Zuo Ning sluggishly trailed behind Lu Chenghe, occasionally looking up at the man ahead. His brows practically knotted together in frustration as he racked his brain for a way to smooth things over. But as more and more gazes turned toward Lu Chenghe, the potential scolding he might receive later suddenly seemed unimportant. What mattered now was that he really wished he could cover Lu Chenghe’s face, to keep people from staring!
Covering his face wasn’t an option, but declaring his territory? That was something he could do. Staring at the tall, straight-backed figure walking ahead, Zuo Ning halted, curled his lips into a grin, then took a running start, jumped, and latched on!
The sudden weight on his back made Lu Chenghe instinctively steady him with his hands. He hadn’t even turned his head yet when the sound of triumphant laughter reached his ears. Taking a deep breath, he tilted his head slightly, glancing at the person clinging tightly to his back, arms wrapped around his neck. “Get down.”
Zuo Ning immediately whined, feigning weakness. “I’m so hungry. Too hungry to walk. I feel dizzy.”
Lu Chenghe scoffed. “Funny how you seemed full of energy when you were fighting earlier.”
Zuo Ning muttered a quiet protest. “He was the one who stopped me first. I wasn’t looking for trouble, but he insisted on blocking my way. I really didn’t provoke him.”
Seeing that Lu Chenghe had simply stopped walking, standing at the side of the road like a statue, Zuo Ning wriggled his legs. “Come on, move! You’re just making us a spectacle standing here.”
“Get down.”
Zuo Ning tightened his grip around Lu Chenghe’s neck. “No.”
Lu Chenghe narrowed his eyes slightly. “Do you believe I won’t throw you to the ground right now?”
Zuo Ning quickly wrapped his legs around Lu Chenghe’s waist as well, but still didn’t forget to play softly. “I really am starving. The few slices of bread I had this morning barely filled the gaps between my teeth. I’m so hungry, my head is spinning. Do you think I have low blood sugar?”
Lu Chenghe scoffed. “I think you have low intelligence.”
Zuo Ning let out an indignant huff. Seeing that Lu Chenghe wasn’t actually planning to dump him onto the pavement and was walking forward again, he loosened his hold on his waist. Resting his chin on Lu Chenghe’s shoulder, he couldn’t help but yawn. “Chenghe, don’t be mad. I won’t curse or fight anymore, I swear. I promise.”
Lu Chenghe ignored him.
Zuo Ning squirmed up a bit and tilted his head to look at Lu Chenghe’s expression.
Lu Chenghe, who had been walking, suddenly stopped again. The hand that had been supporting Zuo Ning’s legs loosened. Zuo Ning hurriedly clung to him with both hands and feet, afraid of falling off his back.
Lu Chenghe turned his head and gave him a cold glance. “If you move around again, I really will throw you on the ground.”
Zuo Ning immediately promised he wouldn’t move a muscle. This was the first time Lu Chenghe had carried him on his back. If he got thrown off in less than a minute, that would be way too humiliating.
Seeing that Lu Chenghe had resumed walking while supporting him again, Zuo Ning couldn’t help but squint his eyes with a smile. But it felt like Lu Chenghe was planning to settle the score with him once they got home. So Zuo Ning continued playing pitiful: “Don’t be mad anymore, okay? I know I was wrong. When you’re angry, it’s terrifying. Just looking at you scares me to death.”
Lu Chenghe sneered coldly, “You actually know how to be scared?”
Zuo Ning pouted. “Aren’t you always saying I’m timid and cowardly? If I’m timid, of course, I get scared. When you get mad, your face goes blank. When your face is blank, I get anxious. When I get anxious, my heart starts racing. When my heart races, I feel unwell. When I feel unwell, I get sick. And when I get sick, you feel bad.”
Lu Chenghe was so exasperated by his shameless logic that he laughed. “So basically, you mess up, admit you’re wrong, and that’s it? I’m not even allowed to be mad or scold you? Then you’ll just keep making the same mistakes next time?”
Zuo Ning wrapped his arms around Lu Chenghe’s neck and nuzzled against him. “Didn’t I already promise I won’t do it again?”
“You’re the textbook case of ‘quick to admit fault, never to change’.”
Just as Zuo Ning opened his mouth to say something, Lu Chenghe directly tossed him off. Luckily, Zuo Ning reacted fast. Otherwise, he really would’ve landed on his butt. He was just about to complain about how heartless Lu Chenghe was when he saw him pull open the car door and sit inside. Zuo Ning looked at the car, then looked at the distance that wasn’t even two minutes away, sighed helplessly, drooped his head, and followed him into the car.
As soon as Zuo Ning settled into his seat, Lu Chenghe pulled over one of his hands. Only then did Zuo Ning see that there were two not-too-long scratches on his wrist. The skin had broken and was bleeding slightly, with a bit of redness and swelling. These were injuries from his earlier scuffle with Lu Jinsheng.
Zuo Ning immediately voiced his complaint: “See how vicious your little brother is? If I didn’t fight back in self-defense, I’d have been the one getting beaten up!”
Lu Chenghe glanced at him, then took a small first aid kit from the storage compartment. He grabbed a bandage and dabbed some ointment on Zuo Ning’s wounds before sticking on the band-aid. “Don’t move around. Let it dry and it’ll be fine.”
Zuo Ning blew on the spot where the ointment had been applied and still didn’t forget to ask, “Should I go get a tetanus shot or a rabies vaccine or something? It’s bleeding, after all.”
“The one who got bitten by you is the one who needs a rabies shot.”
Zuo Ning immediately glared fiercely at Lu Chenghe. “That’s species discrimination!”
Lu Chenghe pulled the seatbelt down and buckled it for him. “What do you want to eat?”
Zuo Ning answered instinctively, “Meat!”
—Half an hour later, at the barbecue restaurant—
Zuo Ning held a pair of tongs in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other, listlessly flipping the meat on the grill. When he saw a piece that was too big, he had to cut it up.
He had insisted on eating at this barbecue place. Those high-end barbecue restaurants that made you feel like your whole savings were burned with one meal were fine for special occasions. But for a hearty, satisfying lunch, these street-style Japanese or Korean barbecue joints were way more budget-friendly.
What Zuo Ning hadn’t expected was that Lu Chenghe actually called his assistant, Qi Wei, to join them. Qi Wei was someone he was familiar with. They’d gone on business trips together before, but this seemed to be their first proper meeting in a casual setting. Even though their little two-person world now had a third-wheel lightbulb, Zuo Ning didn’t mind. Barbecue, after all, was something best enjoyed with more people.
But Lu Chenghe was ruthless. He only let Zuo Ning grill, not eat. And that Qi Wei turned out to have a huge appetite. Under Lu Chenghe’s orders, every piece of meat Zuo Ning grilled ended up in Qi Wei’s mouth, not a single bite left for him!
Putting down the tongs and rubbing his sore hands, Zuo Ning looked at Lu Chenghe with a pitiful expression. “Chenghe, my hands are sore, and I’m hungry. So hungry, my stomach’s growling.”
Lu Chenghe sipped his tea and didn’t even spare him a glance. “Keep grilling.”
Qi Wei, though not fully understanding what was going on, still smiled cheerfully as he watched them. He figured it was probably just some little lovers’ spat between the two, who knows what had sparked it. But for the boss to come up with such a punishment, it had to be something only this “Lu Ning” could provoke.
His boss, still single, had started openly feeding people dog food now. Meanwhile, Qi Wei had a whole house full of dog food, and yet only the actual dog could eat it. It was truly a sad thing.
Just when Zuo Ning was about to throw down the tongs and quit, Lu Chenghe, as if he could read his mind, swept him with a chilly glance. Zuo Ning puffed up his cheeks and stared at him indignantly for a while, but in the end, aggrievedly went back to picking up more meat.
Seeing that the boss’s tone had clearly softened a bit, Qi Wei quickly stepped in to mediate: “Boss, lunch is important. Skipping a meal might really make someone sick.”
Zuo Ning nodded rapidly in agreement, pressing a hand to his stomach. “I’m so hungry, my stomach acid’s about to bubble up.”
Lu Chenghe looked at his flushed, healthy-looking face and gave a cold snort. That little thing really knew how to play pitiful. What nonsense about just eating a few slices of bread in the morning. He’d had four slices of jam-covered toast, two sandwiches, a sausage, and a cup of milk. Then, after getting to school, he bought a jianbing guozi at the school gate. During class break, he snacked on a bag of Lu Nianqi’s chips and two boxes of chocolates. Not to mention the bottle of juice and cup of yogurt he’d brought along himself.
“From now on, no more swearing, no more fighting, understood?”
Zuo Ning immediately shook his head. “Absolutely not! I swear I won’t!”
Lu Chenghe put down his teacup. “Starting today, you’re practicing calligraphy two hours a day. Your chicken scratch is an eyesore.”
Zuo Ning’s eyes instantly widened as he stared at Lu Chenghe. He’d always written like that—his handwriting was a mess. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about practicing before. He could copy well when writing from a model book, but the moment he took the copybook away, his handwriting became completely illegible again. His dad had even told him once that his writing was already fixed and hopeless. It couldn’t be improved anymore.
Lu Chenghe raised an eyebrow. “Don’t want to? Then keep grilling. Stay hungry.”
Zuo Ning pouted in grievance. Seeing that Lu Chenghe was dead set on making him practice calligraphy, he finally drooped his head in defeat and mumbled, “Fine… I’ll do it…”
The corners of Lu Chenghe’s lips lifted slightly. “Eat.”
Just thinking about having to practice handwriting had killed Zuo Ning’s appetite, even when faced with his favorite barbecue.
That evening, when they got home, Zuo Ning saw that the desk in the room was already stacked with copybooks. The moment he saw them, he turned on his heel, ready to transform back into a dog. Lu Chenghe caught him around the waist in one swift motion. “If you dare turn back, I’ll show you what me being angry looks like.”
Zuo Ning looked up at Lu Chenghe and, seeing that he wasn’t joking at all, went completely limp in his arms. “My life is so bitter.”
Unmoved, Lu Chenghe dropped him into the chair. “Write.”
Zuo Ning looked at the copybook, then at Lu Chenghe. “What about you?”
Lu Chenghe pulled out the chair beside him. “I’ll read.”
Zuo Ning sighed, opened the copybook, picked up the fountain pen Lu Chenghe had prepared for him, and noticed it had a diamond on it. He asked, “Is this a real diamond or just for decoration?”
Lu Chenghe slapped the table. Zuo Ning immediately straightened up, adjusted his posture, and uncapped the pen to begin tracing the copybook. Still, he couldn’t resist complaining, “Lu Chenghe, I’m an adult.”
Lu Chenghe raised an eyebrow. “So?”
Zuo Ning really wanted to say, Can you stop treating me like you’re raising a son? But after a second thought, he realized he’d long grown used to this kind of dynamic between them. If they suddenly switched to another way of getting along, he couldn’t even imagine what that would look like. Then it suddenly occurred to him. Maybe ten years, twenty years from now, things would still be the same. No matter what he did, there’d be someone worrying about him, someone watching over him. That didn’t seem like such a bad thing.
So the words that had been about to leave Zuo Ning’s mouth turned into: “So can you not be so fierce with me all the time? Every time you get fierce, I get scared. Once I’m scared, I don’t dare do anything. If it goes on for too long, I’ll become insecure and timid, afraid to act freely, and I won’t accomplish anything in the future.”
Hearing his twisted logic, Lu Chenghe snorted. “Then behave yourself from now on. If you do, I won’t have any reason to be fierce with you.”
Zuo Ning casually set the pen down and pounced on Lu Chenghe, straddling his lap as he said, “You can use a more loving form of education instead, like, give me more encouragement. For example, loving kisses and hugs.”
Lu Chenghe pinched the soft flesh at his waist. “With how thick your skin is, that kind of stuff doesn’t work on you.”
Zuo Ning was ticklish. The moment Lu Chenghe’s hand touched his waist, his whole body went limp, and he collapsed onto Lu Chenghe, laughing uncontrollably.
Lu Chenghe said, “So ticklish, huh? Then if you disobey or mess up in the future, I’ll just use this trick on you.”
Zuo Ning froze on the spot, his face collapsing in a grimace as he looked at Lu Chenghe. That’s not fair at all!
Later that night, Lu Chenghe tidied up the desk that had been messed up by Little Pudding and organized the scattered items. As for the little troublemaker himself, he was already fast asleep on the bed, snoring softly.
Lu Chenghe quietly got into bed. The little one instinctively snuggled closer, stubbornly insisting on squeezing into his arms, not even minding the heat.
Lu Chenghe smoothed his hair. Seeing that his skin was dry and not sweaty, he gently wrapped an arm around him. He brushed his fingers lightly over the now-depuffed but still slightly red marks. Looking at that little face that only looked particularly well-behaved and angelic when asleep, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, then held him close and drifted off to sleep.
