Chapter 113 Shen Ci, Are You Behaving?

Chapter 113: Shen Ci, Are You Being Good?

Shen Ci felt like he was back in his school days, being taken care of down to the smallest detail.

Holding the well-fed and content little bun, he watched Shen Shiyan, who was wrapped in a bath towel, change the bed linens and run a mite vacuum over the sheets.

"Shen Ci." Shen Shiyan turned off the mite vacuum. "Stop staring at me."

Shen Ci pinched the little bun's cool ears. "Why not? I used to stare at you all the time back then."

He said it with perfect justification. Shen Shiyan got up, put the tool back in the closet, and hugged him from behind, his voice low: "That's why I used to take cold showers all the time back then."

Shen Ci pushed him away with his elbow, set the little bun down on the bed, and went to take a shower without a word.

He hadn't had a full night's sleep in almost a week. After his shower, he automatically called Shen Shiyan over and shoved the hairdryer into his hand.

Shen Shiyan ran his fingers through Shen Ci's hair, gently parting the strands as the hot air hit his scalp. Shen Ci was so drowsy he could barely stand, leaning back into Shen Shiyan several times.

Once his hair was dry, light and fluffy, Shen Ci's consciousness grew foggy. He closed his eyes, too tired to even walk.

Shen Shiyan put the hairdryer away, supporting him with one hand while the other slid under the crook of his knee, picking him up and placing him on the bed, then tucking him in.

He wasn't in a hurry to sleep. He just sat by the bed, looking at Shen Ci, poking his cheek, then pinching his finger.

However he looked at him, he was adorable. However he looked, Shen Shiyan adored him.

"Daddy..." Annoyed by his fussing, Shen Ci grabbed Shen Shiyan's hand, frowning and mumbling, "I'm so sleepy."

His voice had a drowsy, blurry edge, so soft Shen Shiyan wanted to gobble him up like a sweet glutinous rice ball.

"So you still remember I'm your daddy." Shen Shiyan's eyes softened with tenderness. He leaned down and pecked Shen Ci's forehead, then lay down beside him and pulled him into his arms.

Just like when he was a child, Shen Ci automatically wrapped himself around Shen Shiyan, clinging tightly to his waist with his head buried in the crook of Shen Shiyan's shoulder.

It was the best night's sleep he'd had in four years.

He even had an incredibly beautiful dream.

He dreamed of Zhong Yurong. Over the years, he had only dreamed of her once before. In that dream, the scene was when Zhong Yurong was seeing a doctor at the hospital, and he was holding the IV tube. She took it from his hand, patted his head, smiled, and told him not to dwell on it—that none of it was his fault.

When he woke up, his pillow was cold and wet.

This time was much happier. Zhong Yurong wore that green dress, radiant in the summer sun. She placed Shen Ci's hand into Shen Shiyan's, patted his head again, and wished them happiness.

Shen Ci felt that her smile in the dream was brighter than the sun itself.

This time, he shed only one tear, and Shen Shiyan, lying beside him, gently wiped it away.

Shen Shiyan didn't fall asleep until late at night. He was woken at nine by his phone vibrating—a call from Shen Sicheng.

Afraid of waking the other person, he hung up, carefully slid his arm out from under the sleeping Shen Ci's neck, tiptoed out of the bedroom, and closed the door.

Just as he reached the living room to call back, the electronic lock at the entrance buzzed open.

He frowned, got up, and walked over.

"What terrible weather!" Shen Sicheng complained as he walked in. Turning and seeing Shen Shiyan standing upright, he jumped back, nearly leaping out of the house.

"Fuck!" Shen Sicheng patted his chest. "You're home, and you don't answer your damn phone! You scared the shit out of me."

"I told you to keep it down." Shen Shiyan glanced at Shen Sicheng's half-wet clothes. "Breaking into my house in broad daylight?"

"Get lost." Shen Sicheng grabbed a pair of slippers from the gap under the cabinet and put them on. "I rushed back overnight. If you'd answered the phone, I wouldn't have had to barge in like this!"

He tossed his crossbody bag onto the sofa and sat down, his voice automatically rising. "Seriously, is either you or your little ancestor any less trouble? From last night until now—texts unanswered, calls unanswered—no reply to anything! You'd think you were both on a plane with airplane mode on..."

"Keep your voice down." Shen Shiyan cut him off.

"The hell I will!" Shen Sicheng wanted to seal him in a wall with cement. He spoke rapidly: "You've got someone here? And you still say keep it down? Your little ancestor's gone silent, and you say keep it down? It was your lousy idea to trick him into marriage..."

The master bedroom door was abruptly pushed open.

"Brother Sicheng..." Shen Ci rubbed at his eyes, standing at the doorway.

Shen Sicheng: "?"

"Xiao Ci Baby!?" Shen Sicheng shot up, eyes wide. "What are you doing here? And coming out of his room? Why aren't you answering my calls?"

A barrage of questions. Then, realizing something, he looked at Shen Shiyan in shock and swore, "Shen Shiyan, are you even human? You, you, you..."

"I told you to keep it down." Shen Shiyan didn't look at Shen Sicheng. He walked straight to the bedroom, grabbed a blanket, and draped it over Shen Ci's shoulders. His tone was gentle. "It's rainy and cold these days. Don't catch a cold. Still sleepy?"

Shen Ci shook his head, walked over to Shen Sicheng wrapped in the blanket, and said apologetically, "I didn't notice my phone was off last night. Sorry for worrying you, Brother Sicheng."

Shen Sicheng looked like he'd seen a ghost, then glanced back at Shen Shiyan returning to the master bedroom.

When Shen Shiyan came out again, he had two pieces of clothing in his hands. He balled them up and tossed them to Shen Sicheng. "They might be a bit big, but make do."

"I'm not that much shorter than you." Shen Sicheng caught them, then glanced at the clearly exhausted Shen Ci beside him and cursed at Shen Shiyan again. "You're an animal?! You trick him into sleeping with you right after he gets back? My little Xiao Ci Baby is so well-behaved..."

"Trick him?" Shen Shiyan leaned against the doorframe, raised an eyebrow, and gave Shen Ci a meaningful smile. "Shen Ci, you tell me—are you being good?"

Shen Ci shot him a glare, pretended not to hear, and pushed the cursing Shen Sicheng toward the second bedroom to change clothes.

As the bedroom door clicked shut, Shen Ci stomped hard on Shen Shiyan's foot.

Shen Shiyan winced in pain but didn't get angry. He looked down at Shen Ci's vivid, indignant expression, leaned in, and quickly bit Shen Ci's puffed cheek.

"Adorable... Ow."

Shen Ci stomped on him again, stripped off the blanket, threw it at Shen Shiyan, and went to the bathroom to wash up.

Shen Shiyan was in a good mood after being reunited with what he had lost. He went to the kitchen to wash his hands and cook. As he was washing the rice, Shen Sicheng came in from the second bedroom, opened the fridge, and grabbed a bottle of cold water.

"Really patched things up?" He twisted off the cap and took a couple of gulps, shivering from the cold. "You didn't force little Xiao Ci Baby, did you..."

"Do I look like that kind of person?" Shen Shiyan placed the rice cooker's inner pot in, pressed the cook button.

"Otherwise? You think you're something good?" Shen Sicheng poked Shen Shiyan's back with the water bottle. "Thirty like a wolf, forty like a tiger, you know that? My little Xiao Ci Baby is so well-behaved. Isn't coming to your place like walking into a wolf's den?"

Shen Shiyan set down the cutting board, picked up the kitchen knife, and stared at Shen Sicheng. "I'm twenty-nine."

"Almost ten years of secret love, now you're back together after a breakup." Shen Sicheng threw the water back into the fridge. "Twenty-nine or forty—no difference to you."

"Still better than you chasing someone at thirty-one and not catching them." Shen Shiyan stopped chopping, glanced at him sideways. "Assistant Qi is now President Qi."

Shen Sicheng was grinding his teeth in frustration.