Chapter 27: The Message Was Pressed by the Cat

They did not know when Shen Zhoudu had entered the café. With long, decisive strides, he walked straight toward where Meng Weiyu was sitting. Just as he was about to approach them, he accurately caught the two key words: divorce.

His mood, which had already been gloomy for an entire day, now seemed as if it wanted to explode all at once.

When Meng Weiyu heard his voice, his finger slowly withdrew. The originally fake smile on his face gained a little bit of sincerity—and a little bit of guilt.

When Shen Zhoudu passed by Xie Wenxuan, he glanced at him unhappily. Then, with one step of his long legs, he stood directly beside Meng Weiyu, bent down, narrowed his eyes, and looked at him.

‘How many times have I told you? You’re not allowed to flirt around outside.’

Even if you forgot the fact that we’re married, you still can’t.

“I don’t know.” Meng Weiyu first answered his question. Then, understanding the importance of striking first, he took out his phone and frantically jabbed at the screen with his finger. “But I do know this—if you ignore my messages again next time, I really will divorce you!”

What did he mean by this? Was he ignoring him the whole time?

“I was in a meeting. My phone ran out of battery halfway through, so I had Ye Hongxu take it to charge.” And as soon as it had charged enough to turn on, after seeing the message, he had run downstairs in a panic.

“Ah, is that so?” Of course Meng Weiyu believed him. His attraction to Shen Zhoudu was like the attraction of a freshly opened can of cat food to Xueci—something certain creatures simply could not resist on a genetic level. But because he was feeling guilty, he could not help seizing the upper hand first, so that he would not be scolded too badly later.

“I’ll show you.” Some of Shen Zhoudu’s habits had already been cultivated over many years. He straightforwardly showed him his phone screen. The battery was currently only at three percent, and it would probably shut down again soon.

“Oh.” Meng Weiyu’s gaze drifted away.

Shen Zhoudu stretched out his hand and placed it on the back of Meng Weiyu’s chair. He stepped closer, enclosing Meng Weiyu within his own range of control, declaring ownership. Then he looked at the person opposite him and asked, “What are you sitting here for?”

Even someone like Meng Weiyu, who loved talking nonsense, could not help rapidly blinking after hearing Shen Zhoudu’s words.

This was a café. People could sit wherever they wanted.

“Can’t I catch up with an old friend after seeing him?” Xie Wenxuan had always felt that Shen Zhoudu’s possessiveness was suffocating. He truly could not understand how someone like Meng Weiyu, who loved freedom so much, could accept it.

“Of course old friends can catch up.” Shen Zhoudu was expressionless. He deliberately drew out the end of his sentence slightly, conveying the sense that there was more he had not said, but he also refused to continue.

Meng Weiyu guessed the unsaid part almost instantly: Of course old friends can catch up, but you are not an old friend.

“Heh.” Was Shen Zhoudu not rather good at speaking?

“Someone without tact has arrived, so let’s talk next time.” Xie Wenxuan gave Meng Weiyu a flirtatious wink, then left with a smile.

Meng Weiyu trembled. Goosebumps were about to rise all over his body.

He really wanted to establish a law: men were not allowed to wink flirtatiously at him.

Shen Zhoudu watched him leave and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled a chair over from the side, sat beside Meng Weiyu, and asked in confusion, “Why did you suddenly come here? And how did you find this place?”

“If I want to find a place, it’s easy.” He had gotten Shen Zhoudu’s company address from Ning Wu. He had originally planned to have Lin Xiao find the route and take him there, but when Lin Xiao learned that he only wanted to find Shen Zhoudu, he did not even need to look at the address. He drove him there with practiced ease.

Meng Weiyu was already too lazy to complain about things like this, so he slowly moved his feet and got out of the car.

When the people at Shen Zhoudu’s company saw him, they all greeted him one after another, so familiarly that it seemed as if he were the boss of the company. Without him needing to ask, they took the initiative to report that Shen Zhoudu was in a meeting. They had originally wanted to take Meng Weiyu to Shen Zhoudu’s office to wait, but Meng Weiyu felt embarrassed, so they brought him here instead.

Meng Weiyu wanted to explain this matter, but his phone suddenly rang several times. He had no choice but to stop speaking and glance at it.

“Who is it?” Shen Zhoudu’s eyes drifted over.

“Xie Wenxuan sent me several divorce lawyer business cards,” Meng Weiyu said, preparing to put his phone away.

Suddenly, a hand reached in front of him.

Meng Weiyu raised his head.

Shen Zhoudu said expressionlessly, “My phone is out of battery. Can I borrow yours?”

Meng Weiyu did not think much of it and lent him the phone.

Shen Zhoudu swiftly unlocked Meng Weiyu’s phone, opened the message list, tapped on the messages Xie Wenxuan had sent, and quickly deleted all the divorce lawyer business cards he had sent. After finishing this, he peacefully returned Meng Weiyu’s phone to him.

Meng Weiyu: “…”

So childish. And he was not decisive enough either. If Meng Weiyu encountered something like this, he would delete Xie Wenxuan’s contact information too.

“So then, what did you come to find me for?” Shen Zhoudu’s suppressed anger had lasted from yesterday morning until now.

“Did you eat breakfast?” Meng Weiyu asked curiously.

“I missed the time to eat breakfast.” Shen Zhoudu had gone straight to the meeting as soon as he arrived at the company today.

“What about lunch?”

“I changed to another meeting and saw a group of annoying people. I was full from anger.”

In other words, he had not eaten lunch either.

Meng Weiyu picked up the bag he had brought and stuffed it into Shen Zhoudu’s arms.

Shen Zhoudu opened the bag in confusion, then took out the things inside: a cup of coffee, a chocolate cake, and a large box of fruit.

“Can you eat these?” Meng Weiyu did not know whether he ate these things.

“I like them.”

“Then finish them.” Meng Weiyu could not understand how Shen Zhoudu had basically gone more than half the day without eating anything.

There were gradually more people in the café. Shen Zhoudu returned the chair he had pulled over back to its original place and sat opposite Meng Weiyu.

He was truly obedient. Since Meng Weiyu told him to eat, even if he had no appetite, he still ate the cake bite by bite, drank the coffee, and stuffed fruit into his mouth.

Finally, the people present noticed Meng Weiyu and Shen Zhoudu.

Xie Wenxuan, who had returned to the original group of people, kept frequently looking in their direction.

Meng Weiyu sighed emotionally, “Seeing you this time, I can actually understand why, even though you’re both men, I chose you back then and not Xie Wenxuan.”

“Mm.” Shen Zhoudu did not expect himself to hear a pleasant answer.

“Xie Wenxuan’s temperament is only flirtatious. It’s a little monotonous.” Meng Weiyu gave his judgment.

Shen Zhoudu put the fork aside and looked at Meng Weiyu with a smile. You’re even admiring Xie Wenxuan now?

“But you, under your reserved outer appearance, inside you’re comparatively coquettish—mmph!”

Meng Weiyu’s voice cut off because Shen Zhoudu used a fork to put a piece of cantaloupe into his mouth, blocking his words.

“Seventeen-year-old students are not allowed to toy with working adults.” Shen Zhoudu knew he could not say anything good.

Meng Weiyu opened his mouth, bit the fruit with his teeth, and smiled wickedly.

He was clearly praising him.

When the curious people watching the show saw their interaction, they instantly lost interest and turned their heads back: Sure enough, they were just the usual pair—a couple who showed off their affection regardless of the occasion.

The divorce rumors could not be fully trusted.

After an entire day of only drinking coffee and water, Shen Zhoudu finally ate. However, probably because he had suddenly eaten something, when there were only two bites of cake left, his expression turned ugly and he covered his mouth.

So greasy.

Even though he felt uncomfortable, he had no intention of stopping. The cold metal fork separated the remaining cake.

“Ah.” Meng Weiyu opened his mouth toward him.

An almost imperceptible blush appeared on Shen Zhoudu’s face as he fed the cake into Meng Weiyu’s mouth.

Meng Weiyu’s thoughtfulness was also very willful.

“There’s something suspicious about this.” Shen Zhoudu took a tissue from the side and wiped his mouth. After finishing everything on the table, his mind finally calmed completely, and he decided to continue investigating the reason Meng Weiyu had suddenly appeared.

“Cough, cough.” Meng Weiyu deliberately coughed.

Shen Zhoudu quietly stared at him.

“About that divorce message…” Meng Weiyu went straight to the point.

“You accidentally pressed it, right?” Shen Zhoudu remained calm.

Meng Weiyu showed an admiring gaze and was just about to praise Shen Zhoudu for being so perceptive when he discovered that the person opposite him was using his eyes to pressure him. Full of resentment, Shen Zhoudu repeated, “You accidentally pressed it, right?”

Meng Weiyu felt that if he denied this matter, Shen Zhoudu was going to turn against him.

“It was… Xueci who pressed it.” Meng Weiyu shamelessly pushed the blame onto an innocent little cat.

“I knew it.” Shen Zhoudu complained, “Bad cat.”

Was he scolding the cat or the person?

“When we go home today, I won’t give it any cat treats.” Shen Zhoudu once again scolded the locust while pointing at the mulberry.

Meng Weiyu’s eyes shifted, avoiding his gaze as he looked up at the ceiling.

If the two of them caused a scene in public, it would be too ugly. A strange tacit understanding made them both decide to leave this place of trouble.

“I’m almost off work. Go to my office. Later, I’ll take you out to eat.” Shen Zhoudu was not in the mood to cook for him tonight.

“Eh.” Meng Weiyu placed both hands on the table, lifted his head to look at him, and with sparkling eyes, used the sweetest smile to say the cruelest words of rejection. “No.”

“Come.” Shen Zhoudu reached out and pulled him up.

“Pain, pain, pain.” Meng Weiyu cried out dramatically.

“Your injured hand is the other one,” Shen Zhoudu reminded him.

“My other body parts are injured too!” Meng Weiyu said unhappily.

“I remember at least your mouth isn’t. Come here.” Shen Zhoudu pulled him up and dragged him to his side.

Meng Weiyu reluctantly bumped Shen Zhoudu’s shoulder.

“I’ll get you another glass of water. What do you want?” Shen Zhoudu held Meng Weiyu’s arm and walked toward the counter.

“I don’t want water right now.” He had just drunk a glass of lemon soda.

“Then let’s go.” Shen Zhoudu led him out.

Because Meng Weiyu did not remember this place at all, Shen Zhoudu leaned close to him, brought him through the main entrance, and told him, “The two elevators over there go directly to my office, so when you come here, just take those two elevators.”

Meng Weiyu watched him demonstrate pressing the elevator button and once again helplessly thought: He had lost his memory, not his intelligence.

Shen Zhoudu’s attitude was even more serious than Ning Wu’s. He was truly treating him like a child, teaching him step by step. “Press this one.”

Meng Weiyu did not want to respond to him, so Shen Zhoudu simply grabbed Meng Weiyu’s hand and made him press the button.

The elevator doors slowly closed and began rising.

In the enclosed space, there were only two people. Meng Weiyu finally spoke. “Shen Zhoudu, don’t force me to slap you.”

Hearing this, Shen Zhoudu’s hand stiffened. Then he suddenly squeezed toward Meng Weiyu’s direction.

Meng Weiyu saw his leather shoes move over and immediately took a step to the side. Shen Zhoudu then blocked Meng Weiyu into the corner of the elevator, lowered his head to look at him, and on his expressionless face was an unrealistic expectation, as if he were waiting for something.

Meng Weiyu thought inwardly: Tsk, this dead masochist.

Leaning beside him, Shen Zhoudu’s restless and manic heart finally calmed down.

“Shen Zhoudu…” Meng Weiyu was almost being squeezed until he could not breathe.

“Mm?” Shen Zhoudu looked at his face, suspecting that no matter what outrageous request Meng Weiyu made at this moment, he would agree—even if Meng Weiyu wanted his head, he could cut it off and let him carry it in his hands.

Of course, divorce was the only thing that was not allowed.

“I want to ask you. Between you and me, what strange game exactly are we playing?” Meng Weiyu raised his head and directly faced reality.

“We’re not playing any strange game.” Shen Zhoudu denied this matter.

Meng Weiyu smiled without warmth.

Were the things in those two cabinets just decorations, then?

In this strange atmosphere, the elevator arrived at its destination.

“President Shen, Mr. Meng.” Ye Hongxu had specially come to receive them.

Shen Zhoudu glanced at him and instantly understood the reason he was waiting here, so he nodded at him. Then he placed one hand on Meng Weiyu’s back and guided him toward a room.

Ye Hongxu hurried ahead to open the door.

“What are you trying to do?” Meng Weiyu glanced sideways at him, his steps pushed forward by Shen Zhoudu.

Shen Zhoudu did not say much. He led him into the spacious, bright office and brought him to the sofa. Pressing his shoulders, he made him sit down.

Meng Weiyu moved uneasily, his eyes quickly sweeping around.

“I still have a little work left. Wait for me here.” Shen Zhoudu was afraid he would get lost, so he brought him to his office. “I’ll be back very soon, so behave.”

Seeing Shen Zhoudu’s righteous expression, Meng Weiyu discovered that he had overthought things. At least, imprisonment play or something like that did not exist.

“Are you bored?” Shen Zhoudu noticed his expression was strange.

“A little.” Because Meng Weiyu had overused his brain today, he was already tired now.

“I’ll give you something to do.” Shen Zhoudu stuffed his own phone into Meng Weiyu’s hand. “The charger is beside the computer. Help me charge it.”

Meng Weiyu: “…”

There were thousands of things he wanted to complain about, but Shen Zhoudu no longer had time to keep bickering with him. Under Ye Hongxu’s signal, he quickly walked out. When he left, he even closed the door behind him.

Meng Weiyu turned on the sofa and looked rather helplessly at Shen Zhoudu leaving.

There was a piece of frosted glass outside, through which people outside could be faintly seen. Meng Weiyu noticed that after Shen Zhoudu left the room, his steps became faster. It seemed he really did have something to deal with.

Holding Shen Zhoudu’s phone, Meng Weiyu got up from the sofa and came to his desk. In order to find the charger, Meng Weiyu unceremoniously sat in Shen Zhoudu’s seat.

The chair was quite comfortable.

Meng Weiyu spun around in the chair with satisfaction. Then he successfully found the charger and plugged Shen Zhoudu’s phone in.

The instant the power connected, Meng Weiyu suddenly looked with great interest at the phone screen that lit up.

Speaking of which, Shen Zhoudu knew his phone password, so he should also know Shen Zhoudu’s phone password, right? In other words, the two of them had tacitly allowed each other to check the contents of their phones.

Thinking of this, Meng Weiyu became eager to try and casually entered a password.

He tried twice, and sure enough, both failed.

Meng Weiyu racked his brain. Finally, he took out his own phone and messaged Ning Wu: What’s Shen Zhoudu’s phone password?

Ning Wu: ???

Ning Wu: I don’t know. If I knew, wouldn’t you suspect something?

Meng Weiyu: Makes sense.

Ning Wu: You found Shen Zhoudu? You didn’t really bring up divorce, did you?

Meng Weiyu: I’m not that heartless.

If the matter of divorce only concerned himself and Shen Zhoudu, then whether they peacefully separated or tore each other apart until the sky darkened, it would not matter. But now, because of his mistake, Shen Zhoudu was single-handedly bearing the pressure of rumors and gossip. He could not allow the situation to continue developing like that.

That was why he had deliberately brought afternoon tea here today and shown his face, to dispel some rumors that the two of them had fallen out completely.

Meng Weiyu: But it’s very troublesome. I feel like after I came here, Shen Zhoudu’s obsession with me increased again. So annoying.

Ning Wu: Since I can’t scold you, I have nothing to say.

Meng Weiyu: I really don’t know why he still wants to be with me lately.

Ning Wu: Stop showing off.

Meng Weiyu: I’m not showing off. I’m telling the truth. Shen Zhoudu really looks like an adult.

Ning Wu: Forget now—he was already mature even when he was young.

Meng Weiyu: I’m so childish. What does he even have to talk about with me?

He did not know what his twenty-seven-year-old self was like, but Meng Weiyu knew that the mentality of his seventeen-year-old self definitely did not match twenty-seven-year-old Shen Zhoudu’s. Meng Weiyu estimated that when Shen Zhoudu was seventeen, his thoughts had already been at least twenty-five years old. Therefore, by this calculation, Shen Zhoudu was now thirty-five!

Meng Weiyu ignored how absurd his current thoughts were and continued thinking.

Because he had been raised freely since childhood, when he was seventeen, his temperament was honestly no different from a middle school student in the early stages of rebellion.

Heavens! What common topics could there possibly be between a thirty-five-year-old CEO and a thirteen-year-old middle schooler?

None at all!

Shen Zhoudu could not even ask him how his studies had been lately, or whether there were any pretty girls at school that he liked.

Ning Wu: Xiao Yu, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Meng Weiyu: I don’t know either. So what’s Shen Zhoudu’s phone password?

Ning Wu: I don’t know.

Meng Weiyu: Fine. I’ll try it myself.

Ning Wu: Stop messing around.

Meng Weiyu was simply too idle right now, so he nearly used up all the password attempts.

Cleverly, he stopped before the last remaining attempt.

Outside the window was a blue sky and white clouds. Meng Weiyu sat in Shen Zhoudu’s exclusive seat, boredly spinning around.

When Shen Zhoudu ended his work as quickly as possible and returned to the office, what he saw was Meng Weiyu balancing a pen on his deliberately pouted lips while spinning the chair.

Shen Zhoudu could not help blinking rapidly.

Meng Weiyu spun half a circle and finally saw Shen Zhoudu standing at the door, looking at him with a stunned expression. Strange thoughts surged in his heart. On one hand, he thought that compared to the current Shen Zhoudu, he really was childish, and there was nothing he could do about it. On the other hand, he did not really want to act too childish in front of Shen Zhoudu.

So Meng Weiyu slowly took the pen down, casually picked up a book Shen Zhoudu had placed on the desk, and opened it to read.

Footsteps approached from that side, and Shen Zhoudu’s low laugh sounded above Meng Weiyu’s head.

Meng Weiyu pretended not to know.

“The book is upside down,” Shen Zhoudu reminded him.

“I like reading upside-down books.” Hearing this, Meng Weiyu quickly closed the book.

Shen Zhoudu was still laughing.

Just as Meng Weiyu was about to lose his temper at Shen Zhoudu for laughing at him, the person standing beside him suddenly crouched down. Placing both hands on the chair’s armrests, he looked up at him with blue eyes and said, “I came to tell you that we can go eat now.”

“Your phone.” Meng Weiyu returned the phone that had been charging to him.

“Mm.” Shen Zhoudu reached out to take it.

Just as the phone was about to reach Shen Zhoudu’s hand, Meng Weiyu suddenly withdrew his hand and took the phone back. He looked at Shen Zhoudu and asked arrogantly, “What’s your phone password?”

“It’s the same as your phone password,” Shen Zhoudu said honestly.

Meng Weiyu instantly smiled and wanted to unlock his phone screen.

“Our wedding anniversary,” Shen Zhoudu added.

Meng Weiyu’s hand paused. A stiff smile appeared on his face.

Could this phone still be checked or not?

“Do you want to look?” Shen Zhoudu chuckled softly and looked at Meng Weiyu expectantly.

Meng Weiyu thought left and right. In the end, he still returned the phone to Shen Zhoudu.

“Hehe.” Shen Zhoudu swiftly took the phone back.

Only then did Meng Weiyu realize he had been fooled.

Shen Zhoudu stood up and reached out to help him.

“No need.” Meng Weiyu turned the chair slightly and planned to stand up by himself.

Seeing his movement, Shen Zhoudu shifted his feet and blocked him from the front. Meng Weiyu did not notice his step for a moment. Worried that he would bump into Shen Zhoudu’s body, his butt directly fell back onto the chair.

Shen Zhoudu pressed both hands on the chair’s armrests, trapping Meng Weiyu in that chair, then bent down and leaned close to him.

Meng Weiyu widened his eyes.

“You used to like this chair very much.” Seeing him sitting there gave Shen Zhoudu a nostalgic feeling.

“It’s good quality. It really is comfortable to sit in.” Meng Weiyu innocently patted the chair.

Looking at his face, Shen Zhoudu smiled. In the end, he decided not to tell him certain other stories related to this chair and scare him.

If Shen Zhoudu did not show any interest in sweet-talking or flirting with him, Meng Weiyu was actually quite willing to get along with him. Because Meng Weiyu was interested in every topic Shen Zhoudu talked about, and he also loved listening to what Shen Zhoudu said.

When they arrived at the restaurant to eat, the dishes Shen Zhoudu had people prepare were also all things Meng Weiyu liked.

“How did you do it?” Meng Weiyu ate happily.

Holding a glass of red wine, Shen Zhoudu helplessly shook his head and smiled, then took a sip.

“Okay, let’s chat!” Meng Weiyu became happier after eating and started talking more. “Ask me some questions that someone my age can answer.”

Shen Zhoudu glanced at him. After thinking about his age, he casually asked, “Your past grade rankings were always around fortieth. At worst, they were around fiftieth. Why did you rank over sixtieth in the final exam this time?”

Meng Weiyu’s expression instantly stiffened.

“Your answer?” The school’s first-place student pressured Meng Weiyu.

Meng Weiyu’s mouth moved, and he reluctantly answered, “Xiao Jialu said she had to seriously prepare for exams and didn’t have time to tutor me. Ning Wu came to my house and said he would study with me, but when the two of us got together, we always ended up playing games.”

“I know.” Shen Zhoudu had already seen that scene before.

On a certain day in the past, he heard that Meng Weiyu and Ning Wu were going to study at home together on the weekend. Thinking that he would pass by and bring drinks to the person he secretly liked who was studying hard, he walked in and saw the two of them curled up together watching a comedy movie, laughing and joking, with books thrown all over the floor.

At that time, Shen Zhoudu stood beside them and was truly furious.

“Can’t you ask something else?” Meng Weiyu was gloomy as he lowered his head and ate broccoli.

“Then, Xiao Yu, have you ever liked anyone?”

Shen Zhoudu was like a roundworm in Meng Weiyu’s stomach, accurately hitting all his thoughts.

Meng Weiyu raised his head and glanced at him.

Shen Zhoudu held his wine glass and, while taking in his conflicted expression, drank with a smile in his eyes.

Meng Weiyu no longer wanted to chat with him.

Throughout the meal, Meng Weiyu was both happy and in pain.

After the meal, Shen Zhoudu temporarily left his seat and went to the restroom to wash his hands.

Coincidentally, there was another familiar person in the restroom—Xie Wenxuan.

Shen Zhoudu washed his hands expressionlessly, looking straight ahead and completely treating the person beside him as nonexistent. After wiping his hands clean, he prepared to turn and leave.

Seeing him like this, Xie Wenxuan finally spoke. “Why do something that makes both sides unhappy? The seventeen-year-old Meng Weiyu simply won’t accept you. Rather than getting hurt, why not just let go?”

“Heh.” Shen Zhoudu sneered, then turned his head to look at Xie Wenxuan.

A defeated opponent—what right did he have to bark in front of him?

“You won’t understand.” Shen Zhoudu smiled. “The seventeen-year-old Meng Weiyu I once couldn’t have has now appeared in front of me, and he belongs to me.”

“Exactly which part of that is unhappy? I’m so happy I’m about to go crazy.”