In another world, Lu Mingfei is learning card making.

Oh my god, Lu Mingze isn't my uncle's biological son!

—Although the evidence hasn't been released yet, with this subjective judgment, Lu Mingfei felt as if things had suddenly become clear, and many questions he had pondered in his spare time had been answered:

My uncle and dad have a pretty good relationship, so why does my aunt dislike me?

Aunt Mingming seems to care about Lu Mingze a lot, so why is she so wary of Uncle Mingze and almost never lets the two of them be together?

Even though the family can afford the medical expenses, why would they rather force him to apologize than let him fight back?

But once this premise was added, things suddenly became clear—the aunt disapproved because she already disliked the uncle, and she didn't want the uncle and her 'son' to share a room because she was afraid the two of them would argue about the details of their lives, lest the uncle become suspicious...

As for the last one? That's obviously because the aunt hates everything associated with the house and wants to implement repressive education!

Lu Mingfei felt that everything was connected!

This detached feeling of "seeing through worldly affairs" made him feel lightheaded all afternoon, and even on the way back to his uncle's house, the matter kept replaying in his mind.

Because Lu Mingfei had been focusing on smashing the door with the hinges, a full day was more than enough time for a professional repairman to fix it. When Lu Mingfei knocked, he didn't see his aunt's sour face, but rather his uncle's—

At first glance, he barely recognized him.

Uncle Lu Gucheng's face presented a strange superposition of "both old and young". If you covered his eyes and only looked at his nose and lips, he would look like an eighteen or nineteen-year-old. His skin was bright and tender, and he even had the "youthfulness" unique to that age group.

But once you look at his eyes, his face instantly looks like he's in his thirties or forties. The age and blankness in his eyes are almost visible to the naked eye, and it even affects the overall impression of the person.

"...Uncle? Are you alright?" Lu Mingfei's lips twitched twice—so what exactly happened at the police station and that place that did the DNA testing?

How could Uncle make a magic trick of turning a person into a living being in just one day?

"Me? I'm fine." Uncle patted Lu Mingfei's shoulder, his steps heavy, and led him back to the living room. Aunt was busy in the kitchen, washing pots and pans, chopping vegetables—it was quite a lively scene.

But Lu Mingfei sensed something different in the lively atmosphere. After all, his aunt had always been lazy and unwilling to do anything at home, constantly making his uncle cook and then nag him to wash the dishes. Today, she was suddenly cooking for him and making such a big fuss…

Before Lu Mingfei could figure it out, his uncle suddenly reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Mingfei, listen to me." His uncle's voice was heavy. "You should know that your parents are abroad, and they send you money every month—"

"This amount is 100,000 per month, paid out every six months, so it should be 600,000."

"But your aunt, you know, she just loves playing mahjong—it's my fault too, I didn't know playing mahjong would cost so much money." The uncle buried his face in his hands and sighed deeply, "She lost 300,000 yuan of that money and still owes people over 100,000 yuan."

"Uncle, I'm too embarrassed to say anything to her. I also bought a car. You said yesterday that the car cost 400,000, but if I were to sell it now, I'd have to give it a 20% discount."

"In short, I've discussed it with your aunt, and we're planning to get a divorce—don't try to persuade me otherwise. I'm telling you this to let you know:"

"If we can get a divorce, that's fine. But if we can't get a divorce and it really comes to court, then you should insist that you have to stay with me."

His uncle lifted himself up, and Lu Mingfei almost dared not look him in the eye.

"Alright, judging from the situation, the mother and daughter have finished preparing the meal. Let's eat."

The atmosphere at dinner tonight was very tense.

Usually, dinner time is when Auntie launches a full-blown 'mockery' and even provocation at Lu Mingfei. Her provocation mainly involves asking Lu Mingze about his academic performance, his relationships with other students, and his teachers' opinions of him, and then adding, "Don't be like your brother, always loafing around at school. We're paying money to send him to school, and we don't even know what he's learning..."

But today, the mother and son didn't say a word, they just ate quietly.

Lu Mingfei was used to eating amidst constant ridicule, and at St. Mary's Academy, he gradually grew accustomed to being surrounded by classmates and receiving attention while eating. But today was the first time he had eaten at a silent dining table.

He even hesitated a bit about which dish to pick up, scanning the table for a while before finally reaching for a plate of braised pork with his chopsticks.

But as soon as the chopsticks moved, the aunt was even faster and more direct: she simply pushed the entire plate of braised pork toward Lu Mingze's side.

...Well, Lu Mingfei was used to her behavior, and he turned his chopsticks to pick up some scrambled eggs. But this time, his uncle spoke in a low voice:

"Move it back."

"You! Lu Gucheng, are you talking to me?" Auntie's face immediately flushed with anger, and she made a move to slam her fist on the table.

--boom!

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't taken by my aunt, it was taken by my uncle.

Lu Mingfei immediately shrank his neck—this was a habitual action of his, usually used when there was a sudden change at the dinner table. Seeing him show weakness, everyone would stop paying attention to him. Over time, he also developed the habit of shrinking his neck when encountering loud noises.

This time, however, Lu Mingze also shrank back. Their eyes met by chance, and both sensed a hint of awkwardness in each other's expressions.

"I...I'm full." Seeing Lu Mingze like this, Lu Mingfei dared not stay at the table any longer. Like an ant before an impending storm, Lu Mingfei could almost clearly feel the low pressure in the air—a harbinger of destruction.

But the foolish human Lu Mingze, even though his body was already warning him, had been pampered for years and could no longer understand the signs his body was giving him. When the storm came, his 100 pounds of flesh could only fill the hungry ravines of the storm...

"Wait!" Uncle, from the eye of the storm, a terrifying tornado lashed out, heading straight for the tiny ant Lu Mingfei. "Are you really full?"

"I'm full, I'm full." Lu Mingfei nodded stiffly, his toes gripping the soles of his shoes tightly, as if only in this way could he find a little sense of security.

His uncle leaned over and looked at the half-eaten bowl of rice Lu Mingfei had just shoveled down his throat, and the sparse, oily soup at the bottom of the bowl. After a few seconds—which, in Lu Mingfei's mind, felt like an eternity of cold war—he pondered for a moment, then picked up a dish from the table and poured it into Lu Mingfei's bowl.

Two pieces of glistening braised pork belly with slightly charred lean meat, a large portion of stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts drizzled with soy sauce, and a few slightly overcooked fried meatballs—they might not look like much, but at his uncle's dinner table, these were delicacies that would make Lu Mingfei's aunt nag for ages if he even picked up a single bite.

"Alright, go back inside and eat." The uncle shoved the chopsticks into Lu Mingfei's hands.