Pei Dundun asked, "Daddy, didn’t you say only kids could play?"
Lu Qin replied, "The situation has changed. We must keep up with the times."
Pei Dundun tilted his head in thought. It was clear that, in just two sentences, Daddy had convinced the other Daddy to play with him.
Everyone had to listen to Daddy.
Pei Rong reached out his palm, and Pei Dundun’s tiny hand gave him a high-five.
After Pei Rong left, Lu Qin continued fishing for another ten minutes with the little one.
Pei Dundun was a child who didn’t stay excited about a single amusement park attraction for long. Leaning on the edge of the inflatable castle, he said, “Daddy, let’s play again next time.”
Lu Qin: “Ten more minutes.”
Pei Dundun: “Alright.”
Bobo balls were really fun. Had Daddy never played with them before?
Ten minutes later, Lu Qin scooped up a blue bobo ball marked with “1111.”
Time.
Only ten days left.
The four digits were written so short—no wonder they were hard to find.
Pei Dundun nestled in a corner of the ball pit, idly rubbing a bobo ball with his chubby white feet.
“Daddy…”
“Last ten minutes.”
Pei Dundun shook his head. Grown-ups were really hard to handle.
He stayed put quietly, while Lu Qin had no intention of letting him help search. The little one running around would only mess up the areas he had already checked.
After searching for a while without success, Lu Qin decided he’d have the cleaners come later and pick out the balls one by one.
Ahem, anyway, Pei Rong wouldn’t know it was the cleaners who found it.
Lu Qin stepped out and put on his shoes, then picked up Pei Dundun’s little leather shoes.
Holding the child’s heel, he lifted it to brush off the dust from his sole. That’s when Lu Qin suddenly noticed a smudge of ink near his big toe, standing out starkly against his pale skin.
A bad feeling rose in his chest. He lifted Pei Dundun’s other foot for a look—same ink stain.
“How did you get dirty?” Lu Qin asked, though he wasn’t expecting much of an answer.
Pei Dundun bit his finger in thought, then grabbed the culprit. “This bobo ball is dirty!”
Not Dundun’s fault.
Lu Qin looked at the bobo ball, now nearly wiped clean of ink, and after staring at it for a long moment… he couldn’t help but give his filial little son’s foot a light slap.
Pei Dundun giggled from the ticklish sensation and asked, “Daddy, are you done playing?”
Lu Qin: "Thanks to you, it's all good now."
Pei Dundun: "Let's play again next time."
Lu Qin: "Go play by yourself."
Holding the bobo ball with the date written on it, Lu Qin led Pei Dundun back to the office.
As they passed the gym, everyone cast them complicated glances—President Lu actually played bobo ball with Dundun for half an hour.
Spoiling him was one thing, but slacking off at work—could they report this?
Lu Qin placed the bobo ball in the drawer. The date was set. Although the location had been ruined by the little troublemaker, he still had his bodyguards.
On the 11th, if he asked his bodyguard where Pei Rong went, that wouldn't count as breaking the agreement, right? They were supposed to meet anyway.
It was just a pity he couldn't get the location in advance to set up the place properly. After all, this was… their first official date.
Lu Qin steadied himself, opened his folder, and started working.
Pei Dundun sat on his lap. Now that they were out of the amusement park atmosphere, he belatedly started thinking about his dad.
It was inevitable, no matter how many prior agreements they had.
He eagerly asked Lu Qin, "Why didn't Dad take me on the trip?"
Lu Qin pulled a long face. "What's there to dwell on? He didn't take me either."
Pei Dundun, thinking logically, responded, "But Dad loves me. Why didn’t he take Dundun?"
Not taking Daddy Lu was normal—he never took him before.
"Because your dad can travel faster alone. He wants to come back to see Dundun sooner."
"Alright, as long as Dad loves me."
Lu Qin: "..."
Someone actually managed to flex in front of President Lu.
***
Pei Rong's hometown was a small county town with a self-built house as old as he was. It hadn’t been renovated in years, making it appear even more outdated amid the rapid development around it.
After getting into university, he spent his summers working part-time and was rarely home. For a long time, his mother lived there alone.
Though the exterior was old, he regularly hired people for maintenance. Old houses needed a lived-in atmosphere to stay in good condition. There were no cobwebs or strange smells in the beams and roof, but one glance was enough to tell it had been vacant for a long time.
Pei Rong first mopped the floor three times, then replaced the bedding with his own four-piece set. By the time he finished, night had fallen.
The next day, he went up the mountain to pay respects to his parents and sat before their tombstone for a long time. In the past two years, on every Qingming Festival and their death anniversaries, he could only order flowers online and hire someone to visit the graves on his behalf.
After speaking intermittently with his mother about everything he wanted to say, Pei Rong sat in silence for half an hour before softly saying, "Next time, I'll bring Dundun along. Maybe someone else, too."
Every event in life was reminding him to cherish the people in front of him.
Pei Rong understood this well.
However, someone like Lu Qin was used to getting whatever he wanted with ease. His hands-on skills were proof of his wide-ranging interests.
Pei Rong wasn’t sure if he was just one of those "interests"—something obtained quickly and discarded once the novelty wore off, like an abandoned battleship.
Beauty had value, yet it was also worthless.
When Lu Qin calmly told Miss Lin, without a change in expression, "I'm impotent," Pei Rong wavered.
But he still needed a long time to think and verify his feelings.
Part of his attention was on Aunt Zhao, while the rest was on Dundun. Pei Rong worried that in his haste, he might come to the wrong conclusion.
After leaving Lu Qin’s private room, he saw Pei Dundun with a swollen lump on his forehead. In that moment, Pei Rong had the idea of sending the little brat to Lu Qin's side—to secure a place.
To claim a spot.
To let Lu Qin know that he had returned.
This thought grew stronger as he observed Pei Dundun's antics, such as raising pet mice.
He had assumed that Pei Dundun would take up much of Lu Qin’s time, but to his surprise, Lu Qin was closing in on him at an alarming speed.
Near noon, Pei Rong descended the mountain. Just as he was about to reach his car, he twisted his ankle—it felt as if his mother was punishing him for the terrible act of using Dundun as bait.
A bodyguard appeared in time and asked if he needed medical attention.
Pei Rong replied, "It's not serious, I can still walk. Just help me drive."
Back home, he iced his ankle and spent the next few days lying in bed, sleeping. It was completely different from what President Lu had assumed—that he was off traveling.
The great beauty unlocked the densely locked video album.
The first video he saved was of Lu Qin sea fishing, and he had set the password to Lu Qin’s birthday, which he had continued to use ever since.
Pei Rong opened a fishing video and watched it with great interest.
He had learned baiting from President Lu.
As if no one else knew how to fish.
