CH 26

Zhen Wu kicked opened his parents’ bedroom door. He didn’t care his parents were still in bed.

Zhen Wu was dressed in a stylish black outfit. He knew he was a handsome boy. Many agents have scouted him on the streets and given their business cards to him. But he wasn’t interested in becoming a star. It was his dad’s fault he was bugged by strangers, his dad was a handsome man.

Zhen Wu checked out his dad’s body from top to bottom. ‘Dad, you have a beautifully sculpted body.’

Yue Gu Zai wasn’t flustered by his son’s praise. He got out of bed and grabbed a shirt from the cupboard.

‘Who taught you that phrase?’ Yue Gu Zai asked.

‘Zhen Zhen,’ Zhen Wu said.

Yue Gu Zai looked suspiciously at his wife who was pretending to be sleeping under the bedsheet.

Zhen Wu stole a glance at his mum and smiled. ‘Dad, I’ll tell you a secret.’

Although Zhen Wu was telling his dad a secret, he purposely didn’t whisper. ‘Zhen Zhen loves catalogue models in magazines who have toned muscles. It’s her favorite type of man.’

‘Little boy, those magazines belong to your godmother,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘I didn’t buy those magazines.’

Zhen Zhen couldn’t keep pretending she was asleep, because she was framed. She forced herself to crawl out of bed otherwise her son would say more nonsense.

‘Mum, can you say you’ve never looked at the magazines?’ Zhen Wu asked.

Zhen Wu creased his brows identical to his dad’s creased brows. It made Zhen Zhen want to kick both of them outside.

‘I only browsed the magazines a bit,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘But it’s because they were conveniently at my fingertips… it’s a waste if I don’t look at the magazines your godmother bought.’

Zhen Zhen laughed awkwardly.

‘Were the men handsome?’ Yue Gu Zai asked and finished dressing.

‘What?’ Zhen Zhen pretended she didn’t hear.

Yue Gu Zai patiently asked again. ‘Were the men handsome?’

‘You’re… more handsome,’ Zhen Zhen said sweetly.

Zhen Zhen valued her life and didn’t want to die mysteriously.

Yue Gu Zai couldn’t help but smile briefly.

Zhen Wu saw his dad’s happiness to hear his mum praise his dad. ‘Dad, Bai Fox said you want to go to North America.’

‘Zhen Wu, you need to call uncle, Uncle Bai,’ Zhen Zhen corrected.

Although Zhen Zhen called Bai Yu Tian, Bai Fox, she wanted to teach Zhen Wu how to address his elders respectively.

‘Yes mum,’ Zhen Wu agreed even though his mum was being hypocritical. ‘Dad, this time I want to go overseas with you and mum.’

‘No,’ Yue Gu Zai and Zhen Zhen said firmly at the same time.

‘Why not?’ Zhen Wu asked.

Although Zhen Wu was a young boy, he thought his dad would take his side. He looked at his dad to silently threaten if his dad refused to take him overseas again then he would match make his mum with another man, and his dad would be angry to death.

‘Because you need to go to school,’ Zhen Zhen said.

Zhen Zhen wanted her son to experience going to school with children his own age.

‘Son, do you want to eat?’ Yue Gu Zai deflected the conversation.

Zhen Wu was surprised by his dad’s sudden question and nodded his head.

‘OK, follow me to my study room,’ Yue Gu Zai said to Zhen Wu.

Zhen Zhen watched the father and son pair walk outside, she was curious about what they wanted to talk about in private. She was about to secretly follow them, but her phone rang. It was her parents’ home number, and she freaked because she forgot to let her parents know she wasn’t going to sleep at their home last night.

Inside Yue Gu Zai’s study room, Zhen Wu comfortably sat on the chair opposite his dad.

‘Son, I need your help,’ Yue Gu Zai said directly.

Zhen Wu was a genius, it didn’t take him long to figure out his dad’s motive. He heard about his dad first meeting with his maternal grandparents.

‘Dad, did you have trouble receiving grandpa’s approval?’ Zhen Wu asked.

Zhen Wu’s grandpa was infamous for holding grudges. He knew about his mum lying to his grandpa about his dad abandoning them. But he wouldn’t help his dad for free.

‘Yes,’ Yue Gu Zai said.

‘Dad, do you want me to persuade grandpa and grandma to accept you?’ Zhen Wu asked.

‘Yes,’ Yue Gu Zai said.

‘What’s in it for me?’ Zhen Wu asked.

Zhen Wu understood the code of men, they wouldn’t help each other freely.

‘You won’t need to go to school,’ Yue Gu Zai said.

‘OK,’ Zhen Wu agreed happily. ‘But dad, after school today you need to pick me up. You have to wait with my classmates’ parents outside the classroom. You can’t sit and wait in the car.’

‘OK,’ Yue Gu Zai said.

‘After school I want to eat McDonald’s,’ Zhen Wu said.

‘OK,’ Yue Gu Zai said.

‘I want to go to the amusement park too,’ Zhen Wu said.

‘OK,’ Yue Gu Zai said.

‘Deal,’ Zhen Wu said and jumped off the chair that was taller than him.

Zhen Wu didn’t want to disturb his dad working, but he forgot to ask his dad a question he wanted to ask for a long time.

‘Dad, haven’t you thought about changing my surname to yours?’ Zhen Wu asked.

‘Is having the same surname as me important to you?’ Yue Gu Zai asked.

Yue Gu Zai honestly didn’t think about changing his son’s surname.

‘That isn’t why I asked,’ Zhen Wu said.

Zhen Wu only asked because he was curious. He thought all rich men wanted their children to have the same surname as their surname like in the TV shows.

‘Dad, I was worried it mattered to you about my surname,’ Zhen Wu said.

‘I’m not fussed about your surname,’ Yue Gu Zai said.

Yue Gu Zai wasn’t like most men who wanted their children to have the same surname as them.

‘Dad, I understand,’ Zhen Wu said.

Zhen Wu thought the politics about surnames were troublesome. Besides, his mum didn’t think deeply when she chose his name. Luckily his dad didn’t want him to change his name to Yue Wu, it didn’t have a nice ring to it as Zhen Wu.

Zhen Wu happily left his dad’s study room and was driven to school.

Honestly Zhen Wu didn’t hate going to school. He was excited to hear his dad promised to go on outings with him. So when people pinched his cheeks at school that day, he smiled happily and let them squeeze his cheeks.

While Zhen Wu was at school, Yue Gu Zai was busy working. Yue Gu Zai had taken leave from work to be with his wife, and his workload piled up. Although he was busy, he was going to honor his promise he made to his son. He asked Bai Yu Tian in advance to prepare more than twenty cars for him to choose which car to pick up his son.

Later that day, Yue Gu Zai went with his wife to pick up their son from school. They waited outside their son’s classroom, but it was sprinkling and crowded outside.

Zhen Wu’s classmates’ parents were familiar with Zhen Zhen, but they never met Yue Gu Zai before. Even the married women envied Zhen Zhen having a handsome man like Yue Gu Zai.

‘Miss Zhen Zhen, I haven’t seen you pick up your son for many days,’ one of the married women said. ‘Is this man your boyfriend?’

Zhen Zhen didn’t know what she should say and only smiled politely.

‘He’s very handsome,’ the married woman said. ‘I’ve never met Zhen Wu’s dad before. Everyone said Zhen Wu was a love child. But if my child’s dad is as handsome as your man, I would hide him at home too.’

Zhen Zhen laughed, but Yue Gu Zai ignored the married woman and anticipated his son’s class being dismissed.

After the school bell rang, the teachers led the young students outside their classrooms.

Zhen Wu spotted his dad and boasted about his dad to Xiao Jiang.  ‘Look, my dad came to pick me up today. Dad’s taking me to eat McDonald’s.’

Xiao Jiang looked in the direction Zhen Wu was pointing at. Because it was sprinkling, Xiao Jiang could only see a tall man stood next to his dad in the crowd. But Xiao Jiang thought Zhen Wu’s dad gave off a feeling of a strong king. His dad looked fat next to Zhen Wu’s dad, and his dad was speaking loudly on the phone. He was envious Zhen Wu had a manly dad.

Yue Gu Zai saw his son running to him, passed the umbrella to his wife, picked up his son and stood under the umbrella his wife was holding. Afterward the three of them walked to the car.

Xiao Jiang watched Zhen Wu’s dad carrying Zhen Wu to the car enviously.

‘Dad, can you carry me to the car?’ Xiao Jiang asked.

‘I’m busy, go to the car first,’ Xiao Jiang’s dad said.

Unlike Xiao Jiang’s dad, Yue Gu Zai happily took Zhen Wu to McDonald’s.

***

End of Chapter Twenty-Six