Childhood Sweethearts?

Su Tingbai's heart softened for a moment under that gaze, and he nearly gave the chili back. But when his eyes landed on Shen Rui'an's pouty little mouth, it seemed even more swollen than before—red and tempting enough to make him want to...

No!

Su Tingbai abruptly shook his head, cutting off his wandering thoughts. What was he thinking?

Had he lost his mind?

Feeling somewhat guilty, Su Tingbai turned his face away.

When people felt awkward, they made themselves look busy.

Su Tingbai moved the dish of dry chili farther away, then somewhat flusteredly used tongs to place green pepper shrimp paste onto the grill.

A-Ming asked in confusion, "Boss, didn't you say shrimp paste should go on later when we grill? Shouldn't we grill the pork belly and beef first?"

There was still plenty of pork belly and beef cooking. Were they already using shrimp paste to cleanse their palates?

Was that really a thing? Shen Rui'an watched Su Tingbai bustling around in confusion.

The man wore a sleeveless black tank top, exposing his broad back and both arms. Whenever his hands moved, his biceps tensed along with them. Just looking at him made Shen Rui'an feel safe.

With the apron around his waist, he looked even more lean and powerful.

Shen Rui'an's gaze was too scorching. Su Tingbai seemed to sense something and badly wanted to turn around, but he held himself back. The veins on the hand gripping the tongs bulged as he paused, then forced himself to sound composed. "Once in a while is fine. You haven't finished the barbecue yet anyway, have you?"

A-Ming said, "..."

Boss, I'd never seen you spoil us like this before.

A-Ming secretly glanced at Shen Rui'an behind Su Tingbai, then noticed how obviously distracted Su Tingbai was. He understood.

Pretending to film the ingredients, Meng Meng secretly snapped a picture of the two of them and sent it to Ya-ya, who had taken leave. Sister, you missed so much by not coming.

Ya-ya replied after seeing the photo Meng Meng sent her: !!! What a beauty!

Ya-ya: Who is this gorgeous person? A new coworker?! Answer me! This is very important to me!

Meng Meng: A friend of the boss's. He came over to focus on his health.

Ya-ya: !!! Ahhh, I'm coming back tomorrow!

She had to see whether this beauty really looked as good as in the photo!

Su Tingbai didn't notice the little moves his team members were making, but his attention wasn't on the food either. It was on the scorching gaze behind him.

Was Shen Xiaoyao staring at him the whole time?

Su Tingbai unconsciously straightened his back, every muscle in it tensing. Compared with his previously relaxed and effortless manner, he was much stiffer now.

Shen Rui'an admired Su Tingbai's back muscles for quite a while. It would be nice if he had muscles too.

Shen Rui'an couldn't help pinching the flesh on his body. Soft.

He didn't like exercising, so all his flesh was soft. There wasn't much of it either—just a thin layer, and he could feel bone beneath it easily.

Shen Rui'an sighed. He wanted big muscles too!

But he was too frail. The doctor had advised him not to do strenuous exercise. Usually, just taking walks when he had nothing to do was enough.

Following the doctor's orders, whenever he was feeling reasonably well, Shen Rui'an would take Baisui out for a walk before heading home.

Oh, Baisui was the little mutt he kept. He had found him beside a grave while recuperating in that longevity village. After asking around and finding no one wanted him, Shen Rui'an kept him. He was a Chinese rural dog, yellow with a white face, not even three months old yet and tiny as could be.

Thinking of him, Shen Rui'an checked his phone and found that his older brother had sent him a video. Baisui was whining at the door to his room.

His brother: Xiaobao, Baisui misses you.

Shen Rui'an missed Baisui a little too.

Shen Rui'an's mood sank, and even the pace at which he drank his milk tea slowed.

Just then, Su Tingbai brought over the grilled green pepper shrimp paste. Seeing Shen Rui'an look distracted, something tightened in his chest. Was he unhappy because Su Tingbai wouldn't let him eat spicy food?

"What's wrong? Is it not good?" he asked softly in a lowered voice, afraid that speaking any louder might scare Shen Rui'an.

Su Tingbai didn't notice how gentle his voice had become. Behind him, the three employees suddenly got goosebumps. Did that voice really come from Su Tingbai?

The livestream was still going. The camera only showed Su Tingbai's broad back beneath his apron. Shen Rui'an was completely blocked by him, with only a tiny bit of his body vaguely visible.

Normally, Su Tingbai's broad shoulders, narrow waist, and excellent physique would have had the fans screaming. But right now, the livestream viewers were focused on something else.

[?]

[What the hell, why does Old Su sound so coquettish?]

[Where did my Brother Tingbai's insanely deep, magnetic voice go? Who is this damn sweetheart?]

[I feel like my ears are getting pregnant.]

[Who goes there? I ask, who goes there?]

[Why did he suddenly start talking like that? Don't tell me he likes him?]

[I'm getting more and more curious about who the new guest is. Does anyone have any clues?]

[Haven't heard anything. @CutieIsCutie, Cutie, who's the new guest?]

Cutie was the operations manager and usually also moderated the livestream.

Meng Meng repeated Su Tingbai's words to the viewers, but blurred out the specific details about Shen Rui'an. Everyone only knew that his surname was Shen, that his family was well-off, and that his family and Su Tingbai's were neighbors.

The viewers got it.

[So they're childhood sweethearts?]

[Old Su's childhood sweetheart?]

[Childhood-sweetheart romance? So ship-worthy.]

[I've never seen Su Tingbai act this sweet before. Not with anyone else, not even Boss Xing. Why did he start acting like this the moment Young Master Shen showed up?]

[Could Su Tingbai secretly have a crush on him?]

The viewers' imaginations ran wild, and the more they talked, the more excited they got. That stirred up some of the fans who had originally been drawn in by Su Tingbai's looks.

At first, Su Tingbai didn't show his face in his videos. But he had been a soldier, and after leaving the military, he never neglected his training. He had a great physique, no worse than those male thirst-trap influencers on Douyin. His body was even so aggressively masculine that people jokingly called him the ultimate top.

Combined with his rough, macho style of dressing—he basically loved tank tops in summer and wore plenty of revealing clothes—he never hesitated to show off the results of his workouts in his videos. His explosive physique and veiny arms had attracted quite a few horny old perverts.

He also had plenty of fans who fantasized about dating him, both women and men.

After Su Tingbai showed his face, there were even more of them. Even though some fans knew they had no chance with him, they couldn't fight their possessiveness and were hostile toward anyone who seemed remotely ambiguous with Su Tingbai.

Didn't this childhood-sweetheart romance trope hit certain people right where it hurt?

[Haha, can you stop flattering yourselves? Brother Su hasn't even said anything, and you're already acting like it's confirmed?]

[Brother Tingbai hasn't officially announced anything. I suggest everyone stop making things up, okay?]

[Ship, ship, ship. You ship people just for having a normal conversation? Are your brains wired only for romance?]

[I seriously don't get what's so shippable about this. Aren't they just ordinary friends? Where's the appeal?]

[It's pretty shippable. I've followed Su Tingbai for so long, and it's my first time seeing him be this gentle with someone. It feels different.]

[+1. Honestly, that voice really was ridiculously sweet.]

[I think so too...]

[I'm dying, you don't even know what that Young Master Shen looks like, and you're already shipping them? If he's ugly, I don't believe you'll still be able to ship it!]

[My Brother Su has been single forever. Some people should stop spreading rumors, okay?]

[This is hilarious. The actual people involved haven't said anything, so why are you fans getting so worked up?]

The people throwing tantrums all had fan badges, making their allegiances easy to spot.

The ones arguing against it just happened to be wearing Su Tingbai's fan badges.

Meng Meng looked away for one moment and discovered that the livestream chat had started fighting. She hurriedly began trying to calm things down.