Chapter 41

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Our Secret Hideout (1)

At the time, Huo Cheng thought nothing of it. His mother hadn’t had many friends, but she hadn’t been entirely friendless either. He’d assumed it was one of them who had come by to pay their respects. But here it was, a daisy printed on a lighter he’d never seen before. He couldn’t help but make the association.

“Young Master.” The butler stood at the door and knocked. “Sorry to interrupt. I’ve prepared everything you requested.”

Huo Cheng came back to himself, put the lighter back into the box, and straightened up. “Good.”

Shen Wanying looked at him curiously. “What did you have prepared?”

He didn’t give her a straight answer, only saying, “Come with me and you’ll find out.”

“Alright then.” Now she was interested as to why he was leaving her in suspense.

The butler cast a glance at the box with the lighter, then walked ahead, leading them away. Shen Wanying followed Huo Cheng closely and, noticing the elevator was descending, asked, “The basement?”

“Mmhm.”

The elevator reached the basement. The butler didn’t follow them out, only showed them the way with a gesture. Huo Cheng led Shen Wanying into a room. She walked in, then her entire being froze at the sight.

He had converted the room into a one-person KTV.

“Originally, my father had plans to convert this basement room into an entertainment area. The bar, billiards table, and sofa were all here, to begin with, I simply rearranged the room.” Huo Cheng told her. “After we left the KTV yesterday, I contacted the butler to help me get a karaoke system. He only just finished setting it up.”

Shen Wanying looked around the room incredulously. She felt like there was a tiny person in her ribcage, thump thump thumping her heart with a wooden stick, each beat louder than the one before.

“Since we only just installed the system, I don’t know if the effects it has are good or not; you can give it a try later and test it out,” he said. “From now on, you can come here to sing every week. It can be our secret hideout.”

Shen Wanying stood in stunned silence. She needed a moment to let everything sink in. When she no longer felt like her heart would leap out of her throat when she opened her mouth, she asked, “Why would you do all this for me?”

She was right, it was a completely unnecessary gesture.

“You don’t like it?”

She shook her head. “No, I really like it. I just….” She didn’t know how to put it.

He looked at her and said, “As long as you like it, it’s all good. It isn’t any trouble.”

Shen Wanying opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. There was so much she wanted to say, but she could only manage to smile and thank him.

“You don’t need to be so formal with me.” He resisted the urge to reach up and stroke her hair. “Here, sing something and test it out.”

“Okay.” She chose another rock song by Gu Xin. The selection on this system was impressive, even bigger than the one at the KTV she usually went to. “I’ll sing this.”

She wasn’t dressed like a wild nightclub girl, but that certainly didn’t impact her singing. She sang well, and when the song was over Huo Cheng poured her a glass of fruit juice and placed it on the table before her.

“Sounds like the effects are not bad.”

“Not bad? They’re really good!” Shen Wanying looked at him, microphone in hand. “This system must’ve been expensive.”

“It wasn’t too bad,” he responded.

She didn’t pursue the matter, just took a swig of the fruit juice, and proceeded to choose her next song.

He walked to the door and said, “You stay here and have fun. I’m going out for a bit; I’ll come back to look for you later.”

“Ah? You’re not singing?” She looked up at him.

He finally gave in, reaching out to pat her on the head. “When I’m done with what I need to do, I’ll come back.”

His hand lingered on her hair for only a moment before he withdrew it, but she sat there dumbly, frozen in place long after he had left the room.

Then again, who could blame her when he was being so affectionate?

Her cheeks flushed crimson. She couldn’t help replaying the times she had spent with him in her mind in bits and pieces. She had already been thinking of him quite often, and she felt more and more like she was losing control of her feelings.

The next song she selected to match her overwhelmed feelings – a sweet love song by Ding Meng. It had been written for her by her husband, and the lyrics were romantic, full of his love for her. After that, she sang a whole sequence of Ding Meng songs.

Huo Cheng returned, holding a dinner plate.

“Ah, were you preparing food earlier?” Shen Wanying stopped, mid-song when she saw him enter the room and ran over to him.

“Mmhm.”

He put the dinner plate on the table, opening the lid of a small ceramic pot on the plate. It was at that moment she realised…

It’s a pot of instant noodles!!

These noodles were a lot more sumptuous than the kind she had made for herself in the past. He had added eggs, ham, and vegetables.

He handed her a bowl and a pair of chopsticks. “Want to try some?”

She looked at him, then took the bowl and chopsticks from him. The noodles were freshly cooked and very hot. She picked some up with the chopsticks, blew on them, and put them in her mouth. “It’s really good.”

It was her favorite, beef flavour, but it far exceeded any of the beef-flavoured instant noodles she had eaten in the past.

“If you eat it with a bit of soup, it should taste even better.” He spooned some soup into her bowl. “Careful, it’s hot.”

Shen Wanying stared at him, bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other.

When he had first joined as a new student, everyone had said that he was cold, silent, and serious. But at that moment, she had felt like there was no one in the world more tender than he.

“What’s up?” He raised his eyes to meet hers.

She shook her head. Her words came out a little choked. “Huo Cheng, no one has ever treated me this well.”

It took him by surprise, he hesitated for a split second, then replied, “Your parents may have very severe expectations of you, but they still love you very much.”

“I know.” She pursed her lips. She wasn’t going to cry in front of him again. “But this is different.”

She knew, more than anyone, that this wasn’t the same.

He looked at her for a moment, then asked, “Want some vegetables?”

“Mm!”

He picked up some vegetables and put them into her bowl.

“You have some too,” she spoke as she ate, and then placed a piece of ham into his bowl.

“Thanks.”

“You don’t stand on ceremony with me either,” she said. “Right, what songs do you want to sing later? I’ll help you select them.”

“I can’t really sing.”

“That won’t do, you have to sing. Don’t worry, I won’t laugh at you even if you sing badly!”

“——”

They stayed at the villa until noon when the chauffeur came to drive them back into the city.

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T/N: Okay, we didn’t get an expansion on the cliffhanger (yet), but y’all. I know he is rich and all so he can do a crap ton of things, but our boy is so sweet wtf. Idk about you but I wanna know where I can obtain such a man??

I haven’t figured that out yet, but I definitely know where you can get advance chapters if you want them, so let us know and we can make it happen! Thank you for reading~

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