Back at the hotel, Fu Xuanliao ordered Shi Meng some hangover soup.
The sweet and sour taste was surprisingly appetizing. Shi Meng had been so focused on drinking that evening that he hadn't eaten much, and as he drank, he got a little hungry. So he took out the chestnuts he hadn't finished eating in the car that afternoon and ate them.
Fu Xuanliao didn't need to drive at this moment, so he rolled up his shirt sleeves and helped peel the meat. He originally put the peeled meat on a small plate, then put it in Shi Meng's palm, and later, for convenience, he just put it directly to Shi Meng's mouth.
The soft, warm lips touched my fingertips several times, a treat for tonight.
While feeding them, they recounted stories of the past. To ensure fairness, Fu Xuanliao dismantled the playing cards in the hotel room, shuffled them face down, and each person drew a card in each round to compare their hands, with the player with the lower card going first.
In the first round, Meng Xiao cheated and asked to do it again.
In the second round, Shi Mengxiao again put the cards back and said he had taken the wrong ones.
In the third round, Shi Meng was very cautious. He picked a lucky number from left to right and flipped it over to find it was the number 3. Fu Xuanliao held up the number 10 in his hand and shrugged at him, looking extremely irritating. Shi Meng angrily threw the card back: "You cheated."
Upon hearing this, Fu Xuanliao laughed so hard his shoulders shook: "You even know what cheating is."
Shi Meng didn't want to tell him that when he was a child, he would sneak a peek at the DVD player at Shi's house to watch Hong Kong movies.
Another round began, and finally Shi Meng got a big score. Fu Xuanliao was happy to let him win and immediately accepted his loss, recounting how he learned the truth and the countless times the two had missed each other.
Shi Meng listened quietly, picking at a chestnut shell in his hand for about ten minutes. Most people tacitly agreed, but when Fu Xuanliao mentioned Christmas Eve nine years ago, he held his breath and said, "That wasn't me."
“Yes, it’s not you,” Fu Xuanliao said, going along with him. “It’s a little mushroom.”
Shi Meng denied it, saying, "I am not a mushroom."
Fu Xuanliao shrugged: "Hey, I didn't say you were. You're just making that up yourself."
Shi Meng was even angrier and picked up a plate to smash it, but Fu Xuanliao grabbed his wrist and replaced it with a pillow.
"Take it easy," Fu Xuanliao advised. "The compensation is a small matter. What if the downstairs residents report it to the front desk and everyone comes to watch the show?"
"Let them see," Shi Meng said firmly.
“People will find it strange if they see two men sharing a room with one big bed. They might even think I’m your brother?” Fu Xuanliao pretended to think for a moment, then suggested, “It’s not impossible. You can call me brother first, so I can get used to it.”
Shi Meng gritted her teeth and slammed the pillow in her hand hard onto his head.
Later that evening, after they had finished arguing, they lay in bed in a daze.
Shi Meng was still fiddling with the deck of cards, arranging them in order of rank, when he casually asked, "How did you know?"
The topic then shifted back to Christmas Eve.
At that time, Fu Xuanliao was young and could not hold his liquor. He was completely drunk but still had a sliver of consciousness. He said, "I only remember that the person carrying me was not tall, and my feet were almost touching the ground."
Seeing Shi Meng searching for a suitable "weapon" again, Fu Xuanliao laughed and took his hand: "Just kidding. I later confirmed with Aunt Fang, and she told me that you carried me back back then and even fed me soup... I really am, I can drink a few bottles of beer and still have a blackout."
What bothered Shi Meng was not that he didn't remember, but rather: "You mistook me for someone else."
Fu Xuanliao sighed deeply at this: "Actually, I mistook him for you."
Looking back, from the painting tucked into his desk to the secret visit to the infirmary, and then to that pivotal Christmas Eve, all his moments of excitement corresponded to Shi Meng himself.
He likes someone because of these accumulated moments, not because of that person that he thinks these things are related to being moved.
Fu Xuanliao told Shi Meng, "If it weren't for the mistake, I wouldn't have developed those feelings for him. Knowing what he did, I wouldn't have been able to continue associating with him, and we might not even be able to remain friends."
It took courage for Fu Xuanliao to say these words.
Because he knew that if he said this, others might not see him as honest and sincere, but rather as someone who misjudges people, or even as someone who is heartless and can sever a friendship of more than ten years in one fell swoop.
But he had to be honest: "You know my temper."
Shi Meng certainly knew.
Fu Xuanliao was the kind of person who could stand by his side when everyone was mocking him for being an illegitimate child, telling him not to take those words to heart, and even carrying him out of the dark mountains.
This person possesses a rare integrity in this turbid world. Even Shi Sihui is drawn to him because he is always so clear-headed and always distinguishes between good and evil.
Thinking of Shi Sihui, Shi Meng could hardly help but recall the misunderstanding about drugging her many years ago.
Although this misunderstanding lingered between the two for a long time, unable to be erased or resolved, causing more misunderstandings and troubles, Shi Meng was still glad that it was he who went up to the attic and had physical intimacy with Fu Xuanliao, and not someone else.
Suddenly, he became jealous again for no apparent reason. Shi Meng suddenly felt sullen, threw down his cards, turned around, and said, "Bad temper."
Fu Xuanliao couldn't help but laugh: "You're as stubborn as a rock, and you're talking about me?"
The two are evenly matched, like two nails clashing; otherwise, they wouldn't have insisted on competing to see who was better, resulting in mutual destruction.
Now things are better; everyone understands that yielding is a sign of cherishing, and the best protection is to prevent the other person from getting hurt.
After venting his anger, Fu Xuanliao immediately surrendered: "Okay, okay, I have a bad temper, but you don't. Little mushrooms smell the best."
"I am not a little mushroom."
"Okay, you are Toad."
What is Toad?
"A very powerful king."
Fu Xuanliao took a card from the deck and held it up in front of Shi Meng. Shi Meng glanced at it and saw that it was the King of Hearts.
“Just like this, it’s incredibly powerful.” Fu Xuanliao’s voice was low, and everything he said sounded solemn. “You are the king who rules my heart.”
Not long after, Shi Meng learned from Jiang Xue's boyfriend, Gao Lecheng, that Toad had a mushroom head with white skin and red dots, and at most possessed royal blood from the Mushroom Kingdom. He was speechless for the umpteenth time.
Jiang Xue even went online to look up this person, and pointed to the picture, laughing so hard she almost fell over: "This is what he used to draw of you."
He then advised Shi Meng, "A man is a boy until he dies. Don't you still like the rabbits in the cartoons you watched when you were a kid?"
Enraged, Shi Meng picked up his notebook and drew ten rabbits, all named Fu Xuanliao.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Li Bihan's affairs were almost settled. After checking the time, everyone agreed to carry on the tradition and go to the mountain to burn incense and pray for blessings.
When we arrived, the place was packed with people, and it took a lot of effort just to queue up and squeeze in.
After offering incense, they entered the Buddhist hall in turn. Shi Meng saw Li Bihan bowing her head and silently reciting something, and then saw Fu Xuanliao imitating her, holding incense with his left hand on top and his right hand on the bottom, and devoutly closing his eyes in prayer.
Afterwards, Jiang Xue treated everyone to dinner, but Li Bihan said that as an elder, she would not participate in the gathering of the younger generation. Then she took out her phone and invited Jiang Rong to go for tea together.
No sooner had the elders left than the young people opened several bottles of wine, clinked glasses, played drinking games, and even started a game of truth or dare.
All the questions revolved around the wish she had made before the Buddha earlier, and Jiang Xue casually told everyone, "Of course, it's to make more money!"
Gao Lecheng also frankly admitted: "I got married, had children, and reached the pinnacle of life."
Jiang Xue rolled her eyes at her.
On the other side, he started to stutter.
Fu Xuanliao preferred to drink and be punished, waving his hand and saying, "It's a secret, it won't work if I tell you."
Shi Meng refused to say, offering a flimsy excuse: "I forgot."
Jiang Xue felt cheated and complained to Gao Lecheng, "Look at the friends you've made!"
Gao Lecheng shrugged: "You're just as good."
Games have their rules, and we can't let them go easily. Jiang Xue changed the subject: "If you had a choice, would you choose a life with him, or a life without him?"
For any other couple, this would be an easy question. But for Shi Meng, it became a life-or-death question that made Fu Xuanliao afraid to even breathe.
Fu Xuanliao's answer was one word: Yes.
Shi Meng thought for a long time before making his decision and standing up decisively: "I choose dare."
Then he grabbed Fu Xuanliao's chin and leaned down to kiss him.
I thought that the kiss would melt Shi Meng's long-frozen heart, but unexpectedly, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Shi Meng boarded a plane to the south, saying that the competition was imminent and he wanted to go out to find inspiration.
Fu Xuanliao thought to himself, what's there to look for? Isn't the inspiration right here? But he didn't dare to overstep the bounds in his actions. He had pushed too hard before, and it was time to let the little mushroom catch its breath.
He was so anxious that even when Lao Fu dragged him back to the company, he couldn't concentrate on work. He was glued to his phone all day, typing and deleting words in the chat box repeatedly. The only question he couldn't bring himself to ask was, "Have you looked at what's in the cardboard box?"
He wasn't sure if Shi Meng had genuinely missed it, or if he had seen it but was deliberately refusing to respond.
Upon receiving a message from Shi Meng that day, asking if he was free, Fu Xuanliao jumped up from his seat and rushed to the airport without even bothering to pack his clothes.
On the way, I received a call from Fu Qiming: "Are you not planning to take care of the company anymore?"
"Didn't I make all the arrangements before I left?"
"You only make the arrangements, but you don't carry them out?"
"Please, who was it that left me to clean up this mess and went abroad to be with their wife?"
Fu Qiming coughed, seemingly feeling guilty, "I had to do that for my family..."
“You did it for yourself,” Fu Xuanliao said. “Now I do it for myself too. I’ve lived for the Fu family for so long, I want to live for myself this once.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone: "You've decided on him?"
Thinking back to the text message he had just replied to, asking what was wrong, and Shi Meng's reply being "coming to see the stars," Fu Xuanliao's gaze softened.
"Yeah, it's him, there's no one else."
After a flight of more than two hours, Fu Xuanliao arrived in a warm, spring-like southern city.
They rushed to the guesthouse where Shi Meng was staying, but as they got out of the car, the weather turned bad and it started to rain. They couldn't see the stars, so once the rain subsided, the two went for a stroll on the beach.
The sky was black, the sea was black, and the sound of waves crashing against the sand was clear and distinct.
Shi Meng hadn't brought slippers, and the wet sand seeped into the tops of his shoes and into the soles of his feet. Seeing that he was walking awkwardly, Fu Xuanliao strode forward, squatted down, grabbed his arms, and carried him on his back.
Shi Meng gasped for breath as her feet suddenly lifted off the ground and asked him, "What are you doing?"
Fu Xuanliao said, "I'll carry you on my back."
"Who asked you to carry it?"
"Then should I put you down?"
Fu Xuanliao hissed as he felt a punch on his shoulder: "You weren't this fierce when we got lost in the mountains back then."
Shi Meng tacitly agreed that he was referring to the earliest "back then," thinking to himself that they weren't close then, so of course he couldn't be fierce. He then thought, "Looks like he hasn't been bitten enough yet."
As if recalling what happened later, Fu Xuanliao chuckled and said, "The fierce look is cuter."
Back at the hotel, Shi Meng showed him what it meant to be fierce yet adorable.
He pulled Fu Xuanliao into the shower room, turned on the overhead shower, and let the two of them get soaked in the indoor rain.
Fu Xuanliao was taller than him, so he stood on tiptoe to reach her, wanting to kiss and bite her, baring his teeth like a little kitten that hadn't eaten enough.
There was no anti-slip mat on the ground, and fearing that Shi Meng would fall, Fu Xuanliao simply picked him up again, pressed him against the wall, and tilted his head back to cooperate with his unrestrained playfulness.
After he'd had enough of his antics, Fu Xuanliao refused to put him down. Wiping the water from his face, he asked, "Have you looked at what's in the box?"
Annoyed by his questions, Shi Meng leaned forward to cover his mouth again, but Fu Xuanliao grabbed her cheeks with his outstretched hand and continued to question her: "Do you want a life with me in it, or one without me?"
Shi Meng was forced to pout and shake her head with difficulty, meaning "I just won't tell you".
Fu Xuanliao then resorted to threats: "I won't put you down until you answer."
Upon hearing this, Shi Meng narrowed her eyes as if she were smiling, then leaned against Fu Xuanliao, exhaling a warm breath, and said, "It's fine here."
It wasn't until the things on the counter in front of the mirror were swept to the floor, making a clanging sound, that Fu Xuanliao remembered that he had once described Shi Meng as a fairy in bed.
The current Shi Meng is different from the one before; she's bolder and more alluring, clinging to him like a snake, her red lips slightly parted, panting as she asks, "Don't you want to?"
How could I not want to?
Long ago, Fu Xuanliao had many unpleasant fantasies about Shi Meng, wanting to kiss him and be with him anywhere.
This is a despicable thought hidden deep in every man's heart, something he cannot reveal to outsiders. It is also the most direct physiological phenomenon of loving him and longing for him.
There was never any coercion involved; it was always instinct.
And there is never any need for patience.
Jiang Shimeng sat on the table, the two facing each other honestly, touching the patterns on each other's chests and brushing away the wounds left by the absurd accident.
For the first time, Shi Meng felt that she didn't hate herself as much, nor did she hate the rain as much.
He stroked the not-so-detailed pattern and the jarring cigarette burns within it, murmuring, "I am on you."
Fu Xuanliao lowered his head and kissed the skin that was once tattooed with flames, which was still as hot as flames, and whispered, "You are still in my heart, as long as my heart is still beating."
Shi Meng hugged his neck, feeling the throbbing of his arteries.
She ran her fingers through his hair, slowly tightening them, and Shi Meng couldn't help but ask, "What if you stop jumping?"
"Then hurry up and reincarnate, come find you." Burying his head in Shi Meng's arms, Fu Xuanliao spoke his mad words as calmly as a prayer, "Whether you want it or not, I must be a part of your life."
A note from the author:
There's a short dialogue here that overlaps with sections 47-48; it's been slightly modified there. It's not important, so there's no need to review it.
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