"Oh, my! Xiaozhi is so sweet; you truly are Mom’s best boy."
Huo Lin was so furious he felt like he might explode, but Shen Man ignored him entirely. She deliberately showered Huo Zhi with praise right in front of him, even making a promise to the boy alone.
"My good son, just for calling me Mom, you can come to me whenever you want Malted Milk from now on. Not to mention anything else, as long as you’re with me, you’ll have all the food and drink you could ever want. How about that? I’m a pretty good mom, aren’t I?"
It was hard to imagine such bold, childish words coming from a mother. Huo Lin felt she was nothing like a mature adult, let alone fit to be their mother. In his fantasies, even if a mother wasn’t gentle or kind, she should at least treat her children with some semblance of normalcy.
But Huo Zhi couldn’t grasp these deeper implications. He only felt that Shen Man’s image in his heart had grown taller and more endearing. Whenever his older brother had managed to snatch something good to share in the past, he would always ask if he’d been "a good brother." Now, not only was Shen Man more capable than his brother—able to provide endless food and drink without having to fight for it—she also liked him so much, doting on him alone.
In all his life, no one had ever doted on him like this!
Huo Zhi hugged Shen Man’s leg tightly and rubbed against it, his heart bubbling over with joy.
"You’re great! You’re the best! You really are the best mom in the whole wide world!"
"Huo Zhi!"
Huo Lin was stunned by the sheer shamelessness of it all. Furious, he raised his foot, ready to kick Huo Zhi, but Shen Man was quick; she whisked Huo Zhi away to the side before he could make contact.
"Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you’re doing? Xiaozhi is your own brother—how could you kick him? Brothers should be united and help one another. If you don’t want any Malted Milk, that’s fine, but why stop your brother from having some? You shouldn't be so selfish."
She delivered a high-minded lecture to Huo Lin, then immediately took Huo Zhi by the hand and turned to leave.
"Come on, my sweet boy. Mom brought a lot of good things this time; you can pick whatever you want to eat. Oh, that’s right—I also brought plenty of toys. Have you ever played with a yo-yo? It’s all the rage for the kids back where I’m from. And I’ve got glass marbles, matchbox guns..."
As she walked further and further away with Huo Zhi, every word she said drifted back, clear as day, into Huo Lin’s ears. He had been holding his head high, full of anger and disdain, but upon hearing Huo Zhi’s cries of delight over the toys, his defenses finally crumbled.
"I want to play too..."
He hung his head, pouting, and let out a small, miserable whimper. Tears born of grievance and a sense of betrayal began to stream down his face.
Just then, a pair of shoes appeared in his field of vision. Startled, he looked up to see Shen Man still wearing that irritating, smug smile. She forcefully shoved a piece of peach blossom cake into his mouth.
"Well? How is it? Is it good?"
Her tone was as gratingly cheeky as ever. Huo Lin turned his head away, unwilling to engage, but his mouth was honest. Without needing to use his hands, he clamped onto the cake and devoured it in a few bites, not even letting a single crumb fall to the ground.
Seeing this, Shen Man couldn’t help but flick him on the forehead.
"You brat, still acting tough? If you’ve eaten my food, you’re one of my people now. I can give my own people a chance—just say 'I’m sorry, Mom,' and you can come down."
As she spoke, Huo Zhi was behind her, fiddling with a matchbox gun, a large jar of colorful glass marbles resting by his side. For a boy his age, these things were a fatal temptation.
Huo Lin, naturally, couldn’t hold out.
His lips trembled for a long time, and his expression shifted like a storm, wanting to say the words but unable to bring himself to utter those five humiliating syllables. After struggling for a long time, he finally spoke, though his words had nothing to do with what she had asked."Then if I talk, can I drink that jar of Malted Milk?"
Earlier, his craving for Malted Milk had almost made him give in, but Shen Man had immediately turned around and promised that the entire jar was strictly for Huo Zhi alone. Fearing that giving in would mean missing out on the Malted Milk while also losing face in front of his younger brother, he had stubbornly held out until now.
Now the terms had been relaxed, and a single sentence would set him free, yet he still couldn't let go of that jar of Malted Milk.
Huo Lin felt that his brother had betrayed him first, so there was nothing wrong with him having a little of the Malted Milk.
Unexpectedly, Shen Man shook her head and refused.
"Of course not. I already promised that jar of Malted Milk is only for Xiaozhi."
Hearing this reply, a wave of deep humiliation and regret instantly appeared on Huo Lin's face.
If he had known, he wouldn't have asked! Otherwise, he wouldn't have humiliated himself like this!
At that moment, Huo Lin resolved never to give in again. He would engrave today's shame in his heart and fight Shen Man to the bitter end, never bowing his head!
"However..."
At that moment, Shen Man changed the subject and continued.
"If you can be as good as Xiaozhi, or even better, it's not like I couldn't get another jar for you to drink. Like I said, once you're with me, getting whatever you want is just a matter of saying the word."
Shen Man had this prickly, difficult little brat completely figured out. Seeing the look of startled joy on Huo Lin's face as he abruptly raised his head, she couldn't help lifting her chin and smugly saying, "Well? Aren't I good to you? Do you want to accept me as your mother or not?"
With the stepping stone practically presented right to his face, there was no way Huo Lin wouldn't take it.
Almost impatiently, he immediately threw the vow he had just made in his heart to the winds and shouted excitedly, "Mom, I'm sorry! Put me down, please! I won't be any worse than Huo Zhi—I'll be even better than him!"
"There we go—good boy, such a good son."
True to her word, Shen Man set Huo Lin down, took out another jar of Malted Milk, and immediately mixed a bowl for him. Afterward, she placed both of their jars of Malted Milk together on the chest of drawers in her bedroom.
From now on, whenever they wanted a drink, all they had to do was come over and call her mom, and they could have some anytime.
Huo Lin, who was hugging his bowl and licking it even more thoroughly than Huo Zhi had, truly understood the light at that moment.
Malted Milk was genuinely delicious—fragrant and sweet, even more irresistible than he had imagined. After just a single bowl, he decided that the sugar-water Mi Tang he used to drink was nothing more than dogshit.
Though he still felt a lingering sense of humiliation, for the sake of food, drinks, and all these novel toys, he figured temporary submission wasn't out of the question.
Besides, once he had eaten and played through everything she owned, it wouldn't be too late to chase her off. Who told her to bully him like this today? This was the price she had to pay for bullying them!
Two-thirds of the mission was complete, leaving only Huo Li, the one with the deepest thoughts, who hadn't called her mom yet.
But Shen Man was not in a hurry.
She ran over to her mother-in-law's bedroom door once again.
"Mom, it's already two in the afternoon. Aren't you coming out to eat? Are you sick, or did something happen? If you still don't say anything, I'm going to break the door down!"
You can never wake someone who is pretending to be asleep, which simply meant her voice wasn't loud enough.
So she pretended to walk away, only to quickly return.
"Mom, you haven't come out or made a peep this whole time. Could you have passed out?"
"It's fine, I brought a hammer. I should be able to smash the door open in no time. Mom, wait for me, I'm coming to save you right now!"
She rubbed her palms together, and although she was holding absolutely nothing, her tone was extremely urgent, as if she were about to swing a hammer at the door the very next second.
Sure enough, the person turtled away inside her room finally panicked, ran over to the door, and yelled, "Don't! Don't smash the door! I'm fine!"