11

By the time the car reached the Qu Residence, Shen Dai was already fast asleep.

The driver, Old Wu, opened the car door and quietly stood aside, awaiting Qu Moyu’s instructions.

He was the son of Qu Shen’s driver and had been specially trained to serve Qu Moyu. Naturally, with such a close relationship, there was little he didn't know, but even though these two people were not an actual married couple, and even though Old Wu was only a Beta, he didn’t dare casually lay a finger on the person bearing the title of “Qu Moyu’s wife”.

Qu Moyu got down from the car and walked around to Shen Dai's side. Looking down at him for a few seconds, he then bent down and carried him up.

Despite Shen Dai being larger than most male Omegas, he was still surprisingly light when held in his arms.

In the midst of the rocking movements, Shen Dai opened his eyes for a brief moment. He looked at Qu Moyu dazedly before closing them again, as if only witnessing a dream.

Uncle Heng hurriedly came over to welcome them. “Young master, did Mr. Shen have too much to drink?”

“Yeah. Auntie Lan, come and help him get a change of clothes.”

Auntie Lan ran over: “Would you like me to boil some hangover tea?”

“He won’t be able to drink it now. Just let him sleep.”

Qu Moyu carried Shen Dai up the stairs. Entering the guest room, he then set him down on the bed.

As he got up, he felt a slight resistance. It was only when he looked down that he realised Shen Dai had, at some point, grabbed onto the hem of his jacket. The entirety of his force was concentrated between his thumb and forefinger, very gently and cautiously - yet by all appearances, quite stubbornly -  holding on to that tiny bit of fabric.

Qu Moyu furrowed his eyebrows. His eyes flickered, as if contemplating something. Finally, without much effort, he liberated his jacket from Shen Dai’s grip and said, “Take good care of him.”

As soon as Shen Dai woke up, he realised that he had overslept. He usually didn't need an alarm for work, as he would naturally wake up in the mornings, but he hadn't considered the accidental scenario of drinking too much.

Lying in bed, he replayed in his mind the events of the night before, and also recalled the things he had said to Qu Moyu in the car, feeling so vexed he simply wanted to bang his head against the wall.

What exactly did he say!

The motives behind those words were way too obvious. He had tried his best to keep himself closed off emotionally in front of Qu Moyu, for fear of revealing the feelings he shouldn't have. The best kind of relationship he and Qu Moyu could have was for him to have no expectations at all, to admire him from afar, just like in the past.

What would Qu Moyu think now? Would he believe that he, too, was coveting the mark of a top Alpha? But now it was too late for any regrets. He couldn't even recall what else he had said, nor how he got back, who had brought him into the room, or who had changed his clothes.

Then again, how Qu Moyu saw him had no bearing on their relationship at all. One could say that Qu Moyu had never really “seen” him, so all these emotional tangles in his heart were just him getting worked up over nothing. Consoling himself like this could also be called fighting fire with fire.

Shen Dai looked at the time, then calculated that even if he crawled out of bed now and went to the laboratory, he could only put in half a day's work. Besides, his head was still hurting, so he might as well text Cheng Zimei and give himself the entire day off.

He got up to shower and make himself presentable, before heading downstairs to find something to eat. Not only had he been so disgusted with You Xinghai the night before that he hadn't been able to eat, but he had also consumed a bellyful of wine, so his stomach was growling.

When Uncle Heng saw him, he had a bit of an odd expression. "Good morning, Mr. Shen,” he greeted him.

Shen Dai ignored his mocking tone and replied, “Uncle Heng, I’m hungry. May I get something to eat?”

“There’s still an hour until lunchtime. Would you prefer to wait, or have a little something first?”

“I’ll just eat something first. Anything is fine.”

“How about some pastries?”

“That’s great, thanks.”

Shortly after, Auntie Lan brought him a glass of milk and two mung bean cakes. "Mr. Shen, here's something to start with. We've got plenty of delicious dishes coming up for lunch."

“Thanks, Auntie Lan. Maybe prepare a little less for lunch; I might not eat much after this.”

In fact, Shen Dai could eat a lot, but his stomach was unsettled at the moment, and he just wanted to have something small to ease it.

“Eat a little more,” encouraged Auntie Lan, laughing. “Yesterday when I was helping you change into pyjamas - My goodness, you’re so skinny!”

Shen Dai was a little embarrassed. “I’m really sorry to have troubled all of you.”

"Don’t worry, It was no trouble at all," Auntie Lan said with a somewhat ambiguous laugh.  “Though it was a little troublesome for the young master, last night it was the young master who —”

Uncle Heng, standing nearby, gave a slight cough.

Auntie Lan ignored him: “— last night it was the young master who carried you from the car to your room.”

Shen Dai was momentarily taken aback. He masked his reaction by lowering his gaze and taking a bite of the gooey mung bean cake, feeling only that the sweetness had seeped into his heart in a split second. Just moments earlier, he had been wishing that he could forget the embarrassment of the previous evening, and now all he wanted was to recall every step Qu Moyu had taken while carrying him.

"Aren’t you going to supervise the kitchen, A-Lan?" urged Uncle Heng, seemingly anxious she might say more.

“I’m not a chef, what is there for me to supervise?”

Both Uncle Heng and Auntie Lan had been serving in the Qu ancestral home since Qu Moyu's childhood. After Qu Moyu became independent, he brought them over to his house. Although Uncle Heng was the housekeeper, Auntie Lan was the only one among the staff who dared to disobey him.

Uncle Heng said gruffly, "Keep an eye on the time. With the heavy traffic today, we'll need to send the young master's lunch earlier."

Auntie Lan looked at her watch: “There's still time. Mr. Shen, would you like to visit the kitchen? You still haven’t told us what you like to eat; you always say anything is fine. This way, you can tell the chef directly."

"No, that won't be necessary, this afternoon I'm..."

“Come on, come on,” urged Auntie Lan, pulling him up enthusiastically. “You’ve moved in for so long, yet you’ve never been anywhere else apart from the living room, dining room and your own bedroom.”

The kitchen at the Qu residence was impressively large. It was split between a hot kitchen and a cold prep area. There was an entire wall dedicated to storage, complemented by a walk-in refrigerator. The kitchen was staffed with a chef and two apprentices. At present, a carefully selected spread of ingredients was laid out across the kitchen counter

After introducing the chef, Auntie Lan began to explain the day's menu: "Recently, the young master has gotten tired of his workplace meals, so we've taken to preparing and sending over his lunch. Though the young master has a light palate, he eats a lot - otherwise, he wouldn’t have grown up to be so tall.”

Shen Dai laughed. “President Qu’s workplace meals must come from the company’s cafeteria. Actually, our cafeteria’s food is pretty good, but it's natural to get tired of it after a while.”

"That's true, nothing compares to home cooking," Auntie Lan reminded the chef. "Xiao Wang, watch the time. Uncle Heng mentioned there's a traffic jam today, so we need everything ready a bit earlier."

"Okay, I'll speed it up," the chef replied.

Shen Dai picked up a sheet of paper from the counter. Written on it were the dishes to be prepared that day.

Chef Wang explained, “I’ve only written these down so that the apprentices can prepare the ingredients, I won’t necessarily serve all of them."

“Mr Shen, do you know how to cook?” asked Auntie Lan.

"I used to cook often at home, but I haven’t had the means to do so since moving to the company dormitory," Shen Dai replied.

Auntie Lan beamed at him: "Why not cook something for the young master? Let him have something different for a change. It might even save a bit of time as well."

Uncle Heng, who had followed them into the kitchen, immediately objected, “A-Lan, how can we let Mr. Shen cook by himself? Don’t bother Xiao Wang any longer.”

Auntie Lan gave Uncle Heng a look: "What’s the harm in making a dish, Mr. Shen?"

Shen Dai’s heart was bursting with irrepressible excitement: “Let me give it a try.” Right now his mind was filled with thoughts of how — Qu Moyu might actually eat a dish made by him.

"Here, take a look at these ingredients. Feel free to use whatever you like."

"I think I’ll make a shrimp and tofu pot; it’s quicker," Shen Dai could not help but smile. "My family always says that mine is pretty tasty."

Auntie Lan came over to help him. She leaned over and whispered behind Uncle Heng’s back, “Use a bit less salt. When the young master gets back tonight, I’ll ask if he noticed.”

Though Shen Dai wasn’t sure of what Auntie Lan’s intentions were, and he didn’t dare guess, he could sense her sincere goodwill.

With a glance, Auntie Lan could see what he was thinking: "You’re both already married, right? No matter the reason, isn’t it good to pass the days happily together? I notice that the young master also treats you well. You should both find a way to nurture your feelings for one another."

“Thank you, Auntie Lan,” Shen Dai replied with heartfelt gratitude.

After carefully preparing the dish, he garnished it with some freshly chopped spring onions, then used his mobile phone to capture photos of the dish from different angles. Although it was only a simple homemade dish, its appearance was both fragrant and appetising, enough to make one's mouth water.

He had once had a diverse range of interests, one of which was photography, but after taking on the debt, his life was totally consumed by work. Now it appeared that he hadn't lost too much of his skills, at least the photos of the first dish that he had made for Qu Moyu were quite appealing.

The shrimp and tofu pot was packed in a thermal lunch box. By the time it survived the bumpy car journey and arrived in Qu Moyu's hands, it would be long past the point of looking and tasting its best. If one day, somehow, he got the chance to talk to Qu Moyu about how it tasted, he would pull out this photo and show it to him in its most perfect form. The tiny bit of joy and anticipation within his heart swelled uncontrollably.

It was just before ten o'clock in the evening when Shen Dai finally heard the sound of Qu Moyu's car arriving. After an afternoon spent poring over data, his back was aching. He'd been working on this research paper for almost half a year, struggling with some key experimental data that he couldn't prove conclusively, which was very frustrating.

He got up from his laptop and walked towards the window, stretching his back while at the same time looking through the gap in the curtains to spy on Qu Moyu.

Hearing the sound of Qu Moyu entering the house, he hesitated for a moment, then made up his mind to go downstairs to apologise and express his gratitude for the night before.

As soon as he opened the door, he overheard Qu Moyu reprimanding someone in a low voice, “Don’t let him cook again. What were you thinking?”

Shen Dai immediately froze. All he could catch was Auntie Lan saying something in a hushed voice. Although he couldn’t hear it clearly, there was an unmistakable tinge of hurt in her voice.

This was followed by the sound of footsteps.

He stealthily retreated by two steps, then stealthily closed the door shut.

Truth be told, he wasn’t exactly disappointed, after all, this was only the logical conclusion. At the very least, Qu Moyu had eaten the dish he made, which in itself was quite satisfying. What else was he hoping for? A five-star rating? The only thing he couldn’t understand was why Qu Moyu felt the need to reprimand Auntie Lan over this. It made him feel truly sorry for causing her trouble.

The very next morning he had his breakfast as usual, put on his backpack, then went to fetch his bicycle from the basement as he got ready to go to work.

As he stepped out, he ran into Auntie Lan. She seemed to be avoiding his gaze. Since she made no mention of yesterday's events, he pretended as if nothing had happened either.

While pushing his bike through the courtyard, Shen Dai noticed Uncle Heng watering the plants. Upon seeing him, Uncle Heng immediately walked over.

“Good morning, Mr. Shen.”

“Good morning, Uncle Heng. Please go ahead with your work. I’m leaving now.”

“Mr. Shen”, Uncle Heng said, “May I have a word with you?”

Shen Dai had a feeling that this was something he did not want to hear. Without anywhere to hide, he had no choice but to bring his bicycle to a halt and face Uncle Heng calmly.

"When the young master came back yesterday evening, A-Lan mentioned to him that you had prepared his lunch for him. The young master was none too pleased and had a word with her. A-Lan has brought him up since he was a child, and very seldom does he raise his voice at her."

Shen Dai looked down and waited for him to continue.

In a very gentle tone, Uncle Heng said, “A-Lan has never received a formal education and has always worked at the old house, so she is a little naive. She has looked after the young master for over twenty years, and while she is well-acquainted with his daily routine, she doesn’t realise that she and the young master are of two different worlds. It's not possible to apply her way of thinking to discern the young master’s thoughts. If not for me telling her, she wouldn’t even have known why the young master was upset.”

“What are you trying to imply?” asked Shen Dai, impassively.

“With your education and your intelligence, you, of all people, should understand. If the young master treats you well, it is a testament to his good upbringing, but he wouldn’t wish for you to have any unnecessary ideas. He would find it troublesome.”

Shen Dai felt a warm flush spread across his cheeks. His hands instinctively reached for the large pockets of his lab coat, only to realise he was wearing a sweater without pockets,  which made him feel particularly helpless.