Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Shen Yue and Edward spent more than one romantic and delightful afternoon and night together.

They were very compatible in bed, but they weren't constantly fixated on sex. In fact, Edward had a bit of a platonic streak; he wanted to prove that his love for Shen Yue was separate from sex. Therefore, most of the time, they simply cuddled and kissed rather than purely engaging in sex.

These past few days, Shen Yue did not return to the hotel, nor did he want to. He had been avoiding any contact with Wei Jinchuan. He hadn't expected that turning off his phone would actually work—no longer did he have to dread calls that might come at any time and that he couldn't refuse, nor face Wei Jinchuan in person and do things he didn't want to do. This period was perhaps the most relaxed he had felt since having that dream.

It wasn't until the National Day holiday was about to end that he had no choice but to board a flight back home.

Edward chose a bottle of perfume he thought suited Shen Yue perfectly as a farewell gift, helping him pack his bags with reluctance. "Do you really not need me to go back with you? I’ve never been to China."

For the past few days, Edward had kept bringing up wanting to go to China with Shen Yue. Yet Shen Yue, usually such a sharp person, seemed oblivious to these hints. He either asked if Edward had relatives there or expressed surprise that Edward would choose to find work in China, never mentioning a word about his own reasons. He had mastered the art of playing dumb to the extreme.

In truth, Shen Yue wasn't opposed to Edward visiting China; he simply didn't want the reason to be related to him. If Edward wanted to travel to China for sightseeing rather than to find him, Shen Yue would gladly help him with travel tips.

Shen Yue didn't take the bait, saying with a smile, "If you ever plan to travel to China, as your friend, I’ll definitely make time to show you around."

This was yet another polite refusal. Edward felt regretful and helpless. He smoothed Shen Yue’s collar and planted a gentle kiss on it. "I’ll come as soon as possible... I really hate being apart from you for so long."

As he spoke, Edward’s hand moved upward, and he couldn’t resist cupping Shen Yue’s face again.

His warm fingertips brushed against Shen Yue’s lips, wanting to leave a kiss there, but he was too reluctant to look away from the face he was about to part with, wanting to take a few more looks.

His gaze was full of affection. Shen Yue chuckled softly and, instead, tilted Edward’s chin and kissed him. "If you come to China, I’ll definitely be your tour guide."

"Just a tour guide?" Edward enjoyed this kiss that Shen Yue started, their lips brushing as he spoke, their breaths mingling in a way that was almost addictive. "I thought you’d be something else too."

"Like what?"

"Like this, for instance."

Edward raised his hand to cradle the back of Shen Yue’s head, pressing their foreheads together. "Yue, you have no idea how glad I am that I came back. Otherwise, I’d never have met you. I’ve said many impulsive sweet nothings to many people, but only with you do I understand the meaning behind those words."

Shen Yue smiled. "How many times have you said this to another man?"

"I couldn't tell you."

Edward replied earnestly. Whether he was a master of disguise or genuinely sincere, even as he admitted this wasn’t the first time he’d said such things, he still came across as trustworthy. "But I swear, this is the first time I’ve meant it."

The man repeatedly declared his feelings, his eyes deep and passionate, filled with an incurable infatuation.

Shen Yue stared at him for several seconds. "Feel free to come find me in China anytime. As your host, I’ll make sure to take good care of you."

"I’ve heard you say that so many times these past few days," Edward teased, giving a playful wink. "Now you’re my host?"

"Not just a host, but also a friend," Shen Yue lightly tapped his forehead, finally restoring a normal distance between them. "I’ve had a wonderful time. I’ll miss you when I’m back in China."

Edward: "I’ll come find you as soon as I can."

Shen Yue shook his head with a smile but said nothing.

Though he had enjoyed his time with Edward, he didn’t believe they would see each other again anytime soon.

The first thing Shen Yue did after passing through security was block Edward on WeChat.

He looked back at Edward, who was waving farewell outside the security checkpoint, and offered a polite, standard smile. The tenderness and warmth he had shown during their intimate moments were gone; even his smile looked formulaic.

In truth, he also felt a sense of regret and reluctance. After all, he genuinely liked Edward, and being with him had been easy and fun.

But Edward had grown serious.

It was strange. They were clearly two of a kind—both veterans of the dating scene, both skilled at playing with people's hearts.

How could they possibly talk about sincerity?

Outside the security checkpoint, Edward watched Shen Yue’s figure disappear, then picked up his phone and opened his chat with Shen Yue.

He looked at the mushy sweet nothings, his heart leaping with joy. He typed and deleted several times before finally composing a complete sentence: [What should I do? I already miss you, and we’ve only just parted.]

In his haste, he almost typed "miss" wrong. Edward chuckled at the word under his thumb and tapped send.

—A bright red exclamation mark appeared on the screen.

The moment he saw that vivid color, Edward was stunned. His arms and legs went weak, his ears rang, and his heart, which had been brimming with sweetness, suddenly skipped a beat. His mind went blank, his vision blurred, and he felt weightless, as if the solid ground had turned as soft as clouds.

After two or three seconds, Edward snapped back to reality. He jerked his head up toward the security checkpoint, where Shen Yue had long since vanished, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He truly "missed" his Yue now.

.

Shen Yue hadn’t told anyone his flight details.

Even though he knew it was inevitable that he would run into Wei Jinchuan after the holiday, he still chose the latest flight to minimize the chance of an early encounter.

After landing, the familiar surroundings brought on a vague unease. Shen Yue turned off airplane mode, and hundreds of messages popped up, almost too many to read.

Among them were numerous missed calls, mostly from Wei Jinchuan.

Shen Yue chose to ignore them, pretending not to see. He called his brother to say he was back but had no desire to talk to anyone else.

Just then, Zhao Lian’s call came through. Shen Yue accidentally answered it. It was too late to pretend he hadn’t seen it, so he reluctantly put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Holy shit, Yue'er, you finally picked up!"

Zhao Lian’s voice was worked up, with loud music and the clinking of glasses in the background. "What have you been up to these past few days? What happened with that guy from the Wei family? He’s frantically searching for you everywhere!"

Wei Jinchuan?

Shen Yue was puzzled. He put on his earphones and scrolled through Zhao Lian’s messages while responding. To avoid Wei Jinchuan, he had kept his phone off for days, which not only blocked Wei Jinchuan but cut off many other people too. Aside from Edward, he had virtually no contact with the outside world.

Zhao Lian’s messages started from two days ago. At first, they were just simple questions like asking where he was—only two or three messages, still normal enough.

But starting yesterday, the messages came in a flood. Zhao Lian used lots of question marks and exclamation points for emphasis, with "Where are you?" being the most common, followed by "They’ve all gone fucking crazy!" Mixed in were plenty of insults directed at Wei Jinchuan, showing how much grief he'd been given.

Shen Yue skimmed a few messages and figured out what was going on.

Unable to reach Shen Yue, Wei Jinchuan had been pestering everyone Shen Yue knew to ask where he was. He had even asked Wei Ziyu to inquire with Shen Yue’s brother, Shen Cuo. However, not only was Shen Cuo also unable to reach Shen Yue, but even if he could, he would never tell Wei Jinchuan.

Wei Jinchuan kept running into brick walls, but being the kind who doubled down when thwarted, he likely bombarded Zhao Lian the most, assuming he was close to Shen Yue.

Zhao Lian was at his wit's end. He already had issues with Wei Jinchuan, and now he was utterly fed up, wishing the guy had never been born.

At first, Zhao Lian hadn’t wanted to bother Shen Yue. But every time he blocked one of Wei Jinchuan’s numbers, a new one would call. Left with no choice, he began trying to reach his friend.

Little did he know that Shen Yue wasn’t just ignoring Wei Jinchuan—he wasn’t replying to Zhao Lian's messages either.

Zhao Lian cursed Shen Yue over and over in his head: "Why did you have to go and provoke him? I told you long ago that guy's no good... Whatever, where are you? Did you get home safely?"

Shen Yue slowly walked out of the airport while texting his driver to ask where he was: "Did Wei Jinchuan do anything to you?"

"What could he possibly do to me?" Zhao Lian said. "But it is pretty annoying, like I've been targeted by a swarm of telemarketers—my phone hasn't stopped buzzing. I even missed a message from my baby yesterday and still haven't managed to get back in their good graces."

After a pause, Zhao Lian probably also found the background noise too loud and moved somewhere quieter: "What about you? What exactly did you do to him? He's going crazy right now... You didn't fuck him, did you?"

"..." Shen Yue had always admired Zhao Lian's wild imagination. "How is that even possible?"

Zhao Lian let out a couple of skeptical "oh"s: "Then... did you try to force yourself on him again?"

Not being directly involved, Zhao Lian didn’t know about Shen Yue’s dream or how helpless Shen Yue actually felt toward Wei Jinchuan. His memory was still stuck on the times when Shen Yue had been openly and boldly trying to "forcefully take the civilian man," deliberately creating all sorts of coincidental encounters with Wei Jinchuan. Even though Shen Yue had repeatedly claimed he was giving up the chase, he’d gone back on his word so many times that, to Zhao Lian, it just sounded like sour grapes—mere talk because he couldn't get what he wanted, nothing to be taken seriously.

"Where is your mind going?"

As longtime friends, Shen Yue knew Zhao Lian well and immediately picked up on what he was thinking. He laughed, amused: "Is that really how you see me?"

"Not before," Zhao Lian replied earnestly and objectively. "Honestly, before you met that Wei kid, you were always a flower on a high peak in my eyes—admirable from afar but not to be trifled with."

Shen Yue couldn’t help but swear.

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about things that hurt our friendship," Zhao Lian said cheerfully. "Where are you now? You should be on your way home by now, right?"

He sounded so urgent that Shen Yue sensed something off: "What, are you planning to tip him off?"

"Screw you, what kind of person do you take me for?" Zhao Lian snapped impatiently. "I was trying to say, that Wei Jinchuan kid has been staking out the airport all day—he's probably trying to corner you. You haven’t run into him, have you? Anyway, be careful. I really think that guy’s not quite right in the head."

Shen Yue’s heart missed a beat: "What?"

"I mean—"

The voice on the other end grew frantic, the speed of his words picking up, but Shen Yue couldn’t hear a thing. All he felt was a ringing in his ears as a chill from an unknown source flooded through his limbs, as if pulling him into an ice cellar.

Right behind him, a hand leisurely took his phone. Zhao Lian’s voice in the earphones was cut off abruptly. Someone leaned close to Shen Yue’s ear, their voice deep and cold: "Long time no see."