Chapter 62: Steak

Chapter 62 Steak

Hearing Wen Zhaofu's words, Yun Fan simply pressed his lips together and smiled, his cheeks burning, almost too shy to meet his gaze directly.

Indeed, usually no one dared to maintain eye contact with Wen Zhaofu for too long. One reason was the fear of getting lost in his gaze, and the other was the fear that prolonged staring might lead to their dismissal. Only Yun Fan feared nothing; from the very beginning, he could look at Wen Zhaofu for extended periods.

Seeing Yun Fan remain silent, Wen Zhaofu gently shook his hand again, his voice lowered and softened, completely unlike his usual sternness.

"Don't make it too long, okay, Xiao Yun?" Wen Zhaofu said, tugging at Yun Fan's heartstrings.

This was a side of Wen Zhaofu Yun Fan had never seen before, and he couldn't handle it—not in this lifetime or any other. And this was Wen Zhaofu, who never refused Yun Fan, so how could Yun Fan refuse him?

"Okay, sir," Yun Fan smiled. "I'll give you an answer after your surgery."

Wen Zhaofu was taken aback, then broke into a laugh. He reached out and pinched Yun Fan's earlobe: "Learning to bargain with your sir now?"

"Yes, I am," Yun Fan nodded matter-of-factly.

"You..." Wen Zhaofu just smiled, his eyes full of adoration. He tilted his head and nodded at Yun Fan.

The Old Butler was fully aware of Yun Fan's curriculum and schedule at the butler academy. When the originally scheduled return date arrived and Yun Fan still hadn't returned, he cross-referenced Wen Zhaofu's itinerary and became furious.

The Old Butler first sent Yun Fan hundreds of long voice messages, berating him severely. Yun Fan listened to two of them, scratched his ear with his finger, and put his phone down.

Was it really that big of a deal? Yun Fan thought helplessly. He felt the Old Butler not only treated Wen Zhaofu like a son but also like an object he could manipulate.

The one overstepping boundaries was never Yun Fan—it was the Old Butler. And now, caught up in the moment, the Old Butler in Hong Kong actually told his own son, Zhu Zhiqian, about how the Wen family's young masters liked Yun Fan.

"What? There are only so few younger generation members in the Wen family, and he's seduced all of them?" Zhu Zhiqian was just as astonished, glaring at his father.

"I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack every day," the Old Butler clutched his chest. "How could he do this? How can a butler behave like this with his employer?"

"Times are different now, Dad," Zhu Zhiqian spoke some sense. "Love these days doesn't care about status or wealth."

The Old Butler glanced at Zhu Zhiqian and suddenly remembered that his own son was also scheming to marry up. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and he started pointing at Zhu Zhiqian and scolding him.

Langyuntai was deserted at that moment, so Zhu Zhiqian spoke without restraint: "Of course I wouldn't get ahead by sleeping my way up like Yun Fan. Selling yourself for glory is just trash. Zhuo Yan and I both want to earn our bosses' recognition through our own efforts."

"But your acting and singing skills haven't improved much," the Old Butler murmured pointedly.

"We're still better than Yun Fan!" Zhu Zhiqian straightened his back. "All he thinks about every day is which bedroom positions to try—now that's really simple."

"What are you talking about!" Wen Haochen's voice cut through the air, accompanied by a few barks of "woof woof woof."

Wen Haochen, who was walking the dog, overheard the conversation between this father and son in Langyuntai. He hadn't intended to eavesdrop, but hearing "Yun Fan" mentioned repeatedly, he felt compelled to intervene.

Then, he heard Zhu Zhiqian's disgusting comments.

Wen Haochen let go of the dog leash and threw a punch. The Old Butler yelped "Aiya!" but couldn't react as quickly as the young man, and could only watch as his son was hit by Young Master Wen.

Zhu Zhiqian staggered three times before steadying himself from Wen Haochen's punch. He frowned and clenched his fists, his eyes fierce but not daring to fight back—completely spineless.

The husky ran circles around them, then barked and charged toward the little gardener. For a moment, Langyuntai, with the heads of household absent, was thrown into chaos.

Confident that Zhu Zhiqian wouldn't dare hit him, Wen Haochen straightened his back even more and pointed at Zhu Zhiqian: "Don't think I don't know what you're scheming. If you keep spreading vile rumors, I'll make sure you and your father are banned from this estate!"

After saying that, Wen Haochen called out to the husky and turned to leave, striding away purposefully.

The Old Butler stood frozen in place. He had never seen this young master, who had always followed behind Wen Zhaofu, carry himself with such command before. In the past, he had only seen Wen Haochen get beaten up—this was the first time he had seen him beat someone else.

And the one he beat was none other than his own son.

*

Young Master Wen couldn't let this insult slide and soon told Cheng Yu and Liu Erxing about it.

Liu Erxing immediately cursed with a stream of profanities Wen Haochen couldn't understand, while Cheng Yu chose to remain silent and began planning something else.

"Living under someone else's roof isn't sustainable," Liu Erxing analyzed calmly. "I understand this feeling. Sooner or later, I'll take Yun Fan away from Hong Kong. We can't put up with this treatment."

"How can that be! He can't leave!" Wen Haochen grew anxious. "What do you understand about it?"

Liu Erxing snorted twice: "Anyway, I understand more than you."

As for Cheng Yu, he couldn't be bothered to mediate in the meaningless bickering between the two younger ones. He was thinking more strategically. He also wanted to take Yun Fan away, but he needed Yun Fan to be willing to go with him.

So the plan he had previously designed—waiting for Yun Fan to recognize his feelings before confessing—might no longer suffice.

He needed to act quickly.

But if he really did this, Cheng Yu felt that making a direct approach might not be the best approach. As for why it wasn't ideal, he couldn't quite articulate.

In short, he needed an intermediary.

Who should he ask? He scoured his mind, searching back and forth, and finally thought of someone—Langyuntai's little gardener, Xiao Shan.

But he soon dismissed this plan.

Over on the other side, Wen Zhaofu also learned about this minor incident that happened at Langyuntai, but he kept his own counsel and didn't tell Yun Fan.

To Wen Zhaofu, this matter could be big or small. For now, he chose to table the matter.

Yun Fan followed Wen Zhaofu excitedly to the yacht manufacturing factory, listening as the shipyard owner explained how these massive vessels went from Wen Zhaofu's drawing paper to becoming physical objects.

"This requires a team of several thousand people, but the most crucial part is the designer's blueprint," the owner said approvingly, looking at Wen Zhaofu.

Having collaborated for a long time and built trust, the owner was one of the few people who knew Wen Zhaofu's identity. Wen Zhaofu sat in his wheelchair, waved a dismissive hand, and smiled.

"The sir is amazing!" Yun Fan's eyes sparkled.

Taking advantage of Wen Zhaofu's personal visit, the owner brought two sets of design drawings to finalize some details with him. They communicated in a language Yun Fan couldn't understand, speaking rapidly and in a rapid-fire manner.

After they finished, Wen Zhaofu looked up at Yun Fan: "Do you need me to translate?"

"No, no, no, you weren't talking about me anyway," Yun Fan shook his head. "Besides, you wouldn't trade me away."

"Of course not," Wen Zhaofu touched the back of his hand. "I'd have to be insane to sell you out."

Now it was the owner's turn to not understand their conversation, but judging by their expressions, both seemed very happy. He raised an eyebrow, said "wow," looked around, and shared their good mood.

"They want to install a slide here," Wen Zhaofu pointed at the rear of the cabin and shook his head. "They want to use a slide while at sea—it's very dangerous."

"Ah?" Yun Fan was equally shocked. "Are they trying to get themselves killed!"

Wen Zhaofu sighed: "What can you do. Their lives are their own. All I can do is prevent Haochen from boarding this yacht in the future."

"Right, and Li Wen, Zhaoning, Apple, and Roey..."

"Hey, hey, hey, stop," Yun Fan frowned. "Sir, you can't possibly manage everyone."

"Tell me about it," Wen Zhaofu pinched the bridge of his nose. "It seems like I'm the only responsible one in this household."

Yun Fan laughed and steered Wen Zhaofu outside. The sea stretched before them, the wind was strong, and waves crashed onto the shore one after another, creamy white.

Wen Zhaofu patted Yun Fan's hand, and when Yun Fan moved to stand beside him, he held his hand.

"What's wrong?" Yun Fan asked silently, gazing at Wen Zhaofu over the sound of the waves.

Wen Zhaofu shook his head, then swayed their hands slightly, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth as he said in a low voice, "Nothing, just happy."

"Me too..." Yun Fan looked into Wen Zhaofu's eyes, "very happy."

*

When they returned to London, Wen Zhaofu received a call from Cheng Yu. Cheng Yu said he was in town for an international conference and wanted to treat Wen Zhaofu to a meal, telling him to bring Yun Fan along.

Wen Zhaofu smiled, thinking Cheng Yu was way too indirect—wanting to see Yun Fan but taking such a roundabout way. Still, he liked that about Cheng Yu, knowing Yun Fan disliked such approaches.

For Yun Fan, having a meal with Cheng Yu was indeed kind of a pain, but since Wen Zhaofu agreed to go, he was willing to accompany him.

Sure enough, Cheng Yu had chosen an extremely upscale restaurant with over-the-top service. Wen Zhaofu would never take Yun Fan to such a place on his own, knowing Yun Fan would find it annoying.

They had been seated for twenty minutes, and the violinist playing specifically for their table still hadn't ended. Yun Fan glanced at the performer, then at the dishes on the table, and finally at Wen Zhaofu, his expression screaming 'seriously?'.

Wen Zhaofu waved his hand, and someone immediately approached. He leaned over and said a few words, and the music soon stopped.

Cheng Yu frowned. Wen Zhaofu said simply, "Hungry."

A sharp look shot across the table from across the table, but Wen Zhaofu paid no mind. Cheng Yu thought Wen Zhaofu had truly changed. At some point, he had stopped caring about etiquette and formalities, focusing only on the joy of the moment.

Yun Fan visibly relaxed and finally picked up his knife and fork to eat. The cold appetizers weren't to his liking, and the steak was a bit tough. After a few bites, he looked uncomfortable.

"Give it to me," Wen Zhaofu said, pushing his plate over. "You can have the cake."

While Cheng Yu watched, stunned, Yun Fan and Wen Zhaofu completed the exchange. Cheng Yu gritted his teeth, his voice trembling slightly as he asked Wen Zhaofu, "You... what are you doing?"

"Xiao Yun says we shouldn't waste food," Wen Zhaofu replied, dabbing his mouth elegantly with a napkin. "Thank you for your hospitality, President Cheng."

Cheng Yu couldn't eat anymore. He was too annoyed to see straight and too angry to eat!

Cheng Yu took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He realized time was running out.

"I'm attending the weekend gathering at Shengken Manor," Cheng Yu said quietly.

Wen Zhaofu hesitated for a moment, then smiled. "Alright, see you then."

"Da Liu will be there too," Cheng Yu added with a cold smile.

Wen Zhaofu tapped his fingers on the table, this was getting annoying...

Yun Fan looked at Wen Zhaofu, then at Cheng Yu, and asked, puzzled, "Are you guys having another team-building?"

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Author's note: Hahahaha, totally team-building, right? [sunglasses]