In fact, Fu Xuanliao had almost forgotten what happened that day. Only after Shi Meng reminded him did he remember that he had probably been stood up by Shi Mu that day.
It seems that Shi Mu made a last-minute decision to go to another province to participate in a football match. By the time Fu Xuanliao found out, Shi Mu had already boarded the plane and was in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to say goodbye before leaving.
Driven by the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, Fu Xuanliao's brain subconsciously releases some unpleasant experiences.
Since it was unpleasant, he naturally didn't want it to be brought up. He should be angry, he should be furious, he should question Shi Meng, "What makes you think you can replace him?" But he knew that this guy liked to secretly follow him and Shi Mu when they were kids, he just never said it outright.
Now, hearing it indirectly from Shi Meng's mouth gave him a sense of being in another world, as if it had happened in a previous life.
So long ago that he couldn't even remember how he felt at the time—was it the resentment of being stood up, or the embarrassment of a high school student going to an amusement park?
But so much time has passed, none of that matters anymore. Perhaps not wanting to spoil the atmosphere for the last three minutes, Fu Xuanliao smiled and said in a playful tone, "You were there that day after all."
Shi Meng lowered her eyes and gave a soft "hmm," as if she were embarrassed.
"Why didn't you come to see me?" Fu Xuanliao asked.
Shi Meng remained silent, his earlobes faintly red under the overhead light.
Fu Xuanliao suddenly realized and said, "Oh, you're shy."
Shi Meng turned his head away and remained silent.
Rarely seeing him look so helpless, Fu Xuanliao couldn't help but lean closer to observe: "Are you too scared to come to me?"
Shi Meng closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling, and shook her head slightly.
Fu Xuanliao pressed further, "You remember so clearly? It seems you already knew that back then..."
Before he could finish speaking, Shi Meng forcefully pushed away the person pressing down on him, squeezed out through the gap beside him, and ran into the inner room in his slippers.
Fu Xuanliao couldn't help but laugh. He slowly turned around, leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, and asked the person who had fled back to the bedroom, "I haven't finished speaking yet, why are you running away?"
As Shi Meng's figure disappeared around the corner, Fu Xuanliao's smile vanished, and his gaze turned cold.
Thinking back to when he jokingly asked Shi Meng if she really liked him, Shi Meng's reaction seemed to be similar.
If it's just possessiveness, that's fine, but if it's real... Fu Xuanliao frowned, his face darkening, as if he had encountered a troublesome matter he didn't know how to handle.
That night, the two squeezed into one of the five rooms. Because they had used up a lot of energy before going to bed, they slept very soundly.
When Shi Meng woke up the next day, she subconsciously reached out to her side but didn't find the familiar sweater. She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the unfamiliar furniture for a long time before she remembered that she was in the Fu family home.
The bed was half empty; Fu Xuanliao wasn't in the room. After getting dressed and going outside, the living and dining rooms were also empty; there wasn't a soul in sight.
There was a note on the table, and the handwriting was from Fu Xuanliao.
— Off to work. Order takeout if you're hungry. Take a taxi if you need to leave, and don't forget you parked your car in Heting.
The sticky note was translucent, and when you flipped it over, there was another line of text.
Call me if you need anything.
After reading the note three times, word by word, Shi Meng folded it neatly and stuffed it into his pocket.
After yesterday, Shi Meng discovered that Fu Xuanliao and he had something in common—they were extremely unfussy about food, basically content as long as they filled their stomachs.
He took out the leftovers from last night from the refrigerator, picked out a few convenient ones to heat in the microwave, and sat alone at the large dining table to eat slowly.
Halfway through the meal, I suddenly remembered something, picked up my phone, looked at the number 001 for a few seconds, and thought of the phrase "went to work," so I changed it to sending a text message.
—Have you eaten breakfast?
001 replied ten minutes later.
--have eaten.
Shi Meng wanted to ask him what he had eaten, but the food in the refrigerator was clearly untouched. After typing a few words, she slowly stopped tapping the screen.
Even if it was moved from Saturday to Sunday, it's Monday now, and he has no reason to bother us anymore.
Shi Meng felt that he had become greedy. He used to be satisfied with just looking at things from afar, but now that he possessed and monopolized them, he still wanted more.
When I went to Heting to pick up my car, I ran into Fu Xuanliao's friend surnamed Gao in the parking lot.
He strolled over leisurely, stood in front of the car with a half-smile. Shi Meng, whose path was blocked, honked twice, but this guy not only didn't move, he went around to the driver's seat and leaned down to knock on the window.
After a moment's hesitation, Shi Meng rolled down the car window and asked, "What is it?"
"Nothing much, I just wanted to admire the painter up close, whose beauty surpasses even his paintings." Gao Lecheng spoke lightly, but maintained proper social distance, and his praise was sincere, "Tsk, seeing is believing."
Shi Meng always let the words of unimportant people go in one ear and out the other. Just as his hand was about to close the car window without removing the button, Gao Lecheng hurriedly said, "Hey, don't rush."
He pulled an envelope from his pocket and slipped it through the car window: "Since we've met by such a coincidence, please give this to your agent, Ms. Jiang."
An envelope came in through the window and fell onto Shi Meng's lap. Shi Meng picked it up, looked at it, but didn't open it: "What's this?"
Gao Lecheng winked mysteriously: "It's a secret."
Shi Meng was on his way to see Jiang Xue, and since he wasn't curious about the relationship between the man surnamed Gao and Sister Xue, he simply put the envelope in the tea room, tacitly agreeing to help.
Gao Lecheng immediately expressed his gratitude and added a little-known fact: "Painters look better with shorter hair."
Shi Meng, who hadn't styled her hair in a long time, was taken aback by what she heard.
Pointing to the area below his ear, Gao Lecheng made a snipping motion: "As far as I know, Lao Fu has absolutely no resistance to guys with neat short hair."
The meeting place with Jiang Xue was still the coffee shop inside the exhibition hall.
There was still a calculation to be made, so Jiang Xue took out a calculator, slammed it on the table, and started pressing the keys according to the contract. After she finished calculating, she looked up and saw Shi Meng turning his head to the right, staring intently at the glass window.
"You usually seem quite unkempt," Jiang Xue said, somewhat surprised. "What, are you finally stunned by your own beauty?"
Shi Meng looked away, shook her head, and continued stirring the coffee in her cup.
Jiang Xue summarized and reported her recent income to Shi Meng, then sighed, "I'm not earning as much as I'm spending."
She was still thinking about the ten million, feeling it was a waste of money, and felt awkward giving Shi Meng a gift: "Here, this is a commemorative coin for you. This year happens to be your birth year, so it's quite meaningful."
The entire set of gold coins is beautifully packaged, with the zodiac animal of the year printed on the front and the autumn scenery of Maple City on the back. It uses fine sandblasting and miniature engraving techniques, and some of them are even made into round perforated coins, which are of great artistic value.
"Your expression...you don't think it's tacky, do you?" Jiang Xue tried to save face for herself. "The main thing is that gold holds its value. If we really have nowhere else to turn in the future, we can exchange it for some money and make a comeback."
After saying that, he realized he had jinxed the situation and lightly patted his mouth: "Pah, pah, pah, we Mengmeng are third-generation rich kids. No one will starve but the Shi family will never starve."
Shi Meng smiled and accepted the heavy gift: "Thank you, Sister Xue, for thinking of me."
Jiang Xue was dazzled by his vibrant appearance, having rarely seen him smile. She picked up her cup and coughed lightly, saying, "There's no need to be so polite."
Jiang Xue's ladylike demeanor lasted for less than five minutes. At that moment, Meng took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her, telling her that it was a letter from a Mr. Gao who had asked him to pass it on. She jumped up immediately.
"What is that? Tell him to take it back right away!" Jiang Xue said disdainfully. "He actually asked you for help, you're like a persistent ghost."
Seeing her strong reaction, Shi Meng realized he had done the wrong thing and took the envelope back.
He didn't have the habit of prying into other people's private affairs, but Jiang Xue was straightforward and took the initiative to confess before being asked: "After the last banquet, I don't know what got into this kid, he's been sending flowers to my office every day."
Shi Meng thought for a moment and confirmed, "He's pursuing you."
"Ha, how could a good-for-nothing playboy like him possibly pursue me?"
“He graduated from an Ivy League business school, is the only son of the Gao family, and the Gao Group is worth hundreds of billions of dollars,” Shi Meng analyzed. “Strictly speaking, he is not a spoiled brat.”
Jiang Xue was somewhat surprised: "You also want me to find someone rich?"
Shi Meng said seriously, "You said it yourself, that being well-matched in social status is very important. I think if marriage is a must, I can consider him."
"Little brat," Jiang Xue laughed. "Get yourself sorted out first before you try to lecture your older sister."
Jiang Xue believes that Shi Meng's actions stem from his affection for Fu, which leads him to view Fu's friends through a biased lens.
Shi Meng disagreed, and neither of them could convince the other. After leaving the exhibition hall in the afternoon, they went into a nearby bar, ordered three dishes and a pitcher of beer, and continued their discussion.
Although it was called a discussion, most of the time it was Jiang Xue venting, while Shi Meng listened and occasionally nodded or shook her head to express her opinions.
"Although love is said to be the most unreliable thing in the world, we can still keep a glimmer of hope."
Jiang Xue, who was not drunk, said this, and Shi Meng agreed.
“However, this expectation excludes spoiled brats first.” Jiang Xue raised her finger and shook it. “There is enough theoretical data to support the idea that men become bad when they have money. Look at your dad, I’m worried that one day he’ll bring a kid back and say he’s your brother, and then try to get a share of the inheritance from you.”
Thinking that he had also been brought back to the Shi family in the same way, Shi Meng couldn't refute it and silently opened another can of beer for Jiang Xue.
Drowning her sorrows in alcohol only brought back painful memories. Jiang Xue propped her head up and swayed from side to side, muttering to herself, "Bad man, bad man... But that guy, he hasn't even made it big yet, how could he be so bad?"
I couldn't answer that question.
Jiang Xue's lips trembled, hating herself for being so weak: "Why did I think of him again..."
There is much unspeakable suffering, which can only be vented by being "unconscious" when drunk.
Shi Meng's personality destined him to be unable to be a counselor, but he was good enough to be an excellent listener.
"Why don't you think he likes me?" Jiang Xue couldn't help but dwell on the man. "Am I not pretty enough, not rich enough, or not earning enough?"
After a moment of silence, Shi Meng could only say, "It's not your problem."
The pain seems to lessen when the wound is reopened, thanks to the numbing effect of alcohol.
Shi Meng recalled the first time he met Jiang Xue. She stood in front of him with her head held high and said she was confident that she could make him the top painter in the country.
She's clearly a naive young girl, yet she dares to talk big and venture out everywhere.
“My hometown is Xuncheng. You’ve had D brand chocolate, right? My family makes it.” Speaking of her family background, Jiang Xue was proud but not smug. “I also have a fiancé who is pursuing a PhD at University A. Isn’t that amazing? I’m out here to prove to him that I can stand on my own even without my parents, and that I can be worthy of him and support him!”
Shi Meng once admired Jiang Xue's courage, but four years ago, on that rainy night, he felt just as heartbroken for what Jiang Xue had gone through.
“I’ve been deceived, Mengmeng, we’ve all been deceived.” At that time, Jiang Xue sat on the roadside without any image, soaked to the bone and extremely disheveled. “He said that he was only with me to be able to study smoothly, and that my parents forced him to. He said… he said that he had paid back what he owed our family, and that I should not force him anymore. It turns out that all the love and sweetness I thought he had was just forced and unavoidable for him.”
"He never liked me at all."
...
Tears streamed down with the rain, seemingly tinged with the taste of blood.
The more deeply Jiang Xue empathized with Shi Meng back then, the angrier she became when Shi Meng repeated the same mistake.
After all attempts at persuasion, verbal attacks, and even sarcasm failed, Jiang Xue, in desperation, used her own experience to sound a warning for him at an opportune moment.
For example, right now.
Pulling herself out of her memories, Jiang Xue asked and answered herself, "No, it's not because I'm not good enough. It's because Cupid missed his mark. He shot through my heart but not his."
As she spoke, she made a gesture of drawing a bow, which made herself laugh.
Shi Meng pulled out a tissue and handed it over.
Wiping away her tears, Jiang Xue opened another bottle of beer, clinked glasses with the can Shi Meng had placed on the table, and concluded, "By the same token, the old saying is very true: forced love is never sweet." She then posed the probing question, "Did you even listen to what I told you?"
Shi Meng nodded, then shook his head, understanding but not entirely agreeing with what he meant.
He picked up a slice of lotus root covered in chili flakes and put it in his mouth. After chewing it a couple of times, he remembered the spicy hot pot he had with Fu Xuanliao last night. It also had this spicy aroma, with the original sweetness of the ingredients.
He wasn't picky about food; as long as it was palatable, he could taste the sweetness.
"Judging from your expression, you didn't listen at all." Jiang Xue waved her hand weakly. "Fine, you won't give up until you hit a brick wall. Whatever makes you happy."
To prove that Fu Xuanliao was not a "wall," Shi Meng said, "Last night, he took me home."
Jiang Xue suddenly realized: "I knew it! Why did we have to go to the amusement park? It turns out it was a date... Why didn't you tell me sooner? You made me worry for nothing."
The word "dating" was new to Shi Meng. He thought, if going to an amusement park is equivalent to dating, then why not create more such scenarios, where two people don't have to compete with each other, don't have to make love as soon as they meet, and can simply be happy together?
Upon hearing Shi Meng's request, Jiang Xue perked up: "Wait, I'll compile a document for you tonight listing the must-visit spots for couples in Fengcheng."
When Shi Meng got home that evening, she copied the information Jiang Xue had sent her into her notebook and arranged it in order of how much she wanted to go.
It was just past nine o'clock; Fu Xuanliao should have been off work by now.
In order not to disturb her outside the time stipulated in the contract, Shi Meng still chose to send a text message, and tried to be careful with her wording.
Fu Xuanliao always said he was "crazy," but it's not like he couldn't learn to be a little "normal."
—I'd like to schedule other activities this Saturday.
Waiting was something he couldn't afford to be distracted by, so after sending the text message, he didn't draw while waiting, nor did he put down his phone to take a shower. Instead, he sat by the window with his phone in hand, waiting for a reply.
This time, Fu Xuanliao called very quickly: "What's up?"
"Don't come here on Saturday," Shi Meng said succinctly. "We'll meet outside."
A laugh came from the other end of the phone: "Getting addicted to it, huh?"
Shi Meng did not deny it, only saying, "I will send you the address after I confirm it."
Fu Xuanliao also wanted to know what he was up to, so he readily agreed, "Okay."
Before hanging up, Shi Meng called out to him, "Fu Xuanliao."
"Hmm? Is there anything else?"
"good evening."
"……good evening."
After the call ended, Fu Xuanliao stared blankly at his phone for a long time, unable to decipher the meaning of that nonsensical "goodnight".
Ordinary words, when spoken by Shi Meng, this madman, become strange and bizarre.
What he didn't know was that Shi Meng, dozens of kilometers away, received immense comfort because of those two words.
That night, Shi Meng escaped the relentless nightmare. He closed his eyes and saw the boundless blue sky, and even felt the sun within reach.
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