The Road to a Divine Harem Starting with a Stepmom Companion

Chapter 13: Don’t Rip My Buttons Off

This elaborate lie—if I weren’t the supposed “relative’s kid” myself, I might have believed it.

Fortunately, I wasn’t wearing my school uniform today, the one that clearly identified me, so no one recognized that I’d been here a few days ago buying jewelry.

“Men’s promises are just lies! Didn’t you say you’d be here any minute? This is what you call ‘any minute’? It’s been almost half an hour—enough time for me to make a round trip!”

“Heh heh!” Cao Shaoyang played dumb with a sheepish grin. “But hey, Auntie, aren’t you stretching the truth too? Since when did I become your relative’s kid?”

An Yu Wei tightened her grip on his arm, playfully winking at him. “What’s the matter? Don’t like it?”

Cao Shaoyang squinted in enjoyment, though his arm was starting to ache. Carrying such “heavy accessories” was bound to tire him out. He flexed his sore arm, only to be playfully punched by the cheeky auntie.

“Don’t move!”

As they headed toward the escalator, Cao Shaoyang chuckled, “What? I can’t even stretch my aching arm a little?”

Leaning close to his ear, An Yu Wei whispered, “Don’t think I don’t know why your arm’s sore. Acting all innocent, are we?”

“And stop moving so much. It’s too tight, and it hurts! Don’t go ripping my buttons off!”

Cao Shaoyang froze. Tight? Hurting? Buttons?

Oh no. The realization hit him hard. He stole a glance, unable to suppress his astonishment. Even restrained, her impressive figure was impossible to hide. If set free… well, he couldn’t even imagine.

“What are you staring at?” She playfully thumped his chest with her fist again.

Cao Shaoyang motioned for her to lean closer and whispered, “Just calculating how many kids your grain storage could raise!”

Dirty jokes have consequences—Cao Shaoyang found himself on the receiving end of a flurry of punches.

“Ugh! A dog’s mouth can’t spit ivory. You’re no kid, but your mind is full of nonsense!”

“I don’t know how many kids it could raise, but feeding you would be no problem. How about calling me ‘Mom’? Mommy will take care of you!”

Damn!

Here she goes again! No one could compete with this auntie’s experience—stepping on the gas on this metaphorical highway. The intense momentum left him utterly defeated.

Please, Auntie, hit the brakes! At this rate, I’m going to pass out!

Admitting defeat, Cao Shaoyang hastily changed the subject. In public, he could only let her have the upper hand for a bit.

“Ahem! Anyway, did you have lunch yet, Auntie?”

Seeing that he’d backed down, An Yu Wei smirked triumphantly but knew not to push too far.

“Not yet!”

“What do you feel like eating?” Although he’d just had a meal, sharing another with this gorgeous auntie wasn’t a problem.

“Hot pot! Haven’t had it in a while—I’m craving it.”

“Sounds good. How about Haidilao?”

“Let’s go!” An Yu Wei hugged his arm even tighter, visibly delighted.

She was thrilled. It had been so long since she’d felt this kind of excitement, like being on a date. Who would’ve thought she’d rediscover this sweet, romantic feeling with a high schooler so much younger than her?

This is wonderful.

Fortunately, there was a Haidilao nearby. After a short walk, they arrived.

They each ordered their favorite dishes, and while waiting for the food, Cao Shaoyang went to the condiment station to mix himself a dipping sauce.

When Cao Shaoyang returned to the table, he noticed Auntie An Yu Wei was already back. Strangely, though, she had only brought a bowl of plain sesame paste with nothing added.

“Auntie, aren’t you going to add any other ingredients to your sesame paste?” he asked, puzzled.

An Yu Wei tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled teasingly. “Auntie is doing this for your own good. Just plain sesame paste is enough.”

Cao Shaoyang: ???

What does she mean? I don’t get it.

Though confused, he decided to follow her lead and switched to plain sesame paste himself.

Hot pot, with its bold flavors, can create issues for two people eating different seasonings, especially when things get a bit intimate. This was one of the small bits of practical knowledge Cao Shaoyang knew.

The broth they chose was a light mushroom soup base. However, despite her claim of wanting hot pot, all the dishes An Yu Wei ordered were mild and light.

The two spent over an hour at lunch, but most of that time was spent chatting rather than eating. Bottle after bottle of green soda disappeared as they talked, learning more about each other.

At one point, Cao Shaoyang accidentally let slip that he was a senior in high school. This earned him a lengthy lecture from Auntie An Yu Wei.

In return, he learned more about her. She was currently single, having been through an unhappy marriage.

Her ex-husband, insecure and overly controlling, kept a tight watch on her due to her striking looks and figure. After their marriage, he rarely allowed her to go out or work.

Despite working 12-hour shifts at a factory on the outskirts, her ex-husband’s income—while decent—wasn’t enough to provide a worry-free life. Meanwhile, she was confined to being a full-time housewife.

P.S (Note from the author):

Brothers, I fell into a trap. Someone recommended an app to me, and I went to Baidu to download it. Since the app was in English, I found a Chinese version that had a few matching letters in the name.

Big mistake. I downloaded it, got an unlimited image generation membership, and… MMP! Each image takes 10 minutes to generate. There’s a ton of restrictions, and it ignored the reference images I uploaded. Even after setting character similarity to 100%, the results were laughable. I wanted a Chinese face, but it gave me a European-style one.

I even tried to make the chest size bigger, but the output was like an ID photo. Anyway, rant over. This “photo” has a smaller chest than expected, so bear with me, dear readers!