Part 2
Meng Shen still looked completely emotionless, except for those pitch-black eyes where a cold, ruthless undercurrent surged. His entire body emitted a terrifyingly freezing aura that inspired fear in others.
“You aren’t worthy of mentioning his name.”
Lifted until his feet were almost off the ground, Meng Liang, whose face was flushed purple from suffocation, actually let out a sneer. “What if I mention it? What can you do to me?”
“I don’t fight for the family inheritance because Iām not interested, not because Iām afraid of you. If you dare approach Xiao Xi again, don’t blame me for being impolite.” Meng Shenās fingers tightened. “After all, I am a dog that protects its master. For him, Iāll bite anyone I see.”
Meng Liang choked and coughed, yet he also refused to show weakness: “Finally stopped pretending? If Yu Xi knew you were like this, guess if heād still be willing to be with you!”
The coldness in Meng Shenās eyes was almost ready to overflow. His tightened jaw made his molars grind audibly, and his forearm was gathering strength.
Meng Liang felt something. First came disbelief, then anger: “Try hitting me if you dare!”
He finally panicked and began to struggle, but the hand clamping his collar was like solid ironāno matter how he tried to pry it, he couldn’t open it. The increasingly intense force suffocated him. Just when he thought Meng Shen was about to swing his fist, Meng Shen suddenly let him go.
The released collar allowed oxygen to rush smoothly into his throat. This feeling was comparable to surviving a disaster. Meng Liang gritted his teeth and steadied his trembling legs.
After escaping danger, panic faded, replaced by a doubled sense of humiliated rage.
He shoved Meng Shen hard. Despite Meng Shenās great height, he was actually pushed back a step. The furious Meng Liang didn’t think much and cursed directly: “What kind of fit were you just throwing, you idiot? Try acting arrogant with me again and see if I don’tā”
“A-Shen!”
The youthās voice echoing from behind was like a pause button. Meng Liang froze instantly, his unfinished curse stuck in his throat, making his face turn bright red.
He actually didn’t dare to turn around for a moment, but the person he least wanted to run into appeared anyway.
Yu Xi rushed between them. First, he grabbed Meng Shenās arm to check if there were any injuries on his body, then he turned his head indignantly and glared fiercely at Meng Liang.
“Why are you bullying him!”
Meng Liang felt as if he had swallowed a fly. It took a long while before he could make a sound: “I didn’t! Heās so big, how could I bully him?! You might as well worry about me!”
The way Yu Xi looked at Meng Liang became even more filled with dislike. “I saw it all. You reached out and pushed him, and youāre still lying through your teeth.”
“?!”
Only then did Meng Liang understand something. He turned his head and, sure enough, met the contemptuous gaze of Meng Shen behind Yu Xi. He was instantly as frustrated as a mute eating bitter melon. “It wasn’t like what you saw at all, okay? That mutt was faking it. Don’t let him fool you!”
Yu Xi grew even angrier. “Youāre even calling names!”
He hurriedly turned back to comfort Meng Shen. Meng Shen shook his head at him, wearing a look of endurance for fear of making things difficult for him: “Letās go.”
“But…” Yu Xi felt aggrieved on Meng Shenās behalf and couldn’t quite swallow this insult. But Meng Shen held his hand, his eyes showing a plea.
Yu Xi calmed down. In the end, he didn’t say anything else, only making sure to glare huffily at Meng Liang before leaving.
Meng Liang was dumbfounded by Meng Shenās “selling misery” performance. Looking at the backs of the two leaving hand-in-hand and hearing Yu Xi continuously comforting Meng Shen in a soft voice, he felt that this was worse than being punched. He cursed in anger, “Fuck!”
This curse echoed in the hallway and reached the ears of Yu Xi, who had already walked a distance away.
“Heās a bit unrefined,” Yu Xi said with a frown. “Don’t you dare take what he said to heart. Heās too wicked.”
Listening to him denounce Meng Liang, Meng Shen quietly lifted the corners of his mouth.
As he spoke, Yu Xi grew angry with himself, his red lips pouting slightly. “Sorry, Iām so useless. I simply don’t have the ability to stand up for you.”
The final result was just Meng Shen backing down and enduring; Yu Xi felt powerless from the bottom of his heart.
He couldn’t do as he did as a child and disregard everything. What would a momentary satisfaction achieve? If he scolded Meng Liang, regardless of whether Meng Liang would retaliate against him, it would definitely affect Meng Shen. After returning to the Meng house, Meng Shenās situation would only be more difficult.
Meng Shen shook his head. “You are always protecting me.”
Whether in childhood or now, Yu Xi would always pull him out from the dark corners into the sunshine, and always stand before him when the other Meng family members bullied him.
Clearly, Yu Xi was now thinner and weaker than him, yet he was as brave and kind as he had been in the beginning.
Yu Xi was his hero.
…
The two tacitly hid this matter together and didn’t tell the others.
On the way back, Yu Xi didn’t choose to sit in Gu Chuanzhouās car. Now, seeing Gu Chuanzhou, he remembered the incident in the fitting room, and his face felt intensely hot. So, he sat back in Zhang Xingkuoās car.
Zhang Xingkuo gave Gu Chuanzhou a triumphant glance, but in the next second, seeing Yu Xi pulling Meng Shen into the backseat together, his lifted lip collapsed again.
“Doesn’t he usually take the Sheng familyās car?”
Yu Xi looked at Zhang Xingkuo expectantly. “I want to be with him. Iāll leave it to you.”
Zhang Xingkuo: “…”
The final result was naturally Zhang Xingkuo resignedly driving the three of them.
He glanced at Pei Wang in the passenger seat, then at the two sitting close together in the rearview mirror, and let out a heavy huff from his nose.
Yet even this failed to attract the youthās attention.
Yu Xi was paying extra attention to Meng Shen now.
He didn’t want Meng Shen, who had just been mistreated, to process his emotions alone; he wanted to show him more concern.
“Do you want to have dinner with me and Pei Wang tonight? Auntie Pei isn’t home.”
Meng Shenās lowered head lifted slightly as he looked at the person beside him.
Yu Xi wasn’t sitting properly on the other side; he was sitting in the middle, his body clearly leaning toward him. His sleeve brushed against Meng Shenās, but they weren’t truly pressed together because Yu Xi still remembered that Meng Shen didn’t like physical contact.
“A-Shen?” Yu Xi tilted his head, which was wearing the little yellow hat, still waiting for his response.
Meng Shenās throat bobbed as he moved his gaze away and said lowly, “Mhm.”
“Then Iāll ask Auntie Wan to make an extra portion!” Yu Xi immediately called the Pei house.
During the call, Meng Shenās gaze quietly shifted to him once again.
Specifically, to his hand.
In comparison, it was a very small hand. It looked thin and bony, yet it was startlingly soft once held.
It was this small and soft hand that had pulled him away from the restroom and held him all the way.
Meng Shen turned to look at his own palm. Thinking of the dampness picked up when they were holding hands, he wasn’t sure if it was entirely the sweat from his own hand due to his rapid heart rate, or if a part of it belonged to Yu Xi.
…But it was definitely carrying a bit of Yu Xiās scent.
It was absolutely fragrant.
Meng Shen swallowed his dry and itchy throat once more.
He wanted to smell it. He wanted to lick it.
“Iāll leave it to you, Auntie Wan. Bye-bye.”
Yu Xi hung up the phone. Turning back to find Meng Shen covering his mouth and nose with his hand and breathing heavily, he was instantly worried. “Are you uncomfortable?”
Meng Shen lowered his hand. “Iām fine.”
His expression was as usual; he truly looked fine.
Yu Xi: “Itās good that youāre fine. Weāll be there soon.”
When they got out of the car, Zhang Xingkuoās gaze followed the three of them with extreme resentment.
Only then did Yu Xi remember he had ignored Zhang Xingkuo, and he hurriedly asked, “Xingxing, do you want to join? Is your family waiting for you for dinner?”
Zhang Xingkuo knitted his brows tightly. “Forget it, next time.”
He was very unwilling, but he had promised his mother he would return on time tonight.
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