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That morning, Shen Qi woke up feeling refreshed. The sky was blue, the cloud was white, the flower was fragrant, and Samuel was his. 1
After last night’s video chat, even if he still had any hesitation, he was now sure that Samuel was his true love. Who’s David? Who’s Lu Zhuo? They can all leave.
His chest, muscles, waist, long legs, and that extraordinary talent.
Shen Qi was already drooling just by thinking about it.
Even if Samuel’s looks were average, he could still accept it. Since he is not a shallow person, he looked more at the personality than the looks.
With Samuel in his hand, it doesn’t matter if he sees Lu Zhuo again. That uneasy feeling has completely vanished, and nothing else matters.
He naturally greeted, “Good morning, Brother Lu!”
Lu Zhuo was eating breakfast when he suddenly saw Shen Qi. He almost spat out the milk. After forcefully swallowing it back in, he replied, “Good morning.”
Shen Qi felt that his expression was a bit odd. His expression was also very strange, so he could not help but look down and survey himself. Was he wearing his clothes backwards?
No.
Lu Zhuo took a deep look at him and resumed his cold expression: “Went for a run?”
“En.” Shen Qi nodded. He has the habit of waking up early every day to run. Although he did not need to cook breakfast today, his biological clock is accustomed to getting up early. He accompanied Elder Lu for breakfast, then ran around the villa twice while Elder Lu stayed in the garden exercising Tai Chi.
Lu Jun held a fork in one hand while scrolling through her phone in her other. After hearing their conversation, he looked up and shot a glance up, smiling, “What did you encounter this morning? Why do you seem so happy? Don’t tell me it is because grandpa adopted you as his grandson. You weren’t this happy yesterday. What happened?” Her eyes quickly landed on Shen Qi and Lu Zhuo. “Are you dating someone?”
Shen Qi’s eyebrows instantly soared up. The corners of his eyes couldn’t hide his happiness. Even his mouth curled up unconsciously, “Nothing. I’m just in a happy mood.“
Lu Jun did not believe him, then tsked twice, “Come on! I have already experienced love. If you want to hide it from me, go through at least ten relationships first. “
Shen Qi coughed a few times and gave her a look, meaning that it wasn’t convenient to say anything since Lu Zhuo was still there. As long as everyone was clear about the situation in their hearts. It’s right if you think it is. I’m sweaty after running. I’ll go shower now. “
He had already slipped back to his room without waiting for Lu Jun to respond.
Lu Jun was not in a hurry to ask him since there was another party at the scene. She looked back, “Say…what happened?”
Lu Zhuo placed his fork down, wiped his mouth, and repeated Shen Qi’s words: “It’s right if you think it is.”
He then maneuvered the wheelchair out of the house towards his assistant and secretary, who were already waiting outside.
Lu Jun speechlessly looked at her brother’s back for a while. They haven’t even compared their birthdays 2, yet they were already singing together. 3 They only have the opposite sex with no regard to their family. No, they only have the same sex with no regard to their family. 4
Having tasted the sweetness once, Shen Qi longed for its flavor. He wished he could hide in the room anytime and anywhere to video chat with Samuel. If he couldn’t video chat, they could message each other.
Unfortunately, Master Lu’s birthday banquet was approaching, and he was ready to formally introduce him at the birthday banquet. He has been busy since the morning. Master Lu specifically called the tailor to come, to measure his body, and found an etiquette teacher to teach him a variety of etiquette.
He also had to memorize his relatives. Even though the Lu family did not have so many generations, they still had a lot of relatives. Not to mention the ancestors who have passed away, Master Lu has a sister. His sister married and had a son who is part of the external family. Lu Zhuo’s father has a sister, that is, Lu Zhuo and Lu Jun’s aunt, who is also part of the family, and Master Lu’s wife’s mother’s family, Lu Zhuo’s extended family, and so on.
These are still considered minor. The main event is the social gathering of all of the families that are close to the Lu family. But, in the past, which of these relationships have been normal, which of these relationships appear to be close but are actually enemies?Of course, those who are enemies on the surface will not come at all.
Shen Qi’s head hurt from memorizing so many people.
But this move made by Master Lu called him back to his senses. This was obviously done to train him. Moreover, he was putting emphasis on the socializing aspect of what the lady of the house should do. From what Lu Zhuo said to him, he had to adopt him to be his great grandson. Master Lu decided to set the two up!
Shen Qi accompanied Master Lu and easily figured out what he was thinking. Shen’A Qi is simple, good-natured, and has a relationship with Uncle Shen. Since he is an orphan, there won’t be too many implications. So many years have passed already for his relatives in his old family. In the past, they did not look for trouble since Uncle Shen was there. So they definitely won’t look for trouble in the future.
No matter which way you look at it, he is very suitable for Lu Zhuo.
The truth was that Shen Qi had guessed correctly. Master Lu did have the idea of matching them. He does not adhere to the old traditions and knows it is impossible for Lu Zhuo to marry a wife and have children in this life. It would be better to use the title of adopted grandson to help him find a companion. Yet he never found a suitable candidate or had an opportunity.
Now he found Shen Qi.
He and Lu Jun really like Shen Qi. Lu Jun simply thinks that Shen Qi has great character, is good-looking, and most importantly, has a good nature. So much better than the original Anze, Elder Lu also places importance on Shen Qi’s identity. Half of it was because of the relationship between Uncle Shen and Shen Qi. The other half was because he had control over what happened. No matter what happened later, it wouldn’t be worse than what happened previously.
Of course, this was the worst situation. He still liked Shen Qi. The ways of the world can be taught, but his personality can never be evil.
It could only be said that Anze’s matter left a deep shadow on the whole Lu family.
Shen Qi read the minds of the Lu family. But since he is now Shen A’Qi, he can only pretend not to know anything and follow Elder Lu’s instructions.
It was a busy day. Only in the evening did Shen Qi finally have some free time, Master Lu was still not at ease, and emphasized that he had to memorize the given information.
Shen Qi returned to the room and threw it to the side. In fact, he has long remembered it. Yet he had to maintain the setting, and pretend to have a bad memory. If he really showed his highly retentive memory and intelligence, Master Lu might have to reconsider their marriage.
Master Lu’s feelings for him are true, and his feelings for Master Lu are also true. But it is impossible to maintain a relationship between people only with feelings, especially those without blood. No amount of true feelings can compare to practical benefits from using one another.
After throwing away those random things, Shen Qi quickly took off his clothes to take a shower. He filled the bathtub with water, took out his phone, and did something self-evident.
Hei, hei, hei.
He laughed slyly three times, then sent a video connection to the other person.
It took a little longer than yesterday to connect. The opposite side seemed to hesitate, and the screen lit up, still with the familiar white background.
“Brother!” Shen Qi smiled and greeted the camera, “Brother, are you busy? Are you tired? Are you exhausted?”
“Not tired.” Lu Zhuo looked at his hand. His expressionless face showed a trace of helplessness. Why couldn’t he control himself and disregard the connect button? What happened to not repeating the same mistake?
Shen Qi did not care about his struggle. Hearing that he was not tired, his eyes lit up, smiling: “It’s good that you are not tired. That’s good. I am tired today, from having to memorize things the whole day. Ah, I forgot to tell you something yesterday. The family that I currently work for wants to accept me as their adopted relative. I have a family again, and a grandfather, a brother, and a sister. Of course, my uncle is still my uncle.“
Lu Zhuo’s heart palpitated: “According to what you said before, will you be the young master of a rich family?”
Shen Qi could not understand what he meant by the tone. He responded frankly, “I don’t know what others think, but I do not have this idea. In fact, big brother, that is, the young master I told you about, wanted to give me money. However, I did not accept it. I am still young and can depend on my culinary skills to support myself. Ah, do not worry. I will work hard and earn money to ensure that you live well in the future. In fact, I have money. I secretly saved a lot of it. If you do not believe me, I can show you… “
He was anxious and intended to open the online savings for the other side to see. He only then realized that the video chat was still on: “You can’t see it through the video. Wait a moment! I will send you a screenshot after this video call! “
Lu Zhuo looked at his panicked appearance, and his heart softened. But his voice remained light: “I’m fine. Why do I need to depend on you? “
Shen Qi instantly widened his eyes: “You want to back out?”
He came closer to the camera with an unhappy face, saying, “We obviously agreed yesterday that we are already together. Who will raise you if I don’t?” He pursed his lips, a little aggrieved, “I know that in addition to being good-looking, able to cook, I don’t have any other strong points. My education level is not high, but I am sincere with you. Although my current salary is not a lot, I will work hard. In the future, I will provide you with a lot of money when I open a restaurant. I previously agreed with the young… no, my big brother, to help his friend’s restaurant. Then I will be able to do it myself once I learn…“
The other end did not speak. He became a little anxious: “Really, I did not lie to you, I, I…”
Seeing that there was still no sound, his heart poured out his frustration, and indescribable sadness. His voice trembling, he asked, “Do you think I was too open like yesterday? I didn’t mean to, I just really like you. If you do not like it, I will never do it again…”
Lu Zhuo was in a trance. For the first time in his life, someone said that they would support him. More importantly, Shen Qi was wholly devoted to him.
He does like Shen Qi, but not a lot. At the very least, he can still calculate how much he loves him. He can plan out his identity, give him money, and the opportunity to live peacefully in the Lu family.
Shen Qi is not bad. He is good-looking and pure-minded, which is enough. His lively character is no harm either. Most importantly, his grandfather and sister like him. He does not want to deal with this again, nor does he have the energy to.
His teenage love almost ended up destroying him, obliterating his enthusiastic heart until nothing was left. He no longer has the energy or the heart to start another passionate relationship. He would rather have a peaceful relationship with someone at home waiting for him and serving him dinner.
Initially, his interest was aroused for precisely this reason.
According to his logic, it was enough to find someone who looked suitable and liked him as well. That’s when Shen Qi appeared just in time.
He couldn’t afford to give a tenth of his love, nor did he dare to. In other words, he was afraid to reciprocate the feeling again. He felt like the current amount was just right. It wouldn’t make someone lose their senses or make them feel ignored.
But just now, his heart was moved. He clearly felt that there was something out of his control. He subconsciously pressed out the video.
Footnotes
TL note: I wanted to keep the repetition in the raws. It is a custom to compare birthdays to make sure that their zodiacs don’t conflict.This means that they are already in harmony, like echoing each other.TL: So here, she was referring to an idiom about how they only care about their dates but not their friends/family. However, since the original idiom uses heterosexual terms (opposite gender), she changed it to homsexual terms. Sorry! I wasn’t sure how to explain that in this sentence.