Chapter 12

Ten Years Later

After a day of dealing with data, Song Wenzhou returned home. The empty house felt lifeless, and it seemed that recently, he had only considered it a temporary residence, never truly living here on his own.

Looking back now, whether or not he lived with Mu Chi, he should have taken better care of himself. He was already over 26 years old, and there was no reason to harm his body and make others worry.

Speaking of which, it had been a long time since he last called home. He must remember to call Ren Suyi later.

Song Wenzhou put down the shopping bag he had been carrying and decided to take a shower to wash off the exhaustion before making himself some dinner.

While picking up some clean clothes from the bedroom, he tossed the small box containing the button into the most suitable place—into the corner of the wardrobe. After all, shirt buttons belonged in the wardrobe, right?

Song Wenzhou’s cooking skills were average. While it wasn’t inedible, it definitely couldn’t be called delicious.

After spending more than half an hour preparing two dishes and a soup, he spent almost another half hour finishing them off. Once done, he placed the dishes in the dishwasher and leaned against the counter, letting out a burp.

In order to avoid wasting food, he had eaten a bit more than he could handle.

If only things were different, Song Wenzhou thought. He could have just given any leftover food to Mu Chi to deal with.

He always thought Mu Chi had a magical stomach. Not only could he finish the food Song Wenzhou couldn’t finish, but he also seemed to enjoy the failed, experimental dishes that Song Wenzhou would occasionally try to make, even if they turned out horribly.

Unlike his own stomach, which couldn’t handle this or that, yet his taste buds were so picky, that he had inadvertently helped Mu Chi become a skilled cook.

No, no, no, Song Wenzhou quickly shook his head. He couldn’t think about Mu Chi. He couldn’t miss the good things about him. They had already broken up.

—

“Mom,” Song Wenzhou said, leaning back on the couch while calling Ren Suyi, “What are you doing?”

“I just finished eating and your dad and I are taking a walk downstairs,” Ren Suyi’s side was a bit noisy. “The community just built a new fountain, and the square is especially lively at night.”

Ren Suyi and Song Chenglang hadn’t reached retirement age yet, but as Song Wenzhou grew older and his work stabilized, they had gradually stopped working so hard, and started enjoying a more leisurely life.

Song Wenzhou chuckled. “Are you both in good health?”

“We’re fine,” Ren Suyi replied, “But you should be careful with your rest. When you get older, you’ll realize, work—there’s always more to do than you can handle.”

“Yeah,” Song Wenzhou laughed in agreement.

“Especially Mu Chi,” Ren Suyi continued, “With that influencer company he’s running, he must be entertaining a lot, right? Tell him to drink less, so he doesn’t end up like your dad and get high blood pressure.”

Song Wenzhou’s smile faded as he said, “Okay, I will.”

He hadn’t told anyone about his breakup with Mu Chi yet. His parents had only just accepted that he and Mu Chi were together, so it was really hard to bring it up with them now.

After a moment, Ren Suyi added, “If you don’t have anything planned this weekend, bring Mu Chi home. I’ll cook and wait for you both.”

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it,” Song Wenzhou said, pressing his fingers to his temples, offering an excuse. “I have plans this weekend, but I’ll visit later.”

After that, Song Wenzhou and Ren Suyi continued chatting for a few more minutes until Ren Suyi mentioned she was about to start dancing in the square, and then they hung up.

“Sigh…” Song Wenzhou lay back on the couch, letting out a long sigh.

Having a boyfriend was really not easy. When he was dating Mu Chi, they had to hide and couldn’t let his parents know. Now that they had broken up, he still couldn’t tell them right away and had to find excuses to keep it a secret.

What a mess!

Originally, the weekend plans were just an excuse Song Wenzhou had thrown out casually, but unexpectedly, he really did end up having plans.

He received a call from Xu Chu around 10 o’clock.

Song Wenzhou and Xu Chu had known each other for seven or eight years, and their personalities were completely opposite. They weren’t very close, but every time they met, there was no sense of unfamiliarity.

Of course, with the social master Xu Chu around, Song Wenzhou didn’t even have a chance to act distant.

“Darling, I’m back in the country,” Xu Chu said in a clingy voice. “Did you miss me? I missed you so much~”

Song Wenzhou’s inner feelings were calm and unaffected. “When did you come back?”

“Sunday, remember to pick me up~”

Since he hadn’t even arrived yet, Song Wenzhou asked for the specific time before replying with an “Okay.”

“By the way,” Xu Chu suddenly seemed to remember something and said, “Don’t bring your guy with you, okay?”

Song Wenzhou responded with an “Mm.”

He didn’t need Xu Chu to remind him, as he couldn’t bring him anyway.

A few years ago, when Xu Chu invited Song Wenzhou out, he liked him to bring Mu Chi along. In his words, it was: “The more good-looking people there are in a group, the more attention you’ll get. Your husband is so handsome, it’s such a waste not to take him out.”

And when Song Wenzhou brought Mu Chi, Xu Chu didn’t have to worry about Song Wenzhou being left alone, and he could freely flirt with whoever caught his eye, even if he ditched Song Wenzhou midway—it didn’t matter.

But gradually, Xu Chu realized that bringing Mu Chi with them was not a wise choice.

For example, when he wanted to show Song Wenzhou pictures of muscular men, Mu Chi would stare at Song Wenzhou’s eyes so intensely that he couldn’t even bring himself to look.

Such a loss of face for them!

Another example was when he was sharing his romantic encounters in Paris. Song Wenzhou listened with great interest, but Mu Chi would make up excuses to pull Song Wenzhou away, threatening and coaxing him not to learn anything bad from him.

They both thought he hadn’t heard, but huh, with Mu Chi’s loud voice, he could hear from even a street away!

Sometimes at night, when he wanted to take Song Wenzhou to a bar for fun, Mu Chi would try to stop him in every way, but if Song Wenzhou insisted on going, Mu Chi would follow closely behind him, and they would sit together at the bar, drinking… milk.

Such a disgrace to young people!

In any case, whenever Xu Chu invited Song Wenzhou out afterward, he always made sure to remind him not to bring Mu Chi.

Of course, Mu Chi would still find ways to get information out of Song Wenzhou about where they were, and then decide whether or not to drag him back home depending on the situation.

On Sunday, as promised, Song Wenzhou drove to the airport to pick up Xu Chu. Fortunately, he didn’t hit any traffic on the way, and by the time he arrived at the arrivals gate, Xu Chu’s flight still hadn’t landed.

He didn’t see Xu Chu until about twenty minutes later.

“Song Wenzhou, what are you looking at?” Xu Chu’s voice came from behind, nearly giving Song Wenzhou a shock. “I’m right here!”

Song Wenzhou turned around with a blank expression. “You…”

Xu Chu was standing with a massive luggage bag decorated with a rainbow pattern at his side, dressed in an oversized outfit, his face mostly hidden behind a pair of solid black sunglasses. A silver earring dangled from his right earlobe, and his messy wolf-tail hairstyle looked a bit messy, probably from sleeping on the plane.

Song Wenzhou had been staring at the exit and didn’t notice when he came out. It wasn’t his fault for not recognizing him—last time Xu Chu returned to the country, he had a fresh and neat look, completely different from how he looked now.

Xu Chu pouted and dramatically pulled off his sunglasses, saying, “I’m so sad. It’s fine if you didn’t see me, but you didn’t even respond when I called you so many times.”

Song Wenzhou had indeed faintly heard someone calling out earlier, but in all honesty, there were so many people at the arrivals gate reuniting with loved ones, all of them excited and animated. Xu Chu’s sing-song “darling,” “baby”… how was he supposed to know he was calling him?

He had actually been focusing on the exit, afraid of missing his appearance, so he didn’t dare look away.

“Ah,” Song Wenzhou forced a laugh, taking the handle of the large suitcase from Xu Chu and changing the topic. “Your hair’s so long.”

“Right?” Xu Chu tried out different styles from time to time, always loving it when others noticed the changes in his appearance. She immediately cheered up, “I haven’t cut it short in months, just trimmed it a bit. Looks good, doesn’t it?”

Song Wenzhou gave a thumbs-up.

When they reached the parking lot, Song Wenzhou shoved the flashy suitcase into the trunk and drove Xu Chu away from the airport.

“Want to go eat?” Song Wenzhou asked while turning the steering wheel. “There’s a nice new place that just opened not too long ago.”

Xu Chu slouched in his seat, pressing his hand to his lower back, and lazily said, “Let’s head back to the hotel first. The same one we used to stay at.”

Song Wenzhou glanced in the rearview mirror and casually asked, “Back pain? Didn’t sleep well on the plane?”

“No,” Xu Chu chuckled deviously. “Before getting on the plane, I had a ‘breakup’ quickie. Didn’t sleep all night. Some of those positions are pretty hard on the back.”

Song Wenzhou, who hadn’t had any intimate relations for many days: “…”

He shouldn’t have asked.