On the way, Shi Meng received a call from Jiang Xue.
"Happy birthday, Mengmeng." Jiang Xue called right on time, assuming Mengmeng was alone. "That guy's gone, right? See how considerate I am? I didn't bother you last night or during the day today."
Shi Meng was sitting in the passenger seat of Fu Xuanliao's car. Hearing this, he turned his head to look at "that guy" and said truthfully, "He didn't come."
"What?" Jiang Xue's voice rose several octaves as she angrily demanded, "Isn't it Saturday? Why isn't he going?"
Although the hands-free mode wasn't on, the volume was loud enough for the people around to hear. Shi Meng watched as Fu Xuanliao's lips curved into a barely perceptible smile. She turned slightly to the side and said into the phone, "It's changed to today."
"I see." Jiang Xue immediately regained her composure. "You've gone out?"
"Um."
"Where did you go?"
"Amusement park".
"Isn't it raining today? Is the amusement park open?"
"It's open for business."
Shi Meng never answers the phone when he's busy, including when he's driving, so Jiang Xue assumed he was free right now and started chatting with him: "Hey, has that guy surnamed Fu prepared a gift for you?"
Shi Meng lowered her eyes and fiddled with the fabric on her knees: "No."
Jiang Xue spat, "You stinky man."
Shi Meng: "..."
Even the slow-witted man sensed a slight awkwardness. Fortunately, Jiang Xue had no intention of letting the conversation linger on Fu Xuanliao, and changed the subject, saying, "It's okay, I've prepared a gift for you. I'll give it to you in person tomorrow."
Shi Meng said, "Thank you, sister."
"Don't get your hopes up too high. I always give practical gifts. You've emptied your savings to buy a painting, so I'll give you some help to improve your life."
When the painting was mentioned, Shi Meng became inexplicably uneasy and repeated "thank you" without any clear reason.
Sensing that the person on the other end was distracted, Jiang Xue decided to end the call: "So, are you going back now?"
Shi Meng didn't know how to explain the current situation, so he casually said, "Well, it'll be soon."
"It's not safe to drive this late. Your home is so far away. Why don't you call a designated driver?"
Shi Meng looked out the window. The bustling streets were quite different from the suburbs; it was still lively at this hour.
“No need,” he said. “I’m not going home tonight.”
"So where do you live?"
The Land Rover drove steadily on the flat road, and even though the road ahead was unknown, Shi Meng remained completely calm.
After thinking for a long time but still unable to find a suitable address, not wanting Jiang Xue to worry, Shi Meng replied, "At a friend's house."
The Fu family opted for a high-rise apartment instead of a detached house, naturally for the sake of convenient transportation.
Shi Meng had never seen a house with an elevator that led directly into the apartment before. He stood there in the entryway for a long time before he realized that he was already in Fu Xuanliao's house.
"Sit wherever you like," Fu Xuanliao gestured to him. "I'll go see if there's anything to eat."
Neither of them had eaten dinner. They opened the refrigerator and found only two eggs and a carton of milk. Fu Xuanliao took the remaining food in his hands, weighed it, and began to consider the feasibility of going to sleep without eating dinner.
Since there were guests present, they ultimately decided to order takeout.
"Fried chicken, pizza, barbecue, spicy hot pot, xiaolongbao... that's all we have at this time." He tossed his phone to Shi Meng, "You order yourself, just use the default address."
This level of proficiency clearly indicates it's not the first time this user has used this method.
Looking around, the house appears to be over 200 square meters, decorated in an Italian style, exquisite and neat, and very clean, suggesting a housekeeper comes regularly. However, it seems a cooking housekeeper hasn't come for a long time, as the kitchen appliances look brand new.
Seeing Shi Meng looking around, Fu Xuanliao asked, "What's wrong? Do you think the house is too small?"
Shi Meng looked away and shook his head.
“It’s definitely not as good as your place.” Fu Xuanliao stretched out his arms and leaned back on the sofa. “If you don’t like it, I’ll call a driver to take you back.”
Shi Meng shook his head again, picked up his phone, and focused on researching food delivery options.
The journey was long enough for the two of them to come to their senses and gradually rediscover their previous way of getting along.
Shi Meng ordered two 10-inch pizzas, two pairs of roasted chicken wings, two servings of crab roe soup dumplings, two bowls of spicy hot pot, two drinks... a dazzling array of more than ten kinds of food, requiring three deliverymen to deliver the meal.
Fu Xuanliao, who originally wanted to have dinner on the island, had to move the food to the dining table. He wasn't worried about the money, but he was a little at a loss.
Even more bewildered was Shi Meng, though he didn't show it.
It was his first time ordering takeout, and he only looked at the types of food without paying attention to the portions, thinking he'd order two of everything. He didn't realize that Fu Xuanliao hadn't even set up facial recognition, and the payment was automatically processed before he even had a chance to check the price.
"Are you sure you can finish all this food?" Fu Xuanliao asked.
“We can eat it again tomorrow,” Shi Meng said.
"Then why not order again tomorrow and eat something fresh?" Fu Xuanliao asked again.
Shi Meng stopped talking, picked up a slice of pizza, and silently stuffed it into his mouth.
He's been like this since he was a child. When faced with questions he doesn't want to answer or doesn't know how to answer, he pretends not to hear them, which has earned him a "cold" impression in the eyes of others.
But in Fu Xuanliao's eyes, this behavior was no different from shirking responsibility. What annoyed him most was Shi Meng's self-willed and dismissive attitude.
Fu Xuanliao took a big gulp of his drink and thought to himself with a self-deprecating smile, "Just treat him as a sugar daddy. What kind of person sells himself and does he care about the sugar daddy's reasons?"
Having figured this out, Fu Xuanliao calmed down. After dinner, he pointed Shi Meng in the direction of the bathroom and personally found him a clean new bathrobe to take in, feeling that he had taken very good care of him.
Before leaving, Fu Xuanliao asked, half-jokingly, "You can take a bath by yourself, right? Do you need a back scrubber?"
Whether Shi Meng was genuinely foolish or feigning ignorance, he pondered for a moment, as if seriously considering the feasibility, before replying, "No need, I can do it myself."
Fu Xuanliao left with a smile, then walked into the living room and remembered that he had forgotten to turn on the heater above the bathtub for him. He turned back, pushed open the door, and looked up to see Shi Meng, who was half-undressed.
Both of them were taken aback. Fu Xuanliao reacted first, raised his hand and pressed the button on the wall with a "click", while Shi Meng reflexively turned his back to them.
Fu Xuanliao chuckled: "Why are you hiding? Even if you've never seen it before, you've already touched it."
After saying that, he left.
Shi Meng doesn't have the habit of taking baths. He closes the glass door of the shower room tightly and waits for the water to rush over his body before he regains a sense of security.
He had almost no experience staying overnight away from home in his life. Before he was eight years old, Yang Youlan was very strict with him. Once, he was late returning home after helping the teacher collect homework at school, and she beat him with a broom and pointed at his nose, calling him an "ungrateful wretch."
Later, when he went to the Shi family, he had even less opportunity to stay overnight, since apart from Jiang Xue, he had no other friends and nowhere else to go.
The unfamiliar environment terrified Shi Meng, reminding him of when he first arrived at the Shi family home. He was just as scared, always hiding in a corner of the attic. Once, he was even locked inside by a careless aunt and almost got sick from the cold after staying there all night.
When Shi Meng first arrived at Fu Xuanliao's house, she locked herself in the bathroom for nearly an hour. When she came out to get dressed, she saw her sickly pale face in the mirror, and her gaze and heart slowly turned cold.
He began to feel that he shouldn't be there, and shouldn't have accepted Fu Xuanliao's casual invitation.
He always seems to cross the line of what is attainable, reaching for things beyond his capabilities.
She raised her hand and touched the skin covering her left ribcage. The different texture and warmth made her fingertips tremble slightly. However, Fu Xuanliao was careless and probably hadn't seen it. Shi Meng let out a soft breath and picked up her bathrobe to put it on.
When she went out, the living room had been cleaned up. The leftovers that she couldn't find in the trash can were in the refrigerator. Shi Meng remembered that when they were eating, Fu Xuanliao had said that he would pack up the leftovers and throw them out. He was being childish and hypocritical.
The house has five rooms. Before taking a shower, Fu Xuanliao told him to choose any room. Shi Meng then pushed open the door furthest from the living room. The light was on inside, and the sound of running water could be faintly heard from the separate bathroom.
With a one in five chance, you'll win on your first try.
Since the host said to choose whatever he wanted, I decided to make the best of it and went into the suite, where I sat down in a chair next to the desk.
Fu Xuanliao's desk has a unique characteristic—messy yet orderly.
Various professional books and magazines were piled up, reaching as high as a computer screen, with the Kindle on top resembling the top of a pagoda; pens were also piled up haphazardly, and the stylish pen holders were abandoned, as if the corner of the table or the floor were their only destination; then there were the uncategorized contract documents, all A4 paper, piled directly on top of the printer, barely considered neat.
Although it was messy, the areas were clearly divided and did not interfere with each other. Shi Meng resisted his germaphobia and did not tidy up for him. When he turned his head away, intending to avoid seeing it, he saw a set of paintbrushes on the bookshelf on the right side of the table.
The wooden penholders and red sable nibs were neatly arranged in a matching wooden pen-washing container, far better treated than the pile of pens on the table.
Out of professional habit, Shi Meng subconsciously wanted to try the brush. After looking around, he couldn't find any paint, let alone paper. After a closer look, he noticed that although the set of brushes was well preserved, there were obvious signs of wear and tear on the handles of several brushes.
A pen that someone else has used.
It goes without saying who used it to be so highly valued.
Just as Shi Meng was distracted and thinking about how to handle the situation, the bathroom door opened, and Fu Xuanliao came out drying his hair. He was taken aback when he saw Shi Meng, and then, when he noticed what Fu Xuanliao was holding, a fierce look appeared in his eyes.
“Don’t touch my things,” he said.
Shi Meng felt that he was being very unreasonable. He had just let him sit wherever he wanted and choose any room, but now he wouldn't let him touch anything.
This emotion should be called anger, but Sister Xue said you can't be angry on your birthday—that's the conclusion Shi Meng came to. She frowned and put the pen back into the pen holder.
Shi Meng's reaction was unexpected by Fu Xuanliao.
Given Shi Meng's stubbornness—the kind that's all about destroying what he can't have—Fu Xuanliao thought he would break the pen on the spot or throw it out the window. But to his surprise, he changed his mind this time. Not only did he not go crazy, but he also obediently put the things back in their place.
He was clearly in a bad mood; his lips were noticeably downturned, and he was sitting in a chair looking down at the ground, seemingly lost in thought.
Like a child who has been criticized.
Fu Xuanliao didn't even realize that he had softened his heart. He stepped forward first, bent down and put his arm around Shi Meng's shoulder from behind, and whispered in his ear, "It's just a few pens. Have you forgotten that I used to study painting?"
The two bodies were already used to intimate contact, but Shi Meng was still dazed by the wafting steam and the fresh scent of shower gel. Moreover, the word "哄" (coax/entice) in that sentence was excessive, making him feel somewhat at a loss.
Shi Meng tilted her head slightly, catching a glimpse of Fu Xuanliao's high nose bridge and a few strands of hair dripping with water in her peripheral vision, then looked away and mumbled an "Oh".
Fu Xuanliao was amused by his reaction and straightened up, leaning on the back of the chair: "Since you chose this room, then you can sleep here tonight. I'm going to dry my hair; there's water in the fridge, so you can help yourself..."
Just as I turned around, I was bumped forward two small steps by someone who "ambushed" me from behind. Then, my waist tightened as I was firmly hugged by two arms.
Shi Meng, who had been on edge since entering the room, clung to Fu Xuanliao like a lifebuoy: "You're not allowed to leave."
He was obedient for only three seconds before becoming domineering again.
Fu Xuanliao sighed: "It's not like I'm not coming back."
Shi Meng wouldn't let go.
"Then will you come with me?"
Shi Meng nodded.
Fu Xuanliao transformed into a walking tree, carrying the koala clinging to him and refusing to get off.
As soon as I entered the still-damp bathroom and picked up the hairdryer, Shi Meng came around and kissed me again, his teeth grinding roughly against the skin of my neck and ears, and he even tore my bathrobe halfway open.
This behavior is tantamount to provoking trouble. Fu Xuanliao believes that his physical functions are normal, so there is no way he will not take the bait.
As the towel covering his wet hair fell to the ground, the situation reversed in an instant. Fu Xuanliao placed one hand on Shi Meng's waist and the other on his shoulder, and with a little force, pressed him against the empty wall.
A passionate kiss is like a gladiator fight, with breaths mingling and lips and tongues rubbing together. Sometimes the kiss is impulsive yet earnest, and no corner is left untouched.
Fu Xuanliao turned the tables, reaching around to press down on Shi Meng's nape, leaning forward to reach for her moist, soft lips, and taking advantage of her moment of breathlessness to "bring up old grievances," asking fiercely, "Who is your friend?"
He was talking about the excuse he gave Jiang Xue on the way back. Shi Meng didn't respond, but Fu Xuanliao's neck was on his arm. He looked up and chased after her eagerly.
Fu Xuanliao, addicted to his wickedness, persisted: "So you kiss and sleep with ordinary friends?"
He didn't know why he asked that question; he just felt uncomfortable about it and decided to ask it out loud.
Shi Meng clearly had no time to delve into the reasons behind the problem. He simply treated it as if he were being questioned and was eager to regain the initiative. Like a fish out of water, he almost recklessly kissed her.
Before he knew it, the other person had grabbed his lips and sucked hard. Fu Xuanliao hissed and almost asked Shi Meng if he was a dog in his past life because he loved to bite people.
Countless intimate encounters had cultivated a physical understanding between the two. Just as Fu Xuanliao was about to ask if they wanted to go to bed, Shi Meng suddenly said, "Three more minutes."
"……What?"
"Birthday, only three minutes left."
Fu Xuanliao, realizing what was happening, couldn't help but chuckle: "It's just a birthday, why are you timing it so precisely?"
Shi Meng didn't answer his question, but instead asked himself, "Are you happy?"
Fu Xuanliao was stunned again: "Shouldn't I be asking you that? It's your birthday."
Strangely, it wasn't just the word "friend" that made him think about the gift too. He'd been pondering it over and over while showering—it was someone's birthday, after all, and it seemed inappropriate not to prepare a gift...
The unnecessary agonizing was interrupted by a voice.
"I'm happy," Shi Meng said. "I'm very happy."
Shi Meng's world is not full of twists and turns; every thought of his can be directly and clearly linked to his actions—you can't get angry on your birthday, you have to hold onto what you like, and your happiness is my happiness.
He noticed that Fu Xuanliao's attitude towards him had improved today, and he firmly believed that it was all thanks to their trip to the amusement park.
Through a layer of misty water, Shi Meng looked at Fu Xuanliao and said what she hadn't had a chance to say ten years ago: "If he won't go with you, I will."
He doesn't love you, but I do.
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