Yellow Rose

Before meeting Shen Zeyu, Lu Cizhou had rarely used WeChat. Besides, no one had ever dared treat him like this, so for a moment, he couldn't figure out what it meant.

But that was no obstacle for Lu Cizhou. He knew his way around a search engine.

"So it means I've been blocked," Lu Cizhou muttered to himself.

It seemed Shen Zeyu had remembered what happened last night. Figuring he was still angry, Lu Cizhou didn't call him either. He would wait until Shen Zeyu cooled down.

When it was time, Lu Cizhou went to pick up Lu Yu again.

Only after asking Lu Yu in the car did Lu Cizhou learn that Shen Zeyu would be away for several days. He almost wanted to laugh. The man really was going to great lengths to avoid him, even staying away for that long.

That evening, after his bath, Lu Yu pattered over to Lu Cizhou.

"Dad, can I call Daddy?"

Lu Cizhou handed him the phone. Lu Yu unlocked it with practiced ease and tried to make a video call, only to find that it wouldn't go through no matter what he did.

"Dad, why can't I make a video call?" Lu Yu sounded a little puzzled. It had always worked before.

Only then did Lu Cizhou remember that he hadn't told Lu Yu he'd been blocked. Still, explaining something like that to his son was rather embarrassing. "You can't. Just make a regular call."

"Why?" Lu Yu completely missed his father's awkward reluctance to explain.

"Your daddy blocked me." After a moment's thought, Lu Cizhou added, "When you call him, could you ask him to unblock me?"

"Hehe." Lu Yu merely giggled without answering, then found Shen Zeyu's number and dialed it.

With no workout that evening, Shen Zeyu happily rolled around on the bed. It felt so good not to have to exercise.

While Shen Zeyu was enjoying himself, his phone rang. One glance showed him it was Lu Cizhou.

He was about to hang up when it occurred to him that it might be Lu Yu calling.

"Hello?"

"Daddy!" Lu Yu's cheerful voice came through.

"It's Yuyu. Have you had your bath, Yuyu?" Shen Zeyu asked gently.

"Yes!"

"Daddy, Dad told me to ask you to unblock him."

"Then do you want me to unblock Dad, Yuyu?" That shameless man, getting a child to ask for him.

"No. Dad must have made you angry. He has to make it up to you first." Lu Yu giggled after saying that.

"Good boy, Yuyu." Shen Zeyu laughed too.

Standing beside him, Lu Cizhou was speechless. This son is a lost cause.

The two chatted a little longer before Shen Zeyu told Lu Yu to go to bed and call again when he had time.

Lu Yu reluctantly hung up, then finally gave Lu Cizhou an innocent smile.

Lu Cizhou pretended to be angry. "Now you know how to get on my good side? Why didn't you help Dad just now?"

"If I helped you, Daddy would only get angrier. That would be even worse," Lu Yu said, bobbing his head.

"All right, all right, you've got a point. Go to bed."

Not long after Shen Zeyu hung up with Lu Yu, a message came in on his phone.

Lu: When are you going to unblock me?

Shen: Depends on my mood.

Lu: I haven't even taken you to task over that contact name yet.

Reading that, Shen Zeyu felt another surge of anger. The man actually had the nerve to bring it up.

Shen: We're even on the contact name!!!

Those three exclamation marks were more than enough to show his anger.

Lu Cizhou thought for a moment, then sent another message.

Lu: There's still the matter of you forcing a kiss on me.

Aaah! Shen Zeyu was losing his mind. Who brings up something like that?

Shen: You're shameless! After sending that, he put his phone down and went to sleep.

Looking at the message, Lu Cizhou figured dignity really wasn't worth much when it came to Shen Zeyu. He sent another message, but after waiting ages without a reply, he guessed the man was too embarrassed to look at his phone.

Since Shen Zeyu wasn't replying anymore, Lu Cizhou stopped messaging him.

"I think you did really well! That's exactly how this character should be played."

After breakfast, having learned that Bai Yi was an actor, Shen Zeyu insisted on seeing his acting. Left with no choice, Bai Yi performed one of his favorite scenes from a drama.

"Your acting is really amazing," Shen Zeyu praised him.

Bai Yi blushed at the praise. "I-it wasn't that good."

"Those directors just don't recognize talent. How could they not cast you?" Shen Zeyu was a little angry.

Bai Yi smiled. "Producing a drama costs a lot of money these days. Directors who don't have much money rarely cast newcomers, let alone someone like me."

After that incident, he had fallen out with his agency too. Without enough spare money to terminate his contract, all he could do was hang on until it expired.

"It's okay. I'm sure things will get better," Shen Zeyu comforted him.

"Yeah, I believe that too." Bai Yi smiled.

"All right, don't dwell on it. Since we're free these next few days, let's keep playing games."

After lunch, Bai Yi opened WeChat and found an unread message.

Agent: There's a scene that needs a double at ten on Saturday morning. Interested?

Ever since his falling-out with the agency, all they offered him was work as a double. Bai Yi had never accepted before, but with Shen Zeyu staying at his place, he couldn't go looking for other part-time jobs. Print modeling didn't earn him much either, so this time, he agreed.

Noticing that his expression was off, Shen Zeyu asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He didn't want to spoil Shen Zeyu's mood by telling him.

Seeing that he didn't want to talk about it, Shen Zeyu could only say, "Make sure you tell me if anything's wrong."

"I will."

"Come on. We just ate, so let's go downstairs for a walk. It's nice and sunny today too," Shen Zeyu suggested.

When he arrived, he had noticed how lovely Bai Yi's residential complex was. Graceful willows stood throughout the grounds, looking as though they could lift anyone's spirits. Shen Zeyu had wanted to explore ever since he arrived, and now he finally had the chance.

Noticing Bai Yi's hesitation, Shen Zeyu asked, "Don't you want to go?"

"It's not that. You know there are lots of older folks around here, right?"

"Yeah. What about them?" He had noticed all the elderly residents when he arrived.

Bai Yi gave up. He didn't know how to explain it, so he could only let Shen Zeyu experience it for himself.

Once they got downstairs, Shen Zeyu discovered that the older residents were unusually enthusiastic.

"Young man, visiting someone?"

"What a handsome young man! Are you married? If not, I have..." Some even grabbed him to tell him all sorts of gossip, leaving him completely overwhelmed.

When Shen Zeyu finally escaped, he still looked shaken. "You were right. This isn't a good place for a walk."

Bai Yi held back his laughter as Shen Zeyu tugged him along. "Let's go, let's go."

"Mr. Shen, wait!" Shen Zeyu was hurrying ahead when he heard the voice and stopped.

Turning around, he saw a delivery guy running toward him with an enormous bouquet of yellow roses.

The guy kept calling his name as he ran. Between his yellow uniform and the yellow flowers, the sight was practically blinding. Shen Zeyu could feel every older resident's eyes turning toward him.

Having only just escaped the older residents, Shen Zeyu thought, Why did I have to leave the apartment today?!!!

And which bastard sent me yellow roses? A bouquet that big obviously has ninety-nine roses!!!