Chapter 28
After Shen Yan finished speaking, Su Yunzhe remained silent, simply staring at him with an unreadable gaze.
Feeling uncertain about Su Yunzhe’s thoughts and worried he wasn’t ready to let go of last night’s events, Shen Yan tried cautiously to pull his hand away from Su Yunzhe’s grasp. To his surprise, Su Yunzhe didn’t stop him.
Freed, Shen Yan immediately said, “Then it’s settled. I just remembered I have something to do, so I’ll be off. Goodbye, President Su!” With that, he practically bolted out the door.
Once he was safely in the elevator with the doors closed, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. The smile he had forced on earlier faded away, leaving him leaning weakly against the wall. His head drooped, and strands of hair fell loosely from his temples, nearly covering his face.
He felt both frustrated and caught up in an indescribable emotion.
In that brief moment when he fled, his reaction hadn’t been purely about avoiding Su Yunzhe’s questions from last night. It was more… he just didn’t want to stay in Su Yunzhe’s presence any longer.
When Su Yunzhe had looked at him with such a tender, caring expression, his instinct had been to run.
It was midday by the time Shen Yan left Su Yunzhe’s place, and the sun was blazing hot, with hardly anyone in sight.
Since Shen Yan didn’t usually carry an umbrella, he had no choice but to walk through the sun to the nearest subway station.
The subway station was crowded, waves of people coming and going. If you didn’t push your way in, you might feel like you’d never make it onto a train.
Shen Yan stood on the sidelines, watching several trains arrive and depart before he finally worked up the courage to dive into the crowd.
After two transfers, he eventually made it back to his apartment.
He’d felt down ever since leaving Su Yunzhe’s place, but for some strange reason, he didn’t want to think too deeply about why. It was almost as if he was avoiding it on purpose, which made him feel a little defeated—like he was an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
“Hey, bro!”
As Shen Yan drifted toward his building, a cheerful voice called out.
He turned around, startled to see Shen Jiaqi.
A slight frown appeared between Shen Yan’s brows. He knew this was going to be tricky but kept his expression neutral. Feigning annoyance, he said, “Look, kid, enough is enough, alright? I’ve already told you—I’m not interested in younger guys. Can’t you stop following me around? It’s seriously annoying!”
This time, Shen Jiaqi wasn’t thrown off by his brother’s unexpected behavior. He walked up to Shen Yan with an earnest expression. “You can drop the act, big bro. I know it’s you. I looked into it—you moved here the same day you left Brother Yang’s place. Plus, I talked to a hairdresser nearby who said he helped you with hair extensions. I even showed him a picture of you, and he recognized you right away.”
Shen Yan merely looked at him, not surprised that Shen Jiaqi had uncovered all this.
The moment he saw Shen Jiaqi here, he knew he must’ve gathered proof.
What puzzled him was why Shen Jiaqi was still investigating when he should already know about his connection with Su Yunzhe through Duan Yang.
The fact that Su Yunzhe wasn’t keen on the idea of same-sex relationships wasn’t a secret. So, as soon as Duan Yang confirmed his connection with Su Yunzhe, he’d likely dismissed any suspicions about Shen Yan’s intentions.
So why did Shen Jiaqi keep digging?
Moreover, considering Shen Jiaqi’s longstanding, albeit illicit, relationship with Duan Yang, he must know Duan Yang was eager to track him down.
If Shen Jiaqi was certain of his identity, why did he come alone today instead of informing Duan Yang?
Shen Yan had many questions but decided against asking any of them. He simply stared at Shen Jiaqi for a moment, then sneered, “Look, kid, enough with the stories. Keep following me, and I’m calling the police.”
With that, Shen Yan turned and headed for the stairs, unwilling to waste another word.
Shen Jiaqi clearly already knew he was Shen Yan, so anything he said now wouldn’t change Shen Jiaqi’s perception.
Yet Shen Jiaqi knew that whether or not Shen Yan admitted it openly was another matter entirely. No matter how compelling the evidence, as long as Shen Yan didn’t personally confirm it, there was still room to maneuver.
From Shen Yan’s perspective, it didn’t really matter if he admitted it to Shen Jiaqi or not. The real concern was keeping it from Duan Yang—and especially from Su Yunzhe.
When Shen Yan first arrived in this world, the first person he encountered was Duan Yang.
At the time, he’d thought that simply asking for a divorce would allow them both to go their separate ways happily. But Duan Yang had refused outright and even went so far as to imprison him under 24-hour surveillance. This made Shen Yan seriously question Duan Yang’s temperament.
So until he could be sure of securing a divorce, he was unwilling to get too close to Duan Yang again; who knew if he’d end up confined once more.
And as it stood, divorce wasn’t on the table for Duan Yang. Instead of revealing the truth to Duan Songtao, Duan Yang had gone so far as to hire someone to impersonate Shen Yan, demonstrating that their marriage likely served another purpose.
Therefore, getting a divorce from Duan Yang wouldn’t be easy. The Duan family was wealthy and influential—going head-to-head with them might not end in his favor.
But more than that, Shen Yan feared Su Yunzhe finding out the truth.
If Su Yunzhe discovered his real name was Shen Yan and that he was, in fact, a man… What would happen?
Shen Yan realized he didn’t want to think about that possibility, perhaps even dreaded the thought.
“Fine!” Shen Jiaqi suddenly called out loudly. “Let’s call the police—right now. If you won’t, I will! Let them verify your identity once and for all. How about that?”
Shen Yan turned and looked at him, noticing how the usually well-mannered, obedient Shen Jiaqi now wore an expression of smug satisfaction, as if he knew Shen Yan wouldn’t dare involve the police.
And he was right; if the police came, Shen Yan would have to show his ID. Once he did that, there’d be no way to deny anything.
Shen Yan turned back around, hands outstretched in mock surrender, a faint smile playing on his lips. “Fine by me! I’ve got nothing to hide, but there might be some who wouldn’t want certain things made public. Go ahead, call the police.”
Shen Jiaqi’s confidence faltered, and he quickly realized Shen Yan was threatening him.
They both knew Duan Yang hadn’t reported anything to the police precisely to keep his hidden marriage from coming to light.
And, in fact, Shen Jiaqi didn’t want this hidden marriage revealed either.
He knew that Duan Yang would eventually divorce Shen Yan and be with him. Duan Yang had never liked Shen Yan and even found him irritating. However, Shen Jiaqi didn’t want it said that he’d stolen his brother’s husband when he and Duan Yang finally ended up together.
So he shared Duan Yang’s attitude toward keeping the marriage hidden.
What’s more, Duan Yang had been resolute about this, fearing that exposure would harm his reputation.
Shen Yan had figured out Duan Yang’s stance well enough to use it boldly as a threat.
The smug look in Shen Jiaqi’s eyes faded, replaced by his usual obedient demeanor. He laughed lightly, “Then you’re basically admitting you’re my brother, aren’t you?”
Shen Yan rolled his eyes. “Did I admit anything? I was just reminding you to think things through—whatever assumptions you make are your own problem. Kid, here’s some advice from your older sister: focus on your studies at your age. Don’t get too distracted with the wrong things, or you’ll regret it later when you’re older and realize that it’s hard to find a good job without an education. And stop coming around here. I can’t stand the sight of you. If you push me, I might actually call the police.” With that, Shen Yan turned and went upstairs without another word.
He didn’t know what had transpired between Shen Jiaqi and Duan Yang to make Shen Jiaqi hide his identity as Shen Yan, but he knew the two were desperately in love in the original story. So at this stage, Shen Yan was confident that Shen Jiaqi wouldn’t try to sabotage Duan Yang.
Shen Jiaqi stood in silence, watching Shen Yan disappear into the stairwell. After a long pause, he turned and left the alley, his previously polite expression twisted into open disgust and irritation.
Once out of the alley, he got into his family’s car.
Wang Li, waiting inside, leaned forward eagerly. “So? Did he admit it?”
Shen Jiaqi, slumped against the passenger seat, replied through gritted teeth, “Stubborn as ever!”
Wang Li’s temper flared at this. “What? We even got the hairdresser to confirm it, and he’s still denying it? Unbelievable. I’ll go confront him myself!” She reached for the car door handle.
Annoyed, Shen Jiaqi cut her off, “And what good would that do? You think you’ll get through to him better than I did? Did you forget how he treated you last time? He’s not the same pushover you used to manipulate—can you just not mess this up?”
Wang Li shrank back, though undeterred, muttering, “Then what do we do now? Should we just tell Duan Yang…”
“What are you thinking?” Shen Jiaqi snapped, as if stung. “I told you not to bring it up with Brother Yang! Didn’t you promise? Why would you even mention it?”
“Alright, alright, I was wrong,” Wang Li quickly replied with a forced smile. “I was just speaking off the cuff, don’t take it to heart, Qiqi. It’s getting late, let’s go home first, and we can talk this over with your father and figure something out.” With that, Wang Li started the car.
—
Since coming back from Su Yunzhe’s place yesterday, Shen Yan had felt sluggish, as if all his energy had been drained. He lounged on the couch, too unmotivated to move, unable to focus on his writing, and even uninterested in playing games.
Though he’d deduced that Shen Jiaqi likely wouldn’t expose his identity to Duan Yang, there was still that lingering “what if?” If Duan Yang did find out, who knows what drastic action he might take.
Plus, Shen Jiaqi’s insistence on finding him was unsettling.
Suddenly, he remembered what Chen Rongbiao had said—that his mother’s lawyer friend was looking for him.
Maybe these two things were connected somehow.
Perhaps he should contact that lawyer, whether to understand Shen Jiaqi’s intentions or to address matters related to the original Shen Yan’s mother.
Or maybe it was better to cut his losses and leave City H, distancing himself from this mess altogether.
But while his mind raced through these options, his body stayed true to itself, nestled on the couch, not wanting to move an inch.
It wasn’t until a WeChat notification popped up that he lazily reached for his phone. As he glanced at the lock screen, his thoughts drifted.
The lock screen wallpaper was a photo he’d sneakily taken of Su Yunzhe in a restaurant. Shen Yan had thought Su Yunzhe deleted it later. After their dinner, Shen Yan had gone to the Su family home, gotten drunk that night, and, amid other events, hadn’t touched his phone since then, his mood too low to even think about it.
It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon, when he returned home and was bored enough to play a game, that he noticed Su Yunzhe had set that photo as his wallpaper.
Shen Yan stared at the photo, his recent irritability intensifying.
Another WeChat message came in.
He exhaled slowly, tapped on the message, and saw that it was from Su Yunzhe.
A hint of sadness flickered in his eyes as he opened it.
The first message was simply a time and location, the same no-nonsense style as before, instructing him to be there.
The second message was a follow-up after he hadn’t replied: “What’s going on?”
Shen Yan gazed at the words “What’s going on?” lost in thought. Since yesterday, he’d been spacing out like this at random moments, countless times.
Then a third message from Su Yunzhe popped up: “If you don’t reply soon, I’m docking your pay.”
Shen Yan couldn’t help but smile faintly and replied, “President Su, can I skip this one? Let’s call it a day off, deduct my pay if you have to—is that okay?”
Su Yunzhe replied almost instantly: “What if I say no?”
“But I really don’t want to go!”
Shen Yan typed these words almost instinctively, and just as he was about to send them, he hesitated, then backspaced them carefully, letter by letter, and rephrased it: “I’m not feeling well. Sick day, is that okay?”
As soon as he sent it, his phone rang. The name “Su Yunzhe” flashed on the screen.
Shen Yan hesitated, staring at the screen, but finally answered the call.
Su Yunzhe’s voice came through immediately, sounding unusually anxious. “What’s wrong? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Shen Yan paused, momentarily caught off guard, before replying, “No, no need. I just need some rest, but I won’t be able to make it tonight…”
“What’s wrong, exactly?” Su Yunzhe insisted.
Of course, Shen Yan wasn’t really sick; he just didn’t feel like seeing Su Yunzhe. His “illness” was just an excuse, and he hadn’t thought it through at all.
Caught off guard by Su Yunzhe’s concern, he found himself at a loss, unable to name even a single ailment, and awkwardly fell silent.
But Su Yunzhe didn’t wait for him to answer. “Stay home and wait for me—I’m coming over.”
Shen Yan could hear the rustling sounds on the other end, likely Su Yunzhe getting ready to head out. Realizing what was happening, Shen Yan panicked and said quickly, “No, really, I’m fine…”
“Don’t be difficult. You’re sick; you need to go to a doctor. Just stay put—I’ll be there soon.” Su Yunzhe interrupted him, his tone unusually soft, almost like he was gently coaxing a child.
Shen Yan was briefly stunned, momentarily speechless.
“Shall I hang up?” Su Yunzhe’s voice came through again, still soft and reassuring.
“No!” Shen Yan snapped back to reality, quickly stopping him. “Don’t come over. I… I’m not sick… it’s, uh, it’s my time of the month.”
An awkward silence fell on the other end, likely because he’d stunned Su Yunzhe with that unexpected line.
Shen Yan felt just as embarrassed, but the last thing he wanted was to see Su Yunzhe right now. Bracing himself, he added, “It’s…you know, cramps. I’m not feeling great, so I don’t feel like going out.”
After a pause, Su Yunzhe finally responded, “Alright… get some rest.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And drink plenty of hot water.”
Hot water? Seriously? Su Yunzhe, you’re never going to find a girlfriend if you keep this up!
Inwardly amused but somehow unable to laugh, Shen Yan replied softly, “Sure.” He hung up and lay back on the couch, feeling lifeless.
