I am a Chef in the Modern Era

Chapter 98: Blue Mountain Coffee

The day after the barbeque, Shen Yan went back. Chen Fang didn’t want to remain here to be a big, bright third wheel either, so he went back with Shen Yan.

After being force fed with dog food all these days, he was starting to get the illusion that falling in love and marrying seemed like a pretty good option.

Dog food was indeed very harmful to the mind.

Before going back, Shen Yan had a talk with Shen Fu. When they were done talking, Shen Fu looked like a wilted flower. Lin ShuYi, a little curious, asked, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Fu approached and pulled the other into his arms, burying his face into Lin ShuYi’s neck, disheartened, explaining as he absentmindedly thought to himself that it seemed like he had gotten a little taller.

“He wants me to go back to help him out.”

Lin ShuYi paused for a moment. “In taking care of the Shen Conglomerate?”

Shen Fu nodded. “Something like that.”

“And what do you intend?”

“Obviously I’m going to reject him.” He didn’t like the idea of managing the company, otherwise he wouldn’t have procrastinated up to now. He had his own job and he had plenty of free time to do whatever he wanted, just like now. He had taken off for several months and he didn’t have to worry about running out of money. His money mostly came from his own livelihood, and he was pretty happy about being self-reliant, and plus, Lin ShuYi and the children were here.

If Shen Fu was to help with the management of the Shen Conglomerate, then that would mean returning to H City, and it would be troublesome to go back and forth between home and work. That might mean that Lin ShuYi would have to consider giving up XiQin Restaurant. However, hearing that Shen Fu rejected the offer, Lin ShuYi felt a little bad. After all, it was probably tiring for Shen Yan to manage it all alone.

The thing was Shen Fu had already declined, so how come he still looked all droopy?

Shen Fu mumbled an explanation for Lin ShuYi. “I wanted to decline but he destroyed me with a single sentence.”

“Huh?”

“He said he wanted to set aside some time for love.”

Lin ShuYi: …

This undisputable reason….

Since Shen Yan’s future love life was extremely important, Shen Fu ended up agreeing in the end despite being extremely reluctant, telling Shen Yan to give him two days to prepare. Shen Yan had agreed with a delighted smile curling on his lips. “So you’re leaving for H City in two days?”

Shen Fu nodded and hugged Lin ShuYi tighter. “I don’t want to leave you.” Shen Fu’s deep voice murmured into Lin ShuYi’s ear. After a moment he also added, “Or Xiao Yu and TaoTao.”

“Will you be gone long?” Lin ShuYi frowned, despite not being one who usually showed his emotions.

“Not for too long, but grandfather has always been hoping that I would look after the Shen Conglomerate with my brother. If I go, I don’t think it’ll be easy trying to leave.”

It was already exhausting enough to battle Old Master Shen, Now Shen Yan had joined, and his cultivation level was clearly higher than Shen Fu’s.

Lin ShuYi’s frown deepened, unable to come up with a decision or idea.

He didn’t want to leave S City because XiQin Restaurant was here, and more importantly, because Old Man Yang was here, even though Old Man Yang had a partner now. Plus, he had promised Old Man Yang to stay with XiQin when he took over. The current situation was, for him, between a rock and a hard place.

“I know you don’t want to leave here, and I won’t force the matter, but when Tang Shuang masters things, how about you come to H City to visit me?”

Lin ShuYi’s heart melted at this. He nodded without hesitation.

Shen Fu’s lips thinned and he buried his face even further.

The day Shen Yan went back, Old Master Shen received news that Shen Fu had agreed to come and manage the Shen Conglomerate. “Are you coming back alone?”

Shen Fu made a noise of confirmation.

Old Master Shen frowned. “Then what about XiaoYi, TaoTao and YuYu?”

Shen Fu helplessly said, “He’s put so much into his restaurant. I can’t make him give it up. It’s about time Xiao Yu goes to school, and Chen-ayi can take care of TaoTao.”

Old Master Shen’s frown deepened. “That won’t do.”

Shen Fu rolled his eyes. Even if it won’t do, it’s not like you’d relent.

“Come over first, I’ll think of something.”

Shen Fu agreed, feeling a lot better about his grandfather.

Shen Yan was the calmest of them because he knew that Shen Fu was no sitting duck. Plus, after pouring so much into the Shen Conglomerate, he deserved some rest. He wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to find love.

After celebrating the lantern festival at the Shen’s, Shen Fu didn’t go back to H City with Lin ShuYi and the children.

Shen Fu had graduated with a degree in finance and management, but he hadn’t touched it in so long, so he was bound to be out of practice. Old Master Shen wanted him to go and familiarize himself with the Shen Conglomerate for the first two days to avoid the board thinking he was some sort of noob who couldn’t be trusted with responsibilities.

Shen Fu had no complaints about this. If he was going to do this, he would be the best he could, otherwise he’d just be there to lose face. Shen Yan didn’t have any guilt in squeezing every last drop out of his own younger brother, delegating hard. He even had Shen Fu make him coffee.

Thus, there was always two hot guys hanging around the director’s office, and the crowd of unknowing secretaries and assistants swooned over them. “Those two brothers are so close. Oh, and second young master Shen is so handsome, too!”

Shen Fu: … quite an imagination you have there, can’t you tell that he’s bullying me, here?

Older brother Shen smiled calmly with his coffee.

On the other side, Lin ShuYi came home with his two kids to S City. Before, when Shen Fu was here, the house never felt empty, but now that he wasn’t here, it was like there was too much space. It had Lin ShuYi feeling weird.

Xiao Yu was a little displeased. Though he liked clinging to Lin ShuYi, he preferred to play with Shen Fu. Now there was only one of his two dads by his side, so even though he had mentally prepared himself, he still didn’t like it.

However, he could tell that Lin ShuYi was also having trouble getting used to it, so he did his best to put his own discomfort to the side and comfort Lin ShuYi. “Daddy, do you miss daddy Shen? Let’s go visit him in a few days.”

Lin ShuYi was stunned for a moment before he smiled, “Alright, but before then, Xiao Yu is going to start going to school, yes?”

Xiao Yu nodded. It was almost time to report to school for the new semester. Though Lin ShuYi wasn’t used to it, he calmed himself the best he could and took Xiao Yu to the school to apply. Since he had already made arrangements beforehand, it didn’t take long.

Xiao Yu smoothly integrated into the new environment, quickly becoming friends with the other children. TaoTao was now all Chen-ayi’s responsibility, but he still couldn’t leave Lin ShuYi’s side. If Lin ShuYi went to the restaurant, Chen-ayi would follow with TaoTao.

TaoTao was very well-behaved, and never distracted Lin ShuYi while playing by himself. However, sleeping was another thing. He would refuse to sleep unless Lin ShuYi was there.

Their days soon became routine. Shen Fu would call Lin ShuYi every night, usually choosing to call before bedtime, asking if Xiao Yu was being good, if TaoTao was well-behaved and other things like that. Sometimes, he would choose to call after TaoTao and XiaoYu’s bedtime, and the contents of those calls weren’t appropriate for young ears, all you had to know was that Lin ShuYi would always have to run off to the bathroom after these calls, red faced.

Ever since the New Year’s, Tang Shuang’s workload had shoot up. Lin ShuYi was teaching him more and more, and at a very fast pace. He obviously knew why, but ignoring an employee’s rights because you wanted to be lovey-dovey was just mean. However, he still studied diligently, not just because he liked cooking, but also because he didn’t want to let Lin ShuYi down.

Shen Fu didn’t leave for long, just for a month or so after the New Year’s. Lin ShuYi, however, felt like he had been waiting for a year. He’d probably feel time drag by even more if it weren’t for all the things there to take his mind off it. Shen Fu had also come back for one or two days every week. Lin ShuYi was a little embarrassed at how clingy he was being.

Luckily, Lin SHuYi wasn’t the only one who couldn’t bare the separation. Shen Fu didn’t have an easy time either. Every day, he’d get hard from listening to Lin ShuYi’s voice. He was really tempted to abandon his responsibilities and quit.

However, recently Shen Yan kept being late and leaving early for personal reasons, as well as spacing out during work hours. His drop in efficiency was terrifying, and Shen Yan had finally fallen from the pedestal of perfection people had placed him on in their hearts, becoming a mortal that was also troubled by life. However, this change hadn’t made him any less popular, having the opposite effect instead. For example:

“Has boss found someone? He’s so cute when he spaces out randomly and smiles at the window.”

“Yeah! I wonder who’s the lucky girl; I’m so jealous.”

“Never mind that. Have you only noticed the boss’ mood? What about second young master Shen? His temper had been terrifying recently.”

“Because of unresolved sexual tension of course. It’s understandable, having to part from his lover for so long.”

“For so long? It’s just a month. Plus, he rans back every week like the hounds of hells are on his tail.”

“Tsk tsk, how long do you expect him to stay abstinent when he’s so full of youthful energy? Last time I even overheard him talking dirty over the phone in the tearoom.”

“Really? Details please…”

Shen Fu’s entire face was stormy, holding his Blue Mountain coffee as he stood outside of the tearoom.

Could white collars these days no longer get by without gossiping? And about their superiors, too? Did they think their bonus was too big or something?

Shen Fu cleared his throat, face dark, and the office workers in the tearoom scattered like startled animals.

They were only gossiping out of love!!! Please don’t hurt us…