Running

Once they had brought Lu Yu home, he eagerly tugged on Shen Zeyu.

"Daddy, can you teach me how to make them first?"

"Your dad wanted to make them with you too, so I taught him today. Let him teach you."

At that, Lu Cizhou glanced at Shen Zeyu, who immediately put on a pitiful expression, his eyes pleading, Please, help me save face in front of our son.

"Dad, really?" Lu Yu ran over to him.

Looking into Shen Zeyu's eyes, he decided not to expose him. "Yes."

Lu Yu was delighted. As far as he could remember, his dad had never done crafts with him like this before, so it was a new experience for him too.

"Come on, Dad! Teach me, and then I'll make one myself," Lu Yu said happily.

One taught while the other learned, with Shen Zeyu watching beside them. For a while, everything fell quiet.

Some time passed.

"Wow, Dad, you're amazing!" Lu Yu exclaimed in delight.

Lu Cizhou stroked his head. "You're amazing too, Yu."

Looking at the two similar lilies sitting side by side, Shen Zeyu marveled to himself.

Maybe the Lu family really does have some artistic talent.

"All right, all right. Now that you're finished, let's eat. We've been waiting for you two."

"Okay."

After dinner, they played for a little longer. Only once Lu Yu had fallen asleep did Shen Zeyu and Lu Cizhou return to their room together.

"Thanks for today."

You made me do a lot of things, but at least you didn't expose me in the end.

So Shen Zeyu's thanks were entirely sincere.

"You're welcome." Lu Cizhou accepted his gratitude without the slightest hesitation.

Time passed slowly. Apart from doing what was necessary, Shen Zeyu spent every day lazing around at home. Lu Cizhou had initially had no objections, but one incident changed his mind.

On Friday, Lu Cizhou had a rare day off from going to the office. He picked up a magazine and began reading on the living room sofa, while Shen Zeyu played games on the sofa opposite him, deliberately turning the volume down.

Just as Lu Cizhou became absorbed in his magazine, a string of curses rang out in his mind. Instinctively, he glanced across at Shen Zeyu.

Shen Zeyu was lying on the sofa, gaming on his phone. As his fingers moved faster and faster, the curses Lu Cizhou heard in his mind grew more frequent.

Ah, that feels good. Cursing in my head lets me blow off steam without wasting my breath.

Shen Zeyu's expression grew happier and happier.

Only then did Lu Cizhou realize how serious Shen Zeyu's habit of lying around at home all day had become.

From the look of things, Shen Zeyu now even confined his cursing to his head, though that might partly have been because he was afraid of disturbing him.

But Shen Zeyu was far too much of a slacker. Perhaps he should make him go running with him, Lu Cizhou thought.

Seeing how happy Shen Zeyu was at the moment, Lu Cizhou decided to discuss it with him at bedtime. Given Shen Zeyu's personality, he might not agree to run with him.

He would have to come up with a good plan.

By bedtime, Lu Cizhou still hadn't thought of a good approach. Mostly, from what he had seen over the past few days, getting Shen Zeyu to exercise might be harder than reaching the heavens.

After lying down, Shen Zeyu noticed Lu Cizhou's deeply furrowed brow and instinctively asked, "Something on your mind?"

Lu Cizhou nodded, silently thinking that it had something to do with him, too.

After a while, Lu Cizhou said, "Don't you think you're getting a little too little exercise?"

Shen Zeyu immediately went on guard. "No."

"Besides, picking Yuyu up every day counts as exercise."

"You call walking from the car to the kindergarten, then from our front door into the house exercise?" Lu Cizhou asked helplessly.

"Why can't I?" Shen Zeyu replied with complete confidence.

Lu Cizhou raised a hand and rubbed between his brows. "No. You need some exercise. Haven't you noticed that Yuyu has been getting up later than usual on weekends lately?"

"It's normal for kids to sleep in a little on weekends."

The problem was that Yuyu had never gotten up this late before.

"Leaving Yuyu aside, you need a certain amount of exercise, so I've decided you're going running with me in the mornings."

"Getting up early to run? Not happening," Shen Zeyu answered firmly.

That'll be the death of me.

Ignoring the voice in his head, Lu Cizhou continued, "If you don't run with me, I'll tell Yu about you making the lilies."

This had only just occurred to Lu Cizhou. Since Shen Zeyu cared so much about saving face in front of his son, it might work.

Sure enough, those words made Shen Zeyu even angrier, but he still didn't refuse.

"You play dirty." With that, he lay down and pulled the covers over his head, looking as though he wanted nothing to do with him.

At that childish gesture, Lu Cizhou laughed silently again. He might have upset him, but at least he had gotten him to agree to run.

What a despicable, shameless man...

Lu Cizhou had already grown immune to the stream of curses. Let him curse. It was fine once he got used to it.

That night, Lu Cizhou fell asleep to a chorus of curses.

At seven the next morning.

Shen Zeyu was sleeping soundly when he suddenly sensed someone calling him. Instinctively, he pulled the covers over his head.

Lu Cizhou persisted in tugging Shen Zeyu's covers down. His efforts finally paid off, and he managed to wake him.

"What are you doing? Disturbing someone's sleep is practically robbery and murder, don't you know?" Shen Zeyu roared.

"No. All I know is that it's time to get up and run." He couldn't have endured all that cursing last night for nothing.

Shen Zeyu picked up the phone beside him and checked the time. "Seven? Are you kidding me?"

"Hurry up. Once you've washed up, we're going out to run for at least half an hour."

I'll take my time washing up and stall.

"Be quick about washing up. I'll be right there watching you."

Shen Zeyu was furious. "You don't trust me!"

Lu Cizhou said nothing and simply stared at him. After a while, Shen Zeyu conceded defeat and dragged himself off to wash up.

Can this guy read minds or something? How does he get it right every time?

After only a moment's thought, Shen Zeyu dismissed his own guess.

No way. If he really could, who could stand being cursed out like this? Hahaha.

With that, he launched into another round of cursing.

Lu Cizhou, following behind him: ...

By the time they were both ready, nearly half an hour had passed.

It was Shen Zeyu's first time getting up this early. Watching the occasional passerby, breathing in the fresh air, and listening to the birds chirping, he felt his mood relax in an instant.

Taking in such a beautiful morning, Shen Zeyu magnanimously forgave Lu Cizhou for disturbing his sleep.

But once they started running, none of that could offset Shen Zeyu's "hatred" for Lu Cizhou.

Although Shen Zeyu rarely exercised, he had often worked as an extra in his previous life, so he figured he could still handle running.