Shen Mo looked up at Sheng Yiyang's gloomy face. Not understanding what was happening, he stood on the sofa and buried Sheng Yiyang's head into his embrace, just like he used to do whenever he was unhappy and pressed his head against Sheng Yiyang's chest.
He even imitated Sheng Yiyang's soothing gestures to comfort him.
Against his ear, Sheng Yiyang heard the steady thumping of Shen Mo's heartbeat, and his restless mind calmed down in an instant.
He held Shen Mo's slender waist tightly, kicking the ugly image of Ling Chen from his past life out of his mind. At the same time, he resolved not to let Ling Chen appear before Shen Mo ever again.
The doorbell rang once more, sounding even more urgent this time.
Sheng Yiyang frowned. He wanted to go open the door, but Shen Mo held him back.
Shen Mo shook his head at him, his meaning perfectly clear: do not open the door! Since they disliked the person knocking, there was no need to let them in.
Sheng Yiyang pulled Shen Mo into his arms and kissed him, murmuring, "Alright, then we won't go."
Despite saying that, however, he still made a phone call to Ji Rong.
When Ji Rong picked up the phone, his face practically screamed "joy." In the end, he gave his hair a frustrated tug, resigned himself to his fate, and went to chase Ling Chen away from the doorway.
Standing outside the door, Ling Chen kept pressing the doorbell, but nobody answered. His delicate features twisted together as he lowered his head and frantically tried sending messages to Sheng Yiyang, but not a single one went through!
Ling Chen gripped his phone tightly, fighting the urge to hurl it away, and could only resort to pressing the doorbell continuously.
"Hey big brother, maybe nobody's home. Can't you just make a phone call? You're so noisy!"
The door directly opposite suddenly opened, and an eight-year-old boy poked his head out.
Ling Chen jumped in surprise. Tears instantly welled up in his eyes as he put on a wronged and slightly embarrassed expression. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. This is my boyfriend's home, and we had a fight. Boo hoo hoo, he blocked me."
Yu Zimo: "..."
Seeing the person crying so bitterly, Yu Zimo's childish face showed a trace of impatience. Leaning against the doorway, he raised his smart watch. "Tell me the number, I'll help you contact him."
Overjoyed, Ling Chen tearfully rattled off the number.
Yu Zimo looked at the digits as he entered them, only to find the number was already saved in his contacts, listed under the nickname "Big Brother"...
He raised his gaze and looked dubiously at Ling Chen. "You're saying the person inside that apartment is your boyfriend?"
Ling Chen nodded vigorously, explaining that they had argued over a disagreement and he had left in a huff. After thinking things through, he had come back to make up, only to find that he had been blocked.
Inside, Yu Chen and Zihuai, who had been keeping an eye on the hallway the whole time: "..."
Zihuai gave Yu Chen's arm a subtle nudge, whispering with disdain, "So this is Sheng Yiyang's ex-boyfriend? Quite the drama queen. If I hadn't seen the stuff online, I might have actually fallen for his act."
Yu Chen shook his head with a helpless smile. "You wouldn't have."
Zihuai tilted his head. "Turns out Sheng Yiyang lives right across from us~ Do you think Sheng Yiyang will open the door?"
Everyone knew Sheng Yiyang was home.
Yu Chen shook his head again. "He won't."
Zihuai glanced sideways at Yu Chen, drawing out his voice teasingly, "Judging by that, you seem to understand him pretty well~"
Yu Chen chuckled softly. He caught the back of Zihuai's neck, forcing him to look up, and pressed his lips to his.
Zihuai let out a coy murmur and shoved Yu Chen away, signaling him not to interrupt the good show, while casually checking to see how his precious boy was going to handle the situation~
Yu Zimo rubbed his ears, a flicker of impatience crossing his young face, but since the person in front of him was speaking with such vivid emotion, he felt bad interrupting and could only watch quietly.
After rambling on for a long time, Ling Chen finally noticed the irritation on Yu Zimo's face. He offered an embarrassed smile, fixed his eyes on the smart watch on Yu Zimo's wrist, and urged, "Did the call go through?"
Yu Zimo shook his head. "His phone is turned off."
Hearing this, Ling Chen frowned in disbelief. "How is that possible?!"
"How is it not possible?!" Ji Rong stepped out of the elevator just in time to catch those words. Seeing Ling Chen's tear-streaked face, a flash of impatience crossed his eyes, and he said unceremoniously, "Young Master Ling, isn't it a bit shameless of you to keep pestering our Brother Sheng like this? If your fans were to see you right now, would you still be able to keep up that gentle, sweet persona of yours?"
Ling Chen's wet, watery eyes stared at Ji Rong with aggrieved torment as he shouted, "Yue Lejia and I only have a working relationship! It's not at all what you guys think! Ji Rong, let me in right now so I can explain things clearly to Sheng Yiyang."
Ji Rong looked at him coldly, not budging an inch. "Actually, right after high school graduation, Brother Sheng saw you together with that man surnamed Xiang, and he heard what you said to him."
Ling Chen's body suddenly stiffened. High school? Surnamed Xiang? His brain spun rapidly as he recalled the events of that time. Back then, the Ling Family's business was tied up with a project involving the Xiang Family, so he had gone to find the young master of the Xiang Family. And that was only because Sheng Yiyang had refused to help their Ling Family!
As long as Sheng Yiyang had given them one hundred million, the Ling Family could have easily secured that project!
Sheng Yiyang claimed he liked him, so one hundred million shouldn't have been a problem for the Sheng Family, but he actually refused!
He actually refused! What kind of pathetic excuse for "liking" someone was that?
The more Ling Chen thought about it, the more unbalanced he felt, and he began to complain bitterly to Ji Rong, "What even was that time! As the young master of the Sheng Family, what was so wrong with helping our Ling Family secure a project? It was just one hundred million, it's not like the Sheng Family couldn't afford it!"
"And another thing, Sheng Yiyang kept saying he liked me! What kind of liking was that?! I just wanted a single role, why couldn't he get it for me? Why wouldn't he give it to me? How can you call that liking?!"
Ji Rong: "......"
Yu Zimo: "......"
Yu Chen and Zihuai: "......"
Seeing the person at the door staring with wide eyes, as if seeing such a shameless wretch throw a tantrum for the very first time, Zihuai leaned against Yu Chen's shoulder and snickered quietly. "This kid got an eye-opener today! He actually learned what true shamelessness looks like!"
Seeming to sense his own father mocking him, Yu Zimo let out a tiny huff. He knitted his delicate little brows together and glared unhappily at Ling Chen. "Do you not have hands and feet of your own? If you want something, why don't you work for it yourself instead of taking advantage of someone's feelings to make outrageous demands? When he won't go along with it, you throw a temper tantrum! Now that he's tired of you and doesn't want to like you anymore, I suppose you're just upset you lost your personal ATM, huh!"
Ji Rong's eyes widened in surprise, and he covertly gave Yu Zimo a thumbs-up.
Zihuai's eyes rounded as well, and he looked at Yu Chen in bafflement. "Where on earth did the kid learn all that?"
Yu Chen pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking of the melodramatic short videos someone was always binge-watching, and gave the back of Zihuai's head a playful, punishing rub.
Ling Chen's face was completely twisted, clearly having been hit right where it hurt.
Ji Rong checked the time, realizing he didn't have any more time to waste playing games with Ling Chen, and issued an impatient warning, "Young Master Ling, I'm sure you don't want to end up trending on tomorrow's hot searches!"
"I'll let it slide this time, but if there's a next time, I doubt Young Master Ling wants to drag the Ling Family's company down with you!"
Those words Ji Rong delivered were originally spoken by Sheng Yiyang.
Catching the murderous glare Ling Chen shot him, Ji Rong showed him the message Sheng Yiyang had sent, then flashed a sickly-sweet, fake smile and invited him downstairs.
Yu Zimo patted his little chest and let out a long sigh of relief. "He's finally gone. You adults and your problems are such a pain!"
Zihuai gave the boy's head a rough, exasperated rub. Seeing the little scamp still eyeing the direction of his "Big Brother," Zihuai promptly grabbed him by the ear and dragged him back inside. "You stinker, do you know what time it is? Your good big brother needs to sleep! We'll talk about it tomorrow!"
Yu Zimo clenched his little fists, thinking to himself: I'm going to stand guard right outside the door tomorrow morning until my good big brother opens it!