The day after the itinerary for the trip was confirmed, the group of old men and ladies from ChaoYang Street set out. They left behind Lin ShuYi and Shen Fu, who both stared with dismay at the mess left behind in XiQin Restaurant.
Lin ShuYi had said that the refurbishment of XiQin Restaurant would be a given, but he hadn't thought at all about just how it would be refurbished – or in other words, what it should look like after refurbishment. Adding on the fact that he still hadn't told Old Man Yang about it yet, he ended up shelving it for now. In any case, there were still many things he had to do, so there was no hurry to do it immediately.
At that point, Lin ShuYi had already changed his mind. He felt that it would be best to first clarify Shen Fu's identity, after all…
"Hello." It was such a cold day, yet the woman was still wearing a deep blue business dress, her perfectly straight legs bare. She smiled both courteously and politely at Lin ShuYi, but actually, none of these were that important. What was important was that this woman was currently standing in front of Lin ShuYi's home, and she looked a bit familiar.
Lin ShuYi maintained his position after he opened the door. He looked suspiciously at the woman, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her before, nor did he know why she was looking for him. However, Lin ShuYi realized very quickly that this woman clearly wasn't here for him, because after the woman looked at his face, smiling, for two seconds, her line of vision traveled past Lin ShuYi's shoulder.
"Is Young Master Shen here?"
"Young Master Shen?" For a while, Lin ShuYi didn't realize who she was referring to, and he only understood once he glanced back and saw the phone that Shen Fu had left behind. This woman was the same as the man who had come several days earlier to give a report on the situation, and she had come to find Shen Fu. "You're looking for Shen Fu?"
The woman nodded.
Finally Lin ShuYi stepped away from the door and let her come in. "He went out to buy some things, he'll be back soon."
The woman laughed politely before entering and sitting down on the sofa where Shen Fu slept.
Lin ShuYi got up and went to the kitchen to pour her a cup of water, which he placed on the table in front of her. The woman gave a quiet thanks before she carefully assessed the room out of the corner of her eyes. It seemed like there was only one bedroom; could it be that the two of them were already living together?
This room was too small, and there simply weren't any places that required careful scrutinization. Everything in the room was clearly displayed. During these past few days, when they couldn't find that person no matter what they did, it turned out that he had been here the whole time, with this… boy.
As the woman thought, she assessed Lin ShuYi again. No matter how one looked at him, he was a pretty enough young boy.
The sound of the door being pushed open broke through her reverie. As Shen Fu spoke, he entered. "I bought matcha cookies. Will it be too sweet if paired with red date yogurt…" Shen Fu swallowed the latter half of his sentence, and he lifted an eyebrow as he looked at the woman on the sofa. "Anna, why are you here?"
Anna? Lin ShuYi came out from the restroom, head tilted, as he gave the woman another glance. No wonder he thought this woman looked familiar; it turned out that she was the one next to Shen Fu that time when he had knocked over Lin ShuYi's bayberries.
Without waiting for Anna to reply, Shen Fu figured it out. "He went back and informed you guys? His tongue is so loose."
Anna stood up and smiled at Shen Fu. "It's his duty, that's all. It's best if Young Master Shen doesn't get hung up on it."
Shen Fu shrugged and put the items he was carrying on the table. He reached out and tugged Lin ShuYi out of the restroom. "This is Lin ShuYi, my… landlord?" When he mentioned landlord, he grinned at Lin ShuYi, before he introduced Anna to Lin ShuYi. "This is Anna." But he didn't say what kind of relationship they had.
Anna understood and nodded before she extended a hand. "I'm Anna, his personal assistant."
Shen Fu: … Undermining his plans the moment they saw each other again. It made his mood immediately darken slightly. "You came to bring me back?"
Anna nodded, and her gaze landed on Shen Fu's hand, which had remained propped on Lin ShuYi's shoulders the entire time. Lin ShuYi didn't look uncomfortable in the slightest, which only further confirmed what she was thinking.
Lin ShuYi, who hadn't spoken at all, turned his head then to look at Shen Fu. "You're going back?"
Shen Fu one-sidedly interpreted this as Lin ShuYi being unwilling to part from him, and he shook his head. "I have no plans to go back."
Anna grew anxious, but Shen Fu had no intentions of letting her speak. "You've seen what you've come to see. Go back and report to him, so you don't have to waste the time you all spent looking for me."
Anna still wanted to say something. However, Shen Fu narrowed his eyes slightly. "Did you hear what I said?"
At first, Shen Fu still looked like he was joking, now a bit of assertiveness seemed to leak out. Anna put the water cup in her hand down and adjusted her clothing before she nodded towards Shen Fu. "I understand."
After that, she stood up and bid farewell to Lin ShuYi before she left the house.
Lin ShuYi brushed aside the hand that Shen Fu had placed on his shoulder before he slowly moved so that he was facing directly across from Shen Fu and sat down. He looked at Shen Fu. "Well, speak."
The assertive Shen Fu immediately grew terrified. "If I'm going to be completely honest, you better not laugh at me."
When all was said and done, Lin ShuYi was actually still quite curious. After all, when Shen Fu had first come here, he hadn't looked decent or respectful at all. But now, he seemed very different from what Lin ShuYi had imagined him to be at the beginning.
Regardless of if it was the woman who said she was his assistant, or how he effortlessly resolved Old Man Yang's business and even made them respectfully send Old Man Yang back, neither seemed like something that an ordinary person could do.
Shen Fu cleared his throat before he spoke seriously, "I am… a fuerdai."
(t/n: 富二代; there really isn't a good English equivalent – if you don't want to keep fuerdai in the story an equivalent could be "spoiled heir" or "second-gen rich kid" – if you keep the chinese pinyin in a t/n for the readers could be:
Fuerdai, literally "rich second generation", refers to the children of entrepreneurs who became wealthy in the 1980s (nouveau riche). Fuerdai is generally used with a negative connotation as the ones who are referred to as fuerdai are seen as irresponsible/arrogant. Think "Rich Kids of China" – extremeeeely wealthy people.)
Lin ShuYi: …
He just wanted to hurl the water cup at his face.
Shen Fu saw that Lin ShuYi's face had darkened, and he stopped teasing him. He started to properly explain to him just where he came from, where his family lived, how many people were in his family, what they all did. In a nutshell, it was to make Lin ShuYi believe that Shen Fu was someone Lin ShuYi definitely deserved to entrust his entire life to.
In actuality, Shen Fu truly hadn't expected to encounter Lin ShuYi, nor had he expected the two of them to have such a deep relationship. At the beginning, he hadn't told Lin ShuYi or Old Man Yang because there wasn't really anything to say; he didn't have a reason to deliberately explain it all to Lin ShuYi. After all, the two of them couldn't even be considered acquaintances back then.
Afterwards, though, Shen Fu purposefully didn't want to tell Lin ShuYi, because the reason he had appeared in front of him was truly a little too embarrassing to mention. Adding on how Old Man Yang never remembered that he had seen him before and truly believed that Shen Fu was Lin ShuYi's cousin, Shen Fu ended up becoming completely accustomed and fond of the life here, so he felt like it didn't make much of a difference if he told them or not. In any case, Lin ShuYi hadn't intended to ask.
At the end, by the time he wanted Lin ShuYi to ask, Lin ShuYi didn't seem to have much interest at all. When he remembered that, Shen Fu couldn't help but feel sad. He also hoped that he would broaden his mind, but at the same time he felt that it was a bit too early to do so.
After Lin ShuYi listened to Shen Fu give a detailed introduction of his own life history, he didn't speak for a very long time. So, it turned out… that he really was a fuerdai…
Lin ShuYi understood quite well the social classes of this world, especially the wealth gap. It wasn't much different from Da Yan, so he understood immediately just how huge the difference between the so-called 'wealthy' and 'very wealthy' was once Shen Fu spoke.
No wonder he solemnly dared to vow to turn XiQin Restaurant into a grand hall worthy of a state banquet…
After that, Lin ShuYi thought deeply about it for a moment, and he incorporated everything into the bigger picture – or rather, why Shen Fu would be beaten up like that, and why he fled here in a daze with a high fever.
Once Lin ShuYi asked that question, Shen Fu immediately felt a little embarrassed. Even though he didn't think much of the matter before this, if he had to say it now to Lin ShuYi's face…
"Why aren't you telling me?"
Shen Fu considered his wording for a second. "Actually, my grandpa hit me."
Lin ShuYi nodded. It made sense. If Shen Fu was truly a young master, who else would dare to beat him into that state besides someone in his family? But what was the reason?
Shen Fu deliberated over his phrasing again. "Because some certain aspects of mine were not up to his standards."
Just a bit not up to his standards made him get beaten to that degree? Weren't the Shen family's rules rather a little too strict? Lin ShuYi frowned.
Then Shen Fu said, "He wanted me to marry a woman."
Lin ShuYi's temples throbbed, and he finally lifted his eyes to glance at Shen Fu. "There isn't anything too alarming about marrying a woman, is there?" In Lin ShuYi's memory, even if they didn't like the other person, they should still marry them according to their parents' words or matchmaker's arrangement. Although, he hadn't gotten married at all in his previous life before he died.
The corners of Shen Fu's lips twitched, and he kept being choked by Lin ShuYi's words. After that, he spoke again. "But the entire Shen family knows that I don't like women."
Lin ShuYi: …
Lin ShuYi puzzled over it for quite a while before he finally understood. Not liking women… was equal to liking men. "Then, that means you want to marry a man?"
Shen Fu looked at him before the corners of his mouth quirked and he nodded.
Lin ShuYi's face dawned with understanding and he stood up before walking over to Shen Fu. He lifted a hand and rubbed the center of his forehead, looking a little distressed. Shen Fu didn't really know what he wanted to say, but just when he was feeling gratified that Lin ShuYi didn't look like he couldn't accept it, Lin ShuYi said, "No wonder your grandpa beat you to that point."
Shen Fu: …
Da Yan's popular customs were unprejudiced. From the officials to the common people, homosexuality could be found everywhere, but nobody had ever said that they wanted to marry a man.
"You don't really have an opinion of this?" Shen Fu asked, all smiles.
Lin ShuYi shook his head. "Not really, I wish for your success."
Shen Fu laughed loudly, and the way he looked at him changed. "I accept your blessing. I will work hard."
Lin ShuYi found his laughter baffling, and finally, he rolled his eyes at him and left.
It had already been three months and thirteen days since Shen Fu had come here before Lin ShuYi finally learned of Shen Fu's origin. It was actually because he was a cut-sleeve (homosexual) that he was given a beating by his own grandpa and came here, dazed, with a high fever.
However, it didn't matter. No matter the reason, it didn't change anything. After all, Shen Fu already said that he didn't want to leave at all.
~~~
"He's been at ChaoYang Street this whole time?"
Anna nodded.
"He said he doesn't want to come back?"
Anna nodded again.
"And he's living together with a boy?" This time, without waiting for Anna to nod, the old man huffed and stood up from the chair, not acting like someone old at all. "He's really grown up and spread his wings! He won't even listen to his grandpa anymore!"