FD Chapter 26

Ming Shao moved into the place where Shen Luo lived.

Though he stayed in the guest bedroom, Ming Shao was full of energy.

Previously, the villa he lived in belonged to the Ming family. When Ming Shao moved out, he even took the evergreen tree with him, planting it in Shen Luo’s backyard.

The evergreen tree, having been moved around so much, lost several leaves. Shen Luo hadn’t said anything, but Ming Shao was very upset about it. He used every kind of nutrient solution on it, but those leaves couldn’t be saved. In fact, because of too much nutrient solution, the whole tree almost got burned from over-fertilization.

During those days, Ming Shao always looked worried.

Fortunately, the evergreen tree eventually survived and sprouted new leaves a month later.

After breaking away from the Ming family, Ming Shao, although he had his own connections and some savings, found starting over to be quite taxing. Shen Luo had a talk with Old Master Ming, who seemed quite open-minded, saying that young people should take responsibility for their actions. He even joked with Shen Luo, asking if he felt sorry for that silly boy.

Shen Luo didn’t admit it.

But he didn’t deny it either.

For the first three months, Ming Shao was working overtime constantly, yet every day he still made time to pick up Shen Luo from work. So, over those three months, alpha lost fifteen pounds.

Seeing this, Shen Luo finally sighed and ordered a bunch of nutritious ingredients over the weekend.

It had been a long time since he had cooked alone. Even if Ming Shao was busy, when he came home, they cooked together.

Today was a weekend, and Shen Luo was off work. Thinking of Ming Shao, Shen Luo went into the kitchen.

Next to the fridge, there were several roses. Lately, Ming Shao had been coming home late, but he brought a rose every day.

Previously, Shen Luo had never received roses from Ming Shao, not even for their wedding—the flowers had been ordered by Shen Luo himself. But from some day on, Ming Shao started bringing flowers for Shen Luo.

Maybe it was one rose, or maybe two, always appearing quietly in some corner of the room.

With alpha’s arrangement, their home started to look like a home.

There were also many sticky notes on the fridge door, most of them related to Shen Luo.

“Luo Luo, breakfast is in the top compartment, I’ve gone to work early, remember to eat.” This note was from last Wednesday when Ming Shao left at 5:30 in the morning.

“Luo Luo, I changed breakfast to a sandwich today, baby, you have a cold, don’t eat eggs.” This was from Monday morning when Ming Shao was rushing to the early shift.

“Luo Luo, it’s raining outside, the umbrella is on the shoe cabinet, remember to take it when you go out.” This note was left on Thursday.

…

In the mornings, their schedules differed; Ming Shao always left the house around five or six o’clock. Shen Luo started work at eight and usually got up at seven. Since Ming Shao got up earlier, he prepared breakfast for both of them and left a note.

On the rainy Thursday morning, even after leaving a note, Ming Shao still worried and specially came back to pick up Shen Luo for work. After dropping off Shen Luo, alpha hurried back to the company.

Shen Luo took down the sticky note, thought about it, and carefully saved it.

After stewing soup for three hours, Shen Luo poured the soup into a thermos along with several light stir-fried dishes. After packing everything up, he headed to Ming Shao’s workplace.

Shen Luo intended to call Ming Shao but was unexpectedly recognized by Ming Shao’s assistant upon reaching the company building.

The assistant, a forty-year-old man, was personally interviewed by Ming Shao.

“Mr. Shen, are you here to see President Ming?”

“Do you know me?” Shen Luo was a bit intrigued.

“I am President Ming’s assistant. You see, there’s always a photo of you on President Ming’s desk, so I recognized you right away,” the uncle said, his expression complicated when mentioning the photo: “Mr. Shen, please come with me.”

They made their way to Ming Shao’s office where Shen Luo finally saw the rumored photo.

It was a photo of the two of them.

But the Photoshop traces were very obvious. Ming Shao had clumsily edited the picture, using their home’s evergreen tree as the background. The two figures were awkwardly “leaning” against each other, with uneven edges where the photo was cut, like a large chunk missing from Ming Shao’s head; some parts weren’t cleanly edited.

It was — frankly ugly.

The assistant saw the photo too and seemed hesitant to speak.

“This photo is President Ming’s own effort,” the assistant explained, though it seemed he didn’t quite explain anything.

Shen Luo: “I understand.”

No one but Ming Shao would do such a pointless thing.

Afterward, the assistant left the office, leaving Shen Luo alone with the discordant photo.

Ming Shao was surprised by Shen Luo’s visit and was noticeably distracted during the meeting.

“Why are you here, have a seat?” After the meeting ended, Ming Shao hurried back to his office. Alpha’s office was a bit messy, feeling cramped compared to his spacious office at Ming Corp. Ming Shao hurriedly tidied up the sofa and awkwardly hid the poorly edited photo.

“Today’s my day off, I made some soup,” Shen Luo first answered Ming Shao’s question, then turned his gaze to alpha’s desk: “Are you still busy?”

“Not busy, not busy.” Ming Shao smiled somewhat foolishly.

Three months flew by, during which Ming Shao faced setbacks but also secured several projects.

About half a month ago, there was a not-so-small incident.

That was probably Ming Shao’s lowest point, when a much-anticipated project fell through. Not only that, but there was also a cash flow issue at the company, forcing Ming Shao to sell his car, and previous projects were affected.

Ming Shao was under a lot of stress, only sleeping four hours a night for several weeks, but finally, things began to look up.

It would be a lie to say Shen Luo wasn’t moved. He adjusted his schedule and finally, at one in the morning, waited for the late-returning alpha.

Ming Shao smelled of alcohol, not because he was drowning his sorrows, but due to social obligations.

As Shen Luo approached, Ming Shao dodged.

Ming Shao said, “I smell, don’t get your clothes dirty.”

Shen Luo didn’t speak, because after Ming Shao said this, his eyes suddenly reddened.

Alpha said, “Tonight, on my way back, I lost twenty dollars from my pocket.”

Shen Luo found it a bit funny, thinking to himself you’ve withstood so many failures, and now, just as things are getting better, you cry over losing some money on the road.

But Ming Shao said, “That twenty dollars was what I was carrying to buy you flowers.” Ming Shao also said, “I owe Luo Luo so many roses. So, thinking that I couldn’t bring you a bouquet today, I just couldn’t help feeling upset.”

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