Chapter 83 Young Man

Chapter 83: The Young Gentleman

After this, a red bracelet accompanied Shen Ci into the depths of winter, as heavy snow turned all of Cloud City pure white.

But his emotions were still unstable, his possessiveness toward Shen Shiyan only grew stronger. During winter break, he abandoned his habit of sleeping in, having breakfast with Shen Shiyan in the morning and then going to the company together. While Shen Shiyan worked, he read and did problems nearby; when Shen Shiyan had meetings, he waited outside the conference room, occasionally playing Minesweeper on the computer when bored.

The cold air made people lazier. Lately, Shen Ci’s morning alarms had gone from two to five, and he couldn’t even open his eyes while getting dressed.

“If you’re sleepy, just sleep at home.” Shen Shiyan leaned against the doorframe, watching Shen Ci’s hair get tousled as he pulled on his hoodie, feeling both helpless and amused.

Shen Ci shook his head stubbornly. “No.”

It wasn’t that he particularly liked the fast-paced, bustling office atmosphere at Chonghe, but waking up to an empty house, seeing the vacant bed beside him, and not finding Shen Shiyan made him extremely anxious.

Fortunately, he had plenty of opportunities to catch up on sleep—the passenger seat, the office break room, and Shen Shiyan’s shoulders or thighs. Shen Ci would crash and nap just about anywhere.

“Why do we have to work on Sundays?” Shen Ci leaned against the headrest, lifting his eyelids slightly to watch the heavy snow outside the car window.

Shen Shiyan flicked on the windshield wipers. “It’s not really work, just picking up two survey data reports.”

Shen Ci yawned and let out an “oh” in acknowledgment.

After coming down from Chonghe, Shen Shiyan locked the car door but didn’t drive out of the parking spot. He opened the file bag and took out a stack of difficult reports filled with various data annotations, flipping through them.

Shen Ci took a page Shen Shiyan had already read, but after just two lines, the Chinese characters seemed to come alive, darting all over the place, making him drowsy. He felt the reports were even more hypnotic than math class.

“Shen Ci.” Shen Shiyan took the page back from him and straightened it. “Besides skateboarding, is there anything else you want to learn?”

“...Hmm... Hmm...” Shen Ci mumbled, barely mustering some energy. “I don’t think so.”

His subconscious mulled over the meaning behind Shen Shiyan’s words—this seemed like a prelude to sending him to some tutoring or hobby class.

He sat up straight and turned his head to look over. “D-Daddy, do you think I’m too clingy?”

Shen Shiyan couldn’t afford to provoke the little fussy one in front of him now, since if he made him cry, he’d have to comfort him himself.

He smiled. “It’s not that I think you’re clingy, but you need your own personal space and life. You can’t just revolve around me all the time.”

Shen Ci frowned. “Why can’t I just revolve around you?”

But then he thought about it—everyone seemed busy during winter break, each with their own things to do. Leaving aside those already working, the three of them in the group chat hadn’t shared any new gossip in two days. Song Qiuchi hadn’t flown around to concerts this year but had fallen in love with bungee jumping, joining several clubs. As for Chen Bufan, he had decided last year to go to a sports school, and as soon as break started, he found a gym to work out in, spending evenings at the badminton court.

They had invited Shen Ci a few times, but he had refused, saying he was too lazy.

In truth, it was because of Shen Shiyan. He’d gotten to the point where he couldn’t sleep at all without being in Shen Shiyan’s room.

“When you were younger, you wanted to try everything,” Shen Shiyan said patiently as he drove. “Amusement parks, summer camps, skiing, rock climbing—it was much more exciting than revolving around me.”

Shen Ci had to admit Shen Shiyan was right. To put it bluntly, Shen Ci had too much free time, so he poured all his emotions onto Shen Shiyan alone.

But Shen Ci’s current state had fallen into a vicious cycle.

Without Shen Shiyan, he felt like he couldn’t do anything right, but without leaving Shen Shiyan, he could never separate himself as an individual from their tightly intertwined lives.

“Revolving around you is pretty exciting too,” Shen Ci said, his voice getting softer. “And right now, I don’t really have anything I’m passionate about learning. It’s half a month until New Year’s, and school starts after the eighth day of the first lunar month—less than a month left.”

“Mm.” Shen Shiyan didn’t elaborate further on the topic, since bringing it up was only out of concern for Shen Ci’s mental state. He loved Shen Ci, so naturally, he loved having Shen Ci revolve around him all the time—he couldn’t ask for more.

The car’s heater circulated warm air. Shen Ci cracked the window open a little, but as soon as a snowflake flew in, Shen Shiyan ruthlessly shut it.

“You’ll get sick,” Shen Shiyan said, glancing at Shen Ci’s clothes. After a moment’s thought, he turned the car around.

The “the world is exciting” argument hadn’t fully convinced Shen Ci, even though he knew it was a very sound and reasonable point.

“Alright.” Shen Ci stared at the melting snow on his fingertip. It disappeared too quickly—just as he made out the snowflake’s pattern, it vanished from his fingertip.

His thoughts traced back, from the He family daughter’s interview to Shen Shiyan saying on the first day abroad that he’d have his back, to those agonizing days and nights when Shen Shiyan went missing in the rainforest. His anxiety and dependence hadn’t happened overnight.

On the single debating point of excitement, Shen Ci felt it was too simplistic. After all, nothing could be beautiful enough to make him give up that small patch of air beside Shen Shiyan.

Still, Shen Ci decided to try distracting himself with something new. The reason? It went back to the He family daughter. Remembering the impressive resume and background he had looked up, he felt that lazing around by Shen Shiyan’s side made him utterly worthless compared to her.

He needed to become a bit more outstanding himself, to have something to fall back on in case Shen Shiyan ever broke his word and actually got married—so he could still stay by his side. Even though the chances of that “what if” were basically zero.

Lost in thought, Shen Shiyan had already parked the car in the underground garage of Jinting Luxury Center.

“There’s a year-end seminar, so it’ll be busy,” Shen Shiyan said, pocketing the car keys. “Let’s go buy your New Year’s clothes first.”

“D-Daddy.” Shen Ci got out and closed the car door. “Let me pick out some outfits for you too. Wearing black, white, and gray all the time is too dull.”

Shen Shiyan pursed his lips and nodded.

This year, Shen Shiyan ended up with three or four more shopping bags than usual. If he hadn’t strongly refused some flashy dark red and purple clothes, there would have been even more.

The clothes Shen Ci had worn there were now stuffed into Shen Shiyan’s shopping bags, replaced by a full white new Chinese-style outfit. Shen Shiyan had chosen it for him, and it made Shen Ci’s temperament seem gentle and warm. After trying it on, Shen Shiyan directly cut off the tags and didn’t let Shen Ci take it off.

Because Shen Ci had long hair, there were always inconvenient moments when eating out, so Shen Shiyan had gotten used to carrying black hair ties.

Now, Shen Ci had his hair tied in a low ponytail, with ink bamboo patterns on his white clothes. The collar’s fluff wrapped around his slender, elegant neck, and a matching long cape draped over his shoulders. As he walked, the ends of his hair swayed lightly. With his striking features, peach-blossom-shaped eyes, and light-colored pupils, he stood out conspicuously in the crowd.

A handsome young man.

Shen Shiyan watched his back, a smile in his eyes, overflowing with tenderness.

“The snow hasn’t stopped yet. How about a walk outside?” Shen Ci turned his head and winked at Shen Shiyan, deliberately putting on an old-timey tone.

Shen Shiyan was amused. He put the things back in the car and accompanied Shen Ci for a stroll in the heavy, swirling snow.

Before long, an elderly woman approached, carrying a few oil-paper umbrellas on her back. As if by fate, the heavy snow and umbrellas seemed to exist just to complement Shen Ci.

Shen Shiyan held the umbrella, watching the person beside him reach out to catch snowflakes, but didn’t stop him as he usually would.

Along the way, the shop windows reflected the two of them.

A black coat and a white cape—different styles, but they didn’t clash at all.

Shen Shiyan was a little reluctant to let this moment go.

“Excuse me, can I get a photo with you?” A crisp female voice interrupted his thoughts.

Both of them turned around. Shen Ci looked a bit confused at the girl standing in front of them, who wore a slightly apologetic expression.

“I’m really sorry to bother you,” the girl explained quickly, seeing his confusion. “I thought you were cosplaying—your back looks a lot like a character I like from a game or anime.”

Shen Ci figured he really needed to get online more.

“It’s fine,” Shen Ci smiled and said.