Chapter 40: Talking Bad About You

“You remembered?” Ning Wu jumped three feet high.

Meng Weiyu reluctantly nodded. He had remembered several days ago.

“Then why didn’t you say so?” Ning Wu had not expected that Meng Weiyu would actually treat him like this much of an outsider.

“I wanted to.” Meng Weiyu pounded his own shoulder, experiencing for the first time what it felt like to stammer. “But I didn’t dare.”

“Why?” Ning Wu had the honor of experiencing what Shen Zhoudu felt whenever he and Meng Weiyu were pulling back and forth. His heart was anxious, yet he found it completely incomprehensible. He could not guess at all what Meng Weiyu was thinking.

“Last time, I offended Shen Zhoudu. He said he wasn’t going to argue with me because I’m currently a high school student.” Meng Weiyu turned his head as if his heart had turned to ashes. “If he finds out I’m a university student now, wouldn’t there be a chance I’d get pinned down and beaten?”

“I’ve never seen Shen Zhoudu lay a hand on you.” Forget laying a hand on him. He had not even said a harsh word.

“Hard to say.” During this period, Meng Weiyu had discovered that Shen Zhoudu’s temper was actually quite big too.

“No wonder these past few days, you haven’t been shouting everywhere about wanting a divorce like before.” Ning Wu had been badly frightened by the scene Meng Weiyu caused that day.

Meng Weiyu put on a helpless expression and explained to him again, “That matter was an accident. No matter how old I am, I don’t have the stupid idea of dragging my private affairs out for other people to discuss.”

Ning Wu thought for a moment, narrowed his eyes, and sensed a problem from Meng Weiyu’s ambiguous attitude.

“What are you doing? Stop making ugly expressions in front of me.” Like a child, Meng Weiyu quickly realized Ning Wu wanted to tease him, so he raised his guard first and warned Ning Wu that he had better restrain himself.

“After you remembered your university memories, your attitude toward Shen Zhoudu completely flipped.” Ning Wu had already guessed as much. “Before that kid confessed, you and him were already unclear!”

“Don’t joke around.” Meng Weiyu almost choked.

“Then explain. Explain to me right now and soothe my wounded little heart from the past. Tell me, who is your best friend?” Ning Wu refused to let it go.

Meng Weiyu: “…”

“Ahhh! Meng Weiyu!”

A noisy voice came from upstairs. Shen Zhoudu helplessly climbed the stairs to check the situation. The moment he opened the room door, he saw Meng Weiyu sitting on the sofa pretending to be dead, while Ning Wu pulled at his sleeve from the side, shouting at the top of his voice, “Say it! If you’ve got the guts, then speak! Do you think playing dead is useful?”

Meng Weiyu swept his eyes around and discovered Shen Zhoudu standing at the doorway. He immediately pushed Ning Wu’s head away with a disgusted expression and told him, “You’re already someone with a wife. You should still keep your distance from me.”

“If you don’t give me an answer, I won’t let you go today!” Ning Wu used the words Meng Weiyu had said when throwing a tantrum in the past, clinging to his sleeve and leaning closer.

Meng Weiyu was about to be pressed down onto the sofa by him.

One hand inserted itself between the two of them, held the half of Ning Wu’s face that was approaching Meng Weiyu, and pushed him back.

“Xiao Zhou, you’re here.” Ning Wu was still smiling brightly, but his hand continued pulling Meng Weiyu with force.

“It’ll hurt him,” Shen Zhoudu told Ning Wu.

“This kind of person has no conscience. He won’t feel pain.” Ning Wu smiled while teasing Meng Weiyu.

Shen Zhoudu thought for a moment, then said sorry. From behind the sofa, he held Meng Weiyu under the arms and dragged him to the seat beside them, pulling him away from Ning Wu.

“Xiao Zhou.” Ning Wu had seen through too much. He smugly shook his finger and, for the time being, taught Shen Zhoudu a principle. “Feeling heartache for a man will bring bad luck, especially a heartless man.”

When Shen Zhoudu heard Ning Wu’s lofty opinion, he silently covered Meng Weiyu’s ears.

Don’t listen. It’s bad words about you.

As for who the heartless man was, everyone had silently agreed on the same person.

Meng Weiyu grabbed Shen Zhoudu’s hand down and turned his head to look at him unhappily.

Ning Wu did not know what had happened between the two of them and had no intention of interfering between them. So he naturally stood up and told them, “We’ve eaten, I looked through the album with Xiao Yu, and we reminisced about old times. So Lulu and I will pretty much head home. Next time, let’s pick a weekend and go to the seaside for vacation together.”

“Sure.” Shen Zhoudu had always gotten along with him casually.

Ning Wu went downstairs, greeted Xiao Jialu, and the two of them left.

Watching the two disappear from sight, Meng Weiyu curled his lips and said in great confusion, “So how exactly did those two hook up?”

When Shen Zhoudu heard his question, he opened his mouth, wanting to tell his husband, who lacked this memory, the love story between those two.

However, Meng Weiyu often asked questions not because he wanted a definite answer. With a flip of his hand, a sheet of paper was caught between his fingertips, and he began the next topic.

“What is this?” Shen Zhoudu curiously took the sheet of paper.

“I discovered my classmate album is loose-leaf, so I removed one page I cared about.” Meng Weiyu’s ability to dismantle things and cause trouble was always beyond ordinary people.

Shen Zhoudu took the paper and found that it was the classmate album page he had filled out for Meng Weiyu during senior year of high school.

“This kind of thing was popular before.” Shen Zhoudu revealed a nostalgic expression.

Meng Weiyu looked at Shen Zhoudu’s relaxed appearance and reached out, flipping the sheet over.

“In the motto section, you wrote, ‘A wise man does not fall into love.’” The moment Meng Weiyu saw that sentence, he really wanted to call the police and have this liar arrested.

Someone who got married right after graduating from university—just how thick-skinned did he have to be to treat such a sentence as his motto? Besides, ordinary people would not write such a baffling sentence in a classmate album. The reason Shen Zhoudu wrote that warning there was clearly because it was aimed at Meng Weiyu.

“Ah? Hahahaha.” When Shen Zhoudu saw that line, he froze for a moment. Then, probably because he also felt that his past behavior was too ridiculous, he completely failed to maintain his calm persona.

“Probably because those who look down on love will suffer for love.” Shen Zhoudu did not deny his self-righteousness at the time.

“I thought you would say, ‘A wise man does not fall into love, but you are a fool.’” Meng Weiyu regretted guessing wrong.

“I’m very smart.” Shen Zhoudu had his own unique pride. Holding the paper, he ran upstairs. “I’ll put this paper back where it was so it doesn’t get lost.”

Meng Weiyu crossed his arms. He had originally been waiting for Shen Zhoudu in a relaxed posture, but suddenly, he realized something and broke out in a cold sweat.

Wait. Who exactly was the person who looked down on love and suffered for it?

Between him and Shen Zhoudu, he looked more like the one who was disdainful of love.

“We should head back to the city early too.” After organizing the photo album and classmate album, Shen Zhoudu came out of the study. “I want to go to the company tomorrow to handle work, then accompany you to your company on Monday.”

“What do you mean, accompany me to the company?” Meng Weiyu had a bad feeling.

“Didn’t you say you were too bored and wanted to work?” Shen Zhoudu discovered that Meng Weiyu really just said things casually, with not many of them actually taken to heart. “I feel like it’s about time too. On Monday, I’ll go with you to take a look. If I’m there, I can also help with things you can’t handle.”

Meng Weiyu was a little resistant, but he still nodded.

“Good.” Shen Zhoudu came down the stairs and casually touched the back of his head.

Meng Weiyu’s ears turned slightly red.

Shen Zhoudu drove Meng Weiyu home, stopping by a supermarket on the way to buy some daily necessities and snacks.

“I’ll pay.” Meng Weiyu took out the card Shen Zhoudu had given him and rushed to the front.

Shen Zhoudu leisurely walked over without caring much.

“What was the password again?” Meng Weiyu suddenly forgot this matter.

Shen Zhoudu squeezed beside him, reached out, and pressed it for him to see.

After the payment succeeded, Meng Weiyu smiled and took the card back.

“Do you want to write the password down in your phone?” Shen Zhoudu understood his personality of paying absolutely no attention to money. He would probably forget the password again soon.

“I’ll write it down.” Meng Weiyu felt his suggestion made sense.

“You can use the money in the card to buy whatever you want.” Shen Zhoudu warned him, “But you can’t use it to flirt around.”

“Although saying this feels like hurting my own pride.” Meng Weiyu put the card away. “But with how strictly you watch me, do I really still have any other romantic luck?”

“You’d better not.” Shen Zhoudu narrowed his eyes and threatened him.

“Don’t be like that. Relax a little.” Meng Weiyu smiled and patted his shoulder, joking, “Then you can also go develop some other romantic prospects. I guarantee I won’t mind.”

Shen Zhoudu picked up the shopping bag and looked at him meaningfully, saying, “You’d better not.”

Meng Weiyu’s expression stiffened.

“Xiao Yu’s personality should be very tolerant.” Meng Weiyu chased after him.

Shen Zhoudu walked to the elevator, pressed the button, and said in a certain tone, “Xiao Yu’s personality has nothing to do with the word tolerant.”

“You’re slandering me. How can there be such a bad person like you in this world?”

Although Shen Zhoudu said he would go to the company tomorrow, in reality, the moment they returned home, he started working.

The idle Meng Weiyu could only take a nap. After waking up, he opened a bag of biscuits, biting them while watching a movie.

Seeing that it was almost dinnertime, Shen Zhoudu finally came out of the study.

“Are the biscuits good?” Shen Zhoudu walked beside him and poked his head over to look at him.

“They’re good, but I don’t want to eat biscuits anymore. I want a steak dinner.” Meng Weiyu was hungry.

When Shen Zhoudu heard this, he froze.

Meng Weiyu lowered his head and dryly chewed the biscuits. It was clearly an ordinary expression, but when linked to what had happened before, Shen Zhoudu somehow tasted a trace of grievance from it.

“I’ll treat you!” Shen Zhoudu rarely spoke so urgently. “Right now. I’ll take you to eat.”

Meng Weiyu turned his head with a smile.

He truly was a bad-hearted person.

Shen Zhoudu was right. He was destined to suffer for love.

“Let’s eat at that Wang family restaurant.” Meng Weiyu deliberately acted spoiled.

“I’ll go get the keys.” Shen Zhoudu turned around to find the car keys.

“Cough, cough.” Once Shen Zhoudu turned around, Meng Weiyu had no choice but to turn his head aside and cough.

Adult men had to be careful when pinching their voice.

Shen Zhoudu got the car keys and went out with the cheerful Meng Weiyu.

During dinner, Shen Zhoudu habitually ordered red wine for himself and orange juice for Meng Weiyu. But when the server was pouring the red wine, Meng Weiyu moved especially quickly and pushed his own glass over.

“Minors aren’t allowed to drink alcohol,” Shen Zhoudu reminded him.

“Who’s a minor?” Meng Weiyu confidently picked up the wineglass and took a sip.

Shen Zhoudu supported his chin and helplessly watched him. In the end, he could only discipline him. “You can only drink this one glass.”

“You really like ordering me around.” Meng Weiyu had discovered this long ago.

“Because you need discipline,” Shen Zhoudu said as if it were only natural.

This sentence did not carry any personal thoughts. It was fact. Meng Weiyu had indeed been far too free since childhood, with no one ever disciplining him.

“Then.” Meng Weiyu set down the wineglass, speared a piece of meat with his fork, and put it into his mouth. “Why do you like being tied up?”

Shen Zhoudu suddenly raised his head, just in time to see Meng Weiyu open his mouth. The juicy piece of meat entered his rosy mouth, and one could faintly see his moist tongue and white teeth waiting to tear the meat apart.

He could not help silently swallowing.

Meng Weiyu chewed the food in satisfaction, looking at Shen Zhoudu with lazy and exploratory eyes.

“Life preferences and bed preferences are different,” Shen Zhoudu said for the time being.

“You like being disciplined by me in bed?” Meng Weiyu understood and raised the corners of his mouth.

Shen Zhoudu was not frightened by his sudden sentence. Instead, he found some clues and asked, “You seem very happy talking about this topic today?”

Before this, whenever sex was mentioned, Meng Weiyu would collapse and shriek.

“Because I’m very lewd.” Meng Weiyu used Shen Zhoudu’s own words to block him.

“Mm.” Shen Zhoudu agreed with this statement. He lowered his head to eat vegetables, still suspicious. “But I still think you’re very strange.”

Meng Weiyu did not dare continue.

Just as Shen Zhoudu said, he was very smart. With a few more clues, he would be able to guess that the person in front of him was not seventeen-year-old Meng Weiyu.

“I have something I’m curious about.” Shen Zhoudu raised his eyes and stared at Meng Weiyu.

Feeling guilty, Meng Weiyu drank a large gulp of red wine.

“When you were seventeen, were you also very lewd?” Shen Zhoudu asked sincerely.

“Pfft.”

“Change the wine.” Shen Zhoudu called the server.

The server changed Meng Weiyu’s glass of red wine and elegantly withdrew.

“Hm?” Shen Zhoudu urged Meng Weiyu to answer.

Meng Weiyu was using a napkin to wipe his mouth in embarrassment. Hearing Shen Zhoudu urge him, he said unhappily, “What physically healthy person isn’t lewd?”

“Hmph.” Shen Zhoudu laughed.

“When you were seventeen, you definitely secretly looked at magazines of muscular men.” Meng Weiyu remembered that Shen Zhoudu was very good at hiding things.

“The type I like is different from yours.” Shen Zhoudu discovered that Meng Weiyu loved judging others by himself the most.

Meng Weiyu waved his hand, showing that he did not want to continue the conversation.

“Why? Although we’ve been married for years, exchanging these topics is also very interesting.” Shen Zhoudu was not afraid at all.

“There’s no point. In the end, it will definitely turn into you saying that you just like me.” Meng Weiyu was too good at sweet talk. He did not even need Shen Zhoudu to continue to guess the verbal trap he had buried here.

“Hahahahaha.” Shen Zhoudu let out an abrupt laugh.

Meng Weiyu slowly drank the red wine to prevent another disaster like before.

“Although you tell me everything, I actually know very little about your past,” Shen Zhoudu said.

“It doesn’t mean I don’t trust you.” Meng Weiyu could roughly guess why he rarely talked about his past.

“I know. You said you don’t remember.” Meng Weiyu was someone who lived in the present. As for many things in the past, he was not deliberately refusing to say them. He truly did not remember. “So seventeen-year-old you, at least, still remembers things that happened not long before that, right?”

To Shen Zhoudu, this was a Meng Weiyu he had no chance to know.

“When I was seventeen?” Because of the memory loss, Meng Weiyu could now clearly remember the years around when he was seventeen. “Although I myself was very happy, in reality, I was still a student. I feel like most of the time was spent at school. Then… mm, I was often home alone. If someone invited me out to play, I would go. I played too much outside and my grades dropped, so Grandfather introduced Xiao Jialu to me. Then I studied and played.”

Meng Weiyu stretched out a finger, recalling his life. In the end, he forcefully recalled nothing.

He truly was not deliberately hiding anything from Shen Zhoudu.

His former life was blurred and unclear.

On the other hand, memories divided by his relationship with Shen Zhoudu were very clear.

At fifteen, he met Shen Zhoudu at a banquet. While they were eating, Shen Zhoudu said he was noisy. From the first meeting, he had hated Shen Zhoudu.

Even more annoying was that one week later, when first year of high school began, he encountered expressionless Shen Zhoudu in the same corridor, brushing past him. Then he felt this person was really annoying.

Meng Weiyu silently hated Shen Zhoudu like this for nearly three years.

He actually rarely cared about a person this much, but he could confirm that at the time, it had nothing to do with love. It was just… inexplicable concern.

“During that period, I said some bad things about you.” Meng Weiyu honestly confessed.

When Shen Zhoudu heard his honesty, not only was he not angry, he even laughed and asked, “What bad things did you say about me?”

“Quite a lot. Mostly that you were so pretentious.” Meng Weiyu’s voice became smaller and smaller.

“How?” This was the first time Shen Zhoudu had heard of this, and he laughed loudly.

“You got first place and still looked disdainful.” Meng Weiyu counted them out. “At banquets, many people praised you, and then you still looked disdainful. At that time, I wanted to make you suffer a loss. I noticed that you often privately interacted with Song Meiming, so I talked to her a few more times, wanting to deliberately make you unhappy.”

“And then I looked disdainful.” Shen Zhoudu could already guess his mental activity.

“No, you looked very unhappy.”

“Is that so?” Shen Zhoudu smiled without warmth.

“Later, I felt that doing that wasn’t very good, so I didn’t continue. I just kept silently saying bad things about you behind your back.” The more Meng Weiyu spoke, the guiltier he felt. His personality really was terrible.

Shen Zhoudu knew that this person’s ability to speak ill of others was limited.

“And after that…” Meng Weiyu originally wanted to continue, but he realized that he should currently only be seventeen, so he stopped in time.

After that, he interacted closely with Shen Zhoudu and became friends.

The reason he said the change in his relationship with Shen Zhoudu made his memories a little clearer was because Shen Zhoudu was different from the other people around him. He did not bring only pure happiness, simple liveliness, or endless torment.

For a time, Meng Weiyu had the illusion that perhaps, other than himself, people either gave him happiness or gave him pain.

But Shen Zhoudu was different. He would play games with him, which made him very happy, but he would also force him to study, which was painful. He would give him a faint sense of indulgence and unlimited tolerance, which made him very happy. But he would also pull himself away in time, not daring to step into his heart, which was painful.

Joy and sorrow repeatedly interwoven were emotions Meng Weiyu could not understand.

He believed in timely pleasure: if they got along, they would play together; if they did not, they would separate.

But toward Shen Zhoudu, it was different. His attitude toward Shen Zhoudu could not be decided by temporary happiness or pain.

Therefore, from a certain perspective, Meng Weiyu, who truly was very tolerant, would throw rotten tantrums because of Shen Zhoudu.

“Did you not have even one positive impression of me?” Shen Zhoudu was about to have his heart broken by his first love.

Meng Weiyu stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth and deliberately mumbled unclearly, “Smart.”

Shen Zhoudu smiled and said, “Mm.”

After dinner, Meng Weiyu, who realized he had actually said so many bad things behind someone’s back before, silently paid the bill.

“With this appearance, you look like you cheated outside and are going home.” Shen Zhoudu’s long fingers rested on the counter. He was nearly amused by him.

Meng Weiyu resentfully glanced at him and warned the world, “You can’t marry someone you’ve said bad things about.”

“It’s fine. At first, I didn’t like you very much either. Although I didn’t have friends I could tell bad things to, I did say bad things about you in my heart.” In order to settle his conscience, Shen Zhoudu took the initiative to confess.

“What?” Meng Weiyu was curious.

“You were also so pretentious,” Shen Zhoudu said.

Hearing this, Meng Weiyu became furious and reached out to pinch his arm.

“Ow.” Shen Zhoudu sucked in a breath.

Meng Weiyu walked out of the restaurant with him.

The two left the place, their figures passing the glass windows outside.

A man in a suit who had returned from the restroom sat down.

“Shen Buning, I think I saw your son and Meng Weiyu.” The person sitting opposite reminded him.

“Is that so?” The stern man picked up his wineglass, the corners of his mouth rising. With eyes that held no smile, he looked at the person opposite him. “Too bad we didn’t go say hello.”

The night lights flickered.

Inside the home that was supposed to feel rather safe, Meng Weiyu now had the feeling that his chastity was not safe.

He was not sleeping in the middle of the night and was still playing games in the living room when Shen Zhoudu, who had finished showering, came out.

Meng Weiyu originally thought he had come to chase him away and was preparing to say something to brush it off. As a result, Shen Zhoudu, whose pajama buttons were not properly fastened, pressed him down onto the sofa.

“What are you doing?” Meng Weiyu lay on the sofa. His left eye saw chest muscles exposed by open clothing. His right eye saw chest muscles exposed by half-open clothing. Both eyes were troubled, and his eyeballs kept turning around.

“Didn’t you say you used to be very lewd? I’m giving you a chance.” Shen Zhoudu’s body carried the familiar scent of body wash, and heat washed over him.

“No need. What I like isn’t this kind of…” Meng Weiyu politely refused while suspecting that this was just Shen Zhoudu’s revenge for knowing he had spoken badly about him behind his back.

Without another word, Shen Zhoudu suddenly hugged Meng Weiyu.

Meng Weiyu did not struggle much and happily leaned beside his chest muscles.

Shen Zhoudu lowered his head, looked at Meng Weiyu’s reaction, and fell into thought.