Shen Yuze’s attitude was so matter-of-fact that Lu Ping had no room to argue. He dazedly called his mom.
This was the first time in Lu Ping’s life that he was staying over somewhere else (not counting visits to relatives in the countryside). On the phone, Lu Mom sounded a bit worried: “Pingping, won’t it be too much trouble for Little Shen if you stay at his place? Otherwise, I can call your Uncle Yang and see if he’s on the South Shore to give you a ride back.”
The Uncle Yang that Lu Mom mentioned was the taxi driver who often bought glutinous cake from their family stall.
Lu Ping had the call on speakerphone. Hearing Lu Mom’s suggestion from the receiver, Shen Yuze, who had been quietly listening nearby, immediately spoke up: “Auntie, this is Shen Yuze. I was the one who invited Lu Ping to stay over. You can rest assured. Besides, tomorrow’s the weekend, and I was planning to do homework with him anyway… The teacher handed out a lot of practice sheets this week, and there are some questions I’m not sure about. I want to discuss them with Lu Ping.”
This scheming guy knew exactly what parents wanted to hear. Sure enough, Lu Mom relaxed a lot upon hearing that the two boys were going to study together tomorrow. After all, in every parent’s eyes, Shen Yuze was a total academic genius. Which parent wouldn’t be happy that their kid had befriended one?
Lu Mom: “Little Shen, thank you for taking such good care of Pingping.”
“No problem. After all, Lu…” As Shen Yuze spoke, the corner of his eye subtly glanced at the boy beside him, “…after all, ‘Pingping’ is my friend too.”
Heat gradually rose to Lu Ping’s cheeks, but he couldn’t quite tell if it was from being called “Pingping,” from Shen Yuze admitting he was a friend, or… maybe both?
The phone was then handed back to Lu Ping.
Lu Mom was still a bit concerned and reminded him to be polite at Shen Yuze’s house and to greet his parents properly when he saw them. Lu Ping naturally agreed to everything.
The call lasted several minutes before hanging up, and the car fell quiet again.
Lu Ping couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from turning up. It was strange—he’d only had a little alcohol today, so why did he feel like he was floating? He floated and floated, like an inflated balloon, his courage growing bolder. He even dared to ask directly: “Shen Yuze, when you said you see me as a friend, were you serious or not?”
“You misheard. I never said I see you as a friend.” Shen Yuze denied it. “I’m just so bored with life that I end up talking so much nonsense to the guy who got me allergic and hospitalized, wasting all this time on him.”
“…” Lu Ping grinned foolishly. “Shen Yuze, my English might suck, but my Chinese is great. I always get full marks on reading comprehension.”
The little mouse hooked his finger onto the sleeve of the boy next to him and gave it a gentle shake: “You’re speaking in reverse, right?”
Shen Yuze didn’t indulge him: “I’m telling the truth.”
Lu Ping: “That’s reverse too.”
Shen Yuze: “This one’s not.”
Lu Ping: “If you say reverse again, I’ll rebound!”
“Rebound…? Lu Ping, are you childish or what?”
“Wow, you just called me Little Pingping, and now it’s Lu Ping?”
“When did I ever call you Little…? Hey, are you drunk?”
“Hee hee, rebound! Rebound! Rebound!”
The two boys the same age started fooling around in the back seat of the sedan, yelling nonsense like “rebound” and “counter-rebound.” Luckily, the Cayenne’s back seat was spacious enough for them to play this IQ-lowering game.
The driver, who had been driving quietly, heard the commotion from the back and glanced in the rearview mirror.
He had worked for the Shen family for many years and driven all three Mrs. Shens. For him, this young master was practically someone he’d watched grow up.
Growing up in such a complicated family, even the softest person would be forced to harden into stone. Shen Yuze had been mature beyond his years since he was little, showing little emotion and treating everyone and everything with cold indifference.
But after Shen Yuze suddenly decided to transfer to this small southern city, the driver noticed that the young master was changing.
He started having joys and angers, frustrations, and finally, friends of his own.
Like now… Shen Yuze was actually getting along so well with that ordinary boy from a humble background, fooling around so wildly in the car—something completely unimaginable before.
But—it was good like this. He finally seemed like a seventeen-year-old kid.
The only problem was, they were really too noisy.
The driver silently pressed a button on the console, and the partition between the front and back seats of the Cayenne slowly rose—see, a professional driver knew when to pretend he didn’t exist…
…
The luxury sedan quietly glided into the underground garage and stopped in front of the private elevator.
There was a facial recognition camera at the private elevator entrance that automatically identified the owner’s identity. When Shen Yuze led Lu Ping over, the doors opened automatically. After they stood steady inside, the doors closed slowly, and without any manual operation, it took them straight to the floor where Shen Yuze’s home was.
The elevator opened right in front of the entryway door. A pair of slippers was already placed in the foyer—prepared in advance by the housekeeper, Shen Yuze said. Maybe because Lu Ping had preconceived notions, even though they were just ordinary slippers, they felt softer than any he’d ever worn.
Though Lu Ping had prepared himself mentally like Liu Laolao entering the Grandview Gardens, he was still shocked when he actually stepped into the place. He knew he shouldn’t look so bumpkin-like, but he really hadn’t seen anything like it.
The living room was spacious and bright, without overly ornate decorations. The interior design theme was black and silver, even the sofa combining silver metal with black leather in a modern minimalist style that exuded luxury everywhere despite its simplicity.
Most striking was the floor-to-ceiling glass wall next to the living room! Night had already fallen, and under the inky blue sky, a long river surged from afar. Along its banks, lights from myriad homes spread out; standing so high and looking down, all the city’s bustle and glamour lay prostrated at their feet.
Lu Ping stopped in front of that glass wall, suddenly afraid to approach. He’d never seen the city where he’d been born and raised from this angle, never been so high above it all.
Shen Yuze saw his fear and asked, “Are you afraid of heights?”
Lu Ping fought off the dizziness: “Being up this high, it feels like I’ll plummet down anytime and shatter to pieces. Shen Yuze, aren’t you scared?”
“…Not scared.” Shen Yuze said softly. “I’m used to it.”
Shen Yuze tugged Lu Ping’s sleeve and pulled him toward the glass wall. Lu Ping was terrified, practically dragged there by force. Even standing right in front of it, he squeezed his eyes shut, not daring to look. He finally understood another layer of meaning in the ancient poem “high places are unbearably cold”—that chill wasn’t just physical, but from the heart.
“Lu Ping, listen to me. Overcoming fear is simple,” Shen Yuze coaxed him. “Don’t look down—you look far away.”
“Look far away?”
“Yeah, don’t look at everything below your feet. Ignore the cars, the people, the neon lights. Look into the distance, at the far-off scenery. Fill your heart with the horizon, stare hard at it, keep staring, and you’ll forget the fear, left only with curiosity and anticipation for what’s out there.”
Lu Ping was the most obedient. The boy’s eyelashes trembled lightly as he cautiously opened his eyes. The furrowed brow relaxed. This time, he didn’t look at the bustling city below but toward the distant horizon.
What did he see? He saw cargo ships plying the Jiao River, a massive Ferris wheel slowly turning by the riverbank, tiny matchbox-like cars speeding over the River Crossing Bridge, and even…
“That’s my home!” Lu Ping excitedly pointed to a distant speck. “Shen Yuze, over there—that’s my home!”
“Your home?” The answer surprised Shen Yuze.
“Yeah, look at the long embankment on the Jiaojiang North Shore—that’s the market where you came to find me last time. Follow that road all the way, turn left at the post office, right at the second intersection, and go straight to the end…” Lu Ping forgot his fear entirely, practically pressing his whole body against the glass wall. His fingertip traced over the fogged glass, sketching a map in the air above the city. “…See, that’s my home!”
Shen Yuze followed his finger, and sure enough, at the end of the map, there was a very, very, very small house.
They were so far away that at night, even the streets were just blurry outlines. That self-built two-story little building blended in with its neighbors, like a drop of ink diffused in the darkness.
So chaotic, yet so conspicuous.
Shen Yuze often stood here gazing into the distance too—sometimes thinking, sometimes just spacing out. But he’d never realized that his “distance” pointed to Lu Ping’s home.
…Was this some kind of cosmic hint?
Lu Ping had no idea what Shen Yuze was thinking at that moment. He pulled out his phone and snapped photos of the city nightscape. He wanted to show them to his family: “You can see our house from Shen Yuze’s place—how cool is that!” Of course, he could also post them online to show off his idol’s home to his fans.
Once Lu Ping had his fill of the view, Shen Yuze led him to the dining room for some late-night snacks.
Boys their age were growing fast, and after all the commotion that evening, both were starving, stomachs rumbling.
The table had snacks prepared by the chef in advance: two plates of local greens, a stack of sliced smoked sausages, a steamed fish (a type Shen Yuze could eat), and two bowls of preserved egg and lean pork congee. The portions were just right for the two of them.
The Shen family chef’s skills were top-notch; even simple dishes were cooked to perfection in color, aroma, and taste.
Shen Yuze had impeccable table manners and never talked while eating, but Lu Ping was the opposite—his mouth never stopped when eating. After all, with his family of four all busy, only dinner time allowed them to gather and chat about the day’s events.
While eating, Lu Ping asked: “Shen Yuze, do you live here alone?”
Shen Yuze nodded.
Lu Ping had expected that answer.
When they first entered, he’d noticed the place was huge but cold and lifeless, like a beautifully staged model home. The Lu home might be cramped, but it was stuffed with everyday pots and pans, height marks on the wall for Lu Ping, his sister’s award certificates—full of life.
Lu Ping had overheard Shen Yuze’s phone call with his mom before and knew his family relations were tense, but he hadn’t expected his parents to be so heartless as to really leave him alone in Jiaojiang City.
Lu Ping said: “So usually, the only ones with you are that butler from last time, the maids, and the chef?”
“Pretty much.” Shen Yuze replied. “Plus the driver and two bodyguards. The maids are two aunties on rotating shifts.”
So many people…
“By the way, doesn’t the maid auntie live here? I saw the slippers she prepared when we came in, but I haven’t seen her.”
“Of course she’s here… She’s right behind you.”
“!!!” Lu Ping jumped in fright, nearly bouncing out of his chair as he whipped around. But there was no one behind him—just the semi-open kitchen.
Seeing the little mouse so startled, Shen Yuze couldn’t hold back his laughter.
Lu Ping realized he had been deliberately scared and fumed, “Can you stop tricking me? There’s no one behind me at all!”
“I didn’t trick you.” Shen Yuze pointed at a translucent glass door in the kitchen that led outside. “That’s the servants’ quarters. The nanny lives there.”
“…Servants’ quarters?” Lu Ping had thought it was just the kitchen balcony!
“I’m not sure exactly what it looks like inside. I’ve never been in there.” Shen Yuze said calmly. “It seems to have the nanny’s bedroom and an independent bathroom, plus a laundry room, cleaning room, and drying balcony. Oh, right—there’s also a service elevator over there. The nanny and chef can use their cards to come and go, but the elevator we took today is only for the owners.”
Lu Ping was shocked.
This must be how rich people operated—they divided people who should have been equals into strict hierarchies. Owners used the front door, while servants had to use the back… It was real, and utterly bare.
Even though Lu Ping had entered the apartment as a guest through the main entrance, as he stared at that small servants’ door, he felt no different from them.
Lu Ping stirred the porridge in his bowl, suddenly losing his appetite. He muttered, “So, you really are a young master from a wealthy family, huh.”
“Didn’t you already know that?” Shen Yuze picked up some vegetables with his chopsticks and placed them in Lu Ping’s bowl. “But don’t worry—I don’t make friends based on whether they have money or not. After all, no one could possibly be richer than me.”
Lu Ping: “…”
Thanks. That was truly comforting.
