14 – Compet.i.tion
When Rowen returned to the company, only Leonid remained in the s.p.a.cious office, immersed in his work.
“Where’s everyone?” Rowen asked, peering around.
Leonid looked up from the file, not wanting to respond to Rowen. He merely glanced at him then lowered his head, continuing his work.
Rowen drew out his face and sat comfortably in the chair in front of Leonid. His tone was arrogant. “Let me think. I’ve laboriously gone around in circles to give you a chance to get closer to him. In the end, after you made him report to you, he said nothing before he left?”
“Oh.” Leonid put down the pen and leaned back on his office chair, folding both his hands over his abdomen. He answered him: “Then next time, I hope a certain someone’s secretary could do a better job and take away people who aren’t needed.”
“What?” Rowen didn’t quite understand. He thought for a moment about what happened recently and suddenly understood. “Natasha came?”
Leonid raised his eyebrows and said nothing, tacitly agreeing to Rowen’s question.
“Ah, f.u.c.k!1 I unexpectedly missed the drama!” Rowen slapped his thighs and wrung his hands. “Did Natasha turn hostile? Did Ren Zhouyuan react? Ei, wrong. If he didn’t react, then it’s absolutely certain! This proves you really have to work hard.”
Leonid drew away the gaze that he was observing him with from the corner of his eyes, ignoring him. He let him speak by himself over there and went back to his work. When Rowen saw, he immediately set aside his own ridicule. He came for more gossip.
“Don’t be so busy first. Let me help you a.n.a.lyze it. Aren’t we great at studying a problem and finding ways to solve it?” Rowen sold his smile to curry favor.
Leonid stared at him for a while and saw that he was no longer stupid. He put aside his pen. He indeed needed the advice of others right now.
He told Rowen every detail of when he and Ren Zhouyuan were interacting, and of Ren Zhouyuan’s reaction when he met Natasha. Of course, these descriptions were all beautified by him. Rowen got rid of Leonid’s praises, basically restoring the scene to that time.
“Then, do you think,” Ron said, “he remembers you?”
“He remembers.” Leonid calmly and unhurriedly said. “But he’s afraid of me.”
[T/N: *undignified girly screams*]
Rowen nodded and said: “Does he know you recognize him?”
Leonid pondered on what he heard, then said with uncertainty, “Right now, he shouldn’t.”
“How do you know?” Rowen asked.
“I’ve gone to the front of his office several times. He saw me, but didn’t dare say h.e.l.lo. And this time too, he could have obviously waited for you to come back and give me the ma.n.u.script, but he still obediently came up.” Leonid recalled some minor details, thinking to himself. “This child is someone with a personality completely opposite to yours. His whole body, from the top to bottom, is very traditionally Chinese. How should I say this, it’s his character, and also his temperament. Anyways, it feels so old-fashioned. If he found out that I already recognize him, according to his temper, he would certainly hide without even getting his salary.”
Leonid thought of Ren Zhouyuan’s red face from this morning, and of that year, when he was drunk and his whole face was flushed, his not-so-clever enunciation and his foolish bickering2 . Also, remembering Ren Zhouyuan’s relishing appearance in bed and how he couldn’t let go, the expression in his eyes softened a lot.
Rowen nodded. Suddenly, he felt something wasn’t quite right. When he recovered, he said: “What do you mean! What do you mean completely different from me? Are you saying I’m unrestrained and open?!”
Leonid glanced at him and didn’t reply, but his expression clearly said “I hope you have self-knowledge.”
Rowen glared at him and thought for a moment, then said: “I think your intuition should be right, but you can’t pretend you don’t know him forever. I’ve heard that, recently, a half-blood who looks a lot like you arrived here. Whether or not you knocked someone’s belly up outside, people are going to come up to your door.”
Leonid heard what he said and creased his brows. He also heard a little about this matter. He knew exactly what he had done, so it was impossible for him to have an illegitimate child. However, Rowen’s words reminded him of something else. The person who brought the half-blood to the cla.s.s was Ren Zhouyuan’s good friend. He had seen them in front of the company several times.
So what was going on here? The biracial kid who looks like him is that guy’s friend’s son?
What a mess.
Rowen didn’t know what he was thinking of, but looking at his expression, he guessed that he was thinking of Ren Zhouyuan again. He continued to mock, “You have to be careful, ah. Don’t even know if you wear a green hat3 . This year, there are already too many hilarious cases of fatherhood. You’re really going to be called up. Not to mention reconciling with Ren Zhouyuan, you can’t even touch him with one finger when you meet.”
Leonid looked at him coldly and replied to his words. “Shut up.”
After Ren Zhouyuan went back that day, his belief that Leonid didn’t remember him became even firmer. After all, they were so close and he also said so many words, yet he didn’t notice. His face was still indifferent. [T/N: Oh, hon… no.] As a result, he became more courageous. At work he was unshackled, no longer as afraid.
An-An had also attended Vichy’s cla.s.ses for more than half a month, and nothing had gone wrong. Every time, Ren Zhouyuan got a report from Fan Wenfeng. He also felt that Vichy’s teachers didn’t have any unnecessary thoughts of An-An. He guessed that it was only because An-An was young and biracial that they paid special attention to him.
Every time An-An came back from Vichy, he would talk to him about what they discussed in cla.s.s, more so than when he would talk about kindergarten. Although An-An couldn’t make any friends in kindergarten, Ren Zhouyuan wasn’t worried. After all, this child had made friends in Vichy. Only that those “friends” were a little bit older.
When An-An was home, in addition to sticking with him, he would spend the rest of his time playing with the small models he brought back from Vichy. Sometimes it was a mini drone, sometimes it was a 3d print model, and sometimes it was a VR device. Those things looked expensive, but Ren Zhouyuan only paid several thousands for the course fee. Occasionally, he would fearfully watch An-An playing with them, afraid that if he broke them he would be unable to compensate. However, Fan Wenfeng said that they were given by Vichy.
Ren Zhouyuan was even more curious about how Vichy operated. Unfortunately, though he’d already been in the company for some time, he still couldn’t figure out the secrets of this company’s business. Just by seeing An-An so happy, even if he lost money, he felt that it was worth it.
Whenever Ren Zhouyuan saw An-An nimbly disa.s.sembling and putting those things back together, he couldn’t help but sigh. An-An was indeed that man’s child. He was grateful that he didn’t stop An-An from learning just because of his own selfish desires. An-An had this talent. It was worth going to a better place to receive a better education.
Thinking of this, Ren Zhouyuan felt a bit guilty.
Not to mention his current deposit, even if he saved up for a decade, it would be difficult to make a large enough sum of money for An-An to study abroad.
He didn’t have much of an opinion on Chinese education. He simply felt that An-An had already taken his first step of enlightenment in the field of Science and Technology. The child also loved playing with gadgets. The environment for Science and Technology education was much better abroad than domestically. An-An was his only son. Even if he had to do all he could, he would still give him the best.
Only, even if he could give all he had, the things he could provide for An-An were just a few little things4 .
Sometimes, he would also think that if An-An currently followed after Leonid rather than himself, with that man’s ability to make money, he would surely send An-An abroad to study. This minor thing wouldn’t cause him much trouble at all. However once he started thinking about such matters, he would mentally curse himself for being worthless. What An-An wanted, he would try hard to attain it for him without relying on others.
Ren Zhouyuan looked at An-An, who was still not finished putting back together the little drone he had dismantled, then tearing it down again after he had fixed. It was hard to find out what was so interesting about this.
He went over to An-An’s side, sitting down next to the little coffee table. From the side, he watched An-An tilt his head in concentration, and all at once he was struck by meng5 .
“An-An, Baba is hurt…..” Ren Zhouyuan suddenly came up with an idea.
An-An’s hands, which were dismantling the small plane, suddenly paused. Then, he threw away the parts he was holding and anxiously cupped Ren Zhouyuan’s face while looking around. “Baba, where does it hurt?”
Ren Zhouyuan originally just wanted to tease him, but he didn’t expect An-An to react so strongly. His heart felt a little warm. However, he still shamelessly wanted to enjoyed the affection of his son. He covered his chest with his hand and expressively said: “Baba’s heart is in pain.”
An-An’s two small hands immediately moved to Ren Zhouyuan’s heart and came to a rest on the back of Ren Zhouyuan’s hand. He moved closer, the bun-like face blowing on the injured area. “Baba, does it still hurt? An-An hu hu 6 .”
Ren Zhouyuan put on an act of ma.s.saging himself twice. “An-An helped Baba blow the pain away. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
As expected, An-An looked up after hearing him. He scrunched his two eyebrows together and said: “Baba isn’t lying to An-An? An-An was just comforting Baba, ah. How could just blowing actually cure the pain?” An-An sternly7 reprimanded Ren Zhouyuan. “Baba is disobedient. If you are hurt, you have to say. You can’t lie to An-An and say there’s no pain. An-An won’t take Baba to the doctor.”
Ren Zhouyuan almost couldn’t help but smile at his mature appearance. He tried hard to be serious, but his mouth betrayed his emotions.
An-An was used to seeing this expression on Ren Zhouyuan ever since he was young. At this point, he realized Ren Zhouyuan was just teasing him. He quickly withdrew and turned around to continue playing with his little plane.
Ren Zhouyuan took An-An in his embrace and fell back to the sofa to prevent An-An from touching his gadgets. With a mouthful of vinegar, he said: “An-An doesn’t love Baba anymore.”
An-An’s little arms flailed about twice in the air, yet he still couldn’t reach the parts on the table. He said to Ren Zhouyuan in a serious tone: “Baba, don’t disturb me.”
Ren Zhouyuan disturbed him anyway. He put him on top of the sofa and tickled him. Hearing him burst into giggles as he stubbornly tried to make his little face solemn, that extremely confused appearance, he felt amused watching it. “An-An is taking care of those tiny aircraft models. Baba’s heart hurts and An-An doesn’t care.”
“Baba….big….big liar!” An-An laughed until tears spilled out from his eyes. Ren Zhouyuan didn’t dare joke around too much. He tickled him a bit more before letting him go. An-An sat up and pulled on his clothes, both eyes red and teary as he complained to Ren Zhouyuan. “Baba is a big liar, lying to An-An that he’s sick.”
“Baba didn’t lie to An-An,” Ren Zhouyuan said innocently. “Baba really has a heartache. An-An ignored Baba. You see, you played as soon as you came back today. You didn’t talk to Baba at all.”
An-An’s face was a little red. He shyly mumbled a few words to himself, saying he didn’t love Baba, until finally, Ren Zhouyuan clearly heard what An-An was saying. He said: “The lab is holding a small compet.i.tion next week and An-An wants to win back a prize for Baba.”
After he finished, he turned back to the table and continued tinkering with the plane’s parts, only revealing his two red ears to show Ren Zhouyuan he was being shy.
After Ren Zhouyuan heard him, he stared blankly for a moment. He wasn’t really concerned whether An-An could win a prize or not. But if An-An really won the game, would that person discover the existence of An-An? [T/N: A bit too late for that.]