Chà Chà Novel

All Fu Baihan had to do was glance to the side to see his little brother fast asleep on his shoulder, mouth slightly open. He didn’t move, afraid of waking him.

Watching a child grow up with your own eyes was a strange and wonderful thing, especially when you’d been part of every step along the way.

He had signed Su Nuo’s test papers, gone to his parent-teacher meetings, and driven him to and from cram school… Fu Baihan felt like he was basically a stand-in dad.

So to him, his kid was perfect in every way. If anything went wrong, it had to be someone else’s fault.

He didn’t look into who had upset Su Nuo tonight, but he still kept it in the back of his mind.

Su Nuo nuzzled against his shoulder. Maybe he wasn’t sleeping comfortably, because his head started to slide down. Fu Baihan caught it with his hand, and in the end Su Nuo ended up using Fu Baihan’s lap as a pillow. Fu Baihan grabbed his suit jacket and draped it over him, then quietly told the special assistant to turn the car’s AC up.

The special assistant riding with them swore he saw something “fatherly” in the way the CEO looked at the little young master. It made him shiver. How surreal was this?

Of course. The ultimate brother complex!

Who knew if the future Mrs. CEO would ever get this kind of treatment. It’d be pretty hard to top the little young master.

When Su Nuo woke up, the car was already parked in the garage. It was dim inside. He tried to sit up, accidentally bumped his head, let out a little yelp, and fell back against the man’s chest.

“…Brother?”

“Nuonuo, you’ve gotten heavier.” Fu Baihan’s voice came from above him.

Su Nuo was completely lost. “???”

“My legs went numb from you lying on them. Get up.” And just like that, he was the cold, heartless big brother again.

Only then did Su Nuo come to his senses. He realized he’d slept on Fu Baihan’s lap the whole way home, and had no idea how long Fu Baihan had been sitting in the car waiting for him. Feeling a little guilty, he started massaging Fu Baihan’s legs to butter him up. “Thanks for your hard work, Brother. You’re the best.”

Fu Baihan couldn’t help laughing at the kid’s same old clumsy way of sweet-talking him. The car lights were off, so Su Nuo couldn’t see the teasing look on his face.

Su Nuo hadn’t eaten much at the banquet, so he sat at the dining table waiting for Fu Baihan to make a late-night snack. Who would have guessed that the glamorous, domineering CEO, after a night of clinking glasses, would still have to go into the kitchen and cook noodles himself?

“I want crawfish,” Su Nuo said wistfully, head down in his noodles.

Fu Baihan poured him some juice. “You can have it in your dreams later.”

Su Nuo: “…Hmph.”

By June, the weather was already getting hot. Every summer, Su Nuo got stomach problems from overdoing cold things, so the closer it got to this time of year, the stricter Fu Baihan became. Forget spicy crawfish, even the ice cream in the freezer, Fu Baihan would obsessively count it every single day.

But still, it was nice. He was still a kid with someone to look after him.

Before bed, Su Nuo casually tossed Wei Sinian’s business card onto the desk. A Best Actor’s contact info meant nothing to him.

He knew the crew hadn’t started large-scale casting yet, so now wasn’t the best time to audition. Besides, he wanted more time to enjoy the warm, cozy life he’d fought so hard to get back.

Wei Sinian watched his phone screen light up and go dark for a long time, but there was no new friend request. He thought about the way the boy had looked at him when they first met, and felt strangely unsettled.

Was it because he wanted to work with him that badly? What was with this weird sense of anticipation?

Earlier that day, he’d excitedly told his manager about the boy he’d met. Even his manager laughed and asked if he’d reached the age where he wanted to train a successor.

The Fu family’s little young master… was he only getting into the industry to enjoy the glitz and glamour? Could he actually act?

And why hadn’t he added him yet? Was he not big enough? Not famous enough?

The nation’s beloved Best Actor, with eighty million fans, lay awake in the silent night, wondering if he’d become a total flop.

Su Nuo didn’t have time to think about Wei Sinian for now. The college entrance exam results weren’t out yet, and most students were enjoying their three-month summer break. Class reunions were happening one after another.

Before, people couldn’t reach Su Nuo. But lately, after getting his head straight, Su Nuo had found that youthful feeling again. Besides Xi Zhou, he started keeping in touch with his other classmates too, and stopped turning down reunions.

He accepted this invitation because his high school teachers would be there. They had always been good to him. If he didn’t see them now, he’d have even fewer chances once college started.

In the teachers’ eyes, Su Nuo had always been a good kid: great grades, good-looking, never caused trouble, never dated early, and never gave them anything to worry about. Even though they weren’t too happy when he chose film school, in the end they all supported him.

Actually, the teachers who had met Fu Baihan all knew that Su Nuo’s family was ridiculously well-off, so choosing a major based on what he liked wasn’t hard to understand.

“Su Nuo, come sit next to Yu Ning.” The homeroom teacher saw him and waved him over with a smile.

He and Yu Ning had been desk mates for all three years of high school. They were always together, and the teachers knew how close they were.

Xi Zhou was a little worried, but Su Nuo’s expression didn’t change. He sat down naturally and didn’t say anything. Xi Zhou trusted that Su Nuo would behave in front of the teachers. He wasn’t going to start a fight with Yu Ning right there, was he?

Yu Ning’s eyes lit up. He refilled Su Nuo’s cup with water and said softly, “Nuonuo…”

Su Nuo glanced at him and said nothing, but he didn’t touch the cup either. Yu Ning had always been proud. After the harsh things Su Nuo said last time, it was strange that Yu Ning could still try to make up as if nothing had happened.

In a setting like this, he didn’t want his personal issues to ruin everyone’s good mood. As for Yu Ning, he’d just pretend he wasn’t there.

Of course Yu Ning could feel how cold he was being. His heart twisted into a knot, but it also made him want to dig deeper.

Nuonuo… did he have those memories or not?

Watching Su Nuo laugh happily as he chatted with their classmates, Yu Ning felt a little lost. In his past life, how long had it been since he’d seen Su Nuo smile?

Losing Su Nuo was a regret he could never undo. Whether Su Nuo remembered or not, whether he’d forgive him or not, just being able to sit beside him right now and see that bright, living smile felt like a gift from heaven.

“Yu Ning, where are you planning to apply?” the homeroom teacher asked with a big smile. “With your grades, Tsinghua or Peking University should be no problem.”

Yu Ning wished he could follow Su Nuo to film school, but he had to hold himself back. He was afraid that if Su Nuo noticed anything off, he’d lose any chance of getting close to him.

“I want to go to Huaqing University. It’s close to Nuonuo’s school too.”

“You two are like real brothers. When you go off to college, make sure you look out for each other.”

Yu Ning smiled and nodded. “We will, sir.”

After all, he was the one who knew Su Nuo best. He knew exactly how to get close to him.

Whether or not Su Nuo had been through the same thing, he could never let Su Nuo find out that he’d been reborn. Otherwise, in Su Nuo’s eyes, it probably wouldn’t stop at just being coldly pushed away.