How Did the Top-Tier Male Lead Fall in Love With Me? 2

Chapter 2

“What… romance rumors? Your wife is a female celebrity??”
“Holy crap, Ge! No wonder your marriage had to be kept a secret. I thought you were just afraid Manager Tan would be unhappy about you getting married so young. Turns out it’s because your wife’s identity is special. This definitely can’t be revealed…”
“It’s much more troublesome for a female celebrity to get married young. If it got exposed, she’d lose half her fans, not to mention it would affect her acting roles, right? So you’re hiding the marriage to protect your wife? Ge, you’re a real man. But that wife of yours is too heartless. You’ve done so much for her, and she won’t even come to the hospital to see you.”
“Oh, right, she’s a celebrity. It must be inconvenient for her to come to a public place like a hospital…”
Xiang Zixu got excited, his face flushing red. He even dropped the “Wu” from his address, calling him “Ge” over and over.
If his “wife” were to visit him in the hospital, it would be more than just inconvenient for her; it would be a huge problem for Shen Wu as well.
Ten minutes ago, the trending topic shipping Ning Ran and Meng Huaizhi had just appeared.
Ten minutes later, the topic’s page had been completely ravaged by Meng Huaizhi’s fans, leaving not even a scrap behind.
[Who’s Ning Ran? Not famous, but really loves to leech off others, huh.]
[LMAO, if you’re blind, I suggest you go watch the airport video. Ning Ran greeted Huai-ge, and Huai-ge didn’t even glance at her, hahaha.]
[Stay away from my ge. If you want to ship a CP, go somewhere else.]
[Where did these CP fans come from?? Ning Ran probably bought this trending topic herself, I’m gonna puke.]
And so on, the comments were sharp, harsh, and dripping with sarcasm.

Meng Huaizhi’s return was suddenly two days early. Shen Wu had been planning to be discharged tomorrow and maybe meet up the day after if he was free.
Now, he hadn’t even left the hospital, and Meng Huaizhi had returned ahead of schedule without so much as a heads-up!
Fearing Meng Huaizhi would find out and come to the hospital, and since he was fine anyway, Shen Wu couldn’t stand to stay another hour in this hospital room—fully paid for by the team or not. He hurriedly packed his things, preparing for discharge.
Xiang Zixu was still reeling from the shock that his “wife” was a glamorous female celebrity.
“Wu-ge, who is your wife? Can you tell me in secret? I promise I won’t tell anyone,” Xiang Zixu muttered to himself. “Is your wife… really famous? So busy that not only does she not have time to visit you, she even has her manager make the call…”
Shen Wu ignored the first half of Xiang Zixu’s sentence. He was halfway through folding his clothes when his movements suddenly paused.
“Have her manager make the call?”
“Sorry, Wu-ge, I forgot to tell you,” Xiang Zixu said, scratching his head in frustration. “While you were sleeping, a man called. I guess it was your wife’s manager? I was afraid it might be important, so I answered for you. But he only asked if you were home. I told him you were at the hospital, and he just said ‘okay’ and didn’t say anything else. The food delivery arrived right then, we were busy with our brunch, and I completely forgot.”
Shen Wu: “…No wonder you didn’t ask me these past few days why he didn’t come to see me.”
So, it was because of that call today.
It wasn’t Xiang Zixu’s fault for taking matters into his own hands. He often handed calls from his family that he didn’t want to take to Xiang Zixu. When he was training or competing at the racetrack, Xiang Zixu also kept his phone.
Xiang Zixu’s attitude was sincere. “My bad, Wu-ge. Look at my memory. I really thought I’d told you.”
Shen Wu was unconcerned. “It’s fine.”
After saying that, his tone rose slightly as he asked twice, “…A man? Her manager?”
Xiang Zixu’s internal alarm bells instantly went off. “Huh? Your wife’s manager isn’t a man…?”
If his wife’s manager wasn’t a man, that meant his wife had an outsider—a man—call her husband?
Shen Wu fell silent for a moment.
Meng Huaizhi’s manager really wasn’t a man, but a well-known female agent. He and Xiang Zixu were thinking about the same thing, but their lines of reasoning were completely different.
“That man’s voice was quite nice,” Xiang Zixu said, trying hard to remember, hoping to provide Shen Wu with some clues to catch the adulterer.
Shen Wu didn’t answer, instead looking at his phone’s call history.
Caller: M. The time stamp was from three hours ago.
M, of course, stood for Meng Huaizhi. Simple, easy to understand, and sufficiently discreet.

A knock sounded at the door.
Xiang Zixu assumed it was Manager Tan returning. He went to open the door, revealing the face of a beautiful woman.
He came face-to-face with this mysterious “wife” unexpectedly. Filled with curiosity but not daring to stare, he subconsciously lowered his head and stepped aside.
Shen Wu’s line of sight was no longer obstructed.
It was Luo Jinyi.
She had been Meng Huaizhi’s manager ever since he debuted six years ago. Back then, Luo Jinyi wasn’t the ace manager she was today, and Meng Huaizhi’s studio hadn’t yet grown to the scale of a major entertainment company.
At that time, the three of them had met at a recording studio. Meng Huaizhi had introduced Shen Wu to Luo Jinyi as “the younger brother from a family friend.”
Meng Huaizhi was an only child, uninterested in any person or thing besides music. For those words to come from his mouth already carried significant weight.
Shen Wu’s and Luo Jinyi’s eyes met for only a few seconds.
“Xiao Xiang, you can go back first. On your way down, help me with the discharge procedures.”
There were always people accompanying patients in hospital rooms, and one would encounter all sorts of people on the way. It wasn’t convenient for Meng Huaizhi to come upstairs, but that phone call and Luo Jinyi’s arrival already indicated where he was at this moment.
Shen Wu sent Xiang Zixu away. Luo Jinyi, hearing from his words that he was about to be discharged, didn’t waste time on pleasantries and said directly, “President Meng is waiting for you in the underground garage.”
Shen Wu nodded. Just before leaving, he turned and threw the unlit cigarette into the trash can.
“Let’s go.”

The moment the elevator doors slid open, the sole spot of light in the dim underground garage leaped into Shen Wu’s eyes.
In the distance, by a midnight-colored car, a man stood with a noble and composed air, as if waiting for someone. The cold white light fell on his shoulders like frost, his entire being exuding an aura of indifference and detachment.
Hearing footsteps, he lifted his eyes to look over, his expression faint.
Shen Wu’s gaze met his in mid-air, completely unobstructed, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
He was still wearing the same long black trench coat from the trending topic photos, but the black mask that had covered his face from the cameras was gone, revealing his entire handsome, cold face. And his fair, slender neck, adorned with a sharp Adam’s apple.
Luo Jinyi’s voice came from his side. “We went to the hotel first after leaving the airport, had the driver leave on his own, and confirmed the paparazzi were gone before we switched cars to come to the hospital.”
Shen Wu retracted his gaze, feeling slightly relieved.
This hospital’s underground garage had three levels. The level they were on was empty and deserted, with only a few cars parked here and there. Luo Jinyi’s voice even had a hollow echo.
It seemed that meticulousness was a required attribute for a Jinjiang male lead. Even though they hadn’t seen each other for three years and Shen Wu wasn’t the male lead’s official partner, the male lead could still treat him with the same consideration, his actions so thorough that no fault could be found.
The driver was responsible for luring away the paparazzi, so now the manager, Luo Jinyi, had to drive. Luo Jinyi got into the driver’s seat, while the other two, reunited after a long separation, sat in the back.

The Shen and Meng families were old friends. Meng Huaizhi was four years older than Shen Wu, and as a child, Shen Wu had always called him “Huaizhi-ge.” After starting high school, a rebellious streak kicked in, and he switched to calling him by his full name. Meng Huaizhi didn’t seem to mind.
Three years ago, they had chosen to get married to resist pressure from their families. Right after getting the certificate, Meng Huaizhi had gone abroad for his career. In the blink of an eye, three years had passed without them seeing each other. Despite being married for three years, their relationship had remained stagnant at a much earlier stage—that of brothers from family friends, as described in the novel.
Meng Huaizhi was the first to break the not-so-awkward silence. “Take you home?”
The straightforward words, which at first sounded like a firm arrangement, actually carried a hint of an almost imperceptible question.
In the novel, Shen Wu was the male lead’s rebellious younger brother. He was even more keen on being in the spotlight than the male lead who had accidentally become a top-tier star, especially enjoying the feeling of being the center of attention. At eighteen, he suddenly fell in love with extreme sports, which caused a rift in his relationship with his family.
At twenty, he married Meng Huaizhi, conveniently escaping the control of his father and older brother to freely enjoy a colorful life. Meng Huaizhi, on the other hand, fulfilled his duty of getting married early, and his pursuit of music was no longer obstructed, so it was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
“Not going home,” Shen Wu said after a moment. “I’m living in the team dorms now.”
The car, which had already driven some distance, made a U-turn at an intersection.
“When are you free recently? Come home with me for a bit, Grandpa wants to see you,” Meng Huaizhi said.
“I’m free on weekday evenings and weekends.”
“Mm.”
The conversation ended there.
Meng Huaizhi was the only son of the Meng family. Old Master Meng needed him to inherit the family business and considered music to be a frivolous pursuit.
Urging him to marry early was a well-intentioned effort from Old Master Meng as an elder. He knew his grandson best, fearing that the naturally cold-hearted boy would one day sever all worldly ties and become a monk, destined to live a lonely life.
The reason the Meng family could accept Meng Huaizhi marrying a man was, one, it wasn’t easy to find a marriage partner Meng Huaizhi was willing to accept, and two, Old Master Meng had always been very fond of the Shen family’s youngest son.
Lively, cheerful, and sweet-tongued, he was the type of child most beloved by the elderly. He was also handsome and dashing, with a ready smile that brought joy to anyone who looked at him.
But in the novel, the two of them were clearly only engaged. Shen Wu couldn’t figure out where the accident had occurred that led to him and Meng Huaizhi going from being engaged to being married.
The car was quiet, giving Shen Wu plenty of time to let his thoughts run wild.
Oh boy.
The male lead is probably going to have to chase his wife to the crematorium.

Meng Huaizhi quietly gazed out the window, his left elbow resting on the window ledge.
The black cuff slid down an inch. With a turn of his head, Shen Wu saw the sports watch. It wasn’t particularly expensive, but it seemed to be elevated to priceless value by the man wearing it.
Between the black watch and the black cuff, a bit of a cyan tattoo was visible on his pale white skin.
The full tattoo wasn’t visible, but Shen Wu knew it was the letter “M,” just like the contact name he had for Meng Huaizhi.
A tattoo on someone like Meng Huaizhi was actually quite strange. He had neither a flamboyant personality nor any heart-wrenching romantic history.
In the six years since his debut, his tens of millions of fans could never figure it out, simply treating it as a personal symbol Meng Huaizhi had established for himself. This “M” could often be seen on his merchandise.
Only Shen Wu and a few close family members knew that the seemingly flawless, god-like man had an imperfection on his body. It was a burn scar left from protecting his mischievous younger brother from a family friend. Later, at the age of eighteen, this scar was covered by a cyan tattoo.
Shen Wu glanced at it once before looking away.
“How come you haven’t released an album in the three years you’ve been studying abroad?” Shen Wu started a new topic. “I saw the trending searches. I’m asking on behalf of your fans.”
“No inspiration.”
“You’d better not let your fans know that, or your musical genius persona will be ruined.”
“A 23-year-old F1 racer, F2 champion,” Meng Huaizhi replied, his tone light, though his answer was off-topic. “A genius?”
“Of course. I have to be number one in everything I do.”
“But racing is too dangerous.”
Meng Huaizhi stated a fact without much emotion.
In the past, this was what Shen Wu hated most—a condescending lecture.
After a moment, Meng Huaizhi asked again, “What were you doing at the hospital?”
Shen Wu lied without changing his expression. “A check-up.”
“A check-up requires hospitalization?”
“Yeah. You have no idea, Manager Tan is really over the top. He’d send my teammate to the hospital for a minor cold…”
Shen Wu spouted nonsense, his beautiful peach blossom eyes lowered.
He couldn’t help but think again about dying in a race. The nicotine craving he had suppressed for three months flared up again. Unfortunately, that cigarette had been abandoned in the hospital room’s trash can.
He fumbled in his pocket. Luckily, he hadn’t thrown away the lollipop.
The hard candy was popped into his warm mouth, its sweet scent spreading through the clean car.
Meng Huaizhi turned his head slightly.
The young man had a sharply defined side profile, with the same piercing, untamable eyes he was long used to seeing. But his cheek was now puffed out in a small, incongruous bulge.
It looked very soft.
Shen Wu had the lollipop in his mouth for the entire ride. When the candy was gone, the plastic stick remained between his lips.
Meng Huaizhi couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you eating a lollipop?”
Shen Wu mumbled a pointless reply, “Tastes good.”
“I’ve never seen you eat one before,” Meng Huaizhi pressed.
“You haven’t seen me in three years, of course you wouldn’t know…” The car stopped. Shen Wu seized the opportunity to change the subject. “I’m off. See you next time.”
“Mm, see you next time.” Meng Huaizhi glanced at the residential community gate behind him and added a redundant reminder, “Be careful on your way.”