Chapter 372: A Jealous Competition
The Qu family ultimately paid the price for their dishonesty.
With no other choice, they sold their house three days later to pay off their debts.
They couldn’t pay the factory workers’ wages, and in the end, the business all but collapsed.
They moved from a large house into a small one. Compared to the average family, their life wasn’t bad, but the family of three felt completely out of their element.
Later, after learning a bitter lesson, Mr. Qu started his business over. A long time passed before the family finally moved back into a large house.
By then, however, Qu An had completely grown up.
Qu An didn’t go to the internship he had planned for the summer break. After seeing him that one time, Su Li didn’t see him again before the school year started.
With Qu An out of sight, Su Li pushed the "broken shoe" comment to the back of her mind and forgot about it.
"Who was that guy just now? His eyes looked a little... off." Wu Sheng, who had just crossed paths with Qu An, had a gut feeling that something was wrong with the way Qu An looked at Su Li.
He asked, feigning nonchalance.
"A classmate from my program. We have a bit of history."
Su Li didn’t go into detail, not wanting Wu Sheng to get angry over it too.
Seeing Su Li’s attitude, Wu Sheng didn’t press the issue.
"It’s getting hotter and hotter. Let’s buy a watermelon to eat at home," Wu Sheng said on the way back.
Su Li nodded eagerly. "Yes, let’s! We should eat more while the watermelons are still good."
Watermelon was the ultimate weapon against the summer heat. Remembering the ones she’d eaten before, Su Li swallowed hard.
"What do you mean, ’while they’re still good’? Are they going to get bad later? Don’t worry, I’m great at picking watermelons."
Wu Sheng was always in charge of picking the watermelon. And, of course, splitting it open.
Not with a knife, but with his bare hands.
"Okay, you pick, you pick," Su Li nodded.
Wu Sheng didn’t understand that by "later," she was referring to the future—to artificially ripened watermelons injected with sugar water to guarantee sweetness and a red color.
They bought a watermelon, picked up Little Tang Mo, and headed home carrying the large fruit.
The summer days were hot, and appetites were small. Su Li prepared a few cold dishes to go with the chilled congee she’d made that morning, and that was dinner.
After dinner, it was time for watermelon.
Little Tang Mo couldn’t resist trying to open the watermelon himself, pounding it with his small fists.
Wu Sheng watched from the side with a smile. "Not enough power. You’ll need to train for a few more years."
Little Tang Mo huffed. "I don’t need a few years. I’ll be able to open it next year."
"Sure, sure. But if you want to do it next year, you have to remember to practice your punches." Wu Sheng lifted Little Tang Mo away.
"If you keep that up, we won’t be able to eat it. Let me."
With a single karate chop, the watermelon split open.
Wu Sheng and Little Tang Mo reached out at the same time, grabbing for the reddest piece. They both got ahold of the best slice, and in a single, coordinated motion, they turned and presented it to Su Li.
"Eat mine, Mom."
"Eat mine, Su Li."
They spoke at the same time.
Su Li: "..." ’Here we go again.’
"Why do you always fight with me over this?"
"You’re the one fighting with me."
Su Li sighed, "...What is there to even fight about?"
She took two big bites, eating the reddest, sweetest part of the slice, and then grabbed a different piece for herself.
"You two can have it."
’Hmph. Go ahead and squabble. Keep acting up.’
Su Li nonchalantly walked away with her slice of watermelon, leaving Wu Sheng and Little Tang Mo staring at each other blankly.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before silently agreeing to sit down on the sofa, one on each end, as far apart as possible. Then they started eating the slice of watermelon Su Li had taken a bite from.
When Su Li came out of the kitchen, both of their eyes lit up.
"Mom, come sit here."
"Su Li, over here."
They spoke in unison again, both patting the empty space beside them.
Su Li sighed. "....How long are you two going to keep this up?"
’They seemed to be getting along just fine before, but for some reason, they started competing these last couple of days.’
Wu Sheng raised his hand to tattle. "Little Point started it."
Little Tang Mo snorted coldly. It was all because Wu Sheng had bragged to him about his birthday presents, saying he got three of them!
Little Tang Mo had indeed come to accept Wu Sheng and would even show his concern for him in a less obviously awkward way. But whenever Su Li was nice to Wu Sheng and her attention shifted to him, Little Tang Mo couldn’t help but feel jealous.
This jealousy completely erupted when Little Tang Mo was showing off his birthday present to Wu Sheng, and Wu Sheng, just as childishly, bragged back that Su Li had given him *three* presents.
Little Tang Mo cleverly began to vie for Su Li’s gaze, competing for her attention.
Wu Sheng wasn’t about to stand for that and immediately rose to the challenge, joining the competition.
And so, this childish battle of wits to win Su Li’s affection began.
Today’s little drama... was neither the beginning nor the end.
"Mom, come here. Tongtong was noisy all day. I’m tired."
Little Tang Mo spoke up. From his last birthday party, Su Li knew that Tongtong lived in the adjacent apartment building, very close by.
Tongtong’s mother was a full-time housewife who looked after Tongtong and her little brother, so she was almost always at home.
Little Tang Mo’s summer break would start in two days. On weekends, Su Li sometimes asked Tongtong’s mother to help look after Little Tang Mo for a bit.
Tongtong really liked Little Tang Mo and always welcomed him, but she was too talkative and playful. After a while, Little Tang Mo would get a little frustrated.
As soon as Little Tang Mo whined like that, Su Li immediately sat down next to him.
"Isn’t Tongtong a well-behaved girl?"
"She’s so noisy, and she’s always saying..." A blush flashed across Little Tang Mo’s face.
’That pesky Tongtong has no shame at all! She’s always saying she wants to marry him. If dragging him into playing house isn’t enough, she’s always looking for an opportunity to steal a kiss!’
"I’m going to the library tomorrow. I don’t want to go to Tongtong’s house anymore."
Su Li looked at Little Tang Mo, desperately trying to hold back her laughter. "Okay, okay, we’ll go to the library tomorrow."
Tongtong’s mother had mentioned to Su Li in passing that Tongtong had copied her by playing with her lipstick, painting her own lips bright red, and then kissing Little Tang Mo, leaving red marks all over his face.
Thinking of Little Tang Mo gloomily washing his face while Tongtong looked both proud and innocent, Su Li felt an urge.
An urge to draw the scene and save it to show Little Tang Mo when he grew up.
Little Tang Mo, unaware of the wicked thoughts in Su Li’s mind, was satisfied now that she was sitting next to him.
He contentedly took two more bites of watermelon, one arm wrapped around Su Li, not forgetting to shoot a triumphant look at Wu Sheng.
Wu Sheng: "..."
Wu Sheng nearly chewed through the watermelon rind, gritting his teeth as he watched Little Tang Mo’s smug expression.
’This kid... this little thief!’
After Su Li got up to answer the phone, Wu Sheng spoke.
"Little Point, isn’t it bad to be so possessive?"
He took a bite of watermelon. "Su Li is your mom, not your wife. What you’re doing isn’t right."
Little Tang Mo took a huge bite of watermelon. "Then I’ll just marry my mom and make her my wife."
PFFT. Wu Sheng spat out a mouthful of watermelon. "You really love saying the most shocking things, don’t you? You’re trying to give me a heart attack."
Wu Sheng wiped the watermelon from his mouth. "You little brat, do you even know what a wife is? And you want to marry your mom."
’That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!’
"Of course I know. A wife is someone you stay with forever, and I want to stay with Mom forever, too."
Little Tang Mo replied matter-of-factly. These past few days, that pesky girl Tongtong had been brainwashing him with all her talk of marrying, so how could he not know?
He had originally just blurted it out to spite Wu Sheng, but after saying it, he thought it was actually a pretty good idea.
Little Tang Mo thought it was a great idea, but Wu Sheng was about to die of anger upon hearing it.