Brother, you smell good - 71

 

| BYSG | Preparing to Confess | 71

Cheng Mofei spent the entire night sulking.

The next day, when Shen Yu woke up, he realized that he had little recollection of what had happened after getting drunk the night before. The only thing he clearly remembered was testing the waters by confessing to Cheng Mofei. He planned to make a bouquet out of orange peels for him.

It seemed like he hadn’t acted out while drunk, but he wasn’t sure if he had let anything slip.

He could sense a slight change in Cheng Mofei’s mood, but at the same time, he noticed that Cheng Mofei’s attitude toward him hadn’t changed at all. After a few failed attempts to probe for answers, he decided not to dwell on it.

Even if he had said something, it didn’t really matter—he was already preparing to confess to Cheng Mofei anyway.

The group had a leisurely lunch at the mountain resort before heading back to the city.

Cheng Mofei drove straight home, dropping Shen Yu off at Cheng Zhiyu’s place first—his tutoring session, originally scheduled for the morning, had been pushed to the afternoon.

Upon hearing that her son was coming home, Cheng Mofei’s mother grew anxious, worried that he might get carried away and start cooking again. Meanwhile, Cheng Mofei’s father took a more direct approach—he simply called the driver and had him picked up for afternoon tea at the office.

Fortunately, Cheng Mofei only went to his room to play games with Xiao Xiong and Sun Xinghe, staying away from the kitchen.

With Shen Yu absent and the events of the previous night lingering in his mind, Cheng Mofei found himself lacking enthusiasm.

Since some of the games required only two players, Cheng Mofei took the opportunity to slack off, watching the other two play while his thoughts drifted elsewhere.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Cheng Mofei pulled it out and saw a message from Shen Yu.

Shen Yu: [It’s snowing!]

Cheng Mofei immediately looked toward the window. The snow was still light, and from this distance, he couldn't see it clearly. Squinting his eyes for a moment, he then decisively got up and walked to the balcony.

It really was snowing.

The first snowfall of the year.

The snowflakes were small and delicate, drifting gently through the air.

The snowflakes landed on his palm and melted in an instant.

"What's wrong, Brother Fei?" the two players asked while playing the game.

"It's snowing," Cheng Mofei replied.

"Damn," it was Sun Xinghe's voice. "I'm going to check it out. We'll continue later."

Soon, two more figures appeared on the balcony.

Sun Xinghe excitedly sent a few messages to his girlfriend on his phone, then ordered her a cup of hot milk tea, adding a note—"The first cup of milk tea for the first snowfall."

Although it was just a marketing gimmick by some businesses, it added a reason to celebrate and share happiness, so why not enjoy it?

Cheng Mofei watched all of this, and while taking the opportunity to head to the bathroom, he secretly ordered two cups of milk tea to be delivered to Cheng Zhiyu's house. 

He didn’t dare to add any notes like Sun Xinghe did, just sent a simple message to Shen Yu: [I ordered milk tea for you and Zhiyu. Finals are coming up, so let her focus on studying and have a great New Year.]

Every word was a pretext for Cheng Zhiyu, but the real meaning behind it was only known to himself.

Shen Yu: [Thank you, Brother Fei.]

After receiving the milk tea, Shen Yu allowed Cheng Zhiyu a ten-minute break.

The tutoring session could be extended by ten minutes, but the good mood from the first snowfall was something truly precious.

Cheng Zhiyu immediately took the milk tea and eagerly went to the yard to watch the snow, with Shen Yu following her.

This afternoon, the young girl had been looking at him strangely, though it didn’t seem to be out of malice. Instead, it was full of curiosity and inquiry. 

Shen Yu guessed it must be because last week, Cheng Mofei had accidentally let slip some details about his sexual orientation to her.

Shen Yu decided to pretend he hadn’t noticed.

As a native of the South, Shen Yu really enjoyed the snow. Even though he had lived in Yancheng City for many years in his previous life, where it snowed heavily every year, he still found it to be a rare and special sight.

The snowflakes were tiny; they melted as soon as they landed on his palm, but when they landed on his clothes, they formed beautiful and delicate patterns.

Shen Yu immediately took out his phone and snapped a few focused photos.

Afterward, he sent the photos to Cheng Mofei, Fang Xiang, and his mom.

Cheng Mofei replied with a "little hamster starry eyes" emoji: [Wait until the snow piles up a bit, and I’ll take you to make a snowman.]

Shen Yu smiled and squinted his eyes: [Okay.]

Fang Xiang, on the other hand, responded with a tone full of complaints: [Don’t tempt me!!! It’s exam month, and we’ve finished a lot of our classes. Be careful, or I’ll buy a plane ticket to your place tomorrow!]

Shen Yu laughed: [Come on, I was just afraid you won’t come. I’ll buy a ticket for you, no problem.]

Fang Xiang: [No way I’ll let you spend money on me. I’ve already checked the price of the plane tickets, and they’re not cheap. I’ll ask my parents tonight if they can lend me a bit of money.]

Shen Yu didn’t insist: [Okay.]

Finally, his mom sent him a red envelope: [It’s snowing, have something warm to eat.]

Shen Yu accepted the red envelope and replied to his mom with a "little hamster kiss" emoji.

A few seconds later, his mom sent him a kiss emoji, one she probably found somewhere online.

Shen Yu smiled and lowered his head, taking a large sip of his milk tea.

It was such a warm first snowfall.

He didn’t feel cold at all.

...

By the time he returned to the dorm that evening, the snow had already fallen heavily.

The weather forecast said the snow would last for a long time, and in just a few days, there would be a thick layer of white on the ground.

The first thing Cheng Mofei did when he got back to the dorm was secretly throw away his bottle of orange-scented shower gel.

After throwing it away, Cheng Mofei casually went to a nearby convenience store, planning to buy a new bottle of shower gel to make do.

By chance, he found the exact same orange-scented shower gel on the store shelf—the very one he had just thrown out.

...What bad luck.

Cheng Mofei gave the shelf of orange-scented shower gels the middle finger, then grabbed a bottle of some unknown scent and went to pay. He slipped it into his coat and sneaked back to the dorm.

When he returned, he found that Shen Yu was on a video call with Fang Xiang again.

This time, Shen Yu had moved to the balcony and was not wearing headphones, clearly showing the heavy snowfall outside to the person on the other end of the call.

Seeing Cheng Mofei staring at Shen Yu on the balcony, Xiao Xiong casually explained, "Xiao Shen's friend is coming to visit him. He's a Southerner who's never seen snow before, so he’s showing him the snow on video."

Cheng Mofei felt a knot in his chest and asked, "When is he coming over?"

Xiao Xiong replied, "I think it's the Monday after next, the 10th. He’ll have to wait until his classes are over before he can come."

The 10th... only 7 days away.

...

As the new week began, Cheng Mofei could clearly notice that Shen Yu was spending noticeably less time in the dorm.

Every morning, regardless of whether there was an 8 AM class or not, he would leave around 7 AM with a thermos full of herbal tea. 

He wouldn’t return until nearly 11 PM, and after washing up, he would go straight to bed to rest. It was safe to say he was coming and going early and late, and he didn’t even return for lunch breaks anymore.

When asked, he simply said it was exam month and that he was preparing to study.

He even turned down Cheng Mofei’s invitation to study together, claiming he had already made plans with classmates and that it wouldn’t be convenient to study together.

...It was easy to guess that Shen Yu was preparing to confess to that guy.

Cheng Mofei felt both frustrated and jealous, but he didn’t let it distract him from his own plans.

He, too, was preparing to confess to Shen Yu.

After all, that guy, Fang Xiang, wouldn’t be coming until the 10th. In the next few days, Cheng Mofei could get everything ready and steal the spotlight.

Although it was a bit rushed, he wasn’t going to cut corners.

The fact that Shen Yu had asked about love letters and flowers showed that he likely would appreciate receiving them.

So, Cheng Mofei wrote Shen Yu a long love letter. He first composed it on Word, revised it countless times, and then carefully transcribed it onto the special stationery and envelope he had bought.

He also ordered a huge bouquet of flowers and spent the entire afternoon at the flower shop packing them himself.

In addition, Cheng Mofei also made a trip to Yancheng City to visit the temple renowned for its luck in matchmaking and prayed for two fortune bags.

Before he knew it, December 5th arrived.

That evening, after Shen Yu returned, he quickly took a shower and went to bed early.

Cheng Mofei’s mind was preoccupied with the upcoming December 10th, so he unintentionally overlooked December 6th.

The next morning, he groggily heard the faint sound of water from the bathroom. It didn’t sound like someone was just washing up; it sounded more like someone was taking a shower.

Who would shower so early in the morning?

Cheng Mofei instinctively glanced over at the opposite bed—Xiao Xiong and Sun Xinghe were still asleep. He half-sat up and noticed that Shen Yu’s bed was empty.

The answer was clear, Shen Yu was the one showering in the bathroom.

But hadn’t Shen Yu already showered last night? Why was he taking another shower so early this morning?

Something felt off.

A troubling thought suddenly popped into Cheng Mofei’s mind.

At the same time, the significance of December 6th quickly came back to him.

...Could it be?

Soon, the person in the bathroom emerged, carrying the fresh scent of oranges.

Cheng Mofei had already pretended to fall back asleep, lying down again.

Shen Yu went to the wardrobe, changed into his clothes as usual, and quietly left the room.

Cheng Mofei had long memorized Shen Yu’s class schedule. Shen Yu had a full schedule in the morning and was aiming for a scholarship, so he certainly wouldn’t take a leave of absence or skip class easily.

 However, Shen Yu had no classes in the afternoon or evening.

Meanwhile, Cheng Mofei had a full afternoon of classes.

At noon, Shen Yu still didn’t return for a lunch break. Cheng Mofei couldn’t sleep either, and sat at his desk, staring at the hamster cage for nearly an hour. He only snapped out of it when Xiao Xiong and Sun Xinghe, who had woken up from their naps, nudged him to go to class.

Just before reaching the teaching building, Cheng Mofei suddenly stopped in his tracks. 

Facing the puzzled gazes of the two, he quickly spoke up: "Can you mark me as present for the afternoon class? I’ve got something urgent to deal with."

Without waiting for a response, he turned around and ran off.

Xiao Xiong and Sun Xinghe didn’t think much of it, as they weren’t the most diligent of students and occasionally skipped class themselves.

However, Xiao Xiong couldn’t help but shout after the quickly disappearing figure, "The snow’s so thick, don’t slip!"

Sometimes, it really felt like the curse of a crow's mouth does exist.

As Cheng Mofei was nearing the dorm building, he suddenly slipped and fell.

Luckily, the snow was thick, and his clothes were also thick, so it wasn’t a bad fall, but it still hurt and left him looking particularly disheveled. His mood, which was already bad, worsened even more.

But he couldn’t afford to care about that right now. He casually brushed the snow off his clothes, gritted his teeth against the pain, and continued to jog back to the dorm.

...

When Shen Yu sneaked back into the dorm with a small cake, the first thing he saw was Cheng Mofei, covered in snow and looking like a pitiful stray dog, disheveled and gazing at him with wide eyes.

Shen Yu’s heart skipped a beat.

His first thought was: Shouldn’t Cheng Mofei be in class right now? 

Why is he in the dorm?

Shen Yu’s second reaction was: How did he end up like this? Why hasn’t he taken care of it yet?

Without hesitation, Shen Yu quickly walked to his desk, intending to put down the small cake before going to check on Cheng Mofei.

But just as he set the cake down, Cheng Mofei had already stood up and walked over to him.

His light brown eyes were slightly red around the edges, and Shen Yu couldn’t tell if it was because of the fall or if it was just from the pain. He felt a pang of sympathy for him.

Cheng Mofei, on the other hand, was so angry that his eyes were practically bloodshot.

It seemed like that wild man was indeed coming earlier than expected. Shen Yu had gotten up early to shower, dressed carefully, and even bought a small cake. 

He must be planning to meet that wild man soon, right?

Without thinking, Cheng Mofei raised his hand and trapped Shen Yu within his control, his voice seething as he bit out, "You’re not allowed to be with that wild man."

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