Sheng Mingzhi’s body stiffened for a split second.
Lu Jiayan was separated from him by only a single street. For some reason, he felt a pang of guilt and reflexively glanced back with his peripheral vision. Thankfully, Huo Yuzhe had already left.
Wait. So, what if Huo Yuzhe hadn’t left? He had nothing to do with the guy. Besides, even if he did, considering Lu Jiayan was just his “plastic” husband, did he even have the right to care?
Sheng Mingzhi’s confidence returned instantly. He strode across the street in a few steps and tilted his chin up slightly. “What are you doing here?”
Lu Jiayan remained expressionless, his usual lazy self. “Am I interrupting you two?” he replied casually.
…
…
He had definitely seen them.
“We’re colleagues…” Sheng Mingzhi started to explain, but stopped halfway as a thought struck him: Wait, why am I explaining myself to him? Given their “plastic” marriage, there was absolutely no need for explanations!
So, Sheng Mingzhi immediately dropped the subject and raised his voice. “You haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”
Clearly, he was the one who had been caught in a potentially compromising situation, yet from his tone, it sounded like he was the one interrogating Lu Jiayan.
Lu Jiayan looked up, his voice flat. “Taking a walk.”
Sheng Mingzhi: “…”
He swallowed the phrase “Are you mentally ill?” which was on the tip of his tongue and said calmly, “You drove twenty-four kilometers across Yunjing just to take a walk? Who would believe that? Are you trying to fool a puppy?”
“Yeah.”
Sheng Mingzhi froze. He realized he had walked straight into Lu Jiayan’s trap. Just as he was about to lash out in frustration, he heard Lu Jiayan speak in a slow, deliberate drawl, asking a question he already knew the answer to: “After all, it’s impossible that I’m here to pick you up from work, right?”
This dog of a man—can he not speak without being sarcastic?
Sheng Mingzhi grumbled internally, but he was also a bit surprised: He actually came to pick me up. If he was here for that, why couldn’t he just say so normally instead of being so cynical?
Still, the thought that a workaholic like Lu Jiayan would actually set aside his work to pick him up made his mood improve slightly. He decided to temporarily forgive the sarcasm.
He pulled open the car door, but before getting in, he paused, remembering a very important question. “How long have you been here?”
He probably… didn’t hear the conversation with Huo Yuzhe, right? It wasn’t anything terrible, but Sheng Mingzhi felt strangely uneasy. Because his own hearing wasn’t the best, he tended to judge others by his own standards, assuming everyone suffered from intermittent deafness like he did.
A second later, his hopes were dashed. Lu Jiayan let out a chuckle that sounded cold and decidedly mischievous. “Quite a while. If I had arrived any later, I wouldn’t have known I had such a large son.”
Sheng Mingzhi’s expression froze instantly; the air seemed to thicken with awkwardness. He looked at Lu Jiayan silently. “You heard all of that?”
His expression looked somewhat aggrieved.
But who was the truly aggrieved one here? Lu Jiayan was almost laughing from irritation.
“Hm?” Lu Jiayan’s peach-blossom eyes swept over him, the corners of his eyes elongated and naturally warm, though his tone was incredibly sharp. “Hear what? That you like overbearing ‘little wolves,’ or that you like younger guys? After all, you’re looking for a partner, not a father, right?”
…
So, you heard every single word!
Sheng Mingzhi fell silent for a moment. Lu Jiayan raised an eyebrow at him. Then, the little ancestor suddenly spoke up. “Look, I didn’t mean to say it like that.”
Sheng Mingzhi looked up at him with an innocent gaze. However, the words coming out of his mouth didn’t match his face at all as he said righteously, “Don’t think I’m being harsh.” He paused and added firmly, “After all, the truth is always harsh.”
Lu Jiayan: “…”
Where did I get the delusion that this little ancestor was about to apologize?
Before Lu Jiayan could react, Sheng Mingzhi quickly pulled open the door and sat in the passenger seat. Now that he was in the car, Lu Jiayan couldn’t kick him out even if he got angry.
A few seconds later, Lu Jiayan got into the driver’s seat. It seemed he had decided to come on a whim; he hadn’t even brought a driver.
Watching him drive out of the corner of his eye, Sheng Mingzhi’s heart skipped a beat. It had been many years since he last saw Lu Jiayan drive. Back then, he was only in the seventh grade, and Lu Jiayan had just gotten his license. The passenger seat hadn’t belonged to him then the person occupying it had always been his older brother, Sheng Xu.
Lu Jiayan and Sheng Xu had been high school classmates. One was rank one in the year, the other was last. The last one was Sheng Xu.
Remembering this, Sheng Mingzhi let out a cold snort. Because of that, back when he was young and naive, he had always thought Lu Jiayan was his “male sister-in-law.” When the truth finally came out, Lu Jiayan and his brother had teamed up to mock him so mercilessly he couldn’t hold his head up.
As expected, this old dog Lu Jiayan had a black heart even as a kid. He even tricked a kind-hearted, pitiful, innocent middle schooler like him.
Perhaps because he was reminiscing about the past, Sheng Mingzhi appeared to be staring intently out the window in a daze. Suddenly, Lu Jiayan’s figure entered his peripheral vision. The man had leaned halfway out of the driver’s seat toward him.
In the confined space, the posture felt incredibly invasive and the distance was ambiguous. Sheng Mingzhi could almost smell the faint scent on Lu Jiayan’s clothes. He knew Lu Jiayan didn’t really use cologne; the scent was likely the woody fragrance left on his suit after laundering.
He was stunned for a moment but snapped out of it quickly, leaning back against the seat like a startled animal. Just as he was about to grab Lu Jiayan’s wrist, the man simply pulled the seatbelt across him and clicked it into place.
After completing this in one smooth motion, Lu Jiayan looked at Sheng Mingzhi’s “approaching a great enemy” expression. He paused before asking meaningfully, “What are you nervous about?”
Sheng Mingzhi finally realized Lu Jiayan was just buckling his seatbelt. He had thought—
“Who’s nervous?” Sheng Mingzhi glared at him, though his frantic heartbeat betrayed him. He was just startled.
“Look at you.” Lu Jiayan glanced at him, his tone annoyingly smug. “You didn’t think I was going to kiss you, did you?”
Sheng Mingzhi: “…”
Can someone please bring a ruler to measure the thickness of this man’s skin?!
After a long pause, Lu Jiayan’s soft laughter filled the car. “Dream on.”
…
Sheng Mingzhi, murder is illegal. Stay calm.
He took a deep breath and stared blankly ahead. Then, he looked down and pulled out his phone.
Lu Jiayan glanced at him again. “There’s no need to post this on your Moments to brag.”
Sheng Mingzhi was so angry his head throbbed. He tapped the screen so hard he nearly crushed it. Through gritted teeth, he said, “You’re overthinking. I’m just messaging my manager.”
Lu Jiayan: “What are you saying?”
Sheng Mingzhi suddenly flashed an innocent smile, his tone light. “Telling him that my dad came to pick me up personally today, so there’s no need to wait for me.”
Lu Jiayan: “…”
________________________________________
It was 6:00 PM when Lu Jiayan picked him up, and they had dinner out. Considering how exceptionally delicious the meal was, Sheng Mingzhi’s anger had mostly dissipated by the time they were heading back to No. 1 Xishan.
He spent the whole way on his phone editing photos. He selected a few from the “barely passable” shots Lu Jiayan had taken by the Lamborghini last time, added tonight’s dinner, and gathered a total of six photos.
For the final selfie, Sheng Mingzhi was having trouble choosing. In the photos, he faced the camera wearing a lavender collaboration hoodie, sporting a standard eight-tooth smile. The curvature was precise to the decimal point, ensuring every inch of a handsome man’s face looked perfect. Of course, his blinding yet low-key luxury wedding ring and the 20-million-yuan Vacheron Constantin Lu Jiayan had just given him were also beautifully featured.
The angles of the two selfies were identical, even the lighting was the same. However, the editing style was different. Looking closely, one could see slight differences, which threw him into a state of indecision.
Logically, since Lu Jiayan was right to his left, he could just show him the selfies to help choose. But remembering the “old man’s” straight-guy tendencies, Sheng Mingzhi figured he wouldn’t see any difference at all or worse, he’d mock him by saying the photos were so similar they’d vanish like a Match-3 game.
Heh. Why look for trouble?
Sheng Mingzhi sent the two photos to Shen Ling, and after some discussion, they chose the one where the Vacheron Constantin logo was more obvious. This would directly tell the internet: “I am very rich and I am flexing.”
Perhaps because he had been on his phone for too long, Lu Jiayan asked casually, “What are you looking at?”
Sheng Mingzhi replied indifferently, “What I’m looking at has nothing to do with you.” He then pressed the voice message button to reply to Shen Ling.
However, almost at the same time he started recording, Lu Jiayan spoke: “How does it have nothing to do with me? Am I not your dad?”
Sheng Mingzhi was so shocked his hand slipped. The unfinished voice message was sent to Shen Ling just like that.
Him: “…”
Is it too late to delete it?
A moment later, Shen Ling replied in the chat box:
【…】
【Do you two play that wildly?】
He was beyond defense. Sheng Mingzhi didn’t bother explaining to Shen Ling and posted the six photos to Weibo. His anti-fans arrived like a swarm, and the comments grew visibly.
They were, of course, mocking his “elementary school level” bragging. Bored, Sheng Mingzhi decided to bite back in the comments section.
“Why don’t you just hang a price tag on the Vacheron Constantin?”
[Suggestion adopted.]
“Don’t pose in front of other people’s luxury cars, it’s embarrassing.”
[You’re just triggered.]
“Wife, you’re so pretty, let me f*** you [heart-eyes emoji]”
[?]
“To be honest, the only thing you have over Qiao Yan is your face.”
[Well said. I hope Qiao Yan has as much self-awareness as you.]
Since Qiao Yan was mentioned, a “fandom vs. anti” war ensued. Sheng Mingzhi had no interest in arguing about people’s ancestors. He turned off his phone and focused on admiring the custom Vacheron Constantin on his wrist.
After a few minutes of admiration, he realized the car was terrifyingly quiet. Since Lu Jiayan’s last remark, he hadn’t spoken a word. The man’s face was calm, eyes forward, driving steadily.
Sheng Mingzhi watched him for a while, then moved his gaze from Lu Jiayan’s overly handsome face back to the watch. Twenty million yuan had awakened the little ancestor’s conscience.
Sheng Mingzhi hesitated and glanced at Lu Jiayan through the rearview mirror. Actually, thinking about it, was he being a bit much today? Calling Lu Jiayan old and all… in reality, Lu Jiayan wasn’t old at all. When he took off his suit and set aside his elite CEO aura, he wouldn’t look out of place on a university campus—young and handsome. He could easily be voted the school hunk.
He heard that people from the 90s generation who were nearing thirty cared a lot about their age. Sheng Mingzhi felt a tiny bit of guilt and simultaneously thought with horror: Could Lu Jiayan actually care about this? Then he’s quite vain.
After a long while, Sheng Mingzhi broke the silence. “Actually, I think…”
Lu Jiayan’s gaze shifted toward him.
Sheng Mingzhi muttered, “Being a bit older isn’t a bad thing.”
He searched his mind for words, offering a dry, unpracticed explanation with a hint of comfort. “The internet says it’s better to find an old man to share your heart with than to watch a boy grow up.”
A hint of a smile touched Lu Jiayan’s peach-blossom eyes as he looked at Sheng Mingzhi with interest. He wanted to see what this little ancestor was trying to say.
Sheng Mingzhi’s tone was very sincere as he said slowly, “Old men are actually quite good, so you don’t need to feel inferior.”
Lu Jiayan seemed amused by his words. When he spoke, his voice was laced with laughter. “Old men are good?”
Sheng Mingzhi nodded and gave an example. “Old men have pensions, and old men cause less trouble.”
“Hm.” Lu Jiayan nodded with a dry laugh, drawling, “And once the old man is gone, you can just find another one, right?”