My Mother Has a System but Won't Use It

The walls were covered with humid moss; it was an expansive space. The world here was usually barren and empty, full of darkness, but today, a bonfire brightened it.

Liyue and Li Yao were taking warmth from there while Hua Feilan burned some mushrooms with it. Silence hung like that for a while, with the sound of wood burning echoing silently until it was broken by the soft words of Hua Feilan.

"Tell me, Liyue." she asked, "I underestimated your man, didn't I?"

Liyue had already changed from her conspicuous wedding Qipao and was looking at the bonfire with a distant gaze. Her head was filled with fantasies and a rather glum feeling; in fact, the best way to explain it would be to say a fishbone stuck in her throat.

Li Yao, on the other hand, had a pipe in her hand that she was curiously examining.

"Underestimate…" Liyue muttered, her clear gaze reflecting the fire burning high. "Why do you say so?"

Hua Feilan shook her head. "Even this cave in itself is an answer, such a great hiding place even my own hiding places that I have accumulated through decades pale in comparison. And his way of handling himself in itself gives me the creeps for some reason, now that I think about it."

"Yeah, he is special." Liyue sighed. "I wonder what he is doing now…"

Li Yao stretched her back and looked down at the comfortable sheets spread beneath them. She fell on the sheets and put the pipe aside. It couldn't possibly replace her liquor. She should have brought some liquor. She wondered why she didn't.

It had been missed by her.

"What can that brat be doing?" she scoffed at Liyue's question. "It's already been hours. He would either be flirting somewhere with his mom or speaking some kind of profound thing that is of no use to us." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Mom…"

"Sigh… Yue'er, he is not someone you need to be worried about; in fact, I am worried about others."

Liyue threw a glance at her.

"No wonder I always felt that you and Big Brother had a problem with each other. You guys don't see eye to eye, do you?" she asked softly.

Li Yao was silent and thoughtful. "You think so?"

Liyue nodded.

"Not exactly eye to eye, it is like you often avoid him or he avoids you… it could be a misunderstanding on my part, though."

Li Yao nodded. "It is a misunderstanding. We get along as much as you do, just that I don't like public show of affection like you both seem to do."

Liyue swallowed a wad of saliva. She was talking about such things with her mother. Her heartbeat quickened. "So you do like his non-public show of affection?"

"We're not having a conversation about that unless it is important," Li Yao sighed. "And I should be the one asking such questions since you are with him more than I am."

Hua Feilan also curiously looked at them as the mushroom burning began to release popping sounds. Whatever it was, and however she felt about Liyue's and Li Yao's situation of both a mother and daughter sharing one man, it was not a super rare event in the seven continents.

Yes, it was a bit rare, but some influential people did have such relations, unlike a sexual relationship with their own actual mothers, which was super rare. At the moment, Hua Feilan was thinking about Li Yao's remark about Han Li flirting with his mother with a thoughtful face.

'So there are children in this world who can see their mothers that way?' she sighed. 'This person really is rather… unconventional. I wonder what Liyue saw in him to be so swooning.'

"Mom," Liyue smiled. "I think you shouldn't bother about public affection and such if you are not really too bothered. You could be much more outgoing that way. In fact, as of now, you seem more in a shell than I was."

Li Yao sighed. "But there is a difference; I can speak with anyone with confidence and do anything I want, unlike you, who is unable to do it even now. And don't get me wrong, Han Li and I have a really good relationship that we don't show much outside—which I asked him not to."

Liyue shyly scratched her cheek. "That is true; I am still nervous thinking about how we stood in the middle of others and declared each other wife and husband… Ah, we will have to do it again. Argg, I want to do it once more, but I don't want to either."

Li Yao chuckled. "I wonder how you are so comfortable around Feilan in the first place to speak about such things before her."

Hua Feilan chuckled. "That's because she is my friend."

Li Yao rolled her eyes but didn't say anything further.

"Leave that, Feilan. Can you arrange for some Liquor? My daughter's husband will pay you handsomely. I assure you."

Hua Feilan chuckled. "Of course, I have some with me. In fact, a lot."

"My liquor looks and smells like water…"

"Wow, such things exist?"

"Of course it does. You see, one of my friends even makes these amazing fruit wines whose effect can last for seven months if you drink them."

Li Yao's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Tell me more about this stuff. Unbelievable!"

As they were deep into their conversation, Liyue smiled and looked at the mushrooms.

"Looks tasty. Can I have some?"

Both of the older women laughed. "You know what that mushroom is?"

Liyue shrank.

"I don't want to know now."

"It is a beautiful thing," Li Yao smiled, "You should try it, Liyue."

Liyue had creeps all over and hid in her sheets. "I don't want any!"

***

Han Li walked under the shade of dawn in the shadows of a heavy jungle. He was carrying his mother on his back; she languidly wrapped her hands around his neck, and her legs dangled to his front, but her thighs were gently supported by Han Li as he walked forward silently.

She was asleep and even gently snoring, so he didn't bother her awake.

Barely anyone could handle trekking for more than 3 hours without getting completely tired. And even though his mom wasn't exactly tired, he felt like he wanted to pamper her for a second, and this was the end result.

She had been nibbling on his nape till now, trying to exact her 'revenge' for the hickeys he had given her, but her son's skin was too thick. After miserably failing for a while and feeling her teeth ache, she had fallen victim to laziness and comfort and slept just like that on his back.

Han Li didn't mind. In fact, he felt a calmness he didn't want to break so quickly.

"Mom, we're near our destination."

Yue Li dazedly opened her eyes but then fell asleep again.

Smiling to himself, Han Li walked past a great tree, and finally, a huge mountain rock came into his sight. It looked like a wide, green elephant.

"The Elephant Rock," he muttered.