A cool sensation touched Ji Wei’s waist as the man’s hand slipped under his thin clothes, his fingertips tracing a path from his spine down to his tailbone.

    He trembled uncontrollably, but Lu Shenxing’s other hand held the back of his head, preventing him from escaping his control.

    Ji Wei could only let the cream melt in his warm mouth, forced to swallow. He didn’t dare to look the man in the eye. He closed his own, his thick lashes trembling, utterly shy.

    Just when he thought the kiss was about to end, Lu Shenxing’s kisses fell on his cheeks, his neck… By the end, he felt like he was covered in love bites.

    Suddenly, the doorbell rang again.

    Ji Wei broke free from Lu Shenxing’s embrace and walked toward the door. Before opening it, he guiltily checked his clothes in the mirror.

    His idol seemed to have a particular fondness for his collarbone; the red marks were especially obvious. He pulled his collar up high.

    “Who is he?”

    Ji Wei stared at the monitor. The visitor was a man in his forties with a refined appearance, faintly resembling Lu Shenxing. A thin layer of frost seemed to cling to his brows.

    Lu Shenxing wheeled himself over, glanced up at the screen, and said flatly, “Oh, Lu Ji.”

    “Lu Ji… who’s that?”

    A guess formed in Ji Wei’s mind.

    “My dad.”

    Lu Shenxing said, raising his eyes without a trace of emotion.

    Ji Wei was dumbfounded.

    He was going to meet the parents?

    Ji Wei was completely unprepared and incredibly nervous. His hand trembled as he pressed the open button, while his idol merely frowned slightly.

    How could his idol be so calm!

    ***

    Lu Ji had been frowning ever since he entered the residential complex. His assistant followed beside him, feeling extremely anxious.

    Based on past experience, this visit would also end in an argument. The only difference was whether it would last half an hour or a full hour.

    He didn’t understand it either. Chairman Lu was a master of the business world, having returned from his studies in England at twenty-one to save the teetering Lu Corporation during a financial crisis. How could he find it so difficult to get along with his own son?

    It wasn’t just him; the Lu family’s WeChat group was also filled with worry.

    [Why is Lu Ji going? He’s so fierce, he’ll definitely ruin our image.]

    [Ooh~ You dare to call him by his name? Don’t you want your allowance anymore?]

    [Fine, ‘Brother’ it is. Please, don’t be fierce.]

    Lu Ji looked at the messages, his tightly knitted brows relaxing slightly. He tried to pull the corners of his mouth into a smile, but because he wasn’t used to the expression, his facial muscles stiffened, making him look even more ferocious.

    His assistant was so scared he didn’t dare say a word.

    Ji Wei sat in the living room, a bundle of nerves. With a ding, the elevator doors opened.

    Lu Ji had arrived. He was 1.85 meters tall, dressed in an exquisitely tailored handmade suit, and stepped into the living room accompanied by his assistant.

    Swoosh—

    Ji Wei shot up from the sofa, walked up to Lu Ji, and bowed. “Hello, sir.” He had originally wanted to say “Hello, Dad,” to be more intimate, but looking at Lu Ji’s face, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

    Lu Ji glanced at him and nodded.

    Ji Wei thought that when Lu Shenxing wasn’t smiling, he must resemble his father. His features were cold and sharp, making people afraid to approach.

    Lu Ji sat down on the sofa, his gaze falling on Lu Shenxing’s legs. He frowned. “Will you only be satisfied when you’ve died in the entertainment industry?”

    The originally somewhat friendly atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point.

    What shocked Ji Wei even more was the assistant’s completely unfazed expression. Just how bad was this father-son relationship usually?

    Ji Wei explained, “He was trying to save me on the show…”

    “I wasn’t asking you,” Lu Ji interrupted him coldly.

    Ji Wei was speechless.

    Lu Shenxing quietly pulled Ji Wei to his side. After a pause, he said faintly, “Is it interesting to say the same things every time we meet?”

    Standing next to Lu Shenxing, Ji Wei felt the atmosphere become even more oppressive, as if they were about to start shouting at any second. He tried to defuse the explosive tension.

    “Teacher Shen Shizhai’s paintings are currently on display at the Yan City Art Museum. It’s a rare opportunity. I was wondering if you might be interested in taking a look?”

    Shen Shizhai was a contemporary painter as famous as Old Sir Ma Liqing. His artistic style was more classical and was particularly favored by Chinese entrepreneurs. His paintings could fetch up to ten million at auction, and Ji Wei had only ever seen them in art books.

    Lu Ji shook his head.

    Ji Wei coughed lightly. It seemed Lu Ji wasn’t interested in Shen Shizhai. Just as he was about to find another topic, Lu Ji spoke. “We have his paintings at home.” After he finished, the living room fell silent again.

    Lu Ji was truly a man who brought silence with him. He sat quietly for a while, spending most of the time looking out the window, then stood up from the sofa. “I’m going back to the company.”

    Ji Wei quickly got up to see him off, but Lu Shenxing remained motionless, sitting with his back to the floor-to-ceiling window. The backlight made it impossible to read his expression.

    Lu Ji looked at his assistant, who understood and took a document out of his briefcase. “These are Chairman Lu’s wedding gifts for you.”

    “Thank you.” Ji Wei reached out and took it, thinking it was a congratulatory letter or something similar. He didn’t expect it to be a long list of world-famous paintings.

    Was this to urge him to study hard?

    Ji Wei guessed at Lu Ji’s meaning. He had never seen most of them in person because they were simply too expensive. Even high-definition prints were astonishingly pricey.

    “These paintings will be airlifted over soon,” the assistant said, bowing his head.

    Ji Wei was so surprised he was at a loss for words. This was the most valuable gift he had ever received.

    Many of the artworks couldn’t be bought with just money; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they were priceless. He struggled to speak. “Thank you for your kindness, but I can’t accept…”

    Unexpectedly, Lu Ji’s brow furrowed. “I’m not asking for your opinion. I’m informing you.”

    Ji Wei was speechless.

    The assistant continued, “Chairman Lu said this house is too plain. If you’re willing, I will contact a construction company to convert the remaining four floors into an exhibition room, a gym, a walk-in closet…”

    Ji Wei demurred, “There’s no need to go to such trouble.”

    The assistant quickly denied it. “It’s no trouble at all. Besides, the house needs to be equipped with a butler, servants, a chef, and so on. How can people live on the lower floors if they aren’t renovated?”

    Lu Ji nodded slightly.

    Ji Wei was speechless.

    He realized that compared to Lu Ji, his idol was far too approachable. No, that wasn’t right. His idol simply didn’t like having people around and didn’t even want to hire an assistant, just calling Ying Guanxiao when he needed something.

    After Ji Wei repeatedly declined, Lu Ji finally gave up on the idea of a full-scale renovation but kept the plans for a collection room and an art studio.

    Before leaving, he asked in a cold tone, “Participating in a variety show every week, can you keep up with your studies?”

    Before Ji Wei could answer, he asked again, “Do you need me to donate a building?”

    Ji Wei fell silent again, having no energy left to be shocked.

    Were all rich people this simple and crude? Money seemed to be just a number in his eyes. If Lu Ji visited a few more times, his heart wouldn’t be able to take it.

    He quickly shook his head. “I can keep up.”

    The assistant didn’t miss the change in Ji Wei’s expression. He could understand, really.

    He had been with Chairman Lu for nearly thirty years. Donating buildings was a routine operation for Chairman Lu.

    Chairman Lu was older than his two younger brothers. Back then, he had just returned to the country after his father’s death and wasn’t used to the local drinking culture. He drank until he had a gastric hemorrhage. When Lu Qi was failing every class at Stanford and was on the verge of not graduating, he directly donated two buildings, and Lu Qi successfully graduated.

    It seemed Chairman Lu had given all the patience he had in this life to Mrs. Lu and his two younger brothers, while being incredibly harsh with his own son.

    Lu Shenxing attended elementary school in the country, and Chairman Lu never once visited his school. On Lu Shenxing’s graduation day, Chairman Lu finally agreed to attend his graduation speech, and he was ecstatic.

    An eleven-year-old boy, wearing a small suit and a bow tie, waited from the beginning of the ceremony until the end, but Chairman Lu never showed up.

    The assistant sighed.

    The elevator doors opened.

    Before stepping into the elevator, Lu Ji turned and sternly instructed Lu Shenxing, “He’s young, but you’re not. You need to exercise restraint.”

    Lu Shenxing ignored him.

    But Ji Wei stiffened at those words. He turned his head and glanced at his reflection in the full-length mirror. Perhaps his clothes had slipped down when he stood up, revealing the love bites.

    Being advised by an elder to exercise restraint was just too embarrassing…

    His face flushed red, and the blush didn’t fade even after Lu Ji left. He walked back to the sofa and sat down, looking at Lu Shenxing and asking in a small voice, “I left a really bad impression on your father, didn’t I?”

    Lu Shenxing chuckled lightly. “If he had a bad impression, he wouldn’t have given you anything.”

    Although they weren’t worth much, they were all from Lu Ji’s private collection over the years.

    Ji Wei thought Lu Shenxing was just comforting him and nodded solemnly.

    He remembered the unpleasant conversation between Lu Ji and his idol earlier and tentatively probed, “You and your father don’t have a good relationship, do you?”

    Lu Shenxing didn’t speak.

    Ji Wei regretted asking as soon as the words left his mouth. He seemed to have misspoken. His idol had never mentioned his family to him, which probably meant he didn’t want him to know. Perhaps their family relationships were complicated.

    Lu Shenxing sat by the window, the dazzling light outlining his well-defined face. His eyes were dark, and when he wasn’t smiling, he looked exceptionally cold.

    He suddenly spoke. “He doesn’t like me acting.”

    Ji Wei was taken aback for a moment before realizing he was talking about Lu Ji.

    “And I don’t like him working. When I was little, I used to hope he would pay more attention to me. Now, we don’t see each other,” the man said, pausing for a moment. “It’s for the best.”

    Lu Shenxing’s tone was light, but Ji Wei felt a strange pang of sadness. He subconsciously reached out and took Lu Shenxing’s hand, gently—

    When he realized what he was doing, he abruptly pulled back, but the man gripped his hand tightly in return.

    He didn’t let go.

    The touch of their hands was incredibly real.

    The tips of Ji Wei’s ears quietly turned red.

    He wasn’t a very emotional person himself, but if his idol didn’t mind, he was willing to give all of his limited emotions to him.

    ***

    That evening, Ji Wei went to a nearby mall and bought a new set of bedding. In fact, even if Lu Ji hadn’t said anything, he still felt that young people should be a bit more moderate.

    Now that Lu Ji had said it, he felt even more embarrassed and was determined to distance himself from immoderation.

    After buying the items, he went to the adjacent room to make the bed. At first, he was afraid Lu Shenxing would overthink it and assume he had a problem with him, but he was genuinely doing it for the sake of both their well-being.

    But Lu Shenxing seemed to have no objection to his actions and even proactively asked if he needed help.

    Ji Wei waved his hands and quickly said, “No need.”

    His idol had limited mobility, after all. If he still needed his idol’s help, he would be a terrible person. Besides, it wasn’t much trouble.

    After washing up, he lay down on the bed.

    Sleeping alone for the first time in a while, he felt very relaxed.

    His energy for filming the variety show tomorrow should be great.

    Every weekend, when he woke up the next day, his body would be covered in marks left by Lu Shenxing. He would always feel listless and even have to wear high-collared shirts.

    He contentedly turned off the light.

    He pulled the covers over himself.

    He looked forward to sweet dreams.

    But he had insomnia…

    He really hated this habit of his—he could never sleep well in an unfamiliar bed.

    Now he was done for.

    Forget about being in good shape tomorrow; he would probably have to film the show with two dark circles under his eyes. Sigh. The young man couldn’t help but feel a little worried.

    He actually wanted to go back to Lu Shenxing’s room to sleep, but he had made such a big deal of buying new sheets and covers today. To go back after not even one night was a bit… hard to bring up.

    He tossed and turned.

    Suddenly, his phone vibrated.

    He answered the call.

    His idol’s slightly sleepy voice came through. “Can’t sleep.”

    His idol had insomnia too?

    Ji Wei asked worriedly, “Is it because you drank tea today, or is something on your mind?”

    His idol seemed to just want to vent, hanging up without answering. Now Ji Wei was even more awake, more worried about him than about his own sleeplessness.

    He might as well count sheep.

    He closed his eyes and started counting.

    One…

    Two…

    One hundred and thirty…

    Suddenly, he heard the sound of a wheelchair in the room, followed by a cool, grassy scent appearing beside him.

    He opened his eyes. Lu Shenxing was lying next to him, naturally pulling him into his arms. Ji Wei’s body couldn’t help but stiffen. The next second—

    He heard the man say in a low voice, “Now you can sleep.”

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