Brother, you smell good - 20

 

| BYSG | Shower Together | 20

After disassembling the phone, Shen Yu discovered that inside, there were twenty red banknotes hidden.

A total of 2000 yuan, nearly equivalent to a regular college student’s monthly living expenses.

Shen Yu felt a mix of emotions.

The effort put into giving this to him meant it couldn’t be returned.

He carefully stored the twenty red bills and locked them in a cabinet, deciding not to use them.

He didn’t need to spend money from a part-time job to buy a new phone; the money he had was more than enough for his daily expenses, and his mother wouldn’t need to spend any more on him.

After calming himself down, Shen Yu eagerly inserted the SIM card from the old phone, transferred the data, and while waiting for the apps to download, he opened his lunch box.

It had both meat and vegetables, with soup, and the rice even had corn kernels mixed in. It smelled delicious.

Shen Yu ate it all up.

"Wow, it feels like the video quality on the new phone is much better," Cheng Mofei said, also having lunch.

— Of course, the new phone would be used for video calls with the person he loved.

He still remembered that his first new phone in his past life was earned through hard work from part-time jobs. Later, when he got together with Cheng Mofei, Cheng Mofei also gave him a phone, and now he had received one from his mother.

It was completely perfect.

While his cheeks were stuffed with food, Shen Yu mumbled, "Of course."

Cheng Mofei was having Middle Eastern food for lunch. He cut a piece of meat and said with a smile, "We should download some games later. We can play together from now on."

Shen Yu nodded, "Okay."

Because Cheng Mofei’s parents were around and were also having lunch, it would have been impolite to continue the video call. Shen Yu chatted with him for a few minutes on the new phone before hanging up and focused on enjoying the lunch his mother had made.

He had a bad habit when eating—he liked to mix all the different dishes with the rice and shove them into his mouth at once, eating quickly. Sometimes, he didn’t even chew thoroughly before swallowing.

At first, it was because whenever he was at Shen Lide's house, all the good food would be quickly scooped into his half-brother and half-sister's bowls by his stepmother. 

He couldn’t just pile a lot of food into his own bowl at the start, or he’d get scolded severely, so he was forced to wolf down his food.

Later, his eating speed slowly improved, but the habit of mixing all the different dishes with rice and stuffing them into his mouth at once never went away. He always felt that eating this way made it taste better.

Fortunately, as long as he chewed slowly and carefully, it didn’t hurt his stomach.

After finishing his meal, Shen Yu washed the lunch box clean and left it to dry on the balcony.

There was a small bottle of dishwashing liquid in the dorm bathroom, which he occasionally used to clean his instant noodle bowls or oil stains on his clothes.

The game had finished downloading, but Cheng Mofei was still on vacation. Shen Yu planned to wait until Cheng returned during the National Day holiday to play together.

Shen Yu quickly set up the phone’s wallpaper and other small widgets.

The lock screen was his class schedule for the semester, and the wallpaper was a simple solid color background—minimalistic and straightforward, easy to see at a glance.

That dating app was hidden in a small folder, not easily visible to others.

Every day, he would write a journal entry on it. Especially after the semester started, the content of his daily entries became longer and longer, and he couldn’t fit it all into one post.

After fiddling with his new phone for a while, Shen Yu mustered up the courage to edit a reply and send it to Cheng Mofei: [Thanks for the gift Mom, I really like it, and the meal was delicious. I finished it all.]

He then asked, [Brother Fei, could you help me rewrite it?]

Cheng Mofei quickly showed as typing.

Cheng Mofei: [Thanks for the gift Mom, I really like it, and the meal was delicious. I finished it all.]

Cheng Mofei: [Send it to her.]

Shen Yu immediately read each word carefully. After finishing, he compared it with the message he had sent to Cheng Mofei and slowly realized — Cheng Mofei hadn’t changed a single word!

He had been tricked.

Shen Yu once again suppressed the urge to jump through the internet cable and give him a good beating, took a deep breath, and sent him a "smiling face but secretly cursing" meme.

Cheng Mofei replied with a cute cat meme, sitting obediently.

Cheng Mofei: [What you wrote is the best, no need for anyone to edit it. Just send it as it is.]

The little bit of frustration Shen Yu had felt from being tricked was instantly extinguished. 

He held his phone for a long time without moving.

After a while, he awkwardly replied with a "Mm," and sent the message to his mom exactly as it was.

His mom quickly replied: [I'm glad you like it. If you need anything, just tell me. Make sure to participate in more activities at university and make more friends.]

Shen Yu: [Okay.]

Shen Yu then remembered the twenty red banknotes and wasn’t sure how to bring it up.

After thinking it over, Shen Yu decided to play the ostrich for a bit—if his mom tried to give him living expenses next month, he would deal with it then.

In the afternoon, Shen Yu took his formatted old phone to a mobile store near the school and sold it for just over a hundred yuan.

With that money, he went to a small convenience store and bought a lot of his favorite snacks.

People often spend a long time trying to make up for their childhood, and he figured he'd have to make up for two lifetimes' worth.

...

A few days later, the last day of the National Day holiday arrived, and his other three roommates slowly started to return to the dorm.

The first to arrive was Xiao Xiong, who only managed to get a high-speed train ticket for the morning, and by 9 a.m., he was knocking on the dorm room door.

He had carelessly left his dorm key at home and had to have his family mail it to him, which would probably take two more days to arrive.

Luckily, Shen Yu was in the dorm and could open the door for him. Otherwise, Xiao Xiong would have had to go to the dormitory management office to register and get a new key.

As soon as he entered the dorm, Xiao Xiong let out an incredulous exclamation, "Damn, Xiao Shen, did you secretly hire housekeeping for our dorm?!"

Shen Yu: "?"

Then Shen Yu realized he was referring to how clean the dorm was, so he explained, "I had some free time, so I did a little cleaning. Your cactus was a bit yellow, so I watered it and let it sunbathe for a bit."

Xiao Xiong walked around the dorm, then strode over to his cactus. Not only had it regained its vibrant green, but it had also grown two new little buds. 

The plant was completely different from the half-dead one he had left behind before.

Xiao Xiong was shocked.

In the afternoon, Sun Xinghe also arrived at the dorm, and his reaction was very similar to Xiao Xiong’s.

Sun Xinghe couldn’t help but comment, “If Xiao Shen had been here last year, our dorm would definitely have won the First Prize for Clean Dormitory.”

Xiao Xiong agreed, “The prize was 200 yuan!”

Shen Yu, intrigued by the 200 yuan, immediately said, “No problem, we’ll win it this year.”

At 9 p.m., Cheng Mofei returned to the dorm after picking up a package from the delivery station, finally completing the "Three Faces of Shock Achievement."

To thank Shen Yu for his efforts in cleaning the dorm, the three of them took turns giving him special gifts they had brought back from home or abroad during the National Day holiday.

Xiao Xiong’s gift was the most genuine: a bottle of homemade chili sauce from his family. It smelled delicious, and would definitely be great when mixed with rice.

Sun Xinghe brought some specialty tea from his hometown. It could be brewed with eight cups of water in the morning, perfect for refreshing and waking up.

Cheng Mofei brought handmade snacks from abroad as souvenirs.

In addition, Cheng Mofei tossed a package he had picked up from the delivery station to Shen Yu and asked him to open it while he continued organizing his luggage.

Shen Yu curiously opened it, only to find two identical phone cases inside.

Both had the design of "Big Orange, Big Profit," but it was clear the models were different.

One was for his new phone, and the other... was likely for Cheng Mofei’s phone.

When Shen Yu opened the package and took out the phone cases, Cheng Mofei walked over with a smile, took the one for his own phone from Shen Yu’s hands, and explained, “This is the gift I mentioned earlier.”

Shen Yu remembered that day when he received the new phone from his mom, and he couldn’t help but cry in front of Cheng Mofei. 

To comfort him, Cheng Mofei had promised to give him a gift.

He never expected the gift to be a phone case.

It made sense, though. A new phone should obviously come with a new case. The phone his mom had given him came with a transparent case, which Shen Yu had been using these days. 

He thought it was simple and good enough, so he hadn’t bothered to buy a new one.

However, he really liked the one Cheng Mofei gave him too.

Cheng Mofei added, “My old phone case had turned yellow, and I scratched it while on vacation, so I bought a new one.”

Although... but...

Shen Yu bit his lip, hesitating, as he struggled to suppress the voice in his heart shouting, Doesn’t this count as matching couple phone cases? 

He lowered his lashes to hide his thoughts.

"Thanks, Brother Fei. I’ll change it right away."

Needless to say, the "straight man" wouldn't have realized any of this.

"Okay."

Soon, both of them were using identical phone cases.

"Big Orange, Big Profit," with a great meaning, and on top of that, they were "couple versions."

A thought unexpectedly popped into Shen Yu’s mind—Why does it feel like this life with Cheng Mofei is progressing even faster than in the previous one?

...

During this National Day break, the four of them had brought back some autumn clothes. 

After changing the bedding and organizing their luggage, Xiao Xiong collapsed into a chair, exhausted, and suggested, "How about a few rounds of intense, thrilling King of Glory?"

Since they all knew about Shen Yu getting a new phone, they had already downloaded the game—after all, good brothers were meant to team up for some serious gaming.

The other three had no objections.

As they opened the game, Shen Yu realized he hadn’t registered an account yet, so he quickly signed up.

The new account needed a name, and without thinking much, Shen Yu typed in three characters.

While Shen Yu was going through the tutorial tasks, Cheng Mofei suddenly asked, "Is this 'Konjac Shuang' your username?"

Shen Yu confidently replied with an "Mm."

Cheng Mofei said, "Oh, you like Konjac?"

Shen Yu: "Cough, cough..."

Shen Yu: "It's okay, I guess."

This was the username Shen Yu had always used in the previous life. Originally, he had planned to come up with a couple’s name based on their names, like "Mo Yu".

But then Shen Yu’s brain made a random leap—Hey, konjac, konjac is cool!

Naturally, Cheng Mofei’s username had to be "Love to Eat Konjac."

It was a little silly, but also a lot of fun.

Now, Cheng Mofei probably had no idea that "konjac" was a playful combination of their names.

After finishing the tutorial, Shen Yu was added to the team list, and the 520 dormitory squad began their first official team-up gaming session.

As usual, Shen Yu played as the support role, making sure to protect Cheng Mofei, even if it meant sacrificing himself to keep Cheng Mofei alive.

Cheng Mofei bluntly said, "From now on, Xiao Yu is my exclusive support."

Shen Yu smiled gently.

Time always seemed to fly by when they were playing games together.

Before they knew it, Xiao Xiong suddenly exclaimed, "Damn, it’s already 23:47! I haven’t taken a shower yet!"

At Yanda University, the hot water would be cut off precisely at midnight.

It had recently gotten colder, and there were rumors of a flu outbreak. Taking a cold shower was a guaranteed way to get sick.

It wasn’t just Xiao Xiong; the other three hadn’t showered either.

They had only just changed to their new autumn blankets, and after traveling on high-speed trains and planes, they were all back from their trips. 

Although they weren’t particularly obsessed with cleanliness, they also didn’t neglect it.

Besides, for guys, five minutes in the shower was more than enough.

Sun Xinghe got up, pushed Xiao Xiong, and urged, "Let’s go shower together, hurry up!"

After saying that, Sun Xinghe looked at Cheng Mofei and Shen Yu and said, “Xiao Xiong and I will go shower first. Brother Fei, you and Xiao Shen can shower together. Try to get it done in five minutes.”

The bathroom wasn’t very big, and it was fine for two people to shower together, but four would definitely be a tight squeeze.

Since Cheng Mofei and Shen Yu had the closest relationship, it was natural for them to shower together.

Cheng Mofei nodded without hesitation and said, “Okay.”

He immediately stood up, went to grab his pajamas, and casually glanced at the still-motionless Shen Yu, urging him with a nudge.

Shen Yu, still in a daze, blinked, “?”

Shower together? 

Me? 

With Cheng Mofei?

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