The crybaby nanny was bullied and cried again by her yandere husband.

Lin Zhao's soft, sweet voice came through the door, clearly reaching Shang Yu's ears and instantly pulling him out of those romantic thoughts.

Cold water continued to flow down his body, and Shang Yu's face was extremely gloomy, with irritation and embarrassment churning in his eyes.

He had been so flustered that he had even left his phone at the restaurant. Now, as Lin Zhao escorted him to the door, every single moment seemed to remind him of those filthy thoughts he had just had.

He leaned against the cold tiles, remaining silent for a long time, afraid that speaking now would alert him to something.

Lin Zhao waited outside the door for a moment, but there was no response. He then called out softly again.

"Sir? Are you inside? Shall I put your phone in?"

"Need not."

Shang Yu finally spoke, trying to maintain his usual calm tone, but still carrying a hint of tension that was hard to detect.

"Just leave it in the restaurant, I'll go down and get it in a bit."

Lin Zhao didn't think too much about it and obediently agreed.

"Okay, sir, I'll put the phone back in the restaurant."

Once the footsteps at the door had faded away, Shang Yu finally put on his bathrobe and came out.

He can't go on like this; he's been acting very strangely these past few days.

He actually had that thought today. Could it be that he's been single for too long and is feeling stifled?

No, it hasn't happened. It's been 25 years and everything is fine.

He closed his eyes, unable to come up with a solution.

All I knew was that I absolutely couldn't go on like this anymore.

You must never go against your principles.

Developing inappropriate feelings for a nanny of the same gender goes against his principles.

Moreover, those impulsive thoughts, once out of control, will only bring trouble to both of them.

The only way is to keep your distance and deliberately distance yourself.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In the following days, Shang Yu began to discreetly avoid Lin Zhao.

He used to leave around nine o'clock, trying to sleep as much as possible, but now he leaves promptly at eight o'clock.

They no longer ate at the restaurant, but instead had Uncle Li deliver their meals to the study, explaining that they were busy with company matters lately.

Even if he ran into Lin Zhao, he would immediately turn around and leave, deliberately avoiding any eye contact.

Sometimes when Uncle Li was too busy to deliver the food, and Lin Zhao came to deliver it, he would just give a perfunctory reply and have someone leave it at the door.

He only opened the door to get his food after everyone had left.

Lin Zhao didn't notice at first, until the weekend when Shang Yu was resting at home.

He brought the prepared snacks to the study, and as soon as he reached the door, he heard a cold voice coming from inside.

"You don't need to come in, I don't need to."

Lin Zhao paused, looking at the steaming hot cookies he had just made in his hand, and finally realized that his teacher was avoiding him.

Just a few days ago, the two of them were sitting at the same table eating. How did things suddenly turn out like this?

Is it because he looks terrible when he eats?

But he didn't dare to ask, for he once again experienced his master's unpredictable temper.

I felt inexplicably wronged. It's always like this; I'm always angry with him, but I never tell him why.

I never treat Uncle Li and Xiao Ci like this, what's with this!

Is it targeting him?

(⩌⤚⩌)

Lin Zhao, unusually annoyed, turned and left with the cookies in her hand.

Shang Yu sat in his study, listening to the boy's footsteps receding into the distance outside the door, unable to concentrate on the documents in his hands any longer.

I've been avoiding Lin Zhao these past few days, thinking I could forget those images, but the more I hide, the clearer the images of Lin Zhao become in my mind.

Her chubby cheeks, reddened ear tips, obedient thank-you gesture, and glossy, moist lips all contributed to her graceful eating.

Those images haunted him constantly, causing him to frequently lose focus at work and find it difficult to fall asleep at night, making his ordeal even more agonizing than before.

That evening, Lin Zhao finished cleaning up the restaurant and was about to return to her small room when she ran into Shang Yu, who was returning from outside.

Caught off guard by the sudden eye contact, Lin Zhao instinctively shrank back, lowered her head, and greeted him softly.

"gentlemen."

He spent the whole day thinking about why his master was angry, but he couldn't figure it out. He only knew that since his master was angry and didn't want to see him, he couldn't appear by his master's side and bother him.

After saying that, Lin Zhao lowered her head and jogged back to the small house beside Shang Yu.

As Shang Yu watched his departing figure, his heart tightened. He was the one who had been avoiding people first, and now it was their turn to avoid him.

On the contrary, he was the one who was unhappy.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The first person to notice that Shang Yu was in a bad mood was Shen Youqing.

That day, when Shen Youqing was in Shang Yu's office discussing the suburban project with him, he noticed that Shang Yu was lost in thought, seemingly preoccupied with something.

Shen Youqing deliberately stopped explaining the project proposal, which he had only half-finished, and just stared at him.

Five minutes passed and he still didn't notice.

He just stared blankly out the window.

Shen Youqing quietly walked around behind him, lowered his head, and followed his gaze.

"Are there any beautiful girls? They're so pretty!"

The sudden, close-up sound startled Shang Yu, who immediately snapped back to reality, frowned, and distanced himself from Shen Youqing.

The disgust on her face was impossible to hide.

Shen Youqing didn't care and sat down at his desk.

"Tell me, Mr. Shang, what's been bothering you lately?"

Shang Yu frowned, remained silent, but his fingertips tapped lightly on the table without any discernible pattern.

I don't know how long it took before he spoke.

Why do you think humans have desires?

Shen Youqing was taken aback; he hadn't expected him to ask that question.

Having learned from past mistakes, Shen Youqing feared he was setting a trap for her, so she gave a casual reply.

"Because people are people."

Shang Yu glanced at him sideways.

"nonsense."

After that, no more insults were said to him, and Shen Youqing realized that Shang Yu was really discussing this issue with him, so he also became serious.

"Okay, let's get down to business. Humans are creatures driven by desires. When we're hungry, we have an appetite; when we're tired, we feel sleepy. That's all normal."

After he finished speaking, Shang Yu still kept a tense expression and didn't speak for a long time.

"That's not the kind of desire I'm talking about."

"What is that?"

Before Shang Yu could speak, Shen Youqing immediately realized that he had never thought of it that way before.

After all, Shang Yu was the kind of person who could throw a woman out of his bed even if she drugged him, stripped naked, and lay on his bed.

In his eyes, Shang Yu was a perverted old virgin with no sex drive.

but now……

"No, no, Lao Shang, something's not right! You haven't developed feelings for someone, have you?"

He paused, glanced at Shang Yu's unpleasant expression, and then rephrased the statement.

"That kind of desire, isn't it?"

Shang Yu remained silent for a long time, then nodded as if facing death with equanimity.

"Holy crap!"

Shen Youqing jumped off the table in surprise, circled around him, and kept clicking his tongue.

"Who would have thought? Who would have thought that even an old virgin like us could find love again?"

"Do you want to die?"

Shang Yu said it almost through gritted teeth.

Shen Youqing stood in front of him without any fear, a mocking smile on his face.

"Hey, tell me, who is it? Who have you developed that kind of desire for?"