GBROTAH CH74

Chapter 74: The Piano

In the room with tightly drawn curtains, the air conditioner had been humming all night. Shen Bianye got up carefully, reached for the remote on the bedside table, and turned the temperature up by two degrees.

He leaned down to plant a kiss on the corner of the sleeping person’s lips, then went to the kitchen, satisfied, to make breakfast.

Xie Yuanxing’s vision of a birthday was a warm and cozy one. Shen Bianye had used his own birthday to satisfy his greedy desires, but he would absolutely not mess around on Xie Yuanxing’s birthday.

Their birthdays were close together. Shen Bianye savored the thought. Wasn’t this just fate decreeing that they should be together?

The small pan in his hand, holding a frying egg, was flipped with renewed vigor.

Shen Bianye’s cooking skills were not yet up to par. He wanted to fry a runny-yolk egg, which Xie Yuanxing liked, but he was afraid that if it was too raw, it would be bad for Xie Yuanxing’s stomach. He tried to cook it a little more thoroughly.

He watched as the egg, left in the pan for just a moment too long, became fully cooked. He had no choice but to pick it up with a pair of chopsticks and eat it himself.

He washed the pan, added oil, cracked an egg, and started over.

When the doorbell rang, Shen Bianye, with a spatula in one hand and chopsticks in the other, a black apron tied around his lean waist, opened the door.

Shen Zheng looked at his son, the corner of his forehead twitching. He said rudely, “Where did this househusband come from?”

Shen Bianye gave a cold laugh and slammed the door in his face.

The assistant standing next to Shen Zheng quickly blocked the door with his body. “Young Mr. Shen, Mr. Shen is here this time to celebrate Mr. Xie’s birthday.”

Shen Bianye’s strength in closing the door immediately increased.

The assistant yelled, “He brought a gift!!!”

The door opened.

Shen Zheng took the items from his assistant’s hand and was about to elegantly step inside. The next second, his hands were empty, and the door was closed again.

Shen Zheng was speechless.

He gave his assistant a look. The assistant steeled himself and started ringing the doorbell frantically.

Afraid they would wake the still-sleeping Xie Yuanxing, Shen Bianye suddenly threw the door open and said coldly, “The gift has been delivered. You can go now.”

“Let him in.”

From behind him, Xie Yuanxing, who had emerged at some point, spoke in a sleepy, lazy voice. He was dressed in soft pajamas, his face flushed.

Shen Bianye’s large hand held the door open as he turned back to look at Xie Yuanxing. “Baby, don’t worry about it. I’ll kick them out right away.”

Xie Yuanxing glanced at him, his brow slightly furrowed. Shen Bianye opened the door.

Through the crack of the door that had just been opened, Shen Zheng could clearly see the exchange of glances between the two. After entering, however, he said nothing.

Shen Bianye tossed him a pair of slippers and then ignored him, leaving him to the side.

He turned to Xie Yuanxing and said, “Baby, I made you a bowl of noodles. Go wash your face and we’ll eat.”

Although Xie Yuanxing had let Shen Zheng in, he was actually too lazy to bother with him. He nodded and pattered off to the bathroom.

He could tell that Shen Zheng had come to bow his head and make peace, but he had just woken up and didn’t feel much like talking.

One went to the kitchen, the other to the bathroom. The assistant had already left, and Shen Zheng, the great chairman, was left standing in the entryway.

He sat down on the stool by the door to change his shoes. As he looked down, his eyes met with a Crayon Shin-chan figure with an incredibly smug expression.

Shen Zheng was speechless.

How many years had it been since he had seen something so childish?

He looked around at this house that was pitifully small to him—the Crayon Shin-chan stool with its butt sticking out, the snack rack in front of the sofa filled to the brim, the scattered game controllers, a half-assembled building-block flower, a life-sized figurine standing by the sofa, its hand, which should have been holding a sword, mischievously filled with a few small block flowers, the piano on the balcony, and the thriving green plants.

It all seemed to come together to form an atmosphere called “home.”

Shen Zheng walked into the kitchen. Shen Bianye, who in his memory had never cooked, was frying an egg.

Once it was cooked, he placed it on a plate, then started washing the pan to fry the next one.

Shen Zheng looked at the two fried eggs already on the plate and said, “You don’t need to make one for me. I had breakfast before I came.”

Shen Bianye frowned at him and said earnestly, “Could you please stop being so full of yourself?”

Shen Zheng was speechless.

Shen Bianye continued, “Xingxing likes runny-yolk eggs. One of these two is overcooked, and the other one looks ugly.”

He had, however, already eaten three fried eggs and was feeling a bit sick of them, so he was just setting these aside for now.

After being mocked by him, Shen Zheng sneered, “I’ve never seen someone give up a perfectly good life as a young master to come here and be Xie Yuanxing’s dog, and then have the gall to judge me.”

Shen Bianye frowned. Shen Zheng said directly, “Just now, with one look from Xie Yuanxing, you were more obedient than anyone, weren’t you?”

Shen Bianye’s frown deepened. He put down the spatula, walked out of the kitchen, and went to Xie Yuanxing, who was brushing his teeth. He first kissed Xie Yuanxing’s face and said indignantly, “Baby, Shen Zheng said I’m being a dog for you.”

Xie Yuanxing’s brow immediately furrowed as well. He gurgled and spat out the foam in his mouth. The mint-flavored toothpaste made his tone icy.

“Let’s just kick him out.”

“How about we call the police and say he’s trespassing?”

Shen Bianye walked up to Shen Zheng, closed the kitchen door, and snorted coldly. “So what if I’m Xingxing’s dog?!”

“Without Xingxing, you wouldn’t have even gotten in the door.”

If he was being a dog for Xingxing, then Xingxing was being a cat for him.

In Xie Yuanxing’s eyes, they were always equal. No one was higher or lower than the other.

If he tried to call his baby “master,” his baby would shut him up.

So annoying.

Shen Zheng, who had witnessed the entire process, felt his temples throb. A headache, a real headache.

His migraines were definitely caused by Shen Bianye’s provocations. Definitely.

…

On the dining table, a bowl of chicken noodle soup was topped with a golden, glistening fried egg, two bright green bok choy hearts, and a sprinkle of chopped scallions. This perfectly presented bowl of noodles was Xie Yuanxing’s breakfast.

Three fried eggs were Shen Bianye’s breakfast.

Shen Zheng’s eyelids twitched nonstop as he watched. He felt like he couldn’t sit still.

He had learned of Xie Yuanxing’s choice from Shen Bianye. With that outcome, he understood that he could no longer persuade Shen Bianye no matter what.

Shen Bianye had quietly united several people in the group and then suppressed him with their combined interests. Shen Zheng had already lost the upper hand.

Those childish tactics, like putting his phone number on dating sites, were just a bit of Shen Bianye’s youthful recklessness.

In his bones, he carried his mother’s ruthlessness.

Even getting Xie Yuanxing to dump Shen Bianye was now impossible. Shen Zheng had no choice but to accept this result.

Since it was impossible, he figured he might as well try to repair their terrible father-son relationship.

He had specially chosen to come on Xie Yuanxing’s birthday, only to be met with a sycophant who looked exactly like his son.

After Xie Yuanxing finished his noodles, Shen Bianye took a tissue and wiped his mouth with a natural gesture. Then he swiftly got up to clear the dishes, not forgetting to ask, “Are you full, baby?”

As he turned to put the dishes in the kitchen, he brought out a bowl of blueberries, the large berries still glistening with water droplets. “Baby, have some fruit.”

Shen Zheng was speechless.

He opened the gift he had brought, pushed it in front of Xie Yuanxing, and tried to interrupt Shen Bianye’s continuous stream of attentiveness.

Really, he couldn’t watch anymore.

“I didn’t know what you liked, so I brought you a watch.”

The watch was a mechanical wristwatch, somewhat similar to the one Shen Bianye often wore, but the strap was thinner. For something that Shen Zheng would give as a gift, Xie Yuanxing didn’t need to think to know it was incredibly valuable.

He didn’t intend to accept it, but a hand covered the watch box before he could and stuffed it into a pocket.

Shen Bianye said, “Baby, it’s better to take it than not. You don’t have to wear it; you can sell it for money, baby.”

Shen Zheng said, “I can hear you.”

Shen Bianye retorted, “Is this something I can’t say in front of you?”

With a heart full of complicated feelings, Shen Zheng stood up and said to Xie Yuanxing, “I’ll be going now.”

“By the way, happy birthday.”

Xie Yuanxing replied, “Thank you.”

He paused, then said, “Shen Bianye’s birthday was just a couple of days ago. You should have said it to him more.”

Shen Bianye and Shen Zheng looked at each other, then both turned their heads away at the same time.

Xie Yuanxing watched Shen Zheng leave, then turned to Shen Bianye and said thoughtfully, “He might regret it.”

“Are you going to get along with him?”

Shen Bianye’s eyebrow arched slightly, in a way that could be either sarcastic or amused. “He doesn’t regret it; he just has no other choice.”

“As for getting along, I thought we were getting along just fine a moment ago.”

Although it might not have looked at all like a father and son getting along, they hadn’t argued or fought. How was that not a form of ‘fine’?

He cupped Xie Yuanxing’s face, pinching the soft cheeks until his lips puckered, and then planted a kiss on them.

“Baby, we should go to the supermarket.”

“To buy ingredients for lunch, and then cook a meal together with baby, okay?”

As for why it had to be “together”…

His confidence had been a bit shaky since the fried eggs that morning. He was afraid that if he cooked entirely on his own, Xie Yuanxing wouldn’t get to eat lunch until evening.

Xie Yuanxing glanced at him, and Shen Bianye felt an inexplicable sense of guilt.

The corners of Xie Yuanxing’s lips curled up. “No, you cook.”

At three o’clock that afternoon, Xie Yuanxing ate a lunch made entirely by Shen Bianye. It looked good, but the taste was lacking.

In the evening, they had dinner out. Under the dim lights, a waiter pushed a cake over. Xie Yuanxing lit the candles, made a wish, and opened seven carefully prepared gifts.

Everything was just as Xie Yuanxing had imagined for his birthday.

Shen Bianye had fulfilled his wish. At nine o’clock that night, in front of the piano on the balcony, he invited Shen Bianye to fulfill X’s wish together.

The black and white piano keys were pressed by slender, beautiful hands. The notes were chaotic, the fingertips trembling.

Each elongated note was like a ruthless thrust. Pleasure neared its threshold. Xie Yuanxing couldn’t stand, and as his waist went limp, he was scooped up by a large hand.

“Change… change places,” Xie Yuanxing bit his lip to suppress a moan. He turned his head, his eyes teary, to look at Shen Bianye, his voice wet and soft. “It’s a bit loud…”

“Mmm… ah… we’ll… we’ll disturb the neighbors.”

Hot sweat dripped from Shen Bianye’s forehead onto Xie Yuanxing’s shoulder. He leaned down, obsessively licking and kissing the fiery red mark, kissing away the drop of sweat.

His voice was now hoarse, magnetic, and deep. “It’s not loud, baby.”

“I’ve watched the videos of you playing the piano many times. This is the best it’s ever sounded.”

Xie Yuanxing’s eyes were wet and red. He turned his head to glare at Shen Bianye.

The piano fell silent. The faint sound of wetness could be heard from the sofa.

“Baby, let’s go stay at my villa for a while next time, okay?”

“We won’t disturb anyone there. It’ll just be us.”

Xie Yuanxing spoke with a sob, his voice laced with tears and some annoyance, “Don’t… push your luck.”

Shen Bianye panted, sighing lowly, “Baby, I listened to you just now.”

“I was very obedient, baby. You should reward me.”

“Baby wants to cherish our time together too, right?”

Xie Yuanxing’s voice was trembling and somewhat broken, but he still agreed, “We can’t stay too long.”

Shen Bianye leaned down to kiss him, his voice dissolving between their lips and teeth, “Good baby.”