| BYSG | Gift | 19
After spending enough time with the nineteen-year-old Cheng Mofei, Shen Yu gradually developed some immunity to his teasing.
So Shen Yu played along and said, “Yeah, I really want to see it.”
Cheng Mofei's smile didn’t fade. “That’s too bad, my phone’s only got nine percent battery left. Wait until after National Day, then we’ll take a shower together, and you can get a good, close look.”
Shen Yu: “...”
Shen Yu admitted defeat.
“Go take your shower,” he said, then promptly hung up the phone.
Why did it feel like Cheng Mofei was even more “bold” now than when they had first started dating?
Back then, he didn’t dare suggest showering together.
Was this the “reckless confidence” of a straight guy?
Shen Yu lay on the bed for a while, but then noticed that his mom had suddenly sent him a new WeChat message.
Mom: [Xiao Yu, are you asleep? I got you a gift. Can you pick it up tomorrow if you have time?]
Shen Yu sprang up from the bed like a fish leaping out of water, a corner of the thin blanket still draped over him. He stared blankly at his phone, unable to suppress the growing smile at the corners of his lips.
Although Shen Yu felt happy, he quickly typed a reply on his phone:
[Mom, you don’t need to buy me too many things. I’m an adult now; I can make money through part-time jobs. You have your own family and plenty of expenses to take care of.]
His words were tactful, but it was clear he was worried about her spending too much on him and upsetting people on his mother's new husband’s side of the family.
Even though his uncle was kind—understanding, considerate, and tolerant, never minding such things—what about the other relatives on that side?
If they found out, they might gossip about her behind her back.
And then there was his uncle’s daughter, Shen Yu’s half-sister from his mother’s side. In his previous life, his sister had had a poor impression of him. He didn’t want his mother to have a hard time because of this.
The fact that he could explain everything clearly now, resolve misunderstandings, and make up for the regrets of his past life was already enough for him.
The screen repeatedly displayed “typing…” from her side, but it took a long time before he finally received a reply:
[Mom just wants to treat you well.]
Shen Yu’s eyes instantly welled up with tears.
Then came another message:
[You’re still a child. You don’t need to worry about those things; Mom will handle everything.]
Tears slipped from his eyes, and Shen Yu quickly blinked them away, afraid they might soak the freshly washed bedding that Cheng Mofei had just cleaned.
Mom: [The gift is already bought; I picked it out just for you. Don’t refuse it.]
Shen Yu blinked back his tears while typing:
[Okay, I’m free tomorrow.]
Mom: [Then I’ll bring it to Yanda University for you tomorrow.]
…
When Cheng Mofei finished his shower and called Shen Yu back, he faintly heard the sound of quiet sobbing.
Cheng Mofei’s eyelid twitched. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
Shen Yu sniffled. This time, he wasn’t pretending to cry—his eyes were genuinely red, and his voice was muffled as he said, “My mom just sent me a message. She said she bought me a gift and will bring it over tomorrow.”
“That’s a good thing,” Cheng Mofei comforted. “Auntie cares about you a lot.”
Shen Yu said, “This is the first gift I’ve ever received from her. I’m so happy.”
Cheng Mofei’s lips curved slightly. “You’ll get more in the future.”
Shen Yu made a small sound of agreement. “But I’m also afraid… if she gets too close to me, her current husband’s family might feel unhappy about it.”
Cheng Mofei said, "Didn't you mention that her current husband is also remarried and has a child with his previous wife? Your mom treats you so well, and her husband will surely treat his own child well too. So, it’s balanced between both sides."
That’s right. The uncle had a failed marriage before and had a son with his ex-wife. Both of them were from Yancheng City, so after the divorce, it was only natural that he would still care for his child.
After Cheng Mofei's comforting words, Shen Yu felt a bit more at ease. He gave a soft hum, rubbed his eyes, and mumbled, “I wonder what the gift will be…”
Cheng Mofei replied, “You’ll find out tomorrow.”
...
That night, Shen Yu and Cheng Mofei fell asleep with their microphones on, talking softly. They chatted about everything that came to mind, and somehow, they never ran out of things to say.
As a way of reciprocating, Cheng Mofei shared quite a bit about his past with Shen Yu.
Although Shen Yu had heard Cheng Mofei tell these stories before in his previous life, he still listened intently this time.
In his drowsy state, Shen Yu felt like he had caught something “off” but, too tired to focus, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and he soon drifted into a deep sleep.
When he woke up the next day, his broken phone had already powered off due to a dead battery.
Shen Yu lay in bed for a while, lost in thought, before slowly getting up. He plugged in his phone to charge, then went to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face to wake up.
After he became fully alert, the thing that had seemed so off last night clicked into place—Cheng Mofei rarely mentioned his high school days.
In his past life, Shen Yu had met Cheng Mofei late, and the time spent in high school was long gone, so his memories were understandably fuzzy.
But in this life, Cheng Mofei was only in his second year of college. His high school years should still be fresh in his mind. However, last night, although Cheng Mofei had shared many interesting stories about his past, he barely mentioned anything about high school.
Could it be that Cheng Mofei’s “homophobia” was related to something that happened in high school?
Shen Yu decided to investigate quietly and try to probe a bit more.
After finishing his morning routine, Shen Yu opened his phone, which had charged a little. He saw that the WeChat call with Cheng Mofei had ended at 2:39 AM that very morning.
Given the time, it was clear that Cheng Mofei hadn’t hung up the call—it was Shen Yu’s broken phone that had run out of battery, causing the call to end abruptly.
The act of staying on the line and talking while falling asleep was actually quite ambiguous... if it were two people of the opposite sex.
But for him and Cheng Mofei, it was just about being good brothers and having a close friendship.
Shen Yu couldn't help but smile helplessly. He went downstairs and grabbed a quick breakfast—some corn, buns, and soy milk to fill his stomach.
Breakfast was important. To stay healthy, one definitely had to eat it on time.
He was supposed to meet his mom at 11 AM, which was close to noon, but they hadn’t planned for lunch.
Maybe she had other plans for the afternoon... Shen Yu thought.
When he saw his mom getting out of the car at the school gate, carrying a lunch box and a gift box, Shen Yu quickly swallowed, feeling nervous enough that his palms were sweating.
His mother smiled and walked up to him, handing him the lunch box and the gift. "I thought you hadn’t eaten yet, so I brought you some food. I wasn’t sure if it would suit your taste."
The lunch box was heavy, clearly packed to the brim.
The gift box, on the other hand, was light, and Shen Yu had no idea what it contained.
"Thank you... Mom." Shen Yu was clearly not good at handling such situations. His hands felt awkward, his feet uncertain, and his body was tense.
He stammered, almost forgetting how to speak.
Shen Xunyan smiled softly. "You can give me the lunch box next time. If you like it, I’ll make it again. And if there’s any dish you like, just let me know, and I’ll make it for you."
The lunch box wasn’t disposable; it was new, with several layers, clearly bought specifically for him.
Shen Yu nodded mechanically. From the corner of his eye, he saw a little girl's head peeking out from the car that his mother had just gotten out of.
His anxious heart calmed down a little. He said, "Mom, you haven’t eaten yet, right? Go eat something too."
Shen Xunyan nodded, chatted with him about some trivial matters, and then left.
The girl in the car must be his half-sister, Ning Yuan, who was about ten years old and still in elementary school.
He wondered if this time, Ning Yuan would still dislike him.
Whether she liked him or not didn’t matter. What mattered was that he didn’t want his mother to be caught in the middle.
...
In the car, Shen Xunyan sat in the back seat, holding her little daughter in her arms. In a good mood, she chatted with her husband about Shen Yu.
"I wonder if Xiao Yu will like my cooking. When he was really little, I made him baby food, and he loved it."
Her husband, Ning Boren, smiled and said, "He’ll definitely like it."
Ning Yuan poked her little head out from her mother's arms and asked, “Will Brother Yu come back and live with us?”
The little girl's world was still very small.
She had heard about Brother Yu before, but only from her aunt and uncle. Like Brother Que, he was half related to her, but unlike Brother Que, Brother Yu didn’t live with them.
He always made Mommy sad, and Auntie and Uncle seemed to dislike him.
In the past, she had disliked Brother Yu too, but recently she had started liking him. Mommy had told her a lot, though she didn’t fully understand, she knew that Brother Yu made Mommy very happy and that he wasn’t a bad person.
Shen Xunyan was moved by her daughter’s words.
After learning about the unpleasant things done by Shen Lide's side, she had been thinking about Shen Yu’s place in the family, but the key was that Shen Yu himself had to be willing.
It was still too early to talk about this now. There was still a lot of distance between mother and son, and it wasn’t an urgent matter.
Shen Xunyan gently rubbed her little daughter’s head, changing the subject. “Your Brother Yu is in college now. He’s going to live in the dormitory, just like Brother Que. When Yuanyuan goes to college, you’ll also live in the dorm, too.”
Ning Yuan pouted, "No, I want to live with Mommy and Daddy."
Just as the light turned red, Ning Boren stopped the car. Shen Xunyan shared a smile with him through the rearview mirror.
...
Back in the dorm, Shen Yu suddenly found himself struggling with a dilemma.
— Should he open the gift first, or the lunch box?
After hesitating for nearly half a minute, he couldn’t help but laugh at himself, calling himself an idiot in his mind.
After thinking it over, Shen Yu grabbed his broken phone and sent a message to Cheng Mofei: [Do you want to see an unboxing video?]
Cheng Mofei quickly sent a video call.
"Did you get the gift?" Cheng Mofei was in a restaurant, ordering food.
Shen Yu hummed in agreement, his happiness almost spilling over from his smile. He held the lunch box up to the camera and proudly showed it off. "She even brought me homemade food."
Cheng Mofei was also affected by Shen Yu’s smile. "What a pity, I can't taste Auntie's cooking."
Shen Yu replied, "I'll make sure you get to try it in the future."
Cheng Mofei nodded, urging, "Quick, open the gift and see what’s inside."
Shen Yu set his phone aside and carefully picked up a utility knife to begin opening the gift box.
The dormitory was eerily quiet, with only the faint sounds from the restaurant on Cheng Mofei's end of the call, though even that couldn’t drown out the noise of the utility knife scraping against the box.
Soon, the true contents of the gift were revealed.
Cheng Mofei was the first to point it out: "It’s a phone."
It was an original phone box.
Shen Yu pressed his lips together, carefully unboxing it and pulling out the new phone.
He had been looking at new phones recently and had a rough idea of its price—it was around 4,000 yuan.
His mother must have seen the cracks on his old phone, though she hadn’t mentioned it at the time.
Yet, she must have kept it in mind.
Shen Yu felt a mix of sweetness and sadness in his heart as he stared at the new phone, on the verge of tears.
If he had grown up living with his mother, he would have been such a happy child.
It didn’t matter that his mom didn’t have a job back then; even if they had to eat steamed buns and pickled vegetables, he wouldn’t have starved.
Why couldn't love be the standard for distributing custody of a child?
While still on the video call with Cheng Mofei, he didn’t want to cry, but the tears still came.
Cheng Mofei immediately panicked. "Hey, don’t cry, don’t cry… I’ll send you another gift, please don’t cry, okay?"
Shen Yu sniffled, looking at the screen of his phone, his lips trembling. "Is it a serious gift?"
Cheng Mofei: "?"
Cheng Mofei: "Of course it's a real gift. It's from me. I promise you'll like it—if you don't, I’ll send you another one."
Shen Yu couldn't help but smile through his tears.
Idiot.
Sitting across from them, Cheng Mofei’s parents observed everything quietly.
Cheng Mofei’s mother leaned in and whispered, "Our Xiao Fei will definitely be great at coaxing his partner in the future."
Cheng Mofei’s father nodded in agreement.
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