(superior)

That night, the two stayed together for a whole night, from the bathroom to the French windows outside, and then to the bed.

As dawn approached, Shi Meng was exhausted and could barely keep his eyes open. Although Fu Xuanliao still had some energy left, he didn't want to tire out the little mushroom all at once. He leaned against the headboard, using Shi Meng's arm as a pillow, while his restless fingers played with his hair.

"How about I get a buzz cut?" Fu Xuanliao suddenly said.

Shi Meng shifted, adjusting to a more comfortable position: "Why?"

"If you're willing to cut my hair, I should do something in return."

"Haven't we already made that statement?"

"What?"

Shi Meng raised her limp hand and poked the tattoo on Fu Xuanliao's chest.

“That doesn’t count,” Fu Xuanliao said. “It’s not even well-drawn.”

“It looks good,” Shi Meng said.

Fu Xuanliao took it as a joke: "I only studied painting for a week."

Shi Meng adopted the air of an industry expert: "If I say it looks good, then it looks good."

Fu Xuanliao was taken aback for a moment, then smiled: "Okay, it looks good."

It felt like being enveloped by a small mushroom cap, and I realized that this is what love feels like—sweet, yet with a sense of security from being treated differently.

If no outsiders spoil the mood at this time.

Shi Meng couldn't sleep, so she took out her phone and checked it, where she received a message from last night.

The message came from Wei Liangji. He somehow learned that the author's name for "Flame" had been corrected. Since he was away on a business trip, he could only send his congratulations via text message and took the opportunity to invite Shi Meng to dinner.

Shi Meng didn't try to hide it when he saw the message, and Fu Xuanliao glanced at it as well, and immediately scoffed, "Like a persistent ghost."

“He’s a good person,” Shi Meng said. “He told me I should let go of the past and develop a stable, healthy relationship.”

Fu Xuanliao was the first to raise his hand to sign up: "My surname is Stability and my given name is Health."

This amused Shi Meng, who smiled and said, "You're a rabbit."

"A stable and healthy rabbit."

"It's a fire rabbit."

"Aren't the fire rabbits already cooked?"

"Mmm, smells good."

"...Could it be that they're hungry?"

Shi Meng nodded: "Mm."

Fu Xuanliao immediately got out of bed, got dressed, and went downstairs to buy food.

At this time, none of the breakfast shops outside are open, so I can only buy some cooked food from a 24-hour convenience store to tide me over.

When Meng didn't get to eat rabbit meat, he took several bites of Fu Xuanliao. Fu Xuanliao asked if it smelled good, and Meng said it stank.

Fu Xuanliao thought he smelled of sweat, so he went to the bathroom to take a shower. Just as he went in, Meng followed him in, yawning sleepily and grumbling, "It doesn't smell that bad."

Unable to resist his insincerity, Fu Xuanliao took Shi Meng for a shower together.

Taking advantage of Shi Meng's confused state, he asked, "Is there something you forgot to give me?"

Shi Meng shook his head: "No."

Yes, think about it again carefully.

Shi Meng couldn't figure it out, so she looked up at Fu Xuanliao questioningly, her wet eyes filled with unguarded affection.

Fu Xuanliao's heart softened again. He bent down and leaned close to Shi Mo's ear, so close that his lips brushed against her earlobe.

"A title," he asked Shi Meng in a voice only the two of them could hear, "when do you plan to give me a title?"

Experienced people say that you shouldn't make decisions when you're not calm. At that moment, Shi Meng felt her ears burning and her heart pounding wildly, which shows that she was not calm at all.

So Shi Meng didn't answer, unmoved by the man's beauty, and leaned on Fu Xuanliao's shoulder, pretending to be asleep. Then she heard the man chuckle softly and sigh helplessly.

The next day, the weather cleared up, and they went for a stroll on the beach. They saw fishing boats entering the harbor, and they both felt a sense of familiarity with them. However, they tacitly agreed not to mention anything, but instead held each other's hands tightly and left two sets of footprints on the beach. Looking back, they saw the footprints being smoothed over by the seawater that surged ashore.

After returning to Fengcheng, Fu Xuanliao was dragged to work by Fu Qiming again. Shi Meng prepared for the competition while accompanying Li Bihan around and attending several gatherings of old friends.

Perhaps because they had been briefed beforehand, the atmosphere was very pleasant. No one stared at them with curious eyes, nor did anyone whisper behind their backs. Li Bihan was eager for the whole world to know that Shi Meng was her child, and she also had the intention of paving the way for Shi Meng's future. She introduced him to all her relatives and friends openly and generously, asking them to take good care of him in the future.

She also took Shi Meng to her parents' home, where Shi Meng met her maternal grandparents for the first time.

From a distance, Shi Meng saw an elderly couple with full heads of silver hair standing at the door, supporting each other. When Shi Meng called out to his grandparents, the old lady burst into tears on the spot.

Before retiring, my maternal grandfather taught at a university. His refined and scholarly demeanor remained timeless. He brought Shi Meng to his study and personally wrote a calligraphy piece for him, wishing him peace, success, and great achievements in the art world.

The mother and son stayed for a meal. After the meal, Li Bihan accompanied her father for a walk, while her grandmother held Shi Meng's hand and said a few words to him.

Most of the time, she was telling him to come often and treat this place as his own home. Later, she brought up the Shi family. When she heard that Shi Huaiyi had woken up, the old lady snorted, "I never agreed to Bihan marrying him in the first place. Look at all the bad things he has done over the years."

In her grandmother's eyes, Li Bihan's tragic marriage and Shi Meng's misfortunes over the past twenty years were all caused by Shi Huaiyi.

Indeed, this was the case. Perhaps having experienced life and death, he had seen through something, for the first person Shi Huaiyi wanted to see upon waking was Shi Meng.

Although he couldn't speak because of the oxygen mask, Shi Meng could at least see some regret in his trembling eyes.

Therefore, Shi Meng was not surprised when he later received the equity transfer letter from Shi Huaiyi.

Li Bihan also received it. She was initially cursing the hindsight, but when she heard that the car accident had severely damaged Shi Huaiyi and that he might have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, she couldn't bear it. In the end, she didn't tear up the document on the spot, but handed it to Shi Meng so that he could handle it together.

Shi Meng had nothing to fuss about and sent the two unsigned documents back together.

Jiang Xue exclaimed that this handling of the matter was very gratifying.

“Sun Yanfeng also sent me something.” Shi Meng took out an unopened letter.

Jiang Xue snatched it away quickly: "Don't look. Maybe this guy is trying to play the emotional card with you again, saying that the guy surnamed Yang loves you."

Jiang Xue was incredibly insightful. Under Shi Meng's supervision, he opened the book and read it briefly. Sure enough, every sentence mentioned Yang Youlan, and the words conveyed a plea for Shi Meng to go see her and clear up the misunderstanding between mother and son.

“Between mother and son? And a misunderstanding?” Jiang Xue’s tone rose. “How shameless! You’ve tarnished the word ‘mother’.”

Shi Meng roughly knew what misunderstanding Sun Yanfeng was referring to. On many sleepless nights, he had also involuntarily recalled everything from his childhood to adulthood. The leaky bungalow was the earliest fragment of his memory, and the woman who raised him until he was eight years old was not entirely without feelings for him.

He remembered Yang Youlan, who abandoned him on a busy street that year and later came back to him with red eyes. He also remembered the bitter cold of winter, when there was only one thick quilt at home, and Yang Youlan, despite her grumbling, still felt the warmth of the quilt wrapped around him in the middle of the night.

Even if it was just a transference of emotions, he could understand Yang Youlan's hatred and hostility towards him. But she chose her own path, and hurting someone in the name of love was more despicable than openly expressed hatred.

The most vivid memory is of being constantly beaten, scolded, and cursed, yet feeling lost and confused about what I had done wrong.

"Sigh." Jiang Xue's sigh pulled Shi Meng back to reality. "It's just a pity about the Shi family's shares."

They were still regretting the documents that had been returned by Shi Meng.

Shi Meng said, "I have money."

“You can never have too much money,” Jiang Xue advised him. “It’s time for you to buy yourself some property.”

Shi Meng thought for a moment and said, "I have a house."

Jiang Xue slammed her hand on the table: "You're something else! You didn't even tell me you were buying a house."

Shi Meng shook his head, seemingly hesitant: "However, I haven't decided whether or not to move there yet."

With the competition imminent, Shi Meng did not visit him in prison. He returned to Xuncheng to train in seclusion, and even Fu Xuanliao could only see him on Saturdays.

That day, Shi Meng heard a knock on the door again. She didn't intend to answer, but Fu Xuanliao called and said pitifully, "I'm already here, just let me take a look."

Shi Meng went downstairs and opened the door, and was stunned when she saw the person with very short hair at the door. Fu Xuanliao also raised his hand and touched the short, prickly stubble of his hair, and asked somewhat awkwardly, "It shouldn't be too bad-looking?"

In fact, Fu Xuanliao has a good face and head shape, so any hairstyle doesn't affect her much.

Shi Meng didn't praise him, but instead asked him what he had come for.

"I missed you." Fu Xuanliao answered every question, "Just trying to make my presence known."

While doing laundry and cooking, it also helps painters who are busy building their careers to release their desires and bring inspiration.

Afterwards, Fu Xuanliao grabbed Shi's hand that had been messing with him and bit his fingertip: "Mr. Shi, are you satisfied with the door-to-door service provided this time?"

Shi Meng gave a passing grade: "It's alright."

"The contents of that cardboard box..."

Before Fu Xuanliao could finish speaking, Shi Meng tilted his head to the side, pretending to be asleep.

Fu Xuanliao had no choice but to continue playing with his soft hands and place a kiss on his palm.

With persistent rehabilitation, Shi Meng's hand injury has improved a lot, the scars have faded, and when he touches the corner of his mouth, he can only feel a slight bump.

Fu Xuanliao cooperated with Meng's acting: "Little mushroom, be good and open the box."

The spoken version is even stranger than the sung version.

When Shi Meng was "asleep," her lips twitched, but she didn't react.

Fu Xuanliao pressed his advantage and kissed him again: "Baby, baby, tell me, when will he open the box?"

Shi Meng opened his eyes, unable to bear it any longer: "Am I a mushroom or a treasure?"

“It’s all.” Fu Xuanliao laughed heartily, his scheme having succeeded. “You can be whatever you want.”

As long as the wound is healing, everything is moving in a positive direction.

(Down)

Later, Shi Meng, who found it noisy, said she wanted to be a stranger to Fu Xuanliao for a while, until his competition was over.

Fu Xuanliao firmly refused, then obediently lowered his profile, giving Shi Meng plenty of space and time. He waited until the day of the competition before driving to pick him up, and zipped up his mouth in front of Shi Meng, meaning that he would never affect him.

The final was a live painting competition. Fu Xuanliao, like a parent waiting for their child to come out of the exam hall, was stunned when he saw the painting and immediately went up to them: "How was it?"

Shi Meng remained silent, his expression revealing neither joy nor sorrow, only staring intently at his right hand.

Fu Xuanliao quickly comforted him, "It's okay, there's always next time if you didn't perform well this time, once your hand is healed..."

Shi Meng ignored him, turned around and hailed a taxi, said "I'm leaving now," and drove away.

Fu Xuanliao was left standing there, looking completely bewildered, wondering if this stranger was going to wait until the competition results came out.

Feeling depressed, Fu Xuanliao went to an old friend to confide in him.

When Gao Lecheng heard that he had drafted a new contract, except that the effective date had been extended to before physiological death and Saturday had been changed to 365 days a year, the rest of the content was almost the same as the previous one. He clicked his tongue and said, "Isn't this just like tying himself up for life? He's creating his own trap. He's really good at playing games."

Fu Xuanliao sighed: "But he refuses to open it and look at it."

Is he still angry with you?

Fu Xuanliao looked worried: "The old and new grudges combined can't be contained in a truck. I'm so angry."

Despite his apparent discouragement, he never slacked off in his actions.

After drinking two pots of tea to dispel his sorrows, Fu Xuanliao drove eastward into the city.

There's a house he bought before the Lunar New Year there. Today, his aunt sent him a message saying that she had delivered all the daily necessities there and asked him to check them out when he had time to see if anything was missing.

The car turned into the community gate and parked in the underground parking lot.

It was also a large single-level apartment, because Fu Xuanliao remembered that when Shi Meng visited his home before, he stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window for a long time, and the city's dazzling lights looked particularly beautiful in his eyes.

As Fu Xuanliao rode the elevator up, he was still wondering if he should take some time to visit the home furnishing plaza tomorrow. Shi Meng was picky about aesthetics, so he didn't dare leave all the soft furnishings to the decoration company. He planned to choose them himself and, if necessary, contact a few buyers to bring back some unique decorations from abroad.

He regarded this place as his future home with Little Mushroom, and naturally did his best to make it his home.

But Shi Meng wouldn't even open that cardboard box, so it was even less likely...

Thinking this, Fu Xuanliao dejectedly took out his keys to open the door. He didn't notice anything when the motion-sensor light in the entryway turned on until he looked down and saw a pair of shoes next to the shoe cabinet.

Shi Meng was afraid of the cold, so the house needed to be heated. The house had just been bought and the water and electricity had not yet been installed, but Fu Xuanliao had already planned to install underfloor heating throughout the house.

Right now, the underfloor heating has obviously been on for a while, and Fu Xuanliao doesn't feel cold at all when he takes off his shoes and steps on the floor.

He stumbled in, then, as if struck by inspiration, pushed open the master bedroom door, only to find the entire room bathed in a warm yellow hue.

The bedside lamp was also on, and a tall figure was kneeling on the floor with his back to him, barefoot, bending over to take clothes out one by one from the spread-out suitcase.

Hearing the door open, the person turned around and saw a face that Fu Xuanliao had been longing for.

Shi Meng smiled at him, her eyes filled with a sparkling, star-like light.

"Is this room okay for me?"

It was destined to be an eventful night; the two spent a considerable amount of time just embracing.

Fu Xuanliao was breathing rapidly, his voice choked with emotion, and he kept saying "thank you" and "sorry" to Shi Meng, his words incoherent.

It took Fu Xuanliao a long time to calm down. He hunched over and leaned on Shi Meng's shoulder, like a big, hard-to-please child.

When asked when she saw it, Shi Meng gently patted Fu Xuanliao's back and said, "I saw it a long time ago."

On the day he returned to Fengcheng to handle matters.

Fu Xuanliao snorted, seemingly dissatisfied but not daring to show it: "So you're only arriving now?"

Shi Meng said, "The match is over."

"Oh." Fu Xuanliao feigned indifference. "You ignore me when you're busy, but only think of me when you're not. What do you call that... coming when summoned and leaving when dismissed?"

Shi Meng saw through his deliberate act, thinking it childish, but still granted his wish, saying, "I've had the key with me the whole time, and it's before the race ends, so I'll go back and pack..."

Before he could finish speaking, Fu Xuanliao interrupted him.

“I know, I know everything,” he said. “You don’t need to explain.”

You did nothing wrong. You're so good that I can figure things out on my own. Explaining this to you is completely unnecessary from beginning to end.

These words reminded Shi Meng of something else he found in the cardboard box: a letter from Fu Xuanliao.

Fu Xuanliao clearly had little experience in writing letters; the format was a mess, but the characters were neat and orderly, each stroke precise.

In the letter, he rambled on about many things, including recent events, people he dreamed about, and his expectations for the future.

He said: I don't know if you'll regret letting me in, but I hope you won't. You don't need to regret it, and regretting isn't something for you. Leave it to me.

He added: "You don't have to forgive me so quickly, that will make me feel insecure. I'll be prepared, so when I'm thrown into the water, I won't thrash around like someone who can't swim, but will float up and swim back to shore to find you."

Just as he was helping Shi Meng resolve the dilemma of "whether to have him in my life or not," Fu Xuanliao firmly replied—no matter which life I live, I will find you.

Shi Meng felt that this person was as unreasonable as ever.

After hugging for a while, they separated and packed their clothes together. Someone brought up the winter camp that was twelve years ago, and Fu Xuanliao chuckled, "Everyone else is in their final year of junior high or high school. What are you doing here, a first-year junior high student?"

Shi Meng seemed ashamed of getting lost in the mountains, and after a long while, he finally spoke: "Back then, if it weren't for you..."

Fu Xuanliao, taking it as his own complaint, explained, "I didn't expect you to go to such a remote place and wander around the foot of the mountain several times, which is why you were delayed."

Shi Meng listened and then stared at him for a while.

The next thing that came out wasn't "It's okay," but two words spoken with a smile: "Idiot."

Lying in their new bed that night, neither of them could fall asleep.

Continuing the conversation from the afternoon, Fu Xuanliao asked Shi Meng who she had drawn for the competition. Shi Meng looked up at him and said, "You."

The surprise came so suddenly that Fu Xuanliao couldn't believe it: "Really?"

"Hmm," Shi Meng said, "A buzz cut is easy to draw."

Fu Xuanliao was deflated again, raised his hand to touch his prickly head, and comforted himself: "At least it served its purpose."

Fu Xuanliao fell asleep first.

He has a very good sleeping posture, and he can sleep in any position he wants. Shi Meng lay on her side with her head on his arm, and her free hand wrapped around his waist, in a close-fitting position.

Then close your eyes, count from one to one hundred, open your eyes, and the person is still there.

Like the sky clearing after a snowfall, as the snow melts, the pain gradually fades away.

Like everything coming back to life, my heartbeat came alive too.

Fu Xuanliao always tried every means to find out Shi Meng's love for him, even at the cost of sacrificing his dignity.

But Shi Meng has so many little secrets that she could talk about them for three days and three nights.

For example, in the afternoon competition, the original plan was to draw oneself. Teacher Ma said that self-portraits are easy to stand out and get high scores. Shi Meng studied hard for several months, but when he picked up the paintbrush, he changed his mind and drew Fu Xuanliao, who had just cut his hair that day when he opened the door.

Therefore, due to the unpredictable situation, Shi Meng was angry that her hands wouldn't obey her commands, and also angry that Fu Xuanliao was using his beauty to disturb people's peace of mind, so she didn't give him a friendly look when she came out.

For example, regarding the winter camp mentioned a few hours ago, Shi Meng didn't complain at all about him not finding her sooner.

What Shi Meng wanted to say was—if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have signed up at all.

If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have accepted that key, and I certainly wouldn't be here.

Late at night, Shi Meng had a dream about hypothetical scenarios.

If it weren't for those arduous trials of fate, and they had met in childhood, Fu Xuanliao would surely have been his hero, arriving on auspicious clouds to dispel the last vestiges of gloom. They would have grown up together, experiencing the joys and sorrows, the partings and reunions, of life's journey together.

Shi Meng wouldn't ask to get off halfway, leaving herself in the boundless darkness. As long as she lay on his back and relied on him, she could safely reach the end of the story.

After all, every dream, whether good or bad, with all its vivid and colorful parts, is related to him.

When Shi Meng woke up, she saw Fu Xuanliao lying on his side, propping his head up, smiling brighter than the sun outside.

Before Shi Meng could speak, he spoke first: "I suddenly realized that I didn't say a word last night."

Shi Meng blinked.

Thank you, I'm sorry, and...

"I love you." Fu Xuanliao looked deeply into Shi Meng's eyes and repeated tirelessly, "I love you, I love you."

Shi Meng raised his right hand and gently stroked his eyebrows and eyes, making every line and every angle overlap with the drawing paper, as if after experiencing wind and rain, taking the wrong path, going around in circles, he finally found a proper and perfect ending.

A kiss landed squarely on Fu Xuanliao's cheek. After a moment of silence, Fu Xuanliao raised an eyebrow: "Just like that?"

Shi Meng knew what he was waiting for, but still smiled and said, "Good morning."

Then, in the bright, unrestrained sunlight of the morning, amidst the mingling of breaths and heartbeats, she softly responded—

"Me too."

A note from the author:

It's finished!

There have been many difficulties in updating this article (mainly due to my own health and family matters), and it even underwent a major revision once. Thank you all for your understanding until now.

Also, this isn't actually a typical "wife-chasing-after-the-crowd" story. What I wanted to write was a story of love, hate, entanglement, and mutual torment—a painful but ultimately fulfilling love story. I personally love this story, but everyone's experience is different. If it doesn't meet your expectations, I can only say I'm sorry, our minds just aren't aligned. Let's try again in the next story.

I'll take a few days off and then start updating the side stories. The promised free side stories will be released, as will the parallel world side stories where there's no misunderstanding. There's still so much I want to write about them; I'll take it one step at a time.

In short, thank you for the meeting and for your company. See you next time!