Seizing Dreams

Ch73.2 – Birthday

Yu Hao thought that he would suffer from insomnia that night, but unexpectedly he quickly fell asleep due to the nervousness he felt all day, in addition to the alcohol he drank that night and the energy he spent after Zhou Sheng’s race. The next morning, Zhou Sheng was still asleep when Yu Hao was roused by the heat. Summer vacation officially began for Yu Hao starting from today.

 

Yu Hao’s head was spinning when he woke up, and he had a slight headache too. When he got off the bed, he especially climbed the ladder and reached out to test Zhou Sheng’s breathing. He was afraid that after he exercised so much and drank, something might happen to him in the morning. Zhou Sheng’s breathing was normal, so Yu Hao opened the dormitory door to ventilate the room.

Fu Liqun got up early in the morning for fear of being captured and roped into helping clean up. He took advantage of the time when Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng were asleep to put on his new shoes and sneak off. The stuffy dormitory cooled down a little with the wind that came in from the corridor. Yu Hao looked over the dormitory that was covered with cake debris and stared dumbly for awhile. He began to calculate the amount of time needed to clean up the whole place — at least 7 hours, and the most difficult task would be wiping the windows.

Yu Hao looked at the new shoes that Zhou Sheng had placed on the desk for awhile. When he bought them, he didn’t think much of it, but now that he earnestly looked at them again, he did think that they seemed expensive and beautiful. He began to understand why Zhou Sheng was fond of them now.

Where should I start cleaning from? Yu Hao took water, wrung a rag, and looked at the balcony window, feeling like his heart was falling apart. He thought, I’ll just start from the hardest place then. So he pulled up the window and looked into the dormitory from the balcony. I’ll clean up the outside part first. Yesterday, Fu Liqun and Zhou Sheng fought from inside the dormitory to out on the balcony, so there were a lot of stains outside too.

There’s a huge clump here stuck onto the window……that still looks like it can be eaten. Yu Hao looked at it for awhile, and thought that it wouldn’t be an issue if he ate a little ba. He didn’t know if it had gone bad, but nobody would know anyway.

So he leaned closer and tried to lick it. The taste didn’t seem to change, it was just dry now……

As Yu Hao licked that piece of cake, he looked across the dormitory — someone had walked into their dormitory, and their eyes met. He had seen that person before. It was Zhou Sheng’s father, Zhou Laichun!

 

Zhou Laichun suddenly saw Yu Hao face him as he licked the glass of the balcony window, and a strange expression appeared on his face.

Yu Hao, “……”

Zhou Laichun, “……”

Yu Hao really wanted to pretend like he hadn’t seen him, but that was impossible.

“He……llo……uncle……”

Zhou Laichun nodded. Yu Hao wasn’t completely awake yet. He quickly moved a chair over for him and said, “Please sit!”

Zhou Laichun walked one round around the dormitory and almost slipped when he stepped on some cake. Yu Hao hurriedly got him to sit, then climbed the ladder and shook Zhou Sheng.

Yu Hao, “Your father’s here!”

Zhou Sheng had woken up long ago. He turned around and faced the wall.

“What are you doing?” Zhou Sheng said irritably, “Running over without letting me know. Do you have nothing better to do?”

Yu Hao went down to wash the rag. Zhou Laichun said, “Had a party in your dormitory yesterday night? Looks like you guys got pretty high ma. Yo, who gave this to you? These shoes aren’t cheap ba……you got a girlfriend?”

“Don’t touch my things!” Zhou Sheng roared and sat up in annoyance.

Yu Hao quickly shot Zhou Sheng a meaningful glance. Zhou Sheng said, “Get me some clean clothes.”

 

Yu Hao took some clothes and threw them at Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng changed into them and went to take a bath. “Don’t mop the floor anymore. Wait for me, we’ll clean up together.”

“Yu Hao.” Zhou Laichun said, “Let’s go, I’ll treat you to lunch. Let’s celebrate Zhou Sheng’s birthday today, and we’ll wish him a happy 21st birthday from afar.”

Yu Hao uttered a pfft and laughed aloud. Zhou Laichun continued, “Where’s your other dorm mate who stands out a lot?”

Yu Hao said, “Fu Liqun……went home.”

Zhou Laichun bit a cigarette in his mouth and took out a Vertu. He called his chauffeur and instructed him to look for a cleaner to help clean up the dormitory room. When he hung up, Zhou Sheng came out of the bathroom; his head was dripping wet, and he was digging his ears with a cotton swab.

Zhou Laichun said, “Let’s go?”

“Do we go?” Zhou Sheng motioned to Yu Hao.

 

Yu Hao was driven mad, why are you pushing this onto me again?! Your father’s here to celebrate your birthday!!

Yu Hao, “Of course ah, let’s go.”

Zhou Sheng said, “The boss didn’t invite me and only invited you. Bring some food back for me later bei?”

Zhou Laichun said, “Yu Hao, do you want to ask another friend to come along?”

Yu Hao thought, the two of you really are a biological father-son pair, both of you even have the same style of speaking, “Then Zhou Sheng, let’s go together ba.”

So Zhou Laichun drove Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao to a clubhouse in Ying city. Over the past year and a half, Yun Lai Chun had opened three high-end F&B clubhouses under its franchise, and this was one of them. It was called “Dawn of Spring in an Empty Mountain”, and was located midway up a mountain with Mt. Yunding in front of it and a valley behind it.

 

The bamboo sea in the waste valley had not been developed yet. There were only two plank walkways which people rarely used. There was a cascading waterfall as well, and the environment was extremely tranquil and secluded. Three sides of the first-class rooms faced the valley, which all had French windows that acted as partitions. The room was mounted midway up the mountain. At this height, you could have a panoramic view of the emerald green bamboo sea and the silvery white waterfall.

Within the room, Zhou Sheng idly flipped through a magazine. Two blonde, blue-eyed Belarusian twin girls who wore cheongsams were making tea for them. Yu Hao looked at the waterfall through the glass window and was once again shocked by the luxury enjoyed by the rich.

“What do you want to eat?” Zhou Laichun asked, “Longevity noodles are a must, eat a small bowl for the occasion ba.”

“Anything.” Zhou Sheng said.

“Yu Hao, what would you like to eat?” Zhou Laichun knew that he wouldn’t be able to obtain a meaningful response from his son, so he turned towards Yu Hao.

Yu Hao asked, “Is soy sauce chicken okay?”

“Aren’t you afraid that it would be too greasy?” Zhou Laichun asked, “One tradition is enough, let’s order some yellow-breasted bunting then.”

Yu Hao thought, don’t ba, that sounds so cruel. But he didn’t say it.

“No wildlife or shark fin.” Zhou Sheng said impatiently, “More home-cooked dishes.”

Zhou Laichun, “Sichuan?”

Zhou Sheng, “Just ate that yesterday.”

“Then I’ll just cook as I see fit.” Zhou Laichun took off his suit and hung it to one side. He rolled up his sleeves and actually planned to cook himself, “Eat some snacks first to whet your appetite, the two of you haven’t eaten anything since you woke up.”

Yu Hao had a hunch that after he ate this meal, he would have accomplished some kind of lifetime achievement.

 

“After eating his food, you won’t want to eat mine anymore.” Zhou Sheng threw his magazine away and laid down on the sofa. “Annoying.”

Yu Hao quickly said, “Yours isn’t the same.”

Zhou Sheng, “You haven’t even tried his yet, why don’t you tell me how it’s different?”

Yu Hao laughed, “You put your heart into your cooking.”

Yet Zhou Sheng laughed. He looked out of the French windows. Yu Hao sat down cross-legged in front of the window; he faced the verdant green and the beautiful scene of nature’s mountains and forests that filled his sight, and took a deep breath. He felt like he had entered a state of Zen along with Mother Nature in front of him.

“You can actually open a restaurant in a forest park.” Yu Hao said.

“If you have money, you can open one anywhere.” Zhou Sheng answered, “Guess how much it costs to have a meal here?”

 

Yu Hao said, “At least a few thousands ba.”

Zhou Sheng replied, “Thousands? Not enough for the soup appetizer. Each meal starts from 100,000.”

Yu Hao, “……”

A Belarusian beauty knelt down on one knee and poured some Gongfu tea for Yu Hao. Yu Hao quickly said, “I’ll do it myself, thank you.” He took a sip of the tea. The tea should be a premium kind, but he couldn’t tell after he had a taste.

“Knock it off.” Zhou Sheng said as the beautiful woman proffered a tray full of cigars and chocolates, “All of you just go and rest ba, ignore whatever my Dad says. He’s really quite sick.”

The two Belarusian beauties laughed, walked out of the room and closed the door.

 

Yu Hao just laughed as he laid on the carpet in front of the French windows. Zhou Sheng looked like he couldn’t bear to watch any further, “Irritating, you wanna go down to take some pictures?”

“I can’t move……” Yu Hao wanted to laugh, but he didn’t have the energy. He flipped over and laid down, “Too hungry, let’s go after we eat ba.”

Yu Hao had been too excited last night. He didn’t eat much during dinner itself and didn’t eat much cake either. Fortunately, it only took 40 minutes for Zhou Laichun to return.

Everyone had a bowl of soup before the meal. It was a clear soup with a small cabbage steeped in it; they were stacked on one another, layer by layer like flower petals, and looked very beautiful. Yu Hao was going mad from hunger, yet only this bowl was served. He wanted to down the entire bowl in one go, but he was too embarrassed to do so too.

Zhou Sheng, “Didn’t I say to serve more home-cooked meals? This is home-cooked? Who are you showing off to?”

Yu Hao thought, isn’t a bowl of cabbage home-cooked?

Zhou Sheng, “Who are you showing all these fancy tricks to?”

“The soup was simmered yesterday.” Zhou Laichun said, “I just happened to see it in the kitchen, so I used it. The rest are all home-cooked dishes.”

Zhou Sheng said to Yu Hao, “Just eat whatever ba, if you’re still not full, I’ll bring you to a stir-fry place later.”

Yu Hao’s thoughts were seen through by Zhou Sheng. He quickly said, “It must be delicious.” As he spoke, he tasted the soup, and he instantly felt like a bolt struck him out of the blue. Before he could comment on the soup, the rest of the dishes were served up one by one.The dishes were all divided up properly first before they were placed on their plates, and the only step they didn’t take was to feed it into their mouths. Half the soy sauce pigeon was especially left for Yu Hao, then mango caviar and duck skin on crackers were served. It was the first time Yu Hao knew that those dishes could be eaten in that way.

When another dish arrived, Yu Hao asked, “What’s this?”

Zhou Sheng, “Steamed Pine Leaf Crab.”

Afterwards, they couldn’t name most of the dishes served. Zhou Sheng was also too lazy to ask, so he said to Yu Hao, “Actually I don’t know what all these random dishes are.”

 

“Truffle goose liver.” Zhou Laichun glanced at it and answered.

Zhou Sheng just ate whatever was served, and he motioned to Yu Hao to not hold back. Zhou Laichun only ate a small amount. He lit up a cigarette and lowered his head to chat over WeChat, and Yu Hao stopped asking. Zhou Laichun’s dishes were really delicious, but they did lack a certain feeling. The environment was great, the ingredients were of a high quality……Yu Hao knew what it was missing.

In comparison, he preferred the atmosphere in their dormitory, as he watched Zhou Sheng wear an apron, open the rice cooker and scoop up some of the shrimp porridge he was cooking for a taste.

“Yu Hao add me on WeChat, it’ll be more convenient to contact each other.” Zhou Laichun said.

Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng didn’t say anything, so Yu Hao handed his phone over to Zhou Laichun for him to scan his code.

Zhou Laichun said, “What do you want to do after graduation?”

Yu Hao said, “I’ve only just finished my freshman year, it’s still early.”

 

“It’s not too early.” Zhou Laichun said, “You don’t need to put in so much effort into studying at college. If you’re interested, do you want to work in uncle’s company after graduation?”

—

Zryuu: Zhou Sheng gives Yu Hao Australia, Yu Hao gives Zhou Sheng the shoes that he has always wanted. MELTS
Juurensha: I’ve been waiting for this gift scene for ages, and it did not disappoint. Sadly, an ice cream mousse cake was wasted, but at least the sweetness of the scenes made up for it.
Dollars: Reading this chapter is like being wrapped is a soft, cuddly blanket *sighs*
Ame: ZS: You won’t want to eat my cooking anymore. Annoying.