Shen Teng: Whoever Wants This Son Can Have Him

Shen Teng has never been afraid of much in his life. Afraid of his wife? That’s not fear, it’s respect. Afraid of growing old? Those wrinkles are laugh lines. The more he has, the happier he must be. Afraid of losing his fame? Come on, the name “Hao Jian” alone can keep Shen Teng going for another twenty years. The one thing he is afraid of is hearing his eldest son call him Dad. Not in the normal way. He means the kind of call that comes after he’s gone around the houses eighteen times, spent half an hour working up to it, and disguised “I miss you” as “Your brother misses you,” only for his son to reply with a flat “Mm.” His son, Shen Minglang, is nineteen, 187 centimeters tall, and in Zhejiang University’s Turing Class. He can win a scholarship during finals without pulling an all-nighter. He takes after his mother in looks and his father in stubbornness. He’s so handsome that girls all over campus peek at him through windows, people secretly record the dates and times they spot him in the library, and he gets three times as many votes as the runner-up in the campus heartthrob poll. But none of it fazes him. The biggest emotional upheaval of his life came when he realized a package box wasn’t big enough for him to curl up in. This winter break, Shen Minglang packed himself into a box and shipped himself home. The moment Shen Teng opened it and saw his eldest son curled up inside, a hoodie pulled down over half his face, he nearly burst into tears. Then his son said his first words: “Hello, you’re Mr. Shen Teng, right? Your package is here. Please sign for it.” This is a story about a stubborn but softhearted father and son. One would rather die than say “I miss you,” and the other would rather die than admit he understood. One makes the whole country laugh in front of the camera, then comes home and gets so thoroughly shut down by his son in three sentences that he questions his life. One is a gorgeous, brilliant, aloof campus heartthrob out in the world… Read the novel for the full synopsis.