Sun Jingfei chuckled but it sounded a little forced. “Don’t look at your mother like that. I’m not that pitiful. Yes, I loved your father but we were not meant together. That’s all. And I don’t regret becoming pregnant with you. Never. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Jing’er, my little angel. I just hope that you’ll get to enjoy your youth more and not become a mother too early like I did. Raising a child is a big responsibility and your life will change forever. I know that you’ll be a great mother someday, but I hope that you’ll only choose to become one when you feel that you’re really ready to build a family of your own.”
Long Jinjing blinked her eyes rapidly to prevent tears from falling. “I understand, Mom. Don’t worry about me.”
“It’s a mother’s job to worry about her child.”
They smiled at each other, both teary. Pure love surrounded them like a warm cocoon of comfort.
###
Inside the bathroom, Lu Zihao glowered at his own reflection in the mirror. Ferocious aura emanated from him in heavy waves. His entire body was tense, causing all his muscles to pop up.
“I let you take over but only for today,” he hissed at his reflection. “Don’t get used to it. This is my body now.”
His reflection smirked and gave a charmingly roguish chuckle. “Don’t be so uptight. You’ll age my handsome face faster.”
Lu Zihao’s nostrils flared as he scowled harder. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you’re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It’s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you! Also follow me on Instagram @arriacross]
“Who was it again who asked me for help because someone doesn’t know how to deal with his girlfriend’s mother? Oh, it’s you!”
“Shut up,” the devilish Lu Zihao growled.
“Easy there, Nikolai,” the charming Lu Zihao said in an easy, casual tone. “Despite your arrogance, you actually care about that pretty girlfriend of yours and are willing to accommodate her request to be mindful of how you act in front of her mother. The only problem is that you don’t know how. Lucky you that I’m here to the rescue! Dun dun dun dun!”
“Don’t feel too smug about it. This is simply a deal for cooperation. Nothing more.”
Charming Lu Zihao became serious. “Indeed, it’s a deal for cooperation so you better fulfill your end of the bargain.”
“Yes,” Devilish Lu Zihao said through gritted teeth.
Charming Lu Zihao flashed a bright, carefree smile. “I can’t wait until we return to Dragon Palace! I’m sure that Third Bro would be understanding of our situation.”
Nikolai, a.k.a. Devilish Lu Zihao, didn’t reply. It was only the other day that the remnant inside him had become stronger to the point that it developed some sort of consciousness. It began to talk to him—no, bug him—like a normal, annoying person instead of its previous form which was mostly a flood of strong but jumbled emotions with direct, uncomplicated thoughts.
At first, the remnant could only sustain talking for a very short period of time but the duration became longer just a few hours later. He wanted to suppress it like usual but stopped himself because of what Bacon told him. Although he didn’t feel ready yet, he had already decided to return to Dragon Palace and meet his sister and her man and talk to them in person.
He was worried about his sister’s health and well-being, especially after hearing that she had a frightening nightmare which sounded like it had been about the night of their hellish annihilation in their past lives. His straightforward AI nephew told him without mincing any words that his refusal to talk to them was causing enormous stress on his sister. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if his actions or inaction somehow contributed to his pregnant sister’s health to decline, or worse, cause her to miscarry.
Therefore, in order to survive the meeting with his sister and Jin Liwei, he needed to have all of his wits about him. And that also meant that he mustn’t allow the remnant to go berserk inside him again especially not during the important meeting.
It was actually the remnant who offered a peaceful partnership between the two of them. He ignored it, of course. He wasn’t interested. However, things changed when Long Jinjing’s mother caught them today.
Normally, he wouldn’t have cared about presenting a good image to other people except for when it was for the sake of achieving a goal. Pleasing Long Jinjing’s mother was definitely not an important goal to him.
For some reason, however, he didn’t want to upset Long Jinjing who was already freaking out earlier at being caught with him by her mother. Well, she was his woman now. He promised to take care of her while they were in this 30-day relationship and that was what he planned to do.
Since she requested that he act mindful while in front of her mother, then he would act mindful. The only problem was that he felt unsure of how to do it properly.
And that was when the remnant offered its services to him. Time was tight so he was decisive and accepted the offer.
It was not a great feeling to allow the remnant to take over the body but he restrained himself from fighting for control. There was also a part of him that felt curious about the entire situation. He wanted to test the limits of this stronger remnant so that he could develop a more effective strategy to defeat it once and for all. Besides, he was confident that he would be able to wrest back control if the remnant went too far.
Back to the present, he continued glaring at his own reflection. The conversation now moved inside his own mind so he didn’t need to talk to himself out loud in front of the mirror like a crazy person.
“You dared call my woman ‘babe’? You’re courting death. She’s mine!”
The remnant snickered. “Courting death? I already died, you asshole. Oh, right! You already died, too. See? We’re similar! Is this what they call fate? And wow! Possessive, aren’t we? Modern girls like your pretty girlfriend don’t like possessive assholes, just you know.”
