Chapter 67 "It's so cold without you here."...
Chapter 67
Unfortunately, Yu Pan's plan to spend the entire weekend with Shen Yanzhou, which she had envisioned before going to bed, did not come to fruition.
The next morning, Shen Yanzhou's phone rang.
Yu Pan had been exhausted last night and was sleeping soundly. Shen Yanzhou carefully released the person in his arms, put on his pajamas, and went to the living room to answer the phone.
"President Shen."
Shen Yanzhou raised an eyebrow. "So it's President Qin. What brings you here? Do you have any business to discuss with me lately?"
“There is something to discuss, but it’s not business,” Qin Yu said slowly. “I want to talk about your brother, Yu Pan.”
Before Shen Yanzhou could answer, Qin Yu said directly, "Come out now, I'm downstairs at your place."
"Okay," Shen Yanzhou replied, returning to his bedroom to change his clothes. He happened to see Yu Pan propping herself up on the bed, her fair shoulders exposed. "Awake?"
Yu Pan leaned against Shen Yanzhou and shook her head, "It's so cold without you here."
Shen Yanzhou took out the warm pajamas from under the blanket and helped Yu Pan put them on, saying as he did so, "Panpan, I have an appointment to go out and talk to someone. Can you wait for me to come back at home?"
Yu Pan was already irritable from not sleeping well, and as soon as she heard that Shen Yanzhou wanted to talk business, she immediately started grumbling, "Why do we have to talk business again? Can't you keep me company!"
Shen Yanzhou helped Yu Pan put on his underwear, kissed the tip of his nose, and said, "It was my fault. I'll buy you a chocolate cake when I get back, okay?"
Yu Pan broke free from Chen Yanzhou's embrace, lay on the bed and kicked her legs a few times like a spoiled child. She didn't answer, but her actions were enough to express her dissatisfaction.
"Panpan? Good Panpan?"
Yu Pan pulled the blanket over her head, ignoring everything and no one.
Shen Yanzhou climbed onto the bed, half-lying on top of him, and kissed Yu Pan's earlobe, which was hard of hearing. "Good Panpan, baby, look at your brother, isn't he okay?"
"I don't want to watch!" Yu Pan replied from under the covers.
"Baby, I'll bring you your favorite chocolate cake when I come back, okay?" Shen Yanzhou whispered in Yu Pan's ear.
Yu Pan's ears are extremely sensitive. With Shen Yanzhou kissing and talking to him like that, his whole body went weak in waves, but he still endured it and didn't move!
"I'll buy you soy milk too, your favorite soy milk, hmm?" Shen Yanzhou continued, "And the big meat buns at the intersection, those fragrant, juicy meat buns, how about I buy you three?"
"Hmph..." Yu Pan couldn't stand his nagging anymore and said in a muffled voice, "I also want a bowl of wontons."
"Okay, I'll buy them all for you when I get back," Shen Yanzhou agreed, tugging at the blanket. "Good Panpan, let your brother see you?"
Yu Pan then lifted her head from under the covers and began to count the items one by one, "You said chocolate cake, soy milk, three large meat buns, and small wontons."
"Yes, brother said so." Shen Yanzhou looked at Yu Pan's flushed face and rosy lips under the covers, and couldn't help but kiss her for a while.
After a passionate kiss, Shen Yanzhou sat up, his forehead pressed against Yu Pan's. "Waiting for me at home?"
"Mmm," Yu Pan hummed softly.
It took some time to coax Yu Pan. Before leaving, Shen Yanzhou was afraid he wouldn't be back so soon, so he cooked a meal in the kitchen and fried eggs and bacon before going out.
Qin Yu had been waiting in the car for over forty minutes, his face grim. "President Shen, is this how you do business?"
“No need for Mr. Qin to trouble himself,” Shen Yanzhou said, opening the car door and getting in. “What do you want to talk about?”
Qin Yu was taken aback by his attitude and told the driver to start the car.
Shen Yanzhou looked ahead and added calmly, "Try not to go too far. I promised my brother I'd go back soon."
Qin Yu chuckled beside him, "Don't worry, it's not far."
It wasn't far at all, just about two kilometers to the right after you leave the residential area. There was a traffic light intersection along the way. Chen Yanzhou said, "Could you please stop at the intersection ahead?"
The driver glanced at Qin Yu in the rearview mirror, and only stopped the car slowly after Qin Yu nodded.
Shen Yanzhou got out of the car and quickly bought three large meat buns from a roadside breakfast stall.
"President Shen is really down-to-earth," Qin Yu said.
Shen Yanzhou put the buns down. "They taste very good. President Qin, you can come down to earth and try them when you have time."
Qin Yu: "..."
A two-kilometer journey can be covered with just a tap of the accelerator, without getting stuck at traffic lights.
Qin Yu got out of the car and led Shen Yanzhou to a teahouse. The teahouse was crowded in the morning. Qin Yu had obviously made an appointment. As soon as they entered, a waiter came forward and led them to a quiet and secluded private room.
Shen Yanzhou looked at the artificial mountain and bamboo forest landscape in the private room and thought about bringing Yu Pan over to see it when he had time.
The two sat down at the table. Qin Yu didn't beat around the bush. He poured himself a cup of tea and looked sharply at Shen Yanzhou. "President Shen, I saw it."
Shen Yanzhou picked up his teacup, took a sip, and waited for him to continue.
“That night, in the alley,” Qin Yu said, his tone filled with barely concealed disgust, “your relationship with Yu Pan… that kind of relationship between you two was abnormal.”
Shen Yanzhou put down his teacup, the bottom of the cup hitting the tray with a crisp clinking sound. He looked up and his gaze fell on Qin Yu's face.
"What we are like is between us," Shen Yanzhou said calmly, without any panic at being caught in the act, and his tone remained completely even.
Qin Yu was enraged by his self-righteous attitude, "He's young and immature, and besides, you're brothers! This is utter chaos..."
“Mr. Qin,” Shen Yanzhou interrupted him, “haven’t you checked whether we’re brothers or not? Besides, I’d like to know, from what standpoint are you saying these things to me?”
All the moral criticism and sermons that Qin Yu had prepared were instantly choked up by the question asked by Shen Yanzhou.
His lips moved a few times, and his face turned from the flush of anger to pale. What was his stance?
A passerby who couldn't stand it? Or... a bystander who knew some of the truth and thought he had the right to judge?
Seeing Qin Yu's speechless expression, Shen Yanzhou said no more. He stood up, looked down at Qin Yu, and said in a cold voice, "Since you have no reasonable grounds, there is no need to continue the discussion. Farewell."
After saying that, Shen Yanzhou turned and left the private room.
-
Pushing open the door, Yu Pan was brushing her teeth in the bathroom. Hearing the noise, she came out and mumbled to Shen Yanzhou, "You're back so soon?"
"Didn't I tell you it would be quick?" Shen Yanzhou changed into slippers and placed the food he had promised to buy for Yu Pan on the dining table. Yu Pan had just finished brushing her teeth.
However, instead of rushing to eat, he hugged Shen Yanzhou, who was taking off his coat, and nuzzled against him around the waist.
Shen Yanzhou let him hold him, and with someone hanging in front of him, he struggled to hang up his coat before patting Yu Pan's back, "What's wrong? Still feeling wronged?"
“I’m not upset anymore,” Yu Pan said, looking up at Shen Yanzhou’s face. “Brother, are you unhappy? You seem a little tired.”
Shen Yanzhou lowered her head and gave him a toothpaste-flavored kiss. "It's nothing, it's just that it's too cold outside, I got chilled."
He put his arm around Yu Pan and led her to the dining table, saying, "Your stomach is empty, let's eat first."
Yu Pan nodded, picked up a meat bun, broke it in half, and said, "Half for each of us!"
"Thank you, Panpan." Shen Yanzhou took the half-eaten bun; it was still warm.
After the meal, Yu Pan was more clingy than usual, staying close to Shen Yanzhou, feeding him fruit one moment and telling him about her class the next.
Still nestled in Shen Yanzhou's arms, she quoted extensively from classical texts, recounting stories about how failure is not terrible, but what is terrible is lacking the courage to stand up.
Shen Yanzhou was overjoyed to hear this, and he grabbed Yu Pandi's lips and kissed her hard, murmuring, "Panpan, how can you be so good to me?"
Yu Pan blushed from his kiss and whispered, "Brother, you taught me all of this. You're so good."
When lovers who haven't seen each other for a long time get together, there are some things that don't have to wait until dark to do.
Shen Yanzhou's movements were gentler than usual, yet his possessiveness was stronger than ever before.
He gently kissed Yu Pan's eyebrows and eyes, and Yu Pan, completely captivated by his advances, was utterly infatuated.
Finally, exhausted, Yu Pan nestled in Shen Yanzhou's arms and fell into a deep sleep.
The curtains in the bedroom were drawn, leaving only a dim bedside lamp.
Shen Yanzhou, however, was wide awake. He lay on his side, his arm resting on Yu Pan's head, while his other hand gently stroked Yu Pan's smooth back.
Qin Yu's words from earlier that day kept replaying in his mind.
Something's not right.
Qin Yu's reaction went beyond mere concern for someone who "looks like the boy next door."
While Qin Yu was secretly investigating Yu Pan's background, Shen Yanzhou also suspected that there might be another connection between Qin Yu and Yu Pan.
He also investigated the "neighbor's younger brother" that Qin Yu mentioned, but the clues he found at the time clearly pointed to Wu's only son.
Later, upon hearing Yu Pan say that there was someone at school who looked a lot like her, Shen Yanzhou realized that the person who resembled Yu Pan was Wu Chongzhi, the only son of the Wu family.
At that time, an outrageous conjecture appeared in Shen Yanzhou's mind, but before he could figure it out, heavy workload pressed down like a mountain, so he could only send people to investigate the Wu family's past.
Qin Yu's actions today further confirmed Shen Yanzhou's suspicions that they might be true.
Shen Yanzhou withdrew his slightly numb arm, tucked the blanket around Yu Pan, and then got up and went to the study.
After closing the door, Shen Yanzhou took out his phone and found the person he had sent to investigate the Wu family to inquire about the situation.
However, the Wu family had been based in Beijing for many years and had deep roots. After investigating for more than a month, the person only managed to uncover some well-known facts.
Shen Yanzhou hung up the phone and found a name in his contacts.
Lin Siyuan is a native of Beijing, a wealthy young man from a well-off family, and Shen Yanzhou's current partner. Logically speaking, he should know more about the intricate family history of Beijing than the average person.
Shen Yanzhou was initially unwilling to let outsiders get involved, but now he had no choice but to do so.
The phone rang a few times before being answered, and Lin Siyuan's voice came from the other end: "Hello, what's up?"
Shen Yanzhou lowered his voice, "There's something I'd like to ask you about."
"you say."
Shen Yanzhou carefully chose his words, trying to make his inquiry sound like a spur-of-the-moment thing. "I don't know if you've heard of the Wu family? The Wu family from the capital."
“Oh, those old fogies, I’ve definitely heard of them,” Lin Siyuan replied, then asked with some confusion, “Why are you asking about the Wu family? Are you cooperating with them? Have they finally decided to demolish their old house and rebuild it?”
"No, I just overheard some gossip and got a little curious," Shen Yanzhou said calmly. "I heard that something happened to their family eighteen years ago, something like... a child went missing?"
Lin Siyuan hissed on the other end of the phone, and after several seconds, he lowered his voice and said, "Yanzhou, the Wu family's affairs are very complicated, but they did lose a child, but I don't know if he can still be considered their child."
"What do you mean?" Shen Yanzhou laughed. "Can you say that a child you gave birth to doesn't count?"
“Tsk, you don’t understand,” Lin Siyuan said on the other end of the phone. “The child they lost back then was, strictly speaking, Grandpa Wu’s eldest grandson.”
"However, it seems that the child was born mentally challenged. Somehow, the child was adopted by a collateral branch of the family. The next time we heard about him, he had gone missing. But, in private, everyone... you know?" Lin Siyuan spoke evasively, but the meaning was pretty clear.
Shen Yanzhou held his phone, his knuckles turning white, but his tone remained largely unchanged, "Yeah, I guess I'll just take it as a joke."
“Sigh, every family has its own troubles,” Lin Siyuan sighed, then remembered something and reminded him, “I’m only telling you this because I trust you, so don’t tell anyone else.”
“Don’t you know me?” Shen Yanzhou said.
Lin Siyuan sighed, "Okay, okay, it's my fault."
After hanging up the phone, Shen Yanzhou stood still.
All the previously scattered clues were pieced together into a clear line after this phone call.
He returned to the bedroom, and under the dim light, looking at the person sleeping peacefully on the bed, a dense, persistent pain welled up in his heart.
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Author's Note: Panpan [Cat Head]: I'm so happy [Cat Head]
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