Chapter 30

Zhou Jingcheng:?

He asked, "Do you also have a need to be walked?"

Shi Jihan glared at him with dark eyes until Zhou Jingcheng fell silent, then continued, "I heard a pet-friendly amusement park is holding a carnival lately. It's not too late to get tickets now." He poked Zhou Jingcheng. "Xiao Zhou, take me with you."

Zhou Jingcheng knew about the carnival. One of the celebrities under his company had even been officially invited to make an appearance.

But wasn't that the kind of place friends, family, and... couples went?

Shi Jihan was inviting him there?

Zhou Jingcheng rubbed his fingertips against the wall of his cup and paused, seemingly searching for the right words. "Just the two of us?"

Shi Jihan: "? Who else would it be?"

Four people would be even more crowded.

It would be hard to cut them apart.

Zhou Jingcheng lowered his eyes, his fingers curling around the cup as he quietly listened to his own heartbeat for a while.

"Sure," he said. "If you want to see it, I'll get the tickets."

The little runt wanted to ask him out.

Then... he would reluctantly go along with it.

Shi Jihan's problem was solved. Delighted, he told Zhou Jingcheng, "Wait a second," then scampered upstairs and scampered back down with a little box in his arms. He rummaged through it and pulled out a Band-Aid.

Before Zhou Jingcheng could see it clearly, Shi Jihan slapped it onto the wound on his cheekbone.

Shi Jihan examined it for a few moments, then nodded approvingly. "Mm, it suits you."

Zhou Zeyang looked over at that and instantly burst out laughing.

Confused, Zhou Jingcheng picked up his phone and took a look.

He saw the Band-Aid covered in bows and Kuromi.

Zhou Jingcheng: "..."

A refined, aloof Buddhist prince of Beijing's elite circles could not wear this.

He raised a hand to tear it off.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't peel it off. It was expensive," Shi Jihan stopped him. "It came bundled with the merch I bought. Fashionable little trash."

Zhou Jingcheng looked at the box in his hands. Aside from the newly opened Band-Aids, it contained all sorts of plastic cards and a pile of unidentifiable things that looked like they belonged in a trash can. "Shi Jihan, are you a junk collector?"

Thinking of the merch that always came bundled with unwanted extras, Shi Jihan said mournfully, "What's this? I once got forced into buying a secondhand rice cooker at an outrageous price."

Zhou Jingcheng:?

"If you're that charitable," he said, "why not donate some to me?"

Shi Jihan said, "At least I can get a badge from the rice cooker. What would I get from donating to you?"

Zhou Jingcheng answered sincerely, "A few lessons."

Shi Jihan waved his fist at him threateningly.

After finishing his cake, Shen Qinghuai took out his phone and asked them, "Do you want anything else for afternoon tea? I can order delivery while I'm at it."

Shi Jihan and Zhou Zeyang said in unison, "Yes!"

Shen Qinghuai ordered seven or eight deliveries for everyone. They sat in a circle in the living room, turned on the enormous projector, and watched a movie. The afternoon passed happily and fully.

Life needed moments like this, wasting time away.

As they were leaving, Zhou Jingcheng remembered something. "Why did we gather here today?"

Shi Jihan thought about it. "Hm? I think it was for Second Brother's welcome party."

Zhou Jingcheng asked the question from the depths of his soul, "Then where is your second brother?"

Oh, right. Where was Shi Zhongye?

Everyone went from shocked to surprised to helpless, their faces full of guilt.

Shi Jihan pursed his lips and smiled shyly. "Second Brother lives on in our hearts."

Shi Bochuan instantly stopped feeling guilty and gave his third brother a thumbs-up. "Bro, you really know how to comfort people."

Zhou Jingcheng's mouth twitched. He could already imagine Shi Zhongye's future days. They would definitely be rich and colorful, with every one of his emotions toyed with by the Shi Family's absurdists.

He looked up at Shi Zhongye's gigantic smiling poster.

You thought your smile looked good? Don't worry. Soon, it would just look funny.

Just as he was gloating, someone tugged at the hem of his clothes.

Shi Jihan leaned his head in front of Zhou Jingcheng, poked him with a finger, and reminded him, "Don't forget to pick me up tomorrow."

And, "Make sure, absolutely make sure, to bring Pizza."

Looking at the face so close to his, Zhou Jingcheng awkwardly tilted his head to one side and agreed. "Okay."

Did he really want to go out and have fun with him that badly?

He had even reminded him twice.

Mm, then he should take it seriously too.

After leaving the Shi Family residence, Zhou Zeyang watched his brother enter his bedroom. He did not come out again, not even by bedtime.

Puzzled, Zhou Zeyang knocked on the door, then pushed it open and walked in. He found his brother sitting on the sofa opposite the bed, legs crossed, elbows braced on his thighs, staring ahead in deep thought.

He thought his brother had encountered some business challenge and was about to comfort him with, "It's okay if you can't make money. Being alive and able to breathe is already amazing," when he turned and saw dozens of outfits on the bed and a row of shoes on the floor.

"Zhou Zeyang," Zhou Jingcheng called. His fingertip tapped against his chin. "What clothes should I wear to the amusement park tomorrow? I need matching shoes too."

What an enormous problem.

The troubles

of a CEO.

Zhou Zeyang could not understand this kind of trouble. "Just pick any set."

Zhou Jingcheng gave him an indifferent, disdainful glance. "How did I end up with such an aesthetically challenged younger brother?"

Zhou Zeyang offered another suggestion. "Then put them all on and take one piece off every minute. Give Xiaohan a sexy striptease."

His brother's slipper immediately flew at him.

Zhou Zeyang quickly shut the door and activated his dodge skill: XD

No other reason. Practice made perfect.

Zhou Jingcheng spent the entire night choosing and picking. The next day, he brought Pizza to pick up Shi Jihan.

Shi Jihan opened the car door and was immediately blinded by the sunglasses.

He hurriedly shut the door. "Sorry, wrong car."

Three seconds later, he opened it again. He looked at Pizza in the passenger seat, enthusiastically barking "werwerwer" at him, then at the man taking off his sunglasses with a finger hooked over one temple.

Behind the dark lenses, those familiar phoenix eyes appeared. Zhou Jingcheng flicked up the corner of his eye at him. "Get in."

Even after Shi Jihan climbed into the car with Pizza in his arms, he was still a little unable to process it. He stared fixedly at Zhou Jingcheng's profile.

Because Dianjia Bro's outfit today was really good-looking, and completely different from usual.

It was still a dress shirt, but the style had changed dramatically. The irregular cut gave the black collared shirt a strong sense of design. Subtle patterns threaded with silver lines slashed diagonally across it. Several thin chains of varying lengths hung from the brooch on his left chest, every link polished sharp as a blade and gleaming with cold metallic light.

Zhou Jingcheng had a high nose bridge, deep-set, sharp eyes, and a smooth jawline. Whenever he sat there silently, he somehow gave off a detached air of cool, casual indifference.

Especially since he was dressed all in black today, he seemed even colder.

Shi Jihan lowered his head to look at his own colorful dopamine outfit, as though he had been splashed with buckets of paint, then looked back at him.

A walking color palette and the black shadow behind it. Confirmed.

All of Dianjia Bro's paint had clearly been stolen and dumped onto him.

At first, Zhou Jingcheng pretended not to notice and handed him a bottle of iced water. But after a while, he could no longer stand Shi Jihan's gaze and put his removed sunglasses on him. "Stop staring. What are you looking at?"

With the sunglasses covering most of his face, Shi Jihan pushed them up and said slowly, "I'm checking whether the sun rose in the west."

Zhou Jingcheng curled his lips. "How absurd. If Newton heard that, he'd flip open his coffin lid, use it as a glider, and fly over to beat you up."

Shi Jihan could not decide who was more absurd. He asked, "Why aren't you wearing your beloved authentic business suit today?"

"I'm not a real estate agent going out to meet clients. Why would I dress so formally?" Zhou Jingcheng said. "An outfit should match the atmosphere of the amusement park."

Shi Jihan clicked his tongue and said to 000, [Miracle Zhou Zhou. Does this count as me expanding Dianjia Bro's wardrobe?]

Before 000 could reply, Pizza, who had been ignored the whole time, unhappily shoved hard against his chest and licked him. "Werwerwerwerwer!"

Shi Jihan wiped Pizza's drool off. "Don't rush, don't rush. Pizza has pretty clothes too."

Zhou Jingcheng was driving, but he glanced sideways at Shi Jihan digging through a canvas bag. He had wanted to ask earlier what was inside, since it was so stuffed full.

Then he saw Shi Jihan pull out a fluffy long curly wig with an alarming amount of hair.

Zhou Jingcheng:?

What the hell was that?

Shi Jihan kept digging and pulled out a prank pet version of an emperor's ceremonial robe, with both hands tucked inside it. There was even a sign on the chest: What crime have I committed?

Shi Jihan put the robe on Pizza. Pizza's head poked out from the collar, while his two front paws stuck out through the trouser legs of the robe.

Mm, now he was a big-curled emperor with tucked paws.

The luxury car made a small S-shaped curve across the road.

It scared the life out of the surrounding drivers, who all hurriedly avoided this liability magnet.

Zhou Jingcheng asked, "What are you doing?"

"Can't you tell?" Shi Jihan replied. "Crowning the Beagle Emperor."

That was exactly why he was asking.

Zhou Jingcheng could not imagine what sort of mental state could produce an emperor Beagle dressed in such a bizarre blend of tacky and trendy.

Shi Jihan turned Pizza around to inspect him from behind.

Mm, the effect was good. A perfect back-view heartthrob.

He took a photo and sent it to the photographer he had hired to follow them. "Memorize this silhouette. Go wild taking pictures, especially close-ups. But they have to be very blurry close-ups."

The photographer receiving the request thought, Very blurry close-ups? The photography equivalent of colorful black?

He sent an okay to this slightly unhinged client, then turned to his roommate. "Bro, lend me your Nikon."

The background had to be sharp as a blade, while the subject melted like cream.

For such a request, only Nikon would do.

They soon arrived at the amusement park.

The evening heat had faded slightly. The dopamine paint bucket had struck again, this time splashing orange-red across the clouds and bleeding into a gradient honey color, like caramel melted in the oven.