Chapter 38 (1/2)

Chapter 38

Chen Zhaojun was not a person who would usually stay up late. But at 11.30 pm, he was still standing in front of the television.

“Dad.”

Chen Hansheng knew his father wanted to talk to him so he sat down on the sofa in the living room.

“You don’t usually sleep so late.”

Chen Zhaojun looked at his son. To him, his son was still the mischievous child from many years ago. But in a blink of an eye, his son had already turned into an eighteen-year-old young man who was being fed cotton candy by a girl.

“Dad, I was planning to tell you.”

Chen Hansheng had planned to tell Chen Zhaojun that he had nothing to do with Xiao Rongyu. The two of them were just friends.

“There’s no need to explain anything. I’m not like your mother. As long she has a good character, I’m not concerned.”

“That’s not it, Dad. Xiao Rongyu and I are just-” Chen Hansheng wanted to make things straight but his father interrupted him.

“Hmm? Xiao Rongyu sounds familiar.” Chen Zhaojun frowned and tried to recall his memories.

“Her father’s Mr. Xiao, a second lieutenant criminal investigator of the Public Security Bureau.”

Chen Hansheng decided to remind him first.

“So it’s Xiao Hongwei’s daughter.”

Chen Zhaojun then smiled and said, “Mr. Xiao has always been the most good-looking person in Port City. No wonder his daughter is equally as good-looking. I should have known.”

“Dad, Xiao Rongyu and I are just friends. It’s not what you think.” Chen Hansheng finally found an opportunity to explain himself.

But Chen Zhaojun simply smiled. “Why are young people nowadays so much shyer than we were back then? What era is it now that you still use ‘just friends’ as an excuse? Do you really think we don’t watch TV dramas?”

His father refused to listen to him so Chen Hansheng did not want to explain anymore. In any case, the truth would eventually come out.

“Dad, weren’t you worried before you knew the girl’s identity?” asked Chen Hansheng, trying to change the topic again.

“Why would I?”

Old Chen denied flatly. “I’m not that old-fashioned.”

In the end, the father and son watched TV together. When he was about to go to bed, he patted his father on the back. “I didn’t know you could change the TV channel with the air-conditioner remote control.”

Chen Zhaojun took a closer look and realized that his son was right. He was indeed holding the air-conditioner remote in his hand while pointing it at the TV. No wonder the TV channel had not changed at all.

“I’m going to bed. Don’t worry about anything, Dad. If you get bored, just start a fight with Mom,” said Chen Hansheng as he waved his father goodnight.

Chen Zhaojun did say that he wasn’t worried but he had actually been wondering about the girl the entire time. It wasn’t until his son had told him her name and her father’s identity that he finally felt relieved.

Chen Zhaojun shook his head as he muttered, “Cheeky son.”

…

The National Holiday lasted for quite a while. Even after visiting his grandparents, Chen Hansheng was having a hard time keeping himself occupied.

At some point, he received a call from Xiao Rongyu, inviting him to a cafe for a drink with some of their ex-classmates. But Chen Hansheng came up with an excuse to reject them.

Firstly, Chen Hansheng did not have much to talk about with them. Secondly, he did not want to be misunderstood by people by being in the same space as Xiao Rongyu.

Chen Hansheng called Wang Zibo. “Zibo, wanna play billiards tonight?”

Wang Zibo immediately agreed. He was an otaku with no social life. If Chen Hansheng did not invite him out to play, he would have just stayed at home and accompanied his mother to rewatch ‘My Fair Princess’.