After a moment, Li Miao stood up. His finger paused over Li Qi’s phone number before he switched to booking a ride-hailing car instead.
“Wow, this is my first time in this wealthy district,” the ride-hailing driver said, looking around excitedly.
“You must be a young master from some family? You clearly look rich.”
“No.” Li Miao was sitting in the back seat, looking at his phone, and answered casually.
“Then why are you here…? For a job interview?”
“Sort of.” Li Miao put down his phone.
“What position? Butler? Cleaner? Nanny?”
“None of those.” Li Miao gave a half-smile.
“Then what is it?” The driver saw Li Miao’s handsome face in the rearview mirror and suddenly seemed to understand something, hesitating as if to speak. “You wouldn’t… be in that business, would you?”
Li Miao knew he had misunderstood, but he said, “Mm.”
“Wow! Then your… client… are they young? Are they pretty?”
“You mean the person who called me here?” Li Miao raised an eyebrow.
The driver nodded.
“Not young anymore,” Li Miao thought for a moment. “And not pretty either, because he’s a man.”
Driver: ?!
It wasn’t until the car behind honked that the driver realized the light had turned green. He started the car and stammered, “Ah… I see. Well, that’s fine too. Everyone has to make a living, right? Hahaha.”
When Li Miao got out of the car, the driver insisted on waiving the change and looked at him sympathetically. “We all have it tough.”
Li Miao was happy to save a few bucks, so he didn’t insist.
The car stopped at the entrance of Rose Garden. Li Miao didn’t go home; instead, he turned and entered the slums just a wall away.
His season’s haute couture shoes trod through the black mud.
Poverty, filth… here there was only endless despair. The only hope for the children of the slums to climb out was to get into Nan’en, to escape the abyss through the rope of education.
After circling around who knows how many garbage piles, Li Miao finally snapped out of his aimless wandering.
『Where is Shen Yu’s home?』
The system, which had been sensing the host’s bad mood and dared not make a sound, finally popped its head out.
『I don’t know…』
『Don’t tell me you don’t know.』
『…』
『Fine,』 the system sighed, considering that Li Miao was in a bad mood. 『The second building on your left, top floor.』
The narrow stairwell, the small ventilation windows, the broken motion-sensor light flickering on and off… Li Miao stopped in front of a door on the top floor covered in flyers, and knocked.
On the other side of the wall, Shen Yu was sitting in front of his computer, working on something. His phone was on the desk, the screen showing an ongoing call with Bai Xin’s name.
“It’s still the same problem… we lack investment,” Bai Xin’s voice sounded frustrated even through the phone. “I’ve been trying to find some…”
Bai Xin heard the knocking through the phone, but he paused for a moment and then continued.
“I’ve approached several well-known investment firms. They all assessed that our project is too risky. Now it seems we can only try targeting smaller companies.”
“It’s fine. We’ll find someone eventually.” Shen Yu’s hands didn’t stop; code was scrolling on the screen.
Shen Yu’s place was a mixed bag… daytime knocking was common, from beggars to scammers, every kind you could imagine. As long as they were ignored, they would leave after a while. Both Shen Yu and Bai Xin were used to it.
But this time was different.
The knocking outside the door persisted for a while, then did stop, but was replaced by a voice as familiar as a demon… lazy and casual, its tail slightly lifted, as if carrying a hook.
“Shen Yu, open the door.”
Shen Yu’s hand on the keyboard paused, and a string of aaaa appeared on the screen. He snapped back, deleted the extra letters, and said, “Gotta go. Something came up.”
Outside the door, Li Miao was leaning against the doorframe, knocking on and off, with an attitude of “if you don’t open, I won’t leave.”
“Shen Yu…”
“Little Shen…”
“Xiao Yu…”
“A-Yu…”
The rusty, mottled iron door creaked open.
Shen Yu held the door handle, looking at Li Miao darkly.
He was wearing a black tank top, revealing his attractive and sturdy arms, muscle lines clear and smooth.
Li Miao ignored Shen Yu’s gaze and didn’t care whether the Master of the house welcomed him or not; he squeezed through the door on his own.
A sweet citrus scent drifted past. Shen Yu paused for a moment, then closed the door.
Li Miao looked around critically.
“A bit small.”
“A bit old.”
“But quite clean.”
“It’ll do.” Li Miao concluded.
Shen Yu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “What exactly do you want?”
If he had known it would come to this, he might as well have died that night.
“Can’t you tell?” Li Miao turned back. “I’m visiting.”
Shen Yu: …
Visiting? You look more like the Master here than I do.
Whatever. Why bother arguing with him? Shen Yu leaned against the dining table. “What do you want to drink?”
Li Miao: “Coffee.”
Shen Yu: “Don’t have it.”
Li Miao: “Juice?”
Shen Yu: “Don’t have it.”
Li Miao: “…What do you have?”
Shen Yu: “Plain water.”
Li Miao: …
“Then why did you ask?” Li Miao gave him a speechless look.
A trace of amusement appeared in Shen Yu’s eyes. “I also have white sugar.”
“Then I want it with 30% sugar.” As he spoke, Li Miao very familiarly opened the bedroom door.
30% sugar? Since when does plain water with sugar have a sweetness level?
Shen Yu poured a glass of water, added one spoonful of sugar, thought about it, then added two more…
30% sugar is just three spoonfuls of sugar, right? Reasonable.
Shen Yu stirred with a spoon for a while, then carried the glass out of the kitchen.
The living room was empty.
Shen Yu frowned slightly and walked toward the bedroom.
“Thud…” Shen Yu’s foot kicked something. He looked down. Li Miao’s two shoes were thrown in a mess.
Shen Yu had a bad feeling. He looked up, and sure enough, the guest who was visiting was lying spread-eagled on his bed.
Shen Yu closed his eyes and opened them again. Li Miao was still lying in that position on his bed.
It wasn’t a dream.
Even more despairing.
“Get up and drink your water.” Shen Yu nudged Li Miao’s leg.
“Sleepy.” Li Miao closed his eyes, grabbed Shen Yu’s blanket, and rolled over, wrapping himself up like a cocoon.
“This is my bed.”
“I know.” A muffled voice came from inside the blanket.
Shen Yu stood silently by the bed for a moment, then placed the glass on the nightstand.
It was already noon, and it seemed this young master had no intention of leaving.
He sighed and started cooking.