Chapter 4

It was almost nine in the evening when Xu Yan packed up to leave work. These past few days he'd nearly finished the handover—the day after tomorrow he'd officially leave the job. Feeling light, he planned to grab a late-night snack, then go home and brew sobering soup.

Walking along the road where traffic streamed past, Xu Yan had one hand in his pocket and the other wrapped around a cup of hot coffee, idly mulling over what to pack for the late-night snack—Shen Zhi might eat some too... Passing a French restaurant, he glanced over. The wide curved driveway stretched to the restaurant entrance. Xu Yan remembered that this place's white caviar was especially good; he'd mentioned it to Shen Zhi, said they should come eat here when they had time—Shen Zhi of course just responded coldly, hadn't taken it to heart at all.

Xu Yan watched for a moment, just about to turn back, when he saw someone coming out through the main door. The restaurant was brightly lit; Xu Yan stood under a tree by the roadside, a tall yellow streetlamp overhead casting a pale, mottled pattern of tree shadows on the ground. He saw a server push the door open, a few middle-aged people walked out smiling, then Shen Zhi—and a girl, walking side by side behind them.

Xu Yan recognized Shen Zhi's parents; the other two were presumably the girl's parents. The group stood outside the restaurant waiting for the driver to bring the car around. Xu Yan really hated how good his eyesight was—seeing every smile on every face so clearly, including Shen Zhi's. The person who was always expressionless and coldly impatient with him actually wasn't stingy with his smiles in front of other people.

With a crackle, the streetlamp overhead malfunctioned and went out, as if the single spotlight on stage that had been following Xu Yan had disappeared. The coincidence at this moment was almost uncanny. Xu Yan stood quietly under the tree shadows, watching them each get into their cars—Shen Zhi and the girl got into the same one. Xu Yan shifted his somewhat numb legs, dazedly oriented himself, then started walking forward again, casually tossing the now-cold coffee into a trash can.

The light went out—no matter, no matter. All along, the whole stage had only him performing a one-man show anyway, no audience, so let it go out. If anything, it spared him some face, still polite—but Xu Yan got off too easy too soon. He'd barely rounded the street corner when headlights lit up behind him. Xu Yan turned and saw a two-tone Mulsanne driving toward him, slowly stopping by the roadside. The car door opened, and Shen Zhi's mother, Meng Yuwan, stepped out.

Shen Zhi's father Shen Ming was also in the car, but presumably didn't want to talk to Xu Yan, so he couldn't be bothered to get out. Meng Yuwan adjusted her shawl; the noblewoman radiated refinement even down to the strands of her hair. Xu Yan looked at her and thought: look, this is the mother of the person I love—so beautiful, so elegant, that's why she gave birth to such a fine son as Shen Zhi, with a heart harder than diamond.

'Auntie.' Xu Yan called her.

This was the first time he'd spoken to Meng Yuwan. Normally, both sides just knew of each other's existence—that was the extent of the relationship.

Apart from anything concerning Shen Zhi, Xu Yan never did other thankless tasks. Once, overhearing Shen Zhi on the phone with Meng Yuwan, when she said 'I truly didn't expect you to find a man like this,' he understood her attitude and had no intention of trying to change it—useless.

'You saw just now too.' Meng Yuwan went straight to the point. 'Shen Zhi has been at the Company for two years now, and various matters are gradually being handed to him. What kind of responsibilities he'll have to bear in the future, I believe you're very clear on.'

'I'm clear on it,' Xu Yan said.

'That's good then.' Meng Yuwan smiled. 'I hadn't planned to spell things out, but now the relationship between the two families has reached this point. The other side also knows about you and Shen Zhi. They're not bothered by a young person's past—they only hope that from now on Shen Zhi's side can be clean, no messy people left around. After all, everyone is doing this for face.'

Right, right—reality was just like this. Mutual achievement and alliance, relying on marriage to build stable chains of interest. Moreover, a well-matched couple of equal standing—the surface pairing alone was already successful enough. Feelings like that were naturally pushed to the very end, could even be ignored. That was the self-awareness of adults and businessmen.

Xu Yan nodded. 'You're absolutely right.'

Meng Yuwan seemed quite satisfied with Xu Yan's self-awareness. Her expression softened. 'Although I never imagined my son would take a man as a bedmate, since you've already lived together this long, I can't be bothered to pursue it further. Before Shen Zhi's engagement, please leave as soon as possible. You can state your conditions—I'll do my best to meet them.'

Bedmate—quite a fresh title, another heavy blow after 'messy person.'

But come to think of it, Shen Zhi had indeed never indicated their relationship in any setting. Xu Yan now wondered if he'd gotten it wrong from the very beginning—maybe Shen Zhi really wasn't in a romantic relationship with him, but had simply found a fool who combined the roles of Bao Mu, cleaner, cook, and bedmate, keeping him around for four years without investing any feelings.

Xu Yan looked up for a few seconds. No stars tonight.

At this rate, he was afraid Meng Yuwan would come out with that famous line: 'Here's five million, leave my son.'

He lowered his head, looked at Meng Yuwan, and said: 'Hello, Auntie. First—Shen Zhi and I are not bedmates. What exactly we are, I'm not too clear on right now myself, but personally I don't think any bedmate would cook, do laundry, and clean for the other person—unless he's an idiot. Though maybe I am one.'

'Second, I don't know what you were planning to pursue, but I really didn't hold a gun to Shen Zhi's head and force him to live with me. I have a clear conscience toward Shen Zhi. I never made him do any work, never made him worry about anything outside of work. If you insist I'm at fault somewhere, it's probably that I'm too annoying—Shen Zhi says so too.'

'Third, you asking me to state conditions is really too polite. Although I'm not as capable as Shen Zhi in every respect, the shares in my family's company are enough for the rest of my life. If you've looked into me, you should be clear on this.'

'Fourth.' Xu Yan glanced at his phone. 'Thank you so much for being so patient, listening to all this nonsense from me, but I have work tomorrow—it's a bit late now, so I'll head back first.'

After he finished, he politely bent and nodded to Meng Yuwan, then turned and walked away.

'You—'

Xu Yan heard Meng Yuwan's somewhat exasperated voice, but he couldn't be bothered to respond. He loved Shen Zhi, so he could lower himself infinitely to please him—but he didn't love Shen Zhi's mother. Why force himself to be wronged? This wasn't some tacky mother-in-law drama; there was no reason for it.

Back home, Xu Yan showered and lay in bed scrolling through his phone. No need to brew sobering soup—Shen Zhi clearly hadn't been drinking. Besides—the one who needed to sober up was himself. It had always been that way.

Not long after, Shen Zhi came back—he must have already dropped the girl off. He entered the room, saw Xu Yan leaning against the bed with his eyes closed, so walked closer, probably to check if he'd fallen asleep sitting up. But Xu Yan suddenly opened his eyes, stared at him very directly, and said outright: 'At the restaurant entrance, I saw everything.'

He wasn't the type to hide things, nor did he like creating misunderstandings and being melodramatically tangled up over them. Although the possibility of a misunderstanding here was microscopically small, he still wanted to get their stories straight with Shen Zhi, to avoid any future bitterness or regret. He'd really tried—tried until now. He should at least give himself a result, an answer.

Shen Zhi's footsteps paused, then he said: 'What do you mean.'

This person was really strange—every time he could throw the question back, making it seem like Xu Yan was the one being unreasonable.

'What could I mean.' Xu Yan smiled. 'Just wanted to ask how far along you two are, so I can clear some space for you.'

Shen Zhi's face was expressionless. He turned and walked into the walk-in closet, saying: 'Nothing's been decided yet. Don't overthink it.'

Nothing decided yet—such a circuitous answer, truly full of infinite possibilities.

Xu Yan couldn't be bothered to figure out how many times the two families had already been in contact before tonight. The person sharing his pillow every day was about to walk down the aisle—although it was only a business marriage. Xu Yan no longer hated his good eyesight. If he'd been blind tonight and walked right past, the outcome would have been getting a kick-out notice right before Shen Zhi's engagement, being swept out the door in disgrace—that would have been truly ugly.

He looked at Shen Zhi's back and asked: 'Should I not overthink it? You've already met each other's parents.'

'That doesn't represent anything either.' Shen Zhi said. 'Just do your own thing.'

Keep being my workhorse and that's fine, you don't have the right to manage anything else—Xu Yan guessed that was the implication. Actually, no need to dig into the implication; Shen Zhi's attitude said it all.

'Alright.' Xu Yan flattened his pillow and said, 'Then I'll sleep first.'