Chapter 60
“Shen Wu! Hey, where’s Shen Wu? Did he leave?”
“I saw him just now.”
“Teacher Meng… hey, I don’t see Teacher Meng either. Did they leave together?”
Shen Wu felt as if he had fallen into the only void in a noisy world, and could only hear the roaring of their intertwined heartbeats.
“Teacher Shen?” a young field assistant opened the car door on the other side and said to himself, “Eh, he’s not in the car…”
Shen Wu looked at Meng Huaizhi’s face, which was as cold as frost and snow. The sparkling necklace matched his temperament very well.
But those eyes, which were usually dark and cold, were now looking at him with incomparable gentleness.
“Let’s go,” Meng Huaizhi’s clear and melodious voice came as a very hoarse whisper.
At the same time, he reached out two fingers and pinched Shen Wu’s earlobe.
A single pinch sent a surging, numbing electric current from that point on his earlobe, drilling into his limbs.
Shen Wu trembled slightly.
“Hey! Teacher Shen! You’re here. Director Zhou is looking for you…”
The young field assistant was persistent. His eyes were almost pressed against the translucent car window, and he finally found the two of them outside.
Shen Wu staggered back a step, rubbed his nose, and mumbled a few random sounds.
The director of the commercial, Director Zhou, had extremely high requirements for his work. This was also his first time cooperating with the top domestic car brand and a popular athlete and artist.
He cherished this opportunity very much and said to the returning Shen Wu, “Xiao Shen, I want to shoot this scene of you leaning against the car one more time… Wait, what did you do again? Why is your face also red??”
Shen Wu: “…”
The car commercial ended quite smoothly.
A few days later, Shen Wu continued to prepare for the next race.
Meng Huaizhi suddenly asked, “Are you wearing the necklace with the ring?”
Shen Wu nodded, “I brought the necklace I gave you all the way from home. Of course, I also brought mine.”
Meng Huaizhi had always been unconcerned about the novel, but at this moment, he took off the necklace from his neck and took off the ring, “Let’s switch rings? They’re the same anyway.”
“Why?” Shen Wu asked, but he immediately took out the ring from his bag.
“Didn’t you say that I’m the male lead of this world?” Meng Huaizhi exchanged the rings on the two similar necklaces. The whole operation seemed to have no change, but he was extremely serious.
After a long while, he returned the necklace with the switched ring, “I feel that this will be better.”
Shen Wu asked with a smile, “Are you trying to rub off the male lead’s luck on me?”
Meng Huaizhi also smiled slightly, “Mm.”
Shen Wu joked with a relaxed mood, “I would have completed this year’s competition safely in the novel anyway, and I already know all this, so isn’t it even safer?”
There was another reason why Meng Huaizhi had only proposed to exchange rings after a few races.
Due to the venue’s booking problem, his first concert and Shen Wu’s race happened to coincide, and they were not in the same city.
He couldn’t accompany him to the competition this time.
Holding a concert was quite hard. Shen Wu had never participated in one, but he could roughly imagine it just by thinking about it.
Meng Huaizhi was his own boss and employee, and he was very dedicated to his work. He had to confirm the venue and the stage design and layout. Then, he had to cooperate with the sound and band teachers, practice singing, do his styling…
On Friday night, Meng Huaizhi took a plane to the city where the concert would be held in advance.
On Saturday night, it was a mentally and physically exhausting concert. He had originally thought that he could rush back early on Sunday and still watch the second half of Shen Wu’s main race, but because of a flight delay, he had been waiting at the airport until the afternoon.
After three days like this, he was exhausted, and even his cold and stern face, which usually showed no emotion, had a few obvious signs of fatigue.
And while Meng Huaizhi was busy for these three days, Shen Wu was also busy with the competition.
The track of the second race was very standard, with both the straight and the corners as if they had been drawn with a ruler. This was one of the favorite and most familiar tracks of those old birds. They had seized the advantage, and there were no low-level mistakes throughout the race.
Shen Wu did not enter the top ten and finally ranked fifteenth. Although he did not get any points, the few drivers he had suppressed below him were also world-class. It was good enough to finish the race successfully, and it was not a regret.
The team was going to celebrate for him with great fanfare, but Shen Wu was not interested. He got rid of them and immediately took Xu Qiongya back to the hotel.
He first sent Xu Qiongya to her room door. Xu Qiongya looked at him and suddenly touched his temple.
Her son was all grown up, but Xu Qiongya still couldn’t help but remind him in detail, “You’re all sweaty. Go back and take a shower quickly. Don’t catch a cold.”
He had worn a stuffy helmet throughout the race. The race car was speeding, and his brain was also running at high speed, needing to make decisions again and again in an instant. Naturally, he had worked up a sweat.
It was warm in the car on the way back. After Xu Qiongya’s reminder, he found that his back, which was wrapped in a tight-fitting racing suit, seemed to be a little sticky.
“Alright, Mom. I’ll go back first.”
He said goodbye to Xu Qiongya. He had just sat down on the sofa and taken out his phone, wanting to ask Meng Huaizhi how his delayed flight was, when the door that had just been closed rang.
And standing outside the door was Meng Huaizhi.
His bare face was clean, but there were faint dark circles under his eyes, which inexplicably stained that refreshing otherworldly feeling.
Shen Wu quickly let him in and asked, “You must be tired. Did the plane just arrive?”
“Mm,” Meng Huaizhi was so tired that he could only utter one syllable. He sat down on the sofa without Shen Wu’s invitation.
After a moment, he looked at the racing suit Shen Wu was still wearing and also asked, “Did you just come back?”
“Mm, I met a few small fans after the race and chatted with them for a while. I just got in,” Shen Wu said. “I’ll go and change and take a shower first. You… want to come back later?”
To this day, he was planning to take a shower in the hotel room, but he still subconsciously wanted to kick Meng Huaizhi out first.
But Meng Huaizhi sat there lazily and did not move, “I’ll go back to rest in a while. You can come and sit too.”
The sofa was a two-seater. Shen Wu sat on the other side.
“How was the race today?”
“I didn’t get any points.”
“You didn’t get hurt, right?”
“No.”
A few simple pleasantries, all of which were Meng Huaizhi asking and Shen Wu answering.
After a long while, Shen Wu finally reacted and also asked Meng Huaizhi, “How was the concert? Was it smooth?”
“Mm,” Meng Huaizhi said. “It was quite tiring, mainly because of waiting for the plane. I waited at the airport for two or three more hours. After the plane arrived, it couldn’t take off, and I waited on the plane for a few more hours.”
Shen Wu had been Meng Huaizhi’s own brother from a different father and mother for more than ten years. For more than ten years, it had been Meng Huaizhi who had taken care of him and cared for him. In the past, he would occasionally ask Meng Huaizhi how his exams were, and Meng Huaizhi would often briefly tell him: They were good, no problem. But he would not say any more details.
This time, he had subconsciously cared for Meng Huaizhi, but he had gotten a reply with a hint of reliance.
It was the first time Shen Wu had encountered such a situation. He was a little at a loss and even stammered, “Then… then what should we do… you, you should go back and rest early?”
After saying that, he felt annoyed. Meng Huaizhi had just complained that he was tired, and he had turned around and told him to leave. Weren’t these words too much like a straight man’s “drink more hot water”?
“Mm, I’ll go back in a while,” Meng Huaizhi did not immediately accept his suggestion.
Shen Wu thought for a moment and rarely felt so awkward with Meng Huaizhi. He tried to find an excuse to get away, “Then you sit here and rest. I’ll go and take a shower…”
He was halfway up when he was suddenly grabbed by the arm by Meng Huaizhi and pulled back.
He felt his body tilt, as if he had not landed in his original place, but was a little closer to Meng Huaizhi.
He could clearly see the dark eyes that were so close to him, with a dark and heavy emotion brewing in them, as if something as hot as a flame was about to break through the ground.
He couldn’t help but hold his breath.
The corner of Meng Huaizhi’s eye curved slightly, and his dark eyes lit up. The hazy red in them, like a flame, was perhaps a reflection of his racing suit.
Meng Huaizhi looked at him again and again, his hand on his arm unwilling to let go for a long time. After a moment, it fell to his bare hand. Skin against skin, the two hands were tightly clasped.
Shen Wu felt his body stiffen from his back to his fingertips, and his tone was unprecedentedly stiff, “If you’re tired… do you want to lean on me?”
Meng Huaizhi replied “okay” and leaned over without hesitation, but he did not tilt his head to rest on his shoulder, but directly hugged him face to face, his chest against his chest, and his chin resting in the hollow of his neck.
Then he inhaled and exhaled in the hollow of his neck, his voice both magnetic and hoarse, “Don’t move, let me sniff for a while.”
Shen Wu’s mind went blank in an instant, “Okay, you hug… mm?”
…Wait a minute.
Meng Huaizhi seemed to have said, “let me sniff for a while,” right?
Meng Huaizhi then used his actions to prove what he had just said. He moved his chin from the hollow of Shen Wu’s neck and replaced it with the tip of his nose.
Shen Wu: “…”
Sniff what! He’s not a cat! And he hasn’t showered yet!
Thinking of not having showered, he suddenly felt his ears grow hot, most likely because he was embarrassed. He quickly said, “I haven’t showered, don’t, I’m all sweaty.”
Hearing this, Meng Huaizhi sniffed him hard again, and his arms wrapped around his back. His voice was filled with a hot breath, “There’s no smell.”
His words and actions were very serious, but Shen Wu’s face suddenly turned red.
What Meng Huaizhi was sniffing was not a flower or food, but a person, a living person with the same body temperature, the same touch, and the same body structure.
And to sniff him, Meng Huaizhi’s soft lips had repeatedly rubbed against his shoulder and the side of his neck, as if it were a kiss and not a kiss, and the breath he exhaled was scorching hot.
…He should have just gone to take a shower regardless, Shen Wu thought.
Shen Wu was full of regret for having missed the good opportunity to take a shower. Meng Huaizhi was still holding him tightly and would not let go, sniffing in the hollow of his neck again and again, as if he could not get enough.
The phone on the armrest of the sofa vibrated, and the pleasant music broke the sticky and charming atmosphere.
Shen Wu’s eyes lit up, and for the first time, he was so surprised by an unknown call, “My phone is ringing! There’s a call!”
Meng Huaizhi turned his head to glance at it and saw the caller ID for him, “It’s Nan Dengwei.”
He then buried his chin back and hugged the Shen Wu in his arms a little tighter.
Shen Wu: “…” So, Meng Huaizhi had just moved away to help him see who was calling?
Shen Wu had no choice but to move, and the rustling sound of his clothes rubbing, “I’m really all sweaty… I’ll answer it first. Xiao Nan usually doesn’t call. It might be something important…”
Shen Wu said a lot, and the long phone ring had stopped, but Meng Huaizhi only kissed him on the cheek and only answered one thing, “You’re not dirty.”
Shen Wu: “…”
He really wanted to let the fans see their gege who had a germaphobia.
After a while, he finally found a chance to stick out half of his body and hook his phone over.
The call had long since stopped, and the locked screen was full of unread messages.
He swiped to view.
Xiao Nan: I heard that today’s track is mainly about the engine, which is very disadvantageous for you. It’s already amazing to finish the race successfully!
Xiao Nan: I haven’t told you before, but I’ve taken on a movie called The North Line, and it’s already started filming~
Xiao Nan: And I’m the male lead!! [jumping][spinning]
When Shen Wu saw this, he was slightly taken aback.
His fingers quickly tapped the keyboard and first replied with a sentence: Congratulations, congratulations! I just got to the hotel and just saw it. I didn’t notice your call.
He pressed the send button and looked up, and saw Meng Huaizhi staring at his phone. His features, which had just been recharged and returned to normal, were suddenly so gloomy that they could drip ink.
Shen Wu inexplicably swallowed.
He thought for a moment, slowly turned his body, and lay on Meng Huaizhi’s lap.
Then he called out in a fawning manner, “Gege.”
Hearing this, Meng Huaizhi lowered his eyes, his brow smoothing out, and his arm rested on his chest.
There was only a thin layer of a racing suit, so thin and tough that Shen Wu could almost feel the outline of the fingers that were stroking his chest.
It was a little itchy and he couldn’t lie still. He had no choice but to hold Meng Huaizhi’s hand and, looking at the person above him, started to talk business, “Xiao Nan just told me that he’s taken on a movie and is filming it now. But… I’ve known about this movie for a long time, even before I knew him, because it was written in the novel.”
“This low-budget movie by a new director… will be shortlisted for Cannes next May,” Shen Wu said, sighing at how magical it was. “Not many actors can endure this hardship. That director, he can’t even afford the appearance fees. He can only promise to give a certain percentage of the box office revenue to the main actors. Xiao Nan is the male lead, so he’ll get the most. He’ll probably get tens of millions by then.”
Shen Wu was resting on Meng Huaizhi’s lap, and it had become a natural habit. The little bit of awkwardness had long since vanished.
He comfortably turned over and lay on his side, his upturned hair brushing against Meng Huaizhi’s waist and abdomen several times.
The plot of the novel had come true again. So much so that even though Meng Huaizhi had repeatedly tested the limits of his character’s collapse, he still firmly believed in the male lead’s high-and-mighty flower persona.
Now it had probably become… a high-and-mighty flower with feelings and a gradual dad-like tendency.
In any case, it was still a high-and-mighty flower.
So much so that he had even forgotten that Meng Huaizhi was a dignified Jinjiang male lead, a… man with all functions and superior to most people.
The fabric of the jeans was slightly rough, and a bulge was poking at the smooth back of his neck. That touch, no one could ignore.
Shen Wu immediately did not dare to move when he sensed something was wrong, but it was too late.
The phone vibrated again at an inopportune time, accompanied by a deafening song.
Someone else was calling.
