Chapter 33
33 The time Zi Han thought he was an artist in the making.
Zi Han had never been this nervous in his entire life. Okay fine, he had been this nervous once. At that time he had thought himself an artist and painted the walls in the living room but when the six-year-old Zi Han realised how shitty his artwork was, he was extremely nervous that he ran to hide under the bed when he heard a slight sound from her room.
His mum at that time was taking a nap and when she woke up he was so terrified that each time he heard her footsteps on the creaky tiles it felt like she was directly stomping on his heart.
The footsteps started off soft probably because she hadn’t realized yet what he had done. A minute later he heard her yelling, “Zi Han!!”
At that moment his entire body froze with drops of sweat dripping on his forehead. That’s when Zi Han understood the meaning of the phrase ‘a cat on hot bricks’. The boy was sweating bullets awaiting the appearance of the executioner. Soon after that, her steps became frenzied while calling out his name. The louder her voice the more his nerves were stretched taut like a bowstring.
Just when her steps died down and he stupidly assumed she had stopped looking for him his feet were suddenly grabbed and he was pulled out from under the bed. The way he screamed would make him more than qualified to act in a horror movie.
In the end, Zi Xingxi only wanted to scare him. After that, the mother and son pair had their first DIY project following a generic video titled ‘How to paint a wall with only three things’. With such a title it is only natural to say that the DIY project was an epic failure.
Back to the present. That very same nervous feeling he had under that bed descended upon him tenfold at this moment. His heart was pounding fast, his palms were sweaty and he kept shaking his leg restlessly while biting his lip.
Zi Xingxi oh sorry I meant Auntie Sheila saw this from the corner of her eye and her lips quirked up. She opened her chat with her father and typed,
Xixi: Dad when you meet please be nice to him.
.....
Xixi: video12.mp4
Zi Feiji who was standing in the lounge arguing with the robot housekeeper about the placement of the flower vase irritably swiped his light brain while nervously tugging at his tie.
It seemed Zi Han wasn’t the only one who was anxious about what to wear. When his daughter was pregnant he had imagined himself meeting his grandson for the first time. That time he and the old steward joked that he should wear a suit to make a good first impression.
Because at that time these two were as high as kites when they had this discussion, Zi Feiji ended up booking the best tailor in the federation to come to take his measurements.
This was an old man’s version of drunk shopping on Amazon. Trust me you should stay as far away as possible from shopping apps after a shot or two. Zi Feiji’s personal limit was three after that who knows what sort of shit he would buy online.
Of course, when Grandmaster Savile showed up on his doorstep he couldn’t send him away on the premise that he drunk shopped.
Thus he cried internally as he scanned to pay for the most expensive suit in his closet. Until now his heart aches when he recalls the feeling of that much money vanishing from his account all at once.
Now that the person he had accidentally bought this suit for was coming he naturally had to wear it.
When he saw Zi Xingxi’s message the corner of his lips quirked up. Of course, he would be nice. Why would he want to scare off the little bunny on the first day? Coax it well and tomorrow you will be patting its fluffy fur.
His gaze fell on the short video his daughter sent and the smile on his face grew bigger. Those mannerisms when nervous were very familiar. The restless leg and rubbing his sweaty palms while biting his cheek were the exact same characteristics that Zi Xingxi had when she was nervous.
Wiseman: He is as nervous as you were when you told me you were pregnant.
Wiseman: image_254.jpg
Zi Xingxi’s brows furrowed when she saw the image her father sent to her. He had no idea that back then the old steward had taken a picture of her nervously waiting for her father at home to tell him about her bun in the oven.
She raised her head to look at her son who was dazedly staring outside and said, “Don’t be too nervous. Do you want some water maybe?”
Zi Han spun his head around to look at her but he heard nothing. He was busy wondering if he should directly call grandpa when he meets the legend or would it be too presumptuous. Zi Xingxi directly threw a bottle of water at him and he caught it with ease.
“Drink some,” she said before lowering her head and continuing to chat with her father.
XiXi: Wise people don’t need to reaffirm their wisdom by setting their Starnet user name as Wiseman.
Wiseman: ???
XiXi: Change it. it’s embarrassing.
Wiseman: You brat!
Two seconds later.
MyDaughterIsABrat: Happy?
Zi Xingxi couldn’t help but chuckle while typing with the tip of her tongue sticking out at the corner of her mouth.
MyDadIsSoEmbarasing: Yes (smiley face with open arms.jpg) 𝗳𝘳𝐞e𝙬𝙚𝚋𝗻𝚘𝚟𝗲l.𝑐𝑜m
Zi Feiji, “....”
The old man almost flipped the table in anger but since he wanted to leave a good impression on his grandson he could only calm himself down.
He closed his eyes and exhaled while straightening his suit.
Just as he inhaled the good and slowly exhaled the bad the robot housekeeper that had been patiently waiting for the master of the house to finish chatting on his light brain appeared in front of him like a ghost and said,
“Master, I have tried placing this vase where you mentioned earlier but I am sorry it looks like an urn. Who bought it anyway... yuck it’s so outdated.”
The Wiseman who bought it on Starnet after two glasses of wine, “....”
A second later...
Old Steward, “Master you...!”
Crude sh!!!
Zi Feiji who had just thrown the robot housekeeper outside felt so refreshed despite doing a fruitless task. The hardware might be destroyed but the AI was linked to the house.
The old steward looked outside and felt a bit regretful staring at the pile of expensive junk outside. The scene was especially tragic. “That’s the third one this month,” he said glancing over in Zi Feiji’s direction.
Zi Feiji was pouring himself a small amount of whiskey as he replied, “This is why I didn’t get married but instead of a wife I have a nagging housekeeper AI system. Just great...” After saying this he downed the contents of that glass to calm his nerves.