Chapter 7 - Misunderstanding

It was getting late, the windows were plunged into darkness with only a few windows in the apartment building still lit. Everything was quiet, the guest room lights were turned off and the room was dark. Fu Cheng was lying on the bed in the guest room, looking at the ceiling with his eyes wide open.

He remembered that during the parent-teacher meeting, no one from Shen Yi’s family came, and this time when he came to Shen Yi’s house, Shen Yi told him that he lived alone.

Some of the details revealed by Shen Yi actually allowed Fu Cheng to guess the situation in his home.

At certain times, the careless and dull Fu Cheng showed extraordinary consideration for people’s feelings.

Shen Yi, he… it must be lonely to be by himself.

Shen Yi, who knew nothing about Fu Cheng’s inner turmoil, slept well and slept until dawn before waking up in a good mood.

In the next two days, Fu Cheng ran to the cat cafe on the other side of the square several times, and each time he was accompanied by Shen Yi. Shen Yi had a lot of free time on his hand, and there wasn’t much of a problem with his study progress.

For him, systematic learning wasn’t a difficult task, and the knowledge of high school was easy to master.

He and Fu Cheng went to and from school together, and they almost stayed together these few days, so when Fu Yuhe returned home from a business trip and passed by Fu Cheng’s bedroom, he heard faint laughter coming from inside, and his steps stopped.

It was already seven o’clock in the evening.

The man had just returned from outside, his handsome face was a little tired, and he did something he would’ve never done before—eavesdropping on his brother’s conversation.

Fu Yuhe was tall, standing at the door, with his right shoulder leaning against the wall, his whole person gave off a calm and lazy vibe, his eyes were half-closed, and his long eyelashes cast shadows on his lower eyelids.

With regards to Shen Yi’s existence, after their last encounter, he had taken time to sort out his thoughts, he didn’t have the obvious resistance and defensiveness that he had at the beginning, just like a male lion who wouldn’t be afraid of animals weaker than him.

Since everything was still alright, Fu Yuhe wouldn’t do anything, but if Shen Yi had some other intentions towards Fu Cheng, and insists on ignoring his warning to play with Fu Cheng’s feelings, he would accompany him until the end, but this end wouldn’t be all nice and dandy.

Fu Cheng hadn’t trusted anyone so much for the past two to three years, yet everything changed when Shen Yi came crashing into his life. But Shen Yi didn’t seem as simple as he appeared on the surface, he really caused his vigilance to sky-rocket all of a sudden.

The door was not closed tightly, and the warm-colored light penetrated through the crack in the door. Fu Yuhe stood in the shadow on the other side of where the light went inside, listening to the conversation between the two teenagers in the room.

“Won’t my brother be angry if I do this?” Fu Cheng’s voice was somewhat soft, and when he said this sentence in an uncertain tone, he sounded apprehensive and guilty.

“No.” Shen Yi’s voice sounded as if he was coaxing a child, “In short, you can’t let your brother find out that something is wrong, okay?”

“But…” Fu Cheng was still a little hesitant.

Shen Yi instigated: “How would he know if you don’t tell him?”

Fu Yuhe clenched his fists, his calm exterior almost breaking down.

This Shen Yi was really not a good thing, it was fine he talked nonsense in front of him, but he even made a move on his simple younger brother.

What were they trying to hide from him?

He held onto his patience and continued to listen.

“What do I do if my brother is angry though?” Fu Cheng asked.

Shen Yi’s voice seemed to have been deliberately lowered making the young man’s voice sound gentler: “Then I will listen to you. I can accompany you n whatever you want to.” Shen Yi handed over the initiative, but Fu Cheng still felt uncertain, “Then I’ll listen to you, I think the method you suggested is …okay.”

“This one can be bought online.” Shen Yi said, “Do you like the bigger ones?”

Fu Cheng gently “Hmm”, his voice sounding shy: “The bigger ones look better.”

As for why Fu Cheng’s voice sounded ‘shy’, it was naturally from the person outside listening in on them automatically processing it in his mind.

“Then look at mine…”

Seeing that the topic was about to go in that kind of direction, Fu Yuhe could no longer bear it and pushed the door open, and his voice sounded deep: “Fu Cheng.”

The door opened, revealing the picture inside, and the two teenagers stood by the desk, looking at the mobile phone in Shen Yi’s hand, which was different from the picture Fu Yuhe had in mind.

The bed was neat and tidy and there were no traces of anyone touching it.

“Brother!” Fu Cheng opened his mouth and lost his voice, and a look of panic flashed on his face.

Fu Yuhe stood by the door, looking at the two of them silently, and the flash of panic on Fu Cheng’s face did not escape his eyes.

Fu Yuhe stood by the door, looking at the two of them silently, and the flash of panic on Fu Cheng’s face did not escape his eyes.

Shen Yi calmly put on Fu Cheng’s shoulder and squeezed it for comfort, and Fu Cheng tilted his head to look at his side face.

Shen Yi sat on the edge of the desk, one leg on the ground, one leg hanging in the air, leisurely shaking, “Brother Fu, you are back.”

Fu Yuhe only said: “I heard voices coming out of the room – it’s so late, aren’t you going back?”

“I’ll go back later.” Shen Yi took the initiative to say, “Fu Cheng and I were talking about going to the amusement park in November to watch the fireworks, and Fu Cheng was worried that you won’t agree and that you’ll be angry if he secretly went there without letting you know.”

Fu Yuhe didn’t know whether to believe it or not.

Shen Yi waved his mobile phone again, there was a fireworks publicity photograph on it, he raised the corner of his lips, revealing fine white teeth, there was a slightly sharper tooth on the left, that stuck out making Shen Yi look a little mischievous and he said: “You can buy the tickets online – what were you thinking, Brother Fu?”

Fu Yuhe: “… It’s nothing.”

The thoughts of a mature man couldn’t keep up with these young people anymore, was he really the dirty-minded one?

At this moment, all his attention was focused on Shen Yi, otherwise, he would’ve definitely realized that there was something wrong with Fu Cheng’s expression.

Fu Cheng was very surprised, he couldn’t believe Shen Yi found an excuse for them so fast, one that sounded reasonable.

“It’s fine as long as Brother Fu didn’t misunderstand, it’s not a bad thing to hang out with friends, right?” The smile on Shen Yi’s face seemed harmless.

Fu Yuhe: “It isn’t.”

“That’s great – you said it, Fu Cheng, when we go to play together that day, then Brother Fu won’t be angry.” Shen Yi said.

Fu Cheng was confused by Shen Yi’s continuous operations: “Ah… Oh, oh.”

Shen Yi jumped off the table, “I won’t stay any longer, otherwise I won’t be able to get a taxi later, so I am off.”

Fu Cheng hurriedly said, “I’ll send you.”

“The driver is still downstairs.” Fu Yuhe said, “I’ll let him send you.”

“That… I won’t be polite, thank you, Brother Fu.” Shen Yi accepted happily, and called out “Brother Fu”. It was like poisoned honey, it was sweet yet tempting, and you won’t know you’ve been fooled until you eat it…

——At least that’s how it was in Fu Yuhe’s ears.

A kind of disguise that has penetrated into one’s lifestyle and become a habit, made it such that it was no longer a disguise, but Shen Yi’s true character. He was a contradictory person who was both sunny and vicious, an angel’s exterior with a devil’s inside, just like …sesame-stuffed rice balls, after you bite open the white soft outer skin, the inside is a black-hearted filling.

He will never be fooled by Shen Yi’s appearance.

Fu Yuhe looked at the back of the youngsters as they left, closed his eyes and frowned, turned around, and went to the study.

Regardless of the truth or falsity in Shen Yi’s words, just his behavior of abruptly pushing the door open today was inconsistent with his past calmness, and Shen Yi could always do things that he felt were outrageous.

Maybe it wasn’t related to the things, but instead, the person involved.

Shen Yi made him impulsive.

This was a big taboo for Fu Yuhe, whoever loses their stability first was more likely to be the loser, but the relationship between Fu Cheng and Shen Yi warmed up faster than he expected.

Fu Yuhe looked at the document for a long time, only to remember that he had planned to go back to the room to take a shower first, he irritably unbuttoned the two buttons on his shirt, and his collarbone loomed in the light.

“Thump, Thump, Thump…” There was a knock on the door.

At this point in time, there was only one person who could be knocking on his door.

Fu Yuhe: “Come in.”

The door was gently pushed open, and a head popped in from outside, it was Fu Cheng.

“Brother.” Fu Cheng called out, turned around, and closed the door before walking towards the table.

Fu Cheng rarely ever came to Fu Yuhe’s study, let alone when Fu Yuhe was in it.

Although the brothers depend on each other for their lives, Fu Yuhe had always disciplined Fu Cheng, and Fu Cheng mostly obeys Fu Yuhe’s instructions.

Fu Yuhe used to be busy, and now he is also busy, he used to be busy with protecting his family property from the family relatives who were like hungry wolves and tigers in the past, all the while studying in college and starting a business, and now his career is up and running, and he was still very busy at work.

Both of them were not good at expressing their feelings, although Fu Cheng respected his eldest brother and is filled with admiration towards him, and though Fu Yuhe also cared about his younger brother, there was still a distance in terms of expressing their family affection.

Fu Cheng respected and feared Fu Yuhe and Fu Yuhe knew that his brother had always been timid.

“What’s the matter?” Fu Yuhe asked.

Fu Cheng hesitated for a few moments, but still said what he thought: “Brother, do you… not like Shen Yi?

“That’s not it.” Fu Yuhe said quietly.

Fu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief: “It’s good if you don’t dislike him, brother, in fact, Shen Yi is… really good, you’ll know it.”

Fu Yuhe wanted to say that ‘it’s your friend, of course, you’ll think he’s good‘, but after all, things won’t always be the way you want them to be.

“How well do you know him?” Fu Yuhe said, “You’ve only known each other for more than a month.”

“You’re just prejudiced against him.” Fu Cheng whispered disapprovingly.

“Whether I’m being prejudiced or not, you can see it for yourself.” Fu Yuhe took out a stack of documents from the drawer and threw them on the table.

Fu Chenghu looked at him suspiciously, walked over and picked up the document, it turned out to be about Shen Yi’s previous fighting deeds, Fu Cheng squeezed the document tightly, and looked up at his brother.

Fu Yuhe’s rubbed his fingertips, and he wanted to smoke a little.

He didn’t want to show these things to Fu Cheng, but Fu Cheng trusted Shen Yi way too much, making him realize that even if he didn’t directly stop the two from interacting, he should at least let Fu Cheng see his true face.

He didn’t want Fu Cheng to be too sad.

Who knew that the next moment, Fu Cheng’s tone was filled with anger: “Brother, how can you… How can I investigate my friends!?”

Fu Yuhe: “…

For a second, Fu Yuhe felt like he was the evil mother-in-law who was preventing her son from dating his poor girlfriend in an eight-o’clock dog-blood drama. She couldn’t stop the two from being together, but instead, she acted as a catalyst that brought the two of them closer.

Fu Cheng rarely ever lost his temper with him.

The door was slammed shut.

Shen Yi.

Fu Yuhe muttered these two words silently in his mouth.

What kind of magic did he use to fascinate his brother to such an extent?

His cheeks stirred, and what came to mind was the highly deceptive face, the healing smile like a dog.

…..Well, he sure had some means.

On Saturday, the day before Fu Yuhe’s birthday, school was closed, and Fu Cheng was at Shen Yi’s place, doing his homework and reviewing books.

Shen Yi could see that Fu Cheng was not in high spirits these past two days. Specifically, after the day Fu Yuhe returned, not long after he left that day, Fu Cheng also sent him a message, asking him how he thought of an excuse so quickly, saying that he was really powerful.

His mood was still right at that time.

That night, they were actually just discussing buying fireworks for Fu Yuhe’s birthday.

He didn’t know what happened between the brothers after he left, Shen Yi tried to get Fu Cheng to tell him, but he failed to get anything out, so Shen Yi affirmed that this matter was somehow related to him.

Fu Cheng sat on the edge of the desk to write the test paper, and Shen Yi sat on the sofa next to him – holding a book in his hand to read. he sat on the sofa with a pair of long legs bent, and the lazy sitting posture did not look very serious.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, Shen Yi answered a call, ran downstairs, and came up again with a large courier box in his hand.

“The fireworks arrived.” Shen Yi said. For the sake of keeping it confidential, after they bought the fireworks, they sent them to Shen Yi. It contained not only fireworks but also some gadgets to add a cheerful atmosphere to the celebration.

He sat on the cushion to unpack the courier, and Fu Cheng also sat down and became more interested.

The two counted the things in the express and planned for tomorrow night, Fu Cheng called Fu Yuhe’s assistant to inquire about his brother’s itinerary. The assistant knew that tomorrow was Fu Yuhe’s birthday, and promised him that he would not tell Fu Yuhe about his inquiry.

“How old is your brother this year?” Shen Yi asked.

Fu Cheng: “Twenty-five, my brother is seven years older than me.”

“You look more than just seven years younger than your brother.” Shen Yi said.

“Yes?” Fu Cheng held his face, “Maybe I look younger.”

Shen Yi laughed.

Before the things were counted, Shen Yi’s mobile phone rang again, it was a string of unfamiliar numbers.

“Continue, I’ll take a call.” Shen Yi got up and walked to the side.

The phone was connected, and an unfamiliar voice came from the other side.

“Excuse me, is this Mr. Shen?” It was a pretty official tone.

Shen Yi: “You are?”

“Wait a minute.” The person over there seemed to be far away from the phone, and Shen Yi faintly heard a “President Fu”.

Then, the person answering the phone changed.

“Shen Yi.” A familiar magnetic male baritone.

Shen Yi glanced at Fu Cheng on the side, and walked to the balcony, “Is something wrong?”

Fu Yuhe: “Meet me.”

Shen Yi: “Of course, Brother Fu can see me any time he wants – will you come over to my place?”

His lowered voice made the second half of the sentence sound rather ambiguous as if he was suggesting something, just like a hook tickling people’s hearts.