Suddenly, a big, warm hand pressed gently over his stomach, separated only by the thin fabric of his shirt.
In an instant, the stabbing pain seemed to vanish.
Shen Yu asked, “Feeling better?”
Lin Hao: “...”
With his right hand, Shen Yu picked up his phone and dialed a number.
A sweet female voice answered on the other end, “President Shen.”
Lin Hao heard every word, and his stomach started to hurt again. He bared his teeth and tried to slap Shen Yu’s hand away.
“Don’t move,” Shen Yu said softly, covering the phone with his hand.
Lin Hao was a man of pride, not to be humiliated—he refused to give in.
Shen Yu spoke into the phone, “Prepare a bowl of millet porridge for me, with a small dish of sugar on the side. I’ll add it myself. And some easy-to-digest pastries...”
Lin Hao perked up his ears, listening intently. The more he listened, the more he scoffed, “She sounds like such a sweetheart, and you’re bossing her around like that?”
Shen Yu’s face immediately turned frosty. “Shut up.”
Lin Hao’s stomach hurt too much to bother arguing.
Soon, the food arrived. Lin Hao craned his neck to see who brought it, and when he saw it was a man, he pouted in disappointment.
Shen Yu noticed, and his lips pressed into an even thinner line.
Lin Hao stood up. “This millet porridge looks pretty good...” He’d never liked porridge as a kid; the only kind he could stomach was millet, and it had to be just a little sweet—not too much, just enough for a hint of flavor.
Shen Yu glanced at Lin Hao’s pale face, pushing down the storm of emotions swirling in his chest.
You can’t eat with sunglasses on, Lin Hao thought. Besides, Shen Yu had already seen his panda eyes—no point hiding anymore.
He took off his glasses and said, “Don’t get the wrong idea. My dad didn’t give me this black eye.”
Shen Yu didn’t look at him, just carefully ladled the porridge into a bowl.
No way Lin Hao would let Shen Yu know he’d been smacked and forced to come to Shen Corporation!
Lin Hao’s eyes darted around, and he came up with a particularly cool excuse.
He sighed dramatically, “So, I was with Xiaoqing last night—you know her, right? The beauty from the other night. We were at a bar, and I just stepped away to the bathroom for a second, and someone started hitting on her. How could I let that slide? I went over and punched the guy, but turns out he was a trained fighter, and then...”
Crash! The thin porcelain bowl slipped from Shen Yu’s hand and shattered on the marble floor.
Lin Hao jumped. “What the heck! You’re so tall and you can’t even hold a bowl of porridge?”
Shen Yu’s eyes darkened. “You’re hungover. That’s why your stomach hurts.”
Lin Hao hadn’t actually drunk any alcohol last night... but according to his story, he’d been totally wasted, so he quickly nodded, “Of course!”
Shen Yu’s expression grew even colder. He stepped right over the mess on the floor and closed in on Lin Hao. “You’ve really grown up, huh? Fighting over a woman now?”
Lin Hao felt a little intimidated, but he held his head high, panda eyes and all. “A man’s gotta protect the woman he likes...”
Shen Yu’s face was like a block of ice. “You like her?”
Lin Hao’s heart skipped a beat. “What else?”
Shen Yu was so angry he actually laughed. “Good. Very good.”
It wasn’t until Shen Yu had been gone for a while that Lin Hao finally relaxed.
The millet porridge was stone cold, the room was a disaster, his eyes hurt, his stomach hurt—he couldn’t have been more miserable.
He slumped over the desk, thinking about the past, and suddenly felt so wronged he could cry.
Back in kindergarten, when Shen Yu got bullied, Lin Hao beat those kids so hard they ran home crying.
In elementary school, when Shen Yu’s homework got stolen as a prank, Lin Hao searched the whole school and nearly ended up swimming with the fish before he finally fished out the backpack.
In middle school, when some jerks mistook Shen Yu for a girl and harassed him, Lin Hao rounded up his buddies and beat those punks until they were bawling for their moms.
In high school... Lin Hao couldn’t even think about it.
He just didn’t get it. They’d been so close as kids—so why did things turn out like this when they grew up?
For the next two days, Lin Hao didn’t see Shen Yu at all.
Just like he said, Shen Corporation was big—so big that Lin Hao could wander all day and never run into anyone he didn’t want to see.
By the third day, Lin Hao was so bored he was about to start sprouting grass out of his head!
Up at seven, stuck in traffic for an hour just to get to this godforsaken place; couldn’t smoke wherever he wanted, and if he went to the smoking room, he got stared at like a zoo animal; couldn’t be late, couldn’t leave early—his dad was watching him like a hawk; and everyone around him was a dude. Forget pretty girls—there wasn’t even a female under fifty in sight!
He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to break out!
Just as he was about to make his daring escape, the door swung open by itself.
In walked his gentle, beautiful mom—and the traitorous Shen Yu.
Lin Hao’s heart skipped a beat.
Mrs. Lin smiled at Shen Yu, “Haohao hasn’t given you any trouble, has he?”
Shen Yu, ever the darling of the older generation, replied warmly, “I heard from Xiao Zhang that Lin Hao’s been doing a great job.”
Mrs. Lin knew her son too well—she could tell Shen Yu was just being polite.
She turned to Lin Hao. “Your eye still hasn’t healed?”
Lin Hao tensed up, starting to panic.
Mrs. Lin casually sold him out, “Your dad, honestly. He knew you were starting work and still hit you in the face.”
Lin Hao: “!!!” Mom, please stop talking, please!
Mrs. Lin went on, “Shen Yu isn’t an outsider—he knows all about you.” She walked over, took off Lin Hao’s sunglasses, and said with concern, “How did it get so bad? I leave for a few days and you two are already at it again...”
With just a few words, Mrs. Lin had tossed her son’s last shred of dignity into the Pacific Ocean.
Lin Hao was dying of embarrassment. He sneaked a glance at the stunned Shen Yu and felt even worse.
Mrs. Lin added, “I heard from Auntie Sun you haven’t eaten breakfast these past few days?”
Lin Hao had no choice but to tough it out. “It’s nothing, I’m not hungry.”
Mrs. Lin fretted, “Our house really is far from Shen Corporation...”
“Mom,” Lin Hao’s eyes lit up, “why don’t you talk to Dad and let me live in the city?”
Mrs. Lin replied, “I was just thinking the same thing. I talked to your dad about it earlier.”
No way—he could really move out? Lin Hao was thrilled. “Did Dad agree?”
“He did,” Mrs. Lin beamed. “He said he’s at ease since you’ll be living with Shen Yu.”
Wait, what?
Lin Hao was stunned. So was President Shen.
They both blurted out at the same time, “Live with him (me)?”
Mrs. Lin explained, “Oh, it’s like this. I ran into Mrs. Song (Shen Yu’s mom) yesterday. She said Shen Yu lives alone in the city, close to the company—very convenient.” She turned to Shen Yu, “You and Haohao have always been close. Living together won’t be a problem, right?”
The word “close” stabbed Shen Yu right in the chest.
Lin Hao quickly protested, “Mom, I have plenty of apartments in the city. Why do I have to—”
Mrs. Lin cut him off, “Ha! You’ve been dreaming of living alone.”
Lin Hao was speechless. Mrs. Lin turned to Shen Yu, “We can’t let this rascal live by himself. Who knows what kind of trouble he’d get into.”
Shen Yu was silent for a long time. Logically, he should refuse.
—Living under the same roof, seeing Lin Hao every day, just thinking about it made his scalp tingle.
But for some reason, he agreed. “Sure, that’s fine.”
Lin Hao was dumbfounded. “Who wants to live with you?!”
Mrs. Lin gave him a light punch, and Lin Hao wilted.
And just like that, it was settled.
Lin Hao thought things couldn’t get any worse. He was wrong.
Shen Yu said, “Three rules.”
Lin Hao: “...”
Shen Yu didn’t even look at him, just rattled them off: “No smoking indoors. Be home before eleven. And...”—he turned to glare at Lin Hao—“No bringing people home.”
Lin Hao exploded, “I’m not living with you!” He tried to storm out.
Shen Yu’s icy voice rang out behind him, “If you’re not home by eleven, I’ll call Auntie.”
Lin Hao was devastated. “Shen Yu, if you’re a man, don’t go tattling to my mom!”
Whether Shen Yu was a real man was debatable, but Lin Hao was definitely a man who feared his mother.
So, tail between his legs, he moved into Shen Yu’s city apartment. Still bitter, he grumbled, “So small, so old, so ugly...”
A 3,000-square-foot luxury apartment in a prime downtown district, and he had the nerve to complain like this—he was just asking for a beating!
Shen Yu didn’t even look at him. He pointed to a room. “That one’s yours.”
Lin Hao scoffed and stomped in, slamming the door and locking it.
Shen Yu stood in the living room for a moment, then headed to his study.
Lin Hao flopped onto the bed like a corpse. Thirty seconds later, he sprang up, reaching for a cigarette.
—No smoking indoors.
His pale fingers hesitated on the lighter. Lin Hao grunted, stuck a cigarette in his mouth, and was about to—
“Ding-a-ling...”
The sudden ring of his phone startled him so much he dropped his cigarette!
He fished out his phone. On the screen, three big characters: “Shen Big Eyes.”
What the hell? Living together and he still has to call?
Lin Hao answered, and Shen Yu’s voice came through: “No smoking inside.”
“...” Lin Hao was silent for a second, then exploded, “Did you install cameras or something?” How else could he know!
Shen Yu chuckled, “Would I need to?”
Hearing the mockery in his voice, Lin Hao got even angrier. “Get lost!” He hung up.
A moment later, Shen Yu texted: “There are smoke detectors in the house. If you smoke, I’ll tell Auntie.”
Lin Hao shot back, “Are you a grade schooler? Can’t you do anything besides tattling?”
Shen Yu didn’t reply.
Lin Hao regretted it as soon as he sent the message. He wanted to take it back, but figured Shen Yu had already seen it—what was the point?
If Shen Yu had known how to tattle in elementary school, he wouldn’t have gotten bullied so much.
Back then, Lin Hao’s favorite thing to say was, “Don’t be scared. If anyone talks bad about your mom, just tell me. I’ll beat them so bad their grandma won’t recognize them!”
Little Shen Yu would nod, sweet as a little girl, but he never once tattled to Lin Hao.
Thinking about all this, Lin Hao looked at his recent message and wanted to smoke even more.
“Damn it.” He tossed the lighter aside and buried his head in the pillow.
Half-asleep, Lin Hao started dreaming.
In his dream, Shen Yu was a pale, delicate kid, hiding quietly in a corner, listening to people gossip: “That family’s crazy!” “His sister’s got issues, so he must too—they’re all the same!”
Lin Hao was furious. He stormed over and beat those kids until they were picking their teeth off the floor.
Shen Yu looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you.”
A thin ray of sunlight lit up his face, and little Lin Hao was so dazzled he just stared.
At that moment, he felt like a knight who’d just saved a princess—ready to protect him for the rest of his life.
Chapter 02
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