Chapter 10#
The Cowardly Corporate Drone 10#
Shen Anyu’s breath caught.
Every sense, in an instant, seemed to fall upon the wife behind him.
Every move Shen Xifu made tugged at Shen Anyu’s heart.
Shen Anyu opened his mouth hoarsely, desperately wanting to explain something, but once his tie was yanked loose, he gave up the struggle—just as he had three years ago.
Shen Anyu’s dull, unassertive nature made it impossible for him to refuse Shen Xifu.
All he could do was comply.
Especially when Shen Xifu had given up so much to be with him.
Inside the room.
Shen Xifu no longer had the patience to play that question-and-answer game with Shen Anyu.
…
There were moments when Shen Anyu felt he had lost consciousness entirely—or rather, whenever he was with Shen Xifu, the time he spent lucid was very little.
Even in such a situation.
Shen Anyu still wanted to explain something to Shen Xifu, but he had forgotten that he could no longer speak. Whenever he opened his mouth, he would hear Shen Xifu’s low, husky voice call out “Husband” by his ear.
In a daze, as they spoke at the same time, Shen Anyu even mistook that voice for his own—almost believing that he was the one calling Shen Xifu “husband.”
But how could that be?
He was the husband…
…
The next day.
Through the haze of consciousness, Shen Anyu heard footsteps leaving the room. He tried to open his eyes, but his sluggish brain pulled him back into deep sleep. Even when his daily alarm went off, he lacked the strength to reach out and turn it off, only able to furrow his brows.
Until half an hour later.
Shen Xifu, who had left, pushed open the bedroom door again.
Looking at Shen Anyu lying in bed, tear tracks not yet fully dried at the corners of his eyes, he stepped forward and shut off the alarm that was disturbing the young man’s restless sleep. His cool fingertips brushed against the long lashes beneath Shen Anyu’s eyes. Feeling the not-yet-dried tears on his fingertips, Shen Xifu let out a soft laugh.
It was joy from the bottom of his heart.
“Husband.” He lowered his gaze with pity, his voice gentle. “I already asked Boss Jian for leave on your behalf. For the next week, you’ll be staying home—with me.”
Shen Xifu asked, “Will you be happy?”
“You should be, right?”
The sleeping young man couldn’t answer that question, but Shen Xifu had already imagined the expression Shen Anyu would wear when he woke up and learned the news.
His fingertips gently smoothed the furrow between the young man’s brows. He said, “Sleep…”
Outside the door.
Xie Yuzhi, who was filling his stomach with bread he’d found in the fridge, had dark circles under his eyes. After forcing down the mouthful of bread, he looked up at Jian Lixu, who sat across from him, nibbling on his own bread.
Strange as it was—among people, some could always manage to eat even terrible bread with the elegant demeanor of someone dining at a Western restaurant.
Xie Yuzhi took a vicious bite.
What are you showing off for?
But the next second, he was choking on too big a mouthful of bread, struggling to breathe.
Jian Lixu noticed and asked, “Want some water?”
Yet he remained seated at the dining table, not moving an inch.
Xie Yuzhi pounded his chest, stood up, went to the water dispenser himself to pour a cup and drink it down, then came back and set the cup down heavily on the table. “Don’t trouble yourself,” he said.
Jian Lixu smiled but said nothing. Only when Xie Yuzhi finished off his bread in a few quick bites and was about to get up and leave did he say lightly, “Have you given up on your goal now, Xiao Yu?”
Xie Yuzhi let out a derisive snort, unwilling to answer.
But from behind came Jian Lixu’s warm voice. “I heard from Xifu that you did something wrong and were kicked out by your parents.” He paused. “Is that true?”
Xie Yuzhi turned around, face full of impatience. “Boss Jian, let me give you a piece of advice—right now, my brother and Shen Anyu are still married. Also, you’re worrying a little too much about things that aren’t your business.”
Perhaps because he hadn’t slept well last night, Xie Yuzhi’s brow was furrowed as he spoke sharply. “Let’s not even mention that Shen Anyu is your subordinate and that some of your actions have had tangible effects on his marriage—just talk about you calling Shen Xifu yesterday…” Xie Yuzhi paused, looking at him. “Drunk? Do you even believe that yourself?”
With that.
Xie Yuzhi originally intended to leave directly, but remembering what he’d seen last night when he couldn’t sleep and went to the living room to hide for a while, he turned his head and said, “For the sake of my brother knowing you, Boss Jian, let me remind you—right now, my brother and Shen Anyu are still proper ‘husbands.’ You…”
Xie Yuzhi trailed off, seeming to want to say more but stopping, looking like he’d swallowed a live fly.
Finally, he let out an impatient “Tsk.”
Last night, he never would have imagined that he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep in the dead of night—there was also Jian Lixu, on the living room sofa.
Combined with what he’d seen at the bar, Xie Yuzhi didn’t believe Jian Lixu’s feelings toward Shen Xifu were innocent. Yet somehow, he felt something was off.
After all, if the person Jian Lixu liked was truly Shen Xifu, then why, when Shen Anyu didn’t even know Shen Xifu’s true gender, hadn’t he revealed it to him?
Through this period of getting to know each other.
Xie Yuzhi could clearly sense how firmly Shen Anyu believed he was a straight man.
Besides, Jian Lixu wasn’t like him—forced by Shen Xifu’s bloodline oppression to shut his mouth and play dumb.
A fog enveloped Xie Yuzhi, and no matter how he racked his brain, he couldn’t figure it out.
Just beyond the wall.
Shen Anyu slept all the way until four in the afternoon before barely waking.
The moment consciousness returned.
Shen Anyu’s first feeling wasn’t exhaustion, but fear over having missed work today. Even in his dreams, he’d been terrified of having his full attendance bonus docked.
On instinct, he picked up his phone from the bedside. When he saw it was four in the afternoon, Shen Anyu’s already uneasy heart died completely.
Shen Anyu, who still had over twenty years of mortgage payments on his back: “…”
Even in a novel world, this ever-present pressure still filled Shen Anyu with despair.
But what made him even more despairing was far from over.
When he got out of bed, his legs so weak and sore he nearly fell, Shen Anyu lost all hope.
About last night—his originally blank memories now flooded back frame by frame thanks to that stumble.
Along with the shame came Shen Xifu’s final words, “Liar,” spoken around his Adam’s apple.
Even in the darkness of that moment, Shen Anyu had clearly felt Shen Xifu’s fixation on him “deceiving” her—and what that fixation would ultimately cost him was something Shen Anyu, who had already lived through it once three years ago, did not want to experience again.
And yet.
From deep within the dimly lit room came a gentle voice: “Husband’s awake?”
It made Shen Anyu’s heart tremble.
Shen Anyu raised his head inch by inch, and finally saw Shen Xifu sitting on a chair not far away, staring straight at him.
Oxygen seemed to thin in an instant.
Shen Xifu lowered his gaze calmly, reached out, and gently wiped the fine sweat from Shen Anyu’s brow with long, pale, cool fingertips. “Is husband hot? Why are you sweating?”
Shen Anyu stared at him, already regretting why he couldn’t speak. He opened his mouth, but only faint “ah, ah” sounds came out.
He shook his head, signaling he wasn’t hot.
He gestured with his hands, trying to tell Shen Xifu something, but everything was ignored by the wife across from him.
Shen Xifu was smiling, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes at all. “Husband, do you know? Yesterday afternoon, when I was consulting Boss Jian about doctors who could treat your speech disorder, who do you think I saw?”
Shen Anyu looked at Shen Xifu in disbelief.