Chapter 41

Six Years Later

When Ren Suyi’s call came through, Song Wenzhou was struggling to drive his Audi, barely moving forward by less than two meters in the heavy traffic.

As soon as the call connected, Ren Suyi directly asked, “Where are you now?”

“Still stuck on the overpass,” Song Wenzhou said, wearing a Bluetooth headset, feeling helpless. “Why don’t you all eat first? Don’t wait for me.”

Today was Song Chenglang’s birthday, and after not having returned to his parents’ home for a long time, Song Wenzhou absolutely had to go back.

Who knew, during the peak of rush hour, he had been stuck on this stretch of road for nearly twenty minutes, and there didn’t seem to be any sign of relief.

“We’re not waiting because we want to,” Ren Suyi’s voice carried a teasing tone. “It’s Xiao Mu who insists on waiting.”

Upon hearing this, Song Wenzhou couldn’t help but smile slightly and, feigning ignorance, asked, “Has he arrived?”

“He’s been here for a while, making soup in the kitchen,” Ren Suyi lowered her voice a bit. “Not that I’m saying anything, but after you broke your car, you’ve been hogging Xiao Mu’s, making him take the bus, which isn’t okay.”

“Huh?” Song Wenzhou didn’t quite understand. “Who’s taking the bus?”

At this moment, Mu Chi’s voice came from a distance on the phone. “Mom, don’t blame Zhaozhao, I insisted on him driving. Taking the bus here was actually quite convenient for me, I’m just not at ease with him riding the bus alone.”

Song Wenzhou: “…”

Although Mu Chi had always been a little pretentious in front of his parents over the years, these words sounded so fake.

Let alone the fact that Mu Chi was a healthy young man in his twenties—what could possibly be unsafe about him taking the bus? Didn’t he often take the bus back in school?

As for Mu Chi taking the bus to his house, Song Wenzhou couldn’t believe it.

After attending Qi Ling’s wedding last week, Song Wenzhou had indeed driven off with Mu Chi’s car after dropping him off, and although he hadn’t found the chance to return it yet, they had agreed this morning to go home for Song Chenglang’s birthday. Song Wenzhou had clearly suggested picking him up after work, but Mu Chi had refused.

What had Mu Chi said this morning? “No need, I want to go early to help Mom prepare dinner, I can leave anytime since I’m the boss.”

Song Wenzhou thought back to how, over a month after their breakup, Ren Suyi had mentioned several times that Mu Chi should be brought back home for a meal whenever he had the time. Since they were planning to get back together, it made sense for Mu Chi to go ahead, so he hadn’t insisted.

At noon during the break, Mu Chi told Song Wenzhou that a popular influencer from their company would be going out later to take some photos, and since the route happened to pass by Song Wenzhou’s parents’ house, he would be getting a ride with them.

As the CEO of an influencer incubator company, although Song Wenzhou wasn’t deeply familiar with his work, he knew that “Musong Media” had influencers all over the place, always busy with live streams or photo shoots. Influencers with some fame usually had cars to themselves, and giving Mu Chi a ride was no big deal.

Moreover, considering Mu Chi’s status now, he could easily afford a driver. In fact, because he often needed to drive Song Wenzhou—who worked a nine-to-five job—he insisted on driving himself to work each day.

Although Song Wenzhou had moved recently, and the only car left with Mu Chi was the one he had driven off with, running such a big company with a unique business model, there was no way Mu Chi wouldn’t have a spare car in the company. The idea that the boss would need to take a bus to visit his “mother-in-law” was absolutely impossible.

Not to mention, ordering a car through an app would take just a minute.

So, Song Wenzhou was certain that Mu Chi’s words on the phone weren’t true.

But Mu Chi didn’t expect him to believe it, he just needed his mom to buy it.

“You’re too indulgent with him,” Ren Suyi said, though her voice betrayed how pleased she was to see her son being treated so well. “He’ll get spoiled like this.”

“It’s fine,” Mu Chi’s voice grew louder as he walked closer, deliberately calling out so that Song Wenzhou could hear, “I spoil him, I take it, no harm to anyone else.”

Song Wenzhou: “…”

It was so cheesy, yet somehow, he found it incredibly endearing.

Ren Suyi burst into a hearty laugh, her tone filled with the satisfaction of a mother-in-law watching her son-in-law with increasing approval, even going so far as to belittle Song Wenzhou to highlight how well-behaved and thoughtful Mu Chi was.

She completely forgot that she hadn’t yet hung up with her son.

Song Wenzhou quietly listened to Mu Chi’s slick words, not taking Ren Suyi’s remarks to heart. Eventually, Ren Suyi’s phone somehow ended up in Mu Chi’s hands.

“No need to rush, Zhaozhao,” Mu Chi chuckled and instructed. “Drive slowly, be careful, I’ll be waiting for you at home.”

“Okay,” Song Wenzhou softly responded, “I know.”

It was half an hour later when Song Wenzhou arrived home, locked his car, and turned to see a familiar face standing by the building’s entrance. He quickened his pace and exclaimed, “What are you doing here?”

Mu Chi gestured to the box in his hand and explained, “Came down to pick up the cake.”

Song Wenzhou simply said, “Oh.”

Mu Chi smiled and added, “Actually, I mainly came to pick you up, and I just grabbed the cake while I was at it.”

Song Wenzhou squinted and lightly coughed, saying with a smile, “You couldn’t possibly know exactly when I’d arrive, so the timing of picking me up is just a coincidence.”

“Yeah,” Mu Chi sighed dramatically, “After picking up the cake, I just happened to want to stand here and get some fresh air. After ten minutes, I happened to see my car driving by, and when I looked closer, I just happened to see you.”

The tone was so sarcastic.

“Okay, fine, I misspoke,” Song Wenzhou immediately admitted. “Thank you for picking me up.”

Mu Chi, however, was enjoying his performance and gave him a sidelong glance before heading inside. “Oh, who was it a few days ago that said they were going to chase me? Said it and then just left me hanging, making me think there was hope, but all that was just a waste. This is how people chase others these days—nothing like when I had to work so hard back then.”

Song Wenzhou, the one being scolded, felt no shame but instead chuckled, “Pfft.”

Mu Chi then turned serious. “Song Wenzhou, straighten up your attitude.”

“Sorry,” Song Wenzhou quickly suppressed his laughter. “I’ve been busy these past few days, but starting tomorrow, I’ll seriously chase you.”

Mu Chi raised his chin, giving a look that said, “Now that’s more like it.”

“However,” Song Wenzhou protested quietly, “I remember you didn’t really work that hard either. Didn’t I agree to you pretty quickly?”

As they reached the elevator, Mu Chi pressed the up button, then paused to think. In truth, he didn’t really remember much of the process of pursuing Song Wenzhou. He only recalled the joy when Song Wenzhou agreed to him.

But he didn’t care about that now. “Anyway, it was a lot harder for me than it is for you now.”

“Alright, I got it,” Song Wenzhou said. If you’re going to pursue someone, you should act like it. He didn’t argue, but instead bargained, “Then since I agreed so quickly before, you can be a little quicker this time, right?”

“No problem,” Mu Chi replied, holding back a laugh.

Did it even need to be said? If he could, he would skip the whole “chasing” part and go straight to the make-up, hugs, kisses, and everything that followed. But since Song Wenzhou wanted to experience the process, he didn’t mind playing along for a while.

“By the way,” Mu Chi remembered something important as the elevator ascended, “When we go inside, we need to act like we did before, so our parents don’t figure out that we… well, had a fight.”

He had spent years perfecting the image of the “ideal son-in-law,” and he couldn’t let his parents-in-law have a bad impression of him.

Song Wenzhou was on the same page and nodded in agreement.

When they entered the house, Ren Suyi was setting the dishes on the table. Seeing the two of them return together, she didn’t ask any questions, seemingly having already guessed the reason Mu Chi had been gone so long. She greeted them casually before returning to the kitchen to bring out more dishes.

Mu Chi followed her into the kitchen, placed the cake in the fridge, then turned to check the clay pot on the stove.

Ren Suyi smiled. “I checked, and the stew should be ready, so I turned off the heat.”

“Thank you, Mom.” Mu Chi sighed with relief, fearing he had been out too long and might have missed the perfect timing.

In the living room, Song Wenzhou handed the gift he brought to Song Chenglang. “Dad, happy birthday.”

“Good, good, good.” Song Chenglang repeated “good” three times and smiled as he accepted the delicately wrapped tea cake. “You all are so thoughtful.”

Song Wenzhou followed his movement and glanced at where he was half-lying, asking in confusion, “Is this new?”

Song Chenglang grinned and comfortably reclined in the luxurious massage chair, his excitement barely contained as he explained, “Xiao Mu brought this for me earlier. Last time, your mom mentioned my back pain, so this kid ordered this for me. I have to say, it’s really comfortable lying on it.”

“Ah,” Song Wenzhou hadn’t known about this. Mu Chi had really done quite a few things to win over his parents, keeping it all a secret from him. “As long as it’s comfortable.”

“Time to eat!” Ren Suyi called from the dining room.

The father and son from the Song family walked to the table, one after the other. Four chairs were placed at a comfortable distance for seating. Mu Chi was bending slightly to serve soup into a small bowl.

As soon as Song Wenzhou sat down, a bowl of creamy white fish soup was placed in front of him.

Mu Chi sat beside him, and noticing Song Wenzhou’s gaze, he turned and flashed him a smile. “Try it.”

Ren Suyi, observing their actions, smiled and explained, “Xiao Mu personally made this. He said you love this kind of carp soup.”

“Mmm.” Song Wenzhou blinked and lowered his head to take a sip.

“Is it good?” Mu Chi asked eagerly.

“Very good,” Song Wenzhou replied with his head down.

It was so good that he nearly shed a tear.

During the month he had been away from Mu Chi, he had no idea how much he missed Mu Chi’s cooking, his preferences, everything about him.

On several quiet nights, he woke up from his dreams, vaguely reaching out but unable to find the familiar warmth, and the sleepiness would instantly vanish.

At that moment, Song Wenzhou longed to shamelessly return to their old little nest, crawl into Mu Chi’s arms, and wrap his arms around him to fall into a deep, peaceful sleep.

If this unspeakable feeling had no outlet, it would have been fine. But Mu Chi’s care for him was so obvious and unconditional, and once he found this small vent, the grievance couldn’t be stopped.

Song Wenzhou finished the bowl of fish soup in just a few gulps.

Seeing how much he liked it, Mu Chi was pleased and quickly added another bowl, gently saying, “Drink slowly, take care of your stomach.”

Speaking of which, Mu Chi couldn’t help but recall something else.

In the past, when he heard Ren Suyi call Song Wenzhou by his nickname “^[1]Song Wenzhou’s real childhood nickname was “Zhaozhao” (粥粥) because he had stomach issues and ate porridge (粥, zhōu) every morning. But Mu Chi, hearing “Zhaozhao,” … Continue readingZhaozhao,” he had also started calling him that. Due to the similar sounds, he never realized that he had been mistakenly calling him “Zhouzhou” all this time. Song Wenzhou never corrected him, so he had been calling him that for years.

It wasn’t until later, when Song Wenzhou’s parents slowly came to accept their relationship, that Mu Chi started visiting more often. He would run errands for Ren Suyi and learn how to cook the dishes that Song Wenzhou loved.

Once, while making porridge, Ren Suyi casually mentioned the origin of “Zhaozhao” — when Song Wenzhou was a child, he had poor digestion and ate soft, mushy porridge almost every morning. That’s when Mu Chi realized he had misunderstood for so long.