Chapter 78 [VIP]
A few long, curled eyelashes were damp and stuck together, forming an inky stain. Chenmian lowered her head in grievance and rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder, muttering that Zong Bingwen was a stinky bastard.
But her tone was clearly coquettish, wanting her boyfriend to pamper and cherish her more.
For example, the person in the closet should not be pursued any further.
Chenmian thought pitifully that he had done so many times since morning, and that he had atoned enough. Besides, nothing had happened between him and Lin Langli—even if something had, it was because the other party forced him, and it wasn't his fault at all.
He was completely unaware of the dark desires his boyfriend was suppressing deep inside, nor did he know the torment that Lin Langli, whom he had hidden away and who had overheard their intimate moments, was enduring.
With her meager and naive thoughts, Chenmian pondered for a moment and felt only that she was pitiful and exhausted.
He fell asleep in his boyfriend's arms, snoring softly.
Zong Bingwen affectionately patted his young boyfriend's hair and saw him out. Two minutes later, he slowly stepped into the dressing room and met the young man who had come out of the closet and was standing on the dressing table.
The walk-in closet was warmly lit, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of sleep, mixed with a slightly incongruous, cool fragrance from someone else.
Lin Langli stood frozen in front of the dressing table, his fingertips tracing the smooth surface, staring intently at the large, ambiguous wet stains left on the table and even on the carpet beneath it.
Zong Bingwen chuckled softly, his gaze fixed on the damp stains, as he reminisced about the intense moment he had just shared with his passionate yet fickle boyfriend.
After savoring the moment, the man's gaze casually lingered on Lin Langli's pale profile. He spoke slowly, his tone nonchalant yet condescending: "How are you feeling after staying so long?" He paused, then added with a polite provocation, "My sleeping ex-boyfriend."
Lin Langli's knuckles tightened as he slammed them on the table. Anger was not enough to describe his state of mind at that moment. Lin Langli was in pain, yet he also wanted others to suffer the same pain.
He didn't say anything, but turned to leave.
Zong Bingwen stopped him. Despite being four years older than his rival, he maintained his composure and said with an air of elegance, "I won't be inviting you to my engagement with Mianmian. Your childish behavior will make the ceremony look awkward."
Lin Langli turned his head to look, taking a closer look at the person next to Shen Mian for the first time, and found him extremely disgusting, exuding a hypocritical flavor that was inherited from Shen Jinshan.
After leaving him, Chenmian's judgment became so poor, as if she had mutated, choosing such a man.
He thought maliciously, then suddenly raised the corners of his mouth and laughed angrily: "The only one who will make the ceremony look bad is you—look at the wrinkles under your eyes...shouldn't you go and take care of them? After all, you are so much older than Chenmian, you should pay more attention to these things."
Zong Bingwen suppressed his smile and looked at the young man in front of him with a blank expression.
Lin Langli continued, "You should know Chenmian's personality. He is someone who is easily attracted to new things. An old man like you will be abandoned by Chenmian before your looks fade and his love wanes. You don't think that you can keep him by getting married, do you?"
"Your personality is rather bland, not Chenmian's type." As he said this, Lin Langli smiled slightly, as if smugly telling the person before him that he was the type Chenmian liked. But given his current defeat, Lin Langli restrained his smile, his expression returning to calm as he continued his analysis: "Chenmian won't care too much about your family background. The Shen family won't abandon Chenmian; they can support him indefinitely. As for you yourself, your appearance is average, not even remotely comparable to Chenmian's. And your health... well, you're not exactly young anymore. In a few more years, ha..."
He smiled, almost as if he were showing off.
Zong Bingwen's expression changed slightly for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure. He even gently straightened the cuffs of his shirt, which were still neat even after he had been with Shen Mian twice, as if he were brushing away non-existent dust.
Lin Langli is that speck of dust.
"Finished?" He looked up, his gaze lacking the anger Lin Langli had expected, instead filled with an almost pitying scrutiny. "Young Master Lin, you've analyzed so much about the development of my relationship with Mianmian, but have you analyzed why you're the one standing here now, acting like a defeated dog, raging helplessly? Is that you?"
Lin Langli's expression also changed, becoming extremely cold. He swept his icy gaze across Lin Langli's eyes.
Zong Bingwen took half a step forward, and the oppressive feeling emanating from the victor silently spread.
"Novelty? You're right, Mianmian likes novelty." Zong Bingwen nodded casually, then changed the subject with a cold sarcasm, "But now you're the one who's been abandoned. He doesn't even want to bother mentioning you. Chenmian has been with me for so long, but he's never mentioned your name."
His gaze swept over Lin Langli's young, handsome face, which was twisted with anger. He sincerely commented that Lin Langli had indeed gone astray before falling into slumber, but now he had returned to the right path and there was no need to dwell on it anymore.
Frequently pointing out the fact that a boy is distracted and sleepy will cause his already limited sense of guilt to dissipate even faster.
As the marriage manual says, if there's no intention to separate, making a scene won't do any good; it will only erode past affection and the other person's guilt.
Zong Bingwen certainly had no intention of leaving Chenmian, or of making Chenmian leave him.
Therefore, turning a blind eye is the most suitable approach.
Just thinking about it this way and putting it into practice is incredibly frustrating.
Those eyesore men are always buzzing around like mosquitoes, trying to bite off other people's treasured possessions. They are really disgusting and annoying.
Zong Bingwen's tone became increasingly composed, yet his words were sharp and cutting.
“You say I’m old? Maybe. But I have something you’ll never have.” Zong Bingwen leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice to make sure every word was clearly pierced into the other’s ears. “What I give him is stability, indulgence, a home he can always return to no matter how much he misbehaves. He can fall asleep in my arms, he can be affectionate with me… those simple porridges and side dishes outside, the wild vegetables by the roadside, are just hotels for a short nap.”
He spoke with a hint of amusement: "Young Master Lin, what else did you bring him besides coercion and making Chenmian cry?"
"As for what type he likes, that's not important. What's important is who he chooses to stay with." Zong Bingwen felt an increasing disgust for Lin Langli's seductive appearance. He didn't know why, but the last time he caught Shen Mian and Shen Ci, he even blamed Shen Mian a little.
This time, however, he felt no such emotions at all. Zong Bingwen only felt that there were despicable men everywhere trying to seduce Chen Mian.
If he relaxes his guard even slightly, some slut will eagerly sneak into his wife's room to steal someone else!
He took a deep breath, straightened up, and regained that superior, gentle detachment. "As for the future... I'd be happy to spend the next few decades watching him, spoiling him, until he never remembers how to write the word 'abandon.' As for you, Young Master Lin, you only deserve to rot in my memory."
Finally, Zong Bingwen's gaze fell on the still-damp puddle on the ground, then he glanced meaningfully at the messy table, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Now, please leave Mianmian's bedroom." He stepped aside to make way, his tone as polite as if he were seeing a guest off, very refined. "Mianmian is very tired. Please don't bother other people's wives for the next few days."
"As for the engagement ceremony and the wedding, I'm sorry I won't invite you. Witnessing someone else's happy ending might be too cruel for you. But it's okay, you just need to know that Mianmian is happy and secure from now on, that's enough."
Having said that, Zong Bingwen stopped looking at Lin Langli's ashen face, turned and walked towards the door, as if lingering for even a second longer would be an impurity to his territory.
His steps were steady, his back straight, and all his gloom and desire for control were neatly concealed beneath his elegant exterior.
Lin Langli's expression was extremely ferocious, like a mistress who had been humiliated and kicked out by the main wife. He stood silently at the door of Shen Mian's room, lingering there for a long time.
The following day was New Year's Eve.
In the morning, the house was filled with joy. The number of people celebrating the New Year this year had increased again, and the problems that had troubled them last year had all been resolved this year. Su Yueqiu was overjoyed and pulled her husband to the kitchen to make dumplings.
In the living room, Zong Bingwen was playing with Xiaomianbao. After the New Year, Xiaomianbao grew another year older and is now a year and a half old, a big cat.
Shen Mian hadn't gotten up yet, but the Shen family was already used to their lazy son's behavior and didn't urge him to get up.
Lin Langli came downstairs with a livid face and dark circles under his eyes. Shen Ci was not far behind, sitting on the sofa with his eyes half-closed, looking at his phone.
As for Shen Jinshan, he wouldn't be back until the afternoon. This had already displeased Shen Mianjun in the morning. He felt that his eldest son was becoming increasingly arrogant. As the eldest son in the family, he was still unwilling to meet a suitable girl at his age. Perhaps he still had feelings for Shen Mian.
Shen Mianjun felt a headache coming on for a moment. The thought of his ex-girlfriend, who was sleeping soundly, and his current girlfriend sitting in the living room, and the addition of Shen Jinshan, who had illicit feelings for his younger brother, tonight, made him feel an indescribable sense of guilt towards Zong Bingwen.
But when I think about how Chenmian, as the person involved, is still as carefree and easygoing as she was when she was a child, she realizes that none of this seems to be a problem.
Indeed, there aren't many problems.
Without needing to intervene, the men, each with their own agendas, began to confront each other in the living room.
As the person with the most comprehensive information, Shen Ci's progress with Shen Mian was stuck. They hadn't seen each other for a long time, and had only briefly met the boy yesterday afternoon. He had been unhappy for a long time, so he was naturally happy to see the conflict between Lin Langli and Zong Bingwen. He wished he could fan the flames and make them both suffer so that he could reap the benefits.
Needless to say, Lin Langli had been losing since last year and couldn't even return to China. He was closely watched by the bodyguards sent by Shen Mianjun and only managed to deceive his family by pretending to fall in love with someone else, thus taking the opportunity to return.
Shen Mianjun also warned him: "Mianmian and her fiancé have a very good relationship and are getting married this year. Don't make the same mistake again."
As for Zong Bingwen, putting everything else aside, at least on the surface he was all smiles and looked very glorious, and he was the only one who could rightfully stand next to Shen Mian.
He could forgive Shenmian for things that happened in private, as long as they didn't become public knowledge.
Zong Bingwen played with the little bread with a smile, scratching the cat's chin and flicking its ears.
Lin Langli watched from the side, his eyes stinging, and softly called out the little bread's name.
But the white-eyed cat didn't even glance at its father, who was turning his head to look at it. It was still showing its belly to Zong Bingwen, letting its current stepfather touch it.
Zong Bingwen raised his face and smiled slightly at Lin Langli, implying something: "The kitten is ignorant, don't mind it, and you don't need to worry. I will treat the little bread as my own child."
He lowered his head and softly called out the little bread's name again, as if giving Lin Langli a demonstration, which made the cat's ears twitch twice and stick to his hand.
What a fine example of "treating him like his own son"! Seeing the little bread's disregard for affection, Lin Langli's expression darkened even further.
On New Year's Eve, Chenmian ignored all the men around her except her fiancé and father. She and Zong Bingwen were cheek to cheek, making a heart shape with their hands towards the fireworks in the sky. They took a picture and posted it on their WeChat Moments along with their New Year's Eve dinner. She didn't block anyone from seeing it. The caption read: "Not very good at expressing love, but I've been happy for a long time @ZongBingwen".
A note from the author:
My darlings, hurry up and vote for the extra chapter in the comments section of chapter 77! I need to write the main story while saving up drafts.
You can also order food, but I don't necessarily have to write it down (including the creative ideas in the comments section).
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