After the Reborn Young Master Embraced a Life of Wellness – Chapter 53

This so-called “quarrel” that Chen Mo had unilaterally decided on actually didn’t last long.

By July, as the second year of high school came to an end, Suicheng felt like it was trapped inside a giant steamer—scorched by the relentless sun, unbearably hot.

Although Chen Mo had declared he was cutting ties with the Yang family, as soon as summer vacation started, a series of packages arrived from them. Whether it was an attempt at reconciliation or compensation, he couldn’t tell. That morning, as he arranged for the local courier to return the items, Yang Zhi called him out of the blue.

At that time, Chen Mo was debating whether or not to message Xi Siyan.

Since that day, they had still seen and spoken to each other, but Chen Mo felt that something was off.

He tapped on his phone.

[Your stuff is still here with me…]

Delete. No, that sounded like he was just kicking him while he was already down.

He typed again.

[Have you chosen a school?]

Delete. Too direct.

[What are your plans for the holiday?]

Should he send it?

Just as he was hesitating, Yang Zhi’s call came in.

Chen Mo hadn’t changed his phone number after leaving the Yang family. His departure was his own decision, and if he truly wanted them to be unable to track him, he would have had to vanish into the mountains.

He had simply deleted all related contacts, so at first, he thought the call was from the courier.

When he answered, he asked, “Hello, has the package not arrived yet?”

There was two seconds of silence.

Then, “Chen Mo, are you really set on this?”

Chen Mo’s expression cooled instantly. He didn’t even bother calling him “Big Brother.” Instead, he said, “I thought I made everything very clear that day. I even settled the accounts properly. Do you need something?”

Over the phone, he could hear Yang Zhi take two deep breaths. His voice remained as calm as ever, but to Chen Mo, his words sounded absurd.

“I’m officially being promoted to general manager of Yang Group next week,” Yang Zhi said.

Chen Mo: “Congratulations?”

“My parents have decided to send Shule abroad after he graduates high school.”

Chen Mo: “Oh. I don’t care where he goes.”

“Chen Jianli was sentenced to three years. Li Yunru got six years and eight months.”

Chen Mo sat on the sofa, silent.

It was ten in the morning.

The sun wasn’t at its peak yet, and the room’s temperature was a steady 28°C. Sunlight slanted through the windows, illuminating floating dust particles in the air.

It felt like an old dream had come crashing back, stirring up memories like a rumbling storm.

In his past life, Li Yunru never went to prison, while Chen Jianli had been sentenced to life imprisonment for another crime.

Different outcomes, but the same state of mind.

At the end of the day, he no longer cared.

If karma had come too late in his previous life, then in this one, he had taken matters into his own hands.

Chen Mo took a sip of water, then replied, “Got it. Anything else?”

Yang Zhi didn’t speak for a while.

After a few seconds, he asked, “How have you been?”

“Not bad.” Chen Mo added, “If you’re just here to chat, don’t bother.”

Yang Zhi sighed. “Chen Mo… you have zero tolerance for mistakes, don’t you?”

Chen Mo’s grip on his phone tightened instantly.

Then, he laughed coldly and said, “That’s right. I don’t.”

With that, he hung up.

Anger simmered in his chest.

Not because of anything specific, but because he knew Yang Zhi too well—always standing on his high horse, fundamentally selfish.

In his past life, Yang Zhi had only ever treated him as an equal when he was useful. Even in the end, when Chen Mo’s life had been cut short by an accident, the company had likely been taken over by Yang Zhi through his own maneuvering.

What infuriated Chen Mo was that even after breaking away, he still had to endure this so-called “concern”—a rich heir’s twisted form of psychological manipulation.

It disgusted him.

Chen Mo downed the rest of his water in one gulp.

He got up and paced the living room.

His sharp eyes caught sight of a cigarette sticking out from the windowsill—it was left behind from the late-night hotpot gathering with Lao Gou and the others. He didn’t know whose it was.

The urge hit him.

If he hadn’t thought about it, it would’ve been fine. But the moment the thought crossed his mind, the craving took root.

It had been a long time since he last smoked.

Bad moods always made him want to light up. It was a habit from his past life, and old habits die hard.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the cigarette and searched for a lighter. Not finding one, he went to the kitchen and used the gas stove to light it.

He took a drag.

The first hit in a long time made him lightheaded, and he coughed a little. Just then, his phone buzzed with a message.

After hanging up his call with Yang Zhi, the chat interface remained open to his last conversation with Xi Siyan.

The most recent message was from yesterday—Xi Siyan had asked him to bring in the T-shirt he’d left drying on the balcony.

Chen Mo had replied with a simple “OK,” and that was it.

Looking at it now, the exchange felt oddly stiff and awkward.

He frowned. Relationships are really unpredictable. The smallest thing can mess with your mood.

It wasn’t even a big deal.

So what if something really happened? What then?

Feeling frustrated, Chen Mo decided against texting Xi Siyan and replied to a message from Su Qianran instead.

She had asked about Lao K’s project.

Chen Mo gave her a simple rundown of what he knew.

Then, on impulse, he asked: “Why haven’t you dumped Yang Zhi yet?”

Su Qianran replied almost immediately: “…What did he do to you?”

Chen Mo exhaled a stream of smoke, tapped the ash into the trash can, and replied, “He didn’t do anything. He just pisses me off. You’ll be miserable if you get too entangled with him. Don’t jump into the pit.”

Su Qianran sent back a string of laughing emojis.

Then she typed, “Damn, bro. That sounds like relationship advice. You talking from experience? Are you in love?”

Chen Mo hesitated.

Then he typed back a simple “No” and ended the conversation.

Chen Mo walked out of the kitchen with a cigarette between his lips. Just as he reached the dining table to pack up the courier-wrapped waste paper from earlier that morning, he heard the sound of a key turning in the lock.

He looked up.

He was met with the sight of Xi Siyan opening the door.

Their eyes locked, and in the next instant, Chen Mo saw Xi Siyan’s face darken.

After all, from his perspective, Chen Mo was standing there in slippers, shorts, and a loose white coat, his hair messy from just waking up, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and a pile of trash on the table.

It wasn’t exactly a scene of pure decadence, but it definitely looked like he had let himself go.

Feeling a bit self-conscious, especially in contrast to Xi Siyan’s clean and crisp appearance, Chen Mo shifted awkwardly and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Am I not allowed to come?” Xi Siyan walked in, taking off his shoes.

He stepped forward, reached out, and plucked the cigarette from Chen Mo’s mouth, his eyes narrowing. “Smoking again.”

His tone was calm, but it made Chen Mo inexplicably guilty.

Chen Mo instinctively reached out to take it back, but Xi Siyan dodged and, with his other hand, grabbed Chen Mo’s chin, pushing him back.

“Did you buy this yourself?” Xi Siyan asked.

Chen Mo admitted honestly, “No, really. I don’t even know who left it here after the last gathering.”

A few minutes later, an unexpected development occurred.

In the group chat of more than a dozen people that Lao Gou had created during their last hotpot night, a new message from Xi Siyan popped up:

[If I catch anyone smoking around Chen Mo again, I’ll buy ten packs and make you finish them all.]

The chat fell silent for a moment.

Then, a flood of ellipses.

Chen Mo also sent a message: “…”

Lao Gou: “What are you two doing? Brother Yan, your method of enforcing a smoking ban feels just like that perverted Lao Xiang’s.”

Jiang Xu: “Chen Mo, did you piss off Old Xi again? He’s got mysophobia. The fact that you waved a cigarette in his face and didn’t get punched is already a miracle.”

Bai Cheng: “Wait, does this mean you two have made up?”

Xi Siyan: “When were we ever fighting?”

Chen Mo, reading this in the group chat, turned his head and looked at Xi Siyan, who had just walked out of the bathroom.

“Aren’t we in a cold war?” Chen Mo asked.

Xi Siyan looked up, his gaze steady. “You typed a message to test the waters for five minutes, then sent nothing. That’s what you call a cold war?”

Chen Mo froze. “You saw that?”

Xi Siyan hummed in acknowledgment.

Chen Mo scratched his head and let the subject drop.

Then, something suddenly came to mind. He glanced at Xi Siyan and asked, “Wait, you didn’t show up just because you saw me about to message you, did you?”

“I came to move my stuff.” Xi Siyan leaned against the sofa. “There will be some staff coming by later.”

It was only then that Chen Mo realized he wasn’t joking.

He immediately got up from the couch, knelt on it, and grabbed Xi Siyan’s sleeve. “Okay, I apologize for that day. I admit I spoke without thinking in the heat of the moment. Don’t move out. You know that’s not what I meant.”

Xi Siyan raised an eyebrow. “Are you begging me?”

“Yeah, please.” Once the words left his mouth, he realized it wasn’t so hard to say after all. Chen Mo continued, “I was a coward, thinking too much about the future and which school to choose. But if I think about it carefully, why not just give it a try? If you dare, why should I be afraid? Worst case scenario, we never see each other again in the future—”

“Shut up.” Xi Siyan interrupted him.

At the same time, he reached out, grabbed Chen Mo’s waist, and pulled him in for a kiss.

Caught off guard, Chen Mo’s balance was thrown off. He fell forward, his upper body pressing against the other through the sofa, his hands raised in a futile attempt to resist.

The kiss started abruptly but quickly deepened—slow, careful, and lingering.

At some point, Chen Mo found his footing and went from being passive to reciprocating. His hands, which had been hovering in hesitation, finally wrapped around Xi Siyan’s neck. Their young bodies, already simmering with tension, quickly ignited, filling the space with an undeniable heat.

When Chen Mo was pressed onto the sofa, he suddenly remembered something and breathlessly asked, “Didn’t you say someone was coming by later?”

During a brief pause, Xi Siyan brushed back a few strands of Chen Mo’s hair, revealing his forehead, and pressed a gentle kiss there. Then, with a calm expression, he replied, “I lied, idiot.”

“Xi Siyan!” Chen Mo shot up, furious. “You son of a—”

His curse was cut off midway.

Because at that moment, Xi Siyan reached out, grabbed a fistful of Chen Mo’s hair, and tilted his head back.

His propped-up posture instantly became defenseless as Xi Siyan’s other hand slid around to hold him in place.

Kneeling on one leg on the sofa, Xi Siyan kissed him again.

This position made it even harder for Chen Mo to move.

His stretched neck tensed, Adam’s apple shifting as he swallowed hard. He tried to push away, but it was no use. He could only manage a muffled protest, “Xi Siyan.”

“Hmm?”

Instead of retreating, Xi Siyan only deepened the kiss further.