Chapter 48: This Kind of Service Costs Extra
Furious as he was, Su Chengfeng couldn’t think of any better way to deal with Chen Mo at the moment, so he took his anger out on Su Yuqing’s mother.
He quickly called Su Yuqing’s mother and berated her for raising their daughter poorly, complaining that she was now mixed up with some worthless punk and he couldn’t control her anymore.
After telling Su Yuqing’s mother to handle it herself and successfully shifting the blame, he finally felt a sense of relief. He got back in his car and drove away from the school.
On the way home, Su Yuqing occasionally glanced up at Chen Mo.
He felt both familiar and foreign to her.
She kept feeling that Chen Mo possessed a mature aura that didn’t belong on a high school student.
It was an aura she had only noticed in the past couple of days.
Although Chen Mo had always been gentle and caring, his behavior these past few days was somehow different.
She didn’t know why she had this strange feeling.
Sometimes, the person who truly loves you is the one who notices every subtle change in you.
"Sorry, Yuqing. I lost my temper for a moment back there and went off on your father. I didn’t stop to consider your feelings."
As satisfying as it was for Chen Mo, the man was Su Yuqing’s father, after all. He felt good about telling him off, but he had subconsciously ignored how awful Su Yuqing must feel being caught in the middle. So, he immediately apologized.
"Mmm..." Su Yuqing shook her head, looking at Chen Mo with a serious expression, a sudden light appearing in her eyes. "I’m very happy."
"Happy?" Chen Mo looked at Su Yuqing, stunned for a moment, but she suddenly lowered her head.
Su Yuqing gave Chen Mo’s palm a gentle squeeze, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the back of his hand.
She lowered her eyes, staring at the hem of their overlapping clothes as the tips of her ears flushed a faint pink.
’The way you stood in front of me made me so happy. The way you spoke up for me without a second thought made me so happy. The fact that you’re just a high school student, yet you dared to confront my father face-to-face, made me so happy...’
In her heart, Su Yuqing mentally listed all the things Chen Mo had done that moved her to joy, but she was too shy to say them all out loud.
’...Having you in my life, I’m just so, so happy.’
The happiness Su Yuqing spoke of was mingled with a deep gratitude that fate had brought Chen Mo to her.
Suddenly, a handkerchief was gently pressed to the corner of her eye.
It turned out Su Yuqing hadn’t even realized she’d started to cry.
"If you’re so happy, why are you crying?" Chen Mo carefully wiped away the tears that welled up in her reddened eyes.
Though her eyes were brimming with tears, Su Yuqing looked up at Chen Mo and gave him an incredibly radiant smile.
They were merely tears of joy.
As she took the handkerchief and dried her tears, Su Yuqing felt as if a tight knot of frustration deep in her heart had suddenly loosened.
Perhaps that knot had been formed from her obsessive need for her father’s affection and approval.
She had done her best to excise the bad parts of her loved ones, keeping only their best side in her heart.
So no matter how badly her parents treated her, she would always filter out their negative words and actions, showing them an abnormal degree of trust and affection instead.
But this was clearly a pathological way of thinking.
It caused her to gradually abandon her sense of self, forcing herself to become the "good child" that fit within her parents’ extremely narrow definition of the term.
And to them, what was a "good child"?
One who didn’t disrupt their current family life; one who had no thoughts or soul of their own; one who was completely obedient; one who had one or two impressive traits they could boast about, things they could use to publicize and enhance their own value as parents. A child like a human-shaped pet—that was a "good child" in their eyes.
And that, clearly, was pathological.
"Silly girl, crying one moment and laughing the next." Chen Mo put the handkerchief away and smiled gently. "But there’s nothing wrong with crying. It helps relieve stress. Being able to laugh after you’ve cried—now that’s what’s healthy."
Listening to Chen Mo’s gentle words, Su Yuqing’s heart felt as if it had been placed inside a little warmer, constantly kept toasty, cozy, and comfortable.
Back at home.
After washing his hands, Chen Mo immediately grabbed two bowls and scooped them full of taro and pork rib rice from the rice cooker.
"That’s too much, I can’t eat all that," Su Yuqing said, quickly shaking her head.
"There’s a kind of hunger called ’the host thinks you’re hungry.’ For a high school girl, this really isn’t much. Based on what you ate yesterday, I estimate this will only get you about sixty percent full. With a drink, you’ll be a perfect eighty percent," Chen Mo said with a smile as he brought the bowls to the table.
The truth was, Su Yuqing wanted to save some room, afraid that if she ate too much, she’d get fat.
Seeing Su Yuqing poke at her stomach, as if checking for any flab, Chen Mo figured out what she was thinking.
He smiled and said, "You should eat when it’s time to eat. Even if you weighed 220 pounds, you’d always have a place to stay here. But don’t worry, you won’t get to 220 pounds. If you ever do get overweight, I’ll show you what a drill sergeant of a trainer is. I’ll work out with you and help you lose the weight.
So you have to eat your fill and eat well. Don’t torture yourself over your figure.
Girls are cuter when they’re a bit chubby. Look how chubby Little Yueyue’s cheeks are—they’re so fun to pinch."
"So if I get all chubby from eating, does that mean you’ll be bullying me by pinching my cheeks every day?" Su Yuqing teased.
"No way, I could never bring myself to do that," Chen Mo said with a laugh. "Besides, you’re my employee. Bullying you would be workplace harassment. You’d report me to the labor board, and I can’t afford that."
"There’s no contract, so what would I even use to report you?" Su Yuqing said with a smile, accepting the bowl of taro and pork rib rice from him.
"Who says there isn’t?"
Chen Mo put down his bowl and chopsticks and immediately ran over to the fax machine.
He quickly returned with a contract.
"I’ve already prepared your indenture agreement. You can sign it after dinner."
Chen Mo smiled and handed the nanny contract to Su Yuqing.
"You told your mom?" Seeing Chen Xi’s name on it, Su Yuqing was surprised. She had learned the names of Chen Mo’s parents last weekend while chatting at his grandparents’ house.
"She had to be the one to handle it. I had no choice but to tell her."
"Did... did she say anything else?" Su Yuqing’s face instantly flushed crimson.
"She did. She said if you don’t take good care of me, she’ll fire you. Especially this part right here, ’Attend to daily living needs.’ See?" Chen Mo gave Su Yuqing a sly grin and pointed to the clause. "For example, if my blankets are too cold at night, you’ll have to warm them up for me first."
"That’s clearly an outrageous clause. That kind of service will cost extra." If this had happened before, Su Yuqing would have been too shy to respond. But now that she was more comfortable with Chen Mo, she could joke back.