Husband, Hungry, Eat! Chapter 110

Chapter 110

Qi Cheng had missed his husband and his little goose so much that he even ate lunch on the plane. But when he got home, he found the place empty.

"...Then I'll just wait for them to come back," he said. But then he missed them too much and added, "Actually, I'll just go to the company instead? I can pick up Fanfan, so Husband won't be disturbed while working."

He thought he'd found the perfect excuse!

Yes. I'm going to go pick up my little goose.

Qi Cheng told Uncle Quan, put down his luggage, and happily headed to the garage. He got into his sports car and set off. His husband had told him the company address last time — it was in the CBD, and driving there from home was pretty convenient.

He drove slowly, taking over forty minutes. Mostly because he was in his sports car, and everyone gave him way! 

When he arrived at the company entrance, Qi Cheng saw it was a brand new building. After parking, he sent his husband a message:

Qi Cheng: Husband, I came back early. Can I come to the company to see you and Fanfan? Is that convenient?

If his husband said he was too busy, Qi Cheng would just head back home!

The message went through, and he got a reply quickly: You're at the company? I'll have Assistant Xing come down to get you. You met him last time.

Qi Cheng: !

Shocked.jpg

How did Husband know I'm already at the company entrance?

Qi Cheng: Okay hehe.

The company lobby was new, clean, and air-conditioned. Qi Cheng went in to wait, and the receptionist asked who he was looking for.

"I'm looking for Bai—" What's Husband's job title? Qi Cheng didn't know. "—Mr. Bai Zongyin."

"You're looking for Chairman Bai? Do you have an appointment?"

So Husband is Chairman Bai!

"I just made an appointment. Someone's coming to pick me up soon. Don't worry about me, I'll just hang out here for a bit."

He was about to see his husband and his little goose soon, and Qi Cheng had been happy the whole way there. A smile naturally lingered on his face. He spoke politely to the receptionist, with a casual air of "one of the family," but not in an annoying way, just in a charming, endearing way.

The two receptionists thought to themselves: this young guy is pretty cute — fair skin, big bright eyes, chubby cheeks that look very adorable. Hey... he looks a bit familiar.

That description...

"Mr. Qi."

Assistant Xing stepped out of the elevator, walked over quickly, and greeted him with a smile: "Sorry to keep you waiting. This way, please."

"I just got here too," Qi Cheng said with a smile. He nodded politely at the two receptionists and followed Assistant Xing into the elevator.

As soon as he left, the two receptionists froze for a second. Assistant Xing had come down personally to pick him up, spoke very respectfully, and they took the Chairman's private elevator.

Who's he?

Round face, big eyes, dark and bright pupils —

"He kind of looks like the baby Chairman Bai was holding this morning."

"??? No way, really?"

At the top floor.

Qi Cheng kept his composure in front of the assistants — after all, he had to save face. He couldn't embarrass his husband by acting all jumpy like a kid. He had to hold it together!

"Mr. Qi, right this way." Assistant Xing knocked on the door and pushed it open. "Chairman Bai is inside."

The moment the composed Qi Cheng saw his husband and little goose, he instantly lit up, throwing all his earlier resolve out the window. He bounded over happily, calling out: "Husband! Fanfan! I missed you guys so much!"

Assistant Xing cooperatively closed the door behind him.

Qi Cheng didn't even notice anyone else.

His husband and Fanfan were on the couch in the lounge area. The little goose was fussing and kicking his chubby legs. The moment Qi Cheng's voice rang out, Fanfan — who had been throwing a tantrum — snapped his round eyes wide open and looked toward the sound.

His chubby little face had the same surprised expression as his daddy.

After the surprise, Fanfan happily flailed his little arms like a big goose. Qi Cheng had already swooped in and scooped up the little goose — all soft and squishy, what a chunk. Qi Cheng gave Fanfan two big kisses on the cheeks, then turned to kiss his husband.

He'd meant to kiss his husband's cheek, but his husband happened to turn his head at that moment — so he ended up kissing him right on the lips.

Mwah!

It made a very loud sound.

Qi Cheng's face was full of joy. But then the little goose in his arms started getting upset — wiggling his bottom, flailing his arms to get his daddy's attention, while babbling, "Ah ba ah ba."

"Why are you still saying 'ah ba'? It's 'Daddy,'" Qi Cheng said, reluctantly tearing his gaze away from his husband to tease the little one. He looked down and saw that just a moment ago Fanfan had been all happy, but now his little mouth was pouting, his chubby face full of grievance, and his big eyes were glistening with tears.

"Don't tell me you're about to cry?" Qi Cheng asked the little goose.

Fanfan was so upset! He rubbed his squishy cheek against his daddy's chest, clenched his little fists, and whined and fussed with little "hee hee ya ya" sounds.

"Are you not happy that Daddy's back? I bought you a present," Qi Cheng said, kissing the little goose's tiny fist. "If you don't want it, I'll give it to big daddy instead."

Bai Zongyin: "What present?"

"A really pretty rainbow-colored bracelet."

The two daddies started chatting, and the pitiful little goose in Qi Cheng's arms, who hadn't even started his tantrum yet, panicked when he saw that neither of his daddies was looking at him. His round eyes darted between his daddy and big daddy, babbling and trying to get their attention.

But whenever Qi Cheng looked at him, the little guy would start pouting again with that pitiful, wronged expression.

Qi Cheng knew that was the prelude to crying. So he decisively kept chatting with his husband and stealing kisses. Fanfan got more anxious — his chubby face showing complicated emotions like "Why isn't anyone looking at me?" and "If I cry and no one sees it, that's not worth it," and "Should I cry or not?"

Qi Cheng was secretly watching and laughing inside.

"This little goose is such a drama queen, all fake tears."

"Did you have lunch?" Bai Zongyin handed over his water cup.

Qi Cheng had come straight home from the plane and then here, without drinking a single drop of water. He took the cup and chugged, pausing between gulps to say: "I had the airplane meal. It was okay."

Not terrible, but not great either, just so-so.

"Ba ba~" Fanfan wiggled his little bottom and chirped in his clear little voice.

[Fanfan is babbling "叭叭" (bā bā), which is a babyish, cute version of "爸爸" (bà ba), meaning "Daddy."]

Qi Cheng's gaze dropped back to the little one in his arms. This time, he wasn't pretending to cry.

"Good baby. Daddy's good little goose." He gave Fanfan a kiss as a reward.

Fanfan showed his little rice-grain teeth, snuggled up to his daddy all sticky-sweet, and smiled happily, refusing to let go. Qi Cheng had missed his little goose too, so he held him close, drinking water with one hand, chatting with his husband, and cooing at Fanfan — he was busy, fulfilled, and very happy.

Bai Zongyin found it amusing. He stroked Qi Cheng's hair and said, "What afternoon tea do you want? I'll order you something."

Qi Cheng hadn't eaten well at lunch, and Bai Zongyin still had work to do.

"Can I? Can I? Then I'll order myself." Qi Cheng pulled out his phone and browsed nearby food delivery options, asking: "Husband, do you want anything?"

"No."

So Qi Cheng ordered himself a slice of strawberry mousse cake, a milk tea with 30% sugar, and a fruit platter. When he was entering the delivery address, he paused. "...Zongcheng Technology."

Zongcheng Technology.

Is that what Husband's company is called?

He hadn't looked at the building name when he came up — his mind had been completely on his husband and his little goose, so he hadn't noticed the company name. Qi Cheng thought back to the original story. In the book, his husband had also started a company, but the name was related to his late father.

He couldn't remember clearly.

But it definitely wasn't called Zongcheng Technology.

"That's the address," Bai Zongyin said from behind his desk, not looking up from the documents he was reviewing. "Assistant Xing will pick it up when it arrives."

His tone was completely casual, as if there was nothing strange about the company name at all.

It made Qi Cheng feel like maybe he was the odd one?

Zongcheng Technology actually sounded pretty nice — it was a homophone for his husband's "Zong" and his own "Cheng." Qi Cheng had just been startled for a moment, but now thinking about it...

Hehehe, so sweet.

Husband is basically showing off our love, isn't he?

So he didn't ask any more questions about the company name and just said: "Okay. I'll go tell Assistant Xing."

Bai Zongyin didn't stop the young man. He looked up and said gently: "This is your first time here. You can have Assistant Xing show you around."

"No, I want to watch you work," Qi Cheng said. He missed his husband and didn't feel like wandering around.

That's what he said then.

Half an hour later, Qi Cheng's cake and milk tea arrived, and Assistant Xing brought them up. The coffee table and couch were too low to eat comfortably, so luckily there was an empty spot at his husband's desk. Qi Cheng sprawled out in a corner to eat, with Fanfan sitting on his lap. As usual, Qi Cheng took a big bite, and Fanfan licked the cream off the spoon.

Still three licks, but only one was real.

Both father and son were very happy. Fanfan was so delighted that he swung his chubby little legs on his daddy's lap.

"Stop swinging, or you'll fall off."

Bai Zongyin tried to take Fanfan, but the little goose wouldn't let his big daddy hold him. He'd been clinging to big daddy for the past two days and was already over it — now he only wanted his daddy. Qi Cheng laughed and said: "That's what 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' looks like. He'll stick to me for a few days, then he'll want Auntie Zheng and Uncle Quan again."

After finishing his snack.

An hour later, Fanfan finally couldn't fight his sleepiness anymore and dozed off in his daddy's arms. Once the little goose was asleep, Qi Cheng got bored. He sat on the couch playing on his phone for a while, but it wasn't interesting, and he didn't want to disturb his husband while he worked. He hummed softly to himself and muttered: "I'll go take a walk around then."

"Go ahead," Bai Zongyin said. He'd been keeping an eye on the young man's movements.

Qi Cheng went to look around. He was still curious about Zongcheng Technology. Assistant Xing offered to personally show him around, and Qi Cheng said okay. "We don't have to go everywhere — I just sat too long and got bored. Just a general look is fine."

"Alright, Mr. Qi."

Assistant Xing gave a brief overview. "...We just moved here recently."

"Moved here?" Qi Cheng was curious. "Was there a company here before?"

"There was, but it was much smaller, called Hualin. It did a bit of everything, mainly online business. Later, we got a breakthrough in the US, and the boss took over personally, bought this building, consolidated everything, and renamed it Zongcheng Technology. Now we mainly focus on smart..."

Qi Cheng knew this — artificial intelligence.

So his husband had been starting businesses all along. He had things to do.

They did a quick tour. The company was newly established. In the R&D department, there were many foreigners of different skin tones speaking English. Qi Cheng didn't go into the labs.

After the brief walk-through, Qi Cheng went back to his husband's office on the top floor.

"How was Chengcheng's tour of the company?" Bai Zongyin said, teasing him like the goofy "Orange Spirit" he sometimes pretended to be.

It was like when Qi Cheng played "Miracle Fanfan's World Tour" with the little goose on his back.

Qi Cheng: "Big! Lots of people! Amazing!"

His Husband was the best.

Bai Zongyin beckoned, and Qi Cheng went over. The couple pressed close together. Bai Zongyin kissed the young man and then said: "The whole company now knows that the Chairman's wife came to check up on him."

!!!

"I-I didn't mean it like that!" Qi Cheng's face flushed bright red. He honestly hadn't come to the company to check up on his Husband or mark his territory — but then he paused and added, "But actually... that's not bad either."

Qi Cheng kissed his husband. "Now everyone knows you're married, Husband!"

"Yeah, I have my Chengcheng," Bai Zongyin said with a smile.