What Bad Intentions Could a Spoiled Little Brat Possibly have? - Chapter 35

“Do you want your waist rubbed?”

Over the two days of the weekend, Fu Zheng kept the schedule packed to the brim.

In the mornings, they toured the Forbidden City and climbed the Great Wall; in the afternoons, they felt the hustle and bustle of Nanluoguxiang and Dashilar. The itinerary was so tight it left Cheng Huai almost no time to react or think.

Cheng Huai would cry out in exhaustion after only a few steps, hanging onto Fu Zheng and refusing to move. He whimpered and acted spoiled, complaining that his feet hurt and demanding that Fu Zheng carry him.

That morning, he hadn’t listened to Fu Zheng’s advice and insisted on wearing lambskin shoes. Despite Fu Zheng’s earnest persuasion, it went in one ear and out the other. Now, he remained unreasonable, pinning all the blame on Fu Zheng.

Fu Zheng’s heart softened whenever he saw him acting spoiled; that rigid heart of his began to lose its structural integrity. He took the jacket he was holding and tied it around Cheng Huai’s waist to cover his pert rear before finally squatting down in front of him.

Cheng Huai naturally climbed onto Fu Zheng’s back, hooking his arms around Fu Zheng’s neck, his two long, straight legs swinging back and forth at Fu Zheng’s sides.

The next day, they went to 798 Art District and PageOne. Cheng Huai picked out a few vinyl records and then made a fuss until Fu Zheng bought him a record player.

In the evening, they went boating at Houhai. Cheng Huai protested with dissatisfaction: “Who comes to Houhai just to go boating! I want to experience the nightlife!”

With so many quiet bars, clear bars, and high-energy clubs nearby, the thunderous, rhythmic music mingled with soul-stirring folk songs. Cheng Huai could hear it but couldn’t see it; his heart itched with longing as he glared at Fu Zheng.

Fu Zheng remained expressionless, speaking with absolute authority: “Not negotiable.”

Cheng Huai had nowhere to vent his anger, so he indignantly reached up and messed up Fu Zheng’s meticulously styled hair. With a head of messy hair paired with his cold countenance, Fu Zheng looked even more devastatingly handsome. Cheng Huai wished he could put a protective mask on Fu Zheng’s face to hide it from the world.

Fu Zheng let Cheng Huai cause a ruckus, at most pressing a hand against his waist to prevent him from falling off the boat and into the water.

When they grew tired of playing, Fu Zheng found a stone bollard by the shore, spread his clothes over it for Cheng Huai to sit on, and went to wait in line to buy the cheese-skin yogurt Cheng Huai wanted.

The queue was long. Fu Zheng moved slowly forward with the crowd. Dressed in a black shirt and trousers, he was tall and lean with long legs, standing out even in a crowd. Occasionally, when he picked up his phone to take a call, the movement of his arm would pull at the muscles of his shoulders and back.

Cheng Huai’s gaze drifted uncontrollably, landing on Fu Zheng’s waist and abdomen. He couldn’t help but take out his phone to snap a few photos.

After Fu Zheng paid with his phone, two young men approached him. It was unclear what was said, but Fu Zheng simply shook his head with a cold expression.

Cheng Huai looked at the slender silhouette standing in front of Fu Zheng and the boy’s beet-red ears; his gaze instantly turned icy.

He gets hit on just buying yogurt.

Even after Fu Zheng rejected them once, the two boys were persistent and didn’t leave. Fu Zheng looked up irritably, only to unexpectedly lock eyes with a pair of eyes as cold as frost.

Cheng Huai had already stood up and turned to leave fast, fierce, and without looking back.

“Apologies.” Fu Zheng took the cheese-skin yogurt handed over by the shop owner, nodded curtly to the two boys, and strode off to chase after him.

“Cheng Huai.” Fu Zheng grabbed Cheng Huai’s wrist.

Cheng Huai’s temper was up; he didn’t even think before shaking him off.

Fu Zheng seized his wrist again, using a bit of force to pull him back. Cheng Huai crashed into Fu Zheng’s chest and pulled a long face, trying to push him away.

“What are you throwing a tantrum for?”

A night breeze blew past, lifting the hair Cheng Huai had previously messed up. It fluttered against Fu Zheng’s forehead as he looked down at the bristling youth in front of him.

Cheng Huai said, “I want to go to a bar.” As he spoke, he felt around Fu Zheng’s body recklessly, sliding from his waist to his lower abdomen, brushing over his firm abdominal muscles, finally pulling the phone out of his trouser pocket.

“Stop acting up.” Fu Zheng hooked an arm around his waist and dragged him back, soothing him: “Aren’t you tired? How about we go home, take a bath, and I’ll give you a massage?”

Cheng Huai’s anger hadn’t dissipated yet. He turned his face away, pressing down the corners of his mouth as he spoke against his heart: “No, I want to go to a bar.”

Fu Zheng ignored his unreasonable request and stroked his back: “Do you want your waist rubbed?”

Cheng Huai’s waist was indeed aching terribly, and the soles of his feet were killing him. He said with little conviction, “I don’t.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Fu Zheng’s fingers were already pressing into the acupoints on his waist.

Cheng Huai bit his lower lip, nearly letting out a moan of relief.

Fu Zheng had a masterly grasp on every inch of his body’s pressure points; this realization occasionally made Cheng Huai feel frustrated. Every subtle change in his body was laid bare before Fu Zheng’s eyes.

“Be good.” Fu Zheng squeezed his fingers, his heart feeling a bit heavy.

In the end, he was half-dragged and half-carried into the car and taken home.

Fu Zheng was incredibly patient. He first helped Cheng Huai bathe, wrapped him in a bath towel, helped him blow-dry his hair, and then sat halfway on the edge of the bed, pulling the boy into his arms.

Pouring some essential oil into his palm, Fu Zheng applied it to the muscles of Cheng Huai’s waist.

“Is it sore here?” Fu Zheng asked while pressing.

“Mmm…” Cheng Huai’s pained voice contained a hint of pleasure. “A little lower.”

Hearing this, Fu Zheng pressed a bit further down.

A flush spread across Cheng Huai’s face. He couldn’t stop gasping from the comfort, turning back to hug Fu Zheng’s shoulder and saying out of the blue, “Brother, you aren’t allowed to look at anyone else from now on.”

Fu Zheng paused, thinking of the two people who had approached him earlier. He didn’t correct Cheng Huai’s increasingly paranoid possessiveness. After a moment of hesitation, he couldn’t bring himself to remind him that such a request far exceeded the boundaries of brotherhood. He looked down at Cheng Huai and said, “I didn’t look.”

“I don’t believe you.” Cheng Huai puffed out his cheeks, closed his eyes comfortably, and said arrogantly, “I don’t care. You have to sleep with me tonight too.”

Fu Zheng was silent for a long while before saying, “I know.”

For the next few days, Fu Zheng maintained this attitude of doting on him to the heavens. Cheng Huai felt as if they had returned to that time four years ago before they had ever been apart, and he gradually felt at ease.

They had toured the mountains and waters and eaten delicacies from land and sea—though Cheng Huai felt those delicacies weren’t half as good as the food his brother cooked.

During this time, Fu Zheng also brought out a succession of paper documents that Cheng Huai didn’t understand, pointing his finger at the blank spaces for Cheng Huai to sign his name.

Though Cheng Huai didn’t understand, he did whatever his brother told him to do. After all, the person least likely to harm him in this world was his brother.

In the blink of an eye, the day of the AI Lab selection arrived.

In a classroom, desks were arranged in a square. Professor Gu Yutang sat in the center of one side, with Fu Zheng to his right and Lu Jia the senior who had previously screened the resumes to his left.

Because of Fu Zheng’s earlier move to exceptionally accept his resume, the number of participants for the lab selection this year was at least double that of last year.

When Cheng Huai and Gu Siming arrived, they saw several familiar faces. Mo Qing, Leng Muyu, and Zhu Manni had also joined the selection.

“I finally know why that Senior Lu Jia was targeting you last time,” Gu Siming whispered to Cheng Huai as he took out his laptop.

Cheng Huai asked, “Why?”

Gu Siming said indignantly, “Because he’s Fu Zheng’s lackey. People like that are the most unwilling to let their idol fall from grace.”

“Oh?” Cheng Huai glanced over coldly. “How much of a lackey?”

“Let’s put it this way: this guy acts like he’s the boss of everyone in the lab just because he’s Professor Gu’s only master’s student, but he follows Senior Fu Zheng’s every word like a devoted follower.”

“And how does my brother treat him?” Cheng Huai popped a candy into his mouth, leaning back against his chair and looking directly at Fu Zheng without reservation.

Fu Zheng was talking to Professor Gu. Noticing Cheng Huai’s gaze, he cast a casual glance over. Their eyes met above the crowd; Fu Zheng’s gaze was deep, but he was the first to look away.

“You don’t know the Senior yet? Aside from you, isn’t he like that with everyone?”

Cheng Huai nodded in satisfaction. “That’s good then.”

Once everyone had arrived, Professor Gu first introduced the basic situation of the lab and stated a few expectations for the selection. Then, Fu Zheng announced the assessment criteria.

“This assessment topic is very simple. As everyone knows, Edge Computing centers have been a hot topic in infrastructure in recent years. With the iteration of AI technology, the demand for computing power has increased. To adapt to edge computing devices, I need you to provide a lightweight, fast, and accurate vision model for the lab, used for real-time obstacle recognition in low-altitude environments. I will give you a pre-trained base model and a dedicated dataset. Please reduce the model file size as much as possible while maintaining or improving model accuracy.”

Lu Jia operated the computer in front of him, and the key information Fu Zheng mentioned appeared on the projector behind them.

Fu Zheng said, “The assessment time is forty-eight hours.”

He lifted his wrist and glanced at the new watch Cheng Huai had given him. Before leaving this morning, Cheng Huai had hugged his arm while buckling the watch on, then held his wrist for a long time, saying smugly: “How is my taste so good? I picked the perfect watch for you in one go.”

With that familiar expression of acting spoiled, Fu Zheng couldn’t help but curl his lips slightly.

“It is now 9:40,” Fu Zheng looked up. “Which means your final submission time is 9:40 the day after tomorrow. During this period, you will have access to the lab’s cloud computing platform. Are there any other questions?”

Someone raised their hand: “Senior, do we need to stay here the whole time?”

Fu Zheng said, “No. Senior Lu Jia will be here with you. If you have any questions, you can find him at any time.”

Lu Jia, hearing his name, puffed out his chest proudly and watched Professor Gu and Fu Zheng leave the classroom with incredibly worshipful eyes. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Everyone maintain discipline. Those staying behind should not whisper to each other.”

Lu Jia came down to do a lap of inspection, saying pointedly, “I advise everyone not to try and take shortcuts. If you pass the selection, we will also conduct a specific review of the code you submit to avoid cheating.”

As he finished speaking, he happened to be standing behind Cheng Huai, giving him a deliberate look. Several people nearby picked up on his hint and cast glances at Cheng Huai one after another.

Gu Siming silently mouthed “psychopath.”

Lu Jia returned to his seat, and many people in the classroom immediately slumped their heads.

Many had signed up for the selection just to catch a glimpse of the legendary Fu Zheng, knowing full well that their current level couldn’t meet the lab’s selection standards.

Gu Siming was one of them. While packing his bag, he said, “Huai-bao, I’m heading out first. Good luck!”

“Wait for me.” Cheng Huai also packed his laptop into his bag.

“Wait, what’s going on? Who was it that confidently said they had to join the lab? The Senior hasn’t even been gone a minute and you’re giving up?”

Cheng Huai said, “Sitting here is a waste of time and useless. I plan to go to the library to borrow a few books. You coming?”

Gu Siming nodded. “Good idea. I’m definitely in.”

With only two days, cramming was certainly too late.

When Cheng Huai heard the topic just now, a preliminary framework had already formed in his mind. The simplest and most direct way to optimize model volume was at the algorithmic level.

However, with limited time and energy, the chances of winning against upperclassmen in terms of algorithmic depth were slim. If he wanted to stand out, he had to overtake them on a curve and find a more unexpected method.

But what method?

Cheng Huai searched through materials in the library for half the day but couldn’t think of anything.

He pulled out his phone. Thinking about it, if it was just for a little hint, it shouldn’t count as cheating, right? The next second, a message was sent.

“Brother, can I get lunch?”

Within two minutes of sending the message, Fu Zheng’s call came through. He asked succinctly, “Where are you?”

Cheng Huai buried his head in his books and whispered, “The library.”

“Mhm. Uncle Wang is running errands nearby; I’ll have him pick you up. The company cafeteria has new dishes; come and try them.”

“Okay.”

From the pile of books he had gathered, Cheng Huai took two that seemed relatively reliable and put them in his backpack. Then, with light steps, he headed downstairs, thinking about how to convince his brother to give him some hints.

Cheng Huai was in a good mood. He didn’t ask for much, and his brother had been so good to him lately he would surely indulge him.

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