Page 21

The image was a heavily edited version of French painter Delacroix's masterpiece, "Liberty Leading the People," painted to commemorate France's July Revolution.

The figure raising a flag and waving an arm aloft had been seamlessly blended with Bo Yiming standing on a stool to speak on the show.

Among the revolutionary followers behind him, Zhou Xu's face had been cleverly Photoshopped in.

The picture was so funny that, within a short time, viewers of the show, the guests' fans, and casual netizens were all engaging with it, sending it straight onto the trending list.

[The moment I remember Mingzai is half Chinese and half French, I just can't stop laughing.]

[Hahahahaha oh my god, what kind of cursed joke is this?]

[Delacroix: Hello there, netizen. Just wait until I kick off my coffin lid and come find you.]

[Zhou Xu! Have you felt the call and the guidance?! Mingzai is calling you, OK?]

Zhou Xu also reposted the picture: [Mingzai, your defining photo. Uncle will save it for you.]

He even sent it to the parents' group chat and tagged Yiming's dad.

However, Wen Cishu was lying down for a nap and did not see the picture right away.

His body was not as healthy as he had imagined.

Although he had seemingly only moved around a small area of the farm over the past two days, the constant talking and interacting during the day had drained a considerable amount of his energy.

Once he got home and lay down, Wen Cishu fell into a stuporous sleep.

The two doctors took turns checking his pulse and listening with their stethoscopes, neither managing to wake him.

Fortunately, there was nothing abnormal with his heart. Doctor Lin, the traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, prescribed a calming decoction and had Auntie Zhong brew it for him to drink before bed that night.

The bed at home was much larger than the one on the show, making Wen Cishu look extraordinarily thin.

Half his fair face was buried in the covers, his breathing faint, making the sight all the more heartrending.

Auntie Zhong wrung out a hot towel and brought it over. Bo Tingyuan reached out to take it. "I'll do it."

She had intended to wipe the second young master down herself, but at his words, she could only withdraw from the room.

Although the mansion stood in a bustling part of town, it was surrounded by lush trees and exceptionally quiet.

In the afternoon bedroom, the heavy velvet curtains were drawn shut, leaving it as peaceful as the dead of night.

Wen Cishu's skin was as thin as rice paper, his features as beautiful as a painting upon it.

Whenever he slept deeply, Bo Tingyuan always had the illusion that time and space had stopped.

Just as they had when he first met him on the bustling streets of Paris all those years ago.

A single instant was eternity.

Last night's sleeplessness had shown Bo Tingyuan that even a single night apart, even such a short separation, brought pain he could not bear.

The towel he was wiping with gradually cooled. Bo Tingyuan's fingertips lingered at the tip of his brow, and after a long while, he slowly leaned down.

Wen Cishu had an exceptionally tender dream.

In the dream, Bo Tingyuan cupped his face, kissed his forehead, and told him in French: [From now on, I will take the place of your parents and elder brother and continue to care for you. I will never let you down, abandon you, or let you suffer the slightest hardship.]

When he suddenly opened his eyes, only a trace of sunset remained in the room, and Bo Tingyuan's extraordinarily deep, sexy voice speaking French still seemed to linger in his ears.

Bo Tingyuan had been young then, far from possessing the bearing of power and status he had now, yet handsome enough to make Wen Cishu's heart race.

Auntie Zhong, who was keeping watch beside the bed, called out with affection and tenderness, "Second young master?"

"Mm." Wen Cishu slowly pushed himself up, and Auntie Zhong gave him a supporting hand.

He took a sip of warm water and recalled the dream, only to realize that it had not been a dream at all, but his forgotten wedding.

Back then, he and Bo Tingyuan had held their wedding at a lakeside castle in France.

In the ceremonial hall filled with red roses, Bo Tingyuan had personally spoken the very same promise as in his dream.

Ten years had passed, and Wen Cishu thought that Bo Tingyuan had cared for him even more thoroughly than he had promised back then.

Auntie Zhong pulled up the covers and asked, "Why are you lost in thought?"

"Auntie Zhong, where's my wedding ring?"

"The one I wore every day when I first got married," Wen Cishu said in puzzlement.

Auntie Zhong thought back carefully.

It was hardly her fault she could not remember. The main reason was that the two young masters' marriage had been full of ceremony, with a long stretch between the engagement banquet and the actual wedding banquet. In between, the jewelry the Bo family sent to the Wen family could be described as coming in heaps. Naturally, there had been several engagement and wedding rings.

She remembered. "When you were expecting Yiming, you woke up one morning and said the ring was squeezing your finger. You took it off because it was uncomfortable."

"Where was it put?"

"I'll go look." Auntie Zhong rose to search for it.

The jewelry Wen Cishu had brought with him after marrying and the novel little things Bo Tingyuan had given him were kept in a dedicated room.

The room held expensive Chinese-style jewelry cabinets that the Bo family's old master had specially commissioned, filling the entire room with glittering jewels.

Auntie Zhong did not find it in the ring section. She opened several other small cloisonné standing cabinets, but there was still no sign of it.

She came out empty-handed.

"I'll ask Old Xu in a little while. He should know."

Seeing Wen Cishu frown slightly, she reassured him, "Don't worry. Old Xu has sharp eyes and a meticulous mind. He'd know where to find a needle dropped anywhere in this mansion. It certainly won't be lost."

Wen Cishu covered the white jade bracelet at his wrist with his palm and rubbed it firmly.

The jade beads, warmed by his body, were exceptionally smooth and warm, as though silently reminding him of something.

In fact, Uncle Xu did not enter that room often either. Auntie Zhong and Bo Tingyuan went in and out the most.

Wen Cishu had a guess.

His gaze slowly shifted toward the silk screen sliding door between the two bedrooms.

Perhaps it was because the Chinese-style decor was too orderly and solemn, or perhaps it was because the room was dimly lit at that moment.

The room gave Wen Cishu an inexplicable sense of imposing authority, as though it were a cold, forbidding place.

Just like Bo Tingyuan himself when he opened the door and walked out of it.

Wen Cishu composed his expression and looked at the finely crafted bracelet. "Auntie Zhong, don't ask yet. Let me think about it myself."

He stretched. "I've slept myself hungry. Come on, let's go have dinner."

Auntie Zhong helped him out of bed and downstairs.

As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, Wen Cishu saw the little monkey, whose hair was still dripping wet.

"What have you been doing? Why haven't you dried your hair?"

He took the towel from Uncle Xu and dried the child's hair.

Uncle Xu smiled as he recounted what the little young master had just been doing.

He had played tennis, gone to the stables to feed the horses, and, after coming home, gone swimming and just taken a shower.

His boundless energy left Wen Cishu speechless.

Wen Cishu dried his hair and ruffled it. "Then let's hurry and have dinner. Where's your big daddy?"

Uncle Xu said, "The eldest young master went to the office."

Wen Cishu and Bo Yiming went to the dining room and sat down to eat.

Bo Yiming's eyes lit up at the fragrant roast goose.

"Oh, right, Little Daddy~ Grandpa Xu said Big Daddy watched our livestream all last night and didn't sleep at all."

"Really?" Wen Cishu looked at Uncle Xu, a little surprised.

"Yes." Uncle Xu served them two small bowls of rice. "The eldest young master was worried."

Yet he hadn't looked the least bit tired this afternoon, Wen Cishu thought.

What sort of steel-forged body was that?

He looked at the little monkey happily picking up food. It was truly fortunate that he had inherited Bo Tingyuan's healthy genes.

Bo Yiming had just picked up a piece of roast goose when he suddenly noticed Little Daddy looking at him. Thinking he wanted that piece too, he hurriedly placed it on Little Daddy's plate.

"Little Daddy, you have this piece."

"Good boy." Wen Cishu did not refuse. He picked it up, dipped it in sauce, and put it in his mouth.

Master Chen's cooking was absolutely first-rate. Even this small piece of roast goose had crisp skin and tender meat. Dipped in sour plum sauce, it burst with just the right amount of rich juices on his tongue, not the slightest bit greasy, filling his mouth with fragrance.

However, for Wen Cishu, one piece of roast goose was usually the limit.

Even when Master Chen made it, he could have at most two pieces. Any more was a little too greasy.

Beside Bo Yiming's hand lay a small bag, round and about the size of a fist.

Wen Cishu guessed a little of what he was thinking. "Yiming, are you planning to keep carrying your little potato around like this?"

Bo Yiming swallowed the delicious roast goose.

"Little Daddy, I don't want my little potato to go bad. Do you have any good ideas?"

Wen Cishu took a sip of clear soup and propped his chin in his hand, seriously considering it for his son.

"How about we find a little patch of ground at home and plant it? That way it won't go bad? You can water it every day, too, and watch it grow."

"Okay!"

Bo Yiming picked up the little potato. Imagining it putting down roots and sprouting at his own home, then yielding a plentiful harvest just like at the farm, he found the idea very interesting.

"Shall we plant it after dinner?"

"Mm..."

Although Wen Cishu had offered the idea, he did not actually know how to do it. "Daddy will look up how to plant it online."

Auntie Zhong refilled his soup and chided, "I'm right here, and you won't even ask me."

Wen Cishu and Bo Yiming both laughed.

Bo Yiming was delighted. "Great! Grandma Zhong, teach me and Little Daddy!"

After dinner.

Auntie Zhong found a suitable container and told father and son what to do.

Holding a small knife, Wen Cishu cut the potato into pieces according to its eyes.

Wearing disposable gloves, Bo Yiming placed the potato pieces into the pot one by one, then covered them with a thin layer of soil and watered them.

Auntie Zhong said, "In a few days, we'll see how they're sprouting. Once they sprout, they can be planted in the ground."

Bo Yiming cheerfully asked Uncle Xu, "Grandpa Xu, will you help me find a spot with excellent feng shui?"

Wen Cishu was speechless at that.

Anyone who did not know better might think they were going to give the potato a "grand burial."

After planting the potato, father and son went to wash their hands.

Bo Yiming pressed close to Little Daddy, watching the warm water rinse the thick foam from between his fingers, then looked up at him.

Wen Cishu blinked. "What is it?"

Bo Yiming tilted his head and leaned against Little Daddy.

He really liked having Little Daddy do these things with him.

Wen Cishu dried his hands, wrapped an arm around him, and ruffled his hair. Once the child was a little older, he would no longer nestle against his parents like this. He had to cherish these tender moments.