5 Meeting a new family
She didn't look anything like his mother from his previous life. She looked young, very young and for a moment Li Chang was shocked at her appearance.
He didn't really know what he was expecting to see when he opened the door. But thinking about this new mother he couldn't help also thinking about his mother from his previous world. He certainly didn't expect someone this young. She seemed bright and full of life. Her skin had no wrinkles or any other sign of age on it. She seemed to be energetic and had a positive disposition.
This surprised Li Chang quite a bit, there was no way he could have guessed that his mother would have been like this.
"Good morning mom." Li Chang said, while feeling a little bit awkward speaking these words that he hadn't said to anyone in more than twenty years.
The woman looked at him shocked. Then her face fell and the kind look was replaced with a glare.
"What do you mean by that you smelly little brat." Said the woman through her scowl. "Why don't you wake up, open your eyes and take a look before you speak. Or else your big sister will have to beat you up and teach you some manners."
Li Chang mentally facepalmed. Of course it was his older sister, she was far to young to have a 16 year old son. So who could it be but his new sister Julie Mitchell.
"I'm sorry Julie. I must still be asleep otherwise how could I have mistaken my beautiful older sister." Li Chang apologetically replied.
He had no memories of there being violence in this family. But considering the shoddy work done with his new memories and the suffering from his past, he felt that caution and a little flattery was the best way to go.
His sister maintained her scowl, until with a "humph" it was replaced with a smile. "At least you know that your sister is beautiful. Now hurry up and get ready. Mom has already finished making lunch sleepyhead. You better come down quick or else Trevor and I wont save you any." And with that Li Changs new sister julie left his doorway and headed down the stairs.
Li Chang let out a small sigh, feeling like he just survived something intense.
"This is going to be really stressful." Li Chang mumbled to himself.
He had just met his new sister and had already mistook her for his mom, he wondered how he was going to survive meeting the rest of the people in his life. Besides his family there was still going to be school as well. He began to internally mourn for himself.
Luckily, he had just met his sister, so he would now know the difference between his sister and his mother. The only person left unknown in the house was would be his little brother, and since there are only two males who live there it should be smooth sailing.
Li Chang followed his new memories and started getting ready for the day.
He looked at himself in the mirror and began assessing what he saw.
What he saw reflected before him, was the body and face of a young man of 16 years. He stood 179cm which means he was already a little taller than he was in his previous world. He had some solid muscles in the right places, and had a good overall shape to his body. His shoulders had decent width though he felt that he was a little bit thin. At least there weren't any fatty parts on his body that would affect his looks. He felt that he was fit but he didnt look overly strong. It might be said that he would look fit and pretty strong... for a scholar.
He was a little disappointed at that thought because he didnt get to be strong in his last life either. He knew that the standards in this world were different from what he knew. However, he was still concerned about how he would measure up to the other people his age. He didnt want to live another life known as someone worthless.
He then moved to assess his face. This was a much harder task for him; with no mirrors in his past world he didnt have a very good way to compare his new look, with his old. Other than what he had seen while passing by the few glass windows outside of high class shops in the capital(or in the dirty puddles where the rain water had collected) he didnt really know what he looked like. Li Chang could only judge his looks on their own merrit or compare them to the standards of his past world.
All of that aside he felt his new face had a good look to it. He had dark hair and what he would describe as a kind but quiet look to his face. But his eyes, he found the more he looked at his own eyes the deeper and more clear they became. He liked this part of him the best so far and felt that anyone could get lost by looking into his eyes too long. He now for the first time had some hope towards the females of this world. After all who didn't want to be attractive.
To complete his assessment he had to check the final part of his body. The part between his legs. He was pleased, there were definitely no problems there.
Even though he felt that he was a little weak, it seemed that this body would be more than acceptable. He was actually quite pleased with this Alexander.
He got dressed and let out a sigh. "Who am i kidding? I'm just hidding in my room procrastinating, just trying to avoid the inevetible. Am i really this scared to meet my new family? Do i really care if they are nice or if they like me? OF COURSE I CARE!!!"
"Come on Chang you can do this." He pumped himself up. And after slaping his cheeks with both his hands he left his room and headed down stairs.
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As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Li Chang looked towards the dinning room and for the first time saw his new family.
The three of them were seated in chairs around a oval table that had two dishes and a large bowl of rice placed near it's center. The dishes were simple, one vegetable and one meat. The meat wasn't much in quantity nor was it extravagant but Li Chang could tell the whole meal was made with love.
Near the head of the table sat a woman helping a young boy to put some meat into his bowl. This time Li Chang was sure that this was his new mother, Sarah Mitchell.
She was a woman in her late 30's but still incredibly vibrant with a kind face and a gentle but infectious smile. Unexpectedly she was somewhat short, considering the height of his sister and himself. Her dark hair had yet to take on any grey, which was impressive considering she had spent the last 7 years raising three kids by her self.
Li Chnag'seyes moved down the table to his sister who was nothing more than a younger copy of his mother. Even though she was taller, the resemblence was striking. They both had the same joyful smile and kind face that could light up even the darkest room.
Across from her was a very small boy with a round face who was in the process of attempting to put many pieces of meat into his mouth as fast as his mother put them on his plate. It was a comical scene to witness and Li Chang wondered how his other brother would have looked and behaved.
Unlike the rest of his new family, Li Chang had no one from his old world to compare this little boy to. He instantly loved this adorably little guy. He decided right then and there that no matter what would happen in the future he would be the best big brother ever and always be there for him.
No matter what This would be his real brother the one he never got to meet. The one that he...
Li Chang shook his head to clear out the negative thoughts. He had to be in top form. After all he was meeting his family for the first time and wanted them to have a good impression of him.
These of course were only his thoughts, to his family he would still just be Alexander. He couldn't help it though, actually seeing that he had a brother had rattled him a bit. The past was a wound that was hard to over come.
As though he could tell he was being watched little Trevor turned his head and looked towards Li Chang and his face changed to a more mischievous grin.
He saw Trevor nod towards his sister and his sister quickly turned around to glare at Li Chang
"Since you took so long to come down trevor and I have eaten your portion of meat and if you dont hurry and sit down then there wont even be any rice left for you." said Julie with a wicked grin on her face.
"Stop it you two. Alex don't worry come and sit down. Of course we saved you plenty." Li Chang's new mother Sarah quickly jumped in to stop his siblings from teasing him too much.
Since the joke they played was now over Trevor laughed and put Li Change bowl back onto the table and signaled for Li Chang to come sit by him.
Li Chang just smiled and walked to the table and sat down.
A family meal was something that Li Chang had not had in around 20 years. He tried not to think too much about it and just enjoyed the meal listening to his new family's conversations and watching how they interacted with each other.
Even in his past life, a meal like this with such a relaxed and carefree atmosphere had never happened. He just sat there soaking up all of these new experiences and new feelings. There could be no doubt about how his new family felt about each other. This warmed his heart and he had to fight to keep any moisture from appearing in his eyes.
Once the meal was finished Li Chang followed everyone else's actions and helped to clean up.
Afterward, he excused himself and headed back up to his room. He needed some time to himself.
He needed to do some thinking.
