Chapter 54: There’s a Second Man

Shen Zhoudu estimated how long Meng Weiyu’s follow-up appointment would take, timed it with his watch, and sent him a greeting message.

After two minutes, Meng Weiyu sent him a smiling emoji.

Shen Zhoudu: What does that mean?

Meng Weiyu: What else can a smiling face mean?

Shen Zhoudu: …

For some reason, Shen Zhoudu felt that Meng Weiyu’s current mood was too happy.

Meng Weiyu: Why aren’t you talking?

Shen Zhoudu’s hand rested on the keyboard, but he still had not thought of how to reply.

In the next instant, a call came directly to Shen Zhoudu’s phone.

Shen Zhoudu was startled. He suddenly stood up, answering the phone while quickly going to close the door.

“Hello.” Meng Weiyu’s gloomy voice came from the other side of the phone.

His tone directly revealed his bad temper for the first time in a long while. Shen Zhoudu really wanted to treat this matter seriously, but in reality, he could not help laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” Meng Weiyu became even angrier because of his attitude.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you directly say what you want to say and call me.” Then harass him.

Meng Weiyu could be said to be someone who was very easy to communicate with, but he truly was not a good-tempered person. The good part of his personality was that he would not casually throw tantrums at others, show them attitude, or harass them. His sense of space and distance surpassed ordinary people’s. Shen Zhoudu could clearly feel that he was indeed different from others to Meng Weiyu, because Meng Weiyu had begun breaking the boundary between them and would sometimes begin to harass him.

On the other side of the phone, Meng Weiyu had angrily made the call and had originally prepared himself to argue with Shen Zhoudu for a few sentences. But Shen Zhoudu’s sudden indulgence and relief made him fall silent.

“I just… was a little worried about you.” Meng Weiyu inexplicably began putting on an act, speaking in a soft tone. “Because you didn’t reply to my message for a long time, I was worried something happened to you. I couldn’t help quickly calling you.”

“I didn’t reply for a long time?” Shen Zhoudu almost thought his sense of time was different from Meng Weiyu’s. Although he had been silent just now, the frozen time absolutely had not exceeded one minute.

“It was quite long.” Meng Weiyu had plenty of twisted logic. “Most importantly, before, you replied to messages instantly. Then suddenly you stopped replying. That’s scarier than chatting with gaps the whole time.”

“That makes sense.” Shen Zhoudu deeply knew that if he argued with him, it would never end, so he quickly followed his words and admitted it. Then he changed the topic. “What happened? Did you encounter something happy at the hospital?”

“No.” Meng Weiyu denied it in one breath. “I just chatted with the doctor about some past events and mentioned my dad. Thinking of him, I regret not choking him to tears back then. I should have found a way to make him kneel and beg me, then throw a big stack of cash into the air and watch him pick it up one by one!”

The more he spoke, the more he gnashed his teeth.

“Cough, cough.” Shen Zhoudu discovered that he really was very sadistic.

“Shen Zhoudu,” Meng Weiyu called him.

“Mm.” Shen Zhoudu walked to the window and looked at the sunlight shining over the earth outside. Golden light spilled across the ground, signaling hope breaking through the dark clouds.

“My dad has his family, and my mom has hers too.” Meng Weiyu asked blankly, “Then whose child am I?”

Shen Zhoudu laughed.

“Laugh my ass.” Meng Weiyu’s attitude had originally been very serious.

“Xiao Yu, you are my family.” Shen Zhoudu turned around, the ring on his left hand reflecting the bright sunlight. “If you want to be someone’s child, then be mine.”

“…You really have too many ideas. If I’m your child, then who gave birth to me with you?” Meng Weiyu loved asking stupid questions.

Shen Zhoudu immediately answered, “That’s not what I meant.”

“Besides, I’m your dad!” Meng Weiyu had not forgotten this matter.

“Daddy,” Shen Zhoudu teased and called him.

Meng Weiyu was silent for a few seconds. He did not dare casually answer to this title, so he carefully asked, “This is only bedroom fun, right?”

“What else?” Did he look like he lacked a father that much?

“Wu, weird.”

“Many men can be dads, but only men who are rich in control, possess charm, and are yearned for by men can be daddy.”

Meng Weiyu was coaxed happy again and could not help making various unclear sounds.

“Then, is my daddy a little happier now?” Shen Zhoudu had deliberately teased him to make him happy.

“So-so.” Although Meng Weiyu said this, his tone had clearly become much lighter and happier.

“Making an old man kneel and pick things up has no viewing value.” Since Meng Weiyu’s mood was no longer bad, Shen Zhoudu circled around and entered the main topic. “Why not…”

“You really are a complete masochist.” Meng Weiyu interrupted him.

“What about you?” Shen Zhoudu asked him.

Meng Weiyu did not directly answer his question. Instead, he asked, “Are you alone right now?”

“Yes. It’s lunch break now. I’m not that much of a workaholic.” Shen Zhoudu’s working style was different from Meng Weiyu’s. He was the kind of workaholic who eased things properly and reasonably distributed work and rest time.

“Good.” Meng Weiyu understood the situation. He used a commanding tone and said to Shen Zhoudu, “Now kneel for me.”

Shen Zhoudu froze.

“Didn’t you call me daddy?” Meng Weiyu’s calm voice rang out again. “Isn’t this what you want now? Kneel.”

“Okay.” Shen Zhoudu knelt behind the curtain.

“Then do it yourself.” Meng Weiyu coldly gave him another instruction.

“Cough, here…” Shen Zhoudu wanted to tell him that actually, he had not locked the door properly, and the curtains were not completely closed either.

“Did I let you speak?” Meng Weiyu was clearer than anyone that some refusals were behavior done to receive punishment.

Shen Zhoudu fell silent.

“If you don’t do it, I’m hanging up.” Meng Weiyu was not threatening him. He was simply informing him of his decision.

“Okay.”

Meng Weiyu clearly heard the sound of the metal buckle on a belt through the phone. After that came a burst of suppressed moans. He could hear so clearly, of course, because Shen Zhoudu had been holding the phone the whole time.

“Good boy.”

“You…”

After some time, the call hung up.

That night, Shen Zhoudu worked overtime until ten before arriving home.

When he opened the door, the house was silent.

He narrowed his eyes warily.

When a child was quiet, he must be causing trouble.

Shen Zhoudu changed into slippers and turned to enter the house to look for him.

“Xiao Yu, Xueci?” Why was there not even a cat coming to greet him today?

Shen Zhoudu pressed his lips together gloomily, rather unhappy about this.

Just as he planned to search the house everywhere, the lights in the living room suddenly all went out.

At first, Shen Zhoudu thought there was a power outage, but outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the lights were still bright. He immediately guessed who was messing with him. After a long period of overtime, he called out somewhat tiredly, “Xiao Yu.”

The lights lit up again. Then a burst of hurried footsteps ran behind Shen Zhoudu.

“What are you doing again…” Shen Zhoudu’s weak voice abruptly stopped.

Meng Weiyu stood behind him, holding a huge bouquet of roses, his eyes shining brightly as he looked at him.

“Mm… mm… ah…” For a moment, Shen Zhoudu actually did not know what reaction he should make.

“For you.” Meng Weiyu stuffed the flowers into his arms, then shyly lowered his head, performing on-site the shyness and recklessness that a pure male university student should have.

“Thank you.” Shen Zhoudu accepted the flowers. Thinking of Meng Weiyu’s character, he was very worried that some prank mechanism would be hidden in this bouquet.

Only after he held the flowers in his arms and nothing happened did he relax.

Except this bouquet was truly tied too solidly, and there were too many flowers. Shen Zhoudu, who had not mentally prepared himself at first, nearly had his hands sink from the weight.

Meng Weiyu stared tightly at his face, smiling happily as he asked, “Do you like it?”

This really was Meng Weiyu.

When they had first started dating, he would only give Shen Zhoudu things that most girls liked. Moreover, his understanding of a good gift was that the more money was spent, the better the thing was.

“I like it.” Shen Zhoudu first happily accepted the hard-earned gift. Then, belatedly, his smile disappeared, and he directly asked, “This can’t be the reward for obediently listening today, right?”

If that was the case, then Meng Weiyu really was a complete stingy ghost.

Meng Weiyu and Shen Zhoudu were separated by the large, obstructive bouquet of roses. He originally wanted to tiptoe closer to Shen Zhoudu, but because the flowers were too big, even the long-limbed Meng Weiyu had no way to successfully reach Shen Zhoudu.

“One moment.” Meng Weiyu snatched the roses from Shen Zhoudu’s arms.

Shen Zhoudu: “…”

Tonight’s Meng Weiyu was too strange, so Shen Zhoudu no longer wanted to think about the meaning behind each of his actions.

Meng Weiyu first placed the roses on the floor, then clapped his hands, shaking off the fine glitter from the wrapping paper. Then he strode toward Shen Zhoudu, pressed down on his head, and kissed him.

Shen Zhoudu closed his eyes and enjoyed Meng Weiyu’s heated yet clumsy kiss.

When the kiss ended, a silver thread broke between them. Meng Weiyu looked closely at Shen Zhoudu’s blue eyes and, for some reason, felt a little shy. He hurriedly picked up the roses from the floor again and handed them to Shen Zhoudu.

“Thank you.” Shen Zhoudu smiled and accepted them.

Meng Weiyu received his thanks, but he was not very satisfied with this reaction. He stood in front of Shen Zhoudu and anxiously stepped on the slippers under his feet.

“They’re really too heavy. I’ll put the flowers on the table first.” Shen Zhoudu said this to him because if he did not put the flowers down soon, his hands would probably be sore when he woke up tomorrow.

“I specially went to the best flower shop and had them tie all the roses together.” Meng Weiyu took credit.

“I’m very happy.” At the same time, he was also moved. Even with memory loss, Meng Weiyu was still true to himself. How could Meng Weiyu replicate exactly the same behavior from seven years ago?

“But you don’t look very happy.” Meng Weiyu was good at observing other people’s emotions.

“I really am very happy.” Shen Zhoudu laughed, then faced Meng Weiyu and stretched out his fingers, touching his chest and stroking it up and down. “You know, I’m really not good at expressing myself in an exaggerated way. So you have to listen clearly. I really am very happy. Everything I say is true. You only need to believe the words from my mouth.”

“Then fine.” Meng Weiyu accepted his explanation.

“What happened?” Shen Zhoudu’s hand was still on his chest, tracing his outline in an erotic way. “When something unusual happens, there must be a demon.”

Out of nowhere, why did he send flowers?

“Did you cause trouble again?” What did he do this time? Tear the house down? Or did he simply not go to the company today?

“It’s just that I really wanted to give you something.” Meng Weiyu had always belonged to the type of person who did whatever he thought of. He wanted to give Shen Zhoudu a gift, so after work, he immediately carried out the thought filling his mind.

Unfortunately, he was still Meng Weiyu, but Shen Zhoudu was no longer the university student Shen Zhoudu. When they were the same age, Meng Weiyu could guess what Shen Zhoudu liked and buy it for him. But the current Shen Zhoudu looked like he could immediately buy whatever he needed himself. Meng Weiyu did not have much room to show off.

At least, Shen Zhoudu did not hate flowers.

Meng Weiyu could only make a conservative choice.

“Why?” Shen Zhoudu pressed.

“Why are there so many whys?” Meng Weiyu gradually grew impatient.

“I thought you would say it was because you liked me, so you wanted to give me a gift.” Shen Zhoudu’s fingers slipped under Meng Weiyu’s shirt hem and traced over his stomach.

Meng Weiyu shivered.

“Hahahaha.” Shen Zhoudu laughed happily.

Meng Weiyu discovered in disbelief that this was the reaction he wanted.

Shen Zhoudu touching him, Shen Zhoudu assuming on his own that Meng Weiyu had fallen for him, and Shen Zhoudu’s sincere smile.

“This afternoon, I did everything as you said.” Shen Zhoudu brought up the old matter again.

“I know.” He had heard it all.

“Do you have anything else you want to say?” Shen Zhoudu invited him to express his next thoughts.

Meng Weiyu cursed him, “Damn masochist.”

Hearing this, Shen Zhoudu immediately pounced on him and pushed him down on the sofa, sentencing him to the death penalty of overwhelming kissing.

“I am a masochist.” Between kisses, a certain shameless person admitted his own trait.

Meng Weiyu’s legs curled up. Unable to struggle, he finally gave up and hung them over the edge of the sofa.

It was already very late. After flirting with Meng Weiyu for a while, Shen Zhoudu finally remembered that he needed to take a bath.

When he came out of the bathroom wearing pajamas, Meng Weiyu was already lying stiff and straight on the bed.

Shen Zhoudu was amused by him. While drying his damp hair, he asked, “Did your treatment at the hospital go smoothly today?”

This morning, when he contacted Meng Weiyu, he had originally wanted to ask about this matter. In the end, Meng Weiyu interrupted with all sorts of things, and he had pushed this matter to the back of his mind.

“It went very smoothly.” Meng Weiyu raised an eyebrow and confidently told him, “When I was waiting for Lin Xiao to pick me up, someone even hit on me.”

“That’s very normal.” Meng Weiyu only needed to stand casually in one place for a little longer, and someone would definitely come hit on him.

“It was even a young and beautiful university student.” When Meng Weiyu said this, he deliberately swept a picky gaze up and down Shen Zhoudu.

Shen Zhoudu originally wanted to walk around him and find the hair dryer to dry his hair. When he heard Meng Weiyu say such heartless words, he walked straight toward him without hesitation and suddenly pressed down on him.

“You’re so heavy…” Meng Weiyu wailed.

Shen Zhoudu sat on the blanket and scolded him, “You’re too heartless. I was once a university student too. All my youthful years were even wasted on you.”

“Don’t use the word wasted. It sounds too heavy.” Heavier than Shen Zhoudu’s words was Shen Zhoudu’s body weight.

“Besides, what university student can have this kind of body?” Shen Zhoudu raised his hand and took off his shirt in one motion.

Meng Weiyu’s eyes instantly locked onto his upper body.

“Cough.” After doing such an active thing, Shen Zhoudu felt a little embarrassed.

The main reason was that the current Meng Weiyu reacted to his body.

“You know it’s embarrassing, but you still do this kind of thing.” Meng Weiyu discovered his face was both thin-skinned and thick-skinned.

Shen Zhoudu leaned down and hugged him, pressing his face hard into his chest.

Meng Weiyu once again had the illusion that he was about to be murdered by pectoral muscles.

When Meng Weiyu was having trouble breathing, Shen Zhoudu finally discovered his conscience, let him go, and went to dry his hair directly with his upper body bare.

“That’s not right. Why aren’t you jealous?” Meng Weiyu had specifically told Shen Zhoudu about his romantic encounter today just to see his twisted, angry expression.

“You’re not suited to someone too young,” Shen Zhoudu said with confidence. He believed his position as the main palace was stable.

“What about someone older than me?” Meng Weiyu asked.

“Someone three months older is fine.” Shen Zhoudu pointed at himself.

Meng Weiyu shushed him.

Shen Zhoudu smiled.

Meng Weiyu’s eyes could not move away from his face.

“Is there anything else you want? I’ll buy it for you.” Meng Weiyu’s way of expressing love was this monotonous.

“Having you is enough.” Shen Zhoudu tidied his hair.

“I understand. You mean you dislike my taste in choosing gifts.” Meng Weiyu hit the nail on the head.

Shen Zhoudu: “…”

Meng Weiyu lay spread-eagled on the bed. He very much wanted to occupy the entire bed completely and leave no room for Shen Zhoudu to lie down. Unfortunately, this bed was too big. Even if he were twice as large, he would not be able to completely occupy it.

“Don’t keep changing the topic.” Shen Zhoudu sat down on the other side of the bed and glanced at Meng Weiyu. “How did seeing the doctor go today?”

“It really wasn’t anything.” Meng Weiyu simply confessed honestly. “I just told the doctor about the trigger and scene of me recovering my memories up to age twenty.”

“Hmph.” Shen Zhoudu listened for now.

“Shen Zhoudu,” Meng Weiyu called him.

“What?” Shen Zhoudu lay down on the bed and prepared to turn off the lights.

“Do you still remember when I was twenty, at the mall near Grandpa’s place, on a rainy day, and you came to pick me up?” Meng Weiyu asked him.

“I remember.” Shen Zhoudu had a very good memory. “At that time, I got several bags of seafood from my mom and called you. Then you suddenly cried messily on the phone. I asked you to send me your address. After I picked you up, we ate seafood at my place. At first, you ate while crying. Later, you only remembered to eat.”

Shen Zhoudu, who had personally witnessed the whole process, had been dumbstruck at the time. He had never imagined Meng Weiyu’s emotional fluctuations could be so great.

“It was raining very heavily then. I was concerned about your safety, so I told you not to come over, and I even emphasized that even if you didn’t come, it wouldn’t affect our friendship.” Meng Weiyu combined what he had said and what he had thought in his heart. Many years later, he confessed it for the first time.

Shen Zhoudu looked at Meng Weiyu meaningfully, then turned off the lights.

“Hey! What do you mean!” Meng Weiyu saw his gaze.

“Sleep.” Shen Zhoudu did not explain.

“What did you want to say?” Controlled by curiosity, Meng Weiyu rolled from the other side of the bed to Shen Zhoudu’s side.

Shen Zhoudu stretched out his hand, wrapped it around his shoulder, and prepared to sleep.

“Oh right, in three days I still have to go to the hospital again. The doctor wants to chat with me more while I’m obediently cooperating.” He reported his schedule.

“I know.”

Meng Weiyu did not return to his original spot. Instead, he lay beside Shen Zhoudu like this and fell asleep directly.

If Shen Zhoudu had not been too tired today, he would probably have been so frightened he could not sleep.

The next morning, Shen Zhoudu got up first to go to work. Before leaving the house, he saw the large bouquet of roses on the living room table and could not help walking over, reaching out to touch the petals.

This was actually a gift from Meng Weiyu.

Unbelievable.

Only then did Shen Zhoudu belatedly react.

Moreover, Meng Weiyu had taken the initiative to approach him last night.

It was truly beautiful to the point of feeling unreal.

The last time he had this feeling was when Meng Weiyu accepted his proposal.

But there was no problem with this process. Back then, this was exactly how he had dated Meng Weiyu. As long as he walked the process again, Meng Weiyu would definitely be like the things that had happened in the past: fall in love with him, agree to maintain their marriage, and then continue their previous life.

Aside from what happened that night, Shen Zhoudu passed another ordinary three days.

This day was the day Meng Weiyu went to the hospital for a follow-up. This time, he chose the afternoon to see the doctor.

Shen Zhoudu had already scheduled overtime tonight, so he had no way to pick him up.

Meng Weiyu behaved as if going to the hospital was only a minor matter. After seeing the doctor, he could go straight home himself and then wait at home for Shen Zhoudu to return.

Shen Zhoudu was coaxed by his short message until bubbles rose in his heart.

That night, after Shen Zhoudu finished a meeting that ended at nine, he prepared to find a restaurant to eat.

“Do you want to go eat together?” A man who looked a little wooden walked toward Shen Zhoudu and very naturally made the suggestion.

“Lexing.” Shen Zhoudu directly called his name. This person was the friend Shen Zhoudu had mentioned before, the one he knew from university. Today’s meeting was related to his company, so he had come to attend.

“The restaurant is a little far, but the taste really isn’t bad.” Chu Lexing smiled.

He and Shen Zhoudu interacted casually.

“Let’s go.” Shen Zhoudu did not want to spend effort looking for a place to eat.

Chu Lexing chatted with him and naturally gossiped about the previously raging divorce rumors between Meng Weiyu and Shen Zhoudu.

Because the two trusted each other’s character, Shen Zhoudu simply told him Meng Weiyu’s actual situation and, while he was at it, showed off that he had received a huge bouquet of roses three nights ago.

“Hahahaha.” Chu Lexing was used to hearing all kinds of showing off about Meng Weiyu from him, so he laughed it off.

“I was too tired that night, so I didn’t think much about it.” Shen Zhoudu was suspicious by nature. Before reaching a reasonable guess, his brain would keep turning nonstop. “Why exactly did he suddenly give me flowers?”

“He suddenly discovered that you’re very good, maybe.” Chu Lexing approached it from the angle of ordinary human feelings.

“And?” Shen Zhoudu casually asked.

“Guilty conscience from cheating.” Chu Lexing wanted to make a joke.

Shen Zhoudu fell silent.

Chu Lexing’s expression stiffened. Embarrassed, he turned his head to look at Shen Zhoudu and explained, “I was talking nonsense.”

Shen Zhoudu still did not respond. His gaze was fixed in a certain direction, and his teeth forcefully bit his lower lip.

Chu Lexing followed his gaze.

Inside the restaurant they were about to enter, at the seat by the window, sat two eye-catching men. One was dazzlingly beautiful. Under the light, his fair face was so perfect it seemed unreal. There was a faint smile on his face, his attitude relaxed and confident. He had one leg crossed and was drinking wine from a glass.

Sitting across from him was a younger man, full of youthful energy and delicate like a flower blooming in the early spring morning.

The young man chattered nonstop, working hard to coax the other person happy.

And the other person was indeed smiling.

“That person is… Meng Weiyu?” Chu Lexing had never interacted with Meng Weiyu, but he would not mistake his face.

Meng Weiyu possessed a beauty that could blind people within hundreds of meters.

“Who’s the other one?” Chu Lexing asked Shen Zhoudu.

“I don’t know him.” Shen Zhoudu said three short words, and the dark aura around him grew dense. He looked fierce and menacing, giving off the impression that he would directly walk over and smash a chair onto his love rival.

“Cough, cough.” Chu Lexing had not expected his words to come true.

Meng Weiyu really had a second man!