When Shen Rui'an woke up, he felt weak all over. He lay still in bed, quietly staring at the ceiling for a while. After spacing out for some time, he finally got up slowly.
He adapted well to new environments. Because of his illness, his family had often shuttled between home, hospitals, and various sanatoriums.
In fact, he was not as reclusive as the rumors made him out to be. It was just that the places he went were much like nursing homes—beautiful surroundings, fresh air, and hardly any people.
He did not feel particularly uncomfortable coming to this mountain villa either. He was just a little tired from the long drive.
He touched his stomach. He was a little hungry.
Shen Rui'an slowly walked out and took the elevator downstairs according to the route he remembered. The open kitchen on the first floor was bustling. A fragrant aroma filled the air, while two people carrying cameras circled Su Tingbai and filmed him.
Only then did Shen Rui'an remember. Oh, Su Tingbai was a food blogger.
The corner of Shen Rui'an's lips lifted almost imperceptibly. He felt a little happy. Did that mean he could eat lots of different kinds of food?
Because of his illness, his family's meals had always been bland. No matter how delicious they were, he had grown tired of them. Most of it was medicinal cuisine with carefully balanced nutrition and the like. He did not like it.
For that very reason, Shen Rui'an had actually wanted to try the "junk food" those food streamers ate. It looked delicious. Unfortunately, his family worried about his illness and would not let him eat such things. He had secretly ordered a bowl of Spicy Hot Pot once, fragrant, fresh, and spicy, but his eldest brother had caught him and confiscated it.
Later, the housekeeper had made him a "healthy version" of Spicy Hot Pot. Shen Rui'an took one bite and refused to eat any more.
To be fair, it was not bad. It was just no different from his medicinal meals...
At that thought, the young master's faint smile disappeared.
After arranging the finished dish on a plate, Little Zhu and A-Ming filmed close-ups from different angles. Su Tingbai stepped back, then turned his head and saw Shen Rui'an.
Having just woken up, Shen Rui'an's slightly long fringe covered his brows and eyes, making his expression impossible to read. He stood beside the island counter. It was nearly six in the evening, but the summer sun set late. The sunset in the mountains was a dazzling red, and its glow streamed through the glass onto Shen Rui'an. Even his pale face was tinged with a flush, making him seem less sickly.
He was so beautiful he hardly seemed real.
Su Tingbai thought to himself.
"You're awake?" Su Tingbai poured a glass of freshly squeezed juice and brought it over to Shen Rui'an. "Want some juice?"
It was apple juice, specially squeezed for Shen Xiaoyao. Very healthy.
Hearing the movement, the two cameramen instinctively turned their cameras toward him. Through the lens, they caught sight of the slender man, and their breaths hitched. He looked like someone who had stepped right out of an anime.
The two cameramen regretted not having enough words to describe it. There was only one thought in their minds: Holy shit.
They subconsciously forgot Su Tingbai's warning from yesterday and unknowingly aimed their cameras at him.
Su Tingbai did not notice the cameramen behind him. Holding the apple juice, he walked over. "Apple juice."
Apple juice? Shen Rui'an frowned. He did not like it.
He pushed it away in refusal.
Su Tingbai was a little surprised. "You don't like it?"
Shen Rui'an nodded.
Su Tingbai saw the little stray lock of hair on top of his head bob along with the motion and found it a little cute. Why did he look like a kitten that had just woken up?
"Then what do you want to drink?"
Just as he spoke, a slightly chubby girl in glasses hurried in, panting and carrying several cups of milk tea. "Boss, we're back. Here, milk tea. Everything here is great, except ordering delivery is inconvenient. Luckily, Snow King is amazing—their business has even reached the village up ahead..."
As she spoke, she walked in, intending to set the drinks on the island counter. Then she saw Shen Rui'an face-to-face and froze. "Holy..."
A sickly, beautiful man!
"..."
"I want this one." Shen Rui'an pointed at a fruit tea, a very cheap one—lemon black tea with seventy percent sugar.
Meng Meng had ordered it for herself. She wanted to lose weight, so she had chosen seventy percent sugar.
Dazed, Meng Meng handed him the drink. Seeing that he was not very skilled at inserting the straw, she hurriedly did it for him, then watched him with an indulgent, motherly smile.
"Here you go, here you go. Boss, this is..." Meng Meng was one of Su Tingbai's employees, responsible for operations and editing. There was another girl named Ya-ya, who handled copywriting and planning, but she was on leave and had not come these past two days.
Su Tingbai introduced him. "This is Shen Rui'an, my friend. He'll be staying here for recuperation for a while. Just treat him as a food guest."
Someone had placed a cup of iced fruit tea in Shen Rui'an's hands. He lowered his head and looked at the condensation on the cup. His long fingers curled slightly. It was a little cold, but he wanted to drink it.
Shen Rui'an had never had milk tea before. What he drank most often were all sorts of healthy fruit juices and milk. Perhaps because he had drunk too much of them, he hated juices made from fruit most of all.
As for lemonade, he had only tried the kind the housekeeper dried and brewed into tea. The taste... could not exactly be called good.
"Cough, cough..."
While Su Tingbai introduced him to the others, Shen Rui'an lowered his head, took the straw into his mouth, and drank a sip. He drank too quickly and choked.
Before Su Tingbai's mind could react, his large hand was already gently patting Shen Rui'an's back. Through the thin fabric, he could clearly feel the young man's protruding spine. He was so thin.
Su Tingbai thought, Did the Shen Household send Shen Xiaoyao here because they wanted me to fatten him up?
No one around Su Tingbai had ever been as thin as Shen Rui'an.
"Slow down."
Shen Rui'an coughed for quite a while before stopping. When he looked up, he met the man's tightly furrowed brows and eyes full of disapproval.
"Sorry," he said softly, his voice faint and drifting.
Su Tingbai's brows knitted even tighter. He did not even have the strength to speak properly. Did the Shen Household normally not feed Shen Rui'an?
"Can you drink things like this? Did the doctor say you needed to avoid anything?" Su Tingbai asked.
Shen Rui'an shook his head. They had not been able to determine the cause of his illness. The doctors merely told him to take good care of himself, mostly warning him not to eat junk food so he would not become malnourished.
Perhaps the Shen Household was too nervous, which was why they had always made Shen Rui'an eat so healthily—everything natural and additive-free.
How should he put it? Shen Rui'an had indeed found it tasty at first, with the fresh sweetness of the ingredients. But after eating it for so long, he could not help becoming curious about what all the popular foods in videos tasted like.
Shen Rui'an looked at Su Tingbai. He seemed to have seen this man's account before, though he usually preferred watching muscular men and mukbangs and rarely paid attention to cooking content.
After all, he had no talent for cooking himself.
"Then is it okay if you eat with me normally? My main job is being a chef. I usually film food videos, and after I cook it, I eat it. Sometimes I livestream cooking and eating. I might occasionally film parts of your body. Would you mind?"
Shen Rui'an recalled the foods Su Tingbai had filmed that he had once come across: hot pot, grilled meat, barbecue, Spicy Hot Pot...
No problem!
Shen Rui'an nodded rapidly. Yes, absolutely!
He could finally taste what all that food was like!
Seeing Shen Rui'an's excited expression, Su Tingbai felt as though he were looking at a greedy cat that had spotted dried fish. A smile appeared in his eyes.
Little Zhu and the others watched the two interact as though no one else existed and quietly made themselves less noticeable.
They exchanged looks. If they remembered correctly, when the old master had called to say that young master Shen would be staying here for a while, their boss had seemed to say he had no interest in babysitting and that Shen Rui'an should go back where he came from.
So why had he changed his tune so quickly?
Before you continue