Chapter 38 Part 1
Meng Huaizhi had arrived in time, but in his upbringing, eavesdropping was not a moral act.
“Sorry, I accidentally overheard,” Meng Huaizhi continued to explain, methodically and politely. “When I was about to knock on the door, I happened to hear Auntie say you wanted to separate from Uncle…”
“Ah, it’s fine,” Xu Qiongya smiled. “You’re not an outsider, and these things are not secrets.”
After a few casual words, Xu Qiongya left, leaving the room to the two of them.
The sky was getting dark.
“…Huaizhi-ge,” Shen Wu broke the awkward silence. “It’s nine o’clock. Are you going back now? It’s New Year’s Eve today, so it might be hard to get a taxi, and Uncle driver is also on vacation…”
Why don’t you drive back yourself?
Shen Wu hesitated and couldn’t bring himself to say this last suggestion. On New Year’s Eve, to have a guest drive home late at night was really not the proper way to treat a guest.
Besides, he didn’t really want to face Shen Ping alone.
“I have nothing to do today,” Meng Huaizhi said. “Are there any vacant rooms? I can leave tomorrow.”
Shen Wu: “I’ll go and ask my mom.”
Meng Huaizhi followed him.
The two of them went downstairs and happened to run into Shen Ping. Shen Ping eagerly came up to them, “Are you done talking?”
Shen Wu: “…Mm.”
Shen Ping then said to Meng Huaizhi, “It’s getting late, Huaizhi. Should I take you back?”
Meng Huaizhi politely refused, “I’m staying for the night.”
The two of them then walked past Shen Ping and found a deserted place.
Meng Huaizhi had a feeling that Shen Wu had something to say. He looked left and right to confirm that Shen Ping was not coming over before he asked him, “What’s wrong?”
His “what’s wrong” had no preamble, but like Xu Qiongya’s words, it inexplicably made his eyes sore.
Meng Huaizhi clearly remembered that Shen Wu had deliberately avoided Shen Ping before, but he had never asked why.
“Huaizhi-ge,” Shen Wu lowered his voice and repeated the reason again, “I don’t want my brother to know that we’re only in a contract marriage.”
“Mm,” Meng Huaizhi nodded and was about to come and take his hand.
Shen Wu quickly curled his five fingers, a little at a loss. “…He’s not here now.”
“Then do you still want Auntie to prepare a room for me?” Meng Huaizhi’s expression was faint, and he calmly dropped a bombshell. “Why don’t we sleep together tonight?”
Shen Wu’s eyes widened slightly.
It was he who needed Meng Huaizhi’s help first, and Meng Huaizhi had generously provided such a once-and-for-all solution. Of course, he had no reason to refuse.
“Then… okay.”
Meng Huaizhi had decided to stay the night at the Shen family at the last minute and had not brought a change of clothes.
The shirt and half-turtleneck he was wearing were not suitable for sleeping and were uncomfortable.
So Shen Wu took the initiative to say, “Huaizhi-ge, do you want to wear my pajamas?”
Meng Huaizhi nodded, “Okay.”
Shen Wu handed him a clean set of pajamas.
He inexplicably remembered the trending topic of the airport couple photos. The CP fans had said how cute it was to wear each other’s clothes, but that time, it was just him wearing Meng Huaizhi’s clothes. Meng Huaizhi had never worn his.
Meng Huaizhi was four years older than him.
When he was in kindergarten, Meng Huaizhi was in elementary school. When he was in middle school, Meng Huaizhi was in high school. Meng Huaizhi was always a “class” above him and didn’t need to, nor was it suitable for him to, wear his clothes.
But now, it should be very suitable for Meng Huaizhi to wear his clothes.
Meng Huaizhi placed the set of plaid pajamas by the bed and first took off his white shirt.
Shen Wu stood by the side, not thinking much. He inadvertently caught a glimpse of Meng Huaizhi’s hands crossing at the hem of his black base layer shirt, as if he was about to take off this last layer of covering.
Shen Wu shot to his feet.
Meng Huaizhi’s movements paused, and he looked at him with a hint of confusion.
“Do you want to change in the bathroom?” Shen Wu suggested.
“It’s fine. It’s not easy to change while standing,” Meng Huaizhi said. “I’ll just change in the room.”
“…” Shen Wu was silent for a moment, then pretended to turn around nonchalantly. “Alright, you change.”
He sat on the other half of the bed, lowered his head, and took out his phone to play.
The other side of the bed dipped slightly. It should be Meng Huaizhi sitting down to change his pants.
Shen Wu was seriously playing on his phone and scrolling through Weibo, but when he scrolled through Weibo, it was still Meng Huaizhi.
This person was really everywhere.
Meng Huaizhi behind him stood up again. “You should change into your pajamas too and go to bed early.”
“…Okay, I will,” Shen Wu put away his phone and hesitated again about whether to go to the bathroom.
Running to the bathroom to avoid suspicion seemed like he was hiding something. Meng Huaizhi didn’t know the plot of the novel and might think that he was disgusted with him or had some other ulterior motive.
They were all brothers. Xiang Zixu even went to the public bathhouse to get a scrub, and was open with his good buddies from six to sixty.
In the end, Shen Wu decided to change in the bedroom. He took his pajamas and sat down in his previous position, his back to Meng Huaizhi.
He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he always felt a substantial gaze on his back.
He couldn’t turn back to check and suspect the high-and-mighty flower male lead.
He quickly pulled down the hem of his clothes, but the young man’s toned back was still imprinted in Meng Huaizhi’s eyes.
The dark color of his pupils deepened.
Before going to bed, the two of them were properly dressed in long-sleeved pajamas, each occupying one side of the large bed.
Shen Wu was still a little worried. “We’ve been married for three years, but in reality, there’s nothing. Although we have this relationship, it’s normal for good friends and good brothers to sleep together…”
Meng Huaizhi’s heart sank slightly.
He suppressed his turbulent emotions. “Mm?”
“I’m afraid that our marriage might affect your future pursuit of the person you like,” Shen Wu murmured. “If he misunderstands, I’ll help you explain.”
Meng Huaizhi’s mind was in a mess. After a long while, he suddenly lifted his eyelashes and asked Shen Wu directly, “Who do you think I’ll fall in love with?”
Shen Wu’s heart skipped a beat, and his sleepiness was gone.
Meng Huaizhi’s sharpness was beyond his imagination.
“I don’t think you’ll fall in love with anyone,” Shen Wu turned over in bed and only continued after he had turned his back, “But maybe there’s fate?”
“What fate?”
“For example…” Shen Wu spat out two words and then fell silent.
Meng Huaizhi waited for him to continue in the silence behind him.
He waited for a long time but got nothing. In the past, the Meng Huaizhi with a strong sense of boundaries would not have continued to ask.
But now, Meng Huaizhi spoke, “Is it a fate that makes you unhappy?”
Shen Wu rustled the quilt, hiding the lower half of his face, and let out a nasal “mm.”
“Shen Wu,” Meng Huaizhi said again, “Can you tell me?”
Shen Wu thought for a moment, turned over with the quilt covering his face, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.
Meng Huaizhi then stared at his eyes.
Shen Wu was so flustered by his stare that his eyes flickered. “For example… my brother doesn’t seem to like me very much.”
Every time he mentioned something about Shen Ping, he would subconsciously anticipate other people’s answers in his heart.
For example, how could Shen Ping not like you? You are his most beloved younger brother. Are you fighting with him again?
No one would think that Shen Ping had a problem. Shen Ping was a synonym for perfection, while Shen Wu took on all the rebellion and immaturity.
Meng Huaizhi didn’t know what was wrong with Shen Ping, and Shen Wu was not willing to elaborate.
So he only said, “It’s okay.”
When Shen Wu looked up, he said again, “I like you.”
Shen Wu was taken aback.
Meng Huaizhi stared at his eyes, so certain.
He, on the other hand, was in a panic. He was close to love, but he was timid. He hurriedly turned his back again.
He pulled the quilt up higher, covering his entire head.
Meng Huaizhi pulled his quilt down.
He stubbornly pulled it back up.
He pulled it down again, and he pulled it back up again.
Meng Huaizhi pulled it a third time, a faint smile in his helplessness, “Aren’t you stuffy?”
Shen Wu thought to himself: I am.
Otherwise, why is my face so hot?
“There’s more,” Shen Wu’s voice was muffled, continuing his previous words, “Your cold personality is also a kind of fate. It’s destined that you will only be special to one person.”
He couldn’t see Meng Huaizhi’s eyes, but he could feel Meng Huaizhi’s hand on his head through the quilt, and he heard a firm “mm” again.
Shen Wu asked tentatively, “What do you think of Nan Dengwei?”
Meng Huaizhi only said three words, “I think…” The remaining half of the sentence, “he seems to like you,” he did not want to tell Shen Wu out of selfishness.
Shen Wu poked his head out and asked, “Think what?”
Seeing his curiosity, Meng Huaizhi’s eyebrows raised slightly, and he said deliberately, “I think he’s quite good-looking.”
A stronger curiosity flashed in Shen Wu’s eyes, then it dimmed again, as if the four invisible words “as expected” were written on it.
Meng Huaizhi quickly finished his sentence, “But you’re better-looking, a million times better-looking than him.”
“…” Shen Wu was silent for a moment, thinking: I’m just an ex-husband, how can I be better-looking than the main character shou? But with his personality, he would absolutely not be able to refuse such a compliment. And it was a million times.
He covered the lower half of his face with the quilt and did not refute, only saying, “We’re not the same type at all.”
“Mm? Then lift the quilt and let me see again.”
“…How can you not know what I look like?”
“I forgot.”
Shen Wu wasn’t willing to reveal the lower half of his face, so Meng Huaizhi simply reached out and traced the outline of those eyes that were naturally alluring.
It was as if he wanted to examine every inch of his features, to engrave them into his heart with both sight and touch.
Shen Wu was so ticklish that he pulled the quilt over his head again and said muffledly, “I’m going to sleep.”
Meng Huaizhi chuckled from outside the quilt, “Good night.”
Shen Wu firmly believed in the plot of the novel, but he could also see that Meng Huaizhi had no special feelings for Nan Dengwei at all.
A strange feeling crossed his heart again, but he always felt that it was unbelievable. He tossed and turned a few times and forcefully suppressed the strange feeling.
This time, he finally fell asleep peacefully.
In the morning, at the beginning of a new year.
On a one-and-a-half-meter wide bed, the two of them slept on their own sides. Even with the same quilt, they could be separated by a distance of more than one person, each keeping to their own side.
Meng Huaizhi woke up first.
The clear boundary that had been drawn at night had been broken.
In his sleep, Shen Wu had unknowingly changed direction, was facing him, and his arm had also stretched over.
The quilt in the middle was pushed up by Shen Wu’s shoulder. Meng Huaizhi passed his side of the quilt over and gently pressed down on the drafty spot.
Suddenly, a light knock came on the door.
He quickly got out of bed to open the door, and the knocking stopped, not waking the person who was still asleep.
Outside the door stood Xu Qiongya.
“Is Xiao Wu not up yet? A friend has come to pay a New Year’s call,” Xu Qiongya tried to look into the room, but was completely blocked by Meng Huaizhi.
“A friend?”
“Mm, yes…” Xu Qiongya suddenly thought of something. “You should know him too. He’s on the same variety show as you, Nan Dengwei.”
“Nan Dengwei?” Meng Huaizhi repeated in a low voice. After a moment, as if waking from a dream, he composed himself and said seriously, “Shen Wu is still sleeping. I’ll go and see him.”
“It’s fine, you rest. I’ll go and entertain him,” Xu Qiongya was so polite that it didn’t seem like she was treating her son’s spouse, and she was also not very at ease. “Your relationship with Xiao Wu also needs to be kept a secret.”
Meng Huaizhi was taken aback for a moment.
After a long while, he finally spoke, “The Meng and Shen families are old friends. It’s only right for me to come to the Shen family to pay a New Year’s call.”
He then closed the door and said softly, “Just let Shen Wu sleep.”
As the main character shou, Nan Dengwei was from a humble background, but he was a person with high emotional intelligence, a sense of boundaries, and good manners.
He had informed Shen Wu a few days in advance about his New Year’s call and had asked for Shen Wu’s address.
Shen Wu had estimated that he would at most go home for New Year’s Eve dinner and would leave the Shen family early on the first day of the New Year. Thinking that he would not be coming back often in the future, he had nonchalantly told Nan Dengwei the location of the Shen family.
But unexpectedly, he had slept until almost noon and had not woken up.
The messages Nan Dengwei had sent before he left had all sunk like a stone in the sea. He was not angry and simply followed the address to find him.
Fortunately, he had filmed two episodes of Wonderful Adventure with Shen Wu, so the Shen family and the security guards all recognized his face. They let him in first and had him sit and wait in a warm room.
Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, Nan Dengwei immediately stood up and turned his head to look, but the surprised expression on his face gradually stiffened.
In the end, it turned into disbelief, “Senior Meng?”
