Chapter 32
Sun Pengfei has a great fondness for polishing leather shoes, a habit he developed on the Inner Mongolian grasslands—wearing a pair of shiny leather shoes instantly sets him apart from everyone else in the area.
After returning to Beijing, Sun Pengfei maintained this habit. The smell of shoe polish always reminded him of the carefree life on the grasslands, and at that moment, he would unconsciously pretend to sing throat singing. In fact, Sun Pengfei had no idea which part of the body produced the sound of throat singing, but he liked to block his throat with his tongue and pretend that he was singing throat singing. Then, while polishing his shoes, he would pretend to sing throat singing, occasionally tensing the muscles in his back and patting his biceps, and then showing a smug expression.
"Nana, when are Xiao Cheng and the others arriving?" Sun Pengfei finally finished polishing his leather shoes and returned to his bedroom upstairs to ask Su Ningna, who was applying makeup in front of the dressing table.
"They said they would come after the children fell asleep at 9 o'clock."
"Then I need to go take a shower quickly," Sun Pengfei said, puffing out his chest muscles in front of the mirror on the dressing table.
Since returning to Beijing, Sun Pengfei has increasingly lost that simple, unassuming expression he had on the Inner Mongolian grasslands—he only shows that expression when shining shoes or lifting weights at the gym. Deep in Sun Pengfei's heart, that simple, unassuming expression is the only remaining fruit of a certain belief that once completely occupied his soul.
That belief was to become a real man, a bold, rugged, and unkempt man. He hoped that this belief could help him get rid of the shadows of being a "mama's boy" and a "second-rate guy" from his childhood.
For Sun Pengfei, the past few years have been a relatively stable period, or at least on this beautiful early summer evening, his life has been peaceful and tranquil. He enjoyed a satisfying dinner of roasted lamb chops and Ningcheng Laojiao liquor, and now he eagerly anticipates a pleasant chat with Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu, especially the prospect of meeting his "goddess" and "dream girl," Huang Ruoyu, which fills him with excitement.
Although thinking of Huang Ruoyu always stirred a surge of emotion in Sun Pengfei, he was also genuinely grateful to Su Ningna, who stood before his dressing table—after all, they had shared hardships, and she was like his strongest comrade-in-arms. Look how simply and elegantly his Nana had arranged the house, perfectly creating the quiet luxury style favored by the middle class. Even Huang Ruoyu couldn't help but praise it: "Quite clever!"
Oh, but Sun Pengfei had to admit that almost all the houses were very well-maintained, except for this bedroom. Their bedroom had the feel of a rural boudoir: pink, girly wallpaper, a small, shabby display cabinet filled with delicate, fragile, and sparkling glass items; pink floral beaded curtains on the windows, a matching tablecloth on the dressing table, matching sheets... and, at this moment, a woman sitting in front of the mirror, still looking old despite having spent so much time getting ready.
“Pengfei,” Su Ningna called out.
"what?"
Su Ningna slowly turned around from the dressing stool, her face showing a hesitant expression: "Uh, I don't know what's wrong with me, but don't laugh when I tell you. Don't you think Xiao Cheng and Xiao Huang are a little...looking down on me?"
"Stop joking around." Sun Pengfei tried to keep his voice very low, asking in a very rational tone, "Why would you suddenly think that way?"
"I don't know, but I just have this feeling. I felt that Xiao Huang was quite unhappy when we went to their house last time, and I don't know if I offended her in some way. Last time at their house, I felt a little... I don't know how to describe it. Do you remember the time I told you about the way your mom looked at me? That's the kind of look Xiao Huang gave me when she came over that day. And today she actually said she forgot about coming to our house tomorrow, which is something we had already agreed on, and I just felt..."
“You’re just worrying about nothing,” Sun Pengfei finally stopped flexing his muscles in front of the mirror. “This is all just your wild imagination; it’s not even a shred of truth.”
"I knew you'd say that." Suningna stood up, looking down at her pink floor-length dress with a hint of insecurity.
"I was just stating a fact. Okay, stop overthinking it, let's have a good night's fun and relax."
As he spoke, Sun Pengfei walked over and gently hugged Su Ningna. But when he bent down to get closer to her, the smile on his face turned into a distorted expression as he smelled a faint mixture of sweat and cooking fumes on her, a smell that made him feel nauseous.
“Okay, maybe I’m just imagining things,” Suningna said. “Then you should go take a shower quickly, I’m going downstairs to prepare something to eat.”
“What’s the rush?” Sun Pengfei said. “Those two are always dawdling and late. Aren’t you going to take a shower?”
"No need, I've already done my makeup."
In the bathroom, Sun Pengfei lathered himself with shower gel, constantly pondering the reason why Su Ningna always had that unpleasant odor. He figured it wasn't because she didn't shower frequently enough. Since coming to Beijing, he had trained her to shower daily; the smell also shouldn't be related to her menstrual cycle, as he remembered her period had ended some time ago and her next period was still a while away. Therefore, he concluded that the unpleasant smell was a physiological reaction to Su Ningna's stress. Sun Pengfei guessed that Su Ningna must release tension by secreting odors. He was quite satisfied with this very rational and logical deduction.
However, as Sun Pengfei wiped his body, he became certain that Su Ningna's scent wasn't the usual smell of sweat. Because a woman's sweat should arouse a man, not disgust him.
Sun Pengfei suddenly recalled the scene from last summer when he was holding a half-drunk Huang Ruoyu at a retro disco party in Beth Salon. Because Huang Ruoyu had a big argument with Cheng Shi and had drunk quite a bit, her dress was soaked with sweat and clung to her back, while the hair from her temples clung stickily to his cheek. They were swaying wildly to the loud music… Oh, her sweat smelled like roses, and Sun Pengfei was certain it wasn't perfume, because the scent was strong yet natural; Sun Pengfei was convinced it was Huang Ruoyu's body odor.
Huang Ruoyu's scent, and the graceful undulations of her body, made Sun Pengfei... unable to resist wanting her...
Almost a year has passed since this incident, but every time Sun Pengfei thinks about it, he still feels a slight tremor run through his body.
Startled, Sun Pengfei noticed the upstairs was unnaturally quiet. He went downstairs to check on Su Ningna's late-night snack preparations. But as he descended the stairs, he suddenly realized he already had three sons—because he nearly kicked them while they were watching TV on the living room floor.
Nine, eleven, and fifteen years old—three boys, all teenagers, were glued to the television, their eyes fixed on the football match. The oldest boy was even bigger than him. They all had slightly dark hair, small eyes with brown pupils, and short, slightly upturned noses. From the side, the three boys looked strikingly alike, possessing typical Mongolian features—or rather, they all resembled Suningna completely, bearing no resemblance to him whatsoever!
"What time is it? Go to sleep! Have you finished your homework?" Sun Pengfei yelled at his sons.
But not a single child looked up at Sun Pengfei; they acted as if they hadn't heard him speak. So Sun Pengfei carefully walked past them and headed towards the kitchen, looking unhappy.
Sun Pengfei often wondered if other men would be so unhappy when they saw their own children. The reason for his unhappiness was that Sun Pengfei was often frightened by his three sons—whenever his sons suddenly appeared in front of him, he would be startled and wonder who these Mongolian men were. It would take him a second or two to come to his senses and realize that they were his sons.
Damn it! When Sun Pengfei saw his three sons today, he was not only shocked, but also felt a sudden sense of disgust!
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