Chapter 41 [VIP]

Lin Langli didn't know what was wrong with him regarding Shen Mian.

The longer he spent with Shen Mian, the stronger his greed, desire, jealousy, and resentment became.

Chenmian is so adorable, why didn't he meet her sooner?

They were born on the same day, but due to a series of coincidences, they missed each other for so many years. Over the years, how many people have coveted Chen Mian?

There were countless glances, both overt and covert, cast at the school.

Lin Langli thought disdainfully, relying on his family background and good looks to act recklessly, leaving behind countless emotional debts—Chen Mian might not admit that those one-sided affections for him were emotional debts, he had always been such an ungrateful and heartless little white wolf.

Even if he's currently in a deep sleep, so what? If he relaxes even a little, other men will be eagerly coming to him.

Insatiable greed.

Lin Langli initially only wanted to possess the sleeping body, and never even considered possessing it permanently.

But the feeling of being asleep was too good, and his goal became to have Shenmian stay by his side for the rest of her life. And then? He wanted Shenmian to depend on him and not be able to live without him. And now? Lin Langli still wants Shenmian to like him and love him.

But this goal is too difficult, especially since he doesn't like to sleep. It's not easy to completely fool the boys.

Lin Langli closed his eyes tightly and gently patted the back of the person who was sobbing and trembling even in his sleep.

"Mianmian, Mianmian..." he murmured softly, his tone filled with tenderness he himself was unaware of.

However, the next second, a message notification that popped up on his phone screen instantly ignited his anger—Shen Jinshan was trying to contact Shen Mian again.

The young man's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he flew into a rage. He opened his phone, his fingertip hovering over the file that had been converted from video to audio, pondering what else might be on it.

A photo? But unfortunately, Shen Jinshan would recognize him.

Lin Langli pursed his lips regretfully. Fortunately, he still had a lot of such stock. Even if he didn't send it out, it was still a wonderful thing to enjoy it himself.

However, upon closer inspection of the photo album, Lin Langli could not find a full-body image of himself. Among the densely packed central figures in the album, only Chen Mian was visible.

Sleeping soundly, awake soundly, playing games while being fed, lying on the bed playing with the cat, looking at the computer with a troubled expression while doing homework, dejected soundly nestled in his arms, and so much more—it's all soundly.

Lin Langli felt as if he had been gently struck in the heart with a small hammer. He questioned himself, why are there so many solo photos of him sleeping?

Why is it that when he appears on screen, it's often just half his body, half an arm, or one hand?

Lin Langli looked through the photos one by one, and his mood finally improved. He went to the bathroom to wash his hands and prepare to go to sleep, but he found that he was smiling in the mirror. However, he did not understand the meaning of the smile.

He glanced at it casually, then composed himself, turned off the light, lay down on the bed, and, as usual, held Chenmian as they fell asleep.

Lin Langli had a beautiful dream where he grew up with Shen Mian. In the dream, the person whose identity was mistakenly switched was Shen Ci, while Lin Langli took Shen Ci's place and grew up with Shen Mian like brothers.

They were truly like brothers; Lin Langli loved Chenmian even more than he loved himself.

In her dream, Chenmian relied on him so much, and the two had an intimate relationship. Chenmian was still that wicked little devil, but she was very biased towards him.

When Shenmian was young, an older student stopped him and demanded pocket money. Lin Langli rushed over and got into a fight with the student. Afterwards, Shenmian cried as he wiped the bruises on Lin Langli's face with a small handkerchief, stuffed his most treasured snacks and toys into Lin Langli's hands, and sobbed, "Why are you so good to me..."

When Shenmian received love letters in middle school, she would always run to him to share them immediately, pouting and criticizing the person who confessed to her. Later, someone pursued her persistently, which annoyed Shenmian. She hid behind him and said to others, "I like my brother to be so good to me, and I also want to be as handsome as him."

Upon arriving at university, Shenmian's true identity was discovered by his family. He nestled in Lin Langli's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Looking at the boy in his arms, Lin Langli, as if possessed, said, "Shenmian, if we're not blood brothers, then can we be together—" Before he could finish, the boy in his arms tilted his head back, gently cupped his hands, and then touched his lips to his. Shenmian whispered, "It seems so. Do you like me?"

Lin Langli tightened his arms around her and returned the kiss eagerly—and then they were together.

He was the first and only man to fall asleep; no one else could get close to him before he drove them away.

Then they lived a happy and fulfilling life together. Before she passed away, Chenmian, like a child, asked him to promise that she would continue to love him in the next life.

Lin Langli agreed.

He awoke from his sweet dream, a lingering smile on his lips, and instinctively reached out to hug the person beside him.

But I touched nothing.

Lin Langli opened his eyes to look. On the other side of the bed, cold and messy—Sleep had run away.

He couldn't believe that Chenmian had really disappeared, but he searched the whole house and couldn't find any trace of Chenmian.

Lin Langli dialed the boy's number with a livid face, and as expected, he was blocked. When he checked the contact information on other apps, they were all blocked as well.

He stood there frozen, his face contorted for two seconds, then pulled up the group chat he had secretly created when the boy wasn't looking and sent the message.

But not long after, Lin Langli saw on his phone screen that Chenmian had left the group.

He created several such group chats just in case, along with a secondary Alipay account and two secondary WeChat accounts, all of which were mixed in with Shen Mian's contacts.

Chenmian huddled in Shen Ci's dormitory, crying as she blocked Lin Langli's messages one by one.

The man's tone remained quite polite throughout; he wasn't angry about why the man had run away, but simply asked using a secondary account, with messages constantly popping up:

[Mianmian, are you coming back for lunch? I'll take you to eat fish, okay?]

[Mianmian, I've done your paper assignment for you, and I've also prepared the key points for your final exam. Attached: file]

[Mianmian, make sure you wear warm clothes when you're out. Do you have enough money? I've transferred some to you.]

[Mianmian, don't be too angry. It's okay if you don't want to see me. You can come back to stay here first. I'll stay in a hotel. I'm worried about you being alone outside.]

It's happening again!

Give them a treat after every beating!

Last time, when the plane was returning, he even questioned whether Shen Jinshan had done the injury to his tongue, even though he had only been with Lin Langli during that time.

And it was the same before, and yesterday it was even worse. I had just begged him to make peace, and the next thing I knew, he was fucked.

She cried uncontrollably, her sobs broken and intermittent, sounding heartbreaking and pitiful.

Shen Ci's roommates looked at each other, watching the boy huddled under the covers like a turtle, while their phones were already frantically sending messages to Shen Ci.

"Sleep, would you like some water?" One of them mustered up their courage and poked the person under the covers, asking with concern, "Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"

The crying from under the covers stopped, and after a while, Chenmian pulled off the covers and revealed her face.

Suddenly, everyone in the dorm looked at each other differently.

Chenmian cried so hard she looked quite disheveled, her hair was soaked and stuck to the boy's fair and red cheeks, her eyelids and the tip of her nose were red from crying, and she looked listless. But the whiteness of her skin and the blush that came over from crying for so long blended together in a striking way, especially her tear-filled eyes, which looked like pear blossoms in the rain. Looking at them, one could only feel a breathtaking beauty.

The boys held their breath for a moment.

"I want water!" Chenmian stretched out her hand, demanding it arrogantly.

"Oh, oh." The boy holding the water cup gave a dry reply and hurriedly handed it over.

Ke Chenmian took the cup and drank a few sips, but then felt that something was wrong.

The water temperature is wrong, it's too low; he prefers hotter water. The taste is also wrong, it's too greasy, it's definitely not the bottled water he usually drinks.

How could they be so stupid? They're not even as good as Lin Langli!

This thought made Chenmian even more upset, and she put down her water glass and buried her face in her knees again.

Her roommates offered a bewildered attempt to comfort her: "Chenmian, what's wrong? Did something bad happen? We've already spoken to Shen Ci, and he's on his way back. He wants you to send him a message..."

Chenmian Mumu nodded, but turned off her phone, then turned over, rolled herself up in the blanket, lay down on the bed, and stared blankly at the wall.

They realized that Chenmian was tired from crying and wanted to sleep, so they quickly turned up the dormitory temperature a little, drew the curtains again, and assured her, "Chenmian, go to sleep. We won't disturb you. We'll all go out in a while."

Shen Mian drifted off to sleep again, and when he woke up, Shen Ci was already sitting by his bedside, looking at him with bloodshot eyes.

Chenmian glanced at him, turned her body away, and gently nuzzled her head against Shen Ci's hand. It was a gesture seeking comfort.

Shen Ci asked softly, "Why are you crying?"

He remained silent, letting the man pull him into his arms and gently wipe away the tears from the corners of his eyes.

Shenmian wanted to tell him about how Lin Langli had bullied him. But he just couldn't bring himself to say it. How could he possibly express the unspeakable humiliation and grievances he had suffered?

In the end, he could only bury his head in Shen Ci's chest, his voice choked with sobs, clinging to Shen Ci's arm, his body trembling.

"I...I'm so sad," Chenmian said. "Lin Langli...Lin Langli scolded me..."

"I'm going to hit him. Anything else?"

"He also said that it was my fault that the person who tried to bully me at the swimming pool that day..."

Shen Ci's anger suddenly flared up.

How dare Lin Langli? Is this the kind of life that Chen Mian, who is pampered and cherished by her family, is living by his side?

"...He always used Shen Jinshan's story to mock me."

Shen Ci's thin lips curled up, and they cursed together in indignation: "He even interfered with you? I wouldn't even treat you like this. Back then, you liked Shen Jinshan and Shen Mian. Actually, after thinking about it later, I realized that it's not your fault at all. It's all because your older brother had no sense of boundaries. You didn't see through his true colors. So don't blame yourself. There's nothing wrong with liking someone."

Shenmian looked up at him through teary eyes, and Shenci said again, "Big brother is already of age, but he has never had anyone by his side. He is closer to you than to us. You are still young and have confused liking with dependence. Actually, Shenmian, you don't like big brother that much, do you?"

Shen Ci looked forward to Shen Mian nodding in response to his guidance.

But Chenmian just frowned, as if she was thinking very seriously. After a long while, Chenci heard her say, "No, I just like it."

The boy paused for a moment, as if gathering his courage, before continuing, "But I also hate my older brother now. You don't know what nasty things he said to me that day?"

"What?" Shen Ci asked, feeling a dryness in his throat and a bit dizzy.

Shenmian closed her eyes, as if she had returned to that humiliating moment, her voice trembling with shame: "He said I was disgusting, that I was incestuous, shameless, and repulsive!"

"..." Shen Ci really didn't expect that his older brother, who always showed great care for Shen Mian on the surface, would say such a thing.

In his mind, Shen Jinshan should be a very dignified person—even if Shen Mian confessed to him, he would not reject her harshly, but would gently tell her that she should calm down and think more, guiding her to admit that her feelings for him were just affection that overflowed from kinship, and that he would never make Shen Mian tear him apart in such an embarrassing way.

"And what about you? Do you think your relationship with your older brother is incestuous? Does it make you feel disgusted?" Shen Ci asked in a hoarse voice.

“I didn’t think that way before. I just thought liking him was a good thing. But from that day on, I started to think that way.” Chen Mian frowned, her tone full of resentment. “If I still like him after he said those things to me, then I’m just being pathetic.”

Shen Ci interrupted him: "Chen Mian, don't talk about yourself like that..."

A note from the author:

Shen Ci's dismissive words perfectly captured the scene in Lin Meng's dream; it was unimaginable how he could lose...

There's still a plot point before Mianmian gets married. It involves her reconciling with Lin and falling for him. I want Lin to lose Mianmian when he has the best chance and most likely happy ending, then watch helplessly as Mianmian marries someone else. He's not even allowed to appear in front of her. Haha, just thinking about it makes me so happy!