Chapter 24

When they got home, Bai Chen went to the kitchen to cook.

Zhu Yu sat next to the coffee table, holding their shopping receipt in his left hand and a pen in his right, calculating the expenses for both of them.

“The corn crisps are mine.”

“The large fries are mine, the biscuits…”

“Ah!” Zhu Yu scratched his head.

Bai Chen looked back at him. “What’s wrong?”

Zhu Yu said, “I didn’t save a single cent from today’s part-time job.”

“What did you buy? I remember you only bought snacks. Did you spend it all?” Bai Chen poured the sauce into the pan, covered it, and then wiped his hands with a towel before walking over to Zhu Yu.

Zhu Yu shook his head. “No, there are still vegetables and meat. Didn’t I say? When I eat at your place, I’ll handle buying the ingredients.”

His hair had grown a bit longer. When he lowered his head, his bangs covered his brows and eyes, so he used a hairpin to pin it up.

Bai Chen walked over to him, bent down, and glanced at the bill that Zhu Yu was holding. He took the pen from Zhu Yu’s hand and said, “Let me calculate.”

Zhu Yu obediently handed over the bill. “Here.”

Bai Chen wore a black shirt with a simple cut, no tie, and the top two buttons undone. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing the prominent veins in his arms. The black shirt made him look strangely attractive.

Zhu Yu silently moved his gaze away. He saw Bai Chen holding the pen and writing a few numbers on the bill.

Then, Bai Chen handed the bill back to him and said, “Here, it’s done.”

Zhu Yu looked at it and noticed that Bai Chen had divided the cost of the vegetables, meat, and seasonings by two.

“Eh?” Zhu Yu was confused, and before he could ask, Bai Chen explained proactively, “You always help out in the kitchen, so this should count as us cooking together, right? So the cost of the ingredients should be split, don’t you think?”

Zhu Yu shyly scratched his head. “Ah, this is so embarrassing—”

Bai Chen didn’t speak but just smiled slightly, pressing his lips together.

Zhu Yu pressed the bill under the pen and stood up. “Then I’ll go help now!”

He pulled Bai Chen towards the kitchen. “What can I do? Peel the cabbage?”

“No need. You can peel these eggs.” Bai Chen placed the boiled eggs that had been soaking in cold water next to Zhu Yu.

Zhu Yu glanced at them—there were about five or six.

“What are these for?” Zhu Yu asked while starting to peel the eggs on his own.

Bai Chen replied, “Money eggs.”

“I know, I’ve seen it in your previous portfolio.”

Bai Chen smiled. “Do you still remember the steps?”

Zhu Yu replied, “I remember them, but if you ask me to do it, I definitely won’t be able to.”

Bai Chen said, “I can teach you some simple ones. When I go back to China, you can make them for yourself.”

Zhu Yu immediately dropped what he was holding, looked at Bai Chen in confusion, and asked, “Back to China? When are you going back?”

His voice suddenly turned hoarse.

Bai Chen replied, “I’m not sure yet, I just wanted to let you know.” The faucet was running, and the sound of water splashing was loud. Zhu Yu’s voice wasn’t very loud, so Bai Chen didn’t notice anything unusual about his tone.

Zhu Yu lowered his eyelashes, casually replied with an “oh,” and felt a little better. He murmured, “I thought you were about to go back soon.”

“Are you staying here for the New Year?” Zhu Yu asked again.

Bai Chen thought for a moment. “Probably.”

Zhu Yu then said, “In that case, I’ll wait until after the New Year to go back.”

“Then I’ll be crashing your New Year’s dinner!” Zhu Yu wasn’t shy at all about asking for food anymore.

Bai Chen agreed, and Zhu Yu added, “By the way, Halloween is coming up. My friends and I have plans to go to Nes Square. I’m thinking of doing a vampire costume. Want to join us?”

“Do I need to dress up too?”

Zhu Yu replied, “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. But there’ll be a lot of minors there, and they need an adult to accompany them to get in. If anyone asks you, just tell them you’re my guardian.”

Bai Chen asked, “Can I join you and your friends when you go out?”

“Of course! They’re bringing their boyfriends, so why can’t I bring my senior?” Zhu Yu said confidently.

Bai Chen chuckled and noticed some water splashes on Zhu Yu’s clothes. He asked, “Xiao Yu, do you need an apron?”

Zhu Yu glanced down at the water stains on his clothes. “Yes, could you tie it for me? My hands are wet.”

After saying that, he turned to face Bai Chen and opened his arms.

Bai Chen agreed and walked over to take the apron off the wall. Zhu Yu had a very slim waist, and as Bai Chen tied the apron, he paused for a moment, estimating that Zhu Yu’s waist could probably be wrapped around with just one arm.

Zhu Yu wasn’t very tall either. As he lowered his head, Bai Chen could even see the pink spiral on top of Zhu Yu’s head, along with his long lashes, which were gently trembling.

“Is it done?” Zhu Yu slightly tilted his head and obediently kept his arms open.

Bai Chen lowered his gaze, tied a bow, then stepped back and said, “It’s done.”

“Great!” Zhu Yu moved his arms a little and continued to bend down to peel the eggs.

“Senior Brother, tomorrow I have to run two kilometers. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely not embarrass you!” Zhu Yu said as he gave himself an encouraging gesture.

Bai Chen’s tone was gentle. “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”

“Can you come and cheer for me tomorrow?!” Zhu Yu’s voice and eyes were full of anticipation.

Bai Chen’s voice was very low: “Your friend Han Geonju, isn’t he supposed to bring people to cheer for you?”

His tone was strangely sour.

Zhu Yu didn’t catch on: “Huh? You really believe him? He’s just teasing me.”

“Besides, what’s there to see in me running at the back of the pack?” Zhu Yu handed Bai Chen the peeled eggs.

Bai Chen chuckled. “Aren’t you still aiming to finish in the top twenty?”

“Top twenty is still at the back,” Zhu Yu replied, having a clear understanding of his abilities, knowing he couldn’t outrun those with natural talent like the Westerners.

“Alright, you can wait outside. I’ll be done cooking soon and then we can eat.” Bai Chen poured the cold oil into the pan.

Zhu Yu agreed.

Since he couldn’t help with cooking, he decided not to stand in the narrow space and distract Bai Chen from doing his thing.

He sat back at the coffee table, picked up his phone, and transferred the money to Bai Chen.

Then he picked up Liu Bo and played with him for a while.

“Hey, where did you put your toy?” Zhu Yu suddenly remembered that he hadn’t seen Liu Bo’s little mouse plushie for days.

He lowered his head and started searching under the sofa.

The space under the sofa was clean and empty.

So, he looked under the coffee table instead and didn’t find Liu Bo’s toy, but he did see a transparent box.

Curious, he pulled it out with his hand, and inside was a large box of LEGO pieces.

“Senior Brother, you actually bought LEGO?!” Zhu Yu exclaimed, as if discovering a new world, unable to resist calling to Bai Chen in the kitchen.

Bai Chen glanced back and explained, “That’s from Professor Vera.”

Zhu Yu asked, “Can I play with it for a bit?”

“Sure.”

Zhu Yu asked again, “Is there an instruction manual?”

“The finished product is Westminster Abbey. Professor took the instructions with him” he hopes that one day I’ll be able to put the LEGO together just by feeling it out,” Bai Chen’s voice mixed with the sizzling sound of the oil frying in the pan.

Zhu Yu exclaimed, “Oh my, isn’t that just torturing me?”

Bai Chen didn’t respond. Zhu Yu searched for a panoramic picture of the church on his phone, then began finding the pieces and assembling them.

More than ten minutes later, Bai Chen walked out with the dish in hand. He saw that Zhu Yu had already fallen asleep, lying on the coffee table, with a strangely assembled robot in front of him.

Bai Chen chuckled softly, collected the LEGO pieces, and gently tapped Zhu Yu’s shoulder, his voice clear and low: “Xiao Yu, it’s time to eat.”

The temperature in London today is higher than in the past few days.

Their school doesn’t have a large sports field, only small ones scattered around the east and west, so for their 2000-meter race, they had to run several laps around the track.

While waiting for the race, Zhu Yu’s legs felt weak, and Jon along with several of his good friends from class were cheering for him from the stands.

But the whole venue was so noisy that Zhu Yu couldn’t hear a single sound of them cheering for him.

He glanced at his opponents, all of them well over 1.8 meters tall.

Compared to them, Zhu Yu felt like a little dwarf who had accidentally stumbled into a land of giants.

Zhu Yu was so nervous that he quickly sent a message to Bai Chen: 【Senior Brother, have you arrived?】

Bai Chen quickly replied: 【I’m here, in the stands on the east side.】

He then added: 【You might not be able to see me, but I saw Han Geonju.】

【Bai Chen: He brought a lot of people.】

Zhu Yu’s hand trembled, almost dropping his phone, thinking to himself: How did Han Geonju manage to bring so many people?

【Zhu Yu: Really? How did he find so many people?】

【Bai Chen: 【picture】】

The picture Bai Chen sent showed Han Geonju and the friends he brought—around twenty people—holding a giant banner with “Zhu Yu, cheer up” printed in English, along with a selfie of him.

Zhu Yu immediately sent a text to Han Geonju: 【Han Geonju!!! How did you manage to find so many people? What’s up with that banner? It’s so embarrassing!!】

Han Geonju was confused as to how Zhu Yu had noticed so quickly.

He hurriedly sent an “OK” emoji and typed: 【Don’t worry, baby! Today, your show will definitely be the biggest!】

Forget it, no point in trying to avoid embarrassment now—it’s already too late.

Zhu Yu exited the conversation and replied to Bai Chen—

【It’s fine, just pretend you didn’t see it. Don’t go over to greet them, or Han Geonju will definitely tease you.】

Soon, Bai Chen replied with one word: 【Okay.】

Zhu Yu finally felt relieved and handed his phone to the staff for safekeeping.

“Abel, cheer up!” Suddenly, a boy, a little shorter than Zhu Yu, appeared in front of him. He stared at Zhu Yu with determined eyes, raising his hand to make a gesture of encouragement.

Zhu Yu quickly spoke up: “Cheer up! But my name is Zhu Yu.”

The short boy stopped and said, “I know, because my name is Abel.”

Zhu Yu: …

He noticed that this short guy named Abel seemed even more nervous than he was, and couldn’t help but step forward to talk to him: “Abel, are you fast?”

Abel lifted his eyelids, his deep blue eyes flickering for a moment, and then he spoke dejectedly: “I’m the slowest runner in our class.”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yu’s eyes immediately lit up—this was his kindred spirit!

“Bro, me too. I was forced to run the 2000 meters.”

“How about we run together? At least we’ll both get the same last place, so we won’t be embarrassed,” Zhu Yu leaned in closer to Abel and whispered.

Abel’s face lit up with excitement: “Really? I’m worried I’ll get last place!”

“Of course. I’m not fast either,” Zhu Yu said honestly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the loudspeaker announced that it was time for them to get ready for the race.

Zhu Yu, following Abel’s example, raised his hand to cheer for himself: “Come on! Zhu Yu!”

He then jogged to catch up with the other athletes, leaving the waiting area.

Coincidentally, Abel was assigned to the lane next to him, and Zhu Yu cheerfully greeted him: “Abel, cheer up!”

Abel replied: “Cheer up! Zhu Yu!”

The referee blew the whistle.

Zhu Yu followed their lead and got into the starting position.

The referee raised the starting pistol, and with a “bang!” it went off.

A strange, unpleasant smell wafted through the air, and Abel suddenly sped ahead, pulling away from him.

Zhu Yu: ?

Wait, is this something they do overseas too?

Didn’t we agree to run together??

Zhu Yu didn’t have time to think much about it, remembering what Bai Chen had told him: to run at a steady pace for the first two-thirds, and then accelerate during the last third.

He also practiced the breathing technique Bai Chen had taught him, and at least didn’t fall to the back of the pack.

“Come on! Zhu Yu!” As he passed the stands on the east side, a deafening cheer suddenly reached his ears.

It was the sound of a group of people cheering for him.

Zhu Yu glanced over.

The banner had made him lose face.

“Come on! Zhu Yu! Come on! Zhu Yu!”

“You are the best!”

Everyone’s attention around them was completely drawn away.

Zhu Yu’s picture was printed on the banner. From a distance, you might not be able to see his face clearly, but there was only one person in the entire place with pink hair.

He should’ve worn a hat during the race.

Zhu Yu’s stamina quickly started to lag, and as he slowed down, one person after another overtook him.

Zhu Yu didn’t mind too much. As long as he wasn’t in last place, it was fine—until someone familiar passed by him.

Zhu Yu focused and looked closely.

What the heck! Abel!

Is he crazy?! He just overtook everyone by a whole lap!