Chapter 3

Bo Tingyuan stood beside the bed in a black shirt and black trousers, his icy gaze putting even greater pressure on the doctors.

They gathered around Wen Cishu to examine him, first listening with a stethoscope in a Western medical examination, then taking his pulse in a traditional Chinese one.

Wen Cishu clearly described each of his symptoms: his racing heart, his vision going dark, and the ringing in his ears.

He had been accustomed to dealing with doctors since childhood and would volunteer any discomfort he felt.

Bo Tingyuan listened just as carefully, without saying a word.

Both doctors said there was nothing seriously wrong.

Doctor Lin said, "As I told you on my last visit, Mr. Wen, you could practice tai chi every so often and walk around the grounds. It would be good for your health."

In the past, it was as though a tendency to give up on himself had been implanted in Wen Cishu's mind, and he had neglected exercise.

Now, he readily agreed. "All right."

Almost everyone looked at his phoenix eyes at the same time, seeing a hint of life sparkle in them.

The two doctors exchanged glances, quite surprised and excited.

Mr. Wen, who took no interest in anything, was actually showing such a desire to live?

It was indeed a rare sight.

Before leaving, Doctor Lin reminded him, "Second Young Master, be sure not to get upset in your daily life. If something happens, try taking deep breaths first and getting through it calmly."

Wen Cishu nodded. "Today was an accident. It won't happen again."

The doctors and the others left the bedroom first.

Only the family of three remained.

Wen Cishu looked at the little one to his left.

Thinking of the original novel's plot, then of how the little one had endured the pain of his spanking to come and check on him, he felt even worse for him.

"Yiming, does your bottom hurt a lot?"

He tried to prop himself up, only for both father and son to stop him at once.

Bo Tingyuan gently pressed his shoulder, making him lean back, his tone almost an order. "Lie down. Don't move around."

Bo Yiming stroked his little dad's slender arm. "My little bottom's fine. Don't worry, Little Dad."

After being spanked earlier, he had thought for a long time before realizing that if he entered the entertainment industry, but his little dad was too sick to watch him sing and dance, what would be the point?!

Of course-

The little one lifted his eyes and stole a glance at his stern, imposing big dad.

-he would definitely write about his big dad spanking him in his diary tonight!

Deeply heartened by his sweet, sensible words, Wen Cishu asked, "So you're not going into the entertainment industry anymore?"

Bo Yiming pressed his lips together. Under his little dad's gentle gaze, he silently lowered his head and mumbled in a mosquito-like voice, "No, I'm still going to enter the talent competition."

Wen Cishu: "..."

Where on earth had this stubborn streak come from?

He must have inherited it from Bo Tingyuan, right?

Wen Cishu couldn't help glancing at the man beside the bed.

Before Bo Tingyuan could speak, Bo Yiming puffed out his handsome little cheeks and threw himself into his little dad's arms with an "Awoo," wriggling around and pleading clingily, "Mommy~~ Mommy~~"

When Bo Yiming had first begun recognizing people and learning to talk, he hadn't been able to tell his two dads apart.

For a while, he had called his gentle, long-haired little dad Mommy.

Even as he grew older, Bo Yiming would still occasionally act all clingy and spoiled.

Wen Cishu's heart melted, but then he saw an arm reach across his legs.

A large hand seized the back of the little one's clothes with tremendous strength and carried him straight out.

Bo Yiming flailed his arms and legs to no avail. "Big Dad, put me down!"

He was already fairly tall among children his age, but he was no match for his big dad's six-foot-three height.

Seeing that his big dad remained unmoved, the little fellow proved quite flexible with his tactics. He immediately grabbed his big dad's shirt and changed his form of address, trying to wheedle, "Daddy~~"

His wheedling, however, failed.

Bo Yiming was carried outside the bedroom.

Bo Tingyuan bent down, resting a hand on the back of his head, and reminded him in a low voice, "I've told you many times not to call your little dad that."

"Oh..." Bo Yiming looked utterly wronged, on the verge of tears.

But with his little bottom still aching faintly, he had no choice but to nod. He wanted to stress the feasibility of his "entertainment industry project" again, only to see his big dad retreat into the bedroom.

The door slowly closed.

Bo Yiming squatted on the floor in a huff. "Hmph!"

-his little dad had clearly been about to agree.

Inside the room.

As Bo Tingyuan approached again, Wen Cishu could not tell what he was thinking from his unruffled face. He could only ask, "You agreed to let him enter some talent competition?"

Bo Tingyuan's voice was calm and indifferent. "I'll contact my mother tonight and arrange a boarding school in France. He'll be sent abroad the day after tomorrow."

"Huh?" Wen Cishu stared at him in utter shock, his pupils widening.

The way he said it made it sound as simple as throwing out a bag of rubbish!

Was Bo Yiming really his biological son?

There hadn't been any switched-at-birth true-and-fake-young-master plot in the original novel, had there?

Seeing his surprise, Bo Tingyuan bent down and brushed aside the hair that had slipped against his cheek. "Don't worry. I won't let Yiming suffer abroad."

Why did that sound like a done deal to Wen Cishu? As though no objections were allowed?

He instinctively blurted out, "No. I don't want Yiming going abroad right now."

Who knew what might happen?

He at least had to watch this child grow safely into adulthood, didn't he?

Bo Tingyuan's deep eyes seemed like a flowing river of ice, cold and making his thoughts very difficult to fathom.

Wen Cishu stared at him, held by his equally intent gaze.

His mind was somewhat muddled, but luckily, inspiration struck under pressure, and he explained, "He's still so young. Guiding him is better than blocking him, and supporting him is better than opposing him. Why don't we screen things for him and see if there's a show he could try? Maybe... maybe once he's tried, he'll realize how hard it is and give up."

After saying all that in one go, his breathing grew a little heavier.

Bo Tingyuan, however, appeared unmoved.

It reminded Wen Cishu of the time he had actually put together a feasibility analysis report to persuade his parents to let him travel to France alone.

After reading it, his parents had fallen silent for half an hour.

Looking at the still-silent man, Wen Cishu raised his eyebrows slightly.

Wasn't Bo Tingyuan supposed to be "deeply in love" with him?

He couldn't even agree to this?

Had the original novel's author lied?

Under that overwhelmingly powerful, icy pressure, Wen Cishu was afraid he would object and insist on sending the little fellow to France.

His slender fingertips instinctively caught the cuff of the black shirt. "Do you understand what I mean?" His phoenix eyes blinked quickly, and he called out as though pleading, "Daddy?"

The slightly upturned corners of his eyes and his delicate features seemed to ensnare whoever looked at him.

A few seconds later, Bo Tingyuan's Adam's apple, protruding above his shirt collar, quietly bobbed downward, and a faint "Mm" seemed to rise from his chest.

"I'll make the arrangements."

Chapter 3

The next morning.

In Bo Yiming's study.

A slender figure stood practicing calligraphy.

He should have been sitting properly, but in less than half an hour, he had begun squirming as though his chair had sprouted thorns, changing positions eight hundred times in ten minutes.

Seeing this, Wen Cishu had him stand up to write.

Bo Yiming grumbled endlessly. Still preoccupied with his "entertainment career," he harbored resentment but dared not voice it.

He stole a sidelong glance at his little dad, unable to understand why he was suddenly so concerned about his studies.

Didn't his little dad always say that anything was fine as long as he was healthy?

Wen Cishu sat by the window, lounging against a rosewood armrest as lazily as though he had no bones.

Outside the window was lush greenery, the sunlight filtering between the leaves soft and dappled.

Before him sat a plate of sliced seasonal fruit and a book titled Tai chi for health.

Holding a pale jade page turner decorated with ruyi motifs in the long fingers of his left hand, he leisurely turned a page and said mildly, "Don't look at me. Focus on your writing."

"Oh."

Bo Yiming had never heard his little dad speak to him like this before. What was going on?!

As he pondered, he lowered his brush to write a vertical-double-turn-hook stroke, but the ink-soaked tip suddenly trembled.

He lifted his face to look at his little dad in disbelief.

Had something happened between his two dads?

Why else would his little dad be acting so differently?

Bo Yiming was already in second grade, and there was no shortage of classmates from divorced, single-parent families around him.

His amber eyes stared at the crooked brush characters before him. The longer he looked, the more they resembled the words "You're going to be a single-parent child."

Before he could react, a housekeeper came in and said, "Sir, the Eldest Young Master is in his study. He'd like you to come over. He says there's some business to discuss."

"All right." Wen Cishu remembered what they had agreed on last night.

Bo Tingyuan was a man of his word. It seemed there had already been some progress.

As Wen Cishu stood, his ink-black hair slid down his shoulders.

He tilted his head back and casually used the page turner as a hairpin to put up his long hair.

Before leaving, he placed the fruit plate on the desk and reminded Bo Yiming, "Just fifteen more minutes of practice. Keep at it."

"Mm!" Bo Yiming nodded vigorously and raised his brush as though to continue writing. Once he saw out of the corner of his eye that his little dad had slowly walked away, he dropped the brush and headed downstairs through another door.

He found Uncle Xu and asked, "Grandpa Xu, what's wrong with my little dad?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong?"

Uncle Xu had just come out of the kitchen. Seeing the ink stains on his fingers, he took out a clean white handkerchief and wiped them.

Uncle Xu used to serve the Bo family's old patriarch. After Bo Tingyuan married, he had been assigned to look after things here.

He had watched Bo Yiming be born and grow up.

And since he had never married or had children, he cared for the boy entirely as though he were his own.

Bo Yiming couldn't quite explain it either. Then another thought occurred to him, and he asked, "Why didn't my big dad go to the office today? Isn't he busy?"

"Of course he is."

Uncle Xu pointed toward the Eldest Young Master's study. "Albert just took a lot of documents upstairs."

He was referring to Bo Tingyuan's assistant, Albert.