🍒 Chapter 46: Extra 1
In the morning, Shen Shuyi woke up in bed and reached out to touch the space beside him. It was already empty.
Ever since Xie Chenzhou learned how to cook, he had become exceptionally disciplined. Without fail, he would get up before Shen Shuyi left for work and prepare breakfast for their family of three.
Among the three of them, Shen Shuyi started work the earliest. Xie Chenzhou and Shen Yuechu had slightly later class times. Usually, after breakfast, Xie Chenzhou would personally drive Shen Shuyi to the hospital, then take Shen Yuechu to school, before heading to his own company.
Today, Shen Shuyi had a lecture and needed to arrive at the hospital earlier than usual. By the time he woke up, it was already late. He hurried out of bed and rushed into the bathroom to wash up. With his toothbrush still in his mouth, he suddenly remembered that he had not had time to pick out clothes the night before. He quickly ran out toward the walk-in wardrobe.
Inside, a neat and elegant grey suit hung quietly on the central display rack. Xie Chenzhou had even selected the shirt, tie, and brooch to go with it, stacking everything neatly to one side.
It was obvious that the suit had already been pressed. Every line was smooth, without a single wrinkle.
Xie Chenzhou was always this thoughtful.
Sometimes Shen Shuyi worried whether this was another manifestation of his controlling tendencies, but Xie Chenzhou said that Enigmas were naturally high-energy people. If they did not have something to do every day, they would feel restless instead.
After thinking about it, Shen Shuyi felt that what he said made a lot of sense.
Now Xie Chenzhou had taken over a large part of the household staff’s work, leaving Uncle Qian effectively unemployed.
But Uncle Qian was already old and had reached retirement age anyway. Xie Chenzhou gave him a sum of money and sent him back to his hometown to rest.
The person who was most upset about Uncle Qian leaving was Shen Yuechu.
When he had just returned to the country, Uncle Qian had been the one accompanying him at the Xie residence. A child’s world could not handle major changes. Every person who treated him well leaving his side was a heavy blow to him. On top of that, Shen Shuyi had been unable to accompany him for an entire year the previous year, which only deepened Shen Shuyi’s sense of guilt.
During the first month after returning to the country, Shen Shuyi did not rush to go back to work. With his qualifications and ability, he was not worried about finding a job. Instead, he deliberately freed up time to accompany Shen Yuechu and help him with his studies.
What he did not expect was that Shen Yuechu, despite being an Omega at such a young age, actually showed the potential of a poor student. It took less than a month for things to go from a loving father and obedient son to complete chaos.
Shen Shuyi could not understand it. With so many excellent genes in the Shen family, how had the child ended up inheriting only his?
Put another way, inheriting his big father’s intelligence would have been fine too.
Later, when Shen Shuyi returned to work, Xie Chenzhou simply took over tutoring Shen Yuechu with his homework.
No one knew how Xie Chenzhou taught him, but at least it did not turn the house upside down like when Shen Shuyi tried. Things returned to being harmonious again.
After washing up and changing clothes, Shen Shuyi went downstairs. Xie Chenzhou had already finished making breakfast.
The buttons on this suit were a bit difficult to fasten. Shen Shuyi left his jacket open, only buttoning his shirt halfway, and went to find Xie Chenzhou, who had just come out of the kitchen.
Xie Chenzhou set down the bowl and chopsticks in his hands, had Shen Shuyi stand in front of him, and lowered his head to button his clothes for him.
Shen Yuechu came downstairs just then, wearing little bear slippers. He yawned, rubbed his eyes, and complained, “Daddy still doesn’t know how to dress himself. Every time he makes Big Daddy help him. Chu Chu doesn’t need anyone to help him get dressed anymore!”
Shen Shuyi flushed slightly. After Xie Chenzhou finished buttoning him up, he turned to Shen Yuechu and said, “Daddy has an important lecture today, so I need to dress more formally. Tomorrow when I go to work, I won’t need Big Daddy’s help.”
Shen Yuechu snorted. “I don’t believe you!” He started counting on his fingers. “The day before yesterday, Daddy’s clothes were also put on by Big Daddy. And last night, I came out of my room to get water and saw Big Daddy carrying Daddy to the toilet… mmph mmph…”
Shen Shuyi hurried over and covered Shen Yuechu’s mouth. “Children shouldn’t talk about things like that!”
He was so embarrassed he almost wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.
He had said the bedroom door needed to be closed. How could this kind of thing be seen by a child?
Shen Shuyi glanced back at Xie Chenzhou.
Xie Chenzhou looked calm and indifferent, as if the person they were talking about was not him at all.
“Eat,” Xie Chenzhou said.
At once, both Shen Yuechu and Shen Shuyi obediently sat down at the dining table.
Shen Shuyi’s waist still hurt a little.
He had planned to restrain himself last night because of today’s lecture, but his self-control really could not compare to Xie Chenzhou’s.
After the first round, Shen Shuyi saw how hard Xie Chenzhou was enduring it, how he had not found any release yet did not say a word. Shen Shuyi worried that bottling it up would cause problems again. On top of that, he truly had no resistance to Xie Chenzhou. Even with his waist already sore, he could not help but cling to him again.
In the end, Shen Shuyi alone was so exhausted that he did not even have the strength to go to the bathroom.
He really could not keep doing this. Shen Shuyi warned himself. At this rate, he would actually die in bed one day.
Thankfully, Xie Chenzhou was meticulous. Before going to sleep last night, he not only cleaned him up but also gave him a simple waist massage.
Otherwise, Shen Shuyi might not even have been able to walk today.
Xie Chenzhou had added a soft cushion to Shen Shuyi’s chair. Shen Shuyi took a bite of the shredded chicken wontons that Xie Chenzhou had made using chicken soup he had started simmering a day in advance.
They were so delicious he nearly cried.
He could not help but give Xie Chenzhou a thumbs-up.
After breakfast, the family of three set off for their respective destinations.
After the lecture ended, Shen Shuyi came out of the conference hall and was about to go on duty when he received a call from Shen Shuhan.
Shen Shuhan had been even busier these past few years, touring all over the country with concerts. He had not returned to H City in a long time. Shen Shuyi had heard that this concert was being held in a neighbouring city and had originally wanted to go, but he could not get tickets at all.
“I have a concert the day after tomorrow. I sent three tickets to your phone. Come if you want. If you don’t, have Xie Chenzhou bring my nephew instead. He’s been yelling about wanting to see my concert for ages. Honestly, what kind of father are you? You’re not attentive at all. It’s seriously affecting my relationship with my nephew!”
Shen Shuyi could hear the dissatisfaction in Shen Shuhan’s voice and laughed. “I did want to go, but I couldn’t get tickets. And Chu Chu has midterms coming up, so I didn’t want to affect his studies. You’ll definitely come back to H City for concerts again anyway, right? No need to rush this time.”
“Coming back to H City will be months from now. I miss my little nephew. I can’t wait even a moment. Are you coming or not?”
“You’re giving me such short notice. I was planning to arrange things in advance if I got tickets. Now I need to check the duty roster… I’ll also ask Chenzhou if he’s free.”
“It doesn’t take that long. You can leave work early, drive over, even come back the same day. I’m not talking anymore. I’m going to rehearsal. If you’re coming, remember to message me in advance.”
With that, Shen Shuhan hung up.
These past two years, his eldest brother had gotten married, to an Alpha off-road racing driver. Their father retired and handed the Shen family business entirely over to the eldest brother.
The eldest brother was capable and reserved. Perhaps because his married life was going well, when Shen Yuechu returned to the country, he even asked Second Sister to send many gifts. Now Shen Yuechu’s relationship with both his eldest uncle and second aunt was unexpectedly good.
Instead, after retiring, Shen Father somehow divorced Ye Mingxi. The two had a huge argument before the divorce, and afterward Ye Mingxi left with Shen Xingyao.
Without a wife and his youngest son, Shen Father seemed to have a sudden awakening of conscience and regained a little fatherly affection. He began to show concern for Shen Yuechu from time to time. Shen Shuyi did not know whether this concern was truly out of blood ties or simply because Shen Yuechu was Xie Chenzhou’s child.
In any case, Shen Yuechu was a perceptive child. Once, he secretly told Shen Shuyi that among the Shen family, his favourite was Third Uncle, followed by Second Aunt and Eldest Uncle. He did not really like his grandfather.
After a few failed attempts to get close, Shen Father lost interest. With declining energy, no role in the company, a distant child, and no wife, he stopped caring altogether and went travelling alone.
Second Sister was still the same.
As an Alpha, she was also part of the high-energy group. At her age, there were still plenty of Omegas pursuing her, but she seemed to have made up her mind to devote all her energy to scientific research. She became even more elusive. Shen Shuyi had not seen her for a long time.
Shen Shuhan, too, was fully immersed in his concerts. At his current state and level of achievement, marriage would instead be a shackle to his development. Shen Shuyi felt that, just as Shen Shuhan said, no one had the right to dictate how someone should live. Even as an Omega, one could live freely and unrestrained forever.
He did not even mind Shen Yuechu taking his uncle as a role model, as long as the child lived his life boldly.
It turned out that Shen Yuechu really did love Third Uncle very much. When Shen Shuyi returned to his office and checked the duty roster, he found that he could temporarily swap shifts with a colleague. He asked Xie Chenzhou as well, and Xie Chenzhou said it was no problem and that they could go together.
That evening, after Shen Shuyi got home from work, he told Shen Yuechu about it while the child was doing homework in his room.
“That’s great!” Shen Yuechu jumped three feet into the air. “I can go see Uncle’s concert!”
Someone had to play the strict parent when Xie Chenzhou played the gentle one. Shen Shuyi deliberately put on a serious expression and reminded him, “You can go to the concert, but you must finish your homework. I haven’t checked your work in a long time. Final exams are coming up soon. How’s your revision going?”
As he spoke, Shen Shuyi thought to himself that he had ultimately become the kind of parent children disliked.
Forget it. He was just asking casually. He should not make things hard for the child. No matter how Shen Yuechu answered, he planned to quickly move past the topic.
If Shen Yuechu said he had revised well, he would praise him. If he said he had not, he would encourage him.
Unexpectedly, Shen Yuechu did not follow the script at all. As soon as he heard the question, he started hesitating and stammering.
Shen Shuyi’s temple twitched. He had a feeling that tonight might not be harmonious after all.
Every time Shen Yuechu showed this expression, it meant something had definitely happened at school.
The contact number Shen Yuechu had left at school was Xie Chenzhou’s. He knew that no matter what trouble he got into, Big Daddy would not make things difficult for him. So whenever something happened at school, Shen Shuyi always had Xie Chenzhou handle it. He was more than happy to be a hands-off parent.
When it came to children, he really did not have as much patience as Xie Chenzhou. He could barely even remember what his younger self, once praised for being emotionally stable, had been like anymore.
TRANSLATOR NOTE:
Thank you so much for being patient with me 😓 Sorry it took so long to post the extras. I may or may not be a professional procrastinator, so things got delayed more than planned 😣
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