When Fu Shinian came downstairs, the old lady and Wen Shaoyuan, as well as Auntie Wang, were enjoying their meal at the dining table, showing no intention of calling them down to eat.
On seeing Fu Shinian come down, Auntie Wang stood up and went to the kitchen to get him a bowl and chopsticks:
"The old lady said you wouldn’t be coming down anytime soon, so she didn’t prepare any tableware for you."
Fu Shinian smiled as he took them, and seated himself as if he had every right to.
Wen Shaoyuan’s gaze had been fixed on the direction of the staircase. Noticing this, Fu Shinian remarked lightly:
"Eat your food, your Aunt Su won’t be coming down for a while."
"Why?" Wen Shaoyuan looked at Fu Shinian, "Did you bully her?"
Fu Shinian thought about Su Mu’s posture as she wept and begged under him, and supposed that it wasn’t excessive to say he had bullied her, so he nodded slightly: "I suppose so."
Wen Shaoyuan put down his utensils and got off the chair, intending to run upstairs, but Fu Shinian quickly grabbed him:
"What are you doing?"
"I’m going to find Sister Su, I want to comfort her."
Fu Shinian pursed his lips, "She’s sleeping, you can’t disturb her. Eat your meal nicely, and I’ll take you to see her once she wakes up."
Seeing the authority in Fu Shinian’s demeanor, Wen Shaoyuan turned his hopeful gaze to the old lady, who, being experienced, merely smiled slightly and motioned for Wen Shaoyuan to come to her. Standing obediently by the old lady’s side, Wen Shaoyuan spoke meekly:
"Grandma, I’m worried about Sister Su."
Fu Shinian, looking at Wen Shaoyuan, corrected:
"She is Aunt Su, not Sister Su. No matter how sweet-talking you are, you should respect reality a bit."
Wen Shaoyuan displeasingly looked at Fu Shinian:
"Uncle, are you always correcting how I address Sister Su because I call her ’sister’, and I always call you ’uncle’? But you do look much older than Sister Su indeed."
Fu Shinian: "..."
The old lady chuckled and pulled Wen Shaoyuan back to his seat:
"Shaoyuan, your Sister Su is tired. Let’s let her rest for a bit, okay? Just like your Uncle Fu said, once she wakes up, we’ll all go see her together."
Fu Shinian: "..."
Was grandma starting to pick on him too?
Now that the old lady had spoken, Wen Shaoyuan naturally wasn’t as worried as before, gave a slight nod, and returned to his seat to start eating. Fu Shinian noticed that Wen Shaoyuan hadn’t been eating much. Eventually, it was the old lady who tapped the table and pulled his thoughts back:
"Envious, huh? If you’re envious, just hurry up and have one yourself."
Fu Shinian gave a slight smile:
"I thought the old lady understood that my not coming down to eat on time was a sign of my hard work."
The old lady glared at him:
"No sense of propriety."
After the meal, to prevent Wen Shaoyuan from disturbing Su Mu, Fu Shinian could only watch him, accompanying him in the living room to watch dull cartoons. Wen Shaoyuan wasn’t really paying attention; his mind was full of Sister Su upstairs. In his imagination, Sister Su might be up there crying all alone, and she hadn’t come down to eat for so long; maybe she had cried until she had no energy left.
Fu Shinian noticed Wen Shaoyuan’s distraction and patted his head:
"Even if you stare a hole into the staircase, I’m not going to let you go up."
Wen Shaoyuan turned around and looked at him displeasingly, touching his own hair: "I don’t like people touching my hair."
Fu Shinian remembered how when he had just come back and seen Wen Shaoyuan, Su Mu had also done what he had just done, though the little guy hadn’t reacted this much. He smiled lightly:
"Then why can you call Aunt Su?"
"I like her." Shaoyuan furrowed his brows, "And like I said, she’s Sister Su, not Auntie."
"Then don’t call me Uncle, I’m your brother."
"But you’re old."
Fu Shinian bit his teeth, deciding not to stoop to the level of a child.
When Su Mu woke up, it was already midnight. By then, Fu Shinian had long sent Shaoyuan to sleep. Fortunately, his biological clock was always precise; even though he was worried about Su Mu, with Fu Shinian guarding the door, he was helpless and soon fell asleep.
Fu Shinian dealt with one trouble and couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. As he turned to leave, he suddenly slowed his steps, walked back, and tucked Shaoyuan’s exposed arm back under the blanket. Looking at the child sleeping peacefully in front of him, he couldn’t help but smile softly, thinking about what it would be like if he had a child of his own.
Perhaps, he really should consider this matter of having kids.
As Fu Shinian got up, he ruffled Shaoyuan’s hair, whispering with a smug smile, "I just had to touch!"
When he returned to the room, Su Mu was still asleep. Standing at the door, Fu Shinian watched her for a few seconds, and assured that she wouldn’t wake up anytime soon, he went to his study to deal with work matters. After finishing, he realized it was already 11 o’clock. Thinking that Su Mu should be waking up by then, he turned off his computer and left the study.
Su Mu had just woken up, hugging her blanket and sitting on the bed, appearing confused about her whereabouts. Fu Shinian couldn’t help but smile and walked over:
"Awake?"
Su Mu turned her head to look at him, and instantly remembered their wild moments just before, especially in the shower, and what she had done for him. Her face turned as red as a ripe apple. Averting her gaze from Fu Shinian, she noticed she was still bare and tightened the blanket across her chest:
"Pass me my pajamas."
Fu Shinian licked his lips, suppressing the urge to tease her, and turned toward the walk-in closet.
When he returned to the bedroom, Su Mu’s spirits were noticeably higher, and the blush on her face had mostly faded, though still rosily cute. He handed her the pajamas, and Su Mu thanked and took them:
"Did you bathe me?"
"Yes." Fu Shinian replied, settling on the couch by the floor-to-ceiling windows: "You really should exercise, so you don’t faint all the time."
Su Mu pursed her lips, choosing not to engage with that topic. She got dressed and suddenly thought of something, asking:
"Where’s Shaoyuan?"
"What time is it now? Of course, he’s asleep."
Su Mu looked at him, slightly surprised: "Did you put him to bed?"
Fu Shinian scoffed softly:
"Do you think I would do something like that?"
Su Mu also thought it unlikely and let out a small smile.
Having burned a lot of energy before bedtime and sleeping for so long without dinner, Su Mu was feeling a bit hypoglycemic. Just as her stomach inappropriately growled, she threw off the blanket and climbed out of bed:
"I’m going to check downstairs and see what there is to eat."
Fu Shinian looked up from his phone screen:
"Auntie Wang didn’t leave you any food."
Su Mu felt it was not a big deal: "Then I’ll just make something myself."
"The old lady is a light sleeper; the noise in the kitchen might wake her up."
Su Mu: "...You might as well just tell me to starve."
Fu Shinian gave a slight smile, put away his phone, and got up from the couch: "I’ll take you out to eat something good."