Chapter 16: Daddy

After his hair was completely dried, it was fluffy like a deflated marshmallow.

Shen Zhoudu put away the hairdryer, picked at Meng Weiyu’s hair, and told him, “Your hair seems a little dry.”

“Speaking of that.” Meng Weiyu’s hand was stroking the kitten’s head when he suddenly turned to look at Shen Zhoudu.

Shen Zhoudu met his eyes. His originally cross-legged sitting posture slowly changed, and he placed his feet to the side, trying to keep his line of sight roughly level with Meng Weiyu’s.

“This hair color makes me look dark.” Meng Weiyu was dissatisfied. “Why didn’t you stop me back then?”

“It doesn’t make you look dark, because you’re fair.” Shen Zhoudu gave the correct answer to this kind of question in almost one second.

Meng Weiyu reached out, touched his own hair, and became smug.

“Xueci,” Shen Zhoudu called the cat.

Xueci immediately darted out of Meng Weiyu’s arms and jumped to Shen Zhoudu’s side.

Meng Weiyu rarely saw such a dog-like cat.

Shen Zhoudu picked up the kitten and held it beside Meng Weiyu’s face, letting the face of one person and one cat get close.

“What are you doing?” Meng Weiyu frowned.

“You said you wanted to dye your hair a color very similar to Xueci’s fur, so you and Xueci would have a father-son color scheme.” This was the reason Meng Weiyu had suddenly dyed his hair. It was abrupt and inexplicable. When Shen Zhoudu opened the door after getting off work, he was immediately frightened. This person was so willful, yet he dared to question why Shen Zhoudu had not interfered with his choice?

Hearing this, Meng Weiyu’s eyes shifted toward the cat beside him.

“Meow.” The kitten opened its mouth and cried out as if responding.

“It really is exactly the same!” Meng Weiyu pointed at the kitten in surprise.

Shen Zhoudu looked at him with contempt.

“It’s the same, it’s the same!” Meng Weiyu cheered happily.

Actually, they were not the same at all. Although both were whitish, Xueci was snow-white, while Meng Weiyu’s hair color leaned toward silver-gray. Shen Zhoudu originally wanted to expose this fact, but seeing how excited Meng Weiyu was, he swallowed the words back down.

Meng Weiyu leaned close to Xueci’s face and touched its nose with his own.

Shen Zhoudu grabbed the cat’s paw and gently tapped Meng Weiyu’s head with it.

“Play with Xueci again tomorrow. I’ll carry it out. You should sleep early.” Shen Zhoudu held Xueci in his arms and prepared to leave the room.

“Where are you going?” Meng Weiyu involuntarily placed his hand on the bed board, his body leaning toward Shen Zhoudu.

“What do you mean? Do you want me to sleep with you?” Holding the cat, Shen Zhoudu teased him as he leaned closer. His smile was extremely faint. If they were not so close, the person in front of him might not even have noticed it.

Meng Weiyu blinked.

“If you need me to, I’ll stay.” Shen Zhoudu straightened up.

Meng Weiyu glanced at him, then silently fell onto the bed. He hugged his head with his left hand and rolled back and forth on the bed in distress.

Ahhhhhhh.

Seeing this, Shen Zhoudu found it funny. He lifted his knee and blocked Meng Weiyu’s rolling body to prevent him from rolling off the bed.

“I didn’t mean to invite you.” Meng Weiyu was still young, but he really knew too much.

“Who would sleep with a seventeen-year-old brat?” Shen Zhoudu used very careful wording to dissolve Meng Weiyu’s wariness.

“But when I was seventeen, I was also very good-looking.” Meng Weiyu raised his eyes to look at him, seeking his agreement.

“Do you want me to agree with that statement or disagree with it?” Shen Zhoudu did not know whether to laugh or cry.

“I didn’t mean to seduce you.” Meng Weiyu did not want him to misunderstand, but he really was scared to be alone.

“I’ll sleep on the sofa.” Shen Zhoudu held the cat in both hands, lifted it up, then smiled and touched its nose with his own.

Just like Meng Weiyu had done earlier.

“Heh.” Meng Weiyu propped up his head unhappily. When Shen Zhoudu was not facing him, his expression was very bright.

“I’ll send Xueci downstairs first, so it won’t run into the room at night.” Shen Zhoudu left the room with the cat in his arms.

Meng Weiyu watched his back and realized that the two of them had still not settled whether they would sleep together tonight.

“When you come back up, bring my phone up too.” Meng Weiyu was not someone who would actively ask for companionship, but his mind had more holes than a hornet’s nest.

“Okay. Anything else?” Shen Zhoudu easily agreed to his request.

“Honey water…”

“I’ll check the fridge for honey.” After Shen Zhoudu said that, he left with the cat.

Meng Weiyu sat up on the bed and patiently waited for Shen Zhoudu to return. Unfortunately, Shen Zhoudu was not as fast as he imagined. After rolling on the bed twice, Meng Weiyu, with his messy hair, tilted his ear and listened to the movement downstairs.

He barely heard the sound of someone rummaging through the fridge.

Meng Weiyu climbed up from the bed again.

He waited a while longer and finally heard someone walking on the stairs.

When Shen Zhoudu entered with a glass of water, he saw Meng Weiyu sitting on the bed and excitedly, quickly glancing at him.

“Honey water.” Shen Zhoudu handed him the glass.

“Thank you.” Meng Weiyu accepted it with his left hand.

“So obedient.” Shen Zhoudu smiled and touched his messy hair.

Meng Weiyu froze.

“Then I’ll sleep on the sofa here. If you feel uncomfortable anywhere at night, you can call me in time.” Shen Zhoudu took a phone from his pocket and gave it to him. “Your phone.”

Meng Weiyu was holding the glass in one hand. Seeing his movement, he difficultly raised his tightly wrapped right hand, signaling for Shen Zhoudu to place the phone on top of the bandage.

“Pfft.” Shen Zhoudu could not help laughing. Then he placed the phone beside his hip.

Meng Weiyu realized that Shen Zhoudu would only truly laugh when he made a fool of himself.

There was a sofa in this room. Shen Zhoudu pulled out the lower layer, easily turning it into a structure comfortable enough to lie on. Then he went to the wardrobe and took out a blanket.

“Will the air conditioning be too cold?” Shen Zhoudu checked the indoor temperature.

“No.”

“Okay.” Shen Zhoudu understood.

“Aside from ‘okay,’ can’t you say two more words?” Meng Weiyu found fault for no reason, then wanted to place the glass on the bedside table.

Shen Zhoudu quickly stepped forward and took the glass from him. Deliberately imitating the way Meng Weiyu usually spoke, he said, “Okay-dokey.”

“Disgusting.” Meng Weiyu almost got goosebumps.

“Alright, lie down.” Shen Zhoudu grabbed the blanket.

Meng Weiyu instinctively lay down where he was.

“Put your head here.” Shen Zhoudu patted the pillow.

Meng Weiyu scooted over.

Shen Zhoudu covered him with the blanket.

“It’s too early. How could I sleep!” Meng Weiyu was suddenly so full of complaints he could not speak.

“Fine.” Shen Zhoudu picked up another pillow nearby and placed it under Meng Weiyu’s head. “You can play with your phone for a while before sleeping.”

Meng Weiyu once again could not understand why he would marry him. At present, only possession by evil spirits could explain this matter.

After settling Meng Weiyu properly, Shen Zhoudu lay down on the sofa. The blanket rose slightly, and he immediately slipped under it to sleep.

Only then did Meng Weiyu realize that the sleepy one was clearly Shen Zhoudu.

What kind of person was this? He clearly wanted to sleep himself, yet he coaxed someone else to sleep.

Meng Weiyu lay on the bed for a while, then, unwilling to endure loneliness, pushed away the blanket. He carefully got out of bed and tiptoed to Shen Zhoudu’s side, then crouched down.

He crouched beside Shen Zhoudu just like that, watching his sleeping face.

After taking off his glasses, Shen Zhoudu’s features looked especially three-dimensional, especially the shape of his nose, which was particularly refined. His expression had softened, and the sharp feeling around him had weakened quite a bit.

According to Meng Weiyu’s aesthetics, he was good-looking.

Meng Weiyu raised his hand, placed it on his chin, and made a thinking gesture.

“Stop being naughty.” Shen Zhoudu’s mouth opened, and he spoke.

“You’re not asleep yet?” Meng Weiyu was surprised.

Shen Zhoudu’s eyelids moved, then slowly opened. A pair of pale blue eyes, brilliant like gems, looked at Meng Weiyu from up close.

“I only just lay down. Even if I’m really tired, it’s impossible for me to fall asleep immediately.” Shen Zhoudu sighed.

Meng Weiyu looked at him, seeming tired of him, and curled his lip.

“Want to sleep together?” Shen Zhoudu opened his blanket.

“You wish.” Meng Weiyu knew he had bad intentions.

Shen Zhoudu lowered the blanket.

“I say, do you know what I’ve recently gone through?” Meng Weiyu asked this question for no reason.

Because Shen Zhoudu was sleepy, he did not immediately react to what Meng Weiyu was trying to ask.

“My dad and mom basically haven’t met after their divorce. They barely even see me. This year, they rarely came home. Do you know why?” Meng Weiyu suddenly really wanted to talk about this. Before today, he could not find a suitable person to confide in. Maybe Shen Zhoudu would be willing to listen to him.

Shen Zhoudu became awake.

“Because they wanted money from my paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents. Back then, their divorce embarrassed both families, so the family said harshly that if they insisted on doing things their way, they wouldn’t get to take away a single cent. Everything would be mine.” Even so, they still wanted to leave, and not a single person cared about him. “This year, or to you, many years ago, they came back and wanted money. My paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents didn’t want to see them at all, so they moved into the house where I was living alone, ordered around my servants, threw tantrums every day, argued, and threw chairs. The most excessive thing was that usually, I’m the biggest at home, and I can eat whatever I want. But after they came, they wouldn’t let me order dishes. I had wanted to eat chestnut chicken, carrot-corn soup, and cold lotus root salad for days.”

That was the reason Meng Weiyu had run away from home that summer.

His memory just happened to stop on the most miserable day of his life.

“I know,” Shen Zhoudu patiently listened to him finish, then smiled gently for an instant.

Meng Weiyu froze.

“Come closer,” Shen Zhoudu said to him.

Meng Weiyu crouched on the floor and obediently moved two steps forward.

Shen Zhoudu reached out, placed his hand on Meng Weiyu’s head, then repeatedly stroked it.

Meng Weiyu pressed his lips together and looked at him, still remaining wary.

“I’ll make them for you tomorrow,” Shen Zhoudu promised. “I thought you were staying at Ning Wu’s place today, so I didn’t prepare anything.”

“If I stayed at Ning Wu’s place today…”

“Then I would go see you tomorrow.” Shen Zhoudu thought he had said a decent line of affection.

“Hiss.” Meng Weiyu sucked in a breath. “I don’t remember liking someone that clingy.”

Shen Zhoudu was so angry he nearly died and immediately turned cold.

Looking at his blue-green complexion, Meng Weiyu worried that he would be domestically abused in the middle of the night, so he silently turned around and sneakily followed the path he had come from, lying back down on the bed.

When Meng Weiyu covered himself with the blanket, Shen Zhoudu asked him again, “Do you really not need me to sleep with you?”

“I’ll think about it. Before I finish thinking, you’re not allowed to sleep with me.”

“Then that means no.” For Meng Weiyu, anything he did not immediately agree to meant rejection. “I’m going to sleep.”

“Sleep. Good night.” Meng Weiyu decided not to disturb him anymore.

“Good night.”

Meng Weiyu slightly poked his head out and confirmed that Shen Zhoudu had closed his eyes again, his whole body beginning to sink into the blanket, truly about to sleep. Then, bored, he took out his phone.

His hand moved around on the screen, not very clear on the positions of some apps. In the end, it stopped on the photo album.

Meng Weiyu opened the album.

He took one look and fell silent. This silence was different from the silence just now.

The latest photos in the album, an entire page of them, were all photos of him and Shen Zhoudu together.

Meng Weiyu could not keep looking. Just as he planned to close the phone, he discovered that there were also a large number of videos saved in the album. Without thinking too much, he randomly opened one.

Very quickly, the ambiguous moaning sounds of two men entangled with each other came from the phone, and the voices were Meng Weiyu’s and Shen Zhoudu’s.

“Holy shit.” Meng Weiyu panicked and fumbled around, wanting to close the video, but accidentally turned the volume up instead. In his panic, he found his reason in the next second and turned off the phone screen, thereby achieving the goal of stopping the video.

Hearing the sound disappear, Meng Weiyu immediately let out a breath of relief.

The air was terrifyingly quiet.

Then footsteps sounded.

Meng Weiyu instantly turned over.

Shen Zhoudu stood beside the bed, looking both angry and amused. He reached out, pressed Meng Weiyu’s shoulder, leaned down close to him, and teased, “Daddy, you’re really in the mood today.”