Xiang Shuyu was dazed for a long time before he finally came back to his senses. His tensed back suddenly relaxed, as if he were relieved of a heavy burden.
Duan Lin appeared to be much harder to get along with than Duan Yue.
He suddenly began to feel fortunate that the person Jiang Xiayue had forced him to contact was Duan Yue and not Duan Lin; otherwise, with his cowardly nature, he might never have been able to walk up to the man.
Xiang Shuyu returned to the private room with his mind in a whirl. Duan Yue was seriously deboning fish for him, but likely because he was used to being served, his movements appeared exceptionally clumsy. However, this gesture made Xiang Shuyu forget the unease that had surged when he ran into Duan Lin in the restroom.
“You’re back,” Duan Yue said without looking up. “Hurry up and eat. You were peeling shrimp for me just now and barely ate anything yourself.”
Xiang Shuyu sat back down beside him. Duan Yue finally turned his face to look at him. Seeing Xiang Shuyu eating seriously gave him a small sense of accomplishment, but at the same time, he detected the scent of another Alpha’s pheromones on Xiang Shuyu.
Probably just an accidental encounter in the restroom, Duan Yue thought jealously. That place is crowded; it’s normal to pick up a scent.
He was just a little bit jealous.
Just as he was thinking this, Xiang Shuyu suddenly placed a piece of food into his bowl with his chopsticks.
He was still fulfilling his duties as a boyfriend. Although he didn’t know what Duan Yue was thinking, he was entirely focused on Duan Yue, being good to him in his own way.
Duan Yue quickly put those stray thoughts out of his mind.
“Congratulations, Mr. Xiang,” a girl’s cheerful voice came from the other end of the phone. “We have received your recordings. After evaluation, we have unanimously decided to approve your job application. We will notify you regarding specific music projects later, so please keep an eye out for our messages.”
Xiang Shuyu stood by the window as he spoke on the phone: “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I am Ping Wenchun, the Music Director at Ducheng. If you have any questions, feel free to consult me.”
Hanging up the phone, Xiang Shuyu finally breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair.
Duan Yue pressed against him from behind and asked, “Are you at ease now?”
“Mm.” Xiang Shuyu looked up at him with a smile. “Thank you.”
If it weren’t for Duan Yue’s help, he didn’t know if this contract would have been stolen by Ming Xiu again.
Ming Xiu really was capable; despite his family background not being that great, he had actually managed to find someone at the Duan Corporation to ask for help.
Fortunately, the person with the most say at the Duan Corporation was Duan Yue, and right now, Duan Yue was his boyfriend.
It was impossible for Xiang Shuyu not to be grateful to Duan Yue.
But Duan Yue didn’t want gratitude. He felt that spending money on his boyfriend and helping him do things were exactly what he should be doing. What his family lacked least was money and favors; if he wasn’t even willing to give something he could easily provide, he wouldn’t be able to prove his sincerity.
Duan Yue continued to cling to Xiang Shuyu for kisses and cuddles until Duan Lin called him, saying they were going to inspect a piece of land and urging him to leave immediately.
Duan Yue reluctantly pulled away from Xiang Shuyu and stood in front of the wardrobe to change his clothes, saying, “Come help me pick a tie, baby. I don’t know what to wear.”
Xiang Shuyu felt a bit helpless.
A person like Duan Yue, who had been immersed in the aesthetic culture of the upper class since childhood, how could he possibly be unable to choose what to wear?
It was just that after being cared for by Xiang Shuyu for a while, almost every aspect of his daily life had passed through Xiang Shuyu’s hands. In just a few days, it had become a habit. Now, whatever he wore, ate, or did, he would first ask for Xiang Shuyu’s opinion.
However, Xiang Shuyu resisted: “Choose it yourself, Duan Yue. My taste isn’t very good.”
“Who said that?” Duan Yue was a bit angry.
Xiang Shuyu didn’t speak, finding it difficult to voice the reason.
Yesterday, Duan Yue had taken Xiang Shuyu to attend a small gathering. Xiang Shuyu had chosen Duan Yue’s tie. During the party, Duan Yue had stepped out briefly to take a call, and Xiang Shuyu, sitting in a corner, overheard Duan Yue’s friends joking that his taste had deteriorated.
“Inappropriate color combinations,” “mismatched materials” every word felt like a knife stabbing straight into Xiang Shuyu’s heart. Although no one knew he was the one who had personally chosen it for Duan Yue, it still made him very embarrassed. As a result, he was distracted for the rest of the event, barely showing interest even when Duan Yue spoke to him, only wanting it to end quickly.
When they returned to the villa in the South District that night, Duan Yue was a bit displeased because of the “neglect” he received at the party. He held Xiang Shuyu and demanded more, asking why he wasn’t speaking.
But Xiang Shuyu only cried. It was as if he had suffered too much grievance; having reached his breaking point, it all collapsed like a landslide or a tsunami.
He cried all night, and when he fell into a deep sleep at midnight, he still hadn’t said a word.
Duan Yue was incredibly frustrated. He got up early to apply a cold compress to Xiang Shuyu’s eyes to reduce the swelling. Now that Xiang Shuyu was awake, he acted as if nothing had happened. As for what transpired last night, he kept it entirely buried within himself.
Duan Yue had a faint feeling that Xiang Shuyu didn’t seem to treat him like a boyfriend, but it was just a small inkling; he had no evidence.
Xiang Shuyu was always so considerate; he even went to make lunch for Duan Yue, preparing many dishes according to his taste and habitually serving him food at the table.
When someone goes to such lengths, can it still be considered as not liking him?
Xiang Shuyu didn’t know what he was thinking. He was still replying to the previous question, saying: “No one said anything. I just suddenly thought that. Anyway, I truly…”
“Did you hear someone gossiping at the party last night?” Duan Yue was always quick to find the root of a problem. “Tell me the truth, otherwise, if I find out, I’ll punish you along with them.”
Duan Yue’s methods of punishment were always crude. Xiang Shuyu had experienced it once, and he didn’t want to experience that shameful, stimulating sensation a second time. Thus, his scalp felt tight, and after hesitating for a while, he honestly told the truth: “Mm… I heard them say your taste has gotten worse, so I felt a bit sad.”
Duan Yue didn’t speak for a long while. Xiang Shuyu thought he had said something wrong again. He wanted to take back what he had thought when he ran into Duan Lin at the restaurant actually, both brothers were the same; when they became serious, they were equally difficult to read, which made him overthink and feel fearful and uneasy.
Xiang Shuyu’s fingers tightly gripped his sleeves, and his slender body trembled slightly. Duan Yue felt he looked very pitiful and pulled him into a hug, saying: “Those people are just like that; they like to find fault and gossip behind people’s backs. How about I don’t take you next time? That way you won’t have to suffer grievances every time you go to such places.”
“Mm.” Xiang Shuyu nodded.
He didn’t help Duan Yue choose his clothes; in the end, Duan Yue picked them himself. Then, passing through his hands, the garments were put onto Duan Yue piece by piece.
Before leaving, Duan Yue kissed his fingers and said sweet words: “I’ll bring you a gift when I come back tonight.”
The door closed, leaving the massive villa empty and a solitary Xiang Shuyu standing there, looking like a canary kept in a cage for amusement.
Time always passed very quickly when living with Duan Yue.
Xiang Shuyu hadn’t been notified to start work yet and had nothing else on his hands; it seemed he could only spend all day revolving around Duan Yue.
He had no friends and didn’t attend gatherings; he barely even stepped out the door, moving daily in a triangle between the kitchen, the bedroom, and the music room, then waiting for Duan Yue to come home from work to eat together.
Jiang Xiayue would call him sometimes, occasionally asking where he was and why he wasn’t coming home. Xiang Shuyu wouldn’t speak. Across the phone line, Jiang Xiayue’s verbal abuse seemed to have lost its sting; Xiang Shuyu listened with indifference, unable to take it to heart at all.
Occasionally, Jiang Xiayue would ask him for money.
“I don’t have any money,” Xiang Shuyu said calmly.
He had been like this lately submissive and calm. But since Jiang Xiayue couldn’t see him, this submissiveness gave her no sense of security, only appearing as indifference, which instead drove her crazy.
“If you don’t have money, go earn it!” Jiang Xiayue shouted angrily. “Where on earth have you been fooling around these past few days? Your agent came to me too, saying she can’t contact you at all. Xiang Shuyu, didn’t you also steal someone else’s contract?”
Xiang Shuyu was stunned by these words. “What ‘stealing a contract’?”
After speaking, he quickly realized what was happening, while Jiang Xiayue continued: “Gu Yi told me everything. she has another Omega who is good-looking and has strong professional skills, and gets many contracts. You just weren’t satisfied, were you?”
A sense of absurdity and ridicule rose in Xiang Shuyu’s heart. For the first time, he was so angry that he actually laughed out aloud: “You believed whatever she said? Those contracts were all looking for me in the first place. Every time Ming Xiu said he wanted one, Gu Yi would give it to him without hesitation. This contract is one I got myself. It’s Ducheng that didn’t want Ming Xiu; it wasn’t me who stole his contract!”
It was rare for him to be so emotional, and even Jiang Xiayue was stunned, remaining silent for a long time.
Xiang Shuyu felt exhausted after speaking. He didn’t know why he was indeed happy when he was with Duan Yue, but he still felt a great deal of pressure, which made him very weary.
“I haven’t started my job yet, so I truly don’t have money,” Xiang Shuyu said to Jiang Xiayue. “I’ll give it to you once I have money. Stop using my identification information to take out loans; I can’t afford to pay them back.”
Before hanging up the phone, he heard Jiang Xiayue mutter: “I told you long ago to seduce Duan Yue. If you had climbed into the Duan family earlier, how could you still be short on money?”
Xiang Shuyu quickly hung up the phone, but his expression remained dazed as he sat on the sofa staring into space.
This was exactly why he didn’t want to tell Jiang Xiayue that he was dating Duan Yue. Jiang Xiayue saw everything too pragmatically; she weighed emotions with money, and even their kinship had grown thin.
Xiang Shuyu didn’t believe he could stay with Duan Yue for very long. When he had blurted out the words to be together, perhaps he had a bit of his own selfishness. He admitted he had liked Duan Yue, but that liking wasn’t enough to make him try every possible way to enter into marriage with him; instead, it was just to satisfy his current desires.
Therefore, it was impossible for him to ask for Duan Yue’s money.
Xiang Shuyu let out a breath and booked a flight to Nancheng for tomorrow.
He was about to start his job in Nancheng soon, so he had to look for an apartment there now to make it convenient to move in directly when the time came.
“Book a flight to Nancheng for me.” Duan Lin stood in the shade of a tree. Duan Yue was talking to the person in charge of this plot of land, and no one was paying attention to him. He wasn’t the one in charge of this project; he had just come along to have a look.
“Mr. Duan, the earliest flights are for tomorrow.”
“Then tomorrow,” Duan Lin said. “As early as possible. I’m going on a business trip.”
Duan Yue called out to him from not far away. Duan Lin hung up the phone and followed.
Duan Yue said: “This land isn’t bad. We had a feng shui master look at it before, and the feng shui is good. Tell Dad about it when you go back tonight.”
“You’re not going back?” Duan Lin’s tone was flat.
As he asked, he smelled the scent of an Omega’s pheromones on Duan Yue.
He recognized this scent. Last time in the restaurant restroom, he had been very close to the Omega he had personally called “Sister-in-Law,” and he had smelled this scent on him.
Until today, that fragrance continued to swirl in his mind, refusing to fade.
Duan Yue didn’t notice his brother’s expression at all, only nodding as he said: “I’m not going back. I need to accompany my boyfriend.”
Duan Lin gave an indifferent “Oh” and lowered his eyelids, masking his somber gaze.
Boyfriend…