Chapter 11
In the afternoon, the sun withdrew its brilliance behind the clouds. Su Yunzhe, leisurely wearing sunglasses, leaned back on a sunbed under the parasol by the lake, fishing.
Shen Yan stood on the second-floor balcony watching him for a good half hour. That person hadn’t moved at all, and it was hard to tell if he was genuinely fishing or simply asleep.
Shen Yan felt a bit bored standing there for so long, so he went downstairs and stepped outside.
Qin Mofeng had been called away by his new boss, cursing under his breath and greeting the new boss’s parents several times before ultimately giving in to the pressure of year-end performance reviews.
However, he had told Shen Yan a lot about Su Yunzhe.
They had known each other since middle school and had stuck together through college. Qin Mofeng knew all the details about Su Yunzhe’s past, even recalling the time Su Yunzhe had a rebellious phase in high school and ran away from home, only to be caught and beaten by Su’s father.
After hearing all this, Shen Yan felt incredulous while also unconsciously sketching out a more fleshed-out version of Su Yunzhe in his mind—one that was a real person, rather than the abstract villain depicted in the book.
He walked to the lake’s edge, where Su Yunzhe still lay casually on the sunbed, seemingly unresponsive—perhaps he really had fallen asleep.
Shen Yan glanced at the fishing rod carelessly stuck in the ground and couldn’t help feeling a little curious.
He didn’t know how to fish and didn’t particularly like it; he probably lacked the patience. When he used to go fishing with his grandfather as a child, he always pulled up the hook to see if there were any fish biting when his grandfather wasn’t looking.
Now, seeing the fishing rod left unattended for half an hour, he couldn’t resist anymore. He quietly reached out to grab the rod and pull it up.
“What are you doing?”
Su Yunzhe’s cold voice suddenly came from behind, startling Shen Yan so much that he lost his footing and nearly fell into the lake.
Just as he was about to make a close acquaintance with the water, his wrist was grabbed and yanked back, causing him to tumble backward and land on top of Su Yunzhe.
“Ugh…”
Su Yunzhe let out a muffled grunt. Shen Yan quickly got to his feet, “Sorry, sorry! Did I hurt you?”
Su Yunzhe rubbed his chin and looked at him, “Feeling guilty? Is my voice that scary?”
Shen Yan awkwardly laughed, “I thought you were asleep. Is your… jaw alright? Should I go get some medicinal alcohol to rub on it for you?”
Although Shen Yan was a man standing at 178 cm, even though his build seemed smaller compared to Su Yunzhe, the impact of crashing into him wouldn’t be negligible.
Su Yunzhe didn’t say anything, but his jaw did hurt quite a bit, throbbing with a sharp pain.
Shen Yan, being quite perceptive, quickly ran back to the villa and rummaged through the medical kit until he found a bottle of medicinal alcohol for injuries.
“President Su, sit tight. I’ll rub this on for you,” he said, pouring some alcohol into his palm and rubbing his hands together before crouching down beside Su Yunzhe and reaching out.
“No need,” the two words rolled around in Su Yunzhe’s mouth several times. However, upon seeing Shen Yan’s pale, slender hands, he ultimately swallowed the words and obediently leaned back against the sunbed, allowing the unpleasant-smelling alcohol to be smeared on his face.
As Shen Yan applied the alcohol, the injured spot hurt particularly bad, causing Su Yunzhe to instinctively turn his face away, trying to escape the discomfort.
Shen Yan quickly reached out to hold his other cheek, “Don’t move. It needs to be massaged properly; otherwise, it’ll leave a bruise.”
At that moment, the two were very close, and through the sunglasses, Su Yunzhe could see Shen Yan’s long, thick eyelashes fluttering nearby, slightly trembling. His clear, careful gaze was serious, and whenever Su Yunzhe winced in pain, Shen Yan would bite his lip, as if he felt the pain too.
Su Yunzhe’s lips curved slightly, and his throat tightened a little.
Suddenly, Shen Yan seemed to remember something funny and couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Hmm?” Su Yunzhe raised an eyebrow in question.
Shen Yan poured more medicinal alcohol into his palm, warmed it, and while helping Su Yunzhe rub it in, explained, “I just remembered that Feng Ge said you once fought five people in high school and won, which was really impressive. But you got hurt too, with a huge bruise on your eye. To maintain your image as the handsome school idol, you actually skipped class… haha… for a whole week… and…”
As he spoke, Shen Yan’s laughter became uncontrollable, and his hands paused, gripping the armrest of the sunbed, unable to stop laughing.
Honestly, he never expected Su Yunzhe to care so much about his image that he would skip classes and ultimately get reported to his father, leading to yet another lecture when he returned home.
Wasn’t he supposed to be the big bad guy? Wasn’t he supposed to be ruthless? This was way off script!
It took him quite a while to realize that Su Yunzhe’s expression was devoid of emotion, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that the weather had suddenly turned cooler.
He quickly composed himself, standing up. “Uh… I was just joking…”
“Feng Ge?” Su Yunzhe took off his sunglasses, raising an eyebrow with a smirk, interrupting him, “Calling him quite affectionately, aren’t you?”
Shen Yan didn’t immediately grasp the shift in conversation and was confused about why it suddenly turned to this topic.
However, he reacted quickly; he knew that Su Yunzhe and Qin Mofeng shared a close bond. Plus, Su Yunzhe had clearly heard him call Qin Mofeng “Feng Ge” earlier and hadn’t cared at all, so it didn’t make sense for him to suddenly get upset about it now.
In conclusion, Su Yunzhe must just be trying to change the subject to cover up his embarrassment from the past.
So, Shen Yan seized the opportunity to continue the conversation, “Actually, I think Feng Ge is quite nice. At first, when I heard he was a teacher, I was surprised; he didn’t seem like one. But then I thought about it, and I would have loved to have a teacher like Feng Ge back in school—someone without any airs who could get along with students. At sixteen or seventeen, it’s the age when you really want adults to treat you as equals. So I bet Feng Ge was really popular among the students.”
Su Yunzhe remained silent, merely looking at him with a smirk.
Shen Yan initially thought he had figured out his “golden boss’s” thoughts, but seeing Su Yunzhe’s reaction made him feel uncertain.
At that moment, he even began to doubt whether Qin Mofeng had just been making things up to fool him. Looking at the inscrutable Su Yunzhe before him, he certainly didn’t find him a fraction as charming as Qin had claimed.
It was utterly baffling…
“Last time, when you told me you liked Duan Yang, you were in a hurry to explain yourself. Why today, do you not fear I’ll misunderstand?” Su Yunzhe suddenly interrupted Shen Yan’s train of thought.
What the hell? What kind of reasoning was this guy following? Why couldn’t Shen Yan keep up?
Forget it, whatever!
“That’s different. I never liked Duan Yang in the first place. Besides, the contract I signed with you isn’t a sugar daddy agreement. Even if it were, you only want my body, not my heart, right? So whoever I truly like, you wouldn’t be interested in knowing,” Shen Yan replied.
Su Yunzhe glanced at him, “You’re surprisingly self-aware.” With that, he switched the bait on his fishing rod and resumed fishing.
Shen Yan rolled his eyes internally, growing more suspicious that Qin Mofeng had been pulling his leg.
It was now evening; the breeze outside was gentle, creating a rare moment of comfort during the day. With nothing else to do, Shen Yan settled into another sunbed, pulled out his phone, and began typing.
However, he found himself struggling to come up with ideas. After laboriously writing a few lines, he ended up deleting them all.
Deciding against writing any further, he opened Weibo, and just then, a message came through.
He clicked on it—it was from Duan Yang’s manager, Yu Lin: “Ms. Shen, thank you very much today. When are you free tomorrow? Let’s meet up; I’ll treat you to a meal to express my gratitude for your help today.”
Shen Yan furrowed his brows. What was this supposed to mean? Was he really that clueless? If they wanted to give him money, why not just transfer it via WeChat?
A meal? Would he have the nerve to accept money face-to-face?
Moments later, another message from Yu Lin arrived: “Brother Yang said you helped him immensely today and insisted on thanking you in person. Moreover, there are some other matters he’d like to ask for your help with. So please make some time tomorrow.”
After considering it, Shen Yan replied, “Sure!”
Even though it felt a bit awkward to receive money in person, he patted his pocket and suddenly thought that maintaining his pride wasn’t as important as having the cash.
Su Yunzhe had spent the entire afternoon without catching a single fish, but it was clear he wasn’t really fishing; he was just passing the time.
Speaking of which, Shen Yan found it quite strange. On a weekend, Su Yunzhe had called him out, and he initially thought there was something important to discuss. Instead, they just spent most of the day here.
After dinner, Su Yunzhe drove him back.
The villa was located somewhat out of the way, and by the time they returned to the city, it was already past ten.
Shen Yan’s rental was in an old unit complex from the last century. After twenty or thirty years, the surrounding facilities had aged and fallen into disrepair. The roads were full of potholes, and the streetlights had all gone dark. If you went out at night, you had to bring a flashlight; otherwise, you could easily stumble into a pit and no one would pay for your medical bills.
Shen Yan had only moved in a few days ago, so he wasn’t familiar with the area. As he got out of the car, he stepped right into a pothole and almost lost his balance. He quickly fished out his phone to turn on the flashlight while thanking Su Yunzhe, “Thank you, President Su. I’m heading back now. Drive safely!”
After saying that, he turned and walked into the dark alley.
From his car window, Su Yunzhe watched as Shen Yan stumbled again just three meters into the darkness.
A faint smile curved his lips as he opened the car door and followed after him.
