My dad remarried, and to my surprise, my stepmother turned out to be the beautiful class monitor from high school. This is going to be interesting.
My dad's not home this summer, so it looks like I'll be living with my 'stepmother' for two months...
On my first night back home, I got into trouble. I kicked the toilet and broke it. The shards of the toilet cut my stepmother's buttocks, causing her to bleed and faint... In the end, I had to bandage her up...
later...
I'll keep you in suspense for now; let's start from the night I got home...
I never expected that when I came home from school after summer vacation, the person who opened the door for me was my female class monitor from high school.
What surprised me even more was that she has now become my stepmother!
Of course, it wasn't the moon's fault, but my damn father's.
Half an hour ago...
"Xiao Wei, you're back from your holiday. Dad was planning to wait for you at home, but..."
"I know you're busy, go ahead and do your thing, don't worry about me." I didn't really feel anything about my dad not being home to wait for me, and I've never really considered him my father.
As far back as I can remember, my parents have always worked away from home, and I've lived with my elderly grandmother for years until I came to this city for university...
After my maternal grandmother passed away last year, I had no choice but to come and stay with my father during my summer vacation this year.
"Xiaoling is at home. I'm away on a business trip. She'll take good care of you," Dad added quietly.
"I don't want her to take care of me! After I get home, you better tell her to stop bothering me!" I yelled into the phone.
Xiaoling is my dad's new wife, whom I had never met before.
At this moment, I couldn't help but think of my poor mother. She had worked hard with my father in this city for more than ten years, but she died in a car accident before my father's company was officially established...
That happened two years ago. Because of the college entrance exam, my mother was rushed to the hospital and passed away. My father kept it from me the whole time, which is the most unforgivable thing for me. I didn't even get to see my mother one last time...
"Sigh..." Dad sighed, "There's a big business deal coming up, and I have to fly there myself tonight. I'll try to get back as soon as possible, Xiao Wei, don't blame me... I'm doing all this because..."
"I'm not going to talk to you anymore." I hung up the phone. To be honest, I really didn't want to stay at his place, but... I don't seem to have anywhere else to go right now.
My dad must be very rich now, because you can see huge advertisements for his company all over the place, but he doesn't give me much living expenses each month.
He's a stingy person, that's what my grandma said, and of course I think so too. Take the place he lives now, for example, it's very ordinary, just a typical garden community, not even a villa. Even though he's my dad, and even though he's said that everything he owns is mine, I still think he's petty, so I dislike him more and more from the bottom of my heart.
My mother died because of him, and now, only two years later, he's married a young and beautiful woman...
When I got to the apartment building, it was almost 10 p.m., and there were hardly any people in the garden community.
"Is this Xiaowei?" A woman's voice came from inside when I rang the doorbell in front of the building.
"It's me," I replied in a muffled voice.
"I'll open the door for you right away." Not long after the woman's voice stopped, the apartment building door opened automatically with a 'snap'.
Up until this point, I still couldn't connect this woman with Qin Ling, my female class monitor from high school...
If I had known it was her, I would never have gone up there, even if you killed me. This summer, even if I had nowhere else to go, I would rather sleep on the streets than stay here.
"It's...you?"
After I went upstairs, Qin Ling, who was standing by the door, looked at me with her mouth agape in surprise.
"What...are you doing here?" My brain short-circuited for a moment; clearly, I hadn't yet connected the words "she" and "stepmother."
When I was in school, I was generally very wary of Qin Ling suddenly appearing at my house...
Qin Ling used to appear at my house when she was in school... I think it was my maternal grandmother's house... There were three times in total. Once was when I didn't hand in my homework on time, once was when I got into a fight, and another time... I won't go into details... It was embarrassing.
"Xiao Wei... so it's you?" Qin Ling's face seemed to turn red all the way to her neck, but she pretended to be quite calm.
Although my brain short-circuited for a second, I quickly connected the "Xiao Ling" that my dad was talking about with Qin Ling in front of me...
For a moment, I had the urge to die...
"What are you standing there for? Come in." Qin Ling reached out and pulled me into the room. My mind went even blanker. At this moment, I should have run away.
"Hehe, Xiao Wei... When your father mentioned you, I said that your name is the same as one of my high school classmates, but I didn't expect it to really be you..." After Xiao Ling entered the living room, she turned around and went to make tea for me.
I felt quite depressed and couldn't say a word. Maybe what she said was true? She didn't seem to be faking it, because I don't even have a picture of myself as an adult with my dad.
"Don't call me Xiaowei, I think I'm a year older than you!" I replied to Xiaoling unhappily. During high school, she was the class monitor and would often go to the homeroom teacher to complain about me. I suffered a lot from her bullying and still feel a little inferior to her.
"Hehe." Xiaoling chuckled. When she handed me the teacup, the lid trembled as it was placed on top. I suddenly realized that she wasn't as calm as she appeared; she was actually more nervous than I was.
"Hehe." Seeing how nervous she was, I suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of superiority. Yes, she's no longer my class monitor, and she can't possibly go to the homeroom teacher to complain about me anymore, so why should I be afraid of her?
Hearing me laugh like that, Xiaoling habitually glared at me, her expression seemingly relaxing. She turned around, poured herself a cup of tea, and then sat down opposite me.
"How could you marry an old man?" I asked Xiaoling without looking up, though I held back in my tone, because I'm not usually that mean-spirited.
If it were anyone else, I might not have given them a good look, but Xiaoling and I have been classmates for three years, so I should at least give her some face.
"Is he... old?" Xiaoling seemed to become uneasy again. Meeting her in this situation was indeed not an easy thing to face, whether for her or for me.
I didn't say anything; I knew Xiaoling would continue talking.
"He's only in his early forties... You know, a month before the college entrance exam, my mother became seriously ill. I didn't do well on the exam, but even if I had, my family wouldn't have had the money to continue my studies..."
Xiaoling said I knew, but I didn't know anything. In some ways, I was quite hostile towards her in high school. Moreover, in the month before the college entrance exam, everyone was so busy that no one would care about other people's affairs.
"After receiving the acceptance letter, I didn't go to school. Instead, I came here to work as a waiter at a hotel, right across from your dad's company. He often comes here to treat people to drinks…"
"You don't need to tell me all this." I interrupted Xiaoling, sullenly drinking my tea. In my heart, my dad was a heartless scoundrel, and everything he did must have been a mess.
After I interrupted Xiaoling, she probably sensed that I was in a bad mood, so she stopped talking and just looked at me somewhat uneasily. I didn't look at her, still feeling a little awkward. After glancing around, I pursed my lips and said, "Isn't he very rich? Why would he let you stay in such a shabby place?"
What I mean by saying this is not that my dad abused her or didn't give her money. Rather, there's an underlying message: didn't you only marry him because he's rich? Youth and beauty in exchange for money—that's the prevailing rule in today's society.
"My mother's illness has already cost him a lot of money, how could I possibly spend his money again? Is this house shabby? I think it's fine." Xiaoling answered me cautiously, a far cry from her arrogant demeanor when she was the class monitor, which made me chuckle involuntarily.
No matter how she explains it, in the end, if my deadbeat father didn't have money, he would never have married her. A company CEO and a hotel waitress—this story is so vulgar it couldn't be more so; you could come up with a whole bunch of them with your eyes closed.
"Did you hate me a lot in high school?" After a moment of silence, Xiaoling changed the subject to ease the awkwardness between us.
"Hate you?" I thought for a moment, then shook my head: "I kind of dislike you. I think you're really boring. You're always tattling to the teachers. It's not just me who dislikes you; a lot of boys in the class dislike you. Some of them even said they'd find a chance to beat you up."
"They dare!" A glint suddenly flashed in Xiaoling's eyes, a glint of the domineering aura she possessed as a class monitor in high school, but it vanished in an instant.
"I wouldn't dare. It's so shameful to bully girls. If word gets out, my reputation will be ruined." I shook my head again, pretending to look at Xiaoling with disdain. It's only been two years, but perhaps because of our special relationship now, when we sit together and talk about high school, it feels like we're talking about a very distant past.
"Hehe, actually I really liked your group back then, Xiaoqiang, Fatty, and you too." Xiaoling started talking, as if she had returned to her high school memories.
"Like? Your way of liking us is to go to the homeroom teacher and tattle on us, watch us get scolded, and then secretly gloat, right?" I glared at Xiaoling resentfully. I really hated her back then, but now I feel indifferent about it.
"I tried to persuade you, but you wouldn't listen, so you went to the teacher to complain. I was just trying to help you..." Xiaoling pouted, looking a little aggrieved.
"It's for our own good, sigh... I'm so touched." I replied with a hint of sarcasm. Come to think of it, she didn't seem to care much about the other boys back then, but she always kept a close eye on us, which left a particularly deep impression on me.
"You'd better behave this summer, or I'll tell your dad!" Xiaoling changed the subject, looking at me with a mischievous grin.