The Heart of a Smith

It was late and the corridor was quiet. The door to the office was pushed open. Inside, Lu Shang was writing on some documents. Without even raising his head, he asked, “Are the results in? How did they reply?”

After a few seconds of waiting, the person at the door still didn’t answer. That was when Lu Shang raised his head to see Li Sui leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed, he was grinning at him.

Lu Shang was surprised, “You’re back!”

Lu Shang immediately stopped writing, he waved Li Sui over and laughed, “Come here, I want to hug you.”

Li Sui walked over and placed the takeout porridge on the table, “Whenever I leave, you work overtime. Next time, I’ll have to find someone to watch over you.”

“It’s just today,” Lu Shang said as he reached for Li Sui’s hand, wanting to hug him but Li Sui stooped down and picked him up instead, he then placed Lu Shang on his own legs.

“Did you eat all of your meals? How come I think you got thinner?” Li Sui nudged Lu Shang gently on the waist.

That tickled Lu Shang so he giggled as he said, “It has just been a few days, how much thinner could I be. However, you do look like you got a bit tanned.”

“Hmn. The sun there was too strong, and there were a lot of wind and sand. I think I still have some sand in my hair.”

They enjoyed each other’s embrace and stared at each other for a while, the only thing Li Sui didn’t do was kiss him, as if he wanted to save the most delicious thing till the end, the tip of their noses touched as Li Sui asked, “How long have I been away?”

“Ten days.”

The two men were really close, Lu Shang noticed the redness in Li Sui’s eye whites, and he knew that Li Sui must had been tired on the way of rushing back home. He asked with concern, “Are you tired?”

“I was tired on the way, but I’m not tired now that I’m with you.” Li Sui lowered his head and rubbed his chin against the nape of Lu Shang’s neck. In an instant, his nostrils were filled with Lu Shang’s scent. Li Sui was like a soothed wild wolf, his fur softened, and his eyes narrowed with satisfaction.

After hearing that, Lu Shang patted Li Sui on the back. Lu Shang felt so sad that he swore to himself not to let Li Sui leave the country alone ever again. Even if Li Sui was fine with it, Lu Shang wasn’t.

In order to open up a foreign branch, they had to make new connections, re-establish a market, and re-establish a new capital flow. Even though they had Tong Yan to back them up, starting a new branch was no simple matter. Not long ago, Lu Shang took over a project and needed to go to Gobi1 for an inspection for half a month. However, this branch just started and there was no way he could leave for half-a-month, he was not assured to send others to the job either given the importance of it. When Li Sui saw Lu Shang struggling to make a decision, he nominated himself to go in Lu Shang’s stead.

At first, Lu Shang was reluctant. They had never been apart for that long a time ever since they got married. But the reality was there in front of him, he had to compromise. A day before Li Sui left, Lu Shang kept mumbling and reminding him all sorts of stuff, he never knew that he had the potential to be a chatterbox until then. When Li Sui really got on the plane and flew away, Lu Shang stood alone in the airport, feeling overwhelming regret, as if he had lost something precious, he was anxious.

Maybe he was getting old, Lu Shang thought. The second he turned around, he began counting the days.

It was late at night, it was almost as if the air went silent as well. Lu Shang felt Li Sui’s exhaustion, he patted him on the back, and said softly, “Let’s go home.”

“But you have work?”

Lu Shang smiled, “Sleeping with you is more important.”

On the way back, Lu Shang drove the car as Li Sui continued to rub his own eyes in the co-driver’s seat. It was obvious that he was sleepy. They intermittently chatted about the business trip. When they were waiting for the red light to turn green, Li Sui rubbed his head on Lu Shang’s shoulder while mumbling that he was tired.

Lu Shang was lit up by that, and they almost made love in the car. When they got home, they quickly took a bath together then climbed to bed. Lu Shang wanted to finish sex quickly so they could all have a good night of rest together. As soon as he took off his clothes though, he knew he was fooled. Li Sui was nowhere near tired, his eyes were glowing as brightly as a wolf’s after seeing its prey.

The whole bedroom was filled with lust. Lu Shang was already extremely tired after doing it once, but there was also the second round. Lu Shang’s physical strength was not good enough, seeing Li Sui’s energetic appearance just made his legs feel numb, he had an intuition that he won’t be walking tomorrow, “Didn’t you say you were tired on the way?”

Li Sui laughed, obvious wrinkles formed at the corner of his eyes as he laughed. Li Sui stooped down and bit his neck while skillfully pushing forward, grinding Lu Shang’s insides slowly, “That’s why I’m charging now.”

After hugging and more thrusting, Li Sui keenly noticed that Lu Shang’s legs were trembling unconsciously, so he gradually stopped. Li Sui slowly pulled his member out and turned to kissing him instead.

Lu Shang exchanged a long, lingering kiss with him. After a while, he understood that Li Sui had no intention of continuing. He opened his eyes and asked softly, “What’s wrong?”

“We should sleep.” Li Sui pulled out a wet towel and gave Lu Shang a simple wipe as he asked, “Do you want to take another bath?”

Lu Shang had a little sweat on him, but most was Li Sui’s. He thought about it and shook his head. Li Sui pulled up the quilt blanket then covered themselves with it. He reached out to pull Lu Shang into his arms. Only then did he feel like sleeping, “All right, let’s sleep!”

Lu Shang has been so busy these days, he didn’t take a single rest ever since he sat in his office this morning. Now that Li Sui was home, Lu Shang could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Having a sense of security in his heart, Lu Shang inevitably began to feel sleepy. He was sleepy, but how could he possibly sleep sensing the hard object pointing against his behind.

The two men stayed in that awkward posture and neither moved. The room was quiet. Lu Shang remained silent for a while, but still could not resist, “You…”

“It’s all right. I’ll be fine in a moment,” Li Sui hugged him tightly again and kissed his hair.

Lu Shang was amused, “You don’t have to hold back.”

“I know,” Li Sui laughed, he covered Lu Shang’s eyes with his hand and said, “Have a good night’s rest. We have plenty of time tomorrow.”

Lu Shang still had something he wanted to say, but Li Sui blocked all that back, so he kept quiet. Lu Shang was really tired, his waist was sore, and his legs were numb, his eyelids began sinking well before the thing at his back softened. Before falling asleep, Lu Shang ahd a passing thought, Li Sui had been around him for several years now, having watched him all this time, he didn’t notice, but the fact was that Li Sui had undergone a lot of changes.

No matter how delicious the food was, he wouldn’t just gobble it all up in his mouth as soon as he saw it. Instead, he learned to eat slowly and cherish it. From a certain point of view, that was a sign of security. He didn’t have to fight for those things anymore. This was his, it’s in his arms and it couldn’t run away.

The next day, both of them slept in. Li Sui did not wake up at all, Lu Shang was afraid of waking Li Sui, so he climbed up before dawn to turn off the alarm clock. The long-missed embrace was so comforting that neither of them wanted to spoil this beautiful morning.

Around noon a phone call came, Lu Shang picked it up first thing, but Li Sui still woke up. Li Sui crawled up half-conscious and rubbed his bedhead against Lu Shang, Lu Shang tucked him back into the blanket.

“What did you say?” Lu Shang got up and went to the bathroom, “Sorry, but I think you made a mistake.”

The person in the phone said something and made Lu Shang froze for a moment, he rubbed his aching back and said, “That form is for a marriage conference? Thank you for your kindness, but you may have misunderstood…”

Li Sui woke up completely now, he stretched his neck out to look at the bathroom. Then he resolutely climbed up from the bed and followed Lu Shang to the bathroom, “Who is that?”

“It’s Mrs. Jane,” Lu Shang hung up and did not take the call seriously. “The community was organizing a matchmaking event for the single Chinese people here and she submitted a form for me.”

After hearing that, Li Sui immediately became confused, “Single?”

“Hmn,” Lu Shang washed his own face with water. “She may have made a mistake. She came to me the other day and asked me to fill out a form. I thought it was a survey, but I didn’t think it was for matchmaking.”

Mrs. Jane was their landlord, she was a white old lady. Perhaps matchmaking was something common everywhere, they were still subjected to that in a foreign country. The old lady was extremely enthusiastic, Lu Shang had only moved here for like half a month and she was already dead set on introducing someone to Lu Shang.

“Doesn’t she know…” Li Sui’s expression was complex, halfway through his sentence, he stopped. Of course, Li Sui was away for half a month. The old lady saw Lu Shang living alone and naturally thought he was single.

After washing his face, Lu Shang walked out the bathroom to see Li Sui’s forehead stuck against the door frame, he looked almost as if he was going to scratch the wall with his fingers. Lu Shang laughed, “What are you thinking about?”

Li Sui stared back at him, then he moved his eyes to the ring on Lu Shang’s hand. The jealousy in his eyes was too intense to not see, “I am your husband, we are a couple, it’s legally-binding.”

When Lu Shang saw that he was this depressed, he stopped laughing and said, “Let’s invite her to lunch and make things clear.”

With that said, Lu Shang was already planning on making the call. Li Sui stopped him though, he scratched his head and said, “Never mind, it’s such a trivial matter, if we go find here like that, it would just show that I’m too childish.”

Lu Shang laughed. Li Sui didn’t know why but he felt that there was a trace of satisfaction in that laugh.

In fact, Li Sui had another concern. Though it might sound selfish, they just moved here after all. Zuo Chao’s people weren’t around, so many things weren’t as convenient as it used to be. At such a time, having good relationships with their neighbors was important. First off, the old lady did it out of kindness. If he brought Lu Shang with him to talk with her in a hurry like that, it might sour their relationship. Secondly, the old lady was religious, and Li Sui didn’t know her attitude towards homosexuality. If they could keep it a low profile, then Li Sui would do that as much as possible. Lu Shang was his, that won’t change, whether others know or not makes no different. Although Lu Shang had a pretty strong psychological endurance, he still didn’t wish for him to suffer from people’s judgment.

In the afternoon, the two of them went to the company together. Li Sui had to make a report about his inspection at the meeting. Half way through reporting, he noticed that he had left an important data file at home, so he had to vaguely tiptoe around it. Li Sui may be able to fool the others, but he couldn’t fool Lu Lao Ban. Lu Shang knew that he screwed up, but he did not say a thing. He just nodded his head and asked him to sit down, he was so obviously favoring him.

After the meeting, Li Sui drove back to get the files. Lu Shang laughed and knocked on his head, “What is that little head of yours thinking about?”

Li Sui shrugged apologetically, “I can’t help it, you’re always the only thing in my head.”

Lu Shang shut the car door for him, “Drive slowly, there’s no hurry.”

After Li Sui left, Lu Shang turned around to go upstairs. He passed by some employees who nodded their heads at him. This scene was somewhat familiar. In the past few years, during Lu Shang’s retirement period, Li Sui managed the company well. Although there were no major revolutions, it was not easy just to stabilize the company during the economic downturn. Li Sui always said that Tong Yan bounced back because of Lu Shang paved the way with years of hard work. In fact, Lu Shang knew that that wasn’t the case. The kid was a qualified entrepreneur, he had visionary ideas, but lacked ambition. Now that everything was back to normal, he preferred to be a tiny project manager than a leader. Lu Shang knew that Li Sui did not like to stand at the position of a leader, he only took the role years ago for Lu Shang’s sake.

That weekend, they had two days off, which was something rare for them to have. Before they could discuss what to do with the two days off, Mrs. Jane came and knocked on their apartment door, she asked outside, “Mr. necktie, are you home?”

The old lady gave Lu Shang a nickname, Mr. necktie, since Lu Shang always wore suits and a necktie.

Li Sui opened the door and answered, “He’s taking a bath. You can come in and wait for him.”

Since Mrs. Jane saw that Lu Shang had company, she decided to talk a little with Li Sui outside the door and handed him the invitation, “Tell him not to be late tomorrow evening at 7:30.”

“Ok, I’ll pass that to him,” Li Sui smiled.

Lu Shang wiped his hair and walked out of the bathroom, “What’s the matter?”

“Someone took a liking to you and asked you out for a French meal,” Li Sui was playing with his tablet on the sofa as he replied. He pointed at the invitation card on the table, which also had a personal introduction form of an anonymous person included.

Lu Shang picked it up and was going to throw it away. He was quickly stopped by Li Sui though, “Don’t you want to look at it at least?”

Lu Shang asked strangely, “Why do you want me to look at it?”

“Just look at it,” said Li Sui, he seemed more interested about it than Lu Shang was. “The guy who asked you out had good taste.”

Seeing Li Sui get so enthusiastic about his “potential love rival” amused Lu Shang, so he did as he was asked and opened the letter. The invitation was well written, and there was little useless information except for the time and place. However, the information form included was quite interesting.

Lu Shang also filled in an information form somewhat similar to this one, after a quick scan, Lu Shang noticed something interesting, “This person… is a bit similar to you?”

“Really?” Li Sui’s spirits rose, he went and snatched the paper for a glance. “Wow, really. His height, weight and even hobbies are similar to mine. Huh… Even the type of person we like are the same. No wonder Mrs. Jane matched you up with him.”

“Throw it away,” Lu Shang said as he opened the refrigerator. “What should we have for lunch, Chinese food or Western food?”

“Are you really not going?” Li Sui said, “You should go. That person went out of the way to invite you after all.”

Lu Shang thought that maybe Li Sui was jealous. He stared back at Li Sui for a while and found that he was serious. Lu Shang tried teasing him, “But if I go on a date with someone else, won’t you worry about me getting close to someone else?”

“Impossible,” said Li Sui, he waved his hand. “You’ll only know how great I am in comparison if you go.”

Lu Shang was amused again, he pretended to be mean and said, “Okay then, I’ll go tomorrow.”

In the blink of an eye, it was the next day. Early in the morning, Li Sui took out the wine-red shirt that Lu Shang seldom wore from his wardrobe, “You should wear this tonight, you look good in this color.”

Having overindulged on sex in the previous night, Lu Lao Ban was not fully awake yet, he only vaguely responded.

At noon, Li Sui who was taking a nap with Lu Shang got up, he said that he had to go to the company for something about the project. Lu Shang did not think much about it and let him go, he only asked Li Sui to come home early and safe.

“Don’t be late for your evening appointment,” Li Sui said to Lu Shang before he left home.

Lu Shang just laughed, he had never seen anyone as accepting as Li Sui. How was he so “okay” with his lover going on a date with someone else? Heck, he was even more excited than the one who was going on the date.

“Yes, yes. You should get going.”

It was getting late. Looking down from atop the high-rise building, one could get a full view of the bright night scenery below. Li Sui straightened out his bangs as he stood in front of the mirror, he pulled his tie up straight and walked out. A waiter handed him the menu to confirm the dishes that was going to be served later on, he also confirmed the music track that was going to be played during the meal.

“He had a heart surgery before, so he can’t drink alcohol. Replace the wine with sparkling water,” Li Sui said and politely handed the menu back.

There weren’t many people around, after a quick scan, Li Sui knew that most were couples, giving the restaurant a lovely atmosphere. In the corner, a person was playing the violin, the music was gentle and smooth. Li Sui rubbed his fingers on his ring for a while, then took in a deep breath. He subconsciously straightened his back.

That day, he did deliberately give Lu Shang the invitation letter. A day before that, when Lu Shang was away from home, Li Sui knocked on Mrs. Jane’s door.

“I heard that you are organizing a single Chinese people matchmaking event. May I join?”

After filling out his own information form, he handed it back to Mrs. Jane and asked, “When you pair up the participants, do you only base on each person’s personalities?”

“Of course.”

“So, is it possible for people of the same gender to get matched up?”

Mrs. Jane laughed and said, “If the two are perfect for each other’s request, they will get matched up. I mean, it’s not like you have to go out with said person, if the two are that good for each other, meeting a new friend is nice too.”

Li Sui took a sigh of relief and nodded, “Then, I’d like to join, thank you.”

It was not easy to get a bit pf romance these days, Li Sui had to disguise himself as a stranger to arrange a dinner with Lu Shang just for the sake of romance. When he tried to imagine Lu Shang’s reaction when he saw Li Sui there, he got somewhat nervous, so he kept on tidying his own hair and fidgeting with his necktie. It was as if he was really going to meet an unknown date for the first time today. Logically speaking, they had been together for so long already, so the excitement and shyness should had been long gone, but Li Sui guessed maybe he was an exception.

“Sir, should I serve the dishes now?”

Li Sui looked at the time, it was 7:25, “Wait for a few more minutes.”

Outside the window, one could see the endless stream of traffic. Not far away, there was a bridge with magnificent lights. Unfortunately, Li Sui had no mood to enjoy the scenery. His palms were sweating and his eyes were glancing uncontrollably towards the door.

Perhaps his movements were too obvious, a pair of young couple sitting at the next table noticed and requested for the waiter to send over a rose to his table.

“Wish you success in proposing, man.” The guy at the table gave Li Sui an exaggerated thumbs up.

Li Sui nodded to thank him and did not care to explain the misunderstanding. To be honest, this was just as tense as when he was proposing to Lu Shang. Lu Shang had no idea that on the night before he proposed, he tied the heart-shaped clam to the bottom of the boat with a strong fishing line. The boat was dragging the ring with it as it went out to the sea. Li Sui stayed in the water for a few minutes purely to make Lu Shang nervous, Li Sui thought that would increase the chances of him getting a positive response. Leung ZiRui also asked Li Sui why he didn’t choose to directly swim to the seabed and get the shell. Li Sui wanted to do that too, but he didn’t dare to. At that time, he was so nervous that he could explode any second. He even secretly practiced the whole proposal several times in advance. Moreover, he was afraid that a wave would wash the shell away or some other things. At the end, he was not reassured, so after thinking for a long time, he came up with the idea of tying the shell to the boat itself instead.

Sometimes even Li Sui himself wondered, he wasn’t a young boy anymore, he could stand on his own in the outside world, but why was it that when it came to facing Lu Shang, all his childishness, the feeling of anxiousness and blissfulness were all the same as before, as if he had never grown up at all.

Fortunately, his lover was willing to tolerate him and give him warmth and guidance. For him, Lu Shang was not only his lover, but also his family and teacher. The longer the time they spent together, the more Li Sui realized that love was not just a piece of paper, a ring or a house, but a life-long commitment of companionship.

The clock pointed to the number eight, yet no one arrived. The waiter’s gaze towards Li Sui changed from envious to sympathetic, what a poor young man, he was going to propose but instead, he got stood up.

Li Sui sighed and was about to call Lu Shang, but before that, his phone rang.

“Are you coming back for dinner? I’m going to make some dumplings.” Lu Shang seemed to be searching for something at that end.

Li Sui was shocked and did not respond for a moment, “What?”

“Why is someone playing music at your end? You aren’t in the company anymore? Are you on the way back?” Lu Shang asked.

“You… are you at home?”

“Where would I be if not at home?” Lu Shang asked feeling a bit weirded out.

“Didn’t you go on a date?”

“What date,” laughed Lu Shang, “no matter how much he’s like you, he’s still not you.”

“I…” Li Sui sat in the restaurant, wondering whether he should cry or laugh. After a while, he stood up and almost tripped over his chair, “I… I’ll be right back… I’m eating at home. Put more vinegar in my portion.”

After that, he was about to leave. He walked to the door and remembered that he had not changed out of his clothes yet, so he went to the dressing room to change. The waiter watched Li Sui as he walked in and out of the restroom while wiping the glass cups, he sighed thinking that this was the first time in more than ten years of working here, that he saw someone so happy even after being stood up.

It was already dark, the roads were packed with traffic, and there were some people walking their dogs on the streets. Li Sui passed through them, smiling while greeting his neighbors. He ran up to their apartment door and knocked. The door opened and the fragrance of dumplings sipped out2.

The light in the living room was so warm that Li Sui almost couldn’t open his eyes.

Li Sui had a dream before, he was searching for a door in the dream, but somehow after finding it, he just couldn’t open it. He wandered outside the door, wondering where to go. Then one day when he raised his hand to knock on the door, he found that the door had opened from the inside. Inside stood a man smiling at him, just as always, the person had a gentle voice, as if everything was going to be fine, “You’re finally home. Go wash your hands and eat.”

He was dazed by the light for a while, then he walked in carefully.

The door closed behind him, and at last he could see what it looked like inside. It might be a little different from his dreams, but it felt strangely similar.

“What are you daydreaming about?” Lu Shang was holding a bowl, he frowned slightly as he said, “It got stuck to the pot again. Still it’s edible, I guess. I’ll add more water in next time.”

“Hmn.”

There’s a place where romance is not needed and that was his home, the place where he belonged.

~ The End ~

Well, technically that’s the end, but I was reading another one of the author’s works and there was one extra chapter in that one that was about this novel. That novel is called 悅木成林. Therefore, I translated an excerpt of that chapter as well. The seme in that series is called Yang YiZun and the uke is called Yue Mu, basically this extra is about the seme bringing the uke to visit a company he founded with a friend, also so that the uke could meet said friend. That friend of his is a somewhat special person, you will know who he is in a moment, enjoy:

The two of them walked into the office hand in hand, and soon after, they ran into a young man who was squatting on the ground with his back to them. The young man was packing up his suitcase.

“LiAn.” Yang YiZun called out to the young man.

Lu LiAn turned around and replied, “Oh, you are here? I was just about to call you.”

As he spoke, his gaze fell onto Yue Mu, then he stood up and smiled, “Hello, nice to meet you.”

Yue Mu was in a daze for a while and said after some thought, “Ah, hello.”

This young man was tall, he had very distinct facial features, and his skin was white enough that he did not look Asian. His temperament was clean and elegant, Yue Mu could tell from a mere handshake that this young man must be from a well-mannered family.

Yang YiZun gave a brief introduction for both of them. Yang YiZun didn’t say much when it came to who Yue Mu was, but Lu LiAn seemed to know who Yue Mu was quite well. He just looked at Yue Mu and smiled.

“This is a classmate of mine I met when I was studying abroad,” Yang YiZun introduced Lu LiAn to Yue Mu. “When I first founded JunYue3, he helped me a lot.”

“But I wasn’t the one who came up with the idea,” Lu LiAn smiled. “It was my father who came up with it.”

“Here you go,” Yang YiZun said as he handed Lu LiAn the boxes of cream cheese pear pastries.

“Oh, great timing,” Lu LiAn said being a little surprise. “I was just about to go buy some.”

“Are you going home today?”

“Yes, I’m taking the 7:10 p.m. flight.” Lu LiAn said as he put the dessert in his suitcase, but then he was afraid of crushing them, so he took them back out and put it aside separately.

“Did something happen at home?”

“Nothing special,” when Lu LiAn spoke of his family, he showed that he was both proud and also a bit helpless towards it. He continued, “My father is going to the hospital, my Dad was originally going to accompany him, but he had an urgent business trip to attend to. He had no other choice, so he called me back.”

Yang YiZun’s face changed slightly, “Your father is sick?”

“No, he’s in good health. He can totally go fishing for a week and still be fine,” Lu LiAn said. “It’s just a routine check-up. You know, he had a major heart operation before, so my Dad is always worried. It’s an annual thing, no storm or natural disasters could stop it.”

Yue Mu listened to Lu LiAn speak, he was getting confused from all the “father” and “dad” titles.

Lu LiAn noticed Yue Mu’s silence, he was afraid that he would not be able to follow their conversation, so he said with understanding, “Can I directly call you Yue Mu? Yang YiZun told me everything about you and him. ”

Yue Mu nodded and said, “No wonder, ordinary people would be surprised seeing us together.”

“No surprise at all, none,” Lu LiAn waved his hands. “My family has similar people like you two.”

Seeing Yue Mu shocked, Yang YiZun touched the ring on Yue Mu’s hand and said with a smile, “He has two fathers4.”

Yue Mu’s expression showed that he was startled.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m adopted,” Lu LiAn laughed.

“I’m sorry.” Yue Mu apologized.

Someone entered to find Yang YiZun, so Yue Mu let him go to attend to his work. In fact, Yue Mu was not familiar with Lu LiAn, but the atmosphere was not at all embarrassing, somehow being with Lu LiAn was comforting.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed,” Lu LiAn laughed. “I was around 13 years old when I was adopted. All of my friends know but no one cares about that.”

Yue Mu smiled lightly, “They must have a good relationship, if they could raise a kid together as well-mannered as you.”

Speaking of that, Lu LiAn’s face twitched, “You have no idea what it’s like to see them being all lovey-dovey every day at home…”

Yue Mu laughed.

“Seriously. I’ve never seen them quarrel, not even talk loudly to each other,” Lu LiAn said. “Even when I was still a student, they always stand on the same front.”

“Oh? Do they punish you on the doubles?”

“Well, no,” Lu LiAn seemed to be trying to recall the fear of living with his two fathers.

“I remember that there was a time when I failed on an exam. However, the teacher said that we must ask for the parents to sign the report. I wanted to ask my father to sign it, since he never scolded me before, but on the way to his study, I ran into my Dad… whose name is Li Sui. I’ll just say his name, so that you won’t get confused. Anyway, my relationship with him was more natural and close, so I thought Li Sui would lose his temper with me, but he didn’t. He only frowned and signed it for me, then he said, ‘don’t let your father know, he’s not in good health. Remember to do better next time.’ I was so moved at the time.”

“And then?”

“Then… in the evening, I took a bath. I forgot to hide the paper and my father saw it.”

“Oh my!”

“My father didn’t say anything but ‘Drink the milk and go to bed early.’ At the time, I thought that was the end of it, but to my surprise…” As he spoke of that, Lu LiAn sighed, “The next day, when I got home, I found five private tutors sitting in the living room.”

“Did your dad hired them?”

Lu LiAn shook his head and said, “Li Sui was never strict with me. My father was the one who hired them. That’s just how he is. He won’t say anything, but he would prepare everything for you in secret.”

“Somehow I got the feeling that your father treats both you and your Dad as his children.”

Lu LiAn thought and scratched the back of his head, “You don’t say, that really sums it up, but it’s a bit different. My father is not strict with Li Sui. He says ‘okay’ to everything Li Sui does.”

Seeing Lu LiAn’s angered face made Yue Mu laugh, “Maybe you are just not there to see him strict with your Dad?”

“Maybe,” Lu LiAn thought and nodded. “My father doesn’t care much about me now. He let me go out to make my own living.”

Yue Mu found the kid amusing and he just couldn’t stop laughing, “It must be really fun to live in such a happy family.”

Lu LiAn scratched his own head, “Well, that’s true. In fact, at the beginning, I never expected for them to adopt me. Maybe they are just too soft hearted.”

Yue Mu intuitively smelled a story there, “Hmm?”

“My father used to have a heart condition,” Lu LiAn explained. “After he was cured, he set up a foundation for children with heart diseases. I was one of the beneficiaries.”

Yue Mu was surprised: “Then, are you…”

Lu LiAn nodded and looked calm, “I was born with a heart disease and was abandoned by my parents. Later, I encountered the foundation and got a surgery. There was one time, my father came to visit us. At that time, I was still in the recovery period, because of the pain from the operation, I kept crying. My father stayed with me for the whole night just to calm me down. As a result, I stuck myself to him. Haha, I was too small back then and had no sense of security. I just had a feeling that he was good, so I clung to him. After discussing with Li Sui, they decided to take me in as his adoptive son.”

“I guess that’s also a kind of Enishi5.”

“Yes.” Lu LiAn nodded.

The mobile phone on the table suddenly rang, Lu LiAn looked at the caller ID and smiled warmly. He didn’t feel the need to keep it a secret, so he just turned it on speaker mode, he answered the call without holding the phone, “Father!”

“When will you be arriving? I’ll go pick you up at the airport,” The voice on the phone was polite and pleasant.

“There’s no need. I have a car parked near the airport.”

The person at the other end of the phone didn’t push on further, he just said, “If it’s okay for you, buy some cream cheese pear pastries at SiHuan street on the way to the airport. Your Dad likes those.”

“I have already bought some. Well, my friend bought it for me. Are three boxes enough?”

“Yes, that’s enough,” Yue Mu could hear a smile in the voice.

The father and son talked something about business after that. Yue Mu was listening in the whole time, although he had never met his father, he could imagine what a gentle person he must be.

After hanging up the phone, Lu LiAn looked at the time, then he quickly closed his suitcase, “I have to go now.”

Yang YiZun just happened to walk in with a stack of documents, “You’re going now?”

“Yep. I don’t want to disturb you two in doing your things,” Lu LiAn said with a teasing smile, “So, I’m leaving the office to you guys, do what you have to do, okay?”

Yue Mu, “……”

Are young people nowadays so open!?

“Yue Mu, you don’t have to be so shy with me,” Lu LiAn put on his coat and continued, “When I was at home……” Trailing to that point, he seemed to have thought of something and resolutely covered his own mouth.

Yang YiZun held onto Yue Mu’s shoulder and waved Lu LiAn goodbye, “Give my greetings to Lu Lao Ban for me.”

“Kay!” Lu LiAn nodded and waved back while dragging his suitcase away.