TYRPSM Chapter19

Nie Yunshen held the noticeably aged picture frame in silence for a while, slowly brushing his thumb over the fresh photo paper inside. The unobstructed, velvety texture felt subtly delicate. He looked down at the woman and child in the photo, mentally comparing them to the features of Huo Qizheng, the big boss of the Lans Group and concluded that Shu An took after his mother.

In the photo, Shu An was at most one or two years old, with thick, lush eyelashes and a brilliant, innocent smile; a textbook example of a cute little angel. While his general features already hinted at the handsome man he would become, there wasn’t a single trace of his adult aloofness or coldness at all.

However, the young woman holding him possessed a cold detachment that was almost a carbon copy of the adult Shu An.

The child was filled with nothing but pure, naive joy yet her expression was weary and listless. The facial similarities between mother and son were nearly identical but the sense of resentment and alienation practically pulsed off the paper.

This woman looked as if she wanted nothing more than to hurl the child in her arms away.

Nie Yunshen ground his back teeth, thinking that this Mrs. Huo, whom he had never met, certainly didn’t seem like an easy elder to get along with. Was Shu An a victim of cold shoulder treatment when he was little?

For some reason, he felt a pang of heartache for this baby. He had a sudden, strong urge to flip the photo face down, but he managed to restrain himself and dutifully placed the frame back exactly where it had been.

Logically, one shouldn’t mess with things on someone else’s desk. However, perhaps some small movement as he set the frame back disturbed the balance, because the stack of papers beside it suddenly slid apart, scattering across the desk and onto the floor. After a few seconds of awkward silence, a very guilty Nie Yunshen hurriedly squatted down to pick them up.

He moved quickly, consciously trying to avoid prying into the contents of the documents. But then, a very familiar-looking cover caught his eye and made him freeze. Nie Yunshen stared, somewhat dumbfounded, at the large logo belonging to his own alma mater—it was a very old English acceptance letter.

If the name of the admittee hadn’t been the full Chinese pinyin of “Shu An,” Nie Yunshen would have thought it was the exact same offer letter he had received all those years ago.

Their admission dates were nearly identical, and they had attended the same university…

Nie Yunshen furrowed his brow. After a brief moment of confusion, his expression turned thoughtful. He remained squatting there, thinking it over, and after a short while, he stood up with a calm, steady composure.

He gathered the remaining documents, most of them business files bearing the Lans Group letterhead and dense with rows of data. With an unreadable expression, Nie Yunshen scanned them briefly before neatly returning everything to its original spot, placing the yellowed acceptance letter on top. Then, he turned and walked into the walk-in closet.

He had never been to Shu An’s home before and knew very little about the young master’s private life. Making a casual guess, he assumed that the residence of a real estate mogul’s son ought to be the height of luxury. Entering the bedroom’s attached closet, Nie Yunshen had prepared himself to be dazzled.

Instead, he saw something that truly surprised him.

The closet was about the size of a standard room with a window for natural light and a large full-length mirror, while wardrobes lined both sides with clothes organized and hung by season. Nie Yunshen’s own clothes had already been washed and dried, hanging neatly on a rack near the door. He reached for them and began dressing; as he buttoned his shirt and walked toward the mirror to tidy himself up, his gaze drifted to the side.

He discovered that aside from formal wear, Shu An actually had a dedicated section for casual and athletic gear, some basketball jerseys and shorts, and even a few Taekwondo uniforms. Nie Yunshen mused that with Shu An’s physique, he probably looked quite good in those.

He walked over and casually brushed through the hangers only to find a set of clothes that looked strikingly familiar.

It was a blue top paired with black trousers in a quick-dry athletic style; back then it had been a limited edition, and because the fabric was so soft and comfortable, Nie Yunshen had loved wearing it in high school. When it went missing later on, he had tried to buy another set only to find it had been discontinued, leaving him frustrated for a long time.

He never expected to see them again years later, looking as if they had been frozen in time, still in that same “half-worn” condition from the day they mysteriously vanished.

Nie Yunshen gripped the old clothes and sank back into thought. He seemed to have realized something, yet he still couldn’t quite connect all the fragmented details at the key turning points.

Before he had a chance to mull over these trivialities any further, the bedroom door outside the closet opened with a soft click. Nie Yunshen put the clothes down and walked out, acting as if nothing had happened.

Shu An was dressed in loungewear with a few stray hairs falling over his forehead. The man looked unusually soft and approachable. Nie Yunshen stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly sniffled.

“I’m hungry.” He said those three words with utter innocence.

Shu An chuckled as he stepped closer to brush a thumb over Nie Yunshen’s lips with tender intimacy. “How was your rest? Breakfast is downstairs. Go freshen up, and I’ll wait to eat with you.”

Nie Yunshen smiled along, parting his lips to nip at the offered fingertip. He gave it a playful, teasing lick before answering, “Once I’ve eaten my fill, I’m going to fuck you to death.”

After dropping that line, he gave Shu An a haughty, sidelong glance, but he couldn’t maintain the act for more than a few seconds before breaking into a laugh and heading into the bathroom.

Shu An waited for him outside. By the time Nie Yunshen had finished getting himself together and stepped back out, he realized that Boss Shu was nothing like the “helpless rich heir” he had imagined. In the time it took him to brush his teeth and wash his face, Shu An had made the bed, opened the windows, and set the open book aside. The bedroom was now so impeccably organized it could have been photographed for a home decor magazine right then and there.

“I didn’t peg you for the domestic type, CEO Shu,” Nie Yunshen teased mischievously. “Is there anything you can’t do besides having a baby?”

Shu An led Nie Yunshen out of the bedroom toward the downstairs dining area, replying at an unhurried pace, “If you don’t mind surrogacy, I can actually get the baby part handled too.”

Nie Yunshen nearly choked on his own spit. “No, no, I was just kidding!”

They walked into the dining room, where Nie Yunshen caught sight of two uniformed servants standing at attention in the corners. He immediately felt the weight of the “prestige” pressing down on him. Speechless, he watched an older auntie bring over the breakfast spread before tentatively asking Shu An, “Does your family watch a lot of Hong Kong dramas or something?”

As Shu An smoothed out his napkin, he replied nonchalantly, “My grandfather was very strict about rules. By the time my father took over, he had no interest in changing things, so it just stayed this way. In the future…” He glanced at Nie Yunshen with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “If you don’t like it, we can discuss making changes.”

Nie Yunshen laughed it off awkwardly. “Ah, what? The wind is too loud; I didn’t catch that! Let’s eat, let’s eat—”

He lowered his head and dug in. Though called “breakfast,” it was incredibly lavish. The congee was fresh and sweet, paired with crisp, refreshing side dishes. Beyond that, Nie Yunshen was particularly fond of the two baskets of steaming dim sum. The sticky rice shaomai was mixed with bits of cured meat and green peas, and the steamed dumplings were filled with pork and water chestnuts. His mood soared as he ate; without even wiping his mouth, he asked, “Your chef is amazing. Can I borrow them to go to my hotel and teach the dim sum masters a thing or two?”

The Nie family had started out in the seafood restaurant business, and now they owned several high-end restaurants, all managed by his eldest brother, Nie Yunqi.

Shu An chewed and swallowed slowly. After his final bite, he picked up a teacup to rinse his palate before looking at Nie Yunshen with a smile. “Sure. I’ll try to find the time.”

Nie Yunshen was floored. The feast in his stomach and the realization that Shu An was “Mr. Do-It-All” were currently digesting together. In his head, two little shameless versions of himself started waving flags and cheering, “Oh my god! Handsome, rich, gentle, and devoted, AND he can cook? CEO Shu is literally a god! Marry him already!”

Nie Yunshen snapped back in his mind, “Why can’t I be the one who marries him into my family!?”

Mini-Me A spread his hands: “Because when you’re in front of CEO Shu, your only job is getting pinned down.”

Mini-Me B smirked: “And besides, usually only the ‘bottom’ cares this much about the semantics of marrying versus being married into a family.”

Nie Yunshen: “…Get lost.”

Shu An had someone brew tea and serve it in the semi-open sunroom, where the warm sunlight poured across the floor. Having violently suppressed the two troublemaking voices in his head, Nie Yunshen lazily stretched out his legs on a rattan daybed surrounded by flowers and greenery. He squinted at the brilliant blue sky through the glass ceiling, picked up an exquisite little teacup, and drained the Pu-erh tea to cut through the grease of breakfast. Then, he turned to Shu An with a beaming smile.

“CEO Shu, care for a little chat?”

Shu An nodded. Seeing Nie Yunshen set his cup down, he slowly poured a refill, his movements steady and unhurried.

Nie Yunshen went straight to the point, not bothering to beat around the bush at all. “Back then, you applied to H University too. Was it because of me?”

The stream of tea stopped precisely at the seven-tenths mark. Shu An gave a simple “Mhm.”

Nie Yunshen followed up immediately: “And you didn’t go in the end… was that also because of me?”

Shu An gave another “Mhm.”

Nie Yunshen was silent for a moment before speaking again: “So about that… I was too immature back in school. I was way too competitive and always saw you as my rival. I’m sorry…”

Shu An laughed, “Silly talk.”

Nie Yunshen laughed along with him. He poked the tip of his tongue out to lick his lips, which still tasted like the dry bitterness of tea, and continued.

“There’s a set of my clothes in your wardrobe. Where did they come from?”

“I wore them home from your house.”

Nie Yunshen froze.

The fragrance of tea curled in the air. Two long-tailed birds chirped as they hopped across the branches; at first, they seemed to be arguing as if about to fight, their wings fluttering in a brief chase, but then they tucked themselves into the foliage to preen each other’s feathers.

It was a rare, quiet weekend like this, unexpectedly comfortable and cozy.

Nie Yunshen listened as Shu An recounted the story, cross-referencing it with the distant, hazy fragments of his own memory.

The day of the high school graduation party…

A farewell song at seventeen or eighteen, sincere laughter and unrestrained tears, as young couples about to head to different cities wept uncontrollably while brothers with bright, separate futures ahead toasted one another, singing loudly cup after cup. Everything left unsaid had to be voiced that night; old grudges and new resentments were finally, magnanimously laughed away. Nie Yunshen remembered clinking glasses with the school beauty he had never managed to woo; the pretty girl with red eyes handed him yet another “friend zone” card.

By the time his consciousness finally began to blur, he happened to turn his head and spotted the person he’d spent three years grit-teethedly hating watching him from the middle of another crowd.

Nie Yunshen gave a hearty laugh, grabbed his half-finished beer, and swaggered over. He threw an arm around the other party’s shoulders and roughly clinked his beer bottle against the glass in Shu An’s hand, letting a heart-stabbing remark slip out.

Shu An’s expression froze, light flickering in his eyes as hurt and gloom passed over his gaze in turn. He remained silent for several seconds before speaking in a stiff, low voice: “Since you hate me that much too, I’ll stay far away.”

By then, Nie Yunshen was so lightheaded he didn’t even know who he was; he gave no reaction to the words at all. He let go with a wobble, seemingly intending to walk a straight line, but in reality, he carved out a wildly off-key ‘S’ shape. Just as his legs went soft and he was about to collapse, Shu An, who was quick-eyed and steady-handed, caught him from behind.

And then he vomited all over him.

Among Nie Yunshen’s group of brothers, not many were still sober. Feng Hao was one of the few; he was also startled by the sight and hurried over to help prop Nie Yunshen up.

Shu An expressionlessly took off his jacket, watching as Feng Hao looked after Nie Yunshen while simultaneously casting distracted glances toward the other side of the room—where he had been in the middle of a confession just a few minutes prior.

Shu An reached out: “I’ll take him home. I haven’t been drinking, don’t worry.”

Feng Hao immediately slapped Shu An on the shoulder: “You’re a real one; I’m counting on you.” After giving him the address to the Nie household, he handed the drunkard over to Shu An.

“‘Too’?” Nie Yunshen, feeling utterly confused, picked out that specific keyword from Shu An’s narration. “You were the golden boy, Young Master Shu. Rich family, good looks, top grades, and even a first-class fighter, who would dare hate you? Who would hate you?… Aside from me.”

Shu An’s expression remained calm and gentle. He laughed after hearing that flurry of praise; clearly, the high school memories he’d just mentioned no longer weighed heavily on his heart, and even the brief loss of composure from the previous day, when Nie Yunshen had faked being drunk to bait him into talking, had completely vanished.

He looked at Nie Yunshen, his tone flat, as if he were recounting someone else’s story.

“Of course there was.”

“I was still small then, maybe three or four years old at most.”

“That person hated me very much. She never responded when I called out, and she wouldn’t say my name or any other endearment.”

“She almost never held me, and of course, there were no kisses or caresses as well.”

“Once, she was angry about something. After smashing a lot of things, she said she was leaving. I was standing at the top of the stairs on the second floor and tried to chase after her, but I was in such a hurry that I tripped. I tumbled all the way down the stairs and landed right in front of her, crying and calling for her.”

“She didn’t acknowledge me. She simply stepped over me and walked away without looking back.”

“That person… was my mother.”