At first glance, it looked like Zhou Muyang had two choices.
In reality, there was only one option for him.
With Yu Huan’s unbelievably lazy personality, waiting for her to come downstairs was about as realistic as waiting for aliens to land on Earth.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, he pulled out his phone and bombarded Yu Huan with a series of deadly-cute reaction stickers. He kept sending them until the chat screen was practically flooded with red exclamation marks.
Only then did he stop.
Less than three seconds later, Yu Huan called him.
“Zhou Muyang, are you sick?”
The Yu family and the Zhou family lived on the same floor of the same building. They had grown up together and had been classmates for almost their entire school lives.
In other words, they were childhood sweethearts.
They were so familiar with each other that they had absolutely no need to hold back. They spoke to each other however they pleased.
“Oh, my goodness, Miss Yu. Your humble servant has been waiting downstairs for you,” Zhou Muyang complained dramatically.
Then he threatened her, “Hurry up and tell the nice security guard who I am. Otherwise, later you’ll have to carry your own luggage downstairs.”
Having grown up together, Zhou Muyang knew exactly how bad Yu Huan’s temper could be.
Lazy, blunt, petty, and sometimes completely lacking in common sense or emotional intelligence.
But with that face of hers, somehow, none of those problems seemed too serious.
Zhou Muyang had thought the same way when they were kids.
But whenever the two of them got into trouble together, his parents always blamed him for corrupting Yu Huan.
Yu Huan couldn’t bear to spend her own New Year’s money, yet she wanted to buy Barbie dolls.
Every time, she’d look at him pitifully until Zhou Muyang gave in.
As a result, after all these years, he hadn’t managed to save a single cent of his New Year’s money.
After enough incidents like that, Zhou Muyang finally had an epiphany one day.
And after that epiphany, he discovered an astonishing truth:
Yu Huan had never considered him a friend.
She had been treating him like her servant all along!
He angrily went to confront her.
But Yu Huan simply put a finger to her lips and looked at him in confusion.
“Aren’t you always my servant?”
The expression on her face was so sincere that it was obvious she genuinely believed it.
Aaahhh!
That damn girl!
He should never have watched those princess-and-maid TV dramas with her when they were little.
He should have shown her stories about princes and maids instead, so she would have believed she was the maid.
After that, the way they interacted gradually evolved from a mutually agreeable master-and-servant arrangement into the bickering relationship of two childhood rivals who loved getting on each other’s nerves.
“Zhou Muyang, you’re so stingy.”
Zhou Muyang dug a finger into his ear.
“Can you hurry up already?”
“You give your phone to the security guard. If you don’t give it to him, how am I supposed to explain anything?”
Zhou Muyang turned on speakerphone and handed the phone over.
“Go ahead. Talk.”
Yu Huan introduced herself to the security guard and explained why Zhou Muyang was there.
After verifying everything, the guard opened the gate.
Zhou Muyang tossed his phone onto the passenger seat.
“I’ll park downstairs. If you aren’t ready by the time I come back up, you can wait for the dog.”
The only response he received was the sound of the call ending.
“Beep, beep.”
Zhou Muyang clicked his tongue.
“That temper of yours gets worse the older you get.”
Zhou Muyang moved quickly.
From parking the car to getting into the elevator and coming back upstairs took less than five minutes.
The apartments in this residential complex were all spacious single-unit floors.
Yu Huan lived on the eighteenth floor.
The apartment had an expansive view and excellent natural lighting, while also staying comfortable in both winter and summer.
The moment Zhou Muyang stepped out of the elevator, he walked straight to the door and began repeatedly pressing the doorbell.
After decades of experience, he’d developed this method specifically for dealing with Yu Huan’s tendency to procrastinate.
Either she got annoyed enough to come open the door, or she got annoyed enough to come open the door.
There was no third option.
Yu Huan had just finished changing.
The outfit had been prepared by Zhu Heqing and laid out on the sofa in the bedroom.
She wore a fitted red short-sleeved top with structured shoulders. The fabric was incredibly soft and clearly different from ordinary T-shirts.
She paired it with light-yellow hip-hop-style casual pants made from quick-drying material.
The bright colors made her look especially youthful and vibrant.
She was just about to do her hair when the doorbell suddenly started ringing like someone had gone crazy.
Yu Huan:
“……”
Annoying Zhou Muyang!
She grabbed her comb and yanked open the door.
Zhou Muyang’s hand was still hovering over the doorbell.
The sight of it immediately made Yu Huan’s ears hurt, so she lightly smacked his hand with the comb.
“I came all the way here to pick you up, and you still hit me!” Zhou Muyang complained, clutching his hand. “Yu Huan, Yu Huan, is this how you treat your big brother?”
Yu Huan made a face.
“If you keep asking for a beating, you deserve it.”
Zhou Muyang clicked his tongue.
“Why are you so slow? Your boyfriend probably prepared everything for you already. How can it still take you this long to get ready?”
“You think everyone is like you? You don’t even comb your hair and just throw on a pair of shoes before leaving.”
Zhou Muyang couldn’t be bothered arguing with her.
She always had a whole pile of ridiculous reasoning.
He took a shoe cover from the shoe rack and slipped it over his foot. Then he reached out and poked Yu Huan on the shoulder.
“Then, please hurry up and get yourself ready, Miss Yu. Otherwise, when we get home, you’ll only have leftovers for lunch.”
He was obviously making that up.
Considering how much Aunt Zhang and Uncle Yu spoiled Yu Huan, there was no way they would start eating before she came home.
Yu Huan turned around and went back into the bedroom.
She wore a jellyfish-style mullet haircut, with curled layers on top that required daily styling.
After fixing her hair, Yu Huan picked out a lightweight top and matching shoes.
By the time she finished everything, nearly half an hour had passed.
Finally, Yu Huan slung a pink Hermès Mini Lindy over her shoulder and stood in front of Zhou Muyang.
“I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Zhou Muyang looked at the impeccably dressed Yu Huan.
Then he looked down at himself—oversized shorts, a white T-shirt, and skin that had gotten at least three shades darker after his trip to the beach.
He suddenly felt as though he had returned to his childhood days of serving as Yu Huan’s personal servant.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Under Yu Huan’s expectant gaze, he resigned himself to picking up the small suitcase sitting in the living room.
And just like that, he accompanied the princess out the door.
When they arrived home, it was right around lunchtime.
Knowing the two kids would be coming home together, Zhang Ya and Zhou Muyang’s mother, Rong Xia, had been busy since early morning.
First, they went to the market and bought all the dishes the two children liked.
Then they carefully picked out a huge watermelon from one of the vendors and put it in water to chill.
The two fathers weren’t idle either.
They brought the quilts outside to dry in the sun and then thoroughly cleaned the entire house from top to bottom.
When the time came, they started cooking.
Yu Hezhang used to be a chef and was an excellent cook.
For this meal, he brought out almost every one of his specialties and prepared a table overflowing with food.
The moment Yu Huan stepped through the door, the rich aroma of the dishes hit her.
“Oh, look who’s back! Our Fufu is home.”
Rong Xia was carrying a dish when she spotted Yu Huan and immediately lit up with happiness.
She turned toward Zhang Ya, who was cutting the watermelon.
“Xiaoya, Fufu is home!”
Then she noticed Zhou Muyang carrying the suitcase behind Yu Huan and burst out laughing.
“Hahaha! Son, why did you get so dark?”
Zhou Muyang had the kind of sunny, handsome appearance that still looked good even with a tan.
But Rong Xia was used to seeing her son’s fair complexion.
Suddenly seeing him come home looking like a completely different, much darker version of himself, she couldn’t stop laughing.