He looked at Bai Tao. His father looked devastated. For the first time felt a trace of pity for his father.

Ping An had fucked with his whole life, but in the grand scheme of things, she didn’t care about him that much. What kind of things had she done to his father, who she loved?

From the beginning, he realized that his father did not seem shocked by the fact that Ping An was manipulative, abusive, crazy, and unstable.

“Are you sure?” Bai Tao asked. He stared at his fingers. “Do I have another child?”

“I’m positive. I had my eye on her for a while. The first trail I found was a record of you sending Ms. Jones abroad. I followed the cookie crumbs. I had a picture of you holding Mei, picking her up from daycare. It was a recent photo. Naturally, there was a blood test. I destroyed everything since I didn’t need evidence, only confirmation.” He watched his father carefully.

“Fuck.” Bai Tao swept all the things on his desk onto the floor. “That crazy bitch.”

A book flew past his face. Bai Li leaned to the side and watched as his father tore up the room.

Turns out that his father had no clue about his youngest child. In the past he had assumed that his father was scum and all that nonsense about true love and being faithful was horse shit.

In this life, he realized his father was only human. Though, he still didn’t have the full picture.

After Bai Tao stopped breaking things, Bai Li picked through the scraps on the floor.

Finding a pen and paper he wrote down all the information he remembered about Bai Mei. He stopped writing. Picking up the paper he double-checked that he hadn't put anything that hadn't happened yet.

Bai Tao took the sheet of paper and read it. Folding it he put it in his pocket.

"I don't want to give up having a relationship with either of you or your sister. I know there might be problems but I would like it if both of you lived with me." Bai Tao was being sincere.

It was disconcerting to shift conversation like that. Still, he would respect that his father didn't want to talk about it nor for him to get involved further.

"I'm not saying that you have to. I thought of a solution. It wasn't specifically taking Wei Wei into account but would accommodate her." Why did it take just as much effort when he tried to live selfishly as when he had strived diligently.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"I don't know where it is or how correct my information is but I heard that you are moving into a newly constructed apartment complex. You rented all the apartments on the same floor.” He didn’t know how many times he had visited this building to pick up how mother when she tried to break into their love nest.

“One could be prepared for Wei Wei and me. During the holidays we would live there with you. We would come over for meals. Interact with each other without pressure. During the school term, I would be in the dorm. Wei Wei would be with grandfather. Mother would have no room to quarrel with Wei Wei and I am already prepared to do away with all pretenses of civility." He hadn’t thought of this before but it could work. He just put it all together after seeing his father’s sincerity.

"Where do you get your information?" Bai Tao’s voice was hoarse.

"Here and there. I am taking it that what I said is true?" What could he say? He didn't have any mysterious information broker.

"You are partially correct. I own the whole building. I’m really curious how you find out all this stuff. I won’t push since you don’t want to tell me." Bai Tao said. "Is there nothing I can say that will make you stay?”

He didn't know that his father owned the building. This should be another reminder not to rely too much on the information from his last life. He would need to reconfirm everything and take it slow before making decisions.

He heard the disappointment in his father's voice.

Bai Li hated having emotions and expectations. He wanted to say he would give up going to boarding school but he didn't. He thought he was too old and too cautious to make emotional decisions but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“I will come home every chance I get and will live with you for my four years of college.” That was the best he could do. He had already changed his plans. Instead of going abroad for university he was staying and betting on the relationship with his father.

Bai Tao smiled at him with pride. Something loosened inside of him.

“Good, Good, Good. I will prepare the space for you and Bei Wei. Are you sure you don’t have any problems taking care of her?” Bai Tao said with a smile splitting his lips.

His father was lucky that he was already 40 years old. Wouldn’t a normal teenager have too much resentment by this point to reconcile so easily? When he was 15 he would never have been able to be so level-headed.

“I am not telling you not to come into our apartment. I am just saying that living with you and Lee Shan is not realistic. I don’t know about every meal or about Bei Wei but I will try to eat one meal a day with you and Aunty Shan.” Bai Li cut his father off before he could say anything stupid. “I don’t have good memories with the word mother. That is the best I will probably ever be able to do.”

Bai Tao’s shoulder slumped. There was an intense look in his eyes. “Your mot...Ping An is probably getting suspicious. Head back to your room. I will talk to her. She won’t bother you.”

Bai Li left while shaking his head. Sometimes it seemed like his father knew his mother well. Other times it looked like he did not know her at all.

Ping An would visit him tonight.

It was not long after he left his father’s office before the shouting started.

Only a few days ago he was comforting himself that his father’s hatred for him was the only constant thing. Now that was no longer the case.

It occurred to him. This house was very big. Why could he always hear their fighting? This was most likely something else that Ping An choreographed. How would he know of his father’s atrocious behavior if he didn’t hear it for himself?

His eyes burned. He wanted to cry. He thought he understood his mother’s methods in full but it took him two lifetimes to even scratch the surface.

It was about two hours before the sound of shattering glass and shouting stopped.

Bai Li was more realistic than his father. Ping An would come to find him and there was very little his father could do. Weren’t all the staff on his mother's side. If not, how could he be abused without it ever reaching his father’s ears?

It would be best he didn’t sleep. Who knew how she would wake him up. He didn’t want his heart to stop from panic.