“Alright, alright, alright. Uncle misspoke, alright?” Lu Shaoyan stopped him and put him back onto the couch. “Uncle just didn’t think that your daddy likes you so much.”


  “Of course he does!” Zhouzhou looked at him disgruntledly. He couldn’t help but lift his little face up with a complacent look and said affirmatively, “Daddy likes me the most! He will never leave me behind!”


  Lu Shaoyan, distracted, said, “Is that so? How come Uncle can’t tell that he likes you the most?”


  Zhouzhou’s cheeks were puffed up. Slightly annoyed, he didn’t want to talk to this uncle anymore.

  Lu Shaoyan rubbed him on his head and said, “Don’t be mad. Uncle wants to know whether that is true too. Why don’t we do this? Let’s play a game with your daddy, what do you say? Once we play this game, Uncle will know how much your daddy likes you. Of course, you will also find out whether your daddy likes you the most.”


  Zhouzhou was hesitant. “What kind of a game?”


  “Hide and seek. You hide with Uncle from your daddy at a place that he doesn’t know about and have him come look for you. We will see how long it will take him to find you. The sooner he could find you, the more he likes you. How’s that?”


  The server brought over a glass of champagne to Lu Shaoyan. Lu Shaoyan waved them away and looked back at Zhouzhou. He smiled at him and said, “Would you like to try this adult’s beverage?”


  Zhouzhou moved his curious look away from the champagne and shook his head, turning Lu Shaoyan down seriously. “No. Daddy said this is for adults. Zhouzhou is still young, just three years old. Zhouzhou can’t drink it until he is 18 years old!”


  “We are not going to drink it.” Lu Shaoyan pulled out the straw from the milk and let it soak in the champagne before he held it in front of Zhouzhou. “We are just trying it.”


  All kids are naturally curious. Zhouzhou had been wanting to know what wine tasted like. He opened up his mouth and carefully licked the tip of the straw. Even though he barely got any, the bitter taste still exploded on the tip of his tongue.

  Zhouzhou’s little face immediately wrinkled up like a bun. “It’s so bitter! I don’t want any more of it. It tastes nasty!”


  Lu Shaoyan lifted his head, laughed, and then downed the rest of the champagne, savoring it. “How could you not like something so tasty. What do you know?”


  Zhouzhou had to take a couple sips of his milk to get rid of the bitter taste on his tongue.

  Even though the bitter taste was gone, as he looked at Lu Shaoyan drinking the champagne, Zhouzhou shuddered as though he could still taste it. “Uncle, this is bitter and nasty. You shouldn’t drink any more of it either.”


  “What should Uncle drink then?”


  Zhouzhou pointed at the milk in front of him. “Drink this! Zhouzhou drinks this every day. It’s delicious. Try it, Uncle.”


  Zhouzhou took the straw. Mimicking what Lu Shaoyan had done earlier, he made sure there was some white milk on the tip of the straw and held it in front of Lu Shaoyan.

  Lu Shaoyan looked at him intensely but did not open his mouth.

  “Try this, Uncle. It’s really tasty!”


  Lu Shaoyan smiled at his childish talk. He bit the straw and put on an act of trying it. “Hmm, it is good. Zhouzhou did not lie.”


  “Right? I told you it’s delicious, much better than what you were drinking! Here, you can have this. Have a lot, then you won’t taste the bitterness!” said Zhouzhou as he pushed his glass of milk over to Lu Shaoyan.

  Lu Shaoyan, looking at the milk in front of him, remained silent for a little while. Then he couldn’t help but burst out laughing. He downed the glass of milk and said, “Not bitter any more. Delicious!”


  Zhouzhou smiled happily. “Of course!”


  A glass of champagne and a glass of milk brought the two of them close to each other. Lu Shaoyan smiled and said, “Okay, since champagne doesn’t taste good, we will not have it anymore. Let’s go. Play the game with Uncle?”


  Zhouzhou lowered his head, thought about it long and hard, and still declined his invitation. “Daddy told me to wait for him here…”


  Lu Shaoyan sighed. “It looks like your daddy really doesn’t like you much. Look…”


  Zhouzhou looked over in the direction that Lu Shaoyan was looking in. He saw Lu Beichuan chatting with a woman.

  “You said you are Daddy’s favorite. Just look. Your daddy left you over here to chat with the pretty aunty.”