Mother of School Grass

This breakfast seemed to be quite special. 

The mother and son both were seated across the dining table. The omelets on the plate had already gone cold, yet neither of them began eating.

Chai Meicen forgot to scold her son.

Zhou Rui forgot to apologize.

The two remained seated as they began doubting their lives. 

When the wall clock in the living room had originally been purchased it didn’t make any noises. But eight years had passed and it hadn’t been replaced. These days, every time the second hand moved it issued a ”da-da-da’ sound.

The pair of mother and son kept listening to the sound of the wall clock. An unusual calmness spread around the room.

After a long time, Zhou Rui slowly breathed out, seemingly letting out a sigh of relief. 

“In the past, you used to always boast about yourself, proclaiming that you were an elegant and peerless beauty in your youthful days. I didn’t believe you then. But, now I believe you, truly f*ck….you are truly a great beauty.” Zhou Rui let out another sigh before adding,” No wonder you were able to give birth to such a handsome son like me.”

The former Chai Meicen was short and quite a bit obese. Her facial features were pretty good, but she didn’t take care of her skin well, resulting in a dry and darkened complexion with a face full of large pores. Furthermore, hormonal imbalance also had led to build up of pimples on her skin, and dark circles and bags under her eyes.

Neither was her complexion good nor was her appearance. 

At one point of time, Zhou Rui believed that his father must have been a pretty boy, who after seeing Chai Meicen’s wealth tricked her into having sex for her riches. And once he got what he wanted, he ran away without a word. 

Several times in the past, he looked at himself in the mirror and tried to imagine his father’s appearance. And every time, he couldn’t help but sigh, “Truly handsome ah!” 

It wasn’t that he was being a narcissist, really!

This year, at the age of sixteen, Zhou Rui was 185 centimeters tall. Coupled with his handsome face, he looked just like some idol or celebrity. If he went into the entertainment industry, he could simply live off of his face.

Not to mention, he was athletic and was interested in sports. Playing basketball, cycling, and swimming were all his favorite sports. Thus, his figure was quite good. In addition, with his good genes, fair and exquisite skin, when silent, he gave off an enchanting vibe. 

The only reason why he was not popular was because of the unreasonable and arrogant attitude he displayed in school. Thus, the students in the school usually didn’t see him in a good light, and didn’t vote for him. Consequently, that son of bitch, who he despised the most, ended up becoming the school grass.

Looking at his mother’s current appearance, he had to admit he had inherited a part of his good looks from his mother.

However, such a good appearance was wrecked apart by Chai Meicen. He truly didn’t know how she managed to accomplish such a feat. 

“What’s happening? Now how can I revert back to my current appearance?” Chai Meichen was still reeling from the shock, and wasn’t in the mood to care about his son’s use of obscene words.

“Why does it matter how it happened. Do you want to revert back to your appearance, ah? This is called rejuvenating. Back in ancient times, how many of those old emperors didn’t like to use any elixirs and what not to seek immortality, yet none of them succeeded in their pursuit! If they happened to hear about you, they would surely at once hop out of their tombs in envy. Dressed in yellow dragon robes, they would surely be a picture of an old lemon monster  1 柠檬精 (níngméngjīng): níng means lemon, while 精 means spirit or gene. According to ancient chinese legends, many plants and animals can turn into spirits if they had magical pills or have lived long enough. Thus, níngméngjīng would be a lemon-turned spirit, or a lemon monster. This term is often used as slang by Chinese people when referring to people who are jealous and arrogant., beset with envy.”

“Your speaking nonsense. I don’t even have a clue what is happening to me.” Chai Meichen furiously gave Zhou Rui a kick, but there was no power behind it. Just looking at this smelly boy was enough to make her teeth itch with hatred. 

Zhou Rui wailed like ghosts and howled like wolves, “You kicked me just where my leg was bruised when fighting.”

Chai Meichen finally regained her senses, and quickly pulled Zhou Rui’s pants up and really saw a bruise there. On his fair skin, the bruise was even more obvious. 

Zhou Rui didn’t tell her that this bruise was caused by him when he had kicked the other person really hard, not because others had hit him. The person he beat up was too thin, and was quite bony.  And he happened to kick him at the wrong place. 

“Do you do nothing but fight all the time? In the end, aren’t you the one suffering?” Chai Meichen said, distressed.

“I’m a chivalrous man, ah!”

“I’ll call your uncle Hou.” Chai Meichen picked up the phone to call Hou Ranxi without paying heed to Zhou Rui’s reply. 

“Uncle Hou has gone out on a business trip.If you call him, he will certainly come running from there. What if his work gets delayed because of this? Let’s first go and have your body checked up and see if there are any abnormalities. Come let’s change clothes.” Zhou Rui stood up and pulled Chai Meicen into the bedroom to look for clothes for her to change into.

Chai Meichen’s aesthetics were terrible. All of her clothes were too gaudy, completely unlike the clothes that a normal teenage girl would wear. 

Eventually, with great difficulty, he managed to find a pair of black sweatpants. To go with it, Zhou Rui picked one of his own T-shirts and gave it to Chai Meichen.

“This is too big for me.” Chai Meichen said with utter disdain.

“It’s called the boyfriend style. Currently, this is a popular trend. Just go change.” Pushing Chai Meichen into the bedroom, Zhou walked out and closed the door for her. 

Once Chai Meicen was done changing, Zhou Rui helped her slightly tuck the shirt into the pants. After giving her a once over he was finally satisfied. 

But this hairstyle of hers was completely off putting. He brought out his basketball and helped her put it on her before going out with her. 

Chai Meichen was planning to drive, but was stopped by Zhou Rui, “The photo id in your current driver’s license is completely different from how you look now. It won’t be worth the risk if you get caught. Let’s take a cab to the hospital.”

“It’s as if I am a person without a household registration, it’s making me feel insecure.”

“It’s alright, you have me.” While saying so, Zhou Rui was still sending a message, his fingers were continuously flying over the screen. 

Chai Meichen turned her head to glance at Zhou Rui. With a face full of bruises, his appearance was far from that of a decent young man, and seemed to be the epitome of hooliganism. But, unexpectedly, at that moment, she found Zhou Rui a bit more reliable. 

In the beginning, when she found her appearance had changed, she was flustered. People of her age would find it hard to accept any sudden, unexpected change and couldn’t be as calm as Zhou Rui was.  

The two stepped into the hospital, but didn’t get registered immediately. Rather, they waited into the lounge. 

Not long after a girl stepped in. Glancing at Zhou Rui, she walked towards them and said, “Why did you ask me to make a haste?”　

“Have you brought your ID card?” Zhou Rui asked her.　　

“I brought it.”

“Lend it to me, I need to schedule an appointment.” His words were particularly blunt as Zhou Rui extended his palm towards the girl.

Nevertheless, the girl didn’t seem to care about it either as she fished out the id card from her pocket and placed it in Zhou Rui’s palm. However, she was still curious, and she chased after Zhou Rui as she questioned him, “Why are you registering someone with my ID card?”

“It’s nothing. You go and have a cup of milk tea in the meantime. I will return it to you shortly.” While saying so, Zhou Rui showed her his mobile screen, “I have sent you a red envelope.” 

The girl scooped out her smartphone, accepted the red envelope, turned around and really left, displaying true magnanimity!  

Chai Meichen quickly marched towards him and questioned, “Is she…”