SFBF CH76

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After being thoroughly criticized and lectured by the principal, Mr. Wang finally came over to apologize to Gu Duo.

But Gu Duo shook his head. With his little face expressionless and tense, one hand holding his younger brother’s and the other in his pocket, he said, “You don’t need to apologize to me. After all, just as you said, I really did study other subjects during music, art, and PE class. That itself violated school rules. I really was in the wrong.”

Mr. Wang: “…?”

This child… was this reasonable?

Had he really misunderstood him before?

But Gu Duo, still with his little face set tight, added, “You only need to apologize to my Little Dad.”

Mr. Wang: “…”

Seeing that he seemed somewhat unwilling to apologize, Gu Duo said, “My Little Dad didn’t disrespect you. Before you criticized me, he had been enduring it the whole time. But you criticized him again and again in public.”

“Enduring it?”

Now that he had decided to apologize, Mr. Wang still couldn’t help refuting him. “That idiom isn’t used like that. When did I ever make your dad endure anything? He was obviously very articulate! …If we think back to just now, I was the one who got verbally demolished, lost all face in front of all those parents, and stopped being respected, okay?!”

But Gu Duo thought seriously for a moment, then said, “Anyway, at home, no one has ever criticized my Little Dad. Even Big Dad never says anything to him. Now my Little Dad didn’t do anything wrong, but you criticized him, so please apologize. My Little Dad has never been wronged like this before.”

His voice was low, yet still childish and tender, and his tone sounded a little naive.

But the more naive words are, the more believable they sound when spoken by a child.

Especially since Gu Duo was the type who believed, if I’m wrong, then I’m wrong; even if your tone when criticizing me is bad, I’ll still accept it—a plainspoken, upright, and rigidly principled personality.

So his words became even more convincing.

Which showed that his Little Dad really had never suffered the kind of grievance he had today at home.

…

This made the teachers, the principal, and the parents secretly peeking through the classroom window and door all shift their gazes back to Gu Duo’s Little Dad.

…Such a grown person, and still spoiled at home, not even allowed to be spoken harshly to once?

Pampered by his other half, and if he got bullied outside, his kid would even demand justice for him…

What kind of delicate pampered flower was this?

Shen Qing, being treated like a delicate flower: “…”

He felt Duo-duo still had some misunderstandings about him. How could his life possibly have gone so smoothly that he couldn’t even bear a single harsh word…

But all right, lately, at home and outside, it did seem that he really hadn’t suffered any grievances.

He also hadn’t run into anything unpleasant.

As for his husband—well, although he often gave people a very cold feeling and a lot of people were afraid of him…

He really had, from beginning to end, never said anything harsh to him.

His life really was far too comfortable.

So… fine, fine, he was a delicate flower!

Shen “Delicate Flower” Qing had already automatically hooked himself onto his husband’s arm.

At his side, when he heard Gu Duo say Shen Qing had been swallowing his anger, Gu Huaiyu’s cold gaze had already swept over. He looked Mr. Wang up and down coldly and even narrowed his eyes.

Mr. Wang, directly sensing danger: “…”

Mr. Wang had noticed this man long ago.

When he was being criticized and lectured by the principal, he had already clearly felt the principal’s wariness toward this man.

And just now he had overheard a bit too—Gu Duo called this man “Big Dad.”

This…

It was very obvious that Gu Duo’s Big Dad and Little Dad were a family.

And judging by what the principal meant, these two really were not the person who had hired someone to attend Gu Duo’s parent-teacher meeting back then.

The principal had said: “The Gu family’s situation is very complicated. How many times have I told you not to pry into the Gu family’s affairs? As long as Gu Duo studies well and doesn’t cause trouble, isn’t that enough? What, must the parents personally come see you and kowtow before you before that counts as respecting you as a teacher?!

“Mr. Wang, I originally thought that since you’ve led classes for so many years, always put students’ academics first, and knew your limits, that’s why I placed Gu Duo in your class. I really didn’t expect… you, of all people—Gu Duo studies this well and you’re still dissatisfied? Since when did you also start engaging in so much formalism!”

Mr. Wang: “…”

On this point, the calmed-down Mr. Wang had also realized his own mistake.

Perhaps in recent years, he had been too flattered by some parents, and gradually lost his direction.

Before, Mr. Wang had indeed been fixated on the fact that Gu Duo’s parents never once came to see him in person, neither when Gu Duo enrolled nor during parent-teacher meetings.

He had never seen parents like that before, so he assumed Gu Duo’s parents thought they had money and therefore looked down on him, not taking him, the homeroom teacher, seriously.

But Gu Duo’s Little Dad’s attitude at the start had actually been pretty good, and there really was no disrespect in it…

It did seem that over the years, as a homeroom teacher, he had been so flattered by certain students’ parents that he’d become full of himself…

In the end, Mr. Wang apologized to both Gu Duo and his Little Dad. He admitted he shouldn’t have publicly mocked Gu Duo for being withdrawn, nor falsely accused him of pretending to study a foreign language just to grandstand and fool the teacher.

At the same time, he said he would reexamine his own behavior and properly fulfill the duties and responsibilities a teacher ought to uphold.

Shen Qing felt that he himself hadn’t really suffered any trauma, and standing in Mr. Wang’s shoes, although his attitude toward Gu Duo was definitely wrong, what Gu Huaiyao had done in the past had also truly been awful.

Mr. Wang had reason to be angry and resentful. In fact, he didn’t really need to apologize to Shen Qing.

Besides, they were transferring schools anyway and would never meet this man again, so in the end it didn’t matter.

But considering that after they left, there would still be many students continuing to attend classes here, it did feel not bad at all for Mr. Wang to become aware of some problems in himself.

Once the matter was settled, and with the transfer still decided on, there was no need for Shen Qing to attend the parent-teacher meeting anymore. The whole family then left the school in a grand procession.

After they left, the principal finally breathed out, wiped his sweat, and still had to deal with the mess that followed.

…After all, there were still so many parents in the classroom.

And judging from what those parents meant, they too had some dissatisfaction with Mr. Wang’s “strictness” in educating children.

Now that the principal had arrived and had even lectured Mr. Wang, some parents also crowded around and said all at once:

“I know Mr. Wang wants my child to get good grades, but I’m raising my kid alone. I get off work at nine or ten every night, and sometimes even eleven or twelve! I really don’t have time to watch him do homework and check it too, so in the future, if my child doesn’t do his homework, could you please just educate him directly? Even coming to today’s parent-teacher meeting took me a lot of effort to get leave from work. I’m really collapsing too!”

“Exactly. Four parent-teacher meetings a semester—isn’t the school being a bit too hard on people?”

Other parents also said, “At the start of term there’s one, at the end of term there’s one, after monthly exams there’s one, after midterms there’s one! Even college entrance exams don’t torture parents this much! If we don’t come, they get unhappy. Last semester I missed just once, and this teacher criticized my child for it. My kid came home crying and after that didn’t dare not come again!”

Mr. Wang: “…”

That parent kept talking: “Originally I thought my child’s grades were bad, so it was normal for the teacher to be stricter. Since your child studies badly, then just cooperate more with the school to improve his grades, right? But then what happened… that little boy gets first place every single exam! And they still insisted his parents had to come to the meeting! And they still criticized the child! Isn’t that just completely abnormal? Looking for trouble for no reason! If my child had told me about that little boy earlier, I would’ve known. If I had known earlier that this was the situation, I wouldn’t have come again either! I’d make my own kid transfer too!”

Once that parent finished, others with similar experiences all chimed in and expressed dissatisfaction.

There were also some parents who were themselves very free, or who actually liked Mr. Wang’s working style, and they weren’t unhappy that he often summoned parents. What dissatisfied them was that even the school’s number-one student was someone Mr. Wang disliked so much. If that was the case, then who knew how he privately complained in his heart about their own children.

Principal: “…”

All right then. No need to hold the parent-teacher meeting at all—just change it into a meeting for the teachers instead.

The family of four leaving the school, however, wasn’t affected emotionally at all. Efficient as always, Assistant Li had already contacted some private schools. After hearing about Gu Duo’s grades and foreign-language foundation, all of them expressed that they were very willing to accept a child like him and could let him come for an interview.

Since transferring schools wasn’t difficult, Shen Qing stopped worrying about it.

At the moment, he was still very concerned about Duo-duo’s mental well-being.

But this little cub had no real expression on his face and kept holding his younger brother’s hand while walking by Shen Qing’s side. Compared to usual, he didn’t seem especially different, so Shen Qing couldn’t tell whether he had been affected or not.

“In any case, if Duo-cub runs into this kind of thing again in the future, you have to tell me and your Big Dad, okay?”

Knowing that Gu Duo previously hadn’t even felt Mr. Wang’s words were all that excessive, and that was why he hadn’t considered transferring schools or telling Shen Qing that his teacher had criticized him at school, Shen Qing felt this was something they, as parents, absolutely had to take seriously.

Although this didn’t count as being brainwashed by a teacher or some other kind of psychological control, Duo-duo’s growth experience was different from that of ordinary children—because he had always been bullied before, it was inevitable that he developed the mentality of as long as I’m not bullied too badly today, I can bear it, that kind of compromising, self-suppressing thinking.

Some things that, in a parent’s eyes, were already very serious problems, felt like small issues to Gu Duo…

That itself was a problem.

In the book, Gu Duo’s descent into darkness as a villain happened because he suffered too much, swallowed too many grievances, and when his own ability to bear them finally broke, he darkened.

So if Shen Qing didn’t want him to darken, then he had to encourage this cub more. He had to tell him that he was safe, that he could trust his dads, and that if he suffered any grievance, he had to tell them.

Shen Qing said, “You can’t just keep quiet because your current life is better than before and the problems you run into are still within the range you can tolerate. And even more so, you can’t bottle things up and say nothing just because you don’t want to cause trouble for your dads.”

Shen Qing spoke very seriously, and his tone was rarely this solemn and formal.

Gu Duo listened just as seriously.

With that expression, he looked almost as rigorous as when he was studying.

Shen Qing said, “You have to remember: because we’re family, family means that only when you’re truly happy will your family be happy. If Duo-duo feels that something is making you unhappy, and you plan to keep it inside and bear it or handle it alone, then even if you don’t say it, we’ll still sense it, and we won’t be happy either. Got it?”

On Gu Duo’s tightly drawn little face, there was some confusion, mainly because he didn’t know what kind of “sensing” Shen Qing meant.

But because his Little Dad rarely used such a formal tone, he still nodded solemnly.

Anyway, he had remembered all of it.

Only then did Shen Qing finally smile again and rub his big head.

“There’s no need to be this serious either…”

Then his eyes suddenly lit up again. “Let’s all go have afternoon tea together! How about some little cakes?”

Gu Duo: “?”

He looked at his Little Dad in confusion…

Just one moment ago he had been talking seriously about important things, and the next moment he suddenly wanted to go eat cake…

Mm.

Gu Duo remembered something else too: apparently Little Dad really, really liked little cakes.

…

Shen Qing knew that educating children couldn’t rely only on talking. You had to slowly do things, too, before the child would understand.

So he wasn’t in a hurry.

Then his thoughts jumped, and he remembered that on the way there, not far from the school, he seemed to have seen a little commercial area. So he simply suggested they all go for afternoon tea together.

It was rare for everyone to be together, after all!

How could he make the cub truly believe that he was safe, trust his parents, and stop swallowing grievances?

Actions spoke louder than words.

Parent-child time was very important!

No matter how much you said, it still couldn’t compare to eating little cakes together!

As Shen Qing thought this, he still had no idea that in the cub’s mind, his image had already completely gone in the opposite direction from the dignified parent image he had envisioned.

Of course, later, when Gu Duo encountered problems—no matter how big the problem was—he could, one second after sternly scolding a subordinate in a sharp and chilling manner, the next second invite them for afternoon tea and little cakes, soothing and encouraging them like a spring breeze, while also making some small talk and asking after their personal life.

As a result, the whole company came to have a feeling of tension inside relaxation and leisure inside busyness.

Employees became even more motivated.

And when people on the outside, unable to read him, began calling Gu Duo an inscrutable smiling fox…

Shen Qing still had no idea that this was at least a little related to how often his own thoughts used to leap around back then.

…

“So, are we going for afternoon tea?”

Duo-duo had no objections, so Shen Qing turned and asked Gu Huaiyu and Aozai.

Since Little Dad’s petty-bourgeois life was colorful and he often had morning tea and afternoon tea, Aozai had already understood very clearly what afternoon tea was.

…Anyway, afternoon tea meant there was something tasty.

Dressed like a little carrot, Aozai bounced on the spot. “Yes! Eat afternoon tea!”

Gu Huaiyu also had no objections. This afternoon, he had set aside time in the first place to accompany Shen Qing and the cubs.

So the family got in the car without another word.

When they got into the cars, only then did the parents of Gu Duo’s former classmates in the classroom realize that all those vehicles that had appeared in the schoolyard belonged to Gu Duo’s family…

A Rolls-Royce Phantom, followed by several Cullinans…

The parents who realized this couldn’t help but once again turn their gazes toward Mr. Wang, who was still over there explaining and apologizing to other parents.

Ahem, ahem. With that lineup, could you still call that a little money?

A family like that could send their child to any private school they wanted, right!

Not going to school at all would probably also be fine!!

In that case, Gu Duo’s dad really had been very polite just now.

If it were them… no, if they had even one-tenth of that level of wealth…

Or perhaps even one hundred-thousandth…

They would absolutely just turn around and leave, okay?!

After arriving at the mall, Gu Huaiyu still insisted on not sitting in the wheelchair and continued walking with one hand on his cane and the other supported by Shen Qing.

The cubs were all very curious about Big Dad’s legs. Especially after Gu Huaiyu stood up, the two cubs—who previously only needed to lift their eyes slightly to see Big Dad’s face—now had to tilt their heads up, and way up, just to see him. To them, this felt rather novel.

And in the mall, people who passed by them would all specially turn around for another look… Nobody quite knew why, but when the cubs saw so many people looking at their dads, and then looked at their dads walking side by side supporting each other, they both felt very happy. It was a feeling of family reunion, happiness, and beauty.

Aozai never suppressed himself. Since he couldn’t even describe why he felt excited, he didn’t bother thinking about it more and simply hopped and bounced forward the whole way.

Because Gu Duo was holding his little brother’s hand, every time Aozai bounced, he couldn’t keep hold of him properly, so in the end he could only bounce along with him too.

On the first floor of the mall, they found a café nearby that looked to have a pretty good atmosphere and sat down. Shen Qing still told Li Hong and Tian Yi to order whatever they liked. He ordered fruit tea and milk for the cubs, coffee for himself, and then asked Gu Huaiyu what he wanted.

President Gu wasn’t allowed to drink coffee. Tea had to be limited too.

After thinking about it, before Gu Huaiyu could order, Shen Qing decided to order a glass of milk for him first.

Hot chocolate milk.

Gu Huaiyu: “…Why chocolate?”

Shen Qing: “…Because life is more interesting that way?”

Gu Huaiyu: “…”

Shen Qing smiled again. “Anyway, if you can’t drink it, I’ll drink it for you.”

…As for who it was that, after habitually opening his mouth to order coffee, suddenly also wanted hot chocolate, he would say nothing.

Mm, in any case, it was fine. He could totally handle it!

It was just one drink. Shen Qing declared that he could finish it all in one go.

The young man who had basically ordered hot chocolate for himself sat upright, looking full of careful calculation.

Watching him, Gu Huaiyu slightly curled his lips and said, “All right.”

The server responsible for taking the order took another look at the two of them after entering the hot chocolate order… Good heavens, these two were so sweet!

When this whole table first entered the café, the staff had only felt that the average height of the whole group was very tall… Of course, those two cute little milk-buns by the adults’ legs couldn’t be counted in that average height.

But once they found their seats and the server came to take their order and clearly saw the faces of two of them, she couldn’t help her hands shaking a little.

—What kind of ceiling-level beauty combination was this!

She hadn’t seen men of this quality in a long time—or rather, handsome mens.

And once the ordering began, she discovered that these two weren’t just handsome men—they also seemed to be a couple!…

Matching rings, sitting very close together, so close that at the current distance between them, under the table their thighs were definitely touching.

And now they were being this affectionate too…

The server couldn’t help sighing inwardly: sure enough, handsome guys are all internally circulated.

At this moment, the smaller little bun sitting across from the adults suddenly said, “Aozai wants to drink milk!”

“Ah?”

The more delicate-looking youth, the one with especially bright eyes, immediately froze and looked up in surprise. “Even though I ordered milk for you, Aozai actually wants to drink milk on his own initiative?!”

His tone was exaggerated and smiling. Children loved it when grown-ups teased them like that while talking to them.

That little bun indeed burst into delighted giggles. “Yes! Aozai wants to grow tall, as tall as Big Dad!”

As he said this, the little bun puffed up his chest and tipped his head up, practically trying to stretch himself taller on the spot.

But the server didn’t miss the fact that before that, the child’s little hand had already pointed at the tall man across from him.

He was clearly imitating him.

That couldn’t help giving the server a guess…

This tall, handsome man was this child’s dad??

He already had children???

She had thought these were two young uncles taking little kids out to play!

If that was the case, then that handsome young man…

Right then, the older little bun asked, “What little dessert does Little Dad want to eat?”

“Oh right.”

The older bun’s tone sounded somewhat low. As soon as he spoke, the especially handsome and refined young man opened the menu and started looking for desserts.

Server: “…”

So after all that, they were a family of four!

At this moment, one of the two other men who were clearly with them but, after sitting down, had tried hard to shrink into the corner and deliberately make himself as invisible as possible, said, “Madam, please don’t order too much. We don’t eat.”

Server: …Madam???

Under the server’s thoroughly bewildered stare, Shen Qing answered, but disagreed. “If you don’t eat dessert, then eat bread rolls instead. Besides, other people are eating too. Later we’ll pack some up and bring them to them too.”

By “other people,” he meant the bodyguards waiting in the cars or distributed around them.

Since there were many people, Shen Qing simply ordered a few extra things.

Hearing that this shop’s tarts were their specialty, he ordered a blueberry tart, a strawberry tart, and a walnut tart, one of each.

After that he also ordered several slices of cake and some savory stuffed bread rolls.

Thinking of President Gu’s tastes, he even deliberately flipped through to see if there was anything carrot-flavored.

But he didn’t see any.

Shen Qing then asked the server whether they had a special flavor like that.

The server said no, and that this was the first time she had ever heard of carrot flavor. Shen Qing could only say, “All right, then let’s start with these.”

Closing the menu, he said to Gu Huaiyu, “There isn’t any carrot flavor, so President Gu will just have to make do.”

President Gu: “…”

After that the server went to place the order. The adults and cubs sat by the table chatting. Shen Qing thought about how Aozai was even voluntarily drinking milk for the sake of getting taller, and couldn’t help feeling that, indeed, there was no need to say too much—subtle influence from adults was what was most useful for cubs.

Before, he had lectured Aozai so earnestly to drink milk, and the little cub refused every time. But now, wasn’t he drinking it on his own?

Then, thinking of how curious the cubs were about Big Dad being able to stand up, and thinking of President Gu’s condition, Shen Qing still gave the cubs an explanation: “Big Dad may still need to use the wheelchair for quite a while afterward…”

At this point, he paused involuntarily.

Mainly because once he thought about this so-called “quite a while,” it might actually mean using the wheelchair until the very last moment of his life.

And when he no longer had to sit in it, that might mean President Gu was no longer here…

Thinking of it that way, Shen Qing still couldn’t stop the sadness and loss from rising in him.

But sadness was also a kind of internal drain.

Especially for things that couldn’t be changed no matter what.

Shen Qing chose to perk himself up and, without letting anyone notice anything unusual, said, “Anyway, you two need to remember how handsome Big Dad looks… Learn more from Big Dad, drink more milk, rest more, and grow tall, got it?”

“Ah!”

Across from him, Aozai immediately agreed in one gulp, puffing up his little chest and declaring that he would definitely grow tall.

But rigorous Duo-duo thought of something. “Big Dad doesn’t seem to have rested much either?”

Shen Qing: “…Cough cough cough.”

All right, resting more really had been him sneaking in his own agenda, wanting to use the chance to get Duo-duo to rest more and take better care of his body.

…After all, President Gu had said he had already been very intense since he was little but that it hadn’t delayed his height, which meant President Gu really hadn’t rested much when he was young.

But how did Duo-duo know that?

Gu Duo knew this because he once overheard his second uncle and eldest uncle chatting.

They had been complaining about Big Dad—who at the time was still his younger uncle—calling him a monster. They said they had never seen him sleep much since he was young, and every time he was just reading…

Speaking of which, the reason Gu Duo had once studied so hard that he forgot to eat and sleep was because he wanted to become a “monster” like Big Dad.

—The kind of “monster” that even his arrogant and selfish eldest uncle, and his overbearing and greedy second uncle, still spoke of with fear in private, even unconsciously lowering their voices before daring to talk about.

…

But now, looking at this table full of adults who all cared about him and his younger brother, especially after Little Dad had just stood up for him at school…

Gu Duo felt a moment of daze and suddenly couldn’t find the original motive he’d once had so badly—to become the kind of existence that made people tremble in fear.

Gu Duo didn’t mention how he knew. He could tell that Big Dad didn’t like eldest uncle and second uncle, and this matter also wasn’t the kind of situation Little Dad had just told him about—someone bullying him, and he should tell his dads.

So Gu Duo chose not to mention it.

Just then, their milk and Big Dad’s hot chocolate were served. Aozai was very cooperative and directly downed a mouthful of milk, his plump little cheeks quivering, leaving a patch of milk stain above his lips before he smacked them.

Across from him, Little Dad immediately applauded enthusiastically and then lavished Aozai with praise.

Aozai got even more puffed up and directly gulped another mouthful of milk!

Gu Duo automatically pulled out a tissue and wiped his younger brother’s mouth.

Then, under Little Dad’s prompting, he also picked up his milk and drank a mouthful.

When he lifted his milk glass, Gu Duo saw Big Dad pick up the coffee spoon and stir the hot chocolate, then move the cup over to Little Dad’s hand.

By the time Gu Duo finished his sip of milk, he saw that Little Dad had already automatically picked up the cup of hot chocolate and taken a drink.

…

Only after drinking did Shen Qing react, then looked at Gu Huaiyu. “You just directly gave it to me? Aren’t you drinking it? You gave it all to me?”

Hearing this, Gu Huaiyu looked at the cup, then at the youth, parted his thin lips, and slowly said, “I am drinking it.”

After saying that, he reached out and slowly took the cup the youth had just used, then took a sip of the hot chocolate inside.

Shen Qing: “…!!!”

The joints of Gu Huaiyu’s fingers stood out as he held the cup. His fingers were long-boned, the veins visible on the back of his lean, elegant hand, and his movement graceful and unhurried.

But what Shen Qing focused on was: …that was the cup he had just used!

And the place where the big shot’s lips had touched…

No, wait, it was fine.

The two of them had already French-kissed before, so what was something like this!

Besides, they were family…

Shen Qing rubbed his cheeks hard, trying to hide the embarrassment already spreading into redness there.

Just then, his coffee and little desserts came up one after another, effectively shifting both Shen Qing’s and everyone else’s attention.

Only Gu Huaiyu, looking at the youth’s reddened ear tips, suddenly raised the corners of his lips.

After the desserts came, Shen Qing asked the server to pack up some sweets and bread rolls, and also packed several cups of coffee, arranging for the bodyguards who came out with them to have afternoon tea too.

Tian Yi and Li Hong very proactively stood up and said they’d go deliver them.

Even so, there were still several cake slices and fruit tarts left on the table. Li Hong had wanted to say Madam had again ordered too much, since here only Young Master Ao and Madam liked little desserts.

But before he could say it, he saw Young Master Duo proactively pick up a small fork, cut off a large piece from a Shine Muscat fruit cake slice, and with a calm expression put it into his mouth.

Assistant Li: …?

Oh right. Aunt Zhang had said that when having afternoon tea with Madam, Young Master Duo—who didn’t even like little desserts—would still politely eat them together.

…As expected of Young Master Duo: not only smart and obedient, but thoughtful too!

Meanwhile, on the other side, Madam had already pushed a blueberry tart in front of President Gu.

“Although this isn’t the carrot cake made at home, you should still try some. According to the description, this one isn’t very sweet, and the tart shell is topped with yogurt cream cheese, so it won’t feel greasy either…”

Hearing this, Gu Huaiyu lifted his thin eyelids slightly to look at the youth and said in a calm voice, “I don’t eat desserts.”

“…Ah yes, yes, yes.”

Remembering President Gu’s concern for saving face, Shen Qing said, “Right, I’m the one forcing you to eat!”

He nudged the blueberry tart a little closer toward President Gu. “So eat it, ah.”

But Gu Huaiyu gave not the slightest sign of picking up the utensils on the table.

Instead he asked, “How exactly are you planning to force me?”

Shen Qing: “?”

Examining the youth’s surprised and puzzled expression, Gu Huaiyu slightly lifted a long finger and tapped lightly on his own leg before suddenly saying, “Why not force me a little first and see?”

Assistant Li at the side: …I can’t even watch anymore.

Eating one bite of dessert was this troublesome—why was President Gu even less sensible than Young Master Duo?

Then, when he saw Madam holding the fork and personally scooping up a bite of fruit tart to feed President Gu, and President Gu staring at Madam the entire time with dark, profound eyes, before finally slowly opening his mouth to take the spoon…

Li Hong:!!!

Ah, so it was a little lovers’ trick!!!

Li Hong immediately turned around, dragged away Tian Yi—who was still totally out of the loop and busy devouring bread rolls—and fled the show-off-their-love scene, going to the counter to wait for the takeaway order.

Only later, after he came back to his senses, he remembered that the two little young masters were still left over there…

Who knew whether they might be led astray?

To prevent the young masters from being led astray, Assistant Li—whose monthly salary had already risen to three hundred thousand this month because President Gu had been going to the hospital more often—still braced himself and went back, fetched the two young masters, and brought them along to deliver afternoon tea to the other bodyguard uncles.

For a time, only Shen Qing and Gu Huaiyu were left in the booth.

After continuously feeding President Gu several bites of blueberry tart, Shen Qing asked him, “Is it good?”

Gu Huaiyu said, “It still seems to be missing something.”

Shen Qing asked, “Missing what?”

Gu Huaiyu suddenly raised a hand and pointed at the corner of his own lips.

Shen Qing: “…”

First he used his eyes to trace that person’s lip line—sharp, but pale and bloodless.

Then he looked around. After carefully observing, he came to a conclusion: there were no cameras here, and no one was coming over.

Shen Qing quickly leaned over and pressed a kiss to the corner of President Gu’s lips.

…Ever since that weekend by the river, when they had kissed deeply, Gu Huaiyu had asked him whether he minded being kissed, and Shen Qing had answered, “It’s all the same.”

Since then, President Gu had started always being like this—asking him to kiss him.

And every now and then they would also kiss deeply.

Only, Shen Qing had never once managed to take the upper hand. Since his salted-fish competitive spirit only ever lasted three minutes, by now whenever they had deeper exchanges, it was usually Gu Huaiyu who took the initiative.

As for Shen Qing taking the initiative to kiss, it was more like now—stamping a seal on the big shot’s lips.

A soft kiss that touched and immediately pulled away.

Shen Qing leaned back and straightened again, his eyes bright. “Well?”

Gu Huaiyu paused, loosened his fingers a little, then pointed toward the other corner of his lips—the side the youth hadn’t patronized—and said, “Still missing a little.”

So Shen Qing again took advantage of no one noticing, leaned over, and with a “mwah,” kissed the other side of the big shot’s lips too.

Gu Huaiyu suddenly laughed softly.

His thin eyelids lowered, then lifted. Seeing the youth’s ear tips grow even redder, Gu Huaiyu stopped teasing him and only leaned in to murmur, “Mm. Now it’s enough.”

Shen Qing: “…Tch.”

He turned his head slightly away and rubbed his burning ear tips again.

…Recently, they had been kissing more often. Originally, Shen Qing thought he ought to have gotten more and more used to it, but for some reason, instead his ears had become even more likely to burn red.

Sometimes he felt it was Gu Huaiyu’s voice that was the problem.

For example, just now, when he said now it’s enough—even though his voice was very low and still kept President Gu’s calm style—

When he said those words right beside Shen Qing’s ear, it sounded like a murmur, soft and seductive, making a person feel like their heart would explode.

Especially now, when this was a public place, with cameras, and he had taken off his mask…!

That made it even more nervous and thrilling. His heart practically wanted to jump right out.

Originally, Shen Qing had thought that after being retired for a while, no one would remember him anymore, but yesterday when he went shopping without a mask, he still got recognized.

So now, unless it was a very secluded place or the lighting was dim, he didn’t dare casually take his mask off!

At this moment, Gu Huaiyu’s low, husky voice sounded again. “You’re not eating?”

Shen Qing: “…Not yet.”

He, of all people, had originally been the one in the family who liked desserts the least!

But Gu Huaiyu had already used a fork to lift the biggest, juiciest strawberry from Shen Qing’s strawberry tart and held it to the youth’s lips. “Eat.”

Shen Qing: …

He didn’t open his mouth.

Instead, he warily considered whether eating the strawberry would deepen the image, in the big shot’s mind, that he liked pink!

While he hesitated there and didn’t eat it, Gu Huaiyu smiled and said, “Do you need me to add something to it?”

Shen Qing: “…”

He shook his head violently.

—This was a public place; two times was enough already. Any more and it was too stimulating!

Gu Huaiyu’s movement paused. Apparently thinking he really didn’t want it, he was about to lower his hand.

But Shen Qing suddenly opened his mouth and ate the strawberry right from Gu Huaiyu’s hand.

Strawberries were fruit.

Shen Qing quite liked fruit.

Fruit helped replenish water and vitamins; it was good for the body and good for the skin!

Most importantly, he had thought it through: this strawberry was already fully ripe, bright red, not pink.

Hahahaha.

Watching the youth—with his face contours full of high-end elegance—eat the strawberry, watching his cheeks puff as he chewed, and seeing his pale lips stained by the fresh red strawberry juice, Gu Huaiyu asked again, “Is it good?”

Shen Qing: “Super good!”

Gu Huaiyu’s eyes shifted slightly, and then he suddenly asked, “Then are we still kissing?”

Shen Qing: “…Of course.”

Without asking why his topic jumped so fast, Shen Qing swallowed the strawberry and smiled, all red lips and white teeth, reserved yet a little mischievous. “We’ll kiss when we get back.”

Gu Huaiyu looked at him and softly laughed again.

.

In the end, after considering things from multiple angles, and adding in Mingbao’s relentless pestering, Gu Duo still chose to attend the same private aristocratic school as Mingbao.

Then it was as if a whole new world opened up for Gu Duo—over there, when he studied other subjects right in front of the music and art teachers, no one stopped him. On the contrary, the teachers praised him.

It turned out that what aristocratic schools championed was self-discipline—something Gu Duo had never expected.

And then, under Mingbao’s soft and floppy ridicule of “I-I told you long ago to let your dad transfer you over,” Gu Duo began his every-second-counts study life at school.

—Mm, but after returning home at night, he still had to check Aozai’s homework, and still had to eat with Little Dad, watch movies, and occasionally play video games…

Although life like this was tense, because it was so reassuring and solid, it wasn’t tiring for Gu Duo at all. On the contrary, it felt very fulfilling.

Once Duo-duo’s educational arrangements were all settled, Shen Qing began trying to find a kindergarten for Aozai.

But little Aozai had a very deep aversion to kindergarten. The moment he got near one—even if it was just entering the building—he nearly had a stress reaction and even became irritable, so Shen Qing didn’t dare force him.

For now, they temporarily arranged to find the cub a few private tutors during the daytime. Besides teaching him some knowledge he was interested in and wanted to learn, they were specifically responsible for playing with him.

One reason was to prevent Aozai from feeling lonely when his older brother went to school and he was the only cub left alone.

The second reason was also that once Aozai adapted to private-tutor life, they planned to use the chance to invite in some internationally renowned child psychology experts, under the name of “teachers,” to help gently counsel him so he wouldn’t be so resistant to attending school.

Time passed just like that for more than four months.

During that period, because he had far too much free time, Shen Qing also developed two things for himself to cultivate his sentiments and pass time: learning music and painting.

He really was idle.

He’d even gotten tired of gaming and had slept enough too.

Now and then he’d take Aozai—the only other family member who was equally idle—shopping, to amusement parks, and out to eat good things.

But aside from those things, Shen Qing was still very idle, so in the end he just went to learn piano and oil painting, things he’d wanted to learn when he was a child.

…

During this period, the big shot spent most of his time in the hospital.

He underwent a surgery. Roughly, it was just a few days after the whole family had gone out to eat little desserts that the surgery began.

For a stretch of time, Gu Huaiyu remained in a coma. Shen Qing started learning piano and oil painting exactly during that time.

But fortunately, the big shot still pulled through, and in the days after, he remained in the hospital recuperating.

In the bright and tidy private hospital room, Shen Qing peeled an orange for the big shot and added the orange segments into a fruit salad along with already washed or cut apples, cherries, blueberries, kiwis, and other fruits. Smiling brightly, he handed it over. “Big shot, eat some fruit.”

In his wheelchair, Gu Huaiyu lowered his head and looked at the fruit box on the table—which had been prepared in the home kitchen and sent over—as well as the box in the youth’s hand, the fruit salad that now had orange segments personally prepared by him for Gu Huaiyu.

His eyebrows lifted slightly, and a smile spread again at the corners of his mouth.

He ate nothing else, only picked up an orange segment and placed it into his mouth.

“Is it sweet?” Shen Qing asked.

Gu Huaiyu chewed carefully. The surgery and coma from some time ago had made him even thinner, and the cheekbones on his face stood out more sharply now.

But these past few days, his complexion had recovered quite well.

Hearing the youth ask, Gu Huaiyu nodded and said, “Sweet.”

Shen Qing smiled unconsciously, then asked, “Oh right—does the surgery wound still hurt?”

Gu Huaiyu shook his head and said, “It doesn’t.”

Not long after, Li Hong knocked and entered to remind them, “President Lian and the others have arrived. The meeting is about to start.”

Afterward, he also noticed the fruit box in President Gu’s hand. There was such a huge orange in it!

Madam truly was Madam.

Although fruit salads had been prepared for everyone coming to today’s meeting, President Gu’s portion was definitely the most special…

Ahhhh, so sweet!

But President Gu really had had too hard a time on this journey, and indeed needed the nourishment of someone as sweet as Madam in order to endure it.

Just thinking about how President Gu had been living in the hospital for four months and had basically been sustaining himself on one kiss a day…

As soon as he heard they were about to start the meeting, Shen Qing stood up.

According to those specialists, President Gu’s body was recovering pretty well.

Although they still had to wait for the final medical report, beginning this month, he had already resumed work, mostly following his former working model, except that occasionally if particularly urgent matters came up, subordinates would run over to the hospital to find him.

Shen Qing understood the seriousness of it and didn’t want to disturb them. Besides, once they started a meeting, it might last a whole day, and if he stayed here, he’d just get sleepy.

“Then I’ll head back first,” he said.

“All right.” Gu Huaiyu didn’t say anything else, but merely, as was customary, lifted a long finger and tapped the side of his own lips.

Shen Qing smiled. His bright almond eyes curved. Taking advantage of the fact that Assistant Li had already gone out again and there was no one in the hospital room, he quickly bent down and, with a “mwah,” kissed Gu Huaiyu on the lips.