WRA CH63

Chapter 63: The Finale: Daring to Be the First

What a bolt of lightning that turned heaven and earth stark white looked like, Zhou Sicheng didn’t know, but the deafening roar of thunder pierced through the concrete and reached deep underground.

Triggered by the atmospheric pressure shockwave, the alarms of the surrounding vehicles blared one after another.

Zhou Sicheng stood at the front of the car, glaring into the dark night beyond the walls. I am but a mere mortal body of flesh; if you want to strike, strike me first.

Inside the car, father and son were simultaneously startled awake by the thunder. Before Xiang Zhen could even grasp the situation, he heard his son’s wailing cries.

He hurriedly picked up his crying son: “Be good, baby. Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. Grandpa Thunder God isn’t a bad person.”

Xiao Guazi buried his head tightly into his dad’s chest, seemingly wanting to cover his ears but unable to reach them.

Xiang Zhen covered his ears with his palms.

The thunder ceased, and the car alarms in the garage fell silent.

Zhou Sicheng turned around and gripped the door handle. Feeling no electrical charge, he pulled it open, climbed in, and shut the door: “Let me coax him.”

Before he could even take over, Xiao Guazi stopped crying.

Xiang Zhen turned his head to look at Zhou Sicheng. In the dim car, amidst the thunder and lightning of the night, a Yao possessed a breathtaking, soul-stirring beauty. Zhou Sicheng gazed into his dark pupils. Whether it was molded by this past month of learning, or his sentience having been enlightened by the Lightning Tribulation, his beautiful wife now carried an added touch of deeply clinging, mesmerizing allure.

“Hubby, the baby stopped crying the moment you came.” Xiang Zhen lowered his eyes and kissed Xiao Guazi. “Baby, do you also think Daddy is the sun?”

When the sun comes out, it dispels the dark night and the wind and rain.

Zhou Sicheng was the person who would endlessly, always shelter his sunflowers from the wind and rain.

Holding the baby, Xiang Zhen asked: “Hubby, why am I in the car? Are you taking us home? I’ve finished my studies, I’m not illiterate anymore!”

His confinement period was over; he could be discharged from the hospital!

After a long moment, Zhou Sicheng glanced at his phone. The thunderstorm weather alert had disappeared. He said, “Alright, we’re going home.”

“Wait! It thundered just now! Was it Manning’s Lightning Tribulation?” Realizing this, Xiang Zhen hurriedly called Manning. After a while, Dou Manning finally picked up.

“Sorry, Zhenzhen, I was bandaging Shen Ku’s arm just now.”

Shen Ku had built a metal Faraday cage for Dou Manning. Dou Manning was perfectly fine hiding inside, but when the lightning struck, a light fixture overhead fell and smashed into Shen Ku’s arm.

“As long as you’re okay. Manning, I’m leaving the hospital first. You guys can leave tomorrow morning.” The entire hospital’s lightning rod system had been redesigned by Engineer Shen; it was very safe.

“Okay. Be careful on the road.”

Xiang Zhen hung up the phone, feeling happy for his friend that Engineer Shen had even blocked minor injuries for him. But he dared not say this out loud, afraid his hubby would get jealous again.

“Hubby, let’s go home.” Xiang Zhen placed Guazi into the secured infant car seat in the back.

Zhou Sicheng sat in the driver’s seat: “Let’s go.”

A month after his birth, Xiao Guazi finally returned to his billionaire daddy’s grand villa.

The fragrance of mature sunflower seeds drifted through the air.

Xiang Zhen’s final batch of seeds had grown into sunflowers that bloomed and set seeds a step slower. Their heavy discs hung from the stalks, only fully maturing just now.

Every year, after Zhou Sicheng kept enough seeds for planting, the remaining sunflower seeds were given to Uncle Zhang, and occasionally the butler would casually roast a couple plates of seeds at home.

Zhou Sicheng: “Does our son also not eat sunflower seeds?”

He intended to strictly prohibit the presence of any sunflower seeds in the house from now on.

Xiang Zhen: “He can! He can eat whatever he wants.”

The sunflower seed baby initially absorbed nutrients from its embryo to sprout, and only in later stages drew from sunlight and soil.

To a sunflower seed baby, sunflower seed kernels were like breast milk, and even easier to absorb.

Xiang Zhen had once held a sunflower seed that was gradually roasted alive, unable to save the final sunflower seed in the hazelnut grove, which was why he hated the smell of roasted sunflower seeds.

And now, Xiang Zhen had successfully fled from the Heavenly Lightning holding another Xiao Guazi, saving its life. Seeing so many of his kin sunflowers here with Zhou Sicheng, the gloom in his heart was unknowingly dispersed by the sun.

Plants didn’t fuss over so many things. New shoots sprouted from the rot of fallen old trees, and fallen blossoms turned into spring mud.

Whether Xiao Guazi ate sunflower seeds or not was up to him to decide.

…

On November 7th, for Xiao Guazi’s full-month celebration, Zhou Sicheng invited only two or three close friends, keeping the gathering small to avoid noise.

To the rest of the uninvited acquaintances and all the employees of the conglomerate, he distributed celebratory pastries and red-dyed eggs, announcing to the world that he had a son.

The employees of the Zhoufu Group felt that President Zhou was encountering a non-stop streak of joyous events lately: nuts during the Dragon Boat Festival, honey peaches at the end of the dog days of summer, and celebratory pastries on the Start of Winter—one right after the other.

Zhou Qingyun’s gift for his great-grandson was a pure gold sunflower disc holding 999 detachable gold sunflower seeds. When pried open, the kernels inside were crafted from mutton-fat jade.

The cost of the gold alone amounted to five million—of course, that was based on current gold prices. Zhou Qingyun had hoarded plenty of gold in his youth; he merely had to retrieve it and hire artisans to handcraft it.

Zhou Sicheng: “Since you’ve shown such sincerity, I’ll let you hold my son for a bit.”

Holding the tiny bundle that was his great-grandson, Zhou Qingyun almost forgot that he had been just as overjoyed when he held the newborn Zhou Sicheng all those years ago. But later, he had treated an underage child with such extreme harshness.

“Grandpa let you down, and let your parents down.”

Before Zhou Qingyun’s tears could even fall, Xiang Zhen wiped them away for him.

Xiang Zhen said apologetically, “Sorry, Grandpa, but don’t let tears fall on Xiao Guazi’s face, he hasn’t eaten salt yet. Can I compensate you with a tissue?”

This Xiao Guazi was incredibly greedy; if a drop of water flicked onto his cheek while washing hands, he would stick his tongue out as far as it went to lick it.

Zhou Qingyun: “…”

Zhou Sicheng: “I am grateful for your upbringing. Let’s not dwell on the past today; looking forward is enough.”

Different stages of life brought new perspectives. Now that he had a son, he couldn’t accept any accidents befalling Xiao Guazi either.

Zhou Qingyun didn’t feel like bringing it up anymore, either.

Xiang Zhen snipped a lock of Xiao Guazi’s lanugo hair and placed it into a box Zhou Sicheng had prepared. This was deeply commemorative black hair, representing the portion of genes Zhou Sicheng had given him.

The bustle of the full-month banquet still drained some of Xiao Guazi’s energy, as he was passed around and held by several uncles and aunts. He always had to observe unfamiliar embraces for a while before feeling secure.

Xiao Guazi fell asleep early.

The night belonged to the adults.

While in the hospital, although Zhou Sicheng had also bullied his wife under the guise of tutoring, it had been strictly limited to kissing and touching. He hadn’t forgotten his wife was in postpartum confinement and had forbidden any deep interactions.

His eyes dewy and moist, Xiang Zhen looked at his husband with a soft, easily bullied expression: “Hubby, Xiao Guazi is right next to us. What if we wake him up?”

Zhou Sicheng: “He’s asleep. He won’t wake up for three hours.”

Three hours was nowhere near enough for his hubby to perform; he was definitely going to wake up anyway. Blushing, Xiang Zhen changed the subject: “Hubby, you haven’t named the baby yet.”

Zhou Sicheng smiled softly, took out a piece of paper, and with a flourish of his pen, drafted the formal name.

Zhou Shen.

Xiang Zhen stared at it for a while, too embarrassed to admit that after a month of classes, he actually didn’t recognize his own son’s name. It did have the ‘person’ radical he had asked for, though.

Zhou Renxian? Daring to be the first (Gan wei ren xian)?

Seeing his big, dark eyes darting around, Zhou Sicheng knew his wife couldn’t read it again.

“Shen, meaning ‘multitude’ or ‘abundant.’ Just as your herbaceous name Zhenzhen means lush and thriving, I hope our son will have a multitude of people and all things that cherish and love him.”

Xiang Zhen was quite satisfied with it. However, since he had just boasted that he was no longer illiterate, and Zhou Sicheng had deliberately picked a rare character, he feigned aloofness, casting a sidelong glance to appraise the two characters.

For Zhou Sicheng to work within the constraint of the ‘person’ radical while also aiming to please his VIP client—his wife—was no easy feat.

How long had it been since Zhou Sicheng personally negotiated a business deal?

He said, “When we register his household file, I’ll add the character Xiang in front. I want your surname to appear on my household register, just like a marriage certificate.”

Xiang Zhen’s eyelashes fluttered lightly; he was genuinely moved.

Zhou Sicheng: “It sounds like Xiang Zhou Sheng (Born of Xiang and Zhou). Anyone with discerning eyes will know instantly that this is the baby born of Xiang Zhen and Zhou Sicheng.”

“If you want the baby to take my surname, call him Zhou Shen. If you want him to take your surname, call him by his full name, Xiang Zhou Shen.”

Zhou Sicheng had devised a foolproof strategy offering both offense and defense, just in case Xiang Zhen acted up in a while and said, “Let’s have another baby to take your/my surname.”

Xiang Zhen was extremely satisfied with the name his master’s-degree hubby had chosen, especially the homophonic meaning.

But he still had to pick a little fault, scratching Zhou Sicheng’s abs with his finger: “Then when he grows up and goes on blind dates, will his blind date be able to spot the meaning behind his name at first glance, just like me?”

Being scratched stoked the fire in Zhou Sicheng. Having endured for over a month, he was now ablaze: “Then let’s just call him Zhou Yi (Monday).”

Xiang Zhen froze, tilting his head: “Then if we have six, will we sequence them from Zhou Yi (Monday) to Zhou Liu (Saturday)?”

Zhou Sicheng: “You won’t have time to raise kids. I will ‘do’ (ri) you from Monday to Saturday, and we’ll rest on Sunday (Zhou Ri).”

Having said this, he scooped Xiang Zhen up into his arms, summoned Xiao Kui Bao to supervise Baby Sunflower’s sleep, and strode into the walk-in closet, opening the door with the three-way mirror.

Xiang Zhen squeezed his eyes shut tightly, his eyelashes trembling rapidly as he begged for mercy: “Hubby, I was wrong.”

It would have been better to be on the bed. Anyway, Xiao Guazi was sleeping in the crib right next to it.

How could he have a completely unobstructed, blind-spot-free view of that area from here, watching Zhou Sicheng chisel and enter his body inch by inch?

Xiang Zhen felt as if he were simultaneously watching a videotape starring himself and getting fucked; his reflection in the mirror seemed perfectly in sync, yet also half a beat behind.

It was simply too erotic, too pornographic.

…

Zhou Sicheng broke his fast with a vengeance, feasting to his heart’s content.

It went on until very, very late. Xiang Zhen suspected it was already 2:00 AM.

Xiao Guazi began whimpering for milk. Xiao Kui Bao relentlessly sent notifications to its master, each beep louder than the last. Able to track its master’s location, if ignored any longer, it would probably start banging on the door—acting exactly like the most protective, loving older brother in the world.

Zhou Sicheng got up to prepare formula for Xiao Guazi. “Wifey, do you want a bottle too?”

Xiang Zhen: “No need. You drink it yourself.”

He felt that given what Zhou Sicheng had done to him today, Zhou Sicheng was the one who needed milk more.

Disabled in body but firm in spirit, Lord Sunflower sent a message to the little Yao group chat.

[Xiang Zhen: My hubby picked out a fantastic name for the baby!]

Though getting fucked today had been painful, his hubby still deserved praise, and it couldn’t wait until tomorrow.

Unexpectedly, everyone was still awake.

[Dou Manning: Hmm, then my baby will be called Dou Shen!]

[Bai Qi: Bai Chu?]

Before Xiang Zhen could even read it clearly, Zhou Sicheng confiscated his phone.

“Didn’t you say you were so sleepy you couldn’t keep your eyes open?”

Zhou Sicheng openly glanced at the group chat and let out a laugh.

Even if the first one to get pregnant faced a journey fraught with hardship, he could still lead the trend.

Having navigated through a thousand hardships and ten thousand dangers, he was naturally the trendsetter riding the crest of the waves.

Daring to be the first.