Lu Jiayan’s sudden, unprompted awakening gave Sheng Mingzhi such a fright that his mind went blank for a second.
In that short span of time, he couldn’t decide what was more detestable: Lu Jiayan faking sleep to trick him, or Lu Jiayan slandering him by claiming he was “peeping.”
After a three-second blackout, the little ancestor’s scattered wits finally returned. Simultaneously, he zeroed in on the point he cared about most.
He.
Peeping at him?
Sheng Mingzhi peeping at Lu Jiayan?
Did he have spare eyes he wanted to donate? Peeping at Lu Jiayan?! Wasn’t he afraid of getting styes?!
Sheng Mingzhi’s rage didn’t need time to simmer; it ignited instantly. He bit back with a question: “I was peeping at you?”
Lu Jiayan still had one eye open, looking at him mischievously. He leaned back against the sofa with shameless ease and nodded. “Mm. But there are only the two of us here; you don’t need to emphasize it.”
Emphasize it? And he dared to say “Mm”?!
Sheng Mingzhi laughed out of sheer irritation. He let out a “Ha!” and nodded. “Right. I was looking at you. I was looking to see how thick your skin is.”
Hearing this, Lu Jiayan didn’t get up. He raised an eyebrow. “Why the name-calling? Do young people these days just hate hearing the truth?”
He placed heavy emphasis on the words “young people.” He was visibly holding a grudge and being petty.
Fine, well, I hit people too. Want to see if it’s true?
Sheng Mingzhi vented fiercely in his head, but as his gaze fell on Lu Jiayan’s face, the words didn’t come out. The light scattered over Lu Jiayan, coating him in a soft glow. He looked like a relaxed cat, having dropped his external guard, revealing a side that only Sheng Mingzhi seemed to see.
Roguish and annoying. Like a shiftless playboy.
He had to admit, being handsome had its advantages. After a glance, Sheng Mingzhi’s anger subsided slightly. He suddenly realized Lu Jiayan’s behavior was incredibly childish—did he fake sleep in the living room for half the night just to wait for Sheng Mingzhi to come look, so he could catch him red-handed and mock him?
What was even more exasperating was that Sheng Mingzhi realized he had wasted twenty precious minutes of his life on this childish behavior.
He couldn’t be bothered with him. Even an elementary schooler was more mature than this. Sheng Mingzhi didn’t want to waste any more time and prepared to turn and leave.
However, before he could move, Lu Jiayan suddenly stood up from the sofa. The height difference between them was significant, putting Sheng Mingzhi at an immediate disadvantage. Under the other’s imposing presence, he subconsciously took a step back.
Lu Jiayan leaned down slightly, leaning in closer. His tone held a hint of amusement and a touch of intoxication. “Did I guess correctly, so you’re fleeing in panic?”
Guess your mom.
Sheng Mingzhi used his eyes to curse him wordlessly.
“Can you stop being so childish?” Sheng Mingzhi voiced his internal complaint. “Elementary schoolers are more mature than you.”
Lu Jiayan seemed to process this for a moment before letting out a stifled laugh. “Then, should I take that as a compliment on my youth?”
Then, he added with appalling narcissism, “Actually, it’s normal to want to kiss me. No need to feel embarrassed.” He paused, as if searching his mind for internet slang. “You’ve just made ‘the mistake every man makes’?”
…
…
Can someone throw this drunkard out?
Sheng Mingzhi finally understood. Lu Jiayan was purely drunk and acting out, using him as the butt of a joke. Just as he was about to tell him to get lost, Sheng Mingzhi suddenly caught a faint scent of a woman’s perfume in the air.
He didn’t use perfume often, and Lu Jiayan used it even less. This scent clearly didn’t belong in the room, causing Sheng Mingzhi to freeze.
“What’s that smell on you? Women’s perfume?” Sheng Mingzhi’s face instantly dropped. “Lu Jiayan, did I tell you before we married that whatever messy relationships you have, you’d better tuck them away?”
He gave a cold laugh. “What, did you also make ‘the mistake every man makes’?”
Perhaps because Sheng Mingzhi’s expression was too grim, Lu Jiayan dropped his teasing act and picked up a voice recorder from the coffee table.
Sheng Mingzhi was ready to continue his interrogation, but being suddenly handed a recorder left him dazed for a few seconds.
Lu Jiayan spoke: “Didn’t you check the WeChat Yao Shen sent you?”
Sheng Mingzhi: “?”
The next second, he looked at the recorder and realized something. He turned it on and heard the sound of flowing traffic and the roar of a night rainstorm. Occasionally, a familiar GPS navigation voice cut through, corresponding exactly to the WeChat location Yao Shen had sent.
Even the times matched up.
Lu Jiayan rubbed his brow and explained casually, “I dropped a client off at home tonight.”
Oh.
So that was what the traffic updates from Yao Shen meant. He had thought Lu Jiayan was harassing him for no reason.
Having figured out the cause and effect, Sheng Mingzhi felt a bit awkward. But he couldn’t be blamed—whose fault was it that their marriage was so “plastic”? His suspicion of Lu Jiayan was only because the other guy had acted weirdly first.
Fine. Sheng Mingzhi didn’t care to press further. He turned to go upstairs, but his arm was suddenly grabbed by Lu Jiayan.
The man raised an eyebrow, a mischievous glint in his peach-blossom eyes. “Aren’t you going to say something?”
Sheng Mingzhi felt guilty, and being caught made him a bit slow. He muttered, “What?”
“You misunderstood me. Aren’t you going to apologize?”
“…”
Lu Jiayan lowered his eyelashes and said softly, “I was quite sad for a whole night because of those words—”
Sheng Mingzhi suddenly remembered something and interrupted suspiciously, “You didn’t spend ‘the whole night’ being sad again, did you?”
It’s only been a few damn minutes!
To his surprise, the man actually nodded shamelessly. “Yes.”
Sheng Mingzhi: “…”
What kind of crystal-boy, glass-heart are you?
Is this it? Is this all? Brother, can you stop faking it?!
Sheng Mingzhi used two fingers to gently pinch Lu Jiayan’s wrist. Then, he peeled the man’s hand off his arm.
“Then keep being sad.” Sheng Mingzhi flashed a fake smile, trying his best to disgust Lu Jiayan. “I love seeing people cry the most.”
________________________________________
Whether Lu Jiayan actually cried, Sheng Mingzhi didn’t know. Regardless, he went back to his room after a nice shower and picked up his phone to scroll through Weibo.
The variety show he recorded earlier had mostly been released. After one episode, Sheng Mingzhi had managed to make an impression on the audience, and his popularity was slowly rising. He had basically gone from an “18th-tier flop” to an “18th-tier flop who frequently appears on screen.”
Sheng Mingzhi’s Weibo tag was gradually getting livelier, mostly filled with people attracted by his face, asking who this high-visual boy was. He scrolled through the real-time feed and noticed that Qiao Yan and Huo Yuzhe’s “CP fans” hadn’t come to stir up trouble in a while. It was as if they had been warned by someone and had quieted down significantly.
Having not argued with anyone for a month, Sheng Mingzhi actually felt a bit lonely at the top.
He scrolled until his stomach growled, noticing it was already 1:00 AM. He opened a food delivery app, but most of it was just BBQ and heavy food, which didn’t appeal to him. After searching for a while, he settled on a bowl of seafood porridge.
After placing the order, Sheng Mingzhi remembered there seemed to be leftover milk in the fridge near the kitchen island. He threw on a jacket and headed downstairs from the second floor.
Just as he reached the stairs, Sheng Mingzhi sensed something was off. The living room, which was usually pitch black at this hour, was dimly lit. It looked like a wall lamp just enough to see the path.
He had mild night blindness, so his movements downstairs were naturally cautious. In his blurred vision, Sheng Mingzhi thought he saw someone on the sofa.
Lu Jiayan?
He hasn’t gone to his room to sleep yet?
Working?
No, he usually worked in the study. Why would he be in the living room?
Sheng Mingzhi’s head was full of question marks, followed by a terrifying guess.
Holy crap?! Is Lu Jiayan really secretly crying in the living room?!
After all, he had been quite mean just now. Sheng Mingzhi didn’t remember if Lu Jiayan was really that sensitive, but for a moment, guilt flooded his emotions.
Forgetting about the milk, Sheng Mingzhi carefully felt his way toward the sofa. He spoke uncertainly, his voice very soft: “Jiayan-ge?”
Yes. He only called Lu Jiayan “Ge” when he felt guilty. Just like every time he was caught doing something bad as a child.
There was no response from the sofa.
Sheng Mingzhi became even more confused. His pace quickened, and with one careless step, he bumped his leg against the corner of the sofa. A sharp pain shot through his knee, leaving it numb and uncomfortable. Sheng Mingzhi stumbled and fell right onto the sofa.
He couldn’t see anything clearly. In the darkness, he seemed to have landed on a warm body. The other person finally seemed to wake up, making a slight sound. Sheng Mingzhi’s hands were braced against the man’s chest; it felt firm and solid.
Lu Jiayan is still sleeping on the sofa?
He panicked and stammered, “Hey, Lu Jiayan!”
Just as he tried to get up, the man let out a muffled groan. Sheng Mingzhi felt an arm drape across his waist, obstructing his grand plan of standing up.
A heavy heartbeat echoed. Sheng Mingzhi was stunned for a brief moment.
What’s the situation? This old guy isn’t taking advantage of me on purpose, is he?
Sheng Mingzhi narrowed his eyes, intending to scold him aggressively, but the moment he saw Lu Jiayan’s face, he froze.
The man was lying on the sofa, his long limbs nearly covering the entire surface. His white shirt was slightly wrinkled, likely from curling his body. Sheng Mingzhi noticed the tie he was wearing today—it was the one he had picked out.
More importantly, Lu Jiayan didn’t look well. His already pale, cold face was pinched in a slight frown, and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat.
Only then did Sheng Mingzhi realize something was wrong. He scrambled up, knelt by the sofa, and pushed Lu Jiayan. “Jiayan-ge.”
After a long while, Lu Jiayan let out a soft “Mm.” His voice was thick with exhaustion, yet the discomfort was still audible.
Sheng Mingzhi hesitated. “Are you… not feeling well?”
To every question he asked, Lu Jiayan gave a simple reply. “I’m fine.”
This is called ‘fine’?!
Sheng Mingzhi immediately felt a surge of anger. He wanted to say, I’m not blind, do you take me for an idiot?
But the words reached his lips and, seeing Lu Jiayan’s pained state, he couldn’t bear it. “What do you mean ‘fine’? Is it because you’re embarrassed to say you were made sick by my nagging?”
Actually, I’m pretty good at making people angry on the internet, Sheng Mingzhi thought, wanting to comfort Lu Jiayan. Not many people can win an argument against me, so it’s not embarrassing to be made sick by me.
Unexpectedly, this sentence seemed to amuse Lu Jiayan. The man chuckled, but the sound was strained; he was clearly enduring pain.
“Is it so bad if you made me sick?” Lu Jiayan smiled, though his voice was weak. “When I’m gone, you can find someone else?”
Sheng Mingzhi: “…”
Lu Jiayan looked at him with a smile, intending to tease him further. But he stopped when he saw Sheng Mingzhi’s expression. The boy was half-kneeling by the sofa, his face serious and worried, the emotions in his eyes impossible to hide. He was worried about him.
It had been many years since anyone had looked at him with that expression when he was ill. It was unfamiliar. It was novel, and at the same time, a bit moving.
He never expected that after all these years, the one staying by his side when he was sick would be Sheng Mingzhi. This marriage partner who seemingly had no feelings for him at all.
“I didn’t eat lunch.” Lu Jiayan’s voice held its usual tone, but when he lowered it, it created a gentle illusion. “I had drinks with a client tonight. My stomach problems flared up.”
Hearing this, Sheng Mingzhi suddenly realized that Lu Jiayan’s arm on his waist might not have been an attempt to take advantage of him. He might have just been trying to put his hand over his stomach.
Who knew how long he had been down here in pain? He hadn’t even had the strength to go upstairs and had ended up falling into a dazed sleep on the sofa.
Sheng Mingzhi unconsciously gripped the sofa cushion, his heart a mess of emotions.
“Don’t worry.”
Perhaps because Sheng Mingzhi hadn’t replied for a long time, Lu Jiayan added a nonchalant comment.
“Who’s worried about you?” Sheng Mingzhi grumbled in protest. “I’m just afraid you’ll die in the house and I won’t have an alibi.”
He felt a bit awkward and added dully, “Besides, if you die, no one will buy me cars or big villas anymore. Anyway, you can’t die until I’ve bought enough.”