SFBF CH41

“Hello?”

Shen Qing returned the call. Instinctively, he felt something was off on President Gu’s end. It sounded like he was talking to someone else—there seemed to be a lot of people around him.

He said hello a few more times, and just as Shen Qing was considering whether to hang up, there was finally movement on Gu Huaiyu’s side.

“Hello.”

The voice was cool and cold, with no emotion in it at all.

Gu Huaiyu asked, “Do you need something?”

That voice practically froze Shen Qing on the spot.

He paused, then glanced across at Gu Duo.

Ever since realizing who he was calling, this child had been staring at him the whole time, not even eating his cotton candy anymore.

It was obvious how determined the kid was to monitor him on behalf of his little uncle.

…Good heavens, this uncle and nephew pair were both so hard to handle.

One was so cold no one dared get close to him.

The other wouldn’t allow anyone not to be warm enough.

Shen Qing felt his life was way too difficult. He simply put the call on speaker so Duoduo could hear his little uncle’s attitude too, then said into the phone, “Nothing’s wrong. Weren’t you the one who called me first, boss?”

There was a noticeable pause on the other end too.

Gu Huaiyu gave a brief response. “Mm.”

Shen Qing: “…So I’m calling you back.”

There was another short pause on Gu Huaiyu’s side. He gave another curt “Mm” and said, “I don’t have anything.”

Shen Qing: “…”

Then why did you call me?!

After that, neither side had anything to say.

Across from him, Gu Duo noticed the atmosphere and unconsciously frowned again.

What was going on if uncle and “auntie” had absolutely nothing to talk about?

He unconsciously pressed his lips together around the cotton candy in his mouth, but somehow it didn’t taste sweet at all.

On the other end of the line, Gu Huaiyu started asking about Gu Duo and Gu Ao.

It took Shen Qing a moment to catch on—maybe the boss had called because this was the first time the kids had gone out to play, and as their uncle, he naturally ought to ask about them.

So that was what it was.

Then he should’ve just said so.

Thinking about how awkward the emotionally constipated Gu family was, Shen Qing directly handed the phone over to Gu Duo so he could talk to his little uncle, while he himself went off to find Aozi.

Aozi was still playing with the little penguins inside the glass enclosure.

Whenever the penguins lifted their wings, he would squat down, swing his arms backward, and lift his own little arms too, imitating them—then end up laughing his head off.

After jumping around like that for so long, he had worked up a sweat.

Inside the glass enclosure was a simulated polar environment, complete with ice and cooling systems. The thick glass insulated some of the cold, but staying too close for too long was still chilly. Shen Qing was worried Aozi might catch cold, so he directly scooped the kid up and carried him back to their seats, then took Aozi’s little jacket from Aunt Zhang and put it on him.

Gu Duo was still chatting with his little uncle, and Shen Qing listened from the side…

The conversation was painfully proper and stiff.

It was basically Gu Huaiyu briefly asking one question, and Gu Duo answering exactly one thing in return.

President Gu’s questions weren’t very imaginative either.

He only asked things like where they were and what they were doing. He didn’t even ask what they had played with earlier or what they had seen.

Finally, after asking for quite a while, Gu Huaiyu asked what they were eating.

Gu Duo answered, “…Cotton candy.”

Shen Qing could clearly tell that the boss paused again after hearing that.

Then came silence.

In terms of small talk, Duoduo and his uncle really couldn’t manage more than a few lines.

They did have more to say if the topic turned to studying.

Left with no other option, Shen Qing swapped Aozi in.

When Aozi heard that the person on the phone was his little uncle, he was actually pretty happy.

Little Gu Ao wasn’t the sort of child who was shy around strangers or afraid of adults. The only person he was a little afraid of was his little uncle.

But that was only when he could actually see him in person.

Now he could only hear his voice and not see him, so Aozi didn’t feel any pressure at all.

He immediately hugged Shen Qing’s phone and began chattering away to his little uncle.

“Uncle bought us sooo much yummy stuff! Big chicken legs, popcorn, little roasted chest-nuts, and cotton candy!”

Shen Qing smiled on the side and gave Aozi a thumbs-up in praise.

Nice one, Aozi. At least you remember everything I bought for you. I didn’t spoil you for nothing.

However, Gu Huaiyu’s voice on the other end didn’t sound any lighter or happier. If anything, it dropped lower.

“Uncle?”

“Yep, uncle.” Aozi tilted his little head and looked toward Shen Qing.

Auntie was uncle right now!

He didn’t get to finish the rest of that sentence, because Shen Qing had already rewarded him with a head pat.

Aozi let out a little “mmph,” rubbed his big head, and then adjusted the little tiger-ear headband that had been knocked crooked.

At that moment, Aunt Zhang, who had been sorting out their things, brought over the kids’ water bottles and handed them to Shen Qing. Shen Qing passed the blue one to Gu Duo, signaling that he should rinse his mouth after eating candy, then placed the yellow one with the little duckling printed on it in front of Aozi.

Just then, a server knocked and came in to ask if they needed anything else, and also brought Shen Qing the menu for ordering.

With so many things happening at once, Shen Qing completely lost track of what Aozi was saying to his little uncle on the phone.

That was, until Aozi came running over wildly with the phone in both hands and threw himself at him.

“Auntie! Uncle says he wants you on the phone!”

“Okay, okay.”

Shen Qing caught the whole child as Gu Ao flung himself into his arms, then took the phone and said, “Hello?”

Gu Huaiyu said on the other end, “Go ahead and stay busy… cough. We’ll talk tonight when you get back.”

“Oh.”

Shen Qing paused, realizing he actually wasn’t busy anymore now. After a second’s thought, he still asked, “Boss, did you eat lunch?”

As he spoke, he pushed the menu over to Gu Duo and told him to do the ordering.

Then he gestured for Aozi to go sit on the other side with his brother.

Aozi was most attached to his older brother, so he immediately wriggled off his chair and ran over to his brother’s side.

The seat was a little too high, so Aozi could get down by himself but couldn’t climb back up.

Gu Duo lifted him back onto the chair, and Aozi pressed himself up against his brother and began looking at the menu.

Even though Aozi was still little, he could read menus…

At least the pictures of delicious food on them!

He could even recognize some of the numbers and a few words!

Meanwhile, Shen Qing continued reminding the boss, “You need to eat lunch.”

Thinking back on how President Gu didn’t seem to eat much, and sometimes skipped lunch entirely, and considering how busy things sounded on his side—last time there had been a meeting at the house, Gu Huaiyu had also gone without eating…

Shen Qing said, “Boss, make sure you eat properly. I’ll bring you something tasty tonight.”

Gu Huaiyu: “…”

“Okay.”

A faint sound of breathing came over the line. President Gu seemed to be suppressing another cough, and said with some difficulty, “When you come back, come see me. I’ll be waiting.”

Shen Qing: …

Maybe it was just his imagination, but it somehow felt like the boss put a lot of weight into those words: I’ll be waiting.

He must really be struggling to hold back that cough!

Shen Qing readily agreed. After that there wasn’t much else to say, and the two ended the call.

Inside the office, where no one else remained, Gu Huaiyu put the watch in his hand back where it belonged, turned his wheelchair, and looked out the window.

It was a nice day today too.

The curtains in his office were all drawn open.

But his gaze only lingered outside for a moment.

Gu Huaiyu turned back again and picked up the landline on his desk.

“Have them come in.”

Lowering his eyes, he opened the file on his desk.

“Let’s continue the meeting.”

After lunch, Shen Qing took the kids back out to continue playing.

He had someone buy hats and masks on short notice, then gave Aozi and Duoduo another “disguise,” and the afternoon went very smoothly. No one recognized them.

Except for that little bear from the toy store who had played with Aozi and the toy car earlier…

Ah, no. That little boy was called Ma Yanrui.

They ran into him again later at the toy store.

By pure coincidence, when Aozi was playing with a little car again, Ma Yanrui bumped into him once more.

This time Aozi had leveled up and chosen a car meant for seven- or eight-year-old kids. Ma Yanrui liked that car a lot too, so the two of them crouched there looking at it together.

“What a coincidence!”

Ma’s mother was also shocked to see Shen Qing and his group again, though there was obvious excitement in her eyes.

She asked Shen Qing, “Where’s your older little one?”

Shen Qing: “…Over there.”

He worked hard to keep smiling.

“He’s memorizing vocabulary.”

Madam Ma: “???”

Following the direction Shen Qing pointed, she indeed saw a cool-looking little boy sitting in a chair in the toy store’s rest area, back straight and posture impeccable, reading a book.

The bustling crowd around him might as well not have existed. He was completely focused on the book in his hands.

“…”

Madam Ma also forced a smile.

“As expected of the heir to a major conglomerate.”

Shen Qing: “?”

Madam Ma kept blinking meaningfully at him.

“I saw the trending topics! I never thought you were actually a celebrity!”

Shen Qing: “…”

To be fair, Shen Qing was wrapped up very tightly at the moment. He hadn’t taken off his hat or mask the whole afternoon.

The only reason the Ma family had recognized him was because Aozi was too adorable and too distinctive—and for some reason, their little Ma kid could actually get along with him really well…

Mm…

Thinking about the children of wealthy families, grinding hard before they were even seven years old…

And then looking at his own eight-year-old kid still playing toy cars with a three-and-a-half-year-old…

Mr. Ma, standing nearby, started pinching the philtrum above his upper lip.

Madam Ma said to Shen Qing, “Ah, don’t misunderstand. It’s just that this is my first time being this close to a celebrity. I was wondering if I could maybe get an autograph?”

As she spoke, she pulled out a postcard she had bought from the gift shop next door.

Shen Qing: …

In the end, he still gave her an autograph.

After debuting, the original owner had deliberately practiced his signature. It was even specially designed by a master calligrapher skilled in decorative cursive, a kind of flowing signature. But while Shen Qing remembered how the name was written, he had never practiced it himself, so being suddenly asked to write it left him genuinely unsure where to begin.

Besides, he always felt that kind of signature was too flashy. You couldn’t even tell what it said.

After thinking it over, he decided to stick to his own style and used the way he signed his name in his previous life.

He even added two short lines of blessing for Madam Ma while he was at it.

Madam Ma gasped.

“Oh my god! Your handwriting is so beautiful!”

She wasn’t a fangirl and didn’t pay attention to the entertainment industry, but she had used Weibo for years, and it had become a habit to check the trending topics every day for gossip.

Still, she only looked casually. She never took any of it seriously.

If Shen Qing and his little family that morning hadn’t left such a strong impression on her, and if the trending topic hadn’t said that this young man was the “boss lady” of Dashijie, she would never have connected the dots and realized that the person she had met that morning was Shen Qing!

Now that everything matched up, Madam Ma only felt that all the black rumors she had seen about the young man online had to be false…

What “flower vase,” what “can’t speak well,” what “uneducated.”

How much brainwashing trash had those marketing accounts fed to ordinary netizens?

She felt that just based on those two lines of blessings Shen Qing had written—and that level of calligraphy skill—there was no way he could be uneducated!

And besides, just look at how well his child was doing. Tigers beget no dogs… Mr. Shen’s eldest kid was even reading a French book!

Once again suppressing her envious gaze, Madam Ma carefully put away Shen Qing’s autograph, then asked Mr. Ma to hurry up and urge their son to choose a toy.

By then it was already past six in the evening. Madam Ma told Ma Yanrui that he could pick out one last toy, and then they would head home.

Just then, Gu Ao came running over again and looked up at Shen Qing.

“Uncle, can I give Brother Ma a toy?”

Maybe it was because at the birthday party before, Shen Qing had deliberately taken the two kids to pick gifts for the other children. Or maybe it was because today Shen Qing had also bought cotton candy for the child Liu Xilin had brought.

In any case, Aozi had gradually developed the idea that if he met a kid he got along with reasonably well, then he should give them a little farewell gift.

Now that he heard Ma Yanrui was leaving, he immediately wanted to give big brother a parting present too.

Shen Qing answered very straightforwardly, “No problem, go choose one.”

“How could we accept that?”

Madam Ma hurriedly tried to stop them, but Shen Qing just said it was nothing, and that as long as the kids were happy, that was all that mattered.

At that moment Madam Ma suddenly realized:

Oh right, this was the boss lady! This whole toy store might even belong to Shen Qing!

…Who exactly said that the richer people were, the stingier and harder to get along with they became?

She genuinely felt that this young man, Shen Qing, was so easygoing, so unpretentious, and so gentle.

Any child raised by someone like that had to be very lucky.

Thinking that, even the way Madam Ma looked at her own son softened. She became less critical.

As parents, they really couldn’t compare to Mr. Shen. The fact that her kid had grown up this well already wasn’t bad at all.

Still…

Such a wonderful person, and so good with children—how could he still only be their uncle?

Shouldn’t he be their dad? …

Ah well. The affairs of wealthy families were truly hard to understand.

Looks like everyone had their own troubles. Every family had its own difficult scriptures to recite.

Ma Yanrui accepted the toy little Aozi gave him, but in return, Madam Ma also had Ma Yanrui choose two small trinkets to give to the younger brothers.

They couldn’t compare in price to the several-hundred-yuan little car, but at least the thought was there.

In the end, little Aozi and little Ma even exchanged contact information.

Ma Yanrui wore the same model of children’s smartwatch as Gu Duo, and Aozi already knew how to use it. Very skillfully, he entered his own contact info.

Madam Ma was so taken with this child she couldn’t stop praising him, and after praising him, she couldn’t help teasing,

“Aozi even knows how to use an older kid’s watch? That’s so impressive!”

“That’s right.”

Aozi accepted any praise directed at him without hesitation, and with enormous pride too.

“This isn’t even a big-kid watch. My little uncle uses it too!”

“…Your little, your little uncle?”

Madam Ma looked at the children’s smartwatch on her own son’s wrist and didn’t understand what Aozi meant. She thought maybe his little uncle was also a child, just one with a much older generation rank.

Maybe eight or nine years old.

But while fiddling with the children’s watch, Aozi nodded very seriously and explained,

“My little uncle is uncle’s husband!”

Madam Ma: “???”

Shen Qing, who had suddenly been dragged into this: “! Uh—cough cough cough!!”

Facing Madam Ma’s violently shaken expression, Shen Qing explained, “Actually, I’m Duoduo and Aozi’s uncle-in-law.”

He felt this wasn’t something that needed to be made public to the media and the masses.

But since they’d already become pretty familiar with Madam Ma’s family, there was no need to deliberately hide it either.

Madam Ma: “…?”

Shen Qing blinked at her.

“Sister Ma, you have to keep it secret for us, okay?”

Snapped back to her senses by the young man’s gentle, meaningful glance, Madam Ma immediately nodded.

“Oh, oh! Yes, yes!”

At first she had been stunned, but then she suddenly felt relieved.

That’s right.

People only knew Mr. Shen was the “boss lady” of Dashijie.

But no one had ever said these two little kids were the sons of Dashijie’s boss!

So he was their uncle-in-law.

Then being called “uncle” made perfect sense.

That was more like it. For someone as perfect, excellent, and loving as Mr. Shen, how could his official title around the children be only “uncle”?

Once the gifts were chosen, it was about time for Shen Qing and his group to head home too.

The whole day had actually been pretty fulfilling, aside from a small incident at noon and the fact that they hadn’t had time to properly visit two of the later attractions.

But Shen Qing belatedly realized something—

The reason he had automatically assumed that if you went to an amusement park, you had to play everything in one day, was because if you came back a second time, you’d have to buy another ticket, and he always felt that wasn’t cost-effective.

But since the amusement park was his own family’s…

Then he could totally save the remaining areas for a second or third visit!

Still the same principle: the wool comes from the sheep’s back anyway.

That way they could enjoy things slowly, play whatever they wanted, take breaks whenever necessary, and neither he nor the kids would get tired.

Especially since every time they stopped to rest, little Duoduo would take out his tiny book and read every spare second he could, to the point that Shen Qing didn’t dare set too fast a pace. Every time they passed a rest area, they had to sit for a while…

Just on coffee, milk tea, and juice sold in the rest zones, Shen Qing alone had downed three servings.

In short, burp.

Today had also been a joyful and fulfilling day.

Mm…

By the time they got back to the villa, it was nearly eight at night.

After playing wildly all day, Aozi predictably fell asleep crookedly in the car and still didn’t wake when they arrived.

But this time Tian Yi was there beside them, and with his build, carrying Aozi was like lifting a small pet. Barely using any effort, he carried the little young master back to his room.

Gu Duo followed back as well, and Shen Qing told them both to rest properly.

After settling the kids, Shen Qing went upstairs together with Tian Yi.

Tian Yi was planning to report back to President Gu, but seeing that Shen Qing was also heading there, Tian Yi suddenly felt that President Gu might not need his report after all.

He said to Shen Qing, “How about you let President Gu know for me, madam?”

“Sure.”

Then Shen Qing added, “…Don’t worry. At noon, it was me who told you not to bring anyone over. I’ll explain it properly to President Gu.”

“Madam…”

Tian Yi froze.

For all that madam usually seemed carefree, when something really happened, he truly thought things through for other people…

At noon, when President Gu had been giving off cold air at him for failing to stop the variety-show filming, Tian Yi hadn’t said a single word about it to Shen Qing.

He hadn’t expected madam to notice anyway.

Anyone who had spent time in the workplace would understand just how much of a difference it made to have a superior willing to think on behalf of subordinates.

Otherwise, if you ended up with the kind who liked pretending to be oblivious and doing nothing—or worse, one with a rotten heart—they might even make you take the blame.

“Thank you, madam,” Tian Yi said.

His voice was full of emotion.

But Shen Qing himself didn’t really think there was anything to thank him for.

When you thought about it, even though he hadn’t expected things to unfold that way, it was still because he had told Assistant Tian not to step in that President Gu had almost ended up wearing a green hat.

So naturally, this whole matter was on him.

Besides, something like this wouldn’t really affect him much. He could just explain it clearly to President Gu later. But if Tian Yi couldn’t explain it properly, then the boss might start doubting his professional competence.

They were both working people, after all.

Shen Qing understood.

As he spoke, he unconsciously quickened his pace.

That afternoon, with all the playing and resting, Shen Qing had even taken a little nap, so now he didn’t feel tired at all. He practically bounded up to the third floor.

Assistant Tian returned to his duty room, while Shen Qing turned the other way and went straight to find President Gu.

After all, President Gu himself had said that when he came back, he should go see him.

He’d be waiting.

So Shen Qing didn’t hesitate much. He strode directly toward the “restricted area” on the third floor without having anyone announce him.

He didn’t run into anyone on the way, either.

Normally, if it were daytime, someone would be sitting in the assistant’s office at the very edge of the restricted area—usually either Assistant Li or Tian Yi working there.

But today the office door was shut, and Assistant Li had probably already gone home.

So Shen Qing just kept walking.

…The only question was whether President Gu would be in the office or the bedroom at this hour… There were still more areas behind the restricted section that Shen Qing had never visited at all.

This was one of those moments when a villa being too large really was a downside.

Shen Qing sped up again.

He almost broke into a jog—

And then abruptly stopped when a door ahead suddenly opened and President Gu, seated in his wheelchair, appeared in the corridor in front of him.

Shen Qing instinctively clasped both hands behind his back.

Today, Gu Huaiyu was dressed all in black.

Not pajamas, not a suit, but a loose sweater with a pair of cotton lounge pants.

At first glance, he still looked like the same restrained, aristocratic CEO.

But President Gu’s complexion had grown much paler than before.

Because his face was so white, the cheekbones on his cheeks stood out more sharply, and even those eyes—which from the side already looked somewhat gloomy—had become much redder.

For no reason, he now gave off a wayward, violent air.

Shen Qing, having stopped in place: …

They hadn’t seen each other in just a few days—how had President Gu become this much more haggard?

Only a few days earlier, Shen Qing had thought President Gu’s health seemed to be improving…

Looks like that improvement had just been an illusion.

As a cannon-fodder character in the book whose only purpose was to lay groundwork for the plot, President Gu really was still going to die after all.

“You’re back,” Gu Huaiyu said first.

“I’m back,” Shen Qing answered, coming back to himself.

While Shen Qing was observing the boss, Gu Huaiyu was also looking him over from top to bottom.

At last, the boss suddenly said, “Come in.”

As he spoke, he turned his wheelchair and went back into the room.

Shen Qing noticed that he had come out from the bedroom.

He immediately followed over and went into the grand, museum-like bedroom. Then a possibility occurred to him.

“Boss, did you come out to meet me?”

Gu Huaiyu: “…Cough, cough. I was only curious whether there had been an earthquake somewhere, so I came out to look.”

His voice was still cold and flat.

Shen Qing: “?”

Gu Huaiyu had his back to him, but slightly turned his head.

“Were you running upstairs?”

Shen Qing couldn’t see his expression, but that didn’t stop him from nodding honestly.

“Yeah.”

Gu Huaiyu: “Cough cough… Then it seems lately, you…”

Before he could finish, something suddenly extended from behind him.

Gu Huaiyu lowered his head and saw that it was a…

“What is this?” He turned his wheelchair around.

Shen Qing said, “Cotton candy.”

Gu Huaiyu: “…”

Shen Qing added, “I said I’d bring you something tasty.”

His gaze slowly dropped to the enormous, fluffy, soft, multicolored cotton candy. After looking at it for a moment, Gu Huaiyu slowly lifted his eyes again.

“You were acting all mysterious… just to bring me this?”

When he had come out, Gu Huaiyu had noticed Shen Qing holding something. The moment he saw him, the young man had hidden it behind his back.

Gu Huaiyu had expected that perhaps it would be another strange and unusual gift.

He just hadn’t expected it to be…

“Mm-hmm.”

Shen Qing nodded, then directly stuffed the colorful cotton candy into the boss’s hands.

“I specifically went and bought it fresh before leaving the park.”

And he had even deliberately reminded them not to add pink coloring.

Looking at the cotton candy, with blue on the outer layer, yellow inside, and a bit of green mixed in, Shen Qing narrowed his eyes and smiled in satisfaction.

Gu Huaiyu: “…”

Turning his gaze away, Gu Huaiyu said flatly, “Something like this—you should just eat it with that junior of yours.”

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