Vase cannon fodder is pampered by the group again

Chapter 63.1

Editor: Princess

Shen Ci gathered all the books near the bed, tucked Lu Xiao under the blanket, and forced him to sleep and rest.

Lu Xiao rarely had moments like this, lying in bed with nothing to do. Left with no choice, he started looking around Shen Ci’s room.

Shen Ci never let the housekeepers clean his room, and he was too lazy to tidy up himself. Gifts from fans were scattered everywhere, snacks and comic books were left lying around, and there was always something to munch on no matter where one stood.

The originally spacious bedroom looked messy and cramped.

But it felt lived-in. Lu Xiao liked the warm and cozy vibe of Shen Ci’s little bedroom. It was just like Shen Ci, warm and cute.

Smiling faintly, he slowly closed his eyes. He reached out his long fingers to rub his temples, then frowned and rubbed the right side of his head, but the pain didn’t ease up much.

“Little uncle, why aren’t you sleeping?”

Shen Ci walked over with two steaming bowls in his hands, looking worried. “Does your head hurt? Drink some porridge and take some medicine.”

“Okay.” Lu Xiao’s voice was still hoarse.

Lu Xiao had a peculiar constitution—he rarely got sick, but when he did, it hit him hard.

Usually, Lu Xiao was the one waking up early, reluctant to disturb Shen Ci, who was still sound asleep, so he would wait as long as possible.

After a few days of this, Shen Ci got used to waking up just in time for class. With reliable Lu Xiao around, he never worried.

But this morning, Shen Ci woke up on his own for no reason. Rubbing his eyes, he was about to roll over and sleep some more when he noticed something was off with Lu Xiao.

His face was pale, his brows furrowed tightly, and when Shen Ci nudged him tentatively, he couldn’t even make a sound, his throat so hoarse he couldn’t speak, and his gaze was unfocused, making Shen Ci’s heart ache immediately.

Shen Ci, now wearing a little apron, set up a small table on the bed and placed the bowls down.

One bowl contained plain porridge, and the other was a black, gooey mess that looked… suspicious.

Lu Xiao tapped a finger on the questionable bowl, raised an eyebrow, and looked at Shen Ci.

“…Egg custard.” Shen Ci scratched his head.

Lu Xiao calmly reached out for the spoon, but Shen Ci took the bowl away quickly. “I knew you’d want to eat it… No, no way. If you eat this, you’ll die.”

Lu Xiao’s voice was hoarse with amusement. “Then why did you bring it over?”

Shen Ci felt guilty. “I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t in the kitchen all that time just making porridge…”

“Even if it didn’t turn out well, at least I tried.”

Before he could finish, he grabbed the ruined egg custard and dashed away, probably to throw it out.

What kind of logic was that…? Lu Xiao couldn’t help but chuckle and slowly started drinking the porridge.

It had a slightly burnt taste with some tiny black specks in it, but he still finished every last drop. Then, he turned to Shen Ci, who was standing by the bed, and gave him a warm smile.

“It was really good.”

Shen Ci’s eyes immediately sparkled. If he had a tail, it’d definitely be wagging in delight.

He happily cleared the dishes and went back to the kitchen, where he saw the leftover porridge in the pot. Unable to resist, he scooped up a spoonful and tasted it—

“Bleh!” He spat it out immediately, his face scrunching up. “What the hell did I make?!”

But he had followed the same steps as Auntie Bai and Auntie Zhou… Shen Ci was puzzled.

The key point, was that Lu Xiao actually drank it all and even said it was “really good”…

Lu Xiao was perfect in every way, except he spoiled him too much. To make him happy, he could lie through his teeth without hesitation…

Shen Ci felt a little guilty and hurried back to bring Lu Xiao his medicine. He even earnestly helped massage his aching head.

Then he wanted to ask if he felt better, but after thinking about it, he decided to stay quiet. Because he’d probably just hear, “It feels great.”

Lu Xiao was practically a five-star review machine. But wasn’t this the same guy who, in a financial magazine interview, said he had extremely high standards and was a perfectionist?

Shen Ci’s little doggy head was full of question marks.

**

Brother Zhang, sporting dark circles under his eyes, handed over a freshly printed stack of documents to the PR team at Yunxiao’s headquarters.

“Morning. Here, the public opinion analysis on President Lu’s announcement last night. The situation is looking pretty good.”

The PR director, a sharp and capable woman with short hair, didn’t even bother sitting down. She took the report, pressed her lips together, and carefully examined the data.

“The users tagged as ‘Shen Ci fans’ mostly support it. That’s unexpected.” She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

Brother Zhang, who barely got any sleep last night, rubbed his temples to ease his headache. “Yeah, maybe it’s because of that video of President Lu saving Xiao Ci. We monitored the data all night. Xiao Ci’s side is fine, but President Lu’s side…”

The PR director remained calm. “President Lu already told us to handle it with cold treatment.”

Brother Zhang’s lips twitched. “Then why the hell are you here so early?”

The PR director replied matter-of-factly, “President Lu said to check in with you first thing in the morning to confirm whether this has negatively impacted Shen Ci, so we can adjust our PR strategy accordingly.”

Brother Zhang: “…” So your boss just gave up on himself?

He was speechless. After the director finished reviewing last night’s data, she politely excused herself and left.

Now that things were mostly handled, Brother Zhang finally relaxed a bit. He pulled out a massage chair, intending to catch up on sleep. But just as he closed his eyes, unease crept up, and he sighed.

“I wonder what that little fool is thinking… Hope he doesn’t freak out.” He muttered to himself as he dialed Shen Ci’s number.