Grumpy Esports God Becomes a Wealthy Family’s Stepmom - Chapter 6

Outside the building, Lu Ziming stood beside the first car, having seen Huo Zhehan off. Zhong Lu and Ye Xianyun were still up on the steps looking for the scooter. The four of them had split into two little clusters and suddenly, the emotional distance between them was obvious.

Lu Ziming found the whole scene kind of bizarre.

Huo Zhehan assumed the scooter belonged to Ye Xianyun and said coldly, “Lu Ziming.”

Why are you just standing there?

Lu Ziming had a different take, confidently saying, “The scooter should be Mr. Zhong’s. Ah Yun and I tell each other everything. If he bought one, I’d know.”

He caught Ye Xianyun’s pleading glance and gave a small laugh—his boyfriend was always so helpful and thoughtful to others. “Alright, I’ll go.”

Lu Ziming went to the building’s plaza management office, paid the fine, and got the scooter released.

The guard personally wheeled it up from the basement. Tsk. Better remember this one—it’s the VP’s boyfriend’s. Time to start looking the other way.

An 800-yuan secondhand scooter was lined up beside two eight-million-yuan luxury cars.

Zhong Lu thanked him, swung a leg over, and started it up with the key.

Ye Xianyun hesitated, then climbed onto the back. Zhong Lu handed him a helmet.

Lu Ziming was stunned. “You’re not coming with me? Babe, we haven’t broken up, have we?”

Ye Xianyun said, “No but we’re not headed the same way. No need to drive me.”

Lu Ziming was stunned, “What?”

Ye Xianyun replied, “I rented a place.”

Even if the cheating was a misunderstanding, he didn’t want to keep living in Lu Ziming’s home, constantly waiting for the next time he might get kicked out.

“When did that happen—?” Lu Ziming couldn’t believe it. What exactly had gone down while he was away on business? He wanted to ask more, but Zhong Lu the speed demon gave him no chance.

Lu Ziming turned, saw his boss, and instantly felt the slap to the face.

Huo Zhehan sneered, “‘Tell each other everything’?”

Lu Ziming: “……” You mean with your wife? Yeah, got it.

He said with a pained expression, “Is this the psychologist you hired for Huo Yu?”

Did the educator target the wrong person?

Huo Zhehan was also starting to doubt things. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended stage one of their agreement early and flown back, worried about letting Huo Yu continue spending time with Zhong Lu.

Lu Ziming quickly told the driver to follow that scooter but Huo Zhehan had no interest in checking out his subordinate’s boyfriend’s new place. He was headed straight home.

Huo Yu flung open the back door and leapt in.

Huo Zhehan asked, “How’d you get here?”

Huo Yu accused him, “I took a cab. I don’t have money to get back!”

He had failed at catching them cheating, only to be fed a fake dose of romance—the Valentine’s gift his dad had given Zhong Lu as a prop.

Yet he still couldn’t shake the feeling that when his dad and stepmom stood together, they looked like strangers.

Huo Zhehan questioned him. “Why follow him if you’ve got no money?”

Huo Yu wanted to say, Your wife’s been disappearing every night, but he held back. He wasn’t used to tattling on anyone, least of all to Huo Zhehan.

If Huo Yu were the tattling type, those trash-talking trolls who hunted him in-game would’ve long been destroyed by the Huo family’s legal team.

Huo Zhehan hated gaming. Even when he got wrecked in-game, Huo Yu refused to complain because that would just make esports look even more worthless in his father’s eyes.

Same with Zhong Lu. Even if he couldn’t outplay his stepmom, Zhong Lu hadn’t done anything to harm him. No reason to snitch. It’s not like Huo Zhehan would take his side anyway.

Huo Yu gave a loud “hmph.” Then, after a pause, he asked shyly, “Did you bring anything back from your trip?”

Huo Zhehan, unusually generous, asked, “What do you want?”

Huo Yu huffed louder, “Nothing.”

On the first day of the trip, his stepmom had smugly told him, “If you behave, your dad will bring you something.” but there’d been nothing.

Getting something as a surprise wasn’t the same as asking for it.

Zhong Lu dropped Ye Xianyun off at his new place. They synced up their story and agreed to tell people they’d met at a dessert shop and not an internet café.

As soon as Ye Xianyun went upstairs, Lu Ziming followed while dragging the suitcase.

Zhong Lu put on his goggles, torn between heading home or back to the café.

If he went back to the internet café again tonight, Huo Zhehan would definitely get suspicious but if he went home… How exactly was he supposed to deal with Huo Zhehan?

Was he supposed to play the role of a proper rich wife? He didn’t know how.

When in doubt, train for an hour first.

After finishing, Zhong Lu idly checked the day’s esports news.

[WN display case updated again! This time it’s Abandon’s old setup—PC, mouse, keyboard, headset, full equipment set, starting bid ¥150,000!]

One comment said this gear had been confiscated by police after Abandon’s incident and was only recently released back to the club.

Electronics degrade over time so how dare they start at 150K?

Zhong Lu nearly wanted to burn down the club. No wonder after he was reborn, he had no gear—they didn’t even burn him a PC!

He wondered who the next sucker was that would buy it. There was nothing special about his old rig. It had high-end specs, but nothing rare. With 100K, you could build the same thing today, especially after a full year of hardware upgrades.

Meanwhile, back at the Huo house, Huo Zhehan stepped into the living room and paused for three full seconds—barely stopping himself from calling in an eight-person cleaning crew on the spot.

He glanced at Huo Yu. Huo Yu stiffened and said, “If stepmom doesn’t clean, I’m not cleaning either.”

Huo Zhehan wanted to kick him across the floor and make him mop with his body. He said, “I want the floor spotless before I come down again.”

The sound of fine leather shoes stepping on grime was full of injustice.

Huo Zhehan headed upstairs. Fortunately, the second floor was mostly untouched—still walkable.

He entered the study, put down his luggage, and changed into something more casual before heading to shower.

He didn’t share a room with Zhong Lu. Huo Yu didn’t even know they slept in separate rooms. Huo Zhehan had gentlemanly left the master bedroom to his “wife.”

With lingering doubts, he opened the master bedroom door after showering.

Everything was exactly as he had left it. Nothing was added. The floor had clearly been cleaned and the bed was neatly made.

Apparently, the educator was just more patient than Huo Yu—waiting to see who’d break first and clean. At least he hadn’t turned the room into a pigsty.

Some of Huo Zhehan’s suspicions faded.

Huo Yu, having lazily dragged a mop around, took out several bags of trash. With his dad home, he didn’t dare sneak into the game room, so he grabbed his phone and hid in his bedroom to play.

At 7 p.m., Huo Zhehan came downstairs. The living room sofa was unusable, so he reluctantly went to the dining room and opened his laptop—working while waiting for Zhong Lu to return.

Huo Yu came out, hungry, looking for the snacks he’d bought last time. When he turned and saw Huo Zhehan sitting upright at the table, he jumped in fright, then smirked a little. “Dad, are you waiting for stepmom to come home and cook?”

“No one cooks here anymore. We ordered it now.”

It was so bold of stepmom to keep slacking even with Huo Zhehan home.

For the first time, Huo Zhehan realized that “warm family mode” applied to him, too.

He picked up the phone to order food. Huo Yu instantly teleported over and shouted, “I want garlic blue lobster and tuna sashimi! Three bowls of rice with braised pork sauce!”

He looked less like a rich kid and more like someone let loose at an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet for the first time.

Huo Zhehan paused for a second and said into the phone, “Add what he just said. Make it quick.”

At 8 p.m., Zhong Lu finally came home. The smell of food hit him as soon as he opened the door and suddenly, the bun in his hand didn’t smell so good anymore.

The Huo father and son sat far apart. One ate with refined elegance, the other devoured like a starving wolf.

Based on appearances, they looked more like brothers than father and son.

Zhong Lu picked the seat farthest from both and sat down. The three of them formed a triangle with zero warmth between them.

Now that Huo Zhehan was back, Zhong Lu was finally experiencing rich family dining. His feelings were… complicated.

As soon as stepmom arrived, Huo Yu got tense, worried he’d say something like “Take it all away and let him eat plain rice.” so he hurriedly snatched a few pieces of meat, cupped his bowl protectively like a dragon hoarding treasure.

Zhong Lu focused on eating—lobster first, then snow jelly. His chopsticks moved fast.

Huo Zhehan, who had ordered the meal: “……”

He couldn’t help but wonder, Where the hell did all the money go?

He put his chopsticks down.

Huo Yu, sensing danger, shoved a couple of desserts into his mouth and slipped away.

Only Zhong Lu and Huo Zhehan were left at the table.

Huo Zhehan stared at him for a minute, then asked, “Let’s talk about your educational plan for Xiaoyu.”

Zhong Lu’s mind flashed to the long-winded messages he had seen on the original phone. He tried to recall the key points but nothing stuck.

He cleared his throat. “As you can see—warm family mode.”

“Hmm?”

One syllable, full of skepticism.

Zhong Lu met his eyes, calm and unyielding. “Two days ago, Huo Yu swept the floor on his own.”

Ha. What a hard-won result.

Huo Zhehan said, “That’s it?”

Zhong Lu, like a job applicant padding a resume on the spot, tried his best to sell it. “I’ve realized Huo Yu might want to go pro in esports but doesn’t know how to tell you.”

Now this was his area.

“I’m thinking of sending him to a youth training camp.”

In Zhong Lu’s eyes, Huo Yu didn’t play games well yet, but he had a disciplined routine, like someone modeling their life on a pro player’s schedule.

“I’ll go with him for structured training. Once he realizes he doesn’t have the talent, he’ll shift his focus back to school.”

Sending an internet-addicted teen to a training camp to kill the dream—a new form of rehab.

Huo Zhehan suddenly asked, “Where were you just now?”

Zhong Lu answered smoothly, “Returned two psychology books at the library.”

“And what if Huo Yu’s addiction gets worse at the camp?”

“It won’t.” I’ll beat it out of him if I have to.

Huo Zhehan didn’t say yes or no.

Zhong Lu exhaled in relief. Whatever—he had offered a plan. It was good enough for his “educator” title.

Just then, Huo Yu burst in. “Dad! I need an allowance!”

Huo Zhehan thought back to how he’d behaved at dinner. He considered it, then suddenly turned to Zhong Lu. “Ask him.”

Zhong Lu: “……”

Still testing his qualificatioStill doubting his professionalism—watching how he handled Huo Yu right to his face?

Huo Yu’s expression twisted. He wanted to buy Abandon’s esports gear, but he’d blown through his WeChat funds. Even with all his savings, he didn’t have enough. The starting bid was 150K so he figured he’d need at least 2 million.

Huo Zhehan’s pressure meant even Wang Hao didn’t dare lend him money.

His first thought was to ask Grandma—she doted on him. He played the pity card and almost succeeded!

Until he slipped and mentioned what he wanted the money for.

Once Grandma heard it was for Abandon’s old gear, she instantly refused.

“Those were his final belongings! It should’ve been burned with him! What kind of bad luck is it to bring them back and use them?!”

“I have strong yang energy!”

“It doesn’t matter how strong you are!” She only had one grandson. She even got emotional and said, “Xiaoyu, be good. Grandma will buy you new stuff.”

So Huo Yu had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to Huo Zhehan.

And Huo Zhehan had tossed it to Zhong Lu.

Zhong Lu put on a kind front. “How much?”

Huo Yu hesitated. “Maybe… two million?”

Zhong Lu instantly guessed the scam. “You’re not trying to buy Abandon’s gear, are you?”

So the club just keeps milking the same sheep. He didn’t care about rich people’s money but if the club kept getting rewarded, they would get bolder.

Huo Yu mumbled, “I can’t?”

“Don’t you already have the exact same setup in your room?”

Huo Yu’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t expected his stepmom to know even that detail. Devious!

“That’s different. This one was used by Abandon.”

“You’re using his account and still didn’t make it into the top 10,000.”

Huo Yu snapped. “Are you giving it or not?!”

Zhong Lu said firmly, “No.”

Huo Yu turned to his dad, aggrieved. “You see that? I just want a computer!”

Zhong Lu shot back, “You collecting junk now? What next—buying Abandon’s urn if WN auctions it?”

Huo Yu froze. The thought had never occurred to him. He looked oddly intrigued. “Can… can I? Our ancestral graveyard’s huge.”

A vein popped on Huo Zhehan’s forehead. “Both of you. Shut up.”