FIO CH45

Chapter 45: Master～Master～Master～

After all the checking and accounting that had taken up half the day, it seemed rather childish for Zhou Zheng to start playing tricks when it came to moving things.

Lu Fangchi frowned deeply at Zhou Zheng, who turned his face away and quickly rushed to the door. His calf hit the shoe-changing stool with a “thud,” causing him to shrink his leg and press it immediately. He then quickly opened the door and ran out.

…He ran away?

Lu Fangchi blinked, quickly got up, and turned the doorknob to look outside. The hallway was empty.

He returned to the living room and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window to look down. A Jaguar sped away, disappearing in the blink of an eye, leaving only its exhaust fumes.

So. Lu Fangchi’s brows furrowed even more tightly. He turned and walked to the sofa, picked up the phone from the coffee table, and called Zhou Zheng, alternating between phone calls and WeChat messages, but none were answered.

What did he mean? Lu Fangchi’s face darkened as he slapped the phone onto the coffee table with a loud noise, clearly very angry with the alpha.

His head started to spin again, with a throbbing pain in the back of his head.

Lu Fangchi used his index and middle fingers to gently rub his temples in a circular motion, while his ring and little fingers swept over the top of his eyelids. The image of the alpha running away as if for his life forcefully occupied his mind.

The phone on the coffee table lit up and buzzed with a “ding-dong,” accompanied by a vibration. The young man opened his eyes a slit, looking listless as he reached for the phone to check the message.

Zhou Zheng: Next time.

Lu Fangchi frowned and typed on the screen: When?

Zhou Zheng: Next time.

Lu Fangchi: Exact time.

Zhou Zheng: Don’t know yet.

Lu Fangchi pursed his lips. Now he was blatantly being unreasonable without any pretense. A burst of anger welled up inside him, and he quickly and forcefully typed, learning from him: A hundred dollars a day for the delay fee.

Zhou Zheng: Fine.

[The transfer has been refunded]

Zhou Zheng: Let’s put it aside for five years and six months.

…What a joke. Lu Fangchi’s brows furrowed even more severely. He issued the final ultimatum: Take it away tomorrow, or I’ll throw it out.

Zhou Zheng, nonchalant as a dead pig in boiling water: Then you throw it.

The lump of anger in his chest wouldn’t go up or down. Lu Fangchi stared at the phone screen as it turned off and then lit up again. The home screen showed the current time: two forty-five.

It wasn’t in the afternoon; it was two forty-five in the morning.

In the middle of the night, he had wasted nearly two hours arguing with Zhou Zheng over something meaningless. His chest rose and fell slightly as he took a deep breath, feeling that his mind must have been broken.

He shook his drowsy head, got up, and felt lightheaded as he went to the bathroom to freshen up. When he got into bed, his eyes were almost too heavy to open. He endured the last bit of energy to open Backlog and applied for remote work the next day.

Lu Fangchi lifted his heavy eyelids, rubbed his temples with his hand, and felt that he hadn’t rested well. He didn’t have any dreams; his mind was just a blank white, unable to fall into a deep sleep. Now, he didn’t feel refreshed from sleeping well; instead, he felt even more tired.

He closed his eyes, then opened them again. Resignedly, he sat up, stared blankly at the wall for a minute, threw off the quilt, and got out of bed, feeling lightheaded again.

Why was he recovering so slowly? He shuffled to the living room in his slippers, picked up the medicine bag from the coffee table, and started to take out the pills, glancing at the instructions and dosage. There were some to be taken before meals and some after.

Lu Fangchi paused in his pill-picking action. He would have to eat something first. He frowned his pretty eyebrows, genuinely feeling a bit of trouble.

He opened his phone and ordered food online; the fastest delivery time was half an hour later, but he wanted to eat now and lie back in bed immediately. He couldn’t wait.

He got up, walked to the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator.

There were quite a few vegetables in the fresh-keeping layer, all the green ones were wilted. Counting it up, it was a week’s worth of vegetables. Every weekend, they would pick a day to go for a walk after dinner, stroll around the supermarket, and buy vegetables, fruits, and snacks for the next week.

Last week, they had gone shopping on Sunday.

Zhou Zheng had seen fresh shepherd’s purse and bought a lot, saying he wanted to make dumplings. But plans never keep up with changes.

They didn’t eat at home on Monday. He took Zhou Zheng to meet Jiang Mingyi and Yu Yao, and he disappeared midway. Then he found out that Zhou Zheng had regained his memory, and then he fell ill for three days.

The vegetables for this week were wasted. Lu Fangchi raised his hand and threw the bags of vegetables into the trash can, thinking he wouldn’t need to buy them anymore. He wasn’t very good at cooking and didn’t want to do it.

There was also the nanny fee for laundry and cooking that Zhou Zheng had proposed last night.

Lu Fangchi thought about it and felt he had made a profit. He saved so much on the cost of vegetables, it wasn’t a loss. A layer of laughter spread in his eyes, slowly turning into mockery, and his slightly upturned lips became a straight line. So only he thought it was a home.

Lu Fangchi bit his lower lip tightly, blinked his eyes quickly, furrowed his brows to suppress the sentimental bitterness that was starting to show, and took out a cucumber and a tomato to wash and peel.

Actually, instant noodles would be the fastest, but Lu Fangchi didn’t want his condition to worsen. He thought better of it. He couldn’t quite remember when he had last been sick, two years ago? Or three. Although his schedule was irregular and his diet was not balanced, his physical fitness was above the average for an alpha. He hardly ever got sick except for his shoulder and neck issues. This fever was really unbearable, and he wanted to get better quickly.

Lu Fangchi sliced half a cucumber and half a tomato, made thin slices, and stuffed them into the toasted bread, added a few slices of ham, and finally squeezed some Thousand Island dressing. A simple sandwich was done.

It wasn’t particularly delicious, but it was light and could fill his stomach. Lu Fangchi quickly ate most of it in a few bites and was ready to take his medicine.

Misfortune never comes singly. Lu Fangchi drank water too hastily and choked. The water flowed back into his nasal cavity, causing a sour sensation, and the bitterness of the dissolving pill at the back of his tongue made him cough violently, his eyes turning red and a sheen of tears rising in them.

After coughing for two minutes, Lu Fangchi drank some warm water again, and the coughing stopped. He reached for a tissue to wipe the corners of his eyes, then got up and lay back down on the bed, hoping to sleep a bit more.

Within fifteen minutes, the young man lying in bed had tossed and turned three times.

Half an hour later, Lu Fangchi felt a bit desperate as he opened his eyes. He couldn’t sleep at all, and the more he lay there, the dizzier he felt.

Forget it, might as well get to work. It’s been a few days, and there’s probably a pile of things to deal with.

Lu Fangchi ground a cup of hot coffee and carried it to the study, where he turned on the computer to get ready for work.

A white cartoon dog popped up on the screen, tilting its head in greeting: “Master, you’re online.”

This was a desktop pet designed by Zhou Zheng. Originally installed on the computer at Lu Fangchi’s company, seeing that Lu Fangchi didn’t mind it and occasionally had the leisure to play with the little dog, Zhou Zheng had done the same with the home computer.

Lu Fangchi lowered his eyelids and averted his gaze, moving the mouse to log into DingTalk. The neglected desktop pet stamped its foot in discontent, its face puffing up like a pufferfish, with three parentheses beside it to indicate anger.

Indeed, there was a lot of work piled up. Lu Fangchi raised his hand, took a sip of coffee, widened his eyes, and focused on starting work.

Zhou Zheng’s original intention in designing this desktop pet was to make his presence felt. He adhered to the principle that even if he wasn’t by Lu Fangchi’s side, he should always make Lu Fangchi feel his existence. The desktop pet, ignored from the moment the computer was turned on, deliberately acted upset. After being ignored, it shamelessly moved close to the mouse button, cautiously extending its plump, white, line-like paws to poke.

Lu Fangchi ignored it, so it kept poking, once and again. The little dog’s face looked pitiful, looking up as if to say, “Pick me up.”

The feeling of looking at this desktop pet varied with different moods. Previously, Lu Fangchi would associate it with Zhou Zheng, finding its every move adorable and interesting. Now, he still thought of Zhou Zheng, but it felt disjointed, with a huge conspiracy hidden beneath its cute and obedient face.

Its constant poking was annoying. Lu Fangchi raised his hand, covered the mouse, moved it a few times, and the little dog was pushed to the far corner.

It seemed to have fallen, its face smashing down with stars in its eyes, its short paws rubbing its head as it lay on the ground with its tail drooping.

Pretending to be pitiful was useless. Lu Fangchi ruthlessly moved his gaze away and continued working.

After about ten minutes of quiet, the desktop pet dog started to seek attention again, stealthily moving forward half a minute at a time, until it reached the mouse button and hugged it, displaying a line of text: “Are you angry?”

Lu Fangchi couldn’t respond to it; he just moved the mouse to break the hug.

The little dog hopped over again, leaving a trail of paw prints on the desktop as it hugged the mouse once more, “Don’t ignore me, little dog loves you.”

Pathetic. Lu Fangchi moved the mouse again, sticking to his policy of ignoring it.

After experiencing five or six rounds of friendly gestures being rejected, the little dog’s mouth turned downward, its face full of dejection, its tail drooping to the ground as it sadly crawled back to the corner.

Finally, there was a period of peace, and Lu Fangchi took the opportunity to finish two-thirds of his work until a soreness in his neck made him stop.

He raised his left hand to gently rub his neck, opened the drawer with his right hand, took out some eye drops, tilted his head back, and applied two drops to each eye.

The listless little dog finally moved again, standing up and wagging its tail: “Work and rest should be balanced. It’s noon, time to take a break.”

Lu Fangchi glanced at the time in the bottom right corner, eleven o’clock. No rush, he could wait a bit longer.

He moved the mouse, and the little dog hurriedly ran to the mouse, pressing its paw on it, “Eat on time, take your medicine on time.”

Oh right, the medicine was basically three times a day, morning, noon, and night. Lu Fangchi got up and went to the kitchen to pour some water, took a sip, and the doorbell “ding-dong” rang.

He pressed the peephole but saw no one. Hmm? Lu Fangchi hesitated for two seconds, then opened the door. There was no one outside. He leaned out and looked behind the door, noticing an delivery box hanging on the doorknob.

Lu Fangchi took it down and checked the delivery slip. The address was correct, and the recipient’s surname was Zhou. It must be Zhou Zheng’s; he must have ordered it by mistake. Quite normal, considering they had lived together for over half a year.

Lu Fangchi placed the delivery on the dining table. He chose not to send a message. He wouldn’t deliver it to Zhou Zheng, and Zhou Zheng wouldn’t come back to get it. Since there was no solution, there was no need to mention it. It was best that they didn’t contact each other for now.

While he was thinking, his phone “ding-dong”ed. Lu Fangchi slid it open to check.

Zhou Zheng: ?

Lu Fangchi had no intention of replying. The other party seemed to sense his intention and sent another message: “Did my delivery get delivered to you?”

Lu Fangchi pursed his lips and sent a photo.

Zhou Zheng: “Alright, forget it.”

Lu Fangchi thought to himself, as expected.

Zhou Zheng: “Transfer me eighty-six point six-eight.”

Lu Fangchi: ?

Zhou Zheng: “You ate it for me, consider it as if you ordered it yourself.”

He spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Lu Fangchi smiled and said, “I’ll transfer you ninety?”

Zhou Zheng: “That works too.”

Dream on. Lu Fangchi turned off his phone, not only did he not transfer the money to him, but he also opened the delivery and ate it.

It has to be said that Zhou Zheng was quite good at ordering. The delivery was a bowl of chicken soup with rice. The soup was rich and flavorful, with tender chicken and a mix of mushrooms and herbs that tasted delicious and left a lingering flavor.

Lu Fangchi ate most of it, feeling so comfortable that his eyes narrowed. He wasn’t sure if it was the nourishment from the hen soup, but he felt less dizzy.

After resting for a short while, Lu Fangchi poured a glass of water and sat on the sofa, starting to break the medicine tablets. Considering the earlier incident, Lu Fangchi paid attention this time and swallowed six pills in two doses.

Then a flash of inspiration crossed his mind, and he remembered something was off.

He frowned, got up, and walked to the study. He looked at the desktop pet on the computer. The little dog, which had been dozing off, suddenly sat up straight when it saw him, its tail wagging furiously, and a dialogue box appeared: “Master～Master～Master～”

So if he hadn’t moved the mouse, how could it “see” him?

And how did it know to remind him to “take his medicine on time”? How did it know he was sick?