Chapter 26: The Eldest Beat Someone Up

Chen Liyang spent the entire morning cleaning. Now he finally appreciated how exhausting deep cleaning had been for his mother.

The bandaged wound on the back of his leg felt as if it had reopened. Perhaps because sweat had soaked into it, it throbbed with a mixture of pain and itching.

Still, knowing the kids would be home from school for lunch soon, he skipped going to the clinic to re-bandage it and went straight to the kitchen.

There were plenty of leftovers from last night, so he didn’t buy any fresh groceries. He planned to reheat last night’s dishes and stir-fry a simple plate of greens to make do.

Come evening, he would cook a proper meal from scratch.

When the children returned home and saw the transformed house, they thought they had walked into the wrong place.

In the past, whenever the place got messy, they used to clean up on their own. But every time right after they finished, Chen Liyang would trash it again, so eventually they stopped bothering.

They never expected to see such a clean living room again, cleaner even than when they used to clean it themselves.

And once they stepped into their own bedrooms, they realized Chen Liyang hadn’t just cleaned the living room, but had tidied up their rooms as well.

“Wanning, tell me… did he really clean the house?” Zhou Chengnan asked his younger sister gently.

Zhou Wanning merely gave him a cool look without answering.

“How could he have done it? He must have paid someone else to clean.” In a single sentence, Zhou Chengnan dismissed all of Chen Liyang’s hard work.

Zhou Wanning remembered how Chen Liyang had stood up for her that morning, and felt a strong urge to tell them that he really did do it himself.

But though her mouth opened, she still couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

To Zhou Chengxi, her silence looked like agreement. His expression turned smug as he added, “I guessed right, didn’t I? A lazy bum like him would never clean the house himself.”

His words successfully nipped the slightly improving opinions of the other three right in the bud.

Chen Liyang was still hard at work at the stove in the kitchen, completely unaware of what was happening in the living room.

But when he finished cooking and stepped out, Zhou Chengnan’s disdainful glare left him utterly bewildered. He hadn’t provoked the kid, so why the sudden glare?

Seeing that lunch was leftovers from last night, none of the children complained. Over the past few days, they had been getting enough to eat, so what more could they ask for?

Meanwhile, Chen Liyang turned his attention to the five kids, noticing their clothes were either ill-fitting or worn out.

Realizing that not a single one of them had proper clothes that fit, he spoke up, “When you finish school tonight, come home early. I’ll take you to the mall to buy new clothes.”

Most of the original body’s clothes were flashy and gaudy, making him look like a street punk. Plus, he needed to dye his bleached yellow hair back to black as soon as possible.

Hearing that he wanted to take them clothes shopping, the kids paused mid-bite and looked at him in total disbelief.

“Are you really taking us to buy clothes? Didn’t you say buying us new clothes was a waste of money?” Zhou Chengbei asked bluntly.

Chen Liyang set down his bowl and chopsticks, speaking earnestly. “Before, I was stuck in a stubborn mindset. I thought that by treating you badly, I could force your mother to come back.

“But now I realize I was wrong. I shouldn’t have vented my resentment toward your mother on you kids.

“Like I said, from now on, I’ll make up for my mistakes. Whether you forgive me or not, I won’t ever treat you like I used to.”

This was the first time he had explained why he had treated them so poorly.

But such nonsense couldn’t fool them.

What kind of hatred could drive someone to beat five innocent children half to death? He clearly had a monster inside him, yet here he was, still making excuses for himself. He was utterly shameless.

That was the only thought in their minds, so not a single person responded to Chen Liyang’s words.

Looking at the unmoved siblings, Chen Liyang’s expression dimmed slightly. He felt he had done enough over the last few days, but he hadn’t managed to melt their hearts even a little, which left him feeling defeated.

No one cared about Chen Liyang’s mood. After lunch, the eldest brother took the initiative to wash the dishes again. Chen Liyang turned on the TV in the living room, leaving plenty of space for the kids, and went into his own bedroom.

He hadn’t slept much last night and just wanted to catch up on sleep now.

Thinking that he would likely be staying here for a while, at least through the summer, he deliberated and decided to pay out of pocket to install air conditioning in the house.

He reasoned that they wouldn’t live here forever anyway. Once he bought a new house, the air conditioner could be uninstalled and moved to the new home.

But after buying new clothes and an air conditioner for everyone, he estimated he would only have a little over half his money left.

It seemed making money was becoming an urgent priority.

In his past life, however, he had been an unremarkable guy. He was still a low-level company clerk at thirty, lacking any specialized skills.

If he wanted to raise five children, going back to his old profession obviously wouldn’t cut it.

Therefore, he planned to start his own business. As for what business to start, he still needed to do some research.

He was just that kind of person: whenever something weighed on his mind, he got drowsy. Sure enough, before he could figure out anything about starting a business, he drifted off to sleep.

In the living room, the children watched TV quietly. When the eldest brother stepped out of the kitchen, Zhou Chengnan finally voiced the question in his mind. “Eldest Brother, how much truth do you think there was in what he said?”

Zhou Chengdong sat down beside him. “It doesn’t matter how much of it was real or fake. What matters is that the evil things he did in the past aren’t worth forgiving.”

“Eldest Brother is right. A person like him is evil by nature. A temporary change won’t erase the harm he’s caused us.

“He even had the nerve to claim he resented us because Mom left.

“Without even stopping to think: is he even worthy?

“Back then, when he married Mom, wasn’t it just because he saw how good she was at making money? Mom’s been gone for so long without a word, and instead of trying to find her, he insisted she was out having fun abroad.

“Mom is such a good person, how could she ever abandon us?” Zhou Chengxi said with bitter resentment.

His words stoked the resentment Zhou Chengdong and the others felt toward Chen Liyang once again.

It didn’t matter how he hurt them, but they would never allow him to slander their mother.

Fast asleep, Chen Liyang had no idea that his sincere attempt to apologize for the original host’s past actions had backfired. Far from moving them, his few words had only produced the opposite effect.

All he knew was that when he woke up, the four of them had already left for school. Perhaps worried that their little sister might sneak out alone after they left, they had closed not only the living room door, but the outer gate as well. Fortunately, it was just shut and not locked, or Chen Liyang wouldn’t have been able to get out.

In the afternoon, he planned to go dye his blond hair back to black first. It would also be a good opportunity to take Wanning out for a walk; getting the child out to clear her head more often might help her condition improve.

However, before he could even step outside, Aunt Zhao’s voice rang out, laced with urgency. “Little Chen, this is bad! Your eldest beat someone up at school, and the other kid’s parents are raising complete hell over there!”