Chapter 28 I Didn’t Mean to Kiss You

Chapter 28: I Didn't Mean to Kiss You

Cheng Ye set down the cake fork, looked up at Shen Xu across from him, took a deep breath, and advised him in a gentle tone:

“Honey, don’t do that again.”

Trying to pull that whole “lock you in” move, but forgetting the bathroom was separate from the bedroom—so he had to watch Cheng Ye hopping around desperate to pee. Turns out people really should read more. Shen Xu’s no exception, but only reading serious literature isn’t enough. Occasionally diving into some forced-proximity romance novels would do him good—at least for Cheng Ye’s bladder.

Shen Xu’s calm expression instantly darkened at Cheng Ye’s mildly lecturing tone. His brows knitted together.

“It’s not like I enjoy lying,” Shen Xu said, his voice turning cold, clear displeasure and accusation in it. “You go wherever, do whatever, and don’t tell me. You even lied that you were home. What, should I smile and praise you for that?”

“It’s not that I won’t tell you,” Cheng Ye immediately shot back, getting anxious. “It’s because you already have a bias against Jiang Shang’en. I figured if you heard I was with him, you’d overthink things and get angry, so I told a lie. Honey, I really didn’t mean to.”

He glanced at Shen Xu, sighed inwardly, then continued explaining: “You overthink everything, you’re always so suspicious. I swear to God, Jiang Shang’en and I are just friends. He’s been like an older brother to me all these years. If there were anything between us, it would’ve happened already. His taste is very specific, only into strong alphas. I’m just a beta, not at all his type. Besides, he has a really tough background—his parents divorced when he was young and abandoned him afterward. He’s been fending for himself since he was a kid, went through a lot of hardship. It wasn’t easy for him at all…”

As Cheng Ye spoke, recalling Jiang Shang’en’s story, his tone held sympathy and pity.

“You pity him,” Shen Xu interrupted abruptly, his voice flat but his gaze fixed on Cheng Ye. “Why don’t you pity me instead?”

Cheng Ye: “…?”

What’s there to pity you for? Cheng Ye almost blurted out.

He looked at Shen Xu—this alpha was born into privilege, a trust-fund kid, living in a villa, driving luxury cars, smooth sailing through life, studied abroad, came back to take over a massive family business. He was handsome, tall, often featured in business magazine interviews because of his face and family fortune. What was there to pity? It was more like envy.

The shock on Cheng Ye’s face was too obvious; Shen Xu saw it clearly. He gave a thin, humorless smile, leaned back against the sofa, and turned his gaze to the window.

“Do you remember that ‘godfather’ of mine?” he asked.

Cheng Ye’s heart gave a lurch.

How could he forget? His memory of Shen Xu’s so-called godfather was incredibly vivid. A tall, skinny old man with eyes as sharp as an eagle’s, a booming voice, and a terrible temper typical of an alpha.

Though they’d only met once, that old man had done nothing but find fault with and mock him, his own daughter-in-law, with sarcasm. The contempt and scrutiny in his eyes were hard to miss, making Cheng Ye’s skin crawl.

An absolutely awful old man. Cheng Ye had privately badmouthed him plenty to Jiang Shang’en—dressed all fancy but completely lacking manners, and he couldn’t control his pheromones.

“Yeah, I remember. That old man had quite the temper,” Cheng Ye muttered in displeasure.

Shen Xu’s gaze shifted back from the window to Cheng Ye’s face, his eyes dark and intense. He said each word deliberately:

“Actually, I’m his biological son.”

“…”

Cheng Ye’s eyes flew wide open; his mouth hung slightly agape as if spellbound.

“I was given away for adoption before I changed my surname to Shen,” Shen Xu added.

Cheng Ye’s brain completely short-circuited.

Biological, given away for adoption, surname change—these words whirled around in his head, forming a soap-opera-level dramatic family saga.

Generally, in TV dramas, anyone who uncovers a wealthy family’s dark secret never makes it to the finale.

At that thought, Cheng Ye lunged forward and slapped his hand over Shen Xu’s mouth. Lowering his voice, he shook his head in protest, saying: “Is this something you can just casually tell me?!”

The warmth of Shen Xu’s lips pressed against his palm, along with his hot breath, made Cheng Ye’s skin itch.

Without hesitation, Shen Xu opened his mouth and bit down on the edge of Cheng Ye’s hand—not hard, but not soft either.

“Ow—!”

Cheng Ye yelped and snatched his hand back as if burned. A slight tooth mark was left on the edge of his palm.

“Why can’t I say it?” Shen Xu sneered. “He can do it, so why can’t I say it? If I don’t say it, how would you ever know…” He paused, leaning forward until their noses brushed together, “how pitiful I am…”

From this distance, Cheng Ye could feel Shen Xu’s intense gaze. He tried to turn his head away, but Shen Xu followed, their noses rubbing affectionately in a way that looked like a deep kiss—one tilts, the other tilts too, constantly entangled.

So close—was he going to kiss? Cheng Ye dodged while guessing Shen Xu’s intentions. He closed his eyes and leaned in, only for Shen Xu to suddenly pull back, sitting upright, leaving Cheng Ye lurching forward into thin air.

Embarrassed by the failed kiss, Cheng Ye licked his dry lips and grumbled inwardly: If you weren’t going to kiss, why get so close… What’s wrong with you?

Shen Xu seemed pleased with his little prank and shot Cheng Ye a challenging smile. “I didn’t mean to kiss.”

“Me neither!”

Realizing Shen Xu was messing with him, Cheng Ye stubbornly insisted his lips were just dry from a lack of lip balm. He made to get up and pour himself a glass of water.

But Shen Xu grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Don’t go yet. I’m not done.”

There’s more?

Cheng Ye’s face fell. He only had one thought: Please, just stop talking. Telling me this kind of thing right when I’m about to leave? That’s ridiculous. Now that I know this secret, will I even be able to get away?

But Shen Xu seemed completely oblivious to his fear and panic, continuing as if it were the most natural thing.

“When a man’s rich, he likes to spawn a bunch of kids. To this day, I don’t know how many siblings I actually have. But I guess there’s something wrong with the family genes, or something else—not many of them managed to grow up healthy and alive.”

That many? Cheng Ye frowned. Like raising poisonous insects to eat each other? Pick the strongest as the heir?

“Unfortunately, later on, my dad… he couldn’t perform anymore. Couldn’t have kids.”

“He went impotent?”

Cheng Ye chimed in.

“Something like that. The medication messed up his body. That’s when he remembered me.”

By this point, Cheng Ye was completely stunned.

What is this? So melodramatic! A son given away as a gift, then remembered by his biological father because the old man lost his ability to have kids? What is this—a backup heir finally getting promoted?

“To be honest, I didn’t want to acknowledge him either,” Shen Xu’s voice dropped, laced with exhaustion and disgust. “But he threatened me with the business my adoptive parents left behind, forcing me to call him ‘godfather.’ I had just gotten my diploma and taken over the company when he came threatening me—that if I didn’t recognize him as my father, he’d destroy the Shen family business and ruin what my adoptive parents worked for. Cheng Ye, tell me, am I not pitiful?”

He looked at Cheng Ye with a hint of vulnerability in his eyes.

“He bullied me because my adoptive parents died early, leaving me without support. He sent me away like an object for his own gain, and now he wants to claim me back.” Shen Xu repeated, “Cheng Ye, am I not pitiful?”

Cheng Ye looked at Shen Xu. The man had shed part of his icy exterior, revealing his scars and weaknesses, begging for comfort. Cheng Ye’s white knight complex flared up. He patted Shen Xu on the shoulder and offered reassurance: “Look on the bright side—your adoptive parents were rich too and treated you well. And you’re still rich now.”

That was the greatest “comfort” Cheng Ye could muster. In his world, money solved ninety-nine percent of problems.

Maybe some people are just born with money. Like Shen Xu—adopted out to wealthy people, then blackmailed into recognizing a super-rich biological father.

But Shen Xu’s next words made Cheng Ye clench his back teeth so hard they nearly cracked.

Shen Xu looked at Cheng Ye, his gaze calm. "But I'm not interested in money."

Cheng Ye: "..."

If Shen Xu said, "I don't want a lot of money, I want a lot of love," Cheng Ye would swear he'd strangle him. No wonder people say wealthy families always produce romantics—they have too comfortable and rich a life, so they have to stir up some drama in their lives and go looking for love just to make themselves suffer.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm just telling the truth. I only say this because I have money. When I'm broke, I won't say such things anymore."

Shen Xu's words couldn't be more straightforward. Cheng Ye didn't know what else to say, thinking to himself, "So you rich folks actually know you're loaded, huh?"

"You can't be like this even if you're rich. Who compensates someone for a rear-end collision by buying them a whole new car? You could just fix it through insurance, but you had to buy him a new one. You got money to burn?"

Whenever this came up, Cheng Ye felt a pang of regret and started complaining to Shen Xu.

"But if I compensate him with a car, the next time you want to lie to me, you'll remember this car. So I think the money was well spent."

"Huh?"

Cheng Ye was baffled for a moment, carefully thought about the logic in those words, and still couldn't understand Shen Xu. His expression changed repeatedly, feeling that Shen Xu's biological dad must have some screws loose.

"Honey, I feel like it would be more worthwhile to spend that money on me."

Fixing that car would only cost a few tens of thousands, but buying a new one would be over two hundred thousand.

"But I think if I spend this money on you, you'll still lie next time and not learn your lesson."

Shen Xu pinched Cheng Ye's face with a hint of resentment. "Tell you what, invite Jiang Shang'en to our place, and I'll treat him to a meal. After all, he's your friend, and I shouldn't have given him attitude."

Seeing Shen Xu's attitude do a complete one-eighty, Cheng Ye's guard immediately went up and he declined politely: "He's timid and not familiar with you. He'd be embarrassed to come."

"What's there to be shy about? It's just a meal."

"He still has to work, he..."

"What job? Didn't he get fired too when he got into that fight with you? Didn't he tell you?"

"Huh? When did that happen?" Cheng Ye was taken aback again.

As soon as Shen Xu saw Cheng Ye's dazed expression, he knew Jiang Shang'en hadn't told him. "Let's do the day after tomorrow. It's a tough job market right now; he won't find work that fast. Tell him he doesn't need to bring anything—we have everything at home. It's just a simple meal to express my apology."

So Cheng Ye repeated Shen Xu's invitation to Jiang Shang'en verbatim.

There was a few seconds of silence on the phone, and then a shriek that nearly pierced Cheng Ye's eardrum exploded:

"He's inviting me to dinner? He's setting me up for a trap, isn't he?! I'm not going! Cheng Ye, you turn him down! Oh my god, last time I was in his car, he scared the living daylights out of me. Over my dead body!"

Cheng Ye's ears were ringing from the shout. He quickly moved the phone away and rubbed his temples, his head aching: "I told him no for you..."

On the other end, Jiang Shang'en's screech stopped instantly, and he breathed a sigh of relief: "Good thing you turned him down."

"But it didn't work."

"What do you mean it didn't work?" Jiang Shang'en's voice rose again, full of despair. "How could it not work?! Don't tell me you agreed for me?"

"Sort of agreed. But is he really as terrifying as you say?" Cheng Ye knew Jiang Shang'en was afraid of Shen Xu, but he didn't expect it to be this bad.

"What 'sort of'?!" Jiang Shang'en's voice had a sob in it. "Cheng Ye! You can't do this! You're throwing me to the wolves! I don't care—I didn't agree, and I'm not going!"

Cheng Ye sighed. He knew Jiang Shang'en wouldn't go, and was just thinking about how to explain to Shen Xu after hanging up, when he suddenly remembered what Shen Xu had said earlier. He quickly asked, "Oh, and one more thing. Were you also fired from the club last time?"

The other end of the line immediately fell silent.

After several seconds, Jiang Shang'en responded in a guilty, tentative tone, whispering back: "How... how did you know? Did the boss contact you?"

"Shen Xu told me."

"Shen Xu told you?" Jiang Shang'en's voice went up an octave. "No, how does he know that? Did he investigate me? Why would he be checking up on me?"

"Never mind how he knows. First, tell me, why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to work at that dump anyway. What's the point of telling you? You'd just blame yourself and think you dragged me into it. It's unnecessary. But I wasn't deliberately hiding it from you. I planned to tell you once I found another job. Who knew Shen Xu would tell you first?"

Jiang Shang'en's rambling voice came through the phone. Cheng Ye looked up at the ceiling, and when he looked back down, tears still slipped from the corner of his eyes. "The boss didn't pay me for that night, did he? You covered it with your own money, right?"

"Shen Xu told you that too?"

"I guessed."

Jiang Shang'en felt he had been tricked into revealing it, and stubbornly said, "You guessed wrong."

"Don't lie to me. The boss is so stingy, how could he have paid me?"

Seeing that Cheng Ye had already guessed, Jiang Shang'en stopped hiding it. "Fine, I won't lie to you. It's exactly what you thought. I didn't want to vent to you about it that night, so I told my boyfriend. Who knew that bastard, after hearing I lost my job last night, would be gone the next morning? I'm so mad! If I ever see him again, I'll kill him!"

Whenever that shifty-eyed alpha was mentioned, Jiang Shang'en was grinding his teeth in anger.

"How about I ask Shen Xu to look into him for you?"

"Really? But I'm not close to Shen Xu. Why would he help me?"

"Shen Xu is my husband."

"I know he's your husband, but he's not my husband!"

"..."

Cheng Ye felt that Jiang Shang'en might have been so pissed off by that bastard alpha that he wasn't thinking straight.

"Since Shen Xu loves snooping around so much, let him look into this. If we actually find that guy, I'll go with you to confront him. Not only did he lie to you, but he also swindled your money. Letting him get away is letting him off too easy."