It was dinnertime.
After finishing his paperwork in the study, Fu Jingzhou came to the dining room, where the housekeeper had already prepared a tableful of delicious food.
He sat in his usual seat and waited quietly for several minutes, but still did not hear the other set of footsteps pattering downstairs.
He turned to ask the housekeeper, who was tidying up nearby, "Where's my husband?"
The housekeeper looked a little awkward. "He said he's on a diet."
"Got it."
Fu Jingzhou acknowledged her answer and began eating in silence.
Halfway through the meal, he set down his chopsticks and let out a soft breath.
After hesitating for half a minute, he left the dining room and went upstairs.
He had just reached the second floor when the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
He paused and took it out. It was a message from the group chat.
Shangguan Feng: [Tsk, Old Fu, I think that little husband of yours cares quite a bit about you. Why not spend more time with him? Who knows, you might hit it off.]
Qin Feng: [Agreed.]
Fu Jingzhou stared at Shangguan Feng's message for a long while before typing: [What makes you say that?]
Shangguan Feng: [Didn't you see it today? He was so enthusiastic toward me and Old Qin. Isn't that a case of loving everyone connected to the person you love?]
Qin Feng: [Agreed.]
Fu Jingzhou froze.
Shen Xingli piped up noisily: [Damn it, damn it!!!!! I wrapped filming today and couldn't get back in time. I didn't get to meet our little sister-in-law!!!!]
Shangguan Feng: [If your fans saw you like this, your aloof heartthrob image would shatter into a million pieces.]
Qin Feng: [I often find that a pity.]
The four people in the group had all grown up together. In all their years of friendship, they had hardly ever even argued. Fu Jingzhou and Qin Feng had both taken over their family businesses and were rising stars in the business world at a young age. Shangguan Feng had become a doctor, while Shen Xingli had entered the entertainment industry to chase his dreams. Five years after his debut, he had long since achieved fame and success, sweeping all the major Best Actor awards. With a face both handsome and bewitching, he held firmly onto his place among the top stars.
But everyone knew that Film Emperor Shen was incredibly aloof.
Very few people knew that Film Emperor Shen was picky and loved showing off.
Shen Xingli: [You're just jealous that I have nine hundred million pretty little Omegas who like me.]
Shangguan Feng: [(Yellow smiley face)]
Qin Feng: [Heh.]
Fu Jingzhou delivered a cutting reply: [Not just pretty little Omegas. Plenty of Alphas like you too. They want an Alpha-Alpha romance with you.]
Somewhere deep in a remote forest, the young, handsome Alpha's face darkened.
He viciously hammered out a reply: [Get lost!]
Well acquainted with his bad temper, his assistants all kept their distance, afraid of getting on his bad side.
Jinghe Garden.
Fu Jingzhou put away his phone, took a deep breath, and knocked on Jiang Nan's bedroom door.
Hearing the knock, Jiang Nan assumed it was the housekeeper.
He shuffled over in his little frog slippers and slowly opened the door.
When he saw Fu Jingzhou, he paused, then asked unhappily, "What do you want?"
Fu Jingzhou lowered his eyes slightly. "Come eat."
Jiang Nan said, "I don't want to."
With that, he tried to close the door, only to meet resistance.
Fu Jingzhou had grabbed the door handle.
He sounded a little helpless. "Still upset?"
Jiang Nan answered slowly, "Why are you always snapping at me?"
Fu Jingzhou's lips moved, and he forced out the words with difficulty. "I'm sorry."
Jiang Nan froze.
He wondered if he had misheard, and his hand unconsciously stopped pushing the door shut.
When Jiang Nan had come across a cannon fodder character with his own name in the original novel, he had decisively dropped it, but had still made a point of checking how the cannon fodder Jiang Nan ended up.
In the original novel, Jiang Nan had only appeared for a dozen or so chapters as cannon fodder. His ending was miserable: he was thrown into a crocodile pool and eaten alive.
The original novel had described Fu Jingzhou's expression upon hearing the news in detail.
When his secretary informed him, he merely raised a hand casually to indicate that he understood.
Then he continued reviewing documents as though nothing had happened.
From the moment he transmigrated into the novel, Jiang Nan had known that Fu Jingzhou was coldhearted and heartless.
When his creator designed him, he was made to stand against the protagonists in every way.
For instance, he fell in love with the protagonist shou, Shen Anbai, and fought the protagonist gong for his wife.
For instance, he was the protagonist gong's business rival.
So, upon hearing that "I'm sorry," Jiang Nan remained silent for a full minute.
Fu Jingzhou waited patiently for a little while.
Jiang Nan crouched down, his lips curving into a brilliant smile. "Do you have a lighter?"
Fu Jingzhou had never imagined that Jiang Nan's first words after his apology would be those.
After a one-second pause, he said, "No."
Jiang Nan continued his performance. "Then how did you set my heart on fire?"
Fu Jingzhou: "..."
He rubbed his temple with a headache, his tone carrying a hint of indulgence. "Go downstairs and eat."
When the housekeeper saw Jiang Nan following behind Fu Jingzhou, she silently thought that all was well as long as they had made up.
Fu Jingzhou ate a few more bites with Jiang Nan. His phone vibrated, and he glanced at it before considering for a moment. Then he turned to Jiang Nan and asked, "You blocked your brother?"
Jiang Nan paused, only then remembering that he had a brother he'd acquired through transmigration.
He nodded honestly. "Yep."
Fu Jingzhou said evenly, "Your brother wants you to go home tomorrow."
Jiang Nan shifted positions, unmoved. "Not going."
He had taken a call from Jiang Qingye before. Even from their brief exchange, he could tell that this brother of his had a bad temper.
A confirmed tyrant.
Fu Jingzhou's gaze deepened, and he said with the ghost of a smile, "Everyone says our Nannan is a thoroughly ungrateful wretch. Looks like they weren't wrong."
Those were hardly kind words, nor were they pleasant to hear.
Jiang Nan lifted his eyelids and said coolly, "Don't think you can do whatever you want just because I spoil you."
Fu Jingzhou scoffed. "Tomorrow is Uncle Jiang's birthday. If you don't go, you'll probably cement your reputation as an ungrateful wretch."
"Wait." Jiang Nan abruptly straightened up.
Tomorrow is that dad I acquired's birthday?!
Feigning composure, Jiang Nan sank back into his chair, remaining perfectly calm under Fu Jingzhou's scrutiny. "I was actually planning to go back. I was just joking with you."
"Is that so?" Fu Jingzhou wore a half smile. "Well, that really was funny."
"Hahahahaha." Jiang Nan kept laughing awkwardly, until the phone he had failed to hold securely landed squarely on the bridge of his nose, which had yet to fully recover.
"Ow-"
Jiang Nan cried out in pain, tears springing to his eyes.
Fu Jingzhou hurriedly picked up his phone, his expression darkening. "Sit properly."
"Why are you snapping at me?" Jiang Nan clutched his nose. "I didn't do it on purpose. I was just too happy."
Fu Jingzhou sneered. "Then why are you crying?"
Although the impact had not been particularly hard, Jiang Nan's nose was already injured, so even that light blow hurt terribly. His eyes were wet, their outer corners red.
Jiang Nan stubbornly retorted, "These are tears of joy."
Fu Jingzhou: "...Such sharp teeth and a sharp tongue."
Jiang Nan was not very happy with that assessment. "My teeth are white and straight. They're not sharp at all."
Fu Jingzhou: "..."