Chapter 1095: Chapter 737: Father and Son Similarities (Part 2)
"What kind of random book are you reading?" Xiang Beifei asked.
Xiang Tianxing tilted the book up, revealing the title on the cover to Xiang Beifei.
"How Should a Father Effectively Communicate with His Son?"
"Didn’t I tell you last time? To eliminate the gap between us as father and son, I brought back many parenting books when I left. See here."
Xiang Tianxing pointed to a towering stack of books next to him, "Parenting Training Manual" "Understanding Your Child’s Heart" "What to Do About Rebellious Kids?" "How Should Parents Compensate for a Child’s Missing Childhood?" "What to Do If Your Ten-Year-Old Still Wets the Bed?"...
"A ten-year-old wetting the bed?"
Three black lines appeared on Xiang Beifei’s forehead.
"Oh! That one was a freebie, buy three get one free during a bookstore sale. I was so busy buying, I didn’t pay attention. That one’s not for you; I know you stopped wetting the bed when you were three."
Xiang Tianxing chuckled awkwardly, quickly pulled out that book, and threw it into the lake.
The book splashed on the lake’s surface and then sank to the bottom.
Xiang Beifei: "..."
"Even though I’m just an awareness, I have the ability to learn, and I flip through these books when I’m idle, learning how to be a father. These books are written by various famous parenting experts; they’re model parents! I have to learn from them! I checked, and these books dominated the Jiuzhou bestseller list and stood firm for ten months!"
Xiang Tianxing patted the stack of books with satisfaction, but patted too hard, and with a "crash," all the books fell and scattered on the ground, with a few even hitting him on the head directly.
He rubbed his head, laughed dryly, and reached out to press down the few strands of hair standing on end on his left forehead to cover his embarrassment.
"Don’t you know that many parenting experts who write these parenting books aren’t qualified parents themselves?"
"Is there such a saying?"
"If they were really qualified parents, how would their own kids act rebellious like the books say? If their kids weren’t rebellious as mentioned in the books, how do they know these educational methods work?"
"The case studies in their books could be based on other people’s kids!"
"Other people’s kids have their parents watching over them. Do those so-called parenting experts watch over how they’re managed 24/7 and know so much?"
"Maybe they first discovered the problem with their own kids, then tried to summarize the disciplining experience before publishing books."
"Those kids are really pitiful."
"Why?"
"To mold the child into their ideal image, they try all sorts of methods. If the child disagrees, how do you think they correct it?"
"How?"
"By scolding, punishing to stand in the corner, they hope to shape the child into their ideal perfect image, demanding the child to do things they can’t do themselves. Even though they couldn’t achieve top scores when they were young, they demand the child gets perfect scores on exams so that they can boast to other parents and make their child the ’model child’ others envy, but it severely stifles the child’s nature."
"Is... is that so?"
Xiang Tianxing listened, looking bewildered. He closed the book, scrutinized Xiang Beifei, and said, "You’re confusing me! You sound like you don’t want parents to control their kids too much, yet you also complain about me not being home and controlling you too little. So should I manage you or not? It seems like no matter what I do, it’s wrong."
"You’ve hit the nail on the head," Xiang Beifei said calmly, "For me, whatever you do is wrong!"
Xiang Tianxing was stunned for a while.
"Alright, my bad, my bad."
He grinned apologetically.
"Why are you so humble in front of me?" Xiang Beifei asked.
"Because you’re my son." Xiang Tianxing smiled warmly, "If it were someone else talking to me like that, they’d already be unable to get up."
His eyes were full of love.
No matter how unreasonable his son acted, how much nonsense he spouted, or even if he cursed at him or punched him, he would bear it.
"Are you so sure the one standing in front of you is your son?" Xiang Beifei asked calmly.
"I’m sure," Xiang Tianxing replied with a smile.
"Your son was so rebellious, introverted, and had terrible grades, but now the Me standing before you is completely different! Haven’t you ever suspected that your son might be an imposter? For example, someone crossed over from another world and took over your son’s soul and consciousness?" said Xiang Beifei.
"No, on the contrary, I’m very happy!"
"Happy?" Xiang Beifei frowned.
"It means you’ve become complete!"
"What do you mean?"
"Your mom says she felt something was missing in you since you were a kid, not sure what, like you weren’t a complete person. Your mom is quite special; she could sense it and even said it likely had something to do with your grandpa, splitting a complete you away. But I never understood, so your mom and I have been looking for answers, trying to figure out what’s going on. But your grandpa has somehow become very confused, giving us no leads."
Xiang Tianxing looked at Xiang Beifei and said, "Seeing you like this now, I think you’ve probably found a part of yourself that was lost. You don’t have the Awakening System and you’re quite different from the people of Jiuzhou. I don’t know what your grandfather did in the past, but I’m sure what you thought was crossing over, occupying another’s consciousness or something, is because you suddenly became whole, not adapted to your other half."
He laughed, a bright and sunny laugh: "So, you must be my son!"
Xiang Beifei didn’t respond.
"You don’t seem too surprised?"
"A few years ago, Grandpa told me. He said I should have two memories, and I indeed have two memories," Xiang Beifei said.
Back when he was with the Skeleton Race, he encountered the Fire Ancestor of the Skeleton Race, and the consciousness of Daoist Qingde protected that place.
"What did he say?"
"He was like you, just a consciousness."
"I understand."
Xiang Tianxing didn’t ask further.
The two of them sat by the lakeside, continuing to watch the shimmering lake surface. Xiang Tianxing also stopped reading, as he seemed to understand that communicating with his own son, other parents’ parenting experience wouldn’t work.
Because his son was very special.
"They say you’re dead, and the flame of life you left behind extinguished."
Xiang Beifei broke the silence.
"Is that so?"
Xiang Tianxing nonchalantly yawned, not paying much attention.
"You’re dead!"
Xiang Beifei raised his voice.
"I heard you!"
Xiang Tianxing lay back on that pile of parenting books, comfortably crossed his legs, looking quite happy, and even hummed a little tune.
Xiang Beifei noticed that the tune he hummed was the same as the one his grandfather hummed when he was happy.
"Why aren’t you reacting?"
"I did react! I’m very happy!"
"You’re happy you’re dead?"
"No, I’m happy because you’re talking to me."
Xiang Tianxing clasped his hands behind his head, slightly raised his head, looked at his son, and said: "Last time, you didn’t talk this much to me. I tried to communicate with you, but you always ignored me. Even when we did speak, you were just snapping at me. But because I’m dead, you’re talking a lot today!"
He said joyfully: "If my death can make you talk to me this much, then it wasn’t in vain, right?"
Xiang Beifei didn’t speak.
"If my death can make you feel a bit sad, then my death is worth something! It shows you still see me as your father!" Xiang Tianxing said happily.
He particularly cherished every word he exchanged with his son, at least his son no longer lost his temper at him as he used to, locked himself in his room and refused to see anyone. Now, his son seemed much more mature, and today’s visit felt more like he came to have a heartfelt talk.
In Xiang Tianxing’s eyes, at least this was progress, something that could dissolve the gap between father and son. By comparison, whether he was still alive seemed less important.
Xiang Beifei pressed his lips tightly, feeling a strange sensation in his heart.
Obviously, he didn’t like this father.
But why did he feel so uneasy inside?
"I’m in the Edge Corner Airspace."
Xiang Beifei still chose to tell this guy everything that had happened recently.
After hearing this, Xiang Tianxing nodded thoughtfully and said: "Common Valley is very dangerous?"
"You might have died there," Xiang Beifei said indifferently.
"What do you plan to do?"
"What do you expect me to do?"
"I think you won’t completely take my advice," Xiang Tianxing said.
"You’re quite self-aware."
"But you already have an answer in your heart," Xiang Tianxing said with a smile.