Chapter 5

The car had not even come to a full stop when the rear seat fell silent again.

Shu Shiyun had been feeling guilty all the way home. Only after the car stopped did he look out the window and recognize the familiar villa, realizing at last that he had already arrived.

Before he could say anything, Shang Cheng spoke first.

“Go back and rest early. If anything comes up next time, just call me. No need to make a special trip.”

His tone was calm and polite, but when Shu Shiyun caught the gentle distance in his eyes, his heart gave a hard jolt.

He had never looked at Shang Cheng so carefully before. He had only thought that Shang Cheng was not bad-looking, but because his impression of him had been poor, even that handsome face had been unconsciously warped in his mind.

Now, with the two of them seated so close, the light inside the car fell softly over Shang Cheng’s hair, turning the black strands into a faint sheen of gold. His features were deep and striking, his bearing elegant and imposing, an intensely attractive presence.

Shu Shiyun was not an insecure person, but since he could remember, he had never taken the initiative to come so close to anyone. Thinking of what he was about to say next, he felt the heat in his cheeks gradually rise.

“It’s because you didn’t reply to my messages, so I came.”

Shang Cheng looked at him for two seconds and said, “That won’t happen again. If something urgent comes up, just call.”

He said it twice. Shu Shiyun was not stupid; he understood the meaning behind those words, and the expression on his face slowly faded.

“Do you not want me to come find you?”

Shang Cheng did not deny it. “Most of the time I’m not at the company. If you come suddenly, you’ll probably make a wasted trip.”

At a moment like this, Shu Shiyun could have said he would message first next time. But looking into Shang Cheng’s gentle, steady eyes, what flashed through his mind instead was the faint glimmer of tears in the other man’s eyes when he stood before Shu Shiyun’s grave.

A thin, dense ache spread through his heart. Shu Shiyun lowered his gaze and did not look at him again.

“Okay.”

After saying that, he turned and pressed the button to open the car door. Once outside, he looked back and waved at Shang Cheng.

“I’m going back first. Drive safely.”

He could tell Shang Cheng seemed to want to say something else, but he did not linger. After the farewell, he turned away without the slightest hesitation and left.

He could still feel that burning gaze on his back, but he did not turn around.

Pushing Shang Cheng too hard did not seem like a good approach either.

The surroundings were quiet. He slipped his hands into his coat pockets and kept thinking as he walked into the courtyard.

Could it be that the current Shang Cheng did not yet have much feeling for him? But in his previous life, after he had rejected Shang Cheng at Ten Thousand Lights, the two of them had had almost no contact. Their feelings could hardly have developed after that, which made no sense at all.

Unable to stop himself from feeling troubled, he kept his head lowered, his mind full of Shang Cheng’s polite, gentle smile from tonight.

To be fair, Shang Cheng really was unlike the rumors he had heard before. He did not seem at all haughty, and he was genuinely good to others. So... could all the help from before have simply come from kindness?

Just because he had once had a little liking for him, he could not bear to see Lan Suzhi and the others use such underhanded methods.

That guess flashed through his mind. It ought to have made Shu Shiyun breathe a sigh of relief, but instead his mood only grew worse.

He was not someone who took things lightly. In his last life, he had only dated once in college. Although it had been a decision made after careful thought, the relationship still had not lasted long.

After that, he had never met anyone he liked again, and he had even wondered whether there was something wrong with him.

But thinking back on everything that had happened before, he could not ignore his own feelings. What he felt for Shang Cheng was mostly gratitude, yet he could not deny the deeper emotions beneath it. No one could face such a situation without being moved; he was no different.

What confused him most was that when Shang Cheng treated him with the polite, distant courtesy one would show a friend, his own affection for Shang Cheng had actually grown.

Did he really like going against the grain that much? It felt almost perversely stubborn.

After nightfall, the temperature outside had dropped quite a bit. Shu Shiyun lifted his head slightly and sighed, feeling his cheeks grow warm.

But if he kept approaching Shang Cheng like this, would it seem like harassment? What if Shang Cheng had already decided not to pay him any attention?

He entered the house dejectedly and was just about to take off his coat when a ding sounded from his pocket.

Realizing something, he hurriedly took out his phone.

Shang Cheng: Had you gotten home?

Seeing the message sent on the other end, Shu Shiyun’s eyes brightened slightly, and a strange, buoyant feeling rose in his heart.

Before he could reply, another new message appeared beneath it.

Shang Cheng: What I said tonight carried no other meaning. I hope you won’t misunderstand.

Shu Shiyun did not hesitate for long before directly placing a call.

His heartbeat seemed to quicken in step with the ringing as he waited for the line to connect.

In just two seconds, the other side picked up.

Shang Cheng’s background was very quiet. The soft instrumental music from the car still played faintly, brushing over Shu Shiyun’s heart like feathers and seeming to carry him back into that silent, enclosed space.

“What is it?” Shang Cheng’s voice was very light.

Shu Shiyun gripped his phone and walked to the living room, asking bluntly, “What did you mean, telling me not to misunderstand?”

After only a brief pause, Shang Cheng said, “I’m going on a business trip for a week in a couple of days.”

The restlessness in Shu Shiyun’s heart seemed to be smoothed away by that low, gentle voice. Sitting on the sofa, he naturally folded one leg over the other.

“You could have just said so directly. Otherwise I would have thought you didn’t want to see me.”

He spoke so directly that it was always difficult to answer.

Shang Cheng was silent for two seconds. “That’s not what I meant.”

But Shu Shiyun drew a deep breath. He had suppressed the thought in his heart for a long time, yet in the end he still could not hold back.

“Then can you tell me what you actually want to say?”

As soon as the question was asked, neither of them spoke again.

A long, dead silence followed.

Shu Shiyun waited quietly for him to speak, sitting dazedly on the sofa, not even knowing what exactly he was thinking.

“Shiyun.” Shang Cheng suddenly let out a very soft sigh.

“Mm?” He came back to himself and answered.

Shang Cheng seemed a little helpless. “Some things you should figure out for yourself.”

Shu Shiyun almost immediately understood what he meant.

“Do you think I’ve just been talking nonsense all along?” he said at once. “I’m serious.”

Shang Cheng asked, “Do you like me?”

“......”

His cheeks turned red at once. Shu Shiyun pressed his lips together and said stubbornly, “I do.”

“Why?” There was a trace of a very faint smile in Shang Cheng’s tone.

Was this asking for a confession?

Shu Shiyun had no experience with this at all and racked his brains for the right words.

“You’re good-looking, and you’re rich. I just like you.”

A low laugh came through the phone, and his face grew even hotter.

But very soon, Shang Cheng sighed again and said, “If you’re worried that I might be hurt because you rejected me...”

“That’s not what I was thinking.” Realizing what he was about to say, Shu Shiyun hurriedly interrupted and explained, “I only said those things because I was too surprised back then, so I spoke without thinking. I apologize for that. Later, after I went out and thought about it for a while, I figured it out. I think we can try getting along. Actually... I have a pretty good impression of you too.”

After saying that, he listened carefully for any movement on the other end. Yet when he came back to himself, that little bit of grievance surged up again, leaving him somewhat downcast.

“I also wanted to ask you... do you think I’m too annoying?”

When someone you liked suddenly turned around and pursued you so relentlessly, perhaps Shang Cheng would find it somewhat off-putting.

After all, they were not familiar with each other at all. Maybe Shang Cheng only liked the version of him in his imagination. Just like in college, many people had shown affection toward Shu Shiyun, but they had not really known him as a person.

“No.” Shang Cheng paused. “You’re very cute.”

Shu Shiyun pressed his lips together and could almost picture the expression on his face when he said those words.

“Then I’ll wait for you to come back.”

The next morning, when he woke up and opened his phone, the first thing he saw was a message from Shang Cheng.

Good morning.

Just those simple words alone were enough to brighten Shu Shiyun’s mood.

After they had finally said things plainly, Shang Cheng seemed to have stopped deliberately avoiding communication with him, and that made him breathe easier.

But before he had time to be happy for long, a call from Tang Yitong pulled his mood back down.

He did not answer. After washing up, he lay on the bed and sent Shang Cheng a good-morning greeting, then tapped open the little icon in the corner showing 99-plus unread messages.

He had opened his personal account back in college, occasionally posting videos and photos to share his life. At first it had only been for keeping a record, but over time he had somehow gathered over a hundred thousand followers. By his third year, he had begun preparing his own clothing brand, and by the time he graduated, it had already achieved a fair amount of success.

But he himself was not short of money. Between the allowance his mother gave him and what he had earned over the years, he already had more than enough to live comfortably, so he had never been particularly invested in his business.

Opening the backend now, he saw private messages flooding in from accounts bearing all kinds of membership badges, all asking about how he had been lately.

[Baby Yun, hurry up and start streaming! I picked up a whole pile of junk from other streamers’ rooms just to support you~]

[Why are you still not streaming? Are you trying to drink northwest wind? Do you really think I care that much about watching you? Your streams are only so-so anyway, I’m already bored of them. Honestly, nobody cares, I don’t want to watch at all, you blasted rascal! Start streaming already ahhhhhhh if I can’t see you stream I feel like I’m being torn apart inside, sobbbbb I’m begging you!!!]

[Type 1 to claim a carnival]

He read through all the messages above, replied briefly to a few, and marked the rest as read.

A faint wave of emotion suddenly rose in his heart.

In his last life, he had thought he was living a happy life. Although his parents had divorced, both of them had treated him very well. Although he had always been dissatisfied with Lan Suzhi’s rapid remarriage, Lan Suzhi had always carried herself with guilt toward him and had been very attentive, so he had never had much complaint about that family.

Looking back now, there were actually many people he owed.

When he first started the account, the clothing sales were not very good. It was thanks to many fans going out to promote and recommend the brand that several of his videos suddenly went viral, and only then did the account gradually draw attention.

But once the brand had grown to the point where it could run on its own without much upkeep, he handed everything over to the people at the studio and rarely took part in promotional activities anymore.

Lan Suzhi and Tang Yitong always urged him to pay more attention to his health and not work so hard for his career. At the time, he believed them, thinking he already had so much and had never imagined he might lose anything.

A hint of sarcasm flashed through his heart, and he suddenly felt foolish. Why had he believed them?

Taking a deep breath, he opened the streaming center and saw that his last livestream had been half a month ago. A faint pang of guilt rose within him.

Exiting the app, he opened WeChat and found the studio’s group chat.

As soon as his message was sent, the assistant replied almost instantly.

Fang Jiahua: The boss has risen from the dead!

Shu Shiyun could only feel helpless. The girl had been personally hired by him before. Her main job was to keep an eye on the progress at the studio and the factory, and she was usually playful and full of ideas.

Although she was officially his assistant, in practice he did not spend much time with her.

He did not hesitate for long before calling her directly.

After learning that he wanted to take part in a livestream event, Fang Jiahua nodded repeatedly, visibly delighted.

After hanging up, Shu Shiyun felt that even his own mood had somehow been infected by hers, and he suddenly found himself burning with enthusiasm for work.

Still wearing his off-white silk pajamas, he sat in a rattan chair on the balcony, found his phone, switched to the front camera, and searched for a good angle in the sunlight to film a video.

In the frame, only the upper half of him was visible. His fluffy hair gleamed in the sunlight, his features delicate and refined, but with those slightly upturned fox-like eyes and dense lashes, the whole person seemed to be draped in a layer of alluring sensuality.

He lifted a hand toward the camera and waved, the sleeve sliding down his skin and pooling at his elbow to reveal a section of pale, lean wrist bone.

“Long time no see. Livestream tomorrow night—don’t miss it.”

He was just about to close it when Shang Cheng’s words from that day suddenly surfaced in his mind at an inopportune moment.

So... was Shang Cheng paying especially close attention to him? This video would probably be seen too.

Thinking of that, he suddenly felt a little embarrassed. When he pressed pause and lifted his eyes toward the camera, a faint light shimmered in his amber pupils, and his thick lashes trembled lightly.