Chapter 4: Best friend

The summer wind blew past, its scorching breath invading the mind. His head was about to boil, and his limbs went briefly numb. Aside from his eyes, which could still function and take in the person before him, every other part of his body had been corroded by the heat and gone on strike together.

A trace of emotion that could not be suppressed briefly surged in those pale blue eyes. Then Shen Zhoudu had to bite his lower lip hard in order to control the feelings inside him, which surged as fiercely as a summer heat wave.

His apparent indifference gave Meng Weiyu the illusion that he actually did not care about this matter that much.

“What’s so impossible about it?” He really had no conscience. “Besides, there isn’t even any same-sex marriage law in the country, right? Even if I really wanted to marry you…”

“It can’t be done. I don’t agree. And compared to so-called marriage, you and I have done something even more impossible to separate.” When Shen Zhoudu spoke, his teeth could not help grinding hard against each other. This was what it meant to gnash one’s teeth; this was what it meant to suffer silently.

“What in this world can’t be taken back?” Meng Weiyu found his words very funny.

“Because we completed adoption procedures!” Shen Zhoudu was unusually furious today and could not control his emotions at all. His tone rose as he spoke.

Unfortunately, the expression he had right now was exactly the one Meng Weiyu was familiar with, so Meng Weiyu smiled leisurely, not caring in the slightest.

“Wow, how abnormal must one’s brain be to do something like that?” After Meng Weiyu finished sighing, he asked curiously, “Did you adopt me?”

Shen Zhoudu gloomily narrated the matter that had clearly been suggested by the other party, yet now only he remembered. “You adopted me.”

“Oh, so I’m your da—” Meng Weiyu opened his mouth, about to laugh and tell a crude joke.

Shen Zhoudu seemed to understand everything about him. The moment Meng Weiyu began speaking, he immediately reached out and unexpectedly covered his mouth.

Meng Weiyu blinked innocently.

“Don’t say it!” Shen Zhoudu warned him sternly.

Meng Weiyu’s eyes curved with a smile. Then he placed one hand on the chair and leaned forward toward Shen Zhoudu.

Shen Zhoudu’s hand followed his movement and drew back in his own direction. All the emotions in his blue eyes behind the lenses were like ice about to be melted by the laughing summer wind.

“Hey.” Not only could he not speak, even breathing was becoming difficult.

Shen Zhoudu was bewitched by him and immediately lowered his hand.

Meng Weiyu met Shen Zhoudu’s gaze at close range. He intended to find a trace of affection in those blue eyes, or perhaps search his own heart for a hint of throbbing. Unfortunately, he found neither. There was only a stuffy, hot wind blowing against his heart, making it feel heavy. Then even his brain stopped working properly, leaving Meng Weiyu to remember a fleeting thought he had once had the first time he met Shen Zhoudu:

Such beautiful eyes. Brighter and more beautiful than any sapphire he had ever bought.

It would be nice if he could take them down and make them his own.

The idea was not bad. Unfortunately, those eyes were not real gems.

“Forget it. I’ll handle what I want to do myself. I don’t need your agreement.” Meng Weiyu stepped on one side of the slipper.

Shen Zhoudu reacted quickly and immediately stretched out his foot, stepping on the other side of the slipper.

Meng Weiyu: “…”

Silence was useless. If this was a contest of who could stay quiet, Meng Weiyu could never be Shen Zhoudu’s opponent.

“What are you doing?” Meng Weiyu hated this behavior of his to the bone. If his brain were not still abnormal right now, how could he possibly let someone bully him in a place like this?

Shen Zhoudu said something ridiculous with a serious face. “If you want a divorce, then I won’t give you the shoes.”

“I’m truly speechless.” Meng Weiyu clashed with him. His toes pressed tightly against the slipper, similarly unwilling to give up ownership of this pair of slippers. “These slippers were given to me by the hospital.”

“I paid for your hospital stay.” According to Shen Zhoudu’s understanding, that meant the ownership of these slippers belonged to him.

Meng Weiyu belonged to him too.

“Do you think I can’t afford to stay in the hospital?” Meng Weiyu found it laughable.

“You can afford it, but that doesn’t change the fact that I paid for your current hospitalization,” Shen Zhoudu said coldly.

“You really are strange.”

“Where?”

The two of them went back and forth, one sentence after another, without any pause in between. Their words were sharp and barbed, each repeatedly trying to gain the upper hand in the argument.

This made Meng Weiyu even more certain of his own guess. There must be some unspeakable reason why they got married.

“Why are you stopping me from getting divorced?” Meng Weiyu muttered in confusion.

“Aren’t you the strange one? Why would I divorce someone I like?” Shen Zhoudu stretched out his index finger and pointed at the person right in front of him. His tone was solemn and serious, as if he were standing inside a sacred church, making some extraordinary prayer.

Meng Weiyu froze.

Shen Zhoudu’s finger reached toward Meng Weiyu’s forehead. Just when Meng Weiyu thought he was about to be hit, that finger gently poked his forehead.

Even so, the unprepared Meng Weiyu still subconsciously tilted his head back a little.

His gaze missed Shen Zhoudu’s, and golden sunlight shot into his eyes. Meng Weiyu’s vision blurred for a moment. When his head returned to its original position, Shen Zhoudu had already moved his foot away, transferring ownership of the slipper to him.

He won again!

Meng Weiyu put on the slippers and immediately smiled.

Shen Zhoudu looked at his delighted expression. He did not know whether he should feel relieved that he could confirm this was indeed the seventeen-year-old Meng Weiyu, or regretful that if Meng Weiyu’s memories had to return to some point in the past, why did it have to be that spring when he was seventeen?

After putting on the slippers, Meng Weiyu lifted his head and happened to see Shen Zhoudu looking at him with a complicated gaze.

He opened his mouth and used a commanding tone to say, “Don’t look at me.”

The moment he said those words, Shen Zhoudu did not have time to think. Almost instinctively, he lowered his head. His gaze left Meng Weiyu’s face and fixed itself below his waist.

This was an instinct trained over many years.

He looked at the loose pants extending from beneath the blue-and-white hem of Meng Weiyu’s hospital gown, as well as his fair feet wrapped in the slippers. Because of the impact during the car accident, there were bruises on his thigh, making his skin appear so pale it was almost transparent.

This person had been pampered to the point that Shen Zhoudu was worried.

Just as Shen Zhoudu wanted to worry about his body a little more, a hand appeared in his line of sight and lifted his chin.

Shen Zhoudu’s pale blue eyes turned upward.

Meng Weiyu’s looks leaned toward beautiful delicacy. His eyes always seemed to smile, and he should have looked approachable, but the moment his lips pressed together, the smile instantly disappeared, releasing an arrogant and overbearing aura. Meng Weiyu lightly tapped his index finger beside Shen Zhoudu’s cheek. The threat in the gesture was obvious. Unhappily, he asked, “Where are you looking?”

“Weren’t you the one who told me not to look at you?” He was only obeying his order.

“You think looking at my crotch is better than looking at my face?” Meng Weiyu was about to be scared to death by this homosexual’s behavior.

“Then…” Shen Zhoudu stared fixedly at his face.

Meng Weiyu raised his hand with a headache and pressed his temple.

Shen Zhoudu’s body leaned slightly in his direction. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

“I’m not deliberately having this attitude.” Meng Weiyu wanted to explain. “But in my most recent memory, just a few hours ago, you, who had gotten first place in every subject, deliberately walked over from the other end of the corridor to flaunt your power in front of me. Now, in the blink of an eye, you want me to accept the fact that you and I are married. I really can’t do it.”

Not only could he not do it, but it had also triggered his self-protection instinct, making him attack anyone who came near him indiscriminately.

“It’s fine. That’s just your temper anyway.” Shen Zhoudu was used to it.

Meng Weiyu looked up at the sky and anxiously shook his foot. Since that was the case, he decided to lay his cards on the table and ask about the thing he had cared about the most a few hours ago.

“You should remember the start of senior year, right?”

“I remember.” Shen Zhoudu nodded.

“Your classroom was clearly on the other side of the corridor, and none of your subject teachers were on our side either. You still specially walked over. You did it on purpose, right?” Meng Weiyu had thought about this question for an entire morning.

He was so serious that Shen Zhoudu thought he might ask something important. Shen Zhoudu focused intently, but after hearing this childish question, the nerves that had been tense for two days suddenly relaxed. He lowered his head, and his bangs fell over the silver frame of his glasses, blocking his eyes.

“Hahahahaha.”

Shen Zhoudu’s sudden laughter startled Meng Weiyu. He laughed abruptly and put away his smile very quickly, closing his mouth and returning to his usual rigid appearance. Only this time, when he raised his head, his eyes were full of laughter. Then he decisively told him, “I did walk over on purpose.”

“Hehe.” Meng Weiyu sneered. As expected, he was an annoying ghost.

“The reason was…” This was the second time Shen Zhoudu explained this matter.

“Achoo.” A gust of wind blew past, and Meng Weiyu suddenly turned his head and sneezed, interrupting the thoughts of the person beside him.

“Let’s go back. The wind is strong now.” Distracted by him, Shen Zhoudu immediately set aside what he had originally wanted to say. “Your brain is already damaged. If the wind damages it even more, that would be worse.”

“Even if my brain gets more damaged now, I’d still be more clear-headed than I was when I married you.” He sighed from the bottom of his heart.

Unexpectedly, even after hearing such hurtful words, Shen Zhoudu had no reaction. “That’s your own problem. Stop being glib. Let’s go.”

Hearing his words, Meng Weiyu’s gaze dodged left and right. He said, “I still don’t want to go back.”

“At worst, I won’t mention our marriage anymore.” Shen Zhoudu was practically a worm in his stomach. With just a shift in Meng Weiyu’s eyes, he could guess what Meng Weiyu was thinking.

Hearing this, Meng Weiyu immediately turned his head to look at Shen Zhoudu and said seriously, “Then swear it.”

“Ha. You’ve made me swear so many times, but this is the first time the content has been so novel.” Shen Zhoudu sighed helplessly. Then he solemnly raised two fingers toward Meng Weiyu.

“You swear with three fingers.” Seeing his gesture, Meng Weiyu pulled up his ring finger as well.

Because of his movement, Shen Zhoudu smiled without leaving a trace.

His smile was so hidden and brief that Meng Weiyu did not notice it at all.

“I swear that without Meng Weiyu’s permission, I will absolutely never mention the fact that we are married again.” Although this was a fact that could not be changed.

“Fine.” Meng Weiyu temporarily believed him.

Shen Zhoudu stood up first. Then when Meng Weiyu got up, he casually helped him.

Because Meng Weiyu had been under the sun for too long, and his foot was injured to begin with, he failed to stand steadily for a moment and crashed into Shen Zhoudu’s arms.

“Don’t take advantage of me,” Shen Zhoudu said to him.

This was exactly why Meng Weiyu could not help suspecting that there had to be some hidden story behind their marriage. Forget the fact that the Shen Zhoudu in his memory and he disliked each other. Even now, Shen Zhoudu’s attitude toward him did not seem like that of a lover.

If he were to choose someone to spend his life with, it would definitely have to be… someone he liked very much. Otherwise…

It would have been better if Shen Zhoudu had not said anything. After he said that, Meng Weiyu reached out and patted his chest. Then he asked unhappily, “Why do you still have chest muscles?”

“Unlike a certain lazy person, I pay great attention to my health.” Shen Zhoudu had predicted all of his questions.

“Then it’s even more impossible for me to like you.” Meng Weiyu said this with relief. “My personal preference is flat chests.”

“That was during high school. After you went to university, your preferences changed.” His personality was like wind and rain. Thunder and rain in the morning, clear skies in the afternoon. Shen Zhoudu did not know where he got the confidence to believe he could maintain a preference for long.

“How do you know what happened during my university years?” Meng Weiyu’s hand was still hooked around Shen Zhoudu’s arm as he dragged his feet forward with difficulty.

When Shen Zhoudu heard his question and looked at his indifferent attitude toward him, this was the thing he found most regretful.

“Your current memory stopped in the spring at the beginning of senior year, right?”

“Yeah.” Meng Weiyu nodded.

“What a pity. If the memory you kept had extended two more months, Meng Weiyu, at that time, we were already best friends.”