“You look a lot like him today”
After changing their clothes, the group split into two cars and headed toward the restaurant.
Wen Yuhang’s car led the way, with the clingy tagalong Liang Ang in the passenger seat.
Duan Shuye drove the follow-up car, while He Xihuan and Xu Yiwen sat in the back.
The two in the front car were loud and bickering, while the three in the back car were completely quiet.
Duan Shuye tried his best to liven up the atmosphere, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t get a response.
No matter the topic, Xu Yiwen only politely replied with single words like “Mm” or “Yes,” which sounded as if they had been squeezed out from between stones. As for He Xihuan, he wasn’t willing to utter a single syllable.
Arriving at the restaurant’s private room and escaping the ice-cellar atmosphere of the car, Duan Shuye finally noticed that the suit he had picked up from the front desk for He Xihuan looked quite different now that it was actually being worn.
At a glance, the suit didn’t look much different from the ones He Xihuan usually wore, featuring exquisite tailoring and a crisp silhouette.
Yet once worn by He Xihuan, plenty of subtle design details stood out, such as the faint apricot blossom petals embroidered with silver thread along the suit collar, and the semi-precious globe cufflinks at the cuffs.
Duan Shuye silently expressed his envy once again.
Xu Yiwen must have spent a great deal of effort over the phone just to select and purchase this specific set of suits and accessories.
Xu Yiwen’s attention wasn’t on He Xihuan’s clothes, but rather on the menu.
Anxious to take a shower, he had simply picked out the clothes and shoes at random from the brands He Xihuan frequently wore.
He glanced sideways at the ordering tablet in He Xihuan’s hand and saw that He Xihuan had ordered one hot drink and one cold drink, causing him to frown slightly.
When they first got married, He Xihuan had taken care of purchasing all kinds of daily necessities for him, claiming that the person he loved loved using those exact items; if Xu Yiwen wouldn’t accept them, there was no point in them pretending to have a loving surface relationship.
Regarding diet, He Xihuan had claimed that the person he liked would eat one salty bite followed by one bland bite, one spicy bite followed by one sweet bite, and alternate between hot and cold foods.
At first, Xu Yiwen thought He Xihuan was deliberately teasing him, but after watching He Xihuan demonstrate it himself, he actually believed it.
He Xihuan’s white moonlight truly had an ironclad digestive system.
However, even He Xihuan himself couldn’t adapt to such eccentric dietary habits, so the idea was eventually dropped without forcing Xu Yiwen to imitate it.
Although it only happened that once, Xu Yiwen had always kept a deep impression of it.
Withdrawing his gaze, Xu Yiwen quietly added an order of salt-and-pepper chicken wings on his own tablet.
Taking a closer look, he saw that three portions had already been ordered, so he canceled the one he had just added.
As the dishes were served, Liang Ang’s biased “exclusive interview” directed at Wen Yuhang and Duan Shuye’s practiced small talk finally paused, bringing a bit of peace to their ears.
He Xihuan abruptly placed the hot drink right in front of Xu Yiwen and issued a command: “Drink it.”
Suppressing the urge to talk back, Xu Yiwen managed a nod and a polite “Thank you,” but didn’t take a single sip.
A marital relationship built on such polite formality held very little love.
Wen Yuhang wore a faint smile at the corner of his mouth as he picked up a chicken wing and placed it on Xu Yiwen’s plate. “Xiaowen, your favorite.”
The word “Thanks” was just about to leave Xu Yiwen’s lips when the chicken wing was snatched away by He Xihuan and stuffed straight into his own mouth.
Xu Yiwen turned his head mechanically to stare at He Xihuan.
How strange. Didn’t He Xihuan dislike chicken wings? Back at the He residence, whenever Dad gave him one, he would always pass over them directly.
“Brother Wen, I love chicken wings too.” Seated opposite them, Liang Ang grabbed the arm of the visibly annoyed Wen Yuhang and forcefully made Wen Yuhang pick a chicken wing for him to eat.
“If you want them, pick them yourself,” Wen Yuhang pulled his arm away from Liang Ang’s grip and gently picked another chicken wing for Xu Yiwen, saying, “Xiaowen, eat up.”
It was intercepted by another pair of chopsticks once more.
This time, instead of biting into it directly, He Xihuan let Wen Yuhang roar an angry “Mr. He!” before demanding that Xu Yiwen feed it to him.
Acting like a completely different person, He Xihuan crossed his arms, narrowed his smiling eyes, and twitched his browbones. “Honey, isn’t this how you feed me at home?”
“What, too embarrassed now that there are people around?”
Xu Yiwen clenched his left hand into a fist. When on earth had he ever fed him like this?
“What’s there to be embarrassed about?” Liang Ang was practically wishing the two of them would get even more sickeningly sweet to stamp out any lingering sparks Wen Yuhang held for Xu Yiwen, so he added fuel to the fire from the side. “Sister-in-law, just pretend we don’t exist and make yourselves at home.”
Xu Yiwen forced an unnatural laugh, reached out, and gave He Xihuan’s shoulder a light tug. “Let’s talk about this at home, just eat your food.”
He Xihuan stared at Xu Yiwen with a forced, mirthless smile for a few seconds before finally settling down to eat.
Xu Yiwen, however, couldn’t eat in peace, staying constantly on guard to prevent He Xihuan from pulling any more stunts.
Whenever Wen Yuhang tried to put food on his plate again, Xu Yiwen simply declined politely: “Yuhang, I’m not a child. Eat your own food.”
Wen Yuhang had no choice but to give up, redirecting his chopsticks to deposit the food onto his own plate.
Having already eaten his fill and watched several mini-dramas unfold, Duan Shuye inwardly called it absolute peak entertainment.
So much so that even after the meal ended, as he drove He Xihuan and Xu Yiwen home, he was still contemplating how best to pretend he couldn’t see the frigid standoff playing out in the back seat.
As it turned out, the two in the back remained completely silent the entire ride, occasionally shooting cold glares at each other.
Stepping on the gas, Duan Shuye fled the moment he dropped the two of them off.
This was way above his pay grade; let these newlyweds fight it out in the bedroom until they made up.
The second they stepped inside the front door, before even taking off their coats or changing their shoes, the two of them started fighting.
He Xihuan shoved Xu Yiwen straight against the wall, pinning both of Xu Yiwen’s wrists in place while his lips pressed against Xu Yiwen’s cheek, radiating heat. “Does that Wen Yuhang not know you’re married? Huh?”
A sudden gust of cold wind from outside whipped up the hem of their clothes, piercing all the way from the base of Xu Yiwen’s spine to his shoulder blades.
Xu Yiwen turned his head away, his cheeks flushed with heat.
His long-standing friendship with Wen Yuhang was something He Xihuan and the rest of the He family had always known about, which was why he couldn’t understand what He Xihuan meant by asking such a question.
“Of course he knows. Our wedding…” A blast of warm air hit the small of his back, making Xu Yiwen’s body suddenly soften as he bit his lip to finish the sentence. “He… he attended it too.”
“Let go!” Using the hand that had just been freed, Xu Yiwen pressed against the wide, heavy palm that had clamped back onto his waist.
Yet He Xihuan pulled Xu Yiwen even tighter into his embrace.
The wolfberry mark beneath Xu Yiwen’s collarbone was enveloped in warmth, sending a wave of numbness tingling all over his body as he reached up to grab He Xihuan’s short, dark hair.
He Xihuan licked his lips and lifted his chin, his piercing, drilling gaze making Xu Yiwen bite down harder on his upper and lower lips.
He raised a hand and pressed it directly against Xu Yiwen’s tightly sealed lips, his deep voice heavy with accusation. “Then why was he still so attentive to you today?”
“Xu Yiwen, have you been getting way too close to him lately?” He Xihuan’s pupils gradually closed the distance. “You go drinking with him! You go play sports with him too!”
“Did you spend a whole year thinking about this, finally decide to be with him, and that’s why you’re throwing a tantrum and demanding a divorce agreement from me?”
Xu Yiwen was stunned. What kind of nonsense was this? What did their divorce have to do with Wen Yuhang?
“What are you talking about!” Xu Yiwen released his bitten lip, his voice muffled slightly by He Xihuan’s pressing thumb. “Yuhang and I are good friends.”
“No matter what people outside say, I know my conscience is completely clear.”
“Even if it’s you,” Xu Yiwen’s hazy eyes gradually sharpened, “you have no right to make blind, baseless accusations against the two of us.”
“Furthermore, Yuhang is a Beta…”
“So, what if he’s a Beta!” He Xihuan scooped Xu Yiwen up in his arms, looking down at him from a height that felt entirely like a dominant ruler. “A Beta just has one letter less than an Alpha, not an organ less!”
“You!” Xu Yiwen felt that He Xihuan was being completely unreasonable.
“What about me?” Carrying Xu Yiwen toward the living room, He Xihuan unleashed a heavy wave of pheromones to keep Xu Yiwen from struggling. “You dare tell me you couldn’t tell he likes you?”
“Xu Yiwen, let me tell you, you can forget about dumping me to rekindle things with him. Not a chance in hell.”
Xu Yiwen felt as though every bone in his body was frying in a wok, leaving him utterly devoid of strength. The scent of ripe apricots dancing at the tip of his nose made him instinctively wrap his arms around He Xihuan’s neck.
His mind was still spinning from He Xihuan’s words, turning everything into a chaotic mess.
By the time he regained his senses, he was already lying on the sofa, his coat and shirt discarded on the rug, leaving his upper body bare to the cool air.
“Xu Yiwen, don’t even think about it…” He Xihuan muttered under his breath. “You look a lot like him today.”
That “him” wasn’t Wen Yuhang, nor was it Xu Yiwen, but rather the person He Xihuan truly loved.
Xu Yiwen’s eyes instantly cleared, though the red at the corners of his eyes only deepened.