by an honest, wooden look. The system also fell silent and hid.
Gong Ze walked toward the door. When his questions received no response, he cautiously cracked the door open and peered outside. But the moment he saw the person, his pupils visibly dilated.
“Feng Yuan?”
Outside, Feng Yuan’s suit collar was pulled open, car keys clenched in his hand, his eyes bloodshot. He stared fixedly at Gong Ze.
Thinking of the sleeping child inside, Gong Ze had a bad feeling. Looking at Feng Yuan, whose emotions were clearly off and whose eyes were red, he said softly, “Let’s go to the hallway to talk. Feng Yuan…”
“GONG ZE!”
Feng Yuan’s bleeding gaze and the murderous intent swirling within it made Gong Ze stop.
Feng Yuan didn’t want to hear Gong Ze speak.
When he had followed the address Gao Chun gave him, personally cornered Gong Ze, and seen him with his own eyes, he no longer wanted to hear any explanations.
He smiled sinisterly, his handsome face twisted and terrifying under the hallway lights.
He pulled his lips into a sneer, and the next moment, Feng Yuan fiercely kicked open the hotel room door. Gong Ze reacted instantly. To avoid getting hurt, he sidestepped, dodging the door frame as it slammed against the wall with a loud crash and bounced back.
But the next instant, Feng Yuan’s fist had already come flying!
Bang!
Gong Ze staggered backward, bracing his hand against the entryway wall. Blood dripped from his turned head onto the carpet, blooming into bright red stains.
[Ahhh, host!] The little ball of light shrieked as it flew over, trying to prop up Gong Ze’s body.
“I’m fine…”
Gong Ze used his other hand to cover his aching, stinging nose, and straightened up.
The human face’s triangular zone has many fragile nerves. The stabbing, throbbing pain caused Gong Ze to reveal a hint of genuine ferocity in his eyes as Feng Yuan raised his fist for a second blow. He nearly reflexively grabbed Feng Yuan’s neck to counterattack.
Thankfully, he held back.
Bang!
Another punch.
This one landed on Gong Ze’s stomach.
The pain was so intense that Gong Ze’s breathing abruptly stopped. He clenched his teeth and collapsed, clutching his stomach. The enraged, out-of-control Feng Yuan held nothing back. A full-power punch from a strong man made Gong Ze feel as if his intestines had snapped.
After the briefest moment, Gong Ze collapsed to the ground, unable to control himself as he coughed out the air trapped in his chest and abdomen.
“Cough… cough cough…”
The man who both loved and hated this Alpha, who had discovered he had been treated like a fool, crouched down. He grabbed the collar of the coughing Alpha and lifted him up. Looking at his pained, weak, and frowning face, Feng Yuan was surprised to find he could still feel soft toward him.
He had treated him like a fool and a sucker, using his money to support his son with his ex-wife.
And he had snuck off to spend quality father-son time when he was away!
How could Feng Yuan tolerate that?!
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