In the Years When I Was a Father-Chapter 172: The Cool Dad in the Apocalypse (2)

Qi Lei no longer had any opinions about the layout of the Qi family’s house. He now simply treated this place as a relative’s home and was already used to sleeping on the soft couch in the study at night.
Qi Sheng glanced at the child who didn’t seem to mind and knew that the boy had already completely disconnected emotionally from his original self. Trying to quickly mend their relationship was clearly not going to be easy.
He wasn’t in a rush, though—some things needed to happen gradually. For now, the most important matter was figuring out how to survive the many years of natural disasters to come.
That night, as the couple lay in bed, Tian Yue thought about what Qi Sheng had said at the dinner table and asked, “Why did you suddenly think of going home to repair the house? And in this heat, can you even find workers?”
“Didn’t Dad say the house leaks and is damp? I’ve put it off for so long and haven’t gone back to help. Now that the weather is like this, I figured it’s better to fix it as soon as possible so they can live there more comfortably.”
“Will two days over the weekend be enough? It takes four or five hours round trip.”
“I’ll go back first to check things out. If needed, I’ll talk to the school and request some leave.”
Tian Yue frowned at that, a little unhappy. “You had over twenty days of summer break—why weren’t you in a rush to fix the house then? Why are you suddenly so eager now?” As she spoke, she seemed to remember something and turned to Qi Sheng. “Didn’t you say you wanted to buy a piano for Hang Hang and let him take lessons? If you’re going to fix the house, do we even have enough money?”
“Well, he’s still in tutoring classes. And Hang Hang isn’t that interested in piano right now. I think we can delay it a bit—maybe after he finishes elementary school. Let’s take things one step at a time.”
Though not too happy about it, Tian Yue thought of her son’s already-heavy academic load and extracurricular classes and agreed that piano lessons could wait a few years. She didn’t object anymore, essentially accepting Qi Sheng’s suggestion.
This family was a very typical middle-class household. Both husband and wife worked as teachers at a local middle school. Their mortgage, car payments, and their son’s living expenses made up the bulk of their spending. The original Qi Sheng had wanted to earn extra money during the break, so he hadn’t returned to his hometown in a long time. On top of that, he wanted to enroll his younger son in enrichment classes, so money was tight. Fixing the house back home hadn’t even been on his radar.
But now that Qi Sheng had taken over, he was thinking about the difficult future ahead. His top priority was to create a relatively safe and stable environment for his family.
The next morning, after breakfast, Qi Sheng took Qi Lei and drove to their old home in the far suburbs of the city.
Qi Sheng’s father used to be an elementary school Chinese teacher in their hometown, and his mother was just a regular farmer. After retiring, and since Qi Lei now lived at school during the week and only returned home on weekends, the elderly couple decided to start a small convenience shop at home to save up a little money for Qi Lei.
Qi Sheng didn’t buy much on the way back. He figured he could gradually stockpile food under the guise of “buying supplies” for the shop later—there was no need to rush just yet.
When they arrived, only his father was at the shop. His mother was in the backyard preparing lunch.
Today was the day their beloved grandson was coming home, and the elderly couple was full of joy.
But that joy turned to worry when they saw Qi Lei getting out of the car with a bruise at the corner of his mouth.
Qi Sheng’s father didn’t know the full story, so his first reaction was that his son had bullied his precious grandson again. Just moments ago he’d been smiling at a customer, but now his face darkened instantly.
Of course, he was still gentle and kind toward his dear grandson.
As for Qi Sheng—he had barely stepped out of the car when he felt the death glare from his own father!
Qi Sheng felt wronged and tried to signal Qi Lei to help explain. But Qi Lei ignored him completely and went straight to his grandfather.
The grandfather and grandson were all affection, and Qi Lei only ever showed a bit of boyish innocence and reliance when he was with the elderly couple.
They greeted each other warmly for a while, and soon the grandmother rushed over to welcome her eldest grandson as well.
Qi Sheng’s height earned him two seconds of attention from her—then she ignored him again and turned to fuss over her grandson.
But when the grandmother saw the bruise on Qi Lei’s face, she misunderstood too—just like the grandfather had!
What goes around comes around. Yesterday, Qi Lei had been treated like an outsider at the Qi household; today, Qi Sheng was the one being treated like he was invisible by the doting grandparents.
Qi Sheng rubbed his nose, feeling a little pitiful.
“Dad, Mom, have you been well lately? The weather’s been really odd.”
The grandmother had prepared lots of snacks and fruit that Qi Lei loved in the main room and had no interest in chatting with Qi Sheng. She dragged her grandson off to the backyard.
Only the grandfather responded, albeit curtly: “We were doing fine—until I saw you. Now my blood pressure’s up.”
“Dad, I think you’re misunderstanding. The bruise on Xiao Lei’s face has nothing to do with me. He got into a fight at school yesterday, and the teacher notified me. I just brought him home.”
On the way here, Qi Sheng had suggested not telling the grandparents about the police station incident and instead said the injury happened during a school fight to avoid worrying them.
But maybe because Qi Lei didn’t want anything to do with him, he ignored him as soon as they got back to familiar territory and didn’t bother helping him explain.
The old man was skeptical—Qi Sheng had too many past offenses. He gave him a side-eye, then turned to go back into the main room to ask his grandson himself.
Worried that Qi Sheng might mistreat Qi Lei behind their backs, the grandfather not only asked about the injury but even stripped Qi Lei’s clothes to check for other bruises—right in front of Qi Sheng. It was as if he were directly accusing him: “I seriously suspect you beat my beloved grandson!”
Qi Sheng could only smile helplessly the whole time. But even after the couple confirmed multiple times that Qi Lei hadn’t been hit by him, they still didn’t treat him very kindly.
Though he doted on his grandson, the grandfather was still strict when it came to discipline—especially over something like getting into a fight at school.
“What kind of matter needs to be solved with fists? Can’t you talk it out properly? Why fight?”
Just moments ago, the child had been surrounded by the old lady feeding him fruit. Now, seeing Grandpa angry, he immediately stood up obediently to admit his mistake.
The grandfather and grandson pair played out a scene of scolding and being scolded. Qi Sheng, watching the now incredibly well-behaved child, chuckled and planned to sit on the sofa, eat fruit, and spectate.
Unfortunately, the old lady who didn’t like him much noticed the direction his hand was reaching. Without hesitation, she smacked it away.
She didn’t say much either, just glared at Qi Sheng and said, “Go check on the soup I’ve got simmering in the kitchen. Don’t just stand there.”
Then, very naturally, she moved the washed fruit platter further away from Qi Sheng. The message was clear: This is for my precious grandson. You go do some work!
Qi Sheng didn’t have much status at home and could only slink off to the kitchen.
Meanwhile, the old man finished scolding Qi Lei. Seeing his sincere attitude in admitting his fault, he merely symbolically said he’d have to copy some texts as punishment.
The old lady felt a bit distressed hearing that. “It’s so hot these days. Let it go this time. The kid doesn’t come back often.”
The old man also felt sorry for his grandson. Seeing his wife trying to smooth things over, he immediately followed up, “Do you know you were wrong this time? Will you still fight in the future?”
“I know I was wrong. I won’t fight again.”
The old man was satisfied with that. Looking at Qi Lei was like gazing at a precious treasure as he began asking about his studies.
The three of them formed a very warm, harmonious scene. If Qi Sheng hadn’t come today, the atmosphere might’ve been even better.
At lunch, the elderly couple habitually picked out the best pieces of meat for their eldest grandson. Qi Lei, caring about his grandparents, also picked food for them. The three of them were close and inseparable.
Qi Sheng, who felt like he had been struck again: … Fine. I guess I don’t even count as a person?
To maintain some presence, Qi Sheng took the opportunity to speak up about his purpose: “Dad, the main reason I came back this time is to renovate our house.”
The old man didn’t stop putting food on Qi Lei’s plate. He only turned to look at Qi Sheng with confusion after watching his grandson finish everything on his plate with satisfaction.
“Why suddenly think about renovating? Isn’t money tight for you?”
“I opened a tutoring class during summer vacation. I saved up a bit, just enough to do a proper renovation.”
“How do you plan to renovate? School just started—you won’t have time to come back. A few days ago, I was still thinking about buying some white paint and doing it myself.”
Seeing the old man willing to talk, Qi Sheng shared his original plan.
“Our house has been around for over twenty years. Just repainting won’t last long. I was thinking of tearing it down and rebuilding from scratch, and doing it properly.”
“Rebuild? Isn’t that too expensive? Your mom and I are used to living here. Whether it’s a new house or not doesn’t matter. No need to spend that money.”
He glanced at Qi Sheng, wanting to say more, but stopped himself upon seeing Qi Lei and dropped the subject.
“There’s no need to rebuild. You don’t need to worry about this old house. I’ll tidy it up myself when the weather cools down. It’ll last another ten years easily.”
Qi Sheng noticed the pause in his father’s words and guessed he still had thoughts on the matter, so he dropped the topic for now, planning to revisit it after lunch.
The house had to be rebuilt. In the future, with only the harsh extremes of winter and summer, this old house would be unbearable to live in. Not to mention, in a year or so, when earthquakes and heavy rains became frequent, even city high-rises would be unsafe. The family would have to move back here.
The current house only had three rooms. If they couldn’t all fit then, it’d be a huge problem.
In the past, because the house wasn’t renovated, the original body’s father—who favored the younger son—kept showing bias after returning, pushing the second son to the edge more than once. Qi Lei had suffered a lot too.
This time, at the very least, he had to set up proper living conditions for everyone and prevent future arguments over something as basic as accommodation.
Sure enough, after lunch, the old man brought up what he had wanted to say earlier.
“You doing okay financially now? If you are, there’s no need to rebuild for me and your mom—we’ll live however we can. But I think you ought to increase Lei Lei’s living allowance.”
Without waiting for a reply, he continued, “A thousand a month? That’s supposed to include books, clothes, and daily items. Without your mom and me, how is Lei Lei supposed to get by? Even if you play favorites, there should be a limit. Don’t think I don’t know what kind of life Hang Hang is living. If you really have the money, I’m not asking for much. Raise his allowance to two thousand a month. When he’s in high school, you’ll also need to cover tuition and necessary tutoring fees.”
The old man currently had a pension and earnings from a small store, totaling around six to seven thousand a month. He planned to save all of it for Qi Lei. Normally, this would be enough for college, but he worried that one day something might happen to him and his wife. Without anyone to support him, Qi Lei could be in trouble.
So this time, since Qi Sheng had brought up fixing the house, the old man also decided to ask him for more support while he could.
Qi Sheng couldn’t help but sigh at how much the old couple cared about Qi Lei—and curse his original self for being so heartless. That man clearly never considered Qi Lei his own child.
Looking at his father who was still waiting for a response, Qi Sheng smiled and said, “Dad, you’re right. One thousand is way too little. I neglected Lei Lei too much before. Don’t worry—from now on I’ll transfer two thousand a month to the same card. I won’t let Lei Lei suffer anymore.”
The old man nodded, satisfied. Just as he was about to return to the main room to chat with his grandson, Qi Sheng brought up the renovation again.
“Dad, I’ll make sure Lei Lei gets his living expenses, but this house really needs to be rebuilt. Otherwise, when there’s a heavy storm or something, we won’t be able to stay here.”
The old man frowned. “If you’re talking about rebuilding, do you even have enough money for that?”
He had his own savings for Qi Lei’s future and didn’t plan to contribute to the house. Of course, he did have a selfish reason—if Qi Sheng was willing to pay for it, then he was happy to go along.
He calculated in his mind: If the son was finally willing to show filial piety and improve their living conditions, he’d accept it. If it weren’t for Qi Lei, he might’ve refused—after all, they were old and didn’t want to burden the kids. But if one day he and his wife passed away, Qi Lei would need a proper home to return to. So having a new house made sense, and since the land title was in his name, he could pass it to his eldest grandson later. If the kid couldn’t make it in the city, he’d at least have a place to stay.
Qi Sheng didn’t know his father’s deeper thoughts. After calculating their current savings, he figured if it wasn’t enough, he’d find a way to earn more. So he replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle the money. It won’t be too much pressure.”
Hearing that, the old man relaxed. His expression softened as he looked at Qi Sheng.
“Alright then. If that’s the case, we’ll go with the rebuild. I’ll fully cooperate.”