Chapter 10: Meng Shen—The skinny little follower from childhood has turned into a giant…
Yu Xi didn’t go to the second floor as Gu Chuanzhou wished.
The sisters were quick-handed, stopping him halfway and bringing him to the living room to sit together on the sofa. Then, they rudely ordered Gu Chuanzhou to pour them some water.
Gu Chuanzhou looked at them coldly. “If you want a drink, walk a few more steps back to your own home.”
The short-haired girl said dejectedly, “Fine, I won’t drink then.”
Yu Xi looked at one and then the other. After thinking for a bit, he stood up. “I’ll go pour it.”
The moment he moved, Gu Chuanzhou changed his mind and went to the water bar himself.
The sisters exchanged a glance, passing an interested look to each other. Then, one of them promptly pressed down on Yu Xi, who was still planning to help.
“Little brother, sit here first and chat with us.”
“Oh… okay.” Yu Xi could only sit back in his original spot, which was between the two sisters.
This position wasn’t his intention. They cooperated with each other, naturally letting him sit in the center of the sofa.
At this moment, with the twin sisters—one on his left and one on his right, looking identical except for their hairstyles and expressions—both staring at him, Yu Xi was so cramped he pulled in his hands and feet. His eyes blinked rapidly, and he was at a total loss.
If he had listened to Gu Chuanzhou just now and gone upstairs, he wouldn’t have to face this situation. But… in his heart, he also wanted to stay, so it could be seen as following his own inclinations.
Whether it was their looks or their seemingly antagonistic yet familiar attitude toward Gu Chuanzhou, the answer tilted toward his guess.
Sure enough, he heard the names he was thinking of.
“I’m Sheng Yunzhuan, and she’s my sister Sheng Yunshu.” The short-haired girl pointed to herself and her sister. “You should be able to tell we’re twins, right?”
Yu Xi’s hands were tightly clenched, already covered in a layer of hot sweat.
It wasn’t because of nervousness, but another intense emotion.
He didn’t show it, responding as naturally as possible, “Mhm, you look the same.”
Sheng Yunzhuan let out a “hehe” laugh and leaned a bit closer to Yu Xi, starting to probe: “Are you Gu Chuanzhou’s friend? Which family do you belong to? You look quite familiar. Maybe we’ve met before…”
Before her string of roundabout questions could finish, the long-haired sister on the other side cut her off crisply.
“Yu Xi.”
Hearing his name suddenly, Yu Xi turned his head in shock, meeting Sheng Yunshu’s eyes—which were cat-like and sharp yet calm.
Her tone was very certain: “You’re Xiao Xi, right?”
Thump, thump.
Yu Xi heard the heavy pounding of his heart. Emotions surged within him, and he opened and closed his mouth several times before squeezing out a few short sentences.
“I… it’s me…”
Sheng Yunshu slowly curved the corners of her mouth, a ripple spreading through her eyes. Her features, which lacked expression and warmth, suddenly became vivid.
She said nothing, only patting Yu Xi’s hands, which were pressed hard together.
Sheng Yunzhuan, who finally reacted during this quick recognition process, couldn’t contain herself. She slapped her thigh and shouted excitedly, “I knew it was you!”
The suddenly raised voice caused Gu Chuanzhou, who was bringing water over, to let out a low rebuke: “Quiet down, Sheng Yunzhuan.”
Sheng Yunzhuan had no time to deal with him. She grabbed Yu Xi’s arm and shook it. “I thought of you the first moment I saw you when the door opened, but I didn’t dare recognize you. After all, you’ve been away for so many years. We all thought we’d never see you again. There was no news at all, and we couldn’t find any information about where your family went. Everyone has been waiting for you until their eyes grew dim, Xiao Xi—”
This string of sincere words made Yu Xi deeply moved. He said softly, “I’m sorry.”
“No one forgot you. You should have come back sooner. It would have been so great to play together. Why didn’t you contact us after coming back? Someone else is the same, hiding the news and not saying a word, eating the feast all by himself.”
Sheng Yunzhuan cast a resentful glance toward the man, then turned back to Yu Xi, using a hurt tone again.
“A few days ago, we saw a photo in a group chat of him shopping with a boy. Today, we heard someone was living in this house, so we came over out of curiosity to ask him in person what was going on. It was only by luck that we ran into you here! He really was going to keep hiding it from us! It’s too much. He’s been like this since he was little, always wanting to monopolize you and not letting us play with you.”
Yu Xi listened to the complaints one by one with curving eyes, feeling as if he had returned to his childhood.
Sheng Yunzhuan’s personality hadn’t changed at all. She was an extreme opposite to her quiet sister, Sheng Yunshu. Since childhood, she had been a chatterbox with rich facial expressions, often complaining that this person was hogging Xiao Xi for too long or that person was being too clingy, making it so she couldn’t play with Xiao Xi properly.
Especially during that winter vacation, after he and Gu Chuanzhou grew closer, the number of times she complained increased.
Yu Xi didn’t take her words about “Gu Chuanzhou being bad and monopolizing you” to heart. In his view, he was the one more reliant on Gu Chuanzhou; when he was little, he was the one who secretly ran to the Gu family time after time.
His focus was on a certain sentence of Sheng Yunzhuan’s: “What photo? Can I see it?”
The next second, a phone was handed over from the other side.
Sheng Yunshu said, “Here.”
She guessed Yu Xi would want to see it and had already found it.
Yu Xi thanked her. After taking the phone, he saw that the photo was indeed of him and Gu Chuanzhou. Only a blurred side profile was shown for both; the person had taken it stealthily while they were picking out hats.
He thought of who it was. Although it didn’t matter to an ordinary person like him if a photo was taken, he was afraid of affecting Gu Chuanzhou.
Gu Chuanzhou had already scanned the phone screen. “I’ll handle it.”
After saying that, he left the living room while making a call.
Once he left, Sheng Yunzhuan began to gossip. “He should have handled it long ago. I sent him a message a few days ago and he didn’t even look at it. Now look. This photo has long spread throughout the circle.”
Yu Xi was a bit worried upon hearing that. “Is it very serious?”
“It’s not exactly serious, but…”
Sheng Yunzhuan glanced at Gu Chuanzhou on the balcony. “With his current status and position, he’s inevitably being watched. Not to mention his unsociable, dog-like temper has long been notorious. So, the sudden appearance of a beautiful new face like our Xiao Xi by his side would naturally cause a sensation.”
As she spoke, she scratched Yu Xi’s chin as if playing with a cat.
Yu Xi’s cheeks warmed. Since childhood, Sheng Yunzhuan always said exaggerated things to make him shy. He didn’t expect it to be the same now that they were grown.
His immunity to this had been reset to zero over the years. He dodged and said, “I didn’t want to cause trouble for him.”
“How is that causing trouble? If anything, blame him for not protecting you well.” Sheng Yunzhuan let out another “Tsk” toward the sunlight, becoming more unhappy as she thought about it, and hugged Yu Xi’s arm tightly. “Yes, blame him for letting photos of our Xiao Xi spread throughout the circle. What’s the use of handling it now? Everyone has seen Xiao Xi. By then, they’ll all try to fight us for him. I don’t care. Xiao Xi, you must place the few of us at the very front. Even if you make new friends, you absolutely can’t neglect us!”
Meanwhile, Sheng Yunshu hugged Yu Xi’s other arm and nodded in agreement.
When Gu Chuanzhou returned after finishing the call and saw this scene, his brows tightened even more. “Don’t always crowd him.”
“Is this called crowding? It’s just cuddling. We often did this when we were little. Is there a problem?” Sheng Yunzhuan’s tone was very righteous, though physically she still felt a bit fearful of Gu Chuanzhou’s gaze, and she quickly hid herself a bit behind Yu Xi.
Sheng Yunshu didn’t let go at all either, meeting Gu Chuanzhou’s gaze with calm, steady eyes.
Inexplicably, Yu Xi smelled an ominous scent of gunpowder. Just as he was feeling troubled, another new guest arrived at the Gu family home.
Before the others could react, Sheng Yunshu had already quickly stood up to open the door. Then, she beckoned to Yu Xi: “Xiao Xi.”
Yu Xi obediently walked over. After rounding the partition, he saw the person outside the door clearly.
It was a very tall young man.
If he hadn’t been slightly hunched, he would have hit the doorframe even while standing on the threshold. In this scorching midsummer, he was wearing a dark hoodie. His shoulders and back were very broad, and even his hands were a size larger than those of other adult men. Because the hood was pulled very low and his head was down, his entire face couldn’t be seen; only his thin jaw and bloodless lips were visible.
His massive frame carried a natural aura of power. Yu Xi stopped half a meter away, casting a pleading look toward Sheng Yunshu.
Sheng Yunshu walked over, grabbed his hand, and led him over, saying to the person outside, “Say hello.”
Next, Yu Xi saw the person seemingly stiffen all over. His hands hanging at his sides were clenched into massive fists. Yet, for some reason, he kept his head down. For a long time, he couldn’t squeeze out a sound; only his somewhat heavy breathing could be heard.
He seemed… to be trembling.
Yu Xi looked at Sheng Yunshu.
Sheng Yunshu let out a long sigh. “Come in first.”
After entering the living room, the tall young man silently chose a single sofa that wasn’t near anyone else and sat down.
A sofa that had extra space for a normal person seemed cramped when he sat on it, like a giant Saint Bernard squeezed into a cardboard box with only four legs inside.
His arrival seemed to have been expected by Gu Chuanzhou, who had a stony face but said nothing.
“Sister, you truly don’t forget him when anything good happens.” Sheng Yunzhuan made a snarky comment, then asked Yu Xi with a beaming smile, “Xiao Xi, do you not recognize him?”
Yu Xi was slightly stunned. After blinking, he realized what she meant and turned his head to scrutinize the person on the single sofa again.
The other felt his gaze, and his level of stiffness rose another degree.
Sheng Yunzhuan’s smile widened. “It’s not your fault you don’t recognize him. This kid is very different from when he was little. It’s about the same as an ant turning into an elephant.”
Very different from when he was little…
Yu Xi searched his memory for the answer with this sentence in mind.
Gradually, he overlapped the large frame of the person before him—who was so nervous and stiff he couldn’t speak—with a certain skinny figure from childhood who always followed closely behind him.
Although it was incredible, but…
“Is it A-Shen?”
The moment he called the name, the other person’s entire body jolted. He lifted a face that was mostly hidden by the hood and his hair. It was hard to tell if he was excited or nervous, but his hands were trembling violently. Finally, he managed to let out a bit of sound.
“Xi… Xiao Xi…”
The answer was confirmed. Light danced in Yu Xi’s eyes, and a wave of joy filled his heart. Without thinking much, he walked over and grabbed Meng Shen’s hand. “A-Shen, it really is you!”
He was happy in his heart, but he soon discovered the person before him had entered a wrong state. His breathing became erratic, his hands trembled even more violently, and the cold sweat breaking out on his palms soaked Yu Xi’s hands along with it.
Yu Xi thought the grown-up Meng Shen no longer liked his touch. The joy he had felt immediately sank. He let go of the hand in a panic. “I’m sorry, I was a bit too…”
Before he could finish, the hand he had pulled back was caught once again.
This seemed to be a subconscious action of Meng Shen’s. After reacting, he quickly let go of him again, speaking incoherently, “S-sorry, I didn’t mean to. Truly, truly sorry. I didn’t want to do this…”
This reaction triggered certain memories for Yu Xi. He thought of that exceptionally cautious and timid child from their first meeting, and his heart softened.
He squatted down, wanting to use this more approachable posture to soothe Meng Shen’s slightly out-of-control emotions. He didn’t expect that before the words “It’s okay” could leave his mouth, he first saw the blood-red eyes hidden under the other’s hood.
…It was as if he were about to be unable to hold back his tears.
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