Li Yuchen had noticed his father's foul mood that started when he returned from his business trip, but he attributed it at first to stress. His father had been working very hard since he took over the company, and the trip must have stressed him further.
But it worsened abruptly all of a sudden. These days, Li Chuanmo was almost always locked up in the study. He hardly spoke to Li Yuchen or anyone in the house for that matter.
He had just come back from the study where he had gone to ask Li Chuanmo what he would eat for dinner. Li Yuchen met him deep in thought, a glass of red wine on the table. His computer was on but he wasn't doing anything on it. He looked moody.
When Li Yuchen finally got his attention and asked what he would like to eat, Li Chuanmo said he wasn't hungry. He had not been eating well recently, and for sure, his insomnia had worsened. Consequently, his temper had worsened also. He looked almost menacing.
It was a vicious cycle.
Li Yuchen could not understand what the matter was. His father wasn't the most easygoing person on earth, but he had never seen him this cranky before, except during the divorce period.
Or could it be that that evil woman had contacted him? Li Yuchen wasn't sure, but he didn't want to ask. Anything that concerned that woman just left a bad taste in his mouth, and he wanted to distance himself from her as much as possible.
Even if his father wanted to forgive her, he would never, ever, forgive her.
For the first time in a long while, Li Yuchen wasn't in the mood to play games. He picked his phone and began scrolling through his apps — most of which were mobile games— looking for something to do.
Getting to WeChat, he remembered that he had planned to send Han Yichen a message but forgot. He then messaged Han Yichen.
"Are you sleeping?"
"No. Writing."
"You write? Cool! What do you write?"
"Stories, poems, articles."
"I see. I'm not really a reader, but I would like to read your works sometime."
Han Yichen directly sent him a link to his blog.
"Alright, I'll check it out."
"You?"
Li Yuchen pondered a bit on what this lone word meant in their conversation before deciding Han Yichen was probably asking about what he liked to do instead.
"I play games mostly. I'm also learning to code currently."
"Nice. Why?"
Li Yuchen: ???
Why what? Why he was learning to code or why he liked games? Li Yuchen decided he must have meant why he was learning to code, so he answered.
"I find it interesting. And computer programming is the trend of the future, sooo..."
Han Yichen typed, "No. Now?"
Li Yuchen was really confused on this one. Was he saying computer programming wasn't important for the future or that what was he trying to say? After a few minutes, Li Yuchen gave up trying to decode his message and just asked.
" What are you trying to say? I don't understand."
Han Yichen started typing.
A minute later, Li Yuchen received his message.
"Not this question. Doing now. Gaming? or studying?"
Li Yuchen: "...."
Yichen, would it kill you to write full sentences???
Li Yuchen typed, "Random question: What's your language score like in school?"
"98-100%. Why? You?"
Li Yuchen almost threw away his phone. This was so unfair! The boy that sends messages and speaks in a way that is so hard to understand actually does better than him in language classes? He couldn't accept this!
Han Yichen: "?"
"Forget it, I was just curious."
Li Yuchen then went back to answer his original question.
"I'm not doing much at the moment. I wanted to talk to my Dad, but he has been moody all day, and he's not talking."
"Why?"
"I don't know. That's the problem, he's not saying anything, just drinking and brooding alone. Are all Dads like this?"
"Don't know. Don't have one. Try again"
Li Yuchen was shocked, "What do you mean you don't have one?"
"Died a long time ago."
"I'm so sorry to hear that", Li Yuchen typed, feeling really bad for his new friend. "I don't have a Mum too."
"When?"
Li Yuchen was exasperated, "When what?"
"when did she die?"
Li Yuchen: "..." who said she died? But on a second thought, that woman was as good as dead to him, so he didn't correct Han Yichen. He just typed,
"Long ago."
Li Yuchen then thought of something. His eyes lit up as he typed, "Then does that mean My Goddess is single?"
Han Yichen: "Why? Yes."
Li Yuchen: HAN YICHEN, WRITE FULL SENTENCES PLEASE!!!
It took him five minutes to reply this time.
Han Yichen: "Okay. Why do you call her that though? Yes she is."
Li Yuchen grinned.
"Because she is my Goddess, simple!
Really? That's great!"
He then typed, "Forget what I said about my Dad just now. He's handsome, suave and hardworking."
Han Yichen: "???"
Li Yuchen: "I'll send you his résumé. Evaluate objectively."
Han Yichen typed, "Needs a job? can't really help."
Li Yuchen briefly wondered how this boy could possibly be the son of his Goddess. He and his father —Li Chuanmo— behaved too much alike! His father also used to focus on the wrong point in a conversation at times.
Li Yuchen: "I have a plan, just help me."
Han Yichen: "Alright."
Li Yuchen's overactive mind was spinning. His Goddess was single, his dad was also single. Wasn't this great? They would be a match made somewhere*
But, how could he bring them together? His Dad was a workaholic, and he didn't even know where his Goddess worked.
But at least, it didn't seem like she was in a relationship at the moment, so what he needed to do was get closer to her and create opportunities for his dad.
He needed strong allies if his plan was to work however. Li Yuchen started thinking again. His dad was a ticking time bomb for now, and he didn't think his dad was looking for a new wife anyway, so telling him would spoil the plan.
After thinking for a while, he smiled. Got it!
He decided to test the waters with Gramps and Grandma. If anyone would be on board, they would. They wanted his dad to remarry, and he had also shown Grandma a picture of his Goddess before. She didn't seem to dislike her at that time.
Li Yuchen was as excited as he usually got when he was cooking up some mischievous scheme.
"It's showtime!"
*Li Yuchen's language skills are mediocre, so he had forgotten how the phrase went — match made in heaven.