House Dad's Literary Life

Chapter 450: It Seems to Be Easing Up a Little?

To hit or not to hit, that was the question.

Mo Henian frowned as he looked at the rolling pin in his hand. He was unwilling to think that he had gone soft, so he had now found a reason instead. He felt that the rolling pin he had bought was no good!

It was all because the one he had bought was too thick. If he swung it down with one strike, who knew what might happen to the person being hit?

If only he’d bought something else, like a branch that could snap or a whip, he probably would’ve been able to bring himself to hit him!

For a while, they remained locked in a standoff. Yang Yi had his back to Mo Henian, while Mo Henian neither moved nor said a word. The atmosphere fell into awkwardness and tension.

Yang Yi was feeling anxious, unsure of what his father-in-law meant.

Could it be that he wanted Yang Yi to kneel as punishment?

If doing that could really help the old man vent his anger, Yang Yi would be willing to kneel down. He had already knelt as punishment at his own father’s request before, and his father-in-law could also be considered a father in another sense. How could he favor one over the other?

After an unknown amount of time, Mo Henian frowned, holding the rolling pin behind his back as he slowly paced around to stand in front of Yang Yi, his eyes moving over Yang Yi’s body.

If Mo Henian weren’t Mo Fei’s father, Yang Yi would have beaten him for staring at him like that… What kind of man stares so intently at another man’s bare muscles?

Finally, just as Yang Yi began to feel somewhat uncomfortable, Mo Henian spoke. He said suspiciously, “The newspaper says you’re a novelist, and it also says you’re a songwriter and composer?”

He had started asking questions. He was willing to communicate now! Could there be a turning point?

Yang Yi quickly replied, “Yes.”

However, Mo Henian sneered again, his tone exactly the same as when he had been displeased with Yang Yi before. “A writer like you? Covered in scars all over. You look more like a gangster to me!”

He even used a Taiwan accent. Old Mo’s Taiwan accent was stronger than Mo Fei’s, after all, Mo Fei had been influenced and moderated by the language systems of Hong Kong and the mainland.

Yang Yi understood him, though, and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Some old scars left from his days as a soldier had actually caused the old man to misunderstand…

Objectively speaking, the scars on Yang Yi’s body actually weren’t that many, nor were they particularly shocking.

Most of them were small scars. When he had fought in jungles in the past, close combat was sometimes unavoidable. Yang Yi had been highly skilled, so even when he was injured during a fight, the injuries hadn’t been particularly serious. They were basically cuts from knives, or scratches and cuts from being pierced or slashed by bushes and broken branches during combat.

He did have a few bullet scars, but they were on his arm. The bullet had passed through the muscle, leaving only a small wound, and once it had healed, it was hard to notice beneath his clothes.

Moreover, Yang Yi had only suffered one gunshot wound. After all, he was human, not some god from a TV show. If he had really been shot multiple times, even if he had somehow survived each time, his body would have been covered in wounds, making it impossible for him to continue serving in a high-intensity special forces unit like the Wolf Warriors.

Those scars were also partly because, when he had been recklessly serving in the military, he simply hadn’t cared about them. He would stop the bleeding, wrap the wound up casually, and leave it at that. As for ointments that could remove scars, they simply didn’t have anything like that back then.

How could a man not have a few scars on his body?

But in Mo Henian’s eyes, these scars looked very much like those of the gang members he had seen on the streets of Taipei when he was young. What was more, Yang Yi was tall and burly, which also fit the image of a thug.

Yang Yi could only patiently explain to the old man, “Uncle, I used to be a soldier.”

“A soldier?” Mo Henian suddenly understood, and for some reason, he breathed a sigh of relief. Now, looking at the scars on Yang Yi’s body, they seemed much more pleasing to the eye.

But he still refused to admit it and said, “Hmph, a soldier? I also served in the military back in Taiwan. What’s so unusual about that? There aren’t any wars these days. Who knows whether you little soldiers can even pick up a gun? Who are you trying to fool with all these scars?”

Mo Henian was probably referring to when he was young, back when Taiwan had not yet returned.

However, Yang Yi was a little unhappy with what the old man said. Besides, he had been looking for an excuse to get up. Kneeling on the floor was uncomfortable!

So Yang Yi suddenly sprang up from the floor, startling Mo Henian. But then he respectfully brought his legs together, gave a military salute, and shouted loudly, “Yang Yi, formerly of the Wolf Warriors Special Forces Unit directly under the Southwest Military Region of the Chinese XXXX Republic, reporting to the commanding officer!”

Mo Henian was somewhat unaccustomed to Yang Yi’s solemn and dignified salute. He was stunned for a moment before finally asking, his old face somewhat unable to maintain its composure, “What are you doing? Who is your commanding officer?”

“You’re my commanding officer! You used to be a soldier too, so we have a shared experience. Moreover, you’re my elder. Although our ranks don’t really match, there’s nothing wrong with respectfully addressing you as ‘commanding officer’!” Yang Yi secretly rejoiced in his heart. He once again brought his legs together, held his head high and chest out, and shouted loudly, “Hello, commanding officer!”

It was truly a case of “one can never be blamed for being too polite.”Mo Henian was so overwhelmed by Yang Yi’s loud shouting that he didn’t even know where to begin cursing him.

After a while, he waved his hand and said irritably, “Alright, alright. Stop standing there saluting. We don’t do that kind of thing!”

“Yes!” Yang Yi once again brought his legs together and responded loudly.

His voice was so loud that the whole study seemed to buzz, and Mo Henian could barely stand it.

However, Mo Henian himself might not have realized it, but after hearing that Yang Yi had once been a soldier, and especially after hearing Yang Yi introduce himself as a former special forces soldier, combined with what Mo Fei had told him earlier, that Yang Yi had saved her and that was how she had ended up becoming pregnant, Mo Henian’s opinion of Yang Yi had already changed considerably.

It was just that Mo Henian still hadn’t been able to accept Yang Yi. The anger that had built up for more than five years wasn’t something that could easily dissipate.

At this point, the commotion coming from the study still made Mo Fei worried. Yang Yi had been shouting and yelling. Could the two of them have started fighting? Mo Fei couldn’t sit still any longer. She got up and pushed open the study door, wanting to stop the fight.

However, the atmosphere in the study was unusually harmonious. Mo Henian was sitting to one side, his expression impossible to read, while Yang Yi stood there in silence. It felt as if the scene had been frozen like a frame from a movie.

But Mo Fei was somewhat dumbfounded when she saw that Yang Yi was shirtless. The sight was quite strange.

Yang Yi turned his head and saw Mo Fei. He suddenly thought of something and quickly said, “Mo Fei, go boil a pot of water. I’m going to make tea for Uncle. Uncle, I have a packet of top-quality Dongding Oolong here. A friend gave it to me. I heard from Mo Fei that it’s your favorite…”

However, Mo Henian waved his hand and said impatiently, “No, I don’t drink it. I don’t like it!”

“Feifei, does he usually order you around like this?” Mo Henian stared at his daughter.

Mo Fei froze for a moment. She sensed the change in her father’s attitude. Although he was still as stiff as ever, there seemed to be a little more room for things to turn around than before.

Yang Yi understood and said with a smile, “It was my lack of consideration. I’ll go boil some water. Uncle, please wait a moment!”

“Wait, put your clothes back on!” Mo Fei hurriedly stopped him. She picked up Yang Yi’s shirt and even helped straighten the hem for him.

This scene made Mo Henian feel very displeased, and he couldn’t help but snort again.

Yang Yi went out to boil water. While he was boiling the water, Mo Xiaojuan came over and asked him gossipingly whether he had been beaten up. After finding out that he hadn’t, this girl actually showed a disappointed expression…

However, it was already quite late. After finishing her dinner, Mo Xiaojuan hurriedly said goodbye to Mo Fei and rushed home.

At this moment, Xixi also came into the kitchen.

“Sorry, Papa can’t play with you today because your Grandpa is here.” Yang Yi thought Xixi wanted him to play with her, so he picked her up and said softly.

“Papa, I’m going to tell you a secret!” The little girl pouted in her father’s arms and said somewhat unhappily.