Chapter 38 - His Eyes (1/2)

Chapter 38: His Eyes

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

On a holiday at the end of the month, Li Sui planned on going fishing with Lu Shang, but he got a last-minute notification—a conference about the future development of the economy was going to be held in the city, and they specifically invited Tong Yan to participate. So, without any other choice, Li Sui changed back to his formal attire and drove himself to the conference.

Lu Shang mentioned transferring Xiao Zhao to be Li Sui’s personal driver twice, but Li Sui refused on both occasions. Letting someone else drive the car felt weird to Li Sui. Plus, he wasn’t such an important person that he had to have a personal driver. Staying modest was a good thing; Li Sui didn’t want the extra attention.

After that, Lu Shang didn’t bring the subject up again.

Lu Shang woke up earlier than usual today, so he lay on the bed, looking at Li Sui putting his necktie on in front of the mirror. Lu Shang couldn’t but smile; even his eyes were smiling.

“What are you laughing at?” Li Sui asked as he looked at Lu Shang through the mirror.

Last night, they ‘exercised’ a bit too much, so naturally Lu Shang would stay in bed longer the next morning. Lu Shang had one of his arms under his head as he waved at Li Sui with the other hand, “Come over here, give me a kiss.”

Li Sui smiled too, his eyes curving along with his smile. Over the past years, Li Sui was changing almost every day—all except his eyes; those eyes were still as deep and clear as when they first met.

Li Sui leaned down and nibbled at Lu Shang’s lips gently for a while, then let go just before he got too engrossed in it. The tips of their noses touched as Li Sui said, “Okay, I’m going out now. Get some rest at home.”

“Hmn,” Lu Shang nodded; he watched through the window as Li Sui walked out of the house in huge strides, then got in his car to drive. His movements were rather captivating in Lu Shang’s eyes.

Being young was nice, he thought. Lu Shang sat up straight, then rubbed his waist a little. Then he thought of something and laughed slightly.

Lu Shang liked the kid’s pureness, but what made him really fall in love with Li Sui was still his charisma as a full-grown man.

After eating breakfast, Lu Shang searched through his wardrobe for a long time. Ever since Li Sui took over his work in Tong Yan, Lu Shang became more and more free and it had already been a while before he needed to pull an all-nighter. Actually, Lu Shang hadn’t even been to the company once for the past week. Before, Aunt Lu would always put his clothes in the front after ironing them, but before Lu Shang knew it, that place was long occupied by Li Sui’s clothes.

Lu Shang searched for quite a while before he finally found his own shirt from all the shirts that looked basically the same. After Lu Shang finished changing, Uncle Yuen had already driven the car out front, waiting for him.

Lu Shang closed the car door and said, “Go to the bamboo dojo.”

It rained for a bit last night, so there were fresh bamboo shoots all over the mountain. The air was cold, so much so that Lu Shang breaths turned white. Lu Shang got out of the car in front of the bamboo dojo, then walked past it to a tearoom behind the dojo, stepping on dried bamboo leaves that were covering the ground on the way.

In front of the tearoom, a skinny woman was starting a fire. She saw Lu Shang walking over, so she wiped the dirt on her hands away and smiled, “Lu Lao Ban, what brings you here?”

Lu Shang smiled back at her, then asked, “Is Zuo here?”

“He’s here, he’s here. I’ll go call him out for you.”

“No, there’s no need. I’ll just go in to have a talk with him.”

“Then I will go make some tea for you two.”

Lu Shang nodded his head slightly, “Thank you.”

Lu Shang changed his shoes at the doorway, then lifted the wooden curtain to enter. Zuo Chao seemed to have heard them outside, so he had already tidied himself up, crossing his legs and sitting behind the table.

Lu Shang had yet to walk in completely, but Zuo Chao already lifted his hand up, cutting him off, “Don’t try to persuade me.”

“Who said I’m here to persuade you?” Lu Shang sat down beside the table and continued, “I’m here to congratulate you on becoming a dad.”

Zuo Chao froze up, “What did you say?”

“Wasn’t your wife feeling unwell a few days back?” Lu Shang continued after a short pause, “ZiRui examined her yesterday; she has been pregnant for a month already.”

Zuo Chao’s face turned from red to white, then red again. After a long while, he hit the table with his hands as if he had only just heard what Lu Shang said moments ago, “Are you for real!?”

Just then, a person walked into the tearoom, Zuo Chao raised his head and ran over. He held his wife’s hands and was so excited that he couldn’t even formulate a full sentence, “Dear, I… I a father?!”

The woman’s face immediately turned red, her expression that of a teenage girl going on her first date. She dodged Zuo Chao, then placed the tray of teapot and teacups on the table and quickly left the room.

Zuo Chao was so happy that he didn’t even know what to do, he just walked around inside the room. He wanted to go out to find his wife, but he also worried if it would seem like he was too immature.

“Sit down first.” Lu Shang laughed at the sight. “She’s a little weak, so tomorrow you should bring her to the hospital to let Leung ZiRui do a more in-depth examination. You should fix the things that need fixing and get rid of the things that you should get rid of.”

“Yes, yes…” Zuo Chao kept on nodding his head; he was still so excited that he didn’t even know where to place his hands, so he reached for the cigarette on his ear by habit. Then he remembered Lu Shang just said to fix the things he should fix, so he took the cigarette off his ear and threw it in the bin, “I’m quitting! I’m going to stop smoking. Yes, starting today, no cigarettes!”

Lu Shang picked up the teapot off the tray, then he poured himself a cup of tea, “You are going to be a father soon, so think before you do anything, and set a good example for your child.”

Zuo Chao rubbed his hand on his legs, then said, “Yes, you’re right… I was always too rash. I swear, this will be the end of that.”

“Also, you need to come up with a legal occupation. When your child grows up and ask what you do for a living, you have to be able to answer that,” Lu Shang said.

Though Zuo Chao wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, he still understood what Lu Shang was hinting at; he sighed as he scratched his head, then he said honestly, “I don’t actually hate Xiao Li Zi, it’s just that this… is just too hurtful. I mean, the factory wasn’t very large, but it was still a factory I built, and he just shut it down like that. I didn’t see a single one of my brothers and employees after I got released, and that’s… that’s just too much.”

“He’s just a kid, so don’t be too harsh on him.” Lu Shang poured him a cup of tea as well, “Moreover, he did it for your sake.”

Though Lu Shang didn’t say it out loud, he actually agreed with how Li Sui handled the problem. Doing illegal things might seem easier to some, but when the winds change, the consequences might be huge, and this incident proved as much. Societies would naturally get more advanced, and almost everything would turn from disorderly to orderly, this was a general trend. People who profited from legal holes would eventually get into trouble.

This was an era that valued law and order after all, everything that didn’t conform to the law would eventually be wiped out and replaced. If anyone or group wanted to gain prosperity, following the legal procedure would be the only route.

Though Li Sui’s actions might seem too heartless, it wasn’t wrong. It was only too direct, so with Zuo Chao’s personality, it was but normal that he found it a little offensive.

“He’s already over 20 years old, you’re still calling him a kid…” Zuo Chao laughed.

Lu Shang didn’t find what he said odd, “In my book, he will always be a kid.”

Zuo Chao stared at him for a while and asked cautiously, “So, that’s it? You’ve decided on him? You’re not going to think about getting someone to have a child with you?”

“Me?” Lu Shang laughed a bit, then he shook his head; he sounded like he was laughing at himself as he said, “If the child were to be born like me, then they’d just be suffering their whole life.”

Zuo Chao froze a bit and tried to persuade him, “That’s not right. I mean, old man Lu had you. I guess it takes becoming a father to finally understand what responsibility is. Look, this morning I was still mad at Xiao Li Zi shutting my factory down, but now I’m already over it. Now that I think about it, he really wasn’t wrong, perhaps the gods have something big for me to do.”

Lu Shang was amused, “You’ve been a father how many minutes? Yet you are already lecturing me.” After a short pause, he added, “It’s enough that I have him.”

Zuo Chao saw that Lu Shang was resolute on the subject, so he stopped, and he only sighed, “When you first brought him to me, I never thought this would happen, you know…”

“If you’re over it, then the next time he calls, don’t ignore him.” Lu Shang put the teacup down, “It breaks my heart seeing him like that.”

Zuo Chao felt a bit guilty, he waved his hand and said, “Well, sorry, it’s my bad, okay? I will invite him over for a drink tonight.”

The two of them chatted for a while; Lu Shang knew that Zuo Chao’s mind had flown over to his wife already, so he didn’t prolong the conversation. Lu Shang stood up and was going to leave.