Insubordination
Yu Sheng, who had been starving all day, was finally served only a bowl of watery noodles and a lone, one-sided fried egg with barely any oil on it.
Yu Sheng held his chopsticks, picked up two noodles, looked at them from left to right, and couldn't decide where to eat them. The thought that he might be eating like this for the next month made the Second Young Master Yu feel a sense of bleakness about life, and that living had no meaning.
"Good boy," Lu Chenyang added a spoonful of chili oil to his bowl. It was freshly fried, bright red, crispy, and fragrant; he remembered Yu Sheng liked it. "Director Lan said you need to lose weight. Your goal is 25 pounds a month. You can't eat high-calorie foods."
Yu Sheng stirred the meager amount of chili oil in the bowl and slurped down a couple of mouthfuls. The taste was good, but it was far too bland. There was no way around it; in the script, Wu Cao was a mild Werner syndrome patient, thin and practically malnourished. Exercise wouldn't achieve that effect; she could only diet, making her body appear sickly weak.
He angrily took a big bite of the fried egg, raised his wet eyes, stared straight at Lu Chenyang, and said in a pitiful, nasal voice, "...I want to eat meat."
Lu Chenyang couldn't bear it, and his heart immediately melted. He reached out and ruffled the fluffy head, coaxing softly, "I'll go out and buy some in a bit. How about we eat beef? Just a little bit, it'll be fine." As he spoke, he picked up the whole fried egg from his bowl and took it from Lu Chenyang's. "Sweetie, have another egg."
He ate in a sullen mood, and afterwards, Yu Sheng listlessly curled up on his bed in the bedroom to read a script. It wasn't that he didn't want to sit on the living room sofa, but that thing was just like a wooden bench, and it was uncomfortable to sit on.
The second floor of the small flower shop was only about 50 square meters, with a tiny kitchen so small that two people couldn't even turn around inside. The living room only had a small round table and a row of hard sofas that would make anyone wince. Televisions were expensive in the 1990s, and poor boy Wu Cao naturally couldn't afford one.
The bedroom was even smaller, barely fitting a double bed and a fabric wardrobe against the wall, which was flimsy and couldn't support much weight. The mattress was also unusually firm, creaking incessantly when he turned over, nothing like the six-figure custom-made mattress at home. However, Yu Sheng had no intention of complaining at the moment, completely absorbed in the script in his hands.
"Ah Sheng." Lu Chenyang washed the two bowls that weren't even greasy, and walked towards the bedroom while wiping his hands. "Let's rehearse our lines."
"Great!" Yu Sheng sprang up from the hard bed, forgetting all about the mattress being uncomfortable.
He could complain endlessly about being forced to live in a dilapidated old apartment, having his phone confiscated, having his spending restricted, and being forced to eat only plain noodles, but deep down he felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction. This was his childhood dream; he not only inherited his mother Qi Hanxing's looks and acting talent, but also her boundless yearning for the big screen. He was a born actor.
Yu Sheng jumped off the bed barefoot, immediately getting into character. She threw the script in her arms to the ground with a thud, and roared at Lu Chenyang, her voice filled with disbelief and indignation, "Sui Qing! Do you really not want to live? Are you so sure you'll die before me?!"
The lines were already memorized. The moment Yu Sheng opened her mouth, Lu Chenyang knew it was the most heart-wrenching scene in the script: Wu Cao was suffering from kidney failure due to Werner's syndrome, and the best treatment was a kidney transplant. Sui Qing secretly wrote a will, stating that if her body was preserved intact after death, her kidneys would be donated to Wu Cao, and the rest would be used for medical research.
Sui Qing had just finished writing the suicide note and hadn't even had a chance to hand it to her superior when Wu Cao, who was cleaning the room, discovered it, and the two had an argument.
“…Dancing Grass.” Lu Chenyang instantly switched into character as Sui Qing. He hunched over, his shoulders trembling slightly, like a child caught doing something wrong. He bent down to pick up the “suicide note” from the ground, clutching it tightly in his palm. “I…I just felt…an accident could happen at any moment. If…I really die, this body…can still help you…”
"What accident? Tell me what accident?!" Yu Sheng suppressed his surging emotions. At this moment, he was like Wu Cao, the pain had already drained most of his strength, and even his questioning was accompanied by weak panting.
"Can't you... not work for that poisonous insect?" Yu Sheng raised her hand to wipe away the tears that were welling up uncontrollably. Wu Cao didn't know that Sui Qing was an undercover agent; she only thought he was willing to disregard life for money. This was too cruel to him, someone who was fighting with all his might to survive. "So many people... want to live, but don't have the life to live... How can you... value your life so cheaply!"
"I don't want to die." Sui Qing's voice was unusually calm. He carefully folded the will and put it in his pocket. "But if... I really die, you must accept my organ transplant. Let me... live on with you... inside your body."
"Bastard!" Wu Cao's tears burst forth. Overwhelmed with grief and anger, he almost instinctively raised his hand and slapped Sui Qing hard across the face!
"Snap!" A crisp sound rang out in the small bedroom.
Both of them were stunned. This scene wasn't in the script at all.
She was completely immersed in the role. Yu Sheng was totally in sync with Wu Cao's despair and anger, and the slap came out incredibly smoothly.
“…Um,” Yu Sheng looked at the clear red mark that quickly appeared on Lu Chenyang’s face, feeling both amused and distressed, with a tiny bit of guilt mixed in. Lu Chenyang was also stunned by this sudden turn of events, staring blankly at him.
Just then, the ringtone of an old-fashioned mobile phone rang in the living room.
"I'll go answer the phone—!" Yu Sheng felt as if she had been granted a pardon and rushed out like lightning.
The old-fashioned phone's ringtone was rough and unpleasant, but to Yu Sheng it sounded like heavenly music. He found the phone lying in the sofa cushions and glanced at the screen: Grandma.
Yu Sheng checked his phone to make sure it was indeed him. He didn't understand why his grandmother didn't call Lu Chenyang directly. After the call connected, his grandmother's tone was cautiously probing. She first asked where they lived and if they were used to it, and finally, she asked indirectly if they had encountered anything unusual or seen any strange people.
The barrage of questions left Yu Sheng a bit bewildered, and she could only honestly reply that everything was normal. On the other end of the phone, her grandmother seemed visibly relieved, grumbling about how there had been a lot of telecom fraud lately, and how she should never trust any suspicious calls or suspicious people.
Yu Sheng thought to himself that this old lady was quite vigilant about preventing fraud, and solemnly promised to be more cautious and take precautions against fire, theft, and fraud before hanging up the phone.
He was still thinking about Lu Chenyang, whom he had "accidentally hurt," and was about to go back to the bedroom when he turned around and bumped into Lu Chenyang's shoulder. The solid muscles made his nose hurt.
"Hiss—!" Yu Sheng complained, covering her nose. "Why do you walk like a cat, without making a sound!"
"You were too focused on the phone." Lu Chenyang picked up the suede slippers that Yu Sheng had abandoned in the bedroom, naturally knelt down on one knee, and gently lifted Yu Sheng's two cold feet one by one, putting them into the warm slippers. His movements were gentle, but his tone was reproachful, "You don't even know how to put on shoes. How many times have I told you, your legs can't get cold."
Yu Sheng pursed his lips, unconcerned. He looked down at the man who was putting his shoes on for him, his gaze falling on the still-fading red mark on the man's cheek. His confidence instantly deflated, and his voice weakened, "Does your...face still hurt?"
He heard a barely audible chuckle. Then, he saw Lu Chenyang, still kneeling on one knee, slowly raise his head. However, the eyes that were looking up at him showed no sign of embarrassment befitting a subordinate; instead, they were full of aggression.
"How many slaps are you planning to get back at me for that slap in Shuye?" Lu Chenyang's voice was deep and playful. He didn't loosen his grip on Yu Sheng's ankle. Instead, his fingertips gently pried open the cuffs of Yu Sheng's loose house pants, and his warm palm slowly moved up the inside of Yu Sheng's bare calf.
Despite his submissive posture, his eyes and actions were filled with an overbearing desire for control. Lu Chenyang seemed to enjoy this contradiction: I am willing to kneel at your feet, but you are mine, body and soul, under my control.
Yu Sheng was naturally indignant at being treated like this. He squatted down to be at eye level with Lu Chenyang, lifted the other's chin with one hand, and lightly patted Lu Chenyang's cheek, which still bore the handprint, with the other hand, making two crisp sounds.
Yu Sheng's lips curled into a provocative and dangerous smile. "I'm not satisfied with any of them. What do you suggest we do?"
Without hesitation, Lu Chenyang offered his face forward, nuzzling Yu Sheng's palm like a puppy, "Then hit me until brother is satisfied... no need to pity me..."
As soon as Yu Sheng raised her hand, Lu Chenyang immediately took the opportunity to press her to the ground, restraining her wrists and pinning her hands behind her head. He used all his strength to firmly suppress her, ensuring that Yu Sheng had no chance of breaking free.
Lu Chenyang lowered his head, his burning lips nibbling and biting at Yu Sheng's sensitive neck as if in punishment. His voice was muffled, with a hint of deliberate grievance, his hot breath drilling into Yu Sheng's ear, "Brother, it hurts..."
The series of movements was so fast that Yu Sheng had no time to react. With his wrist restrained, he instinctively bent his knee and thrust it towards Lu Chenyang's lower abdomen, yelling, "Get up!"
The person on top of him didn't move; instead, he let out a muffled groan, suppressing his pain: "Ugh...it hurts."
If Yu Sheng hadn't known that he hadn't used any force at all, she would have been completely fooled by his realistic acting. "Stop pretending."
Lu Chenyang buried his face in his neck and couldn't help but laugh. The vibration of his chest was transmitted through their close bodies, and the hot breath he exhaled made Yu Sheng feel unbearably itchy. He couldn't help but twist and struggle under him, like a fish out of water.
Lu Chenyang raised his head, his deep eyes filled with laughter, and kissed Yu Sheng's slightly parted lips from top to bottom.
"Give me a kiss," Lu Chenyang's voice was seductive and husky, his nose brushing against Yu Sheng's nose, "a kiss... and it won't hurt anymore."
"Get lost!" Yu Sheng said with a laugh.
"That sounds really good." Lu Chenyang grinned shamelessly. "Brother, can you say a few more curses?"
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