After Su Huaiming sat down, someone promptly brought him a bowl and chopsticks.
With Fu Jingfan home, breakfast had gone up another notch in quality. Su Huaiming's eyes lit up as he looked at the table full of delicious breakfast foods.
He hadn't forgotten the role he was playing. Before eating a custard bun, he picked one up and put it on Fu Jingfan's plate.
"This is really good. Have a taste," Su Huaiming said with a smile.
Fu Jingfan lowered his eyes to the custard bun on his plate, then looked at Su Huaiming's smiling face and gave a slight nod. "All right, thank you."
Su Huaiming didn't care about Fu Jingfan's polite, distant attitude. He immediately picked up a small custard bun and finished it in three bites.
Before eating each kind of breakfast food, he gave Fu Jingfan some first. In a little over ten minutes, Fu Jingfan's plate was piled high.
There was a lot, but hardly any of it suited Fu Jingfan's taste. It was more as though Su Huaiming had picked some up for him while choosing his own favorites.
Fu Jingfan looked up at Su Huaiming, who was busy tackling a soup dumpling. Noticing his gaze, Su Huaiming made a perfunctory show of affection.
Fu Jingfan was silent for a few seconds before putting down his chopsticks. "I'm full. I'll head back to the study."
Su Huaiming nodded, entirely understanding of Fu Jingfan the workaholic, and said considerately, "Then go on and get back to work."
After Fu Jingfan left, Su Huaiming, unwilling to waste food, shared the breakfast items on Fu Jingfan's plate with Fu Xiaoxiao.
After the meal, Su Huaiming sat on the sofa playing on his phone. Fu Xiaoxiao looked around, then dawdled over to him.
Su Huaiming watched Fu Xiaoxiao take tiny steps and wiggle his bottom from side to side. Finding it hilarious, he deliberately asked, "What do you want with me?"
Fu Xiaoxiao grew anxious at once. He pressed a finger to his lips and desperately went, "Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh!"
Su Huaiming laughed. "Careful. Keep making that sound and you might accidentally pee your pants."
Fu Xiaoxiao was a child who cared a lot about saving face. He couldn't help blushing and wanted to throw a tantrum at Su Huaiming, but he was afraid of being too loud. All he could do was glare with his round eyes and say in his childish voice, "I wouldn't pee my pants!"
Su Huaiming smiled without saying a word.
Fu Xiaoxiao pouted and glanced at Su Huaiming a few times before saying awkwardly, "Can you do me a favor?"
Su Huaiming had never seen Fu Xiaoxiao ask him for help of his own accord, and his attitude wasn't bad. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "What favor?"
"You, you, in front of Dad..." Fu Xiaoxiao twisted his fingers together. After stealing a glance at Su Huaiming, he lowered his head again and said quietly, "Could you please not say bad things about me?"
Su Huaiming stared blankly for a few seconds, then couldn't help laughing.
"Oh, so you do know how to be scared." Su Huaiming continued teasing him. "Weren't you so tough before? You wouldn't listen to anyone and even thought you'd done nothing wrong. If that's the case, why don't you dare tell your dad?"
"I, I..." Fu Xiaoxiao stammered, unable to get the words out. He felt terribly guilty but didn't want to admit he was wrong, so he could only crane his neck and say, "I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Since you didn't do anything wrong, I'll tell your dad everything that's happened these past few days." Su Huaiming made a show of getting up, as though he were going to find Fu Jingfan.
Fu Xiaoxiao panicked at once. He grabbed the hem of Su Huaiming's clothes and shook it coaxingly. "Please don't go!"
In the past, Fu Xiaoxiao had always thrown his weight around and acted like a little brat toward him. Now that Su Huaiming had finally found Fu Xiaoxiao's weak spot, he had to give him a proper lesson.
Su Huaiming sat on the sofa with his arms crossed, looking down at Fu Xiaoxiao. "Why shouldn't I go?"
Fu Xiaoxiao knelt on the sofa like a round little dumpling. At such a young age, he vividly demonstrated what it meant to look utterly miserable. He lowered his head and picked at his fingers without speaking.
Su Huaiming thought Fu Xiaoxiao was wrestling with whether to give in to him. To his surprise, Fu Xiaoxiao suddenly clenched his fist and thumped the sofa. As though he had made a momentous decision, he pulled a rectangular object from his pocket and handed it to Su Huaiming.
Su Huaiming took a closer look and was stunned.
It was a bank card.
Fu Xiaoxiao edged closer to Su Huaiming and whispered, "This is the allowance Dad gives me every month. Once you take it, you can't say bad things about me, okay?"
Su Huaiming didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He hadn't expected Fu Xiaoxiao to have already learned to bribe people with money at such a young age.
Su Huaiming took the bank card and quietly asked, "Where did you get this?"
Fu Xiaoxiao hemmed and hawed, unwilling to answer.
Su Huaiming threatened him. "If you don't tell me, I'll go find your dad."
Fu Xiaoxiao stood up on the sofa and jumped up and down in protest. "How can you do that?!"
Su Huaiming coaxed him patiently. "If you tell me where this bank card came from, I won't go find your dad."
Fu Xiaoxiao pouted and eyed Su Huaiming suspiciously. "Really?"
Su Huaiming held up three fingers. "I swear."
Fu Xiaoxiao was still young and didn't understand how treacherous the world could be, much less that adults' oaths never counted. Nor did he notice that Su Huaiming was actually holding up "three." He believed Su Huaiming and whispered, "I got it from Uncle Butler."
Su Huaiming sorted out the details. "Your dad gave this bank card to the butler, and he regularly transfers your allowance onto it every month?"
Fu Xiaoxiao nodded like a chick pecking at grain. "Yes."
Su Huaiming looked at the bank card in his hand and asked curiously, "How much does your dad give you a month?"
Fu Xiaoxiao held up one finger. "I think it's 1,000."
Su Huaiming was stunned.
A powerful CEO like him gave his son only 1,000 yuan a month for living expenses!
But on second thought, the villa's expenses were so high that 1,000 yuan probably wouldn't last even half a day. He continued, "Just 1,000?"
Fu Xiaoxiao nodded. "It's 1,000, but there are lots of zeros after it. My eyes got all blurry counting them the other day."
At the mention of lots of zeros, Su Huaiming immediately understood.
It wasn't 1,000 at all. It was clearly ten million!
Ten million in pocket money every month—how wonderful life must be!!
Fu Xiaoxiao saw that Su Huaiming seemed to have frozen, staring straight ahead with a strange expression and not blinking for a long time.
He waved his chubby hand in front of Su Huaiming and asked, "What's wong?"
Shaken to his core, Su Huaiming spoke without thinking. "I was wondering whether your dad would mind having me as another son."
Fu Xiaoxiao: (⊙o⊙) Huh?
Only then did Su Huaiming realize he had let that slip. He coughed twice to cover it up and pretended he was still a respectable adult. "It's nothing. I didn't say anything just now."
Fu Xiaoxiao hadn't understood what Su Huaiming had just said. He declared imperiously, "Dad can only have me as his precious baby!"
Wanting to end the subject quickly, Su Huaiming coaxed him, "All right, all right. No one can take your dad away from you."
Only then did Fu Xiaoxiao breathe a sigh of relief. He shook Su Huaiming's arm and pressed him relentlessly. "Did you promise me?"
Su Huaiming put the bank card in his pocket, intending to find a chance to return it to the butler later. "That depends on how you behave," he said casually.
Fu Xiaoxiao wasn't very happy with that answer, but remembering that Su Huaiming would throw a tantrum at him, he was afraid someone else would find out about it. He reluctantly nodded.
After a while, Su Huaiming was about to get up and find the butler when he saw the butler coming over of his own accord.
Su Huaiming couldn't very well bring up the bank card in front of Fu Xiaoxiao, so he simply pretended nothing had happened.
There was no telling what the butler had imagined. Seeing Su Huaiming sitting alone in the living room, he once again wore an expression of sympathy.
Su Huaiming: "..." Here we go again?!
The butler sighed inwardly.
Mr. Su had to keep filming the variety show and had limited time at home. Mr. Fu was busy with work and didn't often return to the villa, so their chances to see each other were precious.
Yet after Mr. Fu returned, he had spent the whole time working in the study. Mr. Su didn't want to disturb him and had been all alone.
He could tell that Mr. Su wanted to spend time with President Fu, but unfortunately had never had the chance. He could very much understand how Su Huaiming felt.
The butler decided to help Su Huaiming out. "Mr. Fu goes for a morning run at five thirty every day. You could go with him, Mr. Su. He won't be thinking about work then, so you can have a casual chat with him."
Meeting the butler's eager gaze, Su Huaiming forced up the corners of his mouth and gave two dry chuckles.
He didn't like running, much less running in the morning.
At five thirty in the morning, no less!
Even dogs didn't have to get up that early!!
Just imagining himself sleeping soundly only to be forced out of his warm bed at five thirty made Su Huaiming's scalp prickle. He instinctively wanted to refuse.
But the role he was playing now was someone deeply in love with Fu Jingfan. How could he refuse just because he didn't want to get up early?
Before Su Huaiming could figure out what to say, Fu Xiaoxiao's round eyes darted around. He squeezed his way in front of Su Huaiming and declared imperiously, "I'm going for a morning run with Dad. You can't come!"
Hearing that, Su Huaiming was so moved he nearly burst into tears.
My good son, your father really must thank you!
Su Huaiming was just about to take the way out when, unexpectedly, the butler, who had always indulged Fu Xiaoxiao's every whim, objected. "Young Master, you and Mr. Su can go together. What a heartwarming sight it would be, the three of you running as a family!"
Fu Xiaoxiao immediately frowned, his young face puffed up with anger. He was about to throw a tantrum when he remembered he still had to ask Su Huaiming not to say bad things about him. What if Su Huaiming got angry and went to his dad?!
There was nothing for it. He could only give way to Su Huaiming this once, orz.
Fu Xiaoxiao shrank back, crossed his arms, and snorted. He turned his face away so he wouldn't have to look at Su Huaiming. "Fine."
Su Huaiming: "..."
What are you doing?!
Why?!
Where's your bratty temper? Hurry up and throw a tantrum!!
Now that even Fu Xiaoxiao had agreed, Su Huaiming had completely lost his way out. Under the butler's gaze, he could only brace himself and nod.
The butler was happy to be able to bring them together and continued praising Fu Jingfan to Su Huaiming.
"Sir has been outstanding since childhood. He was able to go abroad for university at fifteen. Not only did he take good care of himself, but he also started a business with friends and became a rising star in business on Wall Street. After returning to the country, he turned around the Fu Group's impending collapse and broke into many new fields. You could say the Fu Group today is completely different from what it used to be, and all of that is thanks to him."
Listening to this perfect résumé of a member of the social elite, Su Huaiming obligingly applauded.
Encouraged by Su Huaiming's enthusiastic reaction, the butler grew more animated and continued singing Fu Jingfan's praises. "And Mr. Fu is extremely hardworking and self-disciplined. The Fu Group has developed so quickly entirely thanks to him."
"Every day, sir works late into the night. No matter how long he's slept, he gets up at five thirty sharp the next morning for a run, and he's full of energy for the rest of the day. He was also on the basketball team when he was a student and is good at all kinds of ball games. It's just that he has too many social engagements now and hasn't played ball in a long time. In his spare time, he only plays golf or goes swimming."
When the butler finished, he looked at Su Huaiming with shining eyes, eagerly awaiting his response.
Mr. Su must think Mr. Fu was exceptionally outstanding and want even more to stay by his side as his partner!
The corners of Su Huaiming's mouth stiffened. He couldn't smile at all.
Fu Jingfan worked late into the night every day, slept a few hours, then got up at five thirty the next morning for a run, followed by another full day of work...