18/Indulgence
At 7:30 a.m., the alarm clock rang as scheduled.
Chen Mian, who had just closed her eyes, got up and saw that no one was beside her. There was a pair of slippers on the floor. She stepped on them and opened the door. She heard the sound of the TV on the first floor. She went back to the bedside table to get her phone. She opened it and saw that it was Wednesday.
When I went downstairs, Shen Yu had already unpacked the breakfast I ordered and put it on a plate. Two pairs of chopsticks were placed together. The morning news was playing on the TV. The anchor's gentle voice said that the next week in Suibei would be a rare good day with no rain.
The school uniform hanging on the balcony was dry, so Chen Mian brought it in to change. Just then, she heard Chen Yu call her name. The boy's voice, which hadn't slept all night, sounded a little hoarse compared to usual. He had changed out of his white hoodie and was now wearing his school uniform. She didn't know when he had gotten up, but he raised his chin at her and said, "Eat first."
Chen Mian ignored him and walked straight to the bathroom room.
A 'tsk' sound came from behind.
Chen Mian stopped and turned to him good-naturedly, saying, "I haven't washed up yet."
Chen Mian had never stayed overnight at Shen Yu's house before, so naturally she wouldn't have any of her personal belongings there. There was a new toothbrush that Shen Yu had somehow found, placed on a glass on the sink, with toothpaste next to it and a clean white towel draped over one side.
She stared at it for a while before turning on the tap.
After changing into her school uniform and going outside, the news on TV had turned into a ball game. Chen Mian wasn't interested in that. She sat next to Shen Yu. On the table were steamed buns and soy milk, placed on a Western-style plate. It looked a bit strange, but it wasn't surprising since Shen Yu had made them.
Although Shen Yu always had a haughty and aloof demeanor at school, once the cold and aloof male god entered real life, he was just an ordinary boy. Chen Mian remembered that once Aunt Zhang bought some vegetables, cooked them, and put them on the table. When she came back, she saw Shen Yu picking through the dishes with his chopsticks, and finally just throwing them aside. He said in a rather arrogant tone, "It's all green onions, how can anyone eat this?"
Chen Mian found it a bit strange. Usually, Aunt Zhang would choose the most expensive and best ingredients when cooking for this young master, so how could it be all scallions?
She glanced at the table, then remained silent for a moment before saying to Shen Yu, "Do you know a vegetable called garlic sprouts?"
Shen Yu: "...?"
Chen Mian: "The plate on your table."
She bit into a xiaolongbao (soup dumpling) and recalled the past, unable to resist glancing at Chen Yu again.
The young master seemed to read her mind, his hand still fiddling with the remote control, his voice quite indifferent, "This is the only kind of bowl and chopsticks we have. If you don't like it, just keep it to yourself."
Chen Mian blinked. "Oh."
She's quite obedient, as if she'll listen to anything Shen Yu says.
Chen Yu found it somewhat amusing and tossed aside the remote control, looking at her and asking, "After school, will you come to our class to wait for me, or should I go to your class?"
Chen Mian understood the meaning behind Shen Yu's words; he was inviting her to stay at his home.
Chen Mian was also thinking. The college entrance examination was not far away, and her family situation made it impossible for her to devote herself to studying. Back in her first year of high school, the school gave her the choice between day school and boarding school. Boarding school would cost more than a thousand yuan more in tuition and fees than day school, so Chen Mian did not apply.
At that time, she hadn't gotten involved with Shen Yu yet. She was working part-time at a convenience store near her home. The pay was pitifully low, and it took up a lot of her time. The boss was already a bit hesitant to hire a child laborer, and he wouldn't have helped Chen Mian if it weren't for the fact that a neighboring apartment building knew about the situation. As a result, Chen Mian only focused on work during her working hours. Every time she got home, she would stay up late to do her homework and study after 10 p.m. Her grades plummeted throughout that semester, and she almost dropped out of the top class.
Chen Mian knew what was most important and understood that for her, the only thing that could change her fate was studying. Even though she was beautiful and many people showed interest in her, with someone like Chen Song in front of her, for a long time, Chen Mian didn't have a good impression of men.
Shen Yu is a special case among them who has paved his way with money, but sex is sex. Although she has no dating experience, Chen Mian knows that the word "cohabitation" is too ambiguous, as if it is leading the relationship in another direction.
One direction that Chen Mian doesn't want to consider for the time being.
She was silent for a moment, then said to Shen Yu, "I can rent a place myself."
Most of their conversations were unspoken. Both were intelligent and could understand each other's unspoken meanings. Shen Yu's face was expressionless, his eyelids were thin, and the veins on his eyes were faintly visible in the sunlight. He looked directly at Chen Mian and asked, "Where did you get the money?"
Without pausing for a second, Chen Mian put down her chopsticks and asked Chen Yu, "Aren't you planning to give me any money?"
Shen Yu just laughed, crossed his legs, and looked at her with an expression that said, "Listen to what you're saying." He didn't say anything and just stared at her directly.
Under this gaze, Chen Mian blinked somewhat slowly, then opened her lips as if suddenly realizing something, and immediately moved towards the direction of Chen Yu.
She pressed herself against Shen Yu's body.
I reached out and touched his eyes; his eyelashes brushed against my fingers, and those dark eyes were right in front of me.
Then Chen Mian's soft waist slumped down, and she leaned closer, as if she were being presented with a gift, and a warm kiss landed on his eyes.
Chen Mian's voice seemed to float in the air as she asked him, "Is this alright?"
Shen Yu's fingers curled up quietly, his protruding knuckles pressing against the leather surface of the sofa.
He didn't say a word, and his eyes remained cold even after being kissed. However, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and his smooth jawline tightened slightly. He was holding back. Every time he was close to Chen Mian, he felt a strong urge to destroy her and then devour her.
This completely turned Chen Mian into a member of the Sinking Domain.
This strong desire also appeared in his childhood. When the kindergarten organized a spring outing, a group of children went to the zoo. Shen Yu stopped in the yard of a white peacock and refused to leave. At that time, he wanted to own a peacock. Later, his father found out and brought him a domesticated one from somewhere, which was kept in the yard.
But once he got what he wanted, Shen Yu lost interest in the peacock.
Shen Yu once thought that Chen Mian felt the same way about him.
But slowly, two years passed.
The past two years have been telling Shen Yu the same thing day and night: Chen Mian is not that white peacock.
It's not simply about wanting to obtain something.
Instead—
The person in front of him, who knew nothing, was still looking at him. Her expression remained indifferent, as if all emotions and desires had failed her. When she was happy, she would only curl the corners of her lips, but at other times she was always like this, like a cup of lukewarm water in an exquisite container.
The tears that flowed against my chest last night seemed like an illusion in the darkness.
The girl who had panicked and clung to him just stared at him coldly.
Then I asked him, "So what do you want?"
Instead, he discovered that the true way to possess someone is not simply to keep her by your side, or to use money as bait to simply have sex and kiss her.
He wanted her to only have eyes for him when she looked at him.
Even when you're not physically present, you can hear the echoes of love from all directions.
But clearly, Chen Mian has none of that now.
Shen Yu had no intention of being a sycophant, much less follow Chen Yin around like You Huai and let others manipulate him.
He leaned back, creating a gap between himself and Chen Mian that allowed him to see her eyes.
His skin was light brown, like amber in the sunlight, reflecting his image. The dark blue collar of his school uniform contrasted with the azure sky outside the window.
Birds fluttered past the window.
The sound of the sanitation workers sweeping fallen leaves was like the accompaniment of the morning breeze.
Sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, gradually spreading inwards. A cake that had been sitting on the floor all night remained untouched, its rich aroma of strawberry cream gently enveloping the air between the two of them.
Chen Mian glanced over and her gaze fell on the packaging bag.
She looked at Shen Yu again, and opened her lips as if to say something.
But then Shen Yu chuckled, "No."
He looked at her, the smile on his lips as faint as the air currents of birds skimming across the sky outside the window, almost invisible.
The indifference stemmed from the shift from the confined space of solitude back to the confines of the campus.
Chen Mian withdrew her gaze, slowly sat up straight, picked up her schoolbag from the ground and hugged it to her chest. She was always an expert at defying the rules in Shenyu, so she didn't care what he thought, and simply stated again, "I don't want to live with you."
It's not that I can't, but more bluntly, I don't want to.
She wasn't afraid that Shen Yu would be angry, nor was she afraid that Shen Yu would abandon her because of this.
There are countless interesting and beautiful girls, and any one of them would be willing to have a relationship with Shen Yu.
"Chen Mian, you can't have it all." Shen Yu tapped the table lightly, lecturing the girl sitting in front of him. He didn't care that class was getting closer, and spoke slowly so that everyone could hear him clearly. "If you enjoy my kindness to you, you should give me something in return. Even a donkey pulling a millstone knows to hang a carrot in front of it. If you treat me like a bank, at least do something to cover it up. It's no fun to say everything so bluntly."
But I have nothing.
Chen Mian gazed at him intently.
"I don't know what I can give you, Shen Yu. All I have is Aunt Zhang's sympathy for my situation, which led to her charity, and my gentle and unassuming personality at school. Although I am very beautiful, I am low-key and never compete or fight for anything."
"Kissing, making love, what else can I give you besides that?"
Her tone was flat.
The sound was very soft, as if afraid of disturbing the quiet morning.
Finally, seemingly feeling the atmosphere was too dull, she deftly changed the subject, "You haven't opened the cake you ordered yet, would you like to try it together?"
Shen Yu is very clear.
Chen Mian clearly understood what he was saying, but she was just pretending, using her own predicament as an excuse.
She knows everything and understands everything, but she just doesn't want to give it.
She hid her true feelings underneath, and told him in such a pitiful tone that she had nothing left.
Shen Yu withdrew his hand from the table and flicked her forehead with his finger.
"What time is it? Still eating cake? Aren't you going to class?"
Despite knowing everything, he still let Chen Mian turn the page.
He took her schoolbag from her hand, carried it along with his own, and pulled her arm with his other hand to walk out.
The moment she stepped into the spring sunshine, Chen Mian heard Shen Yu say to her, "Rent a place my ass, do you really think I don't have a place to live?"
"Chen Mian, next time you ask me for something, be more tactful in your refusal. Make up some excuse or reason that I can at least accept."
Then.
He will agree to anything.
/
(Can I leave a comment and a piggy bank? [reaching out])
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