Exercise

At first, Shen Zeyu could keep up with Lu Cizhou, but after ten minutes or so, he gradually began to fall behind.

After running for a while, Lu Cizhou noticed that Shen Zeyu had fallen behind and stopped by the roadside. A little later, he saw Shen Zeyu catch up, panting for breath.

A flicker of surprise crossed Lu Cizhou's mind. He had thought Shen Zeyu would bail halfway through, but instead, he had forced himself to keep going.

Fuck, this son of a b****. I'll get him back sooner or later.

Well, he was being cursed at again. Lu Cizhou was already used to it, though. Shen Zeyu always cycled through the same few insults; he could practically recite them by now.

"Keep your breathing steady and run at an even pace."

Shen Zeyu answered between gasps, "Easy for you to say. Look at me—do I look like I can manage that?"

Aaargh, this is so infuriating.

Lu Cizhou thought it over for a moment. Shen Zeyu had only just started exercising, so he really should ease into it. "Hold on to my shirt. I'll help you run the rest of the way."

Shen Zeyu looked up in delighted surprise, his eyes lighting up. Even though Lu Cizhou had forced him to come, his opinion of the man rose considerably just then.

He hurriedly reached out to grab Lu Cizhou's shirt, his whole expression brightening.

After a while, Shen Zeyu gradually found his rhythm.

The morning sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves lining the road, scattering patches of light over Lu Cizhou. For that instant, Shen Zeyu thought he was glowing, as though he were leading him out of the darkness and into the light.

It feels like it's been ages since anyone helped me move forward, Shen Zeyu thought quietly. For some reason, he felt a little happy in that moment.

Hearing that, Lu Cizhou wondered why he would think such a thing when the Shen Family supposedly treated him so well. It seemed he would have to look into Shen Zeyu's situation.

Half an hour later, they finally finished their run for the day. With Lu Cizhou helping him through the second half, it had been easier than running alone. Shen Zeyu was still annoyed, but some of his anger had faded.

When they got home, Lu Yu had just woken up and was sitting in the living room.

Upon seeing Shen Zeyu, he exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, Papa, you're actually awake today!"

"Didn't you say life wasn't complete without sleeping in?"

"You'll have to ask your dad about that."

Lu Yu turned to Lu Cizhou. "Dad, you're amazing! I could never get Papa out of bed before."

Shen Zeyu felt a wave of embarrassment at those words, while Lu Cizhou glanced at him with a faint, knowing smile.

Lu Yu continued, "But I've found that not having to get up early is really nice."

Lu Cizhou's expression grew a little more serious. "Xiao Yu, you never used to get up this late. Look, even your papa is getting up early to run now. Shouldn't you go back to your old routine too?"

Seeing that Lu Yu was still hesitating, Lu Cizhou brought out an even stronger argument. "Children who don't get up on time won't grow tall, you know."

Lu Yu was currently about average height among the children in his kindergarten. Hearing that he might not grow tall made him anxious. "Then, Dad, if I get up on time from now on, will I grow taller?"

Lu Cizhou nodded firmly. Taking advantage of the moment, another idea suddenly occurred to him. "Then, Xiao Yu, how about we keep an eye on your papa together from now on?"

Shen Zeyu had been watching from the side. He had never expected to get dragged into this, much less that Lu Cizhou would come up with such an idea.

He quickly crouched down and told Lu Yu, "There's no need, Yuyu. Just get up at your usual time. You're still asleep when we go out running. Papa doesn't need you to keep an eye on him."

"Papa, I want to keep an eye on you. As long as you and Dad are already downstairs when I come down every day, that proves you went running!"

After saying that, Lu Yu looked at Lu Cizhou. "Dad, do you think my idea is good?"

Lu Cizhou raised an eyebrow and endorsed Lu Yu's idea. Great. They had created a world where Shen Zeyu was the only one who suffered.

Left with no choice, Shen Zeyu could only accept the proposal.

It's fine. There are always more solutions than problems.

Shen Zeyu reassured himself that he would find a way around it. He had finally managed to embrace a life of lounging around—who wanted to exercise?

Shen Zeyu had originally thought he would be left alone after the morning run, but an hour after dinner, Lu Cizhou came looking for him again.

"Come on. Time to exercise."

Sprawled on the sofa, Shen Zeyu answered lazily, "What exercise? Didn't we already run this morning?"

Lu Cizhou replied with a perfectly straight face, "That was this morning. You still need another hour tonight."

Shen Zeyu was furious. "Lu Cizhou, don't push it. You only said mornings before. You never mentioned evenings too."

"No. I've looked into it, and you need to exercise in the evenings too."

"I'm not going." Shen Zeyu lay back down. "Nothing you say will make me go."

Shen Zeyu sensed Lu Cizhou standing beside him for a while before walking away. Assuming he had given up, Shen Zeyu went back to playing his game.

A little later, Lu Yu's voice rang out. "Papa, can we go exercise together?"

Only then did Shen Zeyu realize that Lu Cizhou hadn't given up at all. He had simply changed tactics.

Shen Zeyu put down his phone, turned around, and stroked Lu Yu's head. "Be good, Yuyu. Why don't you go with Dad?"

Remembering what Lu Cizhou had told him, Lu Yu shook his head. "No. I want to go with Papa."

Unable to win the argument with Lu Yu, Shen Zeyu could only let him pull him upstairs.

Sure enough, Lu Cizhou was waiting for him in the gym. He couldn't curse in front of Lu Yu, so he could only vent silently in his head.

He's so shameless, using a child as an excuse.

Lu Cizhou ignored it. "See which one you'd like to use."

Hearing that, Shen Zeyu chose a treadmill, stepped onto it, and started running after pressing the controls. Lu Cizhou was greatly heartened by the sight.

He took Lu Yu's hand and led him through some simpler exercises, but before long, Lu Cizhou noticed something was wrong.

Why was that treadmill getting slower and slower? "Yuyu, play here for a bit. I'll go check on your papa."

"Okay, Dad," Lu Yu said sweetly.

Lu Cizhou then walked over to Shen Zeyu, who was too busy letting his mind wander to notice someone approaching.

Only when he got closer did Lu Cizhou realize that Shen Zeyu had turned the speed down so far that he was practically walking. Sure enough, I celebrated too soon.

Shen Zeyu finally noticed Lu Cizhou beside him, but he wasn't flustered by the sight. He hadn't wanted to run in the first place. He had only come upstairs for Lu Yu's sake.

"Get off. We're switching to something else." Lu Cizhou's voice held a hint of sternness.

"No, I think this is pretty good," Shen Zeyu said unconcernedly.

"If you don't switch, I'll call Xiao Yu over." Lu Cizhou brought out his trump card.

Seeing Lu Yu looking their way, Shen Zeyu lowered his voice. "Don't push your luck."

"As long as it works."

"You want me to switch, right? Then I get to decide what we switch to," Shen Zeyu added.