RALP Chapter 71.1

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Shen Chen is discharged from the hospital.

Two months in a hospital bed has made his body dull; there’s that saying too, tendon and bone injuries affect one for a hundred days. Though while he still has a bit of a limp, it wouldn’t affect his daily activities much.

Though the limp really does affect his ‘old bachelor from a prominent family’ vibe. So now as long as he can go by car then he will never walk.

Secretary Dong reports, “the clothes are packed up now. Let’s go, Mr. Shen.”

Shen Chen stands up.

Besides the secretary, his parents are also here.

While the private ward is outfitted about as well as a hotel room, but Shen Chen has already had enough of such a dreary place and the endless smell of disinfectant.

Outside the hospital, the weather is quite fine. Blue skies as far as the eye can see and the temperature is just right. Though with that said, he’ll still have to wear a proper suit and tie even as the weather continues to warm, as he is the CEO of an entire conglomerate.

On the car, his father sits besides him, full of chirping as always, “have you talked with Youyou after that?”

Shen Chen can feel a stuffiness in himself hearing that name, and does not reply.

That day Du You brought him shocking news that he was going out with someone. After that, he never personally came to visit but only had people send sweets along every so often.

Shen Chen really wanted to see him, but he couldn’t let go of his pride and contact him himself. So, every day, he just opens up the chat to stare at the blank input box.

There’s still their past conversations logged up there as well. The first bits of conversation since they added each other was he misunderstanding that Du You was someone his father was trying to set him up with.

It really is embarrassing to look at now. Even so, he still can’t bring himself to delete it because, if he did, then there wouldn’t be much left up there.

With no reply coming from his son, the father has a pretty good idea of how it went, and is quite frustrated, “do you seriously need the other person to do everything for you? Would it kill you to be a bit more proactive?”

Although compared to how it was at first Shen Chen did have improvements, for example, not denying that he likes Du You in front of his parents.

“I’ve been busy,” replies Shen Chen.

“Busy with what? Staring at your phone blankly?”

Shen Chen chokes on his words a bit, but then says, “I can’t hog up all his time telling him to visit me in the hospital.”

Besides, that disgraceful appearance with a leg hanging in the air is not how he wants him to see him either.

The father can’t help but shake his head.

His son really had too much pride and ego he couldn’t let go. Of course being wounded is an unfortunate occurrence but it is also a good opportunity to further a relationship, you know.

Youyou himself came to visit twice himself, but every time he did he’s chased away by his dumbass son. He is starting to suspect if his son might have his talent points completely wasted on other stuff to end up so dumb when it comes to romance.

Back then when he was going after his wife, even if the father-in-law-to-be was hostile and he gets chased out of their family house every so often, he never ever gave up.

You have to be shameless when it comes to future happiness.

But Shen Chen is his own son, and he can’t really bear to see him just wallowing in his misery of unrequited love, so he offers him advice, “then now you can finally contact him as you’re being discharged, right?”

Shen Chen still seems hesitant, “right now?”

His father nods, “might as well; why not?”

Shen Chen clicks open Du You’s profile picture then, and types a few words in, but then he seems to be getting frustrated or something then deletes it all again.

The father asks, “what’s wrong?”

Shen Chen looks back up, and replies with a serious expression, “it’s the weekend right now. I should wait until the work week starts.”

He can at least have the excuse of looking for him for reasons of work on work days. And, he’s just discharged, if he contacts him immediately like this his feelings would probably immediately be known.

Before he is certain of victory he doesn’t want Du You to figure it out.

His father looks at him with an expression that seems like he’s scorning him in silence.

Shen Chen ignores it and is about to put his phone away, but it is suddenly taken.

His father quickly opens up the input box.

Shen Chen did not expect his father to do it himself and his face twitches as he tries to stop him, but he is being obstructed by someone else.

His mother is smiling, “alright, Chenchen, your father is helping you, so just watch and learn.”

His father used voice input to be as quick as possible, but it also means everyone in the car can hear.

“Youyou I’m discharged! If you have time, do you want to come out to celebrate?”

Current voice recognition has a very low error rate, plus Shen Chen’s father is a chairman who has to speak publicly a lot as well, so his Mandarin is quite clear and polished. Before his son can take his phone back, he even has time to click open the gif storage.

Though when he does, he finds out his son has stored exactly 0 gifs.

What a boring brat.

His father shakes his head as he makes do with a default emoji——’kisses.’

Shen Chen is absolutely thunderstruck and quickly takes his phone back, but the conversation is already sent.

He quickly holds his finger on the message to delete it, and the message quickly disappears from sight. Though it’s been a few seconds already; has he seen it?

His father chuckles at his side seeing it all, “dummy, that’s the wrong button. You had to click on ‘retract,’ ‘delete’ only removes it from your side. It will arrive at his phone all the same.”

Shen Chen’s finger freezes in midair.

His father sounds quite pleased, “and now it’s no longer possible to do anything. This is the Heaven’s will, so just accept it.”

Shen Chen is speechless. He is holding his phone so tightly as if he is trying to break it.

In truth, he is not really angry his father decided to send him a message on his behalf. But, the problem is with the words!

He would never ever call Du You that, nor would he use an emoji like that.

Kisses?

Du You must think he has gone stark raving mad.

After he sees Ryan off, Du You heads back inside, and You Haoyu just so happens to leave the kitchen.

The breakfast has been done for a while now, but because he heard conversation outside, he told the auntie to wait a bit.

“Morning, Mr. Du,” the auntie is wiping her hands with the apron with a big smile, “today Mr. You has helped a lot again; your coffee is already on the table, and I’ll be serving the breakfast now.”

Du You then looks over at You Haoyu, who then puts his hand onto his nape and looks away a bit, “you told me I didn’t need to, but I really wanted to make it for you.”

After saying that he furrows his brows slightly. That really didn’t feel like himself.

Du You did say that before, when he thought You Haoyu should focus on acting more instead of doing what he didn’t like for someone else. But now that it seems he is very willing to do this, then it is another story.

“Thank you,” replies Du You, “I will finish it all.”

It seems like he doesn’t know how to respond, and instead You Haoyu rubs his nose a bit.

In the dining room, a Chinese-style breakfast is laid out on top of the table. The main dish is congee. White steam rises from the rather sticky broth; how appetising.

Du You takes a seat and eats a dumpling first. It is very soft outside with succulent prawns on the inside. The juices splatter throughout his mouth as he takes a bite.

It truly tastes like home.

While restaurants outside also makes delicious food, they’re formulaically prepared and perfected by professional chefs with excellent craftsmanship; rather than a simple homely meal, it is more like a work of art.

The auntie cooks decently and has a wide repertoire of recipes. She can cook a lot in a short time as well, without making it any less delicious.

He can taste the difference between dishes prepared by You Haoyu and the auntie as well.

While for Du You there is nothing in the world that tastes ‘bad,’ but he an taste a difference.

He looks towards You Haoyu, “although I have never thought about it, but if there is someone to cook for me everyday, that would be a happy thing for me.”

You Haoyu’s chopsticks hover in midair, as if not knowing what to grab. His fingers are gripping quite tightly on them.

“I-, I can…”

When he wants to say something, a ringtone interrupts them.

It’s Du You’s phone, and You Haoyu swallows his words back in.

Du You takes his phone out to see it’s Shen Chen calling.

He accepts the call, and the other side greets him immediately, “good morning, Mr. Du.”

Then he immediately gets to the point, “you might have seen it already, but the message was actually from my father.”

Message?

Du You is perplexed.

He hasn’t had time to look at his phone yet this morning.

So he looks towards the screen, and apparently there are several messages.

One says he’s discharged today and wants to invite him out to celebrate; one is an emoji, ‘kisses.’

It looks extremely un-Shen Chen-like.

And Shen Chen, on the other side, had no idea what he said actually caused Du You to take a look at the messages. He is still explaining, “he suddenly grabbed my phone, so don’t misunderstand.”

Du You tells him, “oh, I didn’t see them. I just read them now.”

Shen Chen falls silent while his father’s giggles can be heard in the background.

Shen Chen rubs between his brows, not knowing what to say.

Du You remarks, “it did seem like what the chef would send.”

What the chef would send?

Shen Chen is a bit surprised at that then looks back at his father. He isn’t someone that would intrude on family’s privacy but, what Du You said, did he mean his father often sends out ‘kisses’ or something similar?

His father can’t hear what Du You said, but he sees his son’s expression change then stare right at him. He says, innocent-looking, “what, something on my face?”

Shen Chen decides to ask him about it later, then continues talking to Du You, “although my father sent out that ridiculous message, but, I really am discharged today, so…”

I haven’t seen you for a long time. I want to spend some time with you.

These words are screaming inside Shen Chen’s mind, but, there is something holding him back; the words are stuck in his throat.

Meanwhile, the whole car is looking at Shen Chen, silently encouraging him.

Du You is a patient person; it seems like Shen Chen is not finished with what he wanted to say yet, so he waits.

A few seconds later, Shen Chen finally makes it through, “I have two coupons to desserts from clients. Do you want to go if you have time?” Then, he quickly clarifies, “they’re about to expire and it will be a shame if they did.”

Secretary Dong who is driving is a bit lost; when did a client gift them coupons again?

Du You himself doesn’t actually have any propensity towards desserts, and actually likes every kind of food equally. Therefore, he nods and agrees, “sure.”

Shen Chen is quite overjoyed inside but is not showing it in his voice. He clears his throat, “then, when are you free?”

He will need to get someone to prepare the coupons, after all.

When Du You wants to reply he’s free at any time, he seems to recall something and looks at the person sitting opposite him. He happens to lock eyes with the amber iris.

You Haoyu seems to be troubled by something and is looking at him with knit brows. He is not even eating anymore.

So Du You retracts his gaze, replying, “I can’t do it for these few days.”

Shen Chen really doesn’t mind that at all. He has finally taken a step – inviting Du You out. It is already a very big milestone for him.

So he just asks casually, “busy with work?”

Du You replies, “I need to spend time with my boyfriend.”

Shen Chen’s face freezes up, and is suspecting if he didn’t hear any word wrong.

How many things did he miss while incapacitated in bed?

His brain has stopped functioning, entering a blank state.

Du You then continues, “I will probably be free one week later onwards.”

One week later…

Shen Chen finally seems to recall that about a month or two ago Du You has talked to him about this, about ‘trying to go out’ with someone; he thought that it was long since over. Wait, it is still ongoing?

Or, has the temporary arrangement end up a permanent fixture after all?

He really wants to ask, to know what’s going on, but, he feels like it isn’t his place to ask.

In any case, no matter how muddled his mind is right now, he still sounds as calm as ever, “I’ll check with the expiry date on the coupons. I’ll call you later.”

Shen Chen hangs up. A red light on the road also makes the car stop.

“Expire?” His father has no idea what kind of stupid scheme his dumb son has come up with this time, “you don’t even have a coupon yet, why would it expire?”

Shen Chen is already beyond being capable of responding to his father’s teases. There is only the sentence Du You last uttered.

Spend time with his boyfriend…

Spend time with his boyfriend.

Shen Chen suddenly raises his head and grabs onto the driver’s seat, “turn around. Go to Du You’s home right now.”

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Buy me a coffee?

TL’s notes: Finally going on the attack eh? My dear old bachelor? Well, good luck with that.