Chapter 10

After dealing with Xu Wei, Fei Bolin went back to his office first, taking half an hour to admire and put on the new glasses Wen Fu had bought him. Then he drove himself to the supermarket to buy a bunch of ingredients for tomorrow's noodles.

Meanwhile, Zhang Chao called the moment he'd dropped Wen Fu off.

Fei Bolin answered his phone while picking out groceries. "...No need to come back to the office. Go to the Residential Complex first and pick up a few things for me, then contact Stella and have someone move them over to her. Say they're a gift from me personally... I'll send you the address and passcode. The stuff's in the walk-in closet, the second row on the left, those four display cabinets..."

Zhang Chao noted everything down on the other end of the line. Just as he was about to hang up, Fei Bolin spoke again. "...You didn't see anything today."

Zhang Chao paused for a second, thinking he was talking about Wen Fu.

They ended the call. Zhang Chao soon received the address Fei Bolin had typed up and sent over.

To his surprise, the place Fei Bolin wanted him to pick things up from was at Yunhe Song, where Wen Fu lived — and seemed to be the low-rise flat building right across from his.

The two buildings were pretty far apart. Zhang Chao walked for half an hour before reaching the entrance of that building. Following Fei Bolin's instructions, he went up to the third floor. The moment he stepped inside, he froze in place.

The flat's interior area was probably around two hundred square meters. The place was sealed up tight, even the curtains drawn shut, as if terrified someone might peek inside.

The main thing was, this flat didn't have a single piece of furniture.

There was just one chair placed where the living room center should be, facing a blank white wall.

And everywhere else in the flat was practically piled high with all sorts of stuff.

Just in the living room alone, there were two pianos.

Just past the entryway, there was a spot with a huge butterfly mural. Underneath it was a whole row of Guitars. Zhang Chao looked them over — only two or three were brands he recognized, each probably averaging around one point five million.

Beside the Guitar sat three violins — each Violin a brand Zhang Chao had never seen before. His gut said they had to be worth a fortune, probably not far behind the million-yuan instruments sitting right next to them.

Leaning against a corner was a really wide display cabinet. Behind the dustproof glass were categorized figurines and blind boxes from various series, mostly limited editions. Zhang Chao estimated there were about seven or eight hundred — not a huge amount, but not a small one either.

It was only then he started to wonder. From what he knew of Fei Bolin, it was normal for the guy to dabble in multiple instruments. But Fei Bolin definitely didn't like figurines and stuff — he wouldn't even spare a second glance at any anime.

At first glance, he'd had some patience and interest in the stuff in the flat. After looking at a few more items, Zhang Chao got bored — eighty percent of it was musical instruments. Different brands, different materials, glossy finishes, matte finishes, limited editions, collaborations, commemorative editions... Fei Bolin had practically scoured the ends of the earth to put together a mini exhibition hall. Oh, and there was a bookshelf too, with various editions of Harry Potter — not just the original books, but also DVDs burned onto discs. The top shelf had all sorts of weird bird-shaped molds.

The living room floor was covered in stuff, but everything was placed in perfect order, with a path deliberately left clear to the rooms.

To save space, this flat had clearly had several non-load-bearing walls removed. Passing by that spotless white wall, Zhang Chao couldn't help but look a few extra times — in such a lavish place, a plain white wall was way too conspicuous.

But he didn't explore the reason out of curiosity. Sticking to professional duty, he just headed for the room Fei Bolin had told him about.

Passing the second piano, he accidentally glanced at the two photo frames placed on top of it.

Zhang Chao swept his eyes over them and was about to step forward when he suddenly stopped, took a step back, and leaned in close to the frames.

Two photo frames. One was Fei Bolin's high school graduation group photo. And the other one...

Zhang Chao: !!!!

Holy shit, wasn't that his little Wen Fu?!

How'd he end up in Chairman Fei's photo frame?!

And wearing a School Uniform!

He'd never even seen Wen Fu in a School Uniform, so how did Chairman Fei have one?! And that person behind him...

Wait.

Zhang Chao's gaze lingered on the face of the person behind for a second — no, half a second.

!!!

Who else could that be but Fei Bolin?!

Something's off. Something's really, really off.

Zhang Chao held his breath and stepped back, putting distance between himself and these two photos.

In the photo together, both of them looked about seventeen or eighteen, wearing blue-and-gray School Uniforms, the background the distinctive white brick wall of a public high School.

Back then, Fei Bolin didn't have the intimidating aura that made people keep their distance now. His expression held more of a gentle smile. He wasn't wearing glasses either, looking just like a good-looking, approachable guy-next-door.

Wen Fu, though, was completely different.

Maybe he was in a bad mood when the photo was taken. In the shot, Wen Fu's face was cold, his brow even slightly furrowed. His uniform collar was pulled up high, as if trying to hide the lower half of his face — luckily, Fei Bolin's hand on his shoulder had secretly hooked a finger under the collar to pull it down a bit, so the camera could catch Wen Fu's whole face.

The only thing unchanged was that messy hair. In the photo, a stray strand was sticking up from the top of Wen Fu's head.

Zhang Chao turned to look at the big group photo behind them, quickly spotting Fei Bolin right in the middle of the front row.

But he couldn't find Wen Fu.

Zhang Chao looked back and forth twice, but still didn't see Wen Fu.

He looked back at the two-person photo, confirmed both their class plaques said 'Class 6, Grade 12', then looked at the group photo again. Still no sign of Wen Fu.

Brimming with confusion, Zhang Chao walked to the walk-in closet to find the stuff in the four display cabinets on the left.

Once he found it, he understood why Fei Bolin had told him to 'find someone' to 'move' it.

There was no way he could transport these treasures by himself.

They weren't just 'things'. They were three purchased sets of Elie Saab Autumn-Winter Menswear Haute Couture, and one set of Zuhair Womenswear with BVLGARI Emerald High Jewelry.

There were no overhead lights by the display cabinets. Zhang Chao only turned on the wall lamps near the floor. The cold light haloed over the gowns, making the embroidered gold threads shimmer in the dark.

The menswear had all been altered to Wen Fu's measurements. This womenswear set was probably a convenient favor for Stella. Besides artists, agents and other important platform figures were also invited to the Weibo Night red carpet. Whether she wore this outfit and jewelry herself on the red carpet or lent it to another female artist in the team, it'd be plenty impressive.

Fei Bolin gave Stella a lot of face, even to the point of considerable respect.

Zhang Chao contacted Stella first, informed her the red carpet gowns were ready and sent photos over, then politely asked whether the four haute couture sets should be delivered to the Management Studio, the stylist, or to her personally.

On the phone, Stella's tone about the gowns clearly shifted from initial gloom to delight, though she still remembered to be polite. "Chairman Fei really went to the trouble, even borrowing an outfit for me."

Zhang Chao smiled slightly. "These aren't borrowed for you — Chairman Fei bought them as gifts for you. Of course, if you feel Wen Fu won't accept the menswear after the red carpet, you can contact me to have it picked up. As for the part gifted to you, that's Chairman Fei's sentiment. I hope Sister Dai won't refuse, so I can report back to Chairman Fei."

This gave Stella a solution if Wen Fu wouldn't take the three menswear sets, clarified Fei Bolin's stance, and gave Stella a reason not to refuse — accepting the gown meant helping Zhang Chao out. It sounded like a formality, but it really left no room for refusal.

Stella laughed, half-joking, half-serious. "Well then, I'll accept."

After the call, Zhang Chao arranged for someone to come pick up the gowns and jewelry, finally let out a sigh of relief, and stood in front of the piano again to study those two photos.

As he looked, Fei Bolin's words from the afternoon phone call suddenly echoed in his head: "You didn't see anything today."

A flash of understanding went off in Zhang Chao's brain. He looked at the photos, thought about Fei Bolin, and felt his hair stand on end.

So that was a preemptive warning.

Zhang Chao took a deep breath, stepped back, practically ready to bow to the two of them to show his sincerity, then quickly left the place.

-

The next day, Wen Fu was busy the moment he got up.

First, he gathered up the clothes he'd tossed around the house, threw the ones that needed washing into the machine, and tried folding the clean ones to put in the closet. After folding a few pieces, he realized they looked about the same as when he'd balled them up, so he just rolled all the clothes into several balls and tossed them into the closet.

Then, having nothing better to do, he wiped down all the tables, gathered up all the scattered Sheet Music, the Guitars lying around everywhere, Guitar cases, music stands, paper, pens, and computers, and dumped them all into the study.

Closing the study door meant he'd tidied up, as if those things would organize themselves inside the room.

After all that, Wen Fu realized there was still an hour till mealtime.

He sat on the floor in a daze for a bit, then suddenly ran into the study and pulled out every Trophy he'd won from music variety shows, events, and competitions one by one, lining them up on the cabinet by the entryway so Fei Bolin would see his achievements the moment he walked in.

Wen Fu thought it over, then also brought out the certificates and trophies he'd earned in college, setting each Certificate out alongside the rest — even the scholarship letters.

The cabinet that had been empty moments ago was suddenly packed with a row of certificates and all sorts of crystal cups.

Wen Fu stared expressionlessly at all his trophies for a good while, then checked the time — still not mealtime.

He simply went and moved a small stool over, sitting right by the door.

That way, Fei Bolin would see him first when he opened the door, then see the trophies.

After sitting quietly for a bit, Wen Fu picked up his phone and posted on Weibo.

Fei Bolin was currently standing in front of his own kitchen island, debating whether to cook the noodles himself and have someone deliver them, or just go to Wen Fu's place to cook.

He kept avoiding Wen Fu, afraid the other would ask about what happened back then. He couldn't give a reasonable explanation.

But Wen Fu kept trying to get closer. Reason told Fei Bolin he should avoid too much contact with Wen Fu before figuring out the best way to respond — otherwise, bringing up the past was bound to get messy. But the moment he saw Wen Fu's dark eyes, his only choice was to nod.

Facing the ingredients he'd prepared all night, Fei Bolin finally decided to have Zhang Chao deliver the noodles to Wen Fu for him.

Right then, his phone buzzed with a notification.

Fei Bolin picked up his phone. It was a notification that his Weibo special follow had posted something new.

His Weibo only had one special follow.

He tapped the notification bar. Wen Fu, who barely posted original Weibo content all year, had broken precedent today with a text-and-image post.

【@WenFu-Doremi: Waiting for the sky

[picture.jpg]】

The attached image was a meme of three traveling frogs holding umbrellas, waiting to go home.

Hundreds of comments quickly refreshed below:

【@JustWenFuYou: So baby's new song is called Sky? /emoji[/:sparkling eyes]

@FollowYourSinging: Baby wait for me, your sky is coming /emoji[/:ok]

@MarriedToFu: Baby, haven't you seen the sun in too long? /emoji[/:pitiful]

@WenFuOfficialFanClub: What am I seeing? Grandma, your favorite singer finally posted on Weibo!

@WenFuOfficialSupportClub: /emoji[/:heart][/:heart][/:heart][/:heart] Music scene's new star, Bye-ke-Fu[/:heart][/:heart][/:heart][/:heart] Heaven-chosen, charming teen voice[/:heart][/:heart][/:heart][/:heart] Creative genius Doremi[/:heart][/:heart][/:heart][/:heart] Touching souls, captivating hearts[/:heart][/:heart][/:heart][/:heart]】

Fei Bolin turned off his phone, packed up the ingredients piece by piece, and drove to Yunhe Song.

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang. Wen Fu unlocked it with his phone.

The moment Fei Bolin opened the door, he saw Wen Fu sitting cross-legged at his feet, looking up and blinking at him.

Exactly the same as eight years ago, waiting for him to come home and cook.