Translator: Helliot
Editor: P’Raikantopeni
–
After Gu Ze left, Meng Fu stared in a daze at the scraps of paper on the floor. Then, he calmly swept up the mess with a broom. There was no one to wait for him anymore, and he wouldn’t wish pain on those who were waiting, so getting this dealt with once and for all was good.
Time wasn’t too late yet by the time he’d finished his shower, so he lay down on his bed to read a book. Then, unintentionally, he ended up falling asleep. When he woke up, he found Meng Yi sitting on the floor, playing with something.
He was rubbing his eyes and only reacted after a while, realizing that Meng Yi was putting that love letter back together. He jerked up but suddenly fell back down to his bed again. His body was still feeling sore at the back.
“Meng Yi, what are you doing?”
“Meng-Meng, I saw a few pieces of paper on the floor, and I found a few more in the bin too. I’m trying to fix the puzzle.” Since he didn’t recognize too many words, he had to carefully compare the direction of the handwriting.
On the floor, one-third of the love letter had already been reassembled.
“Stop it, throw it away.”
“Why?”
“Big Brother will buy you a puzzle tomorrow, alright?”
“No! I’m almost done.” Meng Yi was obstinate.
“Throw it away. Big Brother will buy you a cupcake.”
He tried to bargain with him, but Meng Yi wouldn’t listen at all. His mind was completely on the puzzle. Meng Fu had no choice but to get up and pick up the pieces of paper. Meng Yi panicked and pushed Meng Fu hard. “Meng-Meng, I’m almost done!”
Meng Yi didn’t expect Meng-Meng, who was always a towering figure in his mind, to be pushed to the ground so easily by him. “Meng-Meng, I didn’t do it on purpose…Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Meng Fu smiled and tried to soothe the anxious Meng Yi. “You’ll be good and behave, won’t you?”
Meng Yi nodded obediently. Then, he watched as Meng Fu kneeled down on the ground and picked up the shreds of paper one by one, clutching them in his palm before throwing them into the trash.
–
As usual, Meng Yi went to the cafe downstairs of Ye Yan’s office to play the piano for a while, then he took the familiar path to Ye Yan’s office. Most of the people in the company were familiar with Meng Yi now. With how handsome and cute Meng Yi was, they would sometimes give him some food, and would also occasionally help Ye Yan look after him when the latter was out for work.
“Xiao Yi, are you here for Manager Ye?”
“Mm-hmm.” Meng Yi nodded in response.
“You can wait for him in his office. Manager Ye is out at the general manager’s office. Here, this milk tea is for you.”
“Thank you.” Smiling, he accepted the milk tea with thanks before turning around and happily entering Ye Yan’s office to wait for him.
“What a polite boy. Handsome too. What a pity…”
Meng Yi sat on the sofa for a long time. He had finished his milk tea and also took a trip to the restroom, but Ye Yan still wasn’t back. Feeling bored, he thought back to the comic book he looked at two days ago, so he went to Ye Yan’s drawer himself to look for it.
Sure enough, there was a stack of Naruto comics in there.
He flipped through each of them, but one of them was different from the rest.
The cover depicted a handsome man with no clothes on. This isn’t a comic book. This man is so shameless, he’s naked! Meng Yi thought.
As that thought crossed his mind, his hands began to move. He picked up a pen and began drawing over the man’s body. “Here, I’ll draw you some clothes! Look at how much better this is.”
Admiring the man’s upper body which was covered by his simple, poorly-drawn shirt, Meng Yi smiled in satisfaction.
Then, he began working on his pants.
But…
Meng Yi nibbled on the back of the pen. Should he draw underwear? This man wasn’t even wearing underwear. The place where he peed was showing.
He had to draw underwear. Meng-Meng told him that he should properly clothe himself while going out. Meng Yi remembered how Meng Fu would always tell him to wear more clothing during winter, so he deliberately drew a lot on the man’s body.
After a long while, Meng Yi finally finished his masterpiece. The man on the cover was completely covered in black scribbles. Especially the lower body, which was heavily rendered in the black ink.
Driven by curiosity, he flipped over a corner of the cover. What was it like inside? Was it a Naruto comic?
But as soon as he saw what was in the pages, he was completely taken aback.
“Xiao Yi, what are you looking at?” The door opened, accompanied by the presence of a voice.
–
Late at night, in the midst of Meng Fu’s busy restaurant life.
Everyone seemed to be doing something romantic at night, such as sharing wine between a candlelight, sharing light conversation over alcohol…The deliberately crafted atmosphere and the lights as dim as old street lamps seemed to be enveloped in sweet nothings.
But for Meng Fu, these were just busy times.
He was feeling sore as usual. The feeling of Gu Ze’s girth prying his body open still felt clear as day.
Jiang Hui asked why his complexion had been so terrible recently.
He just answered that he wasn’t good with the winter cold.
Jiang Hui felt the warm air of the indoor heating around him. Due to the work, he even had to wipe sweat off his forehead. How could such an environment be cold? Then, he couldn’t help but talk about Xie Zhenzhen again. Xie Zhenzhen had tied the knot with her fiance half a month ago. She had gotten pregnant, so it was a shotgun wedding. She had kept an indifferent expression all throughout the wedding without so much as a smile.
“She’s got married so quickly?” Meng Fu asked with his head drooping, seemingly disappointed at the news. As he wiped the glass in his hands, a faint outline of a sad smile appeared at his lips.
Then, there was a long sigh.
“She got married so quickly, I didn’t even get to ask her out! Meng Fu, do you regret breaking up with her?”
He looked up, the smile gone from his face. “There’s nothing for me to regret.”
“I feel bad for her.”
It was a remark of indignance and pity, but that sentence would be the source that took away all the kindness that Jiang Hui showed Meng Fu previously.
One would hate a person just because of another person. That was the mysterious butterfly effect that existed in the world.
Just like a predestined fate, a knot that can’t be undone.
Just like how Gu Ze hated him because of He Manyu.
Meng Fu saw He Manyu’s parents half an hour before work was over. The middle-aged couple was walking towards the restaurant. For someone to visit at this hour, they must be here to see someone.
Subconsciously, he tried to avoid them. He couldn’t let He Manyu’s parents see him. He was sure to send them into a fury if he were to appear at this moment, and the fact of him being an ex-convict would be revealed to everyone.
“Meng Fu, get that table. The guests want to order.” The supervisor, who was out making the rounds, called out to Meng Fu as he was walking in the opposite direction.
“Let me finish cleaning up this table first.”
He moved in such a hurry as if he couldn’t wish for anything more than to be a speeding arrow.
“The guests on this side are already leaving so there’s no need to clean up in such a hurry. Get that order over there first.”
“Sure.”
As if he were walking towards a cliff’s edge, his feet hesitated. He longed for someone to be able to redeem him.
Just a short walk away, the couple seated in the distance were just like executioners wielding their swords, waiting for him to put his head on the chopping block. It felt like his head was one step away from being cut off.
Watching the wait staff who were all busy around him, he hoped that someone would come to his rescue. Unfortunately, everyone was unusually busy at the moment. No one could pay him any attention.
“Jiang Hui.” He called out to Jiang Hui who had just walked past him, carrying a stack of plates. “Could you help me out?”
“Can’t help ya. I’m busy, too.”
“Right. Sorry to bother you.”
Of course, there was no way someone would step in to save him right before an execution like in those TV dramas. This is reality, Meng Fu. He smiled bitterly to himself. But there was nothing to it. He’d just lose his job again.
Despite trying to brush it off, he still struggled to find the courage to step up to the block.