The Q&A session concluded, and readers lined up for autographs. Shen Mu signed only his name, omitting any personal messages, so the line moved quickly.
Zhuang Yusheng and Xu Siming didn’t join the crowd. In fact, Zhuang Yusheng had wanted to leave immediately, but he was still holding onto the message Shen Mu had sent that morning: Shen Mu had booked a Michelin-starred restaurant and planned to take him out for a lavish meal after the signing.
It went without saying that he had likely booked a hotel room as well, just waiting for the chance to get intimate with Zhuang Yusheng.
Shen Mu had already noticed Xu Siming, in the brief intervals between signing books, he glanced over occasionally, his gaze gentle and a smile playing on his lips, looking as impeccable as ever. Yet, his signing speed had noticeably quickened. Zhuang Yusheng guessed he was harboring a burning question: why was Xu Siming here?
Once the last reader had been served and the staff began clearing away the materials, the two men finally stepped forward. Shen Mu asked warmly, “Siming, what brings you here?”
“Just came to take a look,” Xu Siming replied.
“Did Xiao Yu bring you along?” Shen Mu asked, smiling at Zhuang Yusheng.
Zhuang Yusheng kept it brief: “He insisted on coming.”
Xu Siming didn’t deny it.
The three of them harbored their own private thoughts, and the conversation didn’t go any further.
Shen Mu adjusted his glasses, accepting the fact that Xu Siming was intruding on their lunch plans. He spoke with his usual composure, “That works out well. Then, I’ll treat you both to lunch.”
Zhuang Yusheng didn’t mind either way as long as Xu Siming prevented him from being alone with Shen Mu, that was enough. But to his surprise, Xu Siming flatly refused. “No thanks, Uncle. We have other plans.”
“What plans?” Shen Mu asked.
“Lunch.” Xu Siming took hold of Zhuang Yusheng’s wrist. “We’re heading off now.”
Declining an elder’s treat in favor of a private meal for two sent a clear message: Elders shouldn’t meddle in the younger generation’s affairs.
Moreover, this lunch had originally been intended for Shen Mu and Zhuang Yusheng alone. Xu Siming’s intervention effectively hijacked the plan, leaving Shen Mu as the odd man out.
The smile on Shen Mu’s face faded. As he watched the two of them holding hands, the light caught his glasses, obscuring his eyes in a hazy, indistinct glare. Zhuang Yusheng was a bit baffled. He didn’t know when exactly he and Xu Siming had become ‘us.’ Not wanting to appear complicit with Xu Siming or have Shen Mu think he was playing games, he feigned a backward glance with an innocent expression. However, Xu Siming noticed him looking at Shen Mu, tightened his grip on Zhuang Yusheng’s hand, and quickened his pace.
Zhuang Yusheng stumbled, nearly colliding with Xu Siming’s shoulder. He muttered a complaint “I can walk on my own” but Xu Siming didn’t let go until they were out of the bookstore.
As soon as they stepped outside, Zhuang Yusheng’s phone chimed with a WeChat notification. Sure enough, it was a message from Shen Mu: [What is he doing??]
Shen Mu rarely used double question marks, a clear sign of just how furious he was.
Even though Zhuang Yusheng enjoyed keeping people in suspense, a message like that required a reply. However, before he could come up with an excuse, Xu Siming’s voice sounded beside him: “My uncle?”
Zhuang Yusheng raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly. Realizing the situation, he put his phone away for the moment. “Yeah.”
The street was bustling with people, and they were attracting too much attention to talk freely. Xu Siming glanced around, unable to think of a destination, so he simply asked Zhuang Yusheng, “What were you two planning to eat?”
“Three-star Michelin,” Zhuang Yusheng said. In truth, he wasn’t sure exactly how many stars it had, he hadn’t asked but he certainly aimed high with his answer.
Naturally, it was impossible to get a reservation on such short notice, so Xu Siming took Zhuang Yusheng to a crab specialty restaurant where the average bill exceeded a thousand yuan per person. He didn’t bother asking for Zhuang Yusheng’s opinion, assuming correctly that Zhuang Yusheng wouldn’t be splitting the bill.
Inside the dimly lit restaurant, the only bright light came from the crab tanks. A waiter quietly led the way, and the private room offered a serene, tranquil atmosphere.
Freshly prepared Red King Crab was served in various styles, with the low table crowded by exquisite cookware and refined tableware, a dazzling and luxurious spread.
Zhuang Yusheng snapped a few photos, then ate with gusto, his chopsticks never pausing and his conscience entirely clear. Xu Siming didn’t move much. He studied Zhuang Yusheng for a moment and, seeing no intention on the other man’s part to confess, finally spoke: “I know you like my uncle-in-law.”
Zhuang Yusheng had already realized Xu Siming was looking for a confrontation, so he wasn’t the least bit surprised. “There are plenty of people who like your uncle-in-law.”
Xu Siming said, “I’m talking about that kind of liking.”
Zhuang Yusheng unhurriedly finished eating a piece of raw crab leg and wiped his fingers with a tissue. “So?”
There was no trace of guilt on his face, he remained as unapologetic as ever. Xu Siming, however, wasn’t in a rush, for he knew exactly how this would play out. He had seen plenty of people like Zhuang Yusheng. People who lacked self-awareness and knew they would eventually realize just how insignificant they truly were. “Stay away from my uncle-in-law.”
Zhuang Yusheng said, “Why don’t you tell him to stay away from me?”
Xu Siming said, “You’re the one who seduced him, aren’t you?”
That accusation didn’t bother Zhuang Yusheng. He hadn’t expected Xu Siming to champion justice anyway. But seeing the young master looking so composed and self-assured, he felt a sudden urge to challenge him. “If I said he was the one who seduced me, would you believe it?”
Xu Siming didn’t hesitate for a second. The certainty in his gaze had already passed judgment on Zhuang Yusheng. “No.”
Zhuang Yusheng laughed. His uninhibited laughter filled the elegant private room, instantly cheapening the atmosphere.
Xu Siming furrowed his brows. “What are you laughing at?”
Zhuang Yusheng toned it down a bit. “Nothing.”
He had just remembered something from the past.
Zhuang Yusheng had first realized that a relationship between two men was possible after reading Dream of the Red Chamber in junior high. During that period, he consumed a vast amount of literature featuring male-male romance, ranging from classical works like Longyang Yishi and Pinhua Baojian to all sorts of trashy web novels. He became so obsessed that he would speculate about the sexual orientation of any man he saw and, as it turned out, he actually managed to spot a few things.
The summer of his second year of junior high, Zhuang Yusheng couldn’t stay in the school dorms during the break, so just as he had in previous years, he had to stay at the home of the family where Zhuang Guilan worked. He set up a camp cot in the nanny’s room and helped Zhuang Guilan with her chores every day. The employers understood the hardships of a single mother like her and didn’t mind him taking up space.
The employers were a newlywed couple. The wife was seven months pregnant and staying home for the pregnancy, while the husband was a promising young manager at a state-owned enterprise.
The husband had a close college friend, a bachelor who frequently came over for meals. At first, Zhuang Yusheng thought nothing of it, but one time, while helping to serve food, he saw the friend’s hand resting on the husband’s thigh. It suddenly dawned on him that the wife might be trapped in a marriage to a gay man.
Zhuang Yusheng went to great lengths to verify this suspicion.
The husband, a top graduate from a prestigious university, took a keen interest in Zhuang Yusheng’s studies and would even tutor him when he wasn’t busy. Initially, Zhuang Yusheng addressed him by his surname followed by “Brother” (e.g., “Brother X”), but after noticing the husband’s odd behavior, he switched to the more intimate “Brother” on WeChat.
“Brother, how do I solve this?”
“Brother, this problem is so hard.”
“Brother…”
The husband became increasingly attentive, even buying him school supplies. Sensing the time was right, Zhuang Yusheng took a photo of his own thigh while wearing shorts one evening and sent it to the husband via WeChat, quickly recalling the message just as the “typing…” indicator appeared.
The husband typed for a long time. The indicator appeared and disappeared as if he were wrestling with his conscience. Finally, a message appeared in the chat box: “Xiao Yu, let Brother see your leg.”
Zhuang Yusheng was young then and had a naive, idealistic view of things. He believed he was doing something righteous, saving the kind-hearted wife and thought Ms. Zhuang might even get a raise because of it.
Instead, the wife summoned both sets of parents to berate Zhuang Guilan for raising a “little beast”. They claimed that despite their kindness in taking him in, he was ungrateful and had tried to seduce another woman’s husband.
That scene became one of Zhuang Yusheng’s nightmares. A memory that remained vivid to this day.
Zhuang Guilan apologized profusely while repeatedly slapping Zhuang Yusheng. Zhuang Yusheng felt utterly humiliated yet deeply bewildered. Regardless of whether it was a setup, the fact remained that the husband had deceived his wife into marriage. Why, then, did everyone tacitly assume that he, Zhuang Yusheng, was the truly heinous one?
Mother and son were kicked out. Zhuang Guilan wailed by the roadside. Her grief was even more intense than when she had discovered Zhuang Yusheng secretly submitting his work to a writing contest, unable to fathom how her decent son had turned out this way.
Zhuang Yusheng tried to explain that he had only wanted to expose the husband’s true colors, he hadn’t actually been trying to seduce anyone, nor did he have any romantic interest in men. He lied about that last part. In reality, he had already realized he was gay. Zhuang Guilan chose to believe him, eventually drying her tears. She told him that the adult world wasn’t so simple: the wife didn’t disbelieve his account, she simply refused to face reality.
If she admitted she had married a gay man, their family would become a laughingstock. Without an income of her own, divorce would likely mean a drop in their standard of living. And then there was the biggest dilemma of all: whether or not to have a child.
But if she simply turned a blind eye, life could go on, and others would continue to envy her for having married such a promising, successful young man.
Zhuang Guilan’s words left Zhuang Yusheng feeling a strange mix of understanding and confusion. Meanwhile, the seeds of rebellion were quietly taking root in his heart.
He admitted only to having good intentions that led to a bad outcome. He didn’t consider himself any worse than the husband. He understood that every family had its own troubles, yet he still found himself wishing that the couple would give birth to a child without an anus.
But Xu Siming hadn’t been helpless in the situation, he could have listened to Zhuang Yusheng’s explanation. Instead, he defaulted to the assumption that the affair must have started with Zhuang Yusheng’s seduction.
How did it end up with Zhuang Yusheng being the villain? Did he possess a face that brought ruin to nations? It was truly absurd. By the time Zhuang Yusheng finished laughing, Xu Siming was already showing signs of losing his temper: “Did you hear what I said?”
Zhuang Yusheng reached for another crab leg and asked nonchalantly, “What?”
Xu Siming said, “You are not allowed to get close to my uncle-in-law.”
Zhuang Yusheng shrugged. “So what if I do?”
Xu Siming looked at him as if he couldn’t quite figure him out. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell your mother you aren’t studying finance?”
Zhuang Yusheng was afraid, of course, but he refused to back down. “Go ahead and tell her. I’m going to tell her myself when I graduate anyway.”
This unyielding attitude finally irritated the young master. Xu Siming warned him in a low, stern voice, “Fine. I’ll just have my family fire your mother. The domestic help circle is small. I’ll warn others to be careful when hiring nannies, tell them that some nannies have sons who seduce the male head of the household.”
Fired. Nanny’s son. Seducing the male head of the household.
With each word he heard, Zhuang Yusheng’s chewing slowed. The clarity in his eyes faded, replaced by something far more complex.
A nanny’s livelihood depends heavily on her reputation. The reason Zhuang Guilan was able to stay in the industry and even find a wealthier employer after being kicked out by that first family was that the mistress of the house hadn’t wanted to air the family’s dirty laundry. She had never revealed the true reason for the dismissal. Whenever others asked, she would simply say the nanny had done a decent job.
But if Xu Siming were to spread the story far and wide, Ms. Zhuang would have no choice but to change careers and Zhuang Yusheng would likely have to endure another round of vicious public shaming.
Zhuang Yusheng realized he had misjudged the situation. How could a young master from a wealthy family ever be truly likable? They were born knowing their advantage: that they were superior, a different species from the poor, and that they could toy with people at the bottom of the social ladder whenever they pleased.
Xu Siming wasn’t the type of rich kid who acted arrogant or haughty, on the contrary, he had been impeccably polite at the funeral, earning praise from everyone as a refined young gentleman. Yet, with Zhuang Yusheng, he saw no need for such pretenses. Why bother restraining his sense of superiority when dealing with someone whose status was so vastly different from his own? The wealthy, in particular, are adept at calculating costs and returns. For someone like Xu Siming, being nice to a person as useless as Zhuang Yusheng was, at its core, a completely pointless endeavor.
As his thoughts began to wander, Zhuang Yusheng reined them in and put on a well-behaved smile. “Fine, I’ll do as I’m told, alright?”
Only then did Xu Siming’s stern expression soften slightly.
In truth, Zhuang Yusheng was actually hoping Xu Siming would stop him from meeting Shen Mu. His uncooperative attitude was merely a performance required by his persona. However, he genuinely disliked Xu Siming’s threats, so he deliberately pushed back: “If I were to meet Teacher Shen in secret, you wouldn’t even know, would you?”
“True,” Xu Siming said. “That’s why, from now on, you’ll report your schedule to me daily and be available whenever I call.”
Zhuang Yusheng: “Available whenever you call?” What was he—a servant?
Xu Siming: “Do you have a problem with that?”
Zhuang Yusheng offered a polite smile: “I wouldn’t dare.”
Only then did Xu Siming finally turn his attention to the food, chewing slowly and elegantly. While Zhuang Yusheng had made a mess of shelling the crab, the meat came out perfectly intact in Xu Siming’s hands.
Zhuang Yusheng, however, had lost his appetite.
He liked looking at handsome men, sure, but he had no desire to be anyone’s servant. It took two to tango, after all, if he really were having an illicit affair with Shen Mu, it would be a mutual matter. So why was Xu Siming targeting only him? Did he think Zhuang Yusheng was an easy target? Perhaps it was time to let him see his uncle-in-law’s true colors.
Suddenly remembering he hadn’t replied to Shen Mu, Zhuang Yusheng picked up his phone and opened WeChat: [Teacher, where are you?]
[Shen Mu: [Hotel location]]
[Shen Mu: Come find me here after you finish eating.]
Just as expected. Zhuang Yusheng knew Shen Mu would have already booked a room. He turned the phone around and slid it toward Xu Siming. “How should I reply?”
Xu Siming felt visibly uncomfortable seeing such a filthy message, his brows furrowed once more. “Tell him we have plans this afternoon.”
“Alright.” Zhuang Yusheng took back his phone and started typing. “I’ll tell him we’re going to get a hotel room.”
Xu Siming snatched the phone away in a flash. “Have you lost your mind?”
Even though the young master wasn’t exactly cute, he was certainly fun to tease. Of course, Zhuang Yusheng wouldn’t say that out loud. What he actually intended to send was: Xu Siming knows about us.
Shen Mu had to find out sooner or later.
For one thing, Xu Siming had taken Zhuang Yusheng away after the autograph session, so an explanation was needed. For another, Zhuang Yusheng needed a valid reason to stop meeting Shen Mu. He couldn’t keep making up excuses forever, he had to reveal the real reason: Xu Siming wouldn’t allow it.
Xu Siming glanced at the message Zhuang Yusheng had drafted and realized that cutting off contact between the two of them required more than just focusing on one person. After a moment’s thought, he went ahead and hit send on that very message.
Naturally, Shen Mu had no idea Zhuang Yusheng’s phone was in Xu Siming’s hands and replied immediately: [What does he know?]
Xu Siming started to type, “He knows about our illicit affair,” but it felt awkward, so he deleted it. He tried, “He knows I seduced you,” but that didn’t feel right either, none of it sounded like the way Zhuang Yusheng spoke.
Seeing Xu Siming fiddling with his phone, Zhuang Yusheng grew curious. He simply sat down next to Xu Siming and tilted his head to look at the screen. “What are you doing?”
Xu Siming placed the phone on the table and slid it back to Zhuang Yusheng. “Reply yourself.”
Zhuang Yusheng found it amusing; what was so hard about replying?
He tapped his index finger three times and sent an emoji: [😭]
—He had always brushed Shen Mu off like this. Shen Mu would just adapt on his own anyway.
[Shen Mu: Don’t cry.]
[Shen Mu: I’ll handle it.]
Xu Siming wondered if he was seeing things. Zhuang Yusheng had just acted a bit coy without providing any actual information, and that worked? He looked at Zhuang Yusheng’s profile, an expression of habitual composure and seemed to understand why Shen Mu had gone astray.